11 hours ago, DRW50 said:

I hate soap stories where people rut while in avalanches or in cave-ins or whatever else. I would much rather just see people cheat because they openly admit to wanting to without the justification.

I can't even remember if Ridge found out. Didn't she "die" before he could?

Something else - and I may be wrong as I haven't watched any of this since it first aired - that was dubious to me was the leadup was a story about how James had been abused as a child and this led him to avoid sex.

Afterward, he seemed to enjoy sex just fine (I remember a very fun sex scene he had with Brooke where she was in some costume), which would mean Brad Bell was doing one of those "making him a real man" stories in 1994.

Then he was just cycled through various women until being written out (I can't remember if he was ever paired with Lauren - probably not). The one I would have enjoyed him with, aside from Brooke, was Sally - I think he could have been good for Sally.

It was this scene, written by Patrick Mulcahey, in which Brooke gloats over Taylor's secret coming out about James and her.

"Take Ridge and score one for the whores of the world!" - Patrick could make gold out of straw.

Thanks @I Am A Swede @Maxim I had a vague memory of the truth coming out but wasn't watching by then (I don't even know if James was doing guest shots at that time). If that had come out in the '90s it would have been electric but by 2006 both ladies had been so degraded by Brad Bell.

Is this before or after Taylor ran Darla over?

7 minutes ago, DRW50 said:

Is this before or after Taylor ran Darla over?

Before. Taylor ran the poor thing over 7 months later.

This is from January 2006... one of the more interesting episodes concerning this storyline. It has Susan Flannery in it, which makes it even better. Also one great flashback to the early 90s when the show wasn't a trainwreck... The end of Taylor's "SAINT" image. "We are all whores in this town."

And here 7 months later... Taylor's MESS era officially begins. I remember Hunter Tylo talking about how she hated this storyline in her multiple podcast appearances.

Thanks again @Maxim . This is a benefit to them releasing all their episodes (which all the soaps should be doing).

Slaps and catfights can be fun but there's nothing like a good verbal sparring, and the Mulcahey-penned Brooke and Taylor scene you posted is in that category. They both gave as good as they got, even if I'm always likely to side with Brooke. I loved her line about the "death of a deathbed marriage." And saying that Taylor is just like Stephanie and will end the same way as her (if only she'd known Taylor would become Greenlee). Yet Taylor wasn't wrong to point out the revolving door of Forrester men and in-laws, even if Taylor herself was also involved with just about all those men... (I'm not sure if she ever took a ride with Deacon)

It was interesting hearing Taylor do all that therapist-speak. Once upon a time they would just remind us she was a therapist by having her wear big glasses.

If Bradley Bell let Mulcahey flow that way I can see why he stayed as long as he did.

Edited November 23Nov 23 by DRW50

11 minutes ago, DRW50 said:

If Bradley Bell let Mulcahey flow that way I can see why he stayed as long as he did.

Absolutely! IMO Mulcahey wrote the perfect Stephanie... Brooke... and Taylor scenes. Any scene with any of these characters he could do perfectly. At times when he writes for Brooke you could almost sense that extra extra iciness (she was already pretty icy) he gave Iris in Texas. He has this particular style of bitchy, intelligent comebacks that are so memorable, they stay with you forever. Recently I was checking which episodes he wrote dialogue on... and every single one of them had something I remembered, pretty much every one. To this day nobody has written better dialogue for Brooke in the 2005+ era. He KNEW who this woman is. This is the issue the show has in modern days. The dialogue writers have no idea what Brooke is about, they don't know her compulsions, they don't care. She is boring, one note, she hasn't given a smart comeback to anyone in YEARS. And when Mulcahey wrote for Stephanie - she could kill you with words. The verbal assassin. SO BRUTAL. All of this reminds me how important dialogue writers are. How crucial. We've been talking on this topic in the BTG thread for so long.

Edited November 23Nov 23 by Maxim

@DRW50 One of my favorite episodes written by Mulcahey - the one where Stephanie urges Brooke to kill herself. Every line is memorable. "Isn't it better to leave this world... still the object of desire..."

Edited November 24Nov 24 by Maxim

Thanks again @Maxim

Sometimes I forget how wild Stephanie was by the end.

4 hours ago, DRW50 said:

Thanks again @Maxim

Sometimes I forget how wild Stephanie was by the end.

The best moment is when she asks her - What is so valuable about your life anyway? I scream every time. I know it's disturbing and I probably shouldn't be laughing, but there is this undertone of comedy that Mulcahey executes perfectly. Susan Flannery did all her best work in the late years when he was the dialogue writer.

Mid 1992 is entertaining even if it's the sloppiest I've ever seen the show:

-Sheila uses her real name (OK, they don't want to confuse viewers) when applying to FC AND her reference is the place that thinks she's dead?

-Blake holds Karen hostage and the police are called. But after chilling out for a few weeks he can go about his business of selling his house, as well as visiting Taylor & Brooke.

-No conflict or any hint of tension between Taylor & her dad until she returns from her honeymoon. She then remembers his gambling past and is wary of him.

-Even though she's as close as she's ever been, Stephanie does a 180 and out of the blue accepts that Eric doesn't want her and moves on, and now she likes Taylor too.

The last one I liked, because it's nice to see Stephanie not play the loser in love for a change. But it seems like moving Sheila to B&B was a somewhat last minute decision and the writers quickly rearranged things. It makes sense that they needed to move Stephanie out of Eric's orbit for the start of Sheila getting her hooks into Eric.

Other thoughts:

-Yikes, was Lane Davies miscast as Ridge for the fill-in job. Ever seen felt like he was on a completely different show than his scene partners. I think his reputation saves this from ridicule as an all-time stinker performance.

-The zany music cues at Spectra are super annoying, but Darlene Connelly is excellent and makes everything they throw at her work.

-Colleen Dion is such a nice presence as Felicia as @DRW50 , even if the show didn't know what to do with her. I feel that because the confrontation scenes with Macy were a bust, the show began to devalue her (and scrapped the quad with Jake & Thorne). The Zack storyline feels like a worse retread of the Jake storyline. The show chemistry-tested her with the cop who investigated Thorne's shooting/Belief theft - now that would have been an interesting pairing. Her mother/daughter scenes with Susan Flannery are excellent.

-Everything Macy/Thorne/Karen is so stop & go that it's hard to get any traction.

17 minutes ago, bongobong said:

Mid 1992 is entertaining even if it's the sloppiest I've ever seen the show:

-Sheila uses her real name (OK, they don't want to confuse viewers) when applying to FC AND her reference is the place that thinks she's dead?

-Blake holds Karen hostage and the police are called. But after chilling out for a few weeks he can go about his business of selling his house, as well as visiting Taylor & Brooke.

-No conflict or any hint of tension between Taylor & her dad until she returns from her honeymoon. She then remembers his gambling past and is wary of him.

-Even though she's as close as she's ever been, Stephanie does a 180 and out of the blue accepts that Eric doesn't want her and moves on, and now she likes Taylor too.

The last one I liked, because it's nice to see Stephanie not play the loser in love for a change. But it seems like moving Sheila to B&B was a somewhat last minute decision and the writers quickly rearranged things. It makes sense that they needed to move Stephanie out of Eric's orbit for the start of Sheila getting her hooks into Eric.

Other thoughts:

-Yikes, was Lane Davies miscast as Ridge for the fill-in job. Ever seen felt like he was on a completely different show than his scene partners. I think his reputation saves this from ridicule as an all-time stinker performance.

-The zany music cues at Spectra are super annoying, but Darlene Connelly is excellent and makes everything they throw at her work.

-Colleen Dion is such a nice presence as Felicia as @DRW50 , even if the show didn't know what to do with her. I feel that because the confrontation scenes with Macy were a bust, the show began to devalue her (and scrapped the quad with Jake & Thorne). The Zack storyline feels like a worse retread of the Jake storyline. The show chemistry-tested her with the cop who investigated Thorne's shooting/Belief theft - now that would have been an interesting pairing. Her mother/daughter scenes with Susan Flannery are excellent.

-Everything Macy/Thorne/Karen is so stop & go that it's hard to get any traction.

The first half of 1992 is one of the best stretches of the show, but the mid-year period is kind of messy. In addition to your points, the Clarke storyline suffers a momentum loss with that whole will-Sally-hire-him-back-or-won’t-she plot that feels like a repeat of the previous year. Then he gets written out anyway.

Lane Davies’s version of Ridge had that ”ironic detachment” vibe that Moss never did. He’s a good actor, but not even remotely believable as the same character.

Edited 1 hour ago1 hr by Anooj

31 minutes ago, Anooj said:

The first half of 1992 is one of the best stretches of the show, but the mid-year period is kind of messy. In addition to your points, the Clarke storyline suffers a momentum loss with that whole will-Sally-hire-him-back-or-won’t-she plot that feels like a repeat of the previous year. Then he gets written out anyway.

Lane Davies’s version of Ridge had that ”ironic detachment” vibe that Moss never did. He’s a good actor, but not even remotely believable as the same character.

Yeah, the Clarke story suffers in the same way the Macy/Thorne/Karen does - it's so sporadic. That said, I find Clarke annoying when he's not paired with Sally, so I don't mind the stops. Kristin is my least favorite character ever so I find it hilarious that no one in her family gives a damn that she's back so she's just slumming it with Clarke.