zanereed

I completely agree. By October of 1984, the longest running cast member on GL was Jerry verDorn, who debuted on GL in 1979. To be fair, GL had cast overhauls previously over its rich history (primarily during the radio years), but nothing like that. I was someone who liked Pam Long's writing in a lot of cases, just not the decision to overhaul so much of the cast in a relatively short time period.

I agree, Mitch. As stated earlier in this thread, some episodes from those years are in the UCLA Film and Television Archive, but are wasting away as "Non-circulating SRLF archival copies". Most all of the gems they have there from ATWT, GL, EON, and AW are classified as such. I wonder if anything will ever be done with those? Probably nothing, at least not in my lifetime...

Technically, Jennifer Kirschner was the first Hope Bauer (1963 to 1965, I think). Elissa Leeds was the second Hope, but actually debuted as Hope on "Another World" in 1966. She would reprise the role again in 1968.

Claudia was Marty Dillman's mother. Marty married Peggy Fletcher and they had one son named Billy. Marty was only on GL for less than a year (1968 to 1969), then was killed off. Claudia was around for as long as Marty, I believe, and then stopped appearing. I think she returned a couple of times in the 1970's (still played by Grace Matthews) trying to gain custody of Billy when Johnny Fletcher abandoned Peggy. I assume that would have been in either 1972 or 1973?

Paul's right. I think it's even been discussed previously on this thread. The most popular reason discussed is that Lynne Adams wanted to leave GL as there wasn't much going on with the character of Leslie. I think the last storyline for Leslie was her desire to go back to college, and Mike disagreeing with her (a rather male chauvinistic attitude by Mike)? I think it was also brought up that the Dobsons weren't really sure what to do with Leslie, either, so they killed her off (they did the same with the character of Joe Werner in the same year). I have also heard that there was no "love loss" between Don Stewart and Lynne Adams, so that may have also factored in to Adams leaving.

Good question. I don't think so. Wasn't Tracy Delmar already dead when Charlotte was revealed as an impostor by Flip Malone?

Did Charita propose it? I thought I read somewhere (perhaps earlier in this very thread) that the story was suggested to Charita by Pam and Gail?

I am almost afraid to post this for fear it will jinx the channel all over again, but "SoapsNthings" are posting more GL episodes from around November 1981 up on YT: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCGd-CMhNwvTZ_b7flg44FdA/search?query=guiding+light+1981 The quality varies, but there is more from the Mike/Alan/Tenerife storyline, as well as plenty from Quint and Nola, etc.

There may not have been a specific benefit to keep them, but I can absolutely believe that some of them still exist out there. It makes me wonder how much P & G have (or had) in their archive...

I wonder how much "Another World" was actually kept. I can see kinescopes of key episodes being saved, of course.

That is a great point. JC and GR should have shared a sequence together during the Anniversary Week, without a doubt.

Did NBC/P & G even have much classic footage (from the late 1960's/early 1970's) available to use?

I think Lemay tolerated the Matthews clan, but was much more interested in writing for the Corys and Frames. It seemed from his book that he loved Bev Penberthy and Hugh Marlowe, however. As for Jacker, I wonder if she was under pressure from P & G to get rid of the Matthews family? I think they were trying to get Marland to do something similar with the Bauers during his time on GL.

Do know approximately when T.J. stopped appearing (i.e. - stopped appearing and went to "boarding school")? I was so young then and I can't remember this period as much. Thank you.

Correct. Joe Ponazecki played Larry Wyatt at various times between the late 1970's (I think) and early 1990's.

I never heard that before. Thinking about it now, Reinholt would been the right age range for the character of Alan. Although Christopher Bernau will always be "Alan" to me, I actually think Reinholt could have been a good recast of Alan when Bernau was finally too sick to play him in 1988.

Was Tim/T.J. still on GL at that point (I barely remember him, but I assume that's who is behind Millette Alexander)?

I think this must be from late summer or fall of 1976. It looks like Ben Mcfarren and Peggy Thorpe are missing - anyone else?

I wanted to follow up and ask what Maureen Garrett's wishes were.

It's definitely a nice idea. But, as Vee stated, that is WAAAAAAAAAAY too many characters and storylines for 12 hours of material. Plus, I have little hope that P & G would ever allow GL or ATWT (or any of the titles it owns) to be revived.

If I recall correctly, Allen Potter also was the one who opted not to renew Mart Hulswit's contract in 1981, evidently because Hulswit disagreed with how Ed was being written at that point. I don't know if that was Potter following orders from P & G or acting independently. I wonder if Marland would have followed Lenore's wishes to have written Rita differently, or if that was one of the disagreements he and Potter had throughout Marland's tenure?

I believe from it's premiere in 1987 through 1990.

Here's a link to the mention of Kobe firing Stewart while he was on vacation via WLS: http://www.welovesoaps.net/2013/08/gail-kobe-dead-at-82.html

Stewart was fired by Gail Kobe. Depending on what story you hear, Kobe fired him when Stewart was playing a golf game while on vacation. How true that story is, I've never been sure. As to why he was let go...it appeared that Stewart was resisting the Mike/Alexandra/Lilian triangle. I have no idea why. Pam Long did want to write for Mike, and she finally must have found a story she was satisfied with, as Mike didn't really have a strong storyline for quite awhile. Mike was more of the peripheral character at that point (when someone needed legal help or advice). I have a feeling if the Mike/Alexandra/Lillian triangle would have continued to develop, there would have been ramifications between Beth and Lujack's relationship as well.

Thanks for the heads-up, Carl. I'm glad the channel is back (although I see they are posting PP again - isn't that what got them in trouble in the first place?). I hope they can re-upload that great haul of GL they had from 1981 and 1982 back up again. I was just getting started on it when they were pulled from YT. Even so, for those that have yet to see these 1979 episodes, you are in for a treat. This is the year that Michael Zaslow should have won an Emmy for, IMHO.