DRW50

Hopefully. I imagine if Susan was asked, they must have some confidence. So many dramas now just go for grimdark, needle drop, emo woe montage. Ideally AMC could be more in the spirit of what Agnes wanted.

Those are good suggestions. She may have been seen as too old, but I wonder how Virginia Dwyer would have fared. Audrey Peters also could have been OK.

I'm glad if they are moving forward but is this different from what they've said for a while now?

I'd be happy if Ron got a new soap on the air. Even with BtG it's tough to imagine but I'd be happy. AMC/OLTL I don't see either but you never know.

I love that they chose Tracy for the GH character.

Thanks. I remember reading some of the synopses about Carter Bowden. I don't really enjoy James Lipton in anything, although he's easier to take as Dick than some other roles.

I wish all of his GH run was available. GH and ATWT seemed to be the truest templates for his talent, although he certainly had strong moments elsewhere. One of the best parts of being here the last year or so has been how active the GL thread is. I never would have guessed. Discussion of so many eras. I suppose it helps that no one is coming in here repeatedly asking why fans are giving critiques and not just remembering the good times. I still think GL could be revived today in some format, although I know that isn't likely.

Exactly. There is a real resentment from some at that show toward the past and those building blocks.

Regarding Marland and Philip, I think he missed a trick by not having Philip involved in Carrie's story. They could have had her "bad" alter find out about his paternity and nearly tell him, then had her end up in a coma after being knocked out, with various suspects (taking her back to the "Who Killed Diane?" story where she was the killer). They could have had Jackie do it and send Jackie away for a time to get a real actress in the part. Carrie then could have left Springfield in shame and fear of blurting out the truth someday.

Whenever I think of Barbara I think of the Guiding Plight where even Bert could barely tolerate her. They didn't really make an effort with TJ - if Kevin Bacon had stayed, possibly, but he was a B-player even then. Chris Marcantel was adorable, but they could have found a proper recast when he left. Instead, there was that old-looking guy who was barely on. The casting across the show was iffy at that point anyway. I think bad casting also killed Andy, along with lazy writing.

Oh right it was Pelphrey. Thanks. I have some vague memory of a mind controlled Paul too but maybe I just hallucinated that while fast forwarding.

I forgot all that. What was her name - Jane? Between that and sleeping with Ryan and the showgirl they really were out of ideas for Erica in those last years...

Very true. And if they wanted to keep the late '80s GL spirit going, he could have hired junta fighters to try to kill Philip and Meredith for cheating on Rick.

Kreizman wasn't HW at ATWT that long. I mainly remember a story where Paul Ryan had a chip in his head (wasn't that Paul?). His GL run was very polarizing. I didn't watch most of it. If you like mind control, intrigue, or bad boys who want to sleep with their cousins, he's for you. Admittedly, that does describe DAYS...

That does seem unfortunate, especially as Schnabel worked regularly through the '80s. Rick could have used a grandfather figure, especially with Bert gone. The character didn't seem well-used at all in Michael's first run once the original Four Musketeers story was over.

There really wasn't much to Barbara either - she was mostly just an exasperated and clueless mother figure. I wish they'd kept using her in the mid '90s when Holly and Blake needed her. I think the biggest loss of that group was Sara, although Marland did manage to keep her around.

You must have had a heart palpation. I would say I miss Gregory but I think that's mostly because of his exit story.

I didn't really mind that. I'd take it over Ron Raines doing a cod Japanese accent for months, no matter how much better the show looked.

Peter was the first Ed I ever saw. I enjoyed his work in the role, but he never was suited for a patriarchal role - his Ed was much more pensive and broken. He seems more like a followup to what I've seen of Gentry's Ed. Hulswit was very warm and natural. He would have likely been out of sorts for what GL became and what the Bauers became, but maybe the Bauers wouldn't have been decimated. Or maybe that was inevitable. I remember Michael Logan mentioning all the fun times and stories with Marland that he couldn't share. Between that and the anecdote about Marland and the toilet at his home with a photo of someone's face in it, I think he was mostly very good at keeping his true self out of the press. Some of his interviews during GL seemed to be the exception. I imagine that experience ending in such an ugly way, combined with his experiences with A New Day in Eden and tangling with Agnes Nixon at Loving, humbled him a great deal. Whatever happened, I vastly prefer his work at ATWT to his work at GL.

@alwaysAMC wrote a lot about the book while reading through it last year. I still think those last years were some of Zimmer's better work in her second run...but I can see why she would prefer the years when Rauch deified her. Thanks. All I remember of Marie is the still of her in her artist studio that popped up in articles on GL's history.

Thanks for such a detailed response. South Africa doesn't seem to be very sentimental about their soapies as pretty much all are gone now.

How long did DAYS run in South Africa?

I wish I'd seen that Faison first as my first viewing was in 1998, when, after a lot of hype and anticipation, he sniffed flowers and bored the hell out of me for months on end. I have never gotten past that tedium.

Thanks to everyone for the answers. I don't remember much of anything about Juan but had a vague memory of him going with Miguel.

Not since they broke up Drew and Carly.