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Oh, Tonja as Hope could have been great! And she would have filled the vixen gap that happened in 1998 when both Annie and Amanda left in quick succession. I can just imagine her sparking in a love/hate relationship with Ron Raines' Alan.

I loved Poser's campy take on Amanda, although I admit I was unfamiliar with Dobson and Marland-era GL when I was watching her. Now having seen Cullen, I can admit Poser seemed to be playing a completely different character, but I also don't feel too bothered by that (although I do wish the show had done a better job of directly addressing the character's 180-degree turn). But it makes me wonder: are there any conditions under which it is acceptable to totally reinvent a character? Amanda had been off the show for 12 years when Poser came on, and although she was a fairly long-running character, I'm not sure if she'd really been a beloved one. Part of me wonders if GL should have just used this tactic more often--bringing back very old characters who were written off because they were the "boring one" in a core family, but recasting them with more vivacious actors. All I'm saying is if, in the Rauch era, they'd wanted to bring on a recast Trish Lewis played by Tonja Walker, I'd have tuned in for that.

On a well-written show, Sonny shooting Jagger would have long-term consequences that would deeply impact most of the characters on the canvas. On this show, I expect everyone will have completely forgotten about Jagger within a month.

Interestingly, I don't think ATWT got much backlash when they actually did an intergenerational storyline, one that was a lot trashier than my idea. Remember when Larry Lau played Lucinda's boyfriend, who was actually a closeted gay man and developed the hots for Luke? But that relationship seemed fairly one-sided and never progressed beyond kissing before Lau's "bad gay" character was ushered offscreen.

Of course, with Ellen Weston and John Conboy helming the show at the time, we would have just ended up with burned spicy 😆

I think they could have had an interesting opportunity to bring Kelly back after Shayne had his car accident (circa 2003). John Wesley Shipp might have done it too, since he was done with Dawson's Creek by then. And there's several directions they could have taken a story, depending on how spicy they wanted to go. Mild: Kelly comes back to town as Shayne's doctor, helping him recover. Fed up with his father, who's been pushing him to become a baseball star, Shayne begins to idolize the compassionate doctor, which makes Josh jealous and ignites old rivalries between Josh and Kelly. Slightly spicy: All of the above, only Kelly is now bisexual. Josh gets it into his head that Kelly is trying to corrupt or even seduce his son, even though nothing has happened between them. A scandal ensues, with the town picking sides. Very spicy: All of the above, with Kelly as bisexual and Shayne exploring his sexuality. Kelly and Shayne try to fight the mutual attraction that develops during Shayne's rehabilitation, but they can't. An even bigger scandal ensues, with the town picking sides.

I think ATWT was in an especially good position because many of the characters/actors who stayed around for decades started off as troublemakers (e.g. Lisa, John, Susan) and never quite lost that edge, which made them more dynamic characters than, say, Dr. Bob. And that's not to begrudge Don Hastings' contributions to the show--every soap needs a Dr. Bob--but you can't have too many stolid, regular decent guy characters like that. In GL's case, they ended up writing some of their best troublemaker characters from the 1960s and 1970s into a corner and then killing them off: see Charlotte, Kit, and Roger. Thankfully, they were smart enough to bring Roger back from the dead, which drove story for another decade. But there weren't that many morally complex past characters to draw from, and they kept nearly all the most important "troublemaker" characters introduced by the Dobsons and Marland: Alan, Ross, Vanessa, Josh. The only one they could have and should have brought back was Rita.

Kobe and Long deservedly get a lot of flack for the cast turnover that happened from 1983-85, but honestly the problem started much earlier, as earlier eras didn't leave them with many beloved older actors/characters who could really serve as tentpoles for the show. I guess they could have brought back people like Barbara Berjer (Barbara Norris), Robert Milli (Adam Thorpe), or Millette Alexander (Sara McIntyre), but none of them had very deep relationships with the characters driving story in the mid-80s.

I think you've watched more of this era than I have. Don't things only get worse in 1986, after Long leaves?

Yeah, this is such a weird era of the show. The episode DRW50 posted is still quite watchable, as Long is a solid writer. But a viewer who hadn't tuned into the show for two or three years would recognize absolutely none of the characters, aside from Ross and Vanessa. And although it's to Long's credit that she appreciated the value of multigenerational storytelling, it's bizarre to have all the middle-aged and older characters to be newbies too (e.g. Calla, Miss Sally, Warren). In a well-run soap, those roles are played by veterans who've been on for more than a decade. Mind you, aside from maybe Don Stewart (Mike Bauer), I can't think of any 1970s or early 1980s GL actors in that age range who would have really worked in these veteran roles.

Josh had been holier-than-thou for years, so making him a minister seemed like a logical next step in certain ways. But I can't remember the show getting any actual juicy stories out of it, unless you count that campy story where Cassie's son Will (played by the actual kid from The Omen) pushed another kid offstage to get the lead role in the church Christmas play.

I like that idea, but I think there are a lot of interesting directions the show could have taken Josh if they just gave him more storylines that broke the "Josh has to choose between Reva and another woman" mold. For instance, when Josh was exploring his spirituality and becoming a reverend, maybe he could have reflected on the fact that all of his wealth and power came from being heir to a freaking oil company! Or to use your idea, they could have had either Marah or Shayne become an environmental activist and call him out on the ways Lewis Oil was destroying the planet. But despite the show's move towards UK-style drab realism in its later years, this was one real-world issue it seemed afraid to touch.

This might actually be a point in GL's favor, because compared to Nikki, Cricket, and Lily, Reva IS much more interesting. Post-Amish Reva, I'm not sure if I ever bought her as the sex goddess whose milkshake brought all the boys to the yard, but I could definitely buy the idea that men would be attracted to her DGAF attitude, sense of humor, and interesting experiences. I thought their arguments were much more realistically written than their reconciliations (which felt dictated by fan campaigns, not character logic). So over the years the show managed to convince me that Josh and Reva were much better apart. When the show ended, I really wanted to see her with Jeffrey--a man who seemed to actually like and respect her--but I knew I wasn't going to get that because the Josh/Reva superfans were still so vocal.

I think Mel and Rick could have worked as an anchor couple if only any of the writers had actually taken an interest in fleshing out Mel as a character beyond "black professional woman" and gave us more insight into her motivations and backstory. I think that Lucky Gold, who created the Boudreaux family, gave us a few hints of that--for instance, how she felt pressure to live up to her academic parents' high expectations of black excellence, while her brother Remy rejected them. But I can't recall that ever getting explicitly discussed on the actual show, even though it would help explain otherwise absurd stuff like Mel starting off as a doctor then switching careers to law. I think you probably could have gotten a good set of small realistic storylines out of issues like "Mel is busy with law school and feels like Rick isn't pulling his weight with childcare" or "Mel and Rick have clashing perspectives on raising a biracial child." But during the early 2000s especially, the show was not interested in telling those kinds of grounded realistic stories.

Michael Brainard is an interesting choice, because his Jake on AMC was a fairly similar character. But I don't think a recast would have helped the problems with Rick post-Abby, which plagued a lot of the aging "good guy" characters in the cast: Frank, Matt, even to some extent Josh. They were almost interchangeable, giving off the same "sad dad" energy (while occassionally slipping into judgemental self-righteousness). And they just seemed adrift most of the time, as if they were waiting to be partnered with a more dynamic female character that they could act as the straight man for. If they had paired Frank up with Blake and Rick up with Mindy a little earlier, rather than waiting until the final week, both characters would have had more purpose. GL was blessed with a lot of extremely well-written long-running female protagonists, who had distinctive flaws and points of view that made each of them unique. But for some reason, they couldn't figure out how to do that for most of their male characters, who seemed relatively flat in comparison.

Coming out of lurking to thank you for posting those great June 1994 scenes and then to sheepishly admit that I was one of those Matt/Vanessa fans. In fact, they were the storyline that got me into watching Guiding Light that summer, a habit I'd keep off and on for 15 years. I rewatched some of those scenes a few months ago, and I was struck by how how much they focused on Vanessa going on a voyage of self-discovery and reconnecting with her own desires, apart from her socially proscribed roles as mother and pillar of the community. It was the kind of storyline that even today you don't see very often in American TV or film; maybe you'd see it in a French film starring Juliette Binoche or Isabelle Huppert. It helped that they really took their time setting up the story with Matt, and he had a bit more of an edge to him in those early days. I think that subsequent writing teams just lost sight of what was interesting about Matt and his relationship with Vanessa. Matt's pride and his very different class background should have been a source of organic conflict for years, but the writers instead manufactured conflict through idiot plots like Vanessa faking her own death.

And Abby's hotheadedness gave us one of GL's all-time best shocking scenes, when she shot her attacker in the middle of a crowded courtroom. (It was such a good scene that the show's timeslot rival General Hospital ripped it off a few months later when Carly shot Tony in court).

That's just a still from Nicole's upcoming movie, Oops, I Did It Again: The Britney Spears Story.

I agree that they overuse Heinle. But I actually don't feel like they've tried everything to make her work. In fact, I think the show rarely writes to her strengths as an actress, which in my opinion are significant. In her best scenes, like the ones in her Emmy reels, I find her to be one of the most compelling actors on Y&R because she's able to convey a profound sense of sadness, of a woman who feels exhausted by all the pressures in her life. I know that's totally different than the way Heather Tom played the role, but it still makes perfect sense to me that a woman who's had to deal with Victor Newman her whole life would feel this way; I can barely stand to be around him for the 36 minutes it takes to watch an episode. You could get great drama out of a melancholy "poor rich girl" character like that; in fact, in the early days, Y&R did get great drama out of Kay Chancellor's similar state of existential malaise. But for whatever reason, the show rarely acknowledges this aspect of Victoria's character; it's all in Heinle's performance and rarely in the actual script, which often places her in a "girlboss" role more suited to Heather Tom or writes generic romance stories for her.

Tough question, because each soap had its highs and lows during each decade, and even with the shows I watched a lot, I never stuck through an entire decade's worth of episodes. But off the top of my head (and based on the limited episodes I've seen), I'd say: 1970s: The Edge of Night (with The Doctors as a runner-up)--intelligently-written mysteries that didn't dumb down its characters 1980s: All My Children (with One Life to Live as a runner-up)--nice balance of humor and drama 1990s: General Hospital (with Guiding Light as a close runner-up)--great social issues stories, plus very interesting couples like Kevin & Lucy 2000s: Guiding Light (with As the World Turns as a runner-up)--hard call, because GL was atrocious in the first half of the decade, during the same years when ATWT was much better. But even as budgets were cut, Ellen Wheeler produced some really interesting and experimental character-based drama. 2010s: Days of Our Lives (with General Hospital as a runner-up)--the right balance of camp with intriguing cliffhangers, plus the best dialogue on all the surviving soaps.

Yes, I was thinking the same thing! Kill Victor off a few months before the end of the show so you could play out the "battle for Newman" drama with the kids. There would be all kinds of opportunities for organic drama there; maybe Jack would start to console Nikki, which would anger Nick. And then Phyllis would be with Nick, but would also be territorial over Jack and thus would clash with Nikki. I think they'd also need to give Jill some kind of big storyline, but I'm not sure what that would be.

It's interesting; Luke and Laura are one of those couples who've broken up so many times (and for such good reasons) that I'm not sure if I'd actually want to see them together again. I felt the same way about Josh and Reva at the end of GL. I knew that the show in a sense HAD to end with them together to appease the fans who still had fond memories of 1980s Josh/Reva. But I felt like the show had done such a good job in the late 2000s of delineating exactly why Josh/Reva were a toxic coupling that I really wanted to see her end up with Jeffrey instead. It's the same with Laura; I'd be much happier if she ended up with someone who respected her more, like Kevin.

Imagine that your favorite of the 4 current soaps was not renewed and given only 6 more months to wrap up its storylines. How would you want them to spend those final six months? Would you kill off any characters? Bring back any past characters? Pair off any currently estranged characters?

I think you're absolutely right: he probably would have made a great Lucky recast. GH has a lot of these casting disasters (Roger Howarth as Franco, Jeff Kober as Cyrus, etc.), and I guess the blame should be laid at Frank's feet. He keeps hiring these actors he likes, without having a clear understanding of what their actual strengths are or what kinds of roles they'd be best at.

Yeah, I was also struck by how well-written those texting scenes were. As you said, they were the highlight of the episode and were genuinely hot. I wonder who wrote them!