katie_9918

Thanks! Don't rush or anything, but I'll be glad to check them out.

I'd love to see whatever you have! Thank you! Everything I've read paints a pretty broad stroke over a lot of things.

Wow, thanks! I've always been curious about the old-school Bauer clan and it did answer a few questions for me. For curiosity's sake, I'd love to see more of that storyline. I've already seen the "Man of the Year" episode (was that Bill's first appearance, or had he already been on for a bit, visiting Hillary?) where Rita picked up the photograph Bill dropped, thanks to the Bauer Family DVDs. Does anyone remember how Bill and Bert left things this time around? I know Bert filed for divorce, in essence letting Bill go back to Simone, but did they get any time together to talk about any number of things? If the rest of the story was anything like the scene where Bert first reunites with Bill from the Bauer family tribute from the 50th anniversary week (with Ed Bryce introducing the clips), I'd have to commend both Ed Bryce and Charita Bauer for rising above that horrid story and giving us at least one poignant moment.

After reading through the history of the show, I was pretty angry myself when I realized where Bill Bauer ultimately ended up. That sort of story is simply inherently unsympathetic, but there would have been so many small ways to take the harsh edges off and still not let Bill off the hook for abandoning Bert and Michael and Ed. Hell, I could probably come up with a story that didn't completely demolish Bill Bauer. I'm glad to see Ed Bryce wasn't all that enthused about the story. I'm sure there were times he was reading the script and wondering, "Who IS this?" Of course, twenty years later, Ed did almost the same thing to his almost-grown daughter. The only thing he didn't do was let Michelle and Rick think he was dead, but he did check out on them. Amazing how alike Bill and Ed were, especially given the fact that Ed seemed to not really like or respect Bill for different periods.

Looking back, the show certainly was in the middle of a high period while JFP was around. Yes, it was a HUGE mistake to kill Maureen, but most of the other things she had a hand in were pretty good. Certainly better than that horrible 1977 story that brought Bill Bauer back from the dead, filleted him, and then ushered him right back out of town when he should have stayed put and taken Papa Bauer's place alongside Bert. What was the point of bringing Ed Bryce back for that travesty? Bill may have had more than his fair share of weaknesses, but in reading all I could about the Bauers, he always read like a well-meaning, good-hearted, decent man and neither he nor Bert realized they were incompatible until after they were married. Does anyone remember Bill's reaction to Bert's surprising reaction to his affair with Maggie Scott? From everything I've read, it was supposedly a turning point for Bill and Bert and things got a little better between them.