tonymidnight

I may be in the minority, but I hated the full-blown violence and aggression that these feuds usually led to. I could understand Krystle's need to beat Alexis to a pulp after learning she killed her unborn baby, but every other cat fight they had after that as an annual season event held zero dramatic impact. Lily ponds, mudslides, fashion studios ... ridiculous. Now everyone just slaps someone with no hesitation. It's lazy writing.

You could always rely on a scene worth watching whenever GL's Alexandra and India were in the room together. McKinsey and Adams were magic together. Ditto for McKinsey and Victoria Wyndham ... AW Rachel and Iris are in the Hall of Fame for classic soap enemies. AW's Rachel and Alice helped define the bad girl vs good girl relationship. Even when she turned good girl, Rachel still felt unnerved by Alice's presence through the years. GL's Alan and Mike were classic male foils, romantic rivals made worse when Mike became Alan's father-in-law. That relationship drove much story for years. GL's Miss Sally vs Reva was always good for an intriguing story angle ... it's too bad we lost Miss Sally after Kyle was written out. They kept her around for a while, but I think they wanted to give Alexandra that role of perpetual thorn in Reva's side. Sally and Reva had much more in common to be natural adversaries. Reva should have aged into a Miss Sally-type, but Reva Part 2 lost all connection to her roots when she was brought back in the late 90s, a totally different character actually.

MacGregor looked and sounded like he could be Peter Simon's son. It was very good casting. Likewise, Aleksander looked like he could have been Tom O'Rourke's son and Jerry ver Dorn's nephew. The Marler men had good "matinee idol" genes.

It was a huge mistake never to bring Elizabeth back on canvas - it would have helped the character of Phillip so much in those later years. I always pictured her still living in Switzerland, perhaps struggling with mental illness on and off, trying to protect Phillip from her bouts with instability. Mike may have even found his way back to her. At some point, Mike could have reached out to Phillip to let him know Elizabeth needed him, and Phillip's reunion with his stepmother would have taken Alan and Phillip back a thousand years in their own troubled trajectory. However they did it, something should have been done with this missing link in Phillip's adult story: Elizabeth having nothing to do with her beloved "son" made zero sense, especially after Jackie's death. I actually entertained the whole real Spaulding heir twist as well - especially when Ben Warren came to town. I thought he should have claimed to be the real son. Maybe this could prompted Elizabeth's return. Hated the whole Ross half-brother thing, although it was good casting: Hunt Block looked like he could be ver Dorn and O'Rourke's brother, as well as Aleksander's uncle. Wasn't there rumours that Gregory Beecroft was a difficult actor to work with? Vincent Irizzary revealed in an interview (was it a Locher interview?) about an actor on the show when he began who was very jealous of him and things became physical, the other actor assaulted him. Online speculation grew that it was Beecroft.

Late Breaking News from a 1990 SOD announced the show was in the process of looking for a recast for Rick Bauer after Michael O'Leary vacated the role. They obviously abandoned these plans. I wonder if they had any contenders? I may be in the minority on this subject, but I always felt a recast was needed for this role. I thought O'Leary was the weakest of the Musketeer set. Loved to have seen a stronger actor be given more material to explore with this character. In fact, I would have loved to have seen this character be much stronger from the start. Rick really could have continued the evolving Bauer narrative from the 70s into the 80s without missing a beat. Years of Ed's selfish and indulgent romantic merry-go-rounds through the years, all those questionable step mommies for Freddie, Ed's drinking (and his abusive behavior towards Rick's mother early in their marriage) .... it was all fodder for some great parent-child conflict that GL truly excelled in: Ed and his own father Bill, Roger and his father Adam, Phillip and Alan, Holly and Blake ... Rick and Ed should have been given more of a cornerstone treatment. The show missed out on some classic family drama that was rooted in Bauer history and just waiting to be mined. My Rick would have been closer to his uncle Mike, whom Rick would have gravitated to as more of a stable father-figure type, romanticizing Mike as the father he wished he had. Instead of medicine, Rick could have gone into law instead. Phillip's dislike of Mike because of Mike's role in the whole Elizabeth-Alan drama could have been an issue in the Phillip-Rick friendship, which could have played more off Alan and Mike's old feud. While Phillip was the complex, bipolar loose cannon, Rick could have been the heroic one, following more in the footsteps of Uncle Mike, Springfield's version of Atticus Finch. Unlike Mike, however, Rick could have been a little more emotionally unsure of himself because of his issues with his father, and his fear that he was more like him than he was willing to admit. I wonder what Marland would have done with these characters? Wasn't Phillip and Rick's return to the canvas as teens part of his plans before he quit - wasn't he setting it up before he left? Did he have say in the casting of Aleksander and Phil MacGregor?

Just finished reading an old SOD article (1990) in which Marland expounded more on his premise for "Soul Survivors". He was aiming to go into a more multicultural direction after perfecting the multigenerational structure during his long career of head-writing, hoping to bring "people together who are worlds apart ... I hope that will be (the show's) trademark". "Set in an urban metropolis setting and featuring characters of racial and ethnic diversity, the soap will have a harder edge to it than any of the previous shows Marland has written for. He also hints at incorporating a level of international drama with characters globe-trotting from New York to London to Paris." He envisioned it premiering with a ninety-minute debut before it proceeding on in a half-hour format, introducing the viewers to a small cast of about eight characters and no more than two major stories. His dream cast: pairing Lane Davies (Mason, SB) with his favorite Jane Elliot ("I think they'd be dynamite together," he says). He also saw roles for other of his personal faves Lisa Brown, Susan Brown, Jon Hensley and even Genie Francis. He jokes he'd be happy if he could steal the entire cast of ATWT. That said, he realized the show - which was part of his deal with CBS - may never get its chance "given that CBS' current daytime lineup is so healthy" (this article was written in 1990). Still, he loved spending his free time working on it. He found it "exhilarating". Does anyone know if the bible is available to read? If anyone else is interested, the article also mentions other soaps in the planning stages in 1990: CASINO, a John Conboy-Peggy O'Shea collaboration for ABC that is set in Las Vegas. I recall CASINO being mentioned as early as the 80s in soap magazines, with a cast wish list that included Douglass Watson for one of its leads. NBC had two DAYS' spin-offs on the drawing board: PACIFIC LIVES, set in Hawaii and starring long-lost Horton son Tom Jr and his daughter Sandy, and a comedy-based soap starring John de Lancie and Arleen Sorkin as their DAYS characters Eugene Bradford and Calliope Jones (working titles: KEEPING UP WITH THE JONESES and SUNNYSIDE UP) set in Queens and revolving around Calliope's Bronx-based family of colourful characters. DAYS pitched two other spin-offs through its run: in the 70s, they wanted to spin Bill and Susan Seaforth Hayes off into their own half-hour show, and later in the 80s, Deidre Hall and Wayne Northrop in a Brady-based soap. Henry Slesar pitched four different soaps for P&G: CANNON (a spy and espionage themed soap, the bible of which ended up getting him the job as EDGE's new head writer); WILD PALMS (about a Florida crime family); FEAR NO EVIL (a Dark Shadows-type Gothic soap); and a prime time soap called THE SAVAGE GENERATION (about a medical school). Also at the time of this article, Gloria Monty was developing a new soap for ABC, as was Claire Labine, who wanted to do serial set in Brooklyn (which probably was adapted to be her infamous GH Ned and Lois project, which never got the green light).

I always thought her exit from Texas was very downplayed - not in the press, but on the actual show. For a couple of weeks, a renewed Iris tied up all her loose threads and even made amends with her hated enemy Paige (which was very convenient and not realistic at all), and even propped up new stories to come, such as the Ashley-Justin-Reena story. On that last episode, there was talk among all the characters of attending a goodbye party for Iris, but the party was never shown onscreen. It happened after McKinsey's last episode aired and before the next episode began, in which Iris was long gone. McKinsey's very last scene was with her sidekick Vivian in Iris' mansion, hours before they were all to attend this party. The scene was aired not at the end of the episode, but it was penultimate to the epilogue, that last one scene ACT that usually aired at the end of all those P&G soaps. The last scene belonged to the Ashley-Justin-Reena story, I believe. The message was clear - the show is not ending because Iris is leaving; instead, life goes on and the story will continue without her. No bells or whistles, not even a bugle playing in the distant background ...

In the Nov 27, 1990 issue of SOD, James DePaiva (best known as Max Holden on OLTL) reveals he was in talks with SB to replace Justin Deas as Keith Timmons. Negotiations fell through because DePaiva and producers couldn't agree on scheduling issues. Speaking of scheduling issues, did you know Justin Deas was originally supposed to play the character of Kelly Capwell's saxophone-playing neighbour Dr. Justin Moore, a role written specifically for him. Deas "had become unavailable at the last moment" and the role went to Larry Poindexter after a rush-audition. When Deas became free again, he was offered the role of Keith Timmons - and the character of Justin Moore was phased out to make room for Timmons. http://santabarbara-online.com/InterviewLPoindexter2.htm

I have no clue. It was early in the Nick story, when Alex was determined to prove Nick was her son when everyone else was saying it was impossible. So perhaps it was before Mindy tampering with the DNA results? I do remember SOD giving the scene a special mention after it aired, hailing it for the beautifully written piece of work it was as well as McKinsey's performance in it. Does anyone happen to have the Soap Opera Digest dated August 17, 1981 (vol 7 no 17)? Candace Earley and Richard Van Vleet (Donna and Chuck, AMC) are on the cover. There is an article in it "What are "Guiding Light's" chances to be #1?" that I would love to read.

There was a great scene between Alex and Lillian during the Nick McHenry story that did a wonderful job in explaining who Alex essentially was. It was a beautifully written scene. Everyone (including the viewers) thought Alex was going over the edge, but this scene gave her the chance to explain herself. It was the first time in years - possibly ever in McKinsey's run - to explain exactly who Alex had always been. She talked about how she had been used and abused by all the men in her life who she loved - her father, her brother, Eric and Roger. Losing Lujack was the worst thing that ever happened to her - from his abduction as a baby to his premature death so shortly after they had found one another after all those years of separation. This was a trauma that never healed. They managed to keep this defining hallmark consistent throughout all of McKinsey's run - from her evening the score with Alan when she first came on the scene, to falling for Simon's grifting, to becoming Phillip's mother-surrogate to falling under Roger's spell. But this scene really captured the essence of who Alex was - a damaged, wounded, traumatised human being who survived by her hard-as-ice queen exterior. Unfortunately, it's forgotten when people remember McKinsey's last story, concentrating more on the sensational moments that showed Alexandra at her worst.

So why leave us hanging ... who would you have paired her with? 🙂

Marcy could have made a good Amanda Spaulding recast. Amanda had ties with many people still on the GL canvas at the time - Ross, Vanessa, Josh and the Spauldings, of course ... and Walker could have been paired in a story with Zaslow as a romantic interest. If they were interested in reopening old stories long buried, Walker could have played Ken Norris' daughter Emily Norris, re-energizing the characters of Emily's aunt Holly and cousin Blake, exploring different avenues for her to follow: Roger, Ed, Ross, Rick, later Phillip. Whether or not anyone likes these suggestions, I've given it more thought than JFP did. Walker's treatment at GL was embarrassing to watch.

That particular period of GL - the Jennifer Richards trial - was very different from Marland's '82 GL. You could feel Harding Lemay's touch as '81 GL is very much like Lemay's AW. Lemay was part of the writing team during this period.

Maybe it was just me reading too much into things, but I felt there was some homoerotic undertones to Sonni and Alex's friendship. Alex may have hated Reva, but there was something more going on in her attachment to Sonni. I remember that scene that had Alex and Sonni sitting on the bed while Sonni was tearfully confessing to killing Will. Sonni had Alex wrapped around her finger, but it played very much like Alex was in love with Sonni. Alex was willing to go to the end of the earth to protect Sonni. It was never really truly explained why. There was something else going on that perhaps Long was flirting with? Finished reading an old Douglas Marland interview in the February 11 1986 issue in which he said he was ready to move on from ATWT in a few more years because he was "not the kind of writer who stayed with one show for 15 years". He believed in moving on to a new show and new batch of characters after a certain period of time. If he had lived, which show would have been a good fit for Marland's style of writing? I'm wondering if he would have been able to salvage CAPITOL, perhaps? One wonders what he could have done with DAYS OF OUR LIVES or ANOTHER WORLD.

Anyone who's interested ... I found it interesting that a family tree shown in the Feb 5 1987 issue of Soap Opera Digest listed Sophia's second husband as "Armand Armonti." Had no clue they ever named the Count.

Didn't the French SB site used to have the Bible up online? I'd love to read it. It was on this discussion thread that someone summarized much of the original bible from memory. I was intrigued that there was supposed to be a past shared by C.C. and Augusta. I wonder if the last minute recast of Lloyd Bochner altered their plans?

Just how can a SANTA BARBARA fan read the show's original bible?