zanereed

Mitch,

Here's how I would have handled Michael Zaslow's illness and Roger, going back to 1997. If I'm the EP of GL and MZ comes to me and says he isn't sure what's wrong with him and needs to figure it out, I grant him that time off and I tell the writers that Roger needs to be written off the canvas for the foreseeable future - write his absence in as a mystery. Everyone loves a good mystery, right? YMMV, of course.

Basically, I think I'm stealing for your earlier idea in this thread. Meaning, Roger suddenly disappears from Springfield. Basically, Amanda asks Blake if she's heard from Roger. Days prior, Roger told Amanda he had business to take care of all of sudden, and he leaves. He doesn't tell Amanda where he's going, who he's meeting, why he's leaving, or when he'll be back. He just leaves (which could have all been done off camera). Blake says she hasn't talked to Roger in a while, either. They both begin to worry as the days pass. It's just like he vanished completely.

The next few weeks and months result a "Where's Roger?" mystery storyline, which would culminate in Amanda, Blake and possibly Holly investigating and finding some flight records which indicate that a small plane that supposedly Roger was on crashed in some remote location, killing all passengers - including Roger. Now, the mystery isn't solved as far as the "why" of Roger's disappearance. However, since Roger did not leave any trace of evidence other than the fact he was on the flight, Roger is once again declared dead. Amanda leaves Springfield (if they chose to write her out), and Blake and Holly get on with their lives...

...that is until (as he did with "One Life To Live") Zaslow could find a way to work in order to finally allow the writers to effectively write Roger out of GL, and use Zaslow's real life illness as the way to do it. You could educate the audience, have PGP in conjunction with Zaz's Angels to allow for donations to be made, etc (And screw the "wizend old man" comment). This would allow Zaslow and Garrett to share some final, heartfelt scenes together. They would have knocked it out of the park.

Basically, a few months (or whenever Zaslow could return, even briefly) after Roger is declared dead. Holly receives a cryptic phone call from Adam Thorpe, Roger's father (either a brief or long-term stay for Robert Milli as Adam) asking Holly to a private hospital wherever the writers chose - maybe it's in Oregon, where Adam was last known to reside. It could be anywhere. Holly gets a strange feeling in her gut about why Adam called, but she does it, no questions asked - leaving Fletcher to take care of Meg at a moment's notice (and Fletcher wondering what is going on).

Holly arrives at the hospital and meets Adam. She's not surprised that it's not Adam who is the patient. She looks straight into Adam's eyes and firmly states, "Where is he, Adam? Where's Roger?" Adam tells her to prepare herself, as he takes her to see Roger, who is now in a wheelchair. Roger tells her his condtion (ALS). He realized something was wrong with him when he was in Springfield. He had tests done privately, and when the doctors told him his condition, he fled Springfield and went to see his father. He didn't want anyone to see him like this - not Amanda, not Blake, certainly not anyone he regarded as an enemy (Alan). He faked his death carefully so that no one would ever learn the truth. He had no choice in getting ALS, but he does have a choice in how he will die. No one except his father and Holly will know about his condition.

Holly - feeling so many different emotions at this point - asks why Roger would tell her? Why now? After a heartfelt pause, Roger tells her that he loves her, he's never stopped loving her, and he couldn't love anyone - including Amanda - like he loves Holly. He never intended Holly to find out his condition. He wanted everyone in Springfield to remember him as he was, not the way he is now. He admits that he couldn't stop thinking about her - he became selfish - he finally had to see Holly one last time. Adam was glad to make the call to her.

Roger tells Holly that he's truly sorry for everything he put her through over the years. He tells her that he revised his will once he was diagnosed, and upon the time of his death, that new will shall be sent to Springfield to be read. Basically, the majority of his Spaulding stock will go to Holly, with the rest going to Blake. He will make sure Holly is taken care of financially. Holly tells her that she doesn't need his money. Roger looks up at her and just says, "Please accept this. For me." Roger insists to Holly she cannot tell Blake about his condition. He couldn't bear Blake seeing him like this. Roger and Holly look at each other one last time (both saying "I love you" and giving the audience closure between them) and Holly leaves, an emotional wreck.

Holly returns to Springfield feeling incredibly numb, her emotions spent from her time with Roger. Fletcher and Blake keep asking where she was, why she left, but she refuses to say anything (although she's very tempted to say something to Blake, but she keeps flashing back to Roger's plea, so she stays silent).

If Zaslow could still work, then the next part of the story is that Blake doesn't leave it alone, and traces where Holly went. She goes to the hospital herself. She finds Adam, who is shocked - yet very glad - to see her. Adam assumes that Holly told Blake about Roger, but Blake is in the dark. She pushes through Adam and finds Roger. She's stunned, but so happy to see her father alive. Roger at first thinks Holly went back on her word, but is relieved when Blake tells him that Holly told her nothing (which infuriates Blake). Roger tells Blake he never wanted her to see him like this. He loves her very much.

From there, Blake returns to Springfield livid with Holly. Adam would eventually come to Springfield to let Holly and Blake know that Roger passed away peacefully.

But then, there would be the issue with Roger's new will, which would have been filled with other surprises for the citizens of Springfield.

Roger might have finally been gone, but he wouldn't soon be forgotten...

An interesting post Stalker storyline should have been actually seeing Holly going through recovery in the mental hospital, and having Ken there as her support - especially since Ken had only recently been released from a mental hospital, himself. It would have been nice to also have Barbara return to help as well, even if it was just a limited stint.

Instead, Ken himself was just written out after trying to "outshout" Justin Deas. Roger Newman never stood a chance with that one.

I believe that photo was from 1969, after Don had been playing Mike Bauer for a few months. Don certainly looks younger - is that what you meant, Carl?

I went back to watching the abundance of 1984 episodes on YT. It's great to be reminded why I loved Beverlee McKinsey and Tina Sloan. Watch this ep beginning at 32:26, from the beginning of Alexandra and Lillian's conversation to when Mike arrives, and how each of them play it when he does. Priceless.

http://youtu.be/FWI0WTjebN0?t=32m26s

Exactly right - once she and Billy were over, that seemed to be it. Buzz certainly didn't do her any favors, as Soaplovers stated above.

I liked Katie Parker. I had a schoolkid crush on both Denise Pence and Lenore Kasdorf. Katie was fun, and was a nice counterpoint to the heavier stories going on at GL. She had a good rapport with Marsha Clark (Hillary Bauer). Marland did write for Katie, but as a victim (the Andy Norris storyline, for example). I think Marland preferred that Nola be the "fun" one during his tenture.

It would have been nice if Pam Long had been able to write a Hillary/Jim/Katie triangle, where Katie - for the first time in her life - didn't step aside. She would actually fight for something (Jim's interest), creating a new and (hopefully) interesting dynamic between Katie and Hillary.

I liked Nadine, as well, but that all depended on who was writing for her. I certainly never wanted to see her killed off.

Younger and sexier...I don't think I would ever associate that term with Peter Simon. Well, Simon was definitely younger than Hulswit...by 3 whole years! I probably associated Simon so closely with "Search For Tomorrow" for so long that him suddenly being Ed Bauer was...jarring.

I wonder why they never tried to bring back Robert Gentry as Ed in 1981? Granted, he was still on "Another World" at that point (through November of 1981), but P & G moved actors around all the time in their soaps.

I also want to thank saynotoursoap, because his posts here have reminded me of things I had forgotten in the 1970's watching GL as a young kid, such as the build up to the return of Bill Bauer in 1977.

saynotoursoap, if you do happen to read this, you had mentioned in a previous post of Mart Hulswit being fired in 1981 because P & G wanted the Bauer family marginalized and new characters to take over (or perhaps gleamed that from an interview with Hulswit from 1981?). You had also mentioned that the Dobsons and Marland weren't really thrilled with Hulswit in the role. Do you know where you read or heard this? I only ask because as far as the Dobsons go, Bridget usually said positive things about Charita, Don and Mart, and that group being one of the primary reasons they refocused the show on the Bauers. I really don't know how Marland felt about Hulswit.

I read in a couple of places that Allen Potter claimed Hulswit was beginning to be problematic (often questioning the scripts and the choices for his character) so he decided to replace him. I don't know if this is true or not, either. I was curious if you knew anything more about this.

Soaplovers,

Hillary's death made no sense to me either, and seemed to only serve as a "shock point" for the "Susan Piper/Brandon Spaulding back from the dead/let's give Keith Charles his third role GL role in 9 years" storyline. I didn't think that story was Pam Long's finest writing at all.

September of 1984 was not GL's finest hour, in my opinion.

Carl,

Thank you for those scans and continuing where they left off. I love reading these.

Carl,

I've tried again to watch the available 1985 clips on YT, and I just can't get through them. Considering where the show was just one year prior, it really illustrates how far it had fallen (in my opinion).

I also want to state that I'm not a Pam Long hater at all. In fact, I think she managed to jump-start the show again when it needed it the most. The only unfortunate thing was that many of the core characters were written out under her first tenure. If that hadn't happened, or not to the extent it happened, I think her first era might be my second favorite next to the Dobson era. I don't know if the Infinity storyline was hers to begin with, but that was just something that wasn't GL. At least, not the version of GL I was used to watching under the Dobsons.

For example, I think the few months that Pam Long wrote for the character of Hope Bauer was probably better than the 2 years that Marland wrote for her. Looking back at the episodes I have from 1980 to 1982, it seems like Elvera had to say "Oh, Alan" or something to that effect on a regular basis. If I devised a drinking game based on that, my liver would be completely shot in a few months. Hope seemed to become much more interesting under Long - then, all of a sudden Hope's written out! I was also one of the GL fans that went, "WTF?!!?" when Justin Marler was written out in September of 1983. I was looking forward to the next era of the Justin-Phillip-Alan triangle, since Phillip finally knew his true parentage after almost 6 years (August 1983). Then, all of a sudden Justin's written out! And on and on and on...

On another note, I should really try comparing 1985 to 1993-1994 and see which era is worse for me.

Carl,

I really tried to feel the heat, but by 1985 I was ice cold towards GL.

Sorry, I couldn't resist.

Someone might have posted this previously in the thread, but for anyone interested in reading SOD Synopses of GL from mid-1975 through late 1976 (the issue "months" don't match up with the actual story months), here you go:

http://fnaf.net/classicsod/?cat=20

Even for those who aren't familiar with earlier GL history, it's still an informative read. Ed, Holly, Roger, and Christina/Blake history are included, as is the death of Rick Bauer's mother, Leslie. It even includes the introduction of Philip Spaulding's natural birthparents, Justin Marler and Jackie Scott (Marler) months before Philip arrived with Alan and Elizabeth Spaulding.

Yes - the videos being posted on YT concerning Jennifer Richards imprisoned and Mike Bauer trying to get her another trial are from that DVD set (along with Ed and Rita marital problems, Amanda losing her baby, Elizabeth preparing to leave, Hope talking with Elizabeth about Alan, etc.).

I still miss it.

I'm glad we're getting some 1981 videos, although I wonder why there aren't any 1980.

DRW50,

What WLSV is putting up from 1981 is what was on one of the last GL DVD sets made by Soap Classics, which was "The Trial of Jennifer Richards" set which had 10 consecutive episodes from 1981 - now OOP/deleted. The Christmas episodes from 1979 and 1980 which have also been posted by WLSV are - I suspect - episodes which were to part of a "Guiding Light" Christmas compilation which never came to pass. I don't know if they have access to any other material from GL. I might be wrong though, seeing as a lot of the 1979/1980 ATWT material currently up on YT is also being posted by them.

I think that was what Long was going for..and yes, I think Alex who was basically a "good," person, but hyper protective of her family and business (which the writers forgot once Marj took over and she became a screaming shrew) and not above doing things the "wrong," way to get good results, would have been great up against law and order Mike who also was hyper protective of his family. They tried that with Fletcher but he was too weak and annoying with Alex..(hated the actor.) Been interesting if they had married, and Alex and Mike were "two love" that just couldnt live together, they divorce and then Mike has to watch Roger swoop her up. I think that was what Long had planned with Alex knowing that Alan was alive, where he was, and hiding his criminal activities (she blackmailed him with them to leave town and hand over the company to her.) Then when Alan returns he blackmails her and finally tellls Mike what was up and he leaves her.

I would love to know what happened with this and the abrupt change in tone that fall of 84 or 85 when the show unraveled.

Great points, Mitch. I could see the remainder of 1984 and most of 1985 being the Mike/Alexandra/Lilian triangle, leading to Alan's return in 1986. Basically:

1. Mike and Alex break up over Alex's taping of Alan's confession (fall 1984).

2. Lillian, knowing Mike is now single and with encouragement from Beth, reapproaches Mike and tells him she wants to try dating again. Mike, still rebounding from Alex, welcomes the opportunity. Alex is jealous of their dating (fall/winter 1984).

3. Lujack is accused of killing Andy Ferris (spring 1985). Alex begs Mike to defend him. Although initially reluctant, Lillian agrees (due to Beth), and Mike defends Lujack. Alex and Mike grow closer again during this time, and Lillian notices, sharing her concerns/frustrations with Beth.

4. Lujack is imprisoned, but Mike doesn't give up. It would be Mike who would eventually discover that Floyd commited the murder of Andy. With Lujack's innocence secured, Mike realizes he has a decision to make - Alex or Lillian. This triangle also puts a strain on Lujack and Beth (early summer 1985).

5. Mike is informed by his Aunt Meta that Bert has passed away (late summer 1985). Mike and Ed both reel at the news. Mike tells Alex and Lillian that he can't choose between them right now, as his family comes first. Hope returns home for Bert's funeral.

6. Alex, trying to find a reason to see Mike in some way, overhears Hope tell Ross Marler that she needs to find employment soon - she has Alan-Michael enrolled in an expensive school in NYC. Alex offers Hope the opportunity to redesign the Spaulding mansion, hoping that Mike will make the occasional visit to see Hope. Hope agrees, thinking it will be theraputic to "purge" the memory of Alan from the mansion. Alex makes sure to keep Hope busy with redesigns, and Mike eventually does pay visits to the mansion. He and Alex slowly rekindle their friendship. Seeing what Alex is doing, Lillian also gets assertive, ending up attending the wedding of Mindy Lewis and Kurt Corday with Mike. At the reception, she informs Alex that she will fight for Mike. Hope starts to date Ross Marler (fall/winter 1985).

7. Lujack dies after the boat explosion. Alex is devastated and Mike comforts her during her time of mourning, spending the holidays with her. Lillian decides to back down from pursuing Mike (December 1985/January 1986).

8. Despite all their past and current obstacles, Mike and Alex become engaged (late January 1986). Alex doesn't want to wait long to marry Mike, and plans for a lavish June wedding. Although Mike doesn't really want all the hoopla, he eventually concedes, wanting 1986 to be a much happier year for he and Alex than 1985 was.

9. Alan is alive and well (May 1986).

10. Alan "crashes" the wedding of Mike and Alex (in place of the masked ball), setting up a chain of new events that would have lasted for another year or more (June 1986). Such as,

• Blackmailing Alex (as Mitch stated in his post) to give Alan back Spaulding Enterprises, or he will reveal to Mike that Alex knew Alan was alive all this time.
• Mike becoming obsessed with getting the incriminating blackmail tape from Alex, and wondering why Alex won't hand it over.
• Sabotaging Ross and Hope's relationship.
• Bringing Alan-Michael back to Springfield and fighting for full custody of him (no 1987 SORAs for AM).

This reads a little better than what actually happened in late 1984 and all of 1985, at least to me.

Mitch,

I agree completely. Mike was always the more stable one (at least once Stewart took over) versus Ed (especially when Mart Hulswit played Ed), although I admit I did like the Jennifer/Mike pairing. But, it's why I said a few posts above that Mike and Alexandra Spaulding would have worked. She would have been fiesty enough to push Mike, especially when it came to protecting her family. Being a Spaulding, it would always play into the fact that she is Alan Spaulding's sister, and I can see trust issues always getting in their way. I can always picture Chris Bernau's Alan being horrified by the idea of his enemy dating - or, worst of all marrying - his sister, much the way Mike was horrified when Hope married Alan.

Plus, in the right writer's hands, it could have been very interesting having Alan-Michael constantly in the push-pull between being a Bauer and Spaulding. The Powers That Be often seemed to forget his mother was a Bauer.

I think Elizabeth's last episode might have been on the "Trial of Jennifer Richards" DVD set from 2012. If not, she was gone shortly thereafter. I think Lainie goes in another month.

I still think Mike and Jennifer would have been a good pairing. I don't know why Marland drifted away from that.

I think the push and pull between Alex and Mike would have worked for awhile. I think I posted earlier in this very thread on how Mike and Alex could have worked throughout the rest of 1984 and into 1985. I think it would have been interesting to have a Mike/Alex/Lilian triangle, with Lujack and Beth being impacted in this. The culmination of this whole storyline would be a wedding planned in 1986, or just at the time that Alan could return to stop it in its tracks. Alan's reappearance could have reignited the Mike-Alan feud that had been going on since 1978.

I also heard that Pam Long was willing to write for Mike, Mitch. This is why I wonder if Stewart either didn't get along well with Beverlee McKinsey or if he wanted Mike to go in another direction romantically. It was odd that Mike never remarried after Leslie died in 1976.

I've been watching whatever clips are available from 1984 right now. Some I haven't seen for awhile. I'm still perplexed as to why Gail Kobe decided to fire Don Stewart and Marsha Clark. Yes, they were Bauers, but Stewart was the second longest-running character on the show. Does anyone know if he was difficult to deal with at this point, and Gail just finally said "enough"? Or, could Pam not write for the character at all? I still think they could have milked the Bauer-Spaulding feud for many more years if Mike was still on the canvas. I also think that Marsha as Hillary was fantastic, and I can't think of a good reason why they ever killed her off.

You are right, of course - Ed (after Peter Simon took over) did get more to do once the Maureen Reardon appeared on the scene. Oddly enough, I think Ed had the biggest storyline in years in 1985 (when Richard Van Vleet was in the role) during the whole Fletcher/Claire/Maureen/Ed storyline that resulted in the birth of Michelle.

That would make sense. I guess I could have bought Carrie Mowery as a Elizabeth recast versus Jackie (I think I mentioned that earlier in this thread).

After being in front burner storylines with the Dobsons, Marland had both Ed and Mike shifted to supporting players during much of his tenure there. It might have been around this time that P & G started putting the pressure on Marland to get rid of the Bauers altogether and focus on a much younger demographic.

Yes, they were both from December. I think what jumps out at me the most is how the 79 one tries to keep everyone together, whereas the 80 one is more comfortable using segmented groups. The attempt at a young, hip vibe in the 1980 episode, and the heavy focus on Morgan, is another noticeable difference.

I know she was apparently difficult but I love what Kristen Vigard brings to the role. She makes me feel sorry for Morgan, even in some horrible moments (like berating a pregnant woman), in a way I never could for Marland's other characters in this vein (Laura, Lily).

I do think that some years bled together, like Pam Long's Christmases in her second run, but for the most part the show just seems so different each year.

It certainly illustrates the differences between the Dobson era and Marland era. However, I do note how Marland did have a good chunk of the cast at the Bauer home at the very end of the 1980 Christmas episode. It's also noteworthy that this would be the last Christmas episode for Stefan Schnabel (Stephen Jackson) and Mart Hulswit (adult Ed Bauer #2), both of whom had very long tenures on GL. The other thing that sticks out is how miscast Carrie Mowery was as Jackie Marler compared to Cindy Pickett.

Does anyone know if Lezlie Dalton (Elizabeth Spaulding) wanted to leave the show, or if Marland simply wrote her out for storyline purposes? It seems to me there was still plenty of mileage in the Philip storyline.

I just noticed that Carl changed his name. NOOOOO Carl! Change it back!

I'm sure he will once Doctor Who's 50th Anniversary passes...?

Carl,

Also, regarding Ed Bauer and Robert Gentry/Mart Hulswit - there was a four-to-five month gap in 1969 between when Gentry left the role of Ed Bauer to when Hulswit took over.