1 hour ago, Khan said:

Gary Tomlin, IMO, is a more palatable version of Frank Valentini or Ron Carlivati. He's just as much into camp and pretty young (male) thangs as they are, but it's not nearly as annoying with him, nor does he let it get in the way of telling the damn story.

I dunno about that. I think Tomlin's OLTL was much messier than earlier Carlivati. There is a lot of 2002 especially that is just plain embarrassing. And frankly FV had no definitive signature for years until he got together with Ron and they became industry stars. He just produced the show and kept it running smooth under multiple HWs; it took years for his ego to manifest. I do think Gary means well and has done good work, but it's apples and oranges to me between the 3 of them.

As for Walter Balsom, I have no idea the ins and outs there. I just know Ron confirmed that he had pitched Roxy being trans and Rex's father and it got shut down. Later he hinted at it in the final weeks, when Roxy discovers her favorite heroine on Fraternity Row (who IK/Roxy 'played' in the Fraternity Row fantasy episode in late 2011) was born male. (Ron did the same with his plans to make Shane Morasco gay - his last act with the character was to send Shane off to 'the Phil Jimenez Art School.' Phil Jimenez is a prominent and openly gay comics artist.)

Edited 13 hours ago13 hr by Vee

From early Santa Barbara, about 8-10 weeks in, there was the dropped story of Russian submarines patrolling the coast. One of them saved Joe from drowning, complete with a sexy Russian female spy, and the subs seemed to be the reason Cruz the super spy really had come to town. Joe and Cruz were going to be true action-adventure guys. The whole thing was dropped once Joe got recast, and they had an earthquake instead.

Also, they were always planning on doing a blonde girl and a Latin male as a couple, but they were originally going to do it with the teens Jade and Danny. With those actors having little chemistry and acting ability, and the overall show struggling, they decided to really go for it, ditching the teens and switching that story to adults, Cruz and Eden. Eden was originally going to mix it up with the more Anglo characters of Warren and Lionel.

Edited 10 hours ago10 hr by Jdee43

Russian spies?? That is insane.

4 hours ago, Vee said:

Russian spies?? That is insane.

Russians were fave villains of the 80s. GH had them, I think OLTL did, too.

On All My Children, Dr. Joe revealed to Jack that he had a heart condition (I believe in a Friday cliffhanger), then it was never discussed again.

7 hours ago, Vee said:

Russian spies?? That is insane.

And soooooo not in the Dobsons' wheelhouse.

DAYS: Bill Bell was going to have Bill Horton raped in prison.

What the hell was the original plan for Jordan Ridgeway? I'm actually surprised Chrishelle Stause hasn't yet to spill the beans on that one.

Also, during Cwikly's first tenure, they alluded to there being some connection between Celeste and Caprice the nanny.

And originally, Austin was brought on for Jennifer, and Kate was attracted to Jack.

8 hours ago, Jdee43 said:

From early Santa Barbara, about 8-10 weeks in, there was the dropped story of Russian submarines patrolling the coast. One of them saved Joe from drowning, complete with a sexy Russian female spy, and the subs seemed to be the reason Cruz the super spy really had come to town. Joe and Cruz were going to be true action-adventure guys. The whole thing was dropped once Joe got recast, and they had an earthquake instead.

Also, they were always planning on doing a blonde girl and a Latin male as a couple, but they were originally going to do it with the teens Jade and Danny. With those actors having little chemistry and acting ability, and the overall show struggling, they decided to really go for it, ditching the teens and switching that story to adults, Cruz and Eden. Eden was originally going to mix it up with the more Anglo characters of Warren and Lionel.

Thanks for the extra Santa Barbara details. What a fascinating show this was, due to so many factors. I am still never sure why they recast Joe with Mark Arnold (nothing against him), but I guess they weren't interested in the character anymore.

3 hours ago, Jonathan said:

On All My Children, Dr. Joe revealed to Jack that he had a heart condition (I believe in a Friday cliffhanger), then it was never discussed again.

This, IIRC, is the story Walt Willey said never happened because he had gone from being not in the best shape to going on a health and fitness kick and being in much better shape at just the time they were giving him this plotline.

I remember people here mentioning a black man appearing with Leanna during her early days on Y&R. He was never mentioned again. What was that all about?