I know Agnes Nixon allegedly offered Hayman and I believe also Ellen Holly (or at least I think the second part is true) safe harbor at Loving in the late '80s, the show she controlled. Something she later did with Debbi Morgan and the Hubbard family in the '90s to bring them back to the ABC fold and keep the characters alive and the actors in the audience consciousness, and which I think was a real success both for the Angie character and for Debbi Morgan (and Darnell Williams, who played Jesse's twin Jacob since Jesse was still 'dead' at the time) on daytime. I think her intent was to do the same with those actors from OLTL she cared for, though I don't know if they were meant to play Sadie and Carla. In any event one or both turned it down. I think if it had happened we might've seen the Grays return and remain on the audience's radar, because with the Hubbards at least LOV was meant to be a safe space for those wayward beloved characters. Ten years passed between LOV/The City and Angie and Jesse's big return to AMC, and nobody had forgotten them because the steps had been taken to keep Debbi (and Darnell, and to a lesser extent Frankie Hubbard) a part of the ABC firmament for much of the '90s. That is something I've always appreciated. (And of course Debbi also did her run at Port Charles after The City, which continued her visibility.)
Not long after IIRC a Sadie-type character did appear on LOV; Minnie something, I think.
I agree that Cord's return in '93 was a mess though they initially had some interesting ideas about PTSD, and John Loprieno performs his heart out. But I've rewatched a lot of that year very recently (in addition to exploring 1991-92; I first started watching as a kid in '93) and the whole angry Cord/Angela Holliday/amnesia arc with him is just a chore to watch. I have very little patience for Angela and the Tabernacle of Joy, and a lot of it is ultimately there to make Cord look like the hothead and fool opposite Tina and Cain. It's all skewed. Cord does fulfill Malone's original interest in him with KDP's Blair in '94 and they get far more involved than I had remembered from when I was young, but I haven't rewatched 1994 since it aired so I can't make a judgment, though we all know it didn't particularly change Cord's status. He just hung around another few years.
Max OTOH I don't feel gets defanged until 1995. He did settle down with Luna and after the gambling addiction story but I think a lot of his stuff in that period is strong. He certainly came back very strong in '91/'92 so far for me, at least IMO. And I am someone who saw a lot of the more sullen, reserved Max of the late '90s and 2000s. JDP seems far more engaged earlier in his second run, whereas during most of the JFP era he looked like he was sleepwalking (and by his own account, he was).
The Becky Lee debacle was a classic Malone foible: Going for the social message vs. the character. Many times the characters wove in well with the stories or messages but sometimes they didn't. Doing that with Becky Lee was nuts and I'm glad it didn't go further. As for Cassie I'm of two minds: I adored Laura Bonarrigo's Cassie growing up and I still do, but she has a real rough ride in her first year lol. And her stories vary wildly for the remainder of her return, but I do think she always gave it everything.
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Vee ·
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