That girl's name was Magdalena-something. I have a fuzzy memory of her first scene, I think she was driving with Will in the passenger seat.

I remember when SPW announced that she was going to be the new Jessica, and they made this sound permanent. Then some fan wrote in an angry letter about this, and they basically said, "Oops, sorry." At the time I was confused. Later of course we learned she really was supposed to be there permanently.

JFP destroyed so many characters - I wonder what she would have done to Jess if she could have. It finally took Erin Torpey leaving for the hatchets to come out.

This is a shot in the dark, but do you remember how someone wrote into SOD and was like, "I don't understand why Magdalena is being replaced as Jessica, I have watched her for years grow before my eyes and to see her replaced with Erin Torpey blah blah" and SOD answered like, "Uh, we don't know what show you've been watching, but it was Erin Torpey who has played Jessica all these years and returned to her role after Magdalena briefly replaced her..."

See, wow, that's scandalous, I didn't realize she was in fact meant to be permanent. I did hear the thing about ES threatening to quit (psshh, yeah, right) if ET (<<that's really funny when you think about it ) was fired, but I didn't realize they had actually made a move.

I don't remember the letter but it definitely sounds accurate! Some of those letters could be so random.

I actually think Erika may have quit. I'm not too sure if she'd been happy with the show in the few years before that anyway.

Dear SOD, I hope you'll settle a bet I have with my friend, a steak dinner is riding on this (!), but is Lila's dog Annabelle played by the same pooch who played Buck on Married With Children? I believe they are both Briards as my late aunt raised the breed. My friend says they are not the same dog as Annabelle's ears are perky, but I explained that that can be done with wires. Help! -KF Hyattsville, MD

Well pass the A-1 sauce... to your friend! And the bill to yourself, because no, while you are correct that they are both Briards, Annabelle is not the same dog as Buck who passed away shortly after MWC went off the air.

* * *

I really have to wonder how passionately ES stood behind ET, that would have been an interesting question for her archive interview or her newsletter for that matter. She's also said really *lovely* things about FF which has also made me... wonder.

The first recast I ever remember was Hillary Smith replacing Margaret Colin on ATWT. I was new to soaps and didn't think you could do such a thing! LOL I loved MC and swore I would never watch ATWT again. Although I hated Smith at first, she ironically became my all-time favorite Margo Hughes. I still remember the bitchy interplay between she and Colleen Zenk. Glorious!

What year did Jill Larson join te show? I remember like it was yesterday, sitting in my grandparents' living room and my grandma saying, "(SFK), what do you think of the new Opal?"

Someone recently uploaded this on youtube. I think it's Jill's first scene as Opal, if not, then close to it. From Thanksgiving '89:

Id Love to see Kari Gibson On AMC As Dixie

Y&R's late 1980s recastings of Jill, Ashley, Jack.

I remember the Jack switch from Mark Valley to Steve Wilder, where Jennifer (played by Stephanie Cameron) come up to Jack in the (prison?) shower and we went from Valley to Wilder.

Late 70s OLTL, I remember Brynn Thayer replacing Kathy Glass as Jenny, Steve Fletcher replacing Jamison Parker as Brad, and Robin Strasser replacing Claire Malis as Dorian.