Past Plots Discussion: Whatever Happened To...

[brisbydog]

16 hours ago, RedElf said:

This is hilarious.  Kristen holding Brady in 1994.

Why is there no puke reaction?

[tribeca]

Brady makes the same face now when he is around Kristin 

[RedElf]

Josh and Lauren hosting a Thanksgiving special.

[peachmangosteen]

The clips in that are not really a ringing endorsement of the idea that the show used to be better lol.

[Irlandesa]

3 hours ago, peachmangosteen said:

The clips in that are not really a ringing endorsement of the idea that the show used to be better lol.

I usually hated holiday episodes. They were so blah.  But the clips did bring back some nostalgia memories.

I especially remember how much I loved Jack and Frankie's chemistry.  I wanted them to live together when M Reeves left in the early 2000s again.

[CanaryFan98]

On 11/26/2022 at 12:54 PM, Irlandesa said:

I usually hated holiday episodes. They were so blah.  But the clips did bring back some nostalgia memories.

I especially remember how much I loved Jack and Frankie's chemistry.  I wanted them to live together when M Reeves left in the early 2000s again.

I think Jack back then could've existed without Jennifer have her presumed dead and raise the kids alone(a role reversal) however seeing Jack now without Jennifer and yeah he's become pointless sadly.

[Jaded]

Jack is like a hollowed out shell compared to when Matthew was on the show his first go around. When they started bringing him back the writing for the character got worse to the point of what we see now. 

[methodwriter85]

Damn it, watching that Chloe/Brady clip and suddenly I'm a blushing school boy again. Lol 

[methodwriter85]

On 11/27/2022 at 6:35 PM, Jaded said:

Jack is like a hollowed out shell compared to when Matthew was on the show his first go around. When they started bringing him back the writing for the character got worse to the point of what we see now. 

I liked when Jack was Greta's gay best friend.

[Irlandesa]

1 minute ago, methodwriter85 said:

I liked when Jack was Greta's gay best friend.

I thought they had good chemistry and I was disappointed the show elected to keep Jack effectively single while Jennifer was with whatever dud she was dating at the time. As a fan, I could appreciate the devotion but it was unnecessarily limiting the character.

[Pearson80]

1 hour ago, methodwriter85 said:

I liked when Jack was Greta's gay best friend.

I hated it because it was stupid because the show did not explore his love life with other women..

[WendyCR72]

1 hour ago, methodwriter85 said:

I liked when Jack was Greta's gay best friend.

Not me. That was a low point in the Clownification of Jack. Jack Deveraux, as layered as he was in the '80s, has just been eroded by too many hacks that never took the time to get the essence of his background/characterization down.

So they made him a comic stooge instead.

[Jaded]

19 hours ago, Irlandesa said:

I thought they had good chemistry and I was disappointed the show elected to keep Jack effectively single while Jennifer was with whatever dud she was dating at the time. As a fan, I could appreciate the devotion but it was unnecessarily limiting the character.

I was angry when they started with that pretending to be gay stuff. They did have good chemistry and it was frustrating never seeing him get to move on. I hated the way he was written in that whole Eve mess with Kassie in the role. 

[CanaryFan98]

20 hours ago, methodwriter85 said:

I liked when Jack was Greta's gay best friend.

I liked their friendship but I never thought they would work as a couple. I oddly enough could've seen him with Cassie, Nicole, or even DA's Kate back in the day.

[Panopticon]

80s-early 90s Jack oozed chemistry all over the place with women he was never meant to be with. 

Crazy rivalry chemistry with Genie Francis’ Diana. I wonder about the alternate universe where Marlena came back for Rojohn in 88 and Jennifer followed Frankie to New York, leaving Jack and Diana to have hatesex while arguing about who should own  the Spectator. 

Lovely friendship chemistry with Isabella that could have been more. And I know a lot of Jack fans hate Billie because she had that line about Jack being “sexless,” but I thought the vibe was good there too. 

Right before Jack and Jennifer were married off, Jack’s marriage of convenience to Charlotte Ross’s Eve actually could have turned into a real marriage under other circumstances.

In the absolutely awful “Jack believes he’s dying” story when JnJ were first married, Jack tried to set Brian up as Jennifer’s next husband. One problem among many: Jack/Ginger had much better chemistry than Brian/Jennifer. And I don’t even like Ginger! 

Honorable mention to the 2002 mini-story of Jack and Sami in the haunted B&B. Back before Sami perpetually flounced around town with a pack of men trailing in her wake for no apparent reason. 

[Irlandesa]

4 hours ago, Panopticon said:

Honorable mention to the 2002 mini-story of Jack and Sami in the haunted B&B.

Yep.  I loved that too.  They were unexpectedly great together.

[JBC344]

Jack has definitely been the "universal everyman" when it came to pairings. I miss all the platonic friendships the show would have, a majority of them with Jack. Isabella, Kate, Billie, Sami, Greta, Nicole.

[KBrownie]

On 11/28/2022 at 11:37 PM, WendyCR72 said:

Not me. That was a low point in the Clownification of Jack. Jack Deveraux, as layered as he was in the '80s, has just been eroded by too many hacks that never took the time to get the essence of his background/characterization down.

So they made him a comic stooge instead.

And yet, as awful as that crap was, I'd 100% take that Jack back over the empty shell that is present Jack. 

At least that Jack loved his daughter Abigail fiercely and was ready to fight Jen if she tried to keep her from him.  Hell, I'd take 2019 amnesiac mayor Jack back over this current version.  At least there was a reason for him to not be himself.  That Jack at least cared about his kids that he already had and wasn't going to let Eve keep him from them.  Memory or not.

Today's Jack exists only to prop the nasty retcon.  He literally ONLY shows up to continue to force the audience to buy into this supposed "bond" between Gwen and Jack.  "Call me Dad."  "I'm so proud of you."  If you have to repeat these same lines and go through these same motions EVERY time, it's not working.  No one cares about Jack and Gwen.  It's never going to be what they are pushing so hard.  It's so insulting to Jennifer, Abigail, and JJ.  

Quote

Jack has definitely been the "universal everyman" when it came to pairings. I miss all the platonic friendships the show would have, a majority of them with Jack. 

This just highlights the utter dud that is this forced father/daughter mess they are trying so hard to push with the retcon.  There's nothing between the actors which makes the story even more terrible than it already was.  If the story, especially involving such epic retcons and twisting of a character's ENTIRE personality, is already bad and nonsensical, then the actors really need to bring it.  That's not happening here.  Especially considering that MA has had tons of great fatherly rapport with Casey Moss and all the kid/teen/adult actresses who played Abigail.  I LOVED him with Ashley Benson and will always be impressed how natural he and Casey Moss were when they first shared scenes in that special episode with JJ.  

[DisneyBoy]

4 minutes ago, KBrownie said:

Today's Jack exists only to prop the nasty retcon.  He literally ONLY shows up to continue to force the audience to buy into this supposed "bond" between Gwen and Jack.  "Call me Dad."  "I'm so proud of you."  If you have to repeat these same lines and go through these same motions EVERY time, it's not working.  No one cares about Jack and Gwen.  It's never going to be what they are pushing so hard.  It's so insulting to Jennifer, Abigail, and JJ.  

👏👏👏👏

And, sadly, us as well.

Ben is a Hero!

Gwen is a beloved daughter!

Paulina has a fun personality!

🙄

Saying it does not make it so.

On 11/28/2022 at 9:51 PM, methodwriter85 said:

I liked when Jack was Greta's gay best friend.

I honestly thought Jack was gay when I happened to tune in at the time. But I didn't know him at all. It was just the look and delivery.

I know it flies in the face of his previous characterization probably but....I could see it.

Did they openly say he was pretending to be gay at the time? Was that the first time "gay" was uttered on the show?

[Panopticon]

1 hour ago, DisneyBoy said:

Did they openly say he was pretending to be gay at the time?

Multiple times. The whole plot point was that he couldn’t bring himself to reject Greta so he made up the story about being gay. 
 
I can’t think of an earlier time when the word “gay” was said, although a woman fell in love with Julie decades earlier…

[CanaryFan98]

12 hours ago, Panopticon said:

80s-early 90s Jack oozed chemistry all over the place with women he was never meant to be with. 

Crazy rivalry chemistry with Genie Francis’ Diana. I wonder about the alternate universe where Marlena came back for Rojohn in 88 and Jennifer followed Frankie to New York, leaving Jack and Diana to have hatesex while arguing about who should own  the Spectator. 

Lovely friendship chemistry with Isabella that could have been more. And I know a lot of Jack fans hate Billie because she had that line about Jack being “sexless,” but I thought the vibe was good there too. 

Right before Jack and Jennifer were married off, Jack’s marriage of convenience to Charlotte Ross’s Eve actually could have turned into a real marriage under other circumstances.

In the absolutely awful “Jack believes he’s dying” story when JnJ were first married, Jack tried to set Brian up as Jennifer’s next husband. One problem among many: Jack/Ginger had much better chemistry than Brian/Jennifer. And I don’t even like Ginger! 

Honorable mention to the 2002 mini-story of Jack and Sami in the haunted B&B. Back before Sami perpetually flounced around town with a pack of men trailing in her wake for no apparent reason. 

I forgot about a lot of those. Diana/Jack would've been interesting before they ruined the character a few years ago and made her Leo's mom. She didn't mention Jack at all yet he was a big part of her history in town.

[methodwriter85]

2 hours ago, CanaryFan98 said:

Back before Sami perpetually flounced around town with a pack of men

Wasn't that when Brandon Walker came in? He feels like the start of when Sami became the objection of affection instead of her constantly obsessing over Austin.

[SouthernChick]

I like Jack and Gwen together.

[Pearson80]

15 hours ago, Panopticon said:

Lovely friendship chemistry with Isabella that could have been more. And I know a lot of Jack fans hate Billie because she had that line about Jack being “sexless,” but I thought the vibe was good there too. 

Jack/Isabella was always awesome and she got Jack . Isabella was not scared of Jack's darkness and Jack breaking her out of that mental home was hilarious.

I am a Jack fan that despised Billie and I am so happy that he never touched her..  It was awful watching Bo and Steve be with her. I don't know if I could have taken Jack being with her.

I thought that Jack/Marlena had an interesting vibe as well. She was so good with him when she was helping him with his PTSD.  Those scenes were just wonderful to behold. Marlena is always at her best when she is in doctor  mode displaying her empathy  understanding patience and compassion,

I also loved Jack and Hope's burgeoning friendship when they were both leaning on each other for support in Aremid watching the loves of their lives being with others: Jennifer with Peter and Bo with that Billie..

Edited December 2, 2022 by Pearson80

[Pearson80]

7 hours ago, DisneyBoy said:

I honestly thought Jack was gay when I happened to tune in at the time. But I didn't know him at all. It was just the look and delivery.

Jack just connected real well with women. His friendships with men were just as good but he just came alive with women and it was not always a sexual vibe.. So I could see why some viewers not privy to his past truly believed that Jack was gay during the Greta storyline.

[KBrownie]

2 minutes ago, Pearson80 said:

I also loved Jack and Hope  burgeoning friendship when they were both leaning on each other for support in Aremid watching the loves of their lives being with others: Jennifer with Peter and Bo with that Billie..

Somewhat related in terms of Jack and Hope is the time period around 2002-2006 when Jack/Jennifer and Bo/Hope would hang out a lot and do things together as couples/family. They interacted with each other and each other’s children and it felt genuine and real. I wasn’t much of a fan of the Chelsea character, but it was well done how she started out as Abby’s friend hanging out in the JnJ household, but end up a part of the Bope family. It was new dynamic that JACK had the greater experience and knowledge about dealing with a teenage daughter.   I just shake my head at just how much of a DAD Jack was during this time and how that all got blown to smithereens for the retcon.
 

I really enjoyed the love and friendship between all four and the actors were all so familiar and comfortable that it played really nice on screen. I used to really get a kick out of Jack and Bo scenes because they were just so different, but were very much the same as well.  
 

I don’t remember the specifics, but I remember one instance where Jack was really hurt that Jen/Bo/Brady family deliberately kept him in the dark about Hope being kidnapped or something so that him writing about it in the paper would be more authentic or something?  But they told other people like teen Belle? Again, my details might be iffy 😉, but Jack was just SO hurt that they didn’t trust him. 
 

A far cry from today where Jack is only trotted out to prop and salvage the failed retcon with a weak tie to the canvas and a reason to exist. 

[Pearson80]

16 hours ago, Panopticon said:

Crazy rivalry chemistry with Genie Francis’ Diana. I wonder about the alternate universe where Marlena came back for Rojohn in 88 and Jennifer followed Frankie to New York, leaving Jack and Diana to have hatesex while arguing about who should own  the Spectator. 

It's funny that you said that because the show was trying to get Deidre back in 1988 but the negotiations fell through because she was trying to have a baby at the time.  Deidre had been pretty open about her fertility issues for years and how that affected her past relationships in real life.

Jennifer was supposed to get back together with Frankie.  While Jack and Diana were supposed to be the couple in case Marlena came back for Roman so the show started to build on the chemistry between Jack and Diana but the writers producers the soap press and the fans noticed the chemistry between Jack and Jennifer and the rest is history.  

Edited December 2, 2022 by Pearson80

[Pearson80]

14 minutes ago, KBrownie said:

I really enjoyed the love and friendship between all four and the actors were all so familiar and comfortable that it played really nice on screen. I used to really get a kick out of Jack and Bo scenes because they were just so different, but were very much the same as well.  

I was always uncomfortable with the Jack/Bo friendship because of Kayla. There should have been some type of tension because Bo was fiercely protective of his sisters even though he was their baby brother. I remember Bo overheard two men talking about Kim calling her a whore because of her past as a prostitute and he beat the crap out of one of them. If I am not mistaken that is how he found out about Kim.

Edited December 2, 2022 by Pearson80

[methodwriter85]

52 minutes ago, SouthernChick said:

I like Jack and Gwen together.

I actually don't hate Gwen as much as this board seems to hate her, but that's mostly because the actress is actually quite good.

1 minute ago, Pearson80 said:

Jack and Diana were supposed to be the couple in case Marlena came back for Roman so the show started to build on the chemistry between Jack and Diana but the writers producers the soap press and the fans noticed the chemistry between Jack and Jennifer and the rest is history.

I think the plan was to have Jennifer kind of bounce around after she had been graduated from the teen storyline. At that point Billy Warlock was supposedly on to better things so the 1989 internship was kind of a placeholder until they found a new story for her.

[Pearson80]

17 minutes ago, methodwriter85 said:

I think the plan was to have Jennifer kind of bounce around after she had been graduated from the teen storyline. At that point Billy Warlock was supposedly on to better things so the 1989 internship was kind of a placeholder until they found a new story for her.

So true. The new story was working at the newspaper as a reporter with Jack and Diana and the sparks flew between Jack and Jennifer.. I could watch those scenes over and over and never get bored.  The writing the dialogue the acting the push and pull between Jack/Jennifer.  We will never get that type of sublime writing ever again..

The magical thing about Jack and Jennifer like  is that they never needed an interloper to be interesting. Just put them in a room and just let the actors improvise as Jack and Jennifer..

Edited December 2, 2022 by Pearson80

[Irlandesa]

2 minutes ago, methodwriter85 said:

At that point Billy Warlock was supposedly on to better things so the 1989 internship was kind of a placeholder until they found a new story for her.

Jennifer working at The Spectator was always going to be a placeholder gig.  That has been established.  But I don't think it was meant to be a placeholder until Frankie came back even though I do think DOOL held out hope Billy eventually would come back.

But at the time, Emilio was her love interest and it was the other Billy--Billy Hufsey--who was leaving the show temporarily but I think it was believed he'd be back.  And the internship was to bridge that gap.

[Panopticon]

7 hours ago, methodwriter85 said:

Wasn't that when Brandon Walker came in? He feels like the start of when Sami became the objection of affection instead of her constantly obsessing over Austin.

Brandon had been around for a little bit then, but he had temporarily switched his interest from Sami to Jennifer. So Sami at that point was chasing Brandon rather than Austin (who had left town after his failed Vegas wedding to Sami), but she was still focused on exactly one man. At the climax of the B&B mini-story, Sami told Jennifer off for leading on Jack, Brandon, and Collin simultaneously. It wasn’t for another five years or so that Sami became the one always keeping multiple men in play (at least two of Rafe, EJ, and Lucas at any given time). 

[Pearson80]

7 hours ago, Panopticon said:

Brandon had been around for a little bit then, but he had temporarily switched his interest from Sami to Jennifer. So Sami at that point was chasing Brandon rather than Austin (who had left town after his failed Vegas wedding to Sami), but she was still focused on exactly one man. At the climax of the B&B mini-story, Sami told Jennifer off for leading on Jack, Brandon, and Collin simultaneously. It wasn’t for another five years or so that Sami became the one always keeping multiple men in play (at least two of Rafe, EJ, and Lucas at any given time). 

Wasn't there a time when the show was testing Jennifer and Austin as a couple when they were talk show hosts? How ironic years later Abigail wanted Austin...

[DisneyBoy]

On 12/1/2022 at 1:17 PM, Panopticon said:

I can’t think of an earlier time when the word “gay” was said, although a woman fell in love with Julie decades earlier…

Whaaaaa....!?!  Details please 😄

17 hours ago, methodwriter85 said:

I actually don't hate Gwen as much as this board seems to hate her, but that's mostly because the actress is actually quite good.

The writers/producers just don't have the conviction to make any new characters not retconned children of vets, because they think us dumb-dumb viewers won't accept them otherwise (at least that's my theory).

I'd have liked Paul MORE if he was just a random guy. His relationship with John could have just been a friendship or something. Same with Leo. I totally forget he was Diana's son or whatever. It has no bearing on who he is as a character anyway.

Here's a question: When Chandler put his foot in his mouth and announced to media he wouldn't renew his contract, leading to him being kicked out the door by DOOL right before Will and Sonny's first big wedding, what were Chandler's last scenes and Guy Wilson's first? I feel like Guy made his debut at the wedding, because it was just so incredibly awkward not seeing Chandler there...but I may be wrong. Did he debut beforehand?

I started asking myself today, "If Chandler had never been brought back, what would his unintentionally final scenes and lines as Will Horton been about? Something mundane? Something significant?"

Edited December 2, 2022 by DisneyBoy

[peachmangosteen]

46 minutes ago, DisneyBoy said:

The writers/producers just don't have the conviction to make any new characters not retconned children of vets, because they think us dumb-dumb viewers won't accept them otherwise (at least that's my theory).

To be fair to them, there usually is talk from viewers about how some new character is useless/they lift right out/they're not needed if they aren't tied to any existing character. 

But I think it's done mostly just out of laziness lol.

[Panopticon]

1 hour ago, DisneyBoy said:

Whaaaaa....!?!  Details please 😄

My details are shaky because this happened before I was born and I've never seen a clip.

But in 1977, Julie's friend Sharon Duvall was in a "free-wheeling" marriage. Sharon said her husband cheated a lot; the husband said Sharon had daddy issues. Doug said Julie should stay the hell out of it, lol. Sharon started showering Julie with gifts and eventually confessed her love to Julie, who panicked and ran out of the room. Sharon slit her wrists but lived. Dr. Marlena did some counseling, and the story ended abruptly with Sharon leaving town, although not before having a less dramatic moment of closure with Julie and giving Julie a special cameo.

[CanaryFan98]

6 hours ago, Pearson80 said:

Wasn't there a time when the show was testing Jennifer and Austin as a couple when they were talk show hosts? How ironic years later Abigail wanted Austin...

Yes they did and I actually thought it was believable with PM's Austin and MR's Jennifer. However they put Austin with Carrie and Jennifer with Peter and the rest is history. 

Austin/Abigail creeped me out since he was her bone marrow donor when she was a baby. I mean fortunately they never had sex though but still.. 

20 hours ago, Pearson80 said:

I was always uncomfortable with the Jack/Bo friendship because of Kayla. There should have been some type of tension because Bo was fiercely protective of his sisters even though he was their baby brother. I remember Bo overheard two men talking about Kim calling her a whore because of her past as a prostitute and he beat the crap out of one of them. If I am not mistaken that is how he found out about Kim.

I was never under the impression Jack/Bo were ever friends I feel like Bo tolerated him most of the time because of Jennifer and Steve (who he's actually friends with) because I always sensed tension with them tbh. 

21 hours ago, methodwriter85 said:

Wasn't that when Brandon Walker came in? He feels like the start of when Sami became the objection of affection instead of her constantly obsessing over Austin.

Yes he came around the late 90s/early 00s

[Panopticon]

50 minutes ago, CanaryFan98 said:

Austin/Abigail creeped me out since he was her bone marrow donor when she was a baby. I mean fortunately they never had sex though but still.. 

At least Jack and Jennifer actually mentioned the bone marrow transplant toward the end of that story when they realized Abby had been stalking Austin. I’m much more open to creep when it’s acknowledged as creepy. 

Quote

I was never under the impression Jack/Bo were ever friends I feel like Bo tolerated him most of the time because of Jennifer and Steve (who he's actually friends with) because I always sensed tension with them tbh. 

I really liked the first substantive scenes Jack and Bo had together on Ernesto’s island right before Hope’s “death.” Bo explicitly said that Jack wasn’t living down to his reputation. They were never going to be close friends, but I thought they got along well enough as very different men married to close cousins (and then men involved with women who were BFFs when Bo moved on to Carly/Billie). 

[Irlandesa]

4 hours ago, peachmangosteen said:

To be fair to them, there usually is talk from viewers about how some new character is useless/they lift right out/they're not needed if they aren't tied to any existing character. 

But I think it's done mostly just out of laziness lol.

Right.  It's done as a way to short hand a character's relevance.  Even though Charlie ended up being Ava's son (although that made sense since Ava wasn't legacy either so her having a past worked), I think he was the last "best" introduction this show did. 

He started sort of in the background as the assistant in the Xander/Brady power struggle.  Then he started hanging out with fellow baddie Gwen.  And his relevance just grew from there while also being a very well performed character.  So of course--bang bang, they shot him down.  (Has he come back to life?  I've missed his returns.)

[JBC344]

Charlie has been a hallucination this last go round. More like "the devil" on Ava's shoulder. 

Before that he was a zombie, and then a minion for the devil storyline.  

[DisneyBoy]

Two questions - I was just watching a Christmas clip from 1997, and Kimberly was there in the pub with two blonde kids wandering around. I didn't make the connection at first but then just before the camera cut away, she seemed to hug them and I thought...are they supposed to be young Theresa and Andrew? It makes it difficult when they cast kids with different hair colors that their later adult counterparts...

My other question is about Paul - exactly how specific did they get about when and how he was conceived? Am I misremembering that he was conceived back when John was a priest? And why would John do that if he was supposedly was a man of God at the time?

[boes]

45 minutes ago, DisneyBoy said:

My other question is about Paul - exactly how specific did they get about when and how he was conceived? Am I misremembering that he was conceived back when John was a priest? And why would John do that if he was supposedly was a man of God at the time?

Bingo.  Paul's mother won the big prize that Friday night.

It was either him or a toaster oven and she already had one of those.

It's not a sin if it's done for a good reason - or Bingo.

I know my catechism.

[Panopticon]

6 hours ago, DisneyBoy said:

Two questions - I was just watching a Christmas clip from 1997, and Kimberly was there in the pub with two blonde kids wandering around. I didn't make the connection at first but then just before the camera cut away, she seemed to hug them and I thought...are they supposed to be young Theresa and Andrew? It makes it difficult when they cast kids with different hair colors that their later adult counterparts...

 

Yes, Andrew and Jeannie (as she was then) occasionally made cameos when they visited with Kim in the mid-90s. Presumably because Shane was entirely off-screen for a decade while CS was in his sitcom star phase, the kids were blonds to match Kim.

It was especially weird with Andrew, since in the 80s and early 90s when he was a heavily featured child character he always had dark hair and huge dark eyes. So much so that it was hard to believe that the Salemites ever thought that Victor was his father. To the show’s credit, when Andrew’s true paternity was revealed, Shane had a line to the effect of “I did notice that he looked a lot like me but I didn’t want to say anything because I was afraid I’d sound crazy.” 

[methodwriter85]

The funny part was that Jen Lilley is a natural blond but they made her dye her hair dark. I always assumed it was because they wanted her to look like Julie.

12 hours ago, DisneyBoy said:

It makes it difficult when they cast kids with different hair colors that their later adult counterparts...

Abigail was played by a dark-haired girl circa 2002 so Kate Mansi wasn't too off. They did give Kate Mansi a really bad bleach job when she first showed up, but the show eventually let her go back to her natural dark hair.

[Pearson80]

18 hours ago, Panopticon said:

Yes, Andrew and Jeannie (as she was then) occasionally made cameos when they visited with Kim in the mid-90s. Presumably because Shane was entirely off-screen for a decade while CS was in his sitcom star phase, the kids were blonds to match Kim.

It was especially weird with Andrew, since in the 80s and early 90s when he was a heavily featured child character he always had dark hair and huge dark eyes. So much so that it was hard to believe that the Salemites ever thought that Victor was his father. To the show’s credit, when Andrew’s true paternity was revealed, Shane had a line to the effect of “I did notice that he looked a lot like me but I didn’t want to say anything because I was afraid I’d sound crazy.” 

I really loved the child actor that played Andrew and I loved his bond with Sean-Douglas.  They were best friends in addition to being cousins. Back then the show always showed the bond and love between the Brady siblings and I loved that it was continuing with the next generation via their children. Baby Stefanie and Baby Jeannie(Theresa) were always together as well.. 

Edited January 8, 2023 by Pearson80

[DisneyBoy]

The show recently beefed up its cast of (occasionally recurring) younger actors, but I've felt for years now that they've utterly neglected to show or write for the next generation, leaving them as plot devices if they're referenced at all. That lack of kid characters (and teen characters) really weakened the show overall. Small arcs about the kids learning and developing alleviates the need to keep the veterans always in the spotlight. I would have happily traded some of the repetitive stories about the adults in favor of something about the kids dealing with school, or their ABCs or whatever.

The last interesting kid characters were Ciara and Theo...and look what happened to them. Neither retained any of the traits they were initially given, thoughtfully and with clear purpose. Gosh, the writing a decade ago was so much better.

Now we have Thomas, Charlotte, Holly, Henry, Jules, Carver and Rachel. Who knows what will be done with them in the months/years to come...

Edited January 8, 2023 by DisneyBoy

[CanaryFan98]

23 hours ago, methodwriter85 said:

The funny part was that Jen Lilley is a natural blond but they made her dye her hair dark. I always assumed it was because they wanted her to look like Julie.

Abigail was played by a dark-haired girl circa 2002 so Kate Mansi wasn't too off. They did give Kate Mansi a really bad bleach job when she first showed up, but the show eventually let her go back to her natural dark hair.

I always thought JL looks better as a brunette. Crystal Chappell is a natural blonde but she looks better as a brunette.

[methodwriter85]

The show straight up can't afford a teen scene. That's why the Ciara one was the last teen scene I think this show will ever have. We might hear references to Salem High but I doubt we'll see it.

[DisneyBoy]

I'd think younger actors would be easier to get without having to break the bank. They generally have less of a resume, are more hungry for work...etc.

Boy the Ciara/Joey/Claire/Theo scene was weak...

[methodwriter85]

29 minutes ago, DisneyBoy said:

I'd think younger actors would be easier to get without having to break the bank. They generally have less of a resume, are more hungry for work...etc.

Boy the Ciara/Joey/Claire/Theo scene was weak...

They could, but I doubt they could afford a Salem High School set and the extras they'd need to have to make a believable school. I figured that was the reason why they brought in Allie and Johnny as Young Adults instead of teenagers.