DeeVee

Yes, it really was. Two of their most popular actors returned that year and that couldn't redeem the show. Really, really bad. That's what would have made sense. As said before, perhaps Long had a plan to build up Kurt and Mindy the way Lujack and Beth were built up. Though, again, without a strong connection to someone major on the canvas, I don't see how they would have managed that with Kurt. Unless he turned out to be yet another lost Spaulding heir. WAIT. He was Canadian, right? Isn't that where Bill Bauer lived after he pretended to be dead? Maybe besides Hillary he had another love child floating around Canada. Only problem with that is by then there weren't that many Bauers around anymore.

This is what happens when you create a character who has almost no connections to anyone on the canvas and then thrust them quickly into a romance/wedding. I don't know if they wanted to do the big wedding for sweeps, or what, but that is not enough. Of course Mindy and Kurt died to sad trombone noises. BIG weddings should be the culmination of a couple's fraught history (like Josh & Reva's first wedding), a reward for the audience for being invested in the couple, or there should be some big reveal hanging over it (like Cliff & Nina's on AMC, where Cliff married her knowing another woman was pregnant with his baby). It wouldn't have been such a big deal if they had had a quicky wedding, then it wouldn't have stuck out so much. But they treated it like the wedding of the decade. I feel bad for the actor; that's a pretty crummy thing to do to him. But it was obvious even back then that the character was on a clock.

I agree, that was a mistake. She should have left earlier, and then there probably would have been more room for her to return later. Lots of soap viewers get aggravated by young actors leaving their shows after one or two contract cycles, but they really should do that. First, because actors are on a clock. Their chance to make it big is a pretty small window. Of course, most never will. Most will never become a Meg Ryan or a Julianne Moore or a Christopher Reeve. Some will have a decent prime time career. Many will come back to soaps. When they do, they'll be older, more experienced, and ready to take on more mature storylines. I think by not leaving, Krista kind of pigeon-holed herself as this cute, sassy character who didn't really grow up very much. It wasn't until Simms came in later that the character was permitted to become more complex. There was a little bit of that when their paired her with Will. That storyline might have shown she could play Mindy as more mature, but there were two problems: they had made Will pretty evil by then and it made her look a little bit stupid that she didn't realize it. She was still acting like the spoiled Daddy's girl when they tried to warn her. If there had been more subtlety to the whole thing, it might have worked.

There really is no one else like him in GL history. I wish much more of his '70s run was available as what is available is riveting to watch. Yes, he truly was unique. It would be great to see him as the eariler incarnation of Alan, before he became Roger's victim and had to be on his best behavior because of Hope. From what I do remember, he was pretty rotten, especially to Elizabeth. Also do not understand why the one period from the Marland era that is totally missing is his affair with Rita. Even the German channel doesn't have it. That's high on my wish list of missing episodes. (At the time I hated it because I was really pro-Alan and Hope, now all these years later, I'm pretty sure I'd have a different reaction, lol). Oh, and his wedding to Jackie. I'd love to see that again.

That sounds right, because one of her earliest episodes after Long's return was Reva dressing up in her red "Slut of Springfield" dress, making a scene at the country club--and catching Alan's attention, which began his obsession with her. They could have brought Mike back with a new wife who had some teen children to shore up the young crowd. Maybe the wife was pregnant, to bring in a new Bauer legacy character. (Maybe she had a past with Alan, to bring in some spice to the story). Lots of possibilities. Instead we got the "faux" Bauers. ☹️

Simms was fortunate because they also gave her some good storylines to play. Being involved with Roger and Nick, both bringing her into conflict with Alex, resulted in some strong storytelling. This was never done with Krista's Mindy. There were some mild plot-driven obstacles (wanting a career more than a baby with Kurt; having a problem with Rusty being a cop) but never a strongly written story with some really delicious conflict. I guess people could argue that Simms was a better actress and that would inspire the writers to give her better material. But it's possible if Krista had been given better storylines she could have handled them. She was never really given the chance, IMO.

I'm Rick & Mindy 4Ever, so you know I never understood why they didn't give them a real shot. Since they left July 1987--that means they left just as or a little after Alan Michael was introduced to the story, because he arrived on the 4th of July. Before he arrived, they had set up Vanessa with Alan by making Vanessa act like a total idiot so Ross would leave her. Alan got the phone call from Alan Michael telling him he was coming to SF just after Ross caught them in the same hotel room in their robes. Yeah, they did that. Boooooooo! 😂

Chelsea blamed Rick for her fiancee's death, so she sued him and Cedars. It turned out later that Jean-Claude, I think his name was, had diabetes and never told anyone so that's what really killed him. John Bolger was still playing Phillip when he and Chelsea first meet. But Grant came back soon after, I believe. Both are listed as having been on the show during 1986. Yes, they were together for a while. Yet another failed pairing for Mindy. I cannot for the life of me figure out why they couldn't find a good pairing for her. They were a snooze because TA was handsome but in an oddly uncharismatic way. You would think this would have been a priority for them, especially since Judi Evans had left. They had a young adult love gap that was definitely not being filled by Simon and Jessie. Anderson was known for creating super-couples, yet she couldn't figure this one out. It says in the Guiding Light Wiki that Jeff Ryder created Dinah, but I think the way the story shaped up was mainly under Anderson and her husband. When Johnny, Simon and Jessie went to San Rios, Vanessa sent Ross to go after Jessie because she erroneously thought she might be her daughter. (Are they the ones who came up with that stupid Encantadora thing? Thank God that was cut short). Oh, yeah, India--that means THEY'RE the ones who rather stupidly didn't take advantage of the chemistry between Chris and Mary Kay. (Though I suppose it's possible Mary Kay wanted to leave). They also wrote out Warren. They're the ones who did the Paul Valere murder story. Warren got marched off to prison just before they left the show. Yep. Says in the Wiki he left January 1987.

She wrote DOOL and GH during some successful periods. But that doesn't mean she was a good fit for GL. I think she was trying to make Alan into a Cassidine/DiMera-style villain. Almost the minute Long came back she put a stop to that. Like I said many times, I never liked the pairing with Reva, but it made sense story-wise and at least Alan was acting like Alan again.

Oh, I'm sure she was, I just thought it was funny she blamed her ex. I think this was one of the problems with soaps during the 80s and 90s. Trying too hard to replicate the success of GH. Days somehow found its own niche, but none of the others did. From the dates they were credited on GL, I'm gathering they came up with the hunt for the chest of Andorra gold and the art theft story -- the kind of things that might have worked on DOOL or GH, but were just silly on GL.

So I watched the Sheri Anderson interview. If you're interested in how soaps are made, it's packed of great details of how soaps were written. She talks about some of the big storylines she was involved in, like the Luke & Laura rape on GH. She actually wrote the episode. I found it very informative and fascinating, especially when she talked about how the network and the producer get involved in stories being written. Unfortunately, she spoke very little about GL (considering she was there during the black hole years of 1986-1987, I don't really blame her). But I think it's hilarious how she threw her co-headwriter, who also happens to be her ex-husband, under the bus. He just didn't understand how to pace a one hour soap. 😂

No idea why Linda McCollough, the original Hillary was recast. I liked her a lot. She went on to a fairly good career in Hollywood, was even a regular on a TV show for a while. (Fun trivia: she was once married to Laurence Lau, the original Greg Nelson on AMC and one of the many Jamie Frames on AW). HOW ODD that she played a part that was almost exclusively involved with the Reardons, and then she didn't write a good Nola return. YOU WOULD THINK SHE WOULD HAVE BEEN PERFECT FOR THAT.

That's a good question. I will never understand why Kobe felt she had to kill off Hillary. Just fire the actress. I don't even think they needed to do the plastic surgery bit. Clark wasn't that popular. In this case, people would have accepted a recast pretty easily, IMO. I got the impression they had Jim falling for Anabelle because they really didn't know what to do with him once the Dreaming Death story was over and Hillary was gone. Maybe have the Beirut plot but have Mo and Fletcher missing together while Mo's pregnant by Ed. Ed and Claire become close because they have lost their partners and realize they're in love just as Mo and Fletcher pop back up with the baby. There were other ways to go with this. That would still leave the not-dead Hillary out in the cold. Yeah, they probably would have had to create a character especially for her, I guess. All the Lewis men were spoken for, Phillip was too young for her (and occupied with Beth and India). I suppose they could have brought in yet another Reardon male for her, but that was played out. I think that leaves Ross and Justin. Justin was on his way out the door. I definitely could not see Clark with JvD, so Hillary would have to be a different actress. They did have some negative history (he treated her pretty badly during Roger's rape trial) they could have drawn on for some conflict. It would have been a challenge but I think it would have been worth it to salvage the character because she was a Bauer.

I hate that storyline so much. Morgan was UNDERAGE. Kelly was a controlling JERK. Why anyone would be encouraging them I can't even imagine. And how pathetic that made Hillary look (though I suppose you could argue it was in character because she was at one time in Roger's thrall). I know during the70s/early 80s this kind of thing was more normalized. Besides GH with Scottie and Laura, Somerset and Ryan's Hope had older men involved with teen girls (though to be fair, these two were WAY older than Kelly or Scottie). But it's still gross. I thought that back then and it plays even worse now. I can kind of understand that because they introduced four Reardons in a relatively short amount of time. And Nola was getting a LOT of screen time with her fantasies, etc. To boost the Bauers, they needed to give Hllary a major storyline like they gave to Hope, but none of her pairings seemed to work. I think partly that was because Marland wasn't that interested in the character. Long tried, but then Kobe had her kill off the character.

I gather that Marland just never knew what to do with her. But unlike Kobe, he had no interest in kicking Bauers off the show.