DeeVee

That explains a lot. The obvious thing to do when they had to replace Bernau was go outside of daytime, which they ended up doing eventually. But they should have picked someone not only more suited to the role than Raines, he also should have had a little bit of name recognition. Not super famous, obviously, but someone on the level of a Doug Watson, Phil Carey, Eric Braeden, David Canary, etc. It would have given the recast some oomph, probably would have made viewers a little more inclined to accept the replacement. But of course that would have cost mucho dinero, so...

Not going to disagree that Chris and Beverlee were brilliant. But I think the right actors were out there somewhere. IMO Ron and Marj were miscast. I'm also going to blame the writing again, because there have been cases where an actor on a soap has been unimpressive until they get the right storyline. I would put Robert Newman in that category. Never would have predicted he would one day become the show's de facto romantic lead when he first was on the show. SO TRUE. And it started as far back as the mid-1980s. Watching the early 1987 episodes (1987 is shaping up to be as no bueno as 1986) and it's all this junk about art theft, shadowy somebodies wanting to take over Lewis Oil, and a ton of side characters with really bad foreign accents. A memo must have been sent from on high to the producer to have the young guys bare-chested as much as possible. Grant Alexander, James Goodwin, and Terrell Anthony have their shirts off A LOT. There was one episode where Johnny had his shirt off for the whole episode, which included a fist-fight with a jealous husband. The background music sounded like it came from a 1970s cop show. Not that this is hard on the eyes, but not what I want from a soap opera necessarily.

One thing I'm learning hanging out here is I was wise to mostly skip that era of GL. And they "redeemed" him at the end by having him give up his life for Phillip. Ugh. That would have been a perfect opportunity to change that dynamic, so Alan Michael didn't become disposable later on. Of course, part of the problem was no one wanted to bring back his mother Hope, which would have tethered him more to the Bauers.

They definitely errred by writing out Alan just as Roger came in. Their emnity was so important to the show for a time, and the fact that Roger ended up married to his sister should have kicked off oodles of conflict. By the time he came back, that was long over. Even though I would never believe Alan trying to kill Roger (he literally had no motive at that point, and one consistent thing about Alan was that he wasn't a killer) they could have still butted heads about a lot of things. For instance, what if Alan pursued Holly to get under Roger's skin? While Holly had good reason to resent Alan (she ended up in jail because he helped Roger fake his death) they were bound by the fact that they were both his victims, and both went to jail because of him while he was never punished for his crimes. Maybe they didn't look further for an Alan replacement after Zaslow turned them down because it was a money thing? It just seems weird that they waited five years to bring back the character. He was rich. Rich people don't serve full prison sentences. 😆

From what I recall, they were chem testing Frank with almost everyone in a skirt the first few years (similar to what they did with Josh in the beginning). Then, they imported Eleni for him, like they did with Reva for Josh. (The worst was Samantha. She was way too young for him, it was icky). Like I said, I think Pilon was in a tough spot. Why bother investing in a role if it's temporary? The timing of Roger's return, and the whole story about the show going to Zaslow with the offer of playing Alan, shows they had to have been searching for a permanent replacement pretty soon after Bernau's final exit. Bernau's last episode was broadcast summer of '88, he must have taped it late spring. Then Zaslow shows up in January of '89, probably first taping around November of '88. So I'm guessing Pilon always knew he was not ever going to be permanent. In fact, he probably would have been there a much shorter time if Zaslow had accepted the offer to play Alan or if they had found another permanent replacement. It's obvious they picked him because he was tall, dark, good-looking, and played a very similar role on Ryan's Hope. Even though I thought his exit story was idiotic, to me it seemed he finally got into the groove of the character at the end. He probably thought at the time to hell with it, I'm leaving anyway, may as well go for it. I've heard Raines is a lovely human being, and I don't like to beat up on actors. But he just was not Alan. He didn't have the charisma or the darkness to play that part. At least Pilon could play that dark side of Alan. He also had no chemistry with the actresses they paired him with. Alan was supposed to be a player, both in business and with women. Raines never convinced me. He might have done better if the writing for the character had been better. Same for Saundra Santiago as Carmen. Even really good actors can't overcome bad writing.

So your mom was the one person who liked Pilon as Alan! LOL. I'm just joking. The guy was in a tough spot. I think I read somewhere that he was doing both Ryan's Hope and GL at the same time (must not have been on contract at either show at first). Which would help explain how low energy his performance was. And I could never could get used to Alan having a French Canadian accent. (I still prefer him to Raines). You are thinking of the movie Portrait of Jennie. Ironically, a film made by David O. Selznick as a vehicle for Jones, who was his lover at the time. Soaps were frequently stealing from old movies back then. Gloria Monty did it a lot on GH, with ideas taken from movies like It Happened One Night and The Maltese Falcon. They stole from newer ones (at the time), too. Quint was GL's version of Indiana Jones. Ryan's Hope stole from Jaws and The Godfather. Gee, did it never occur to anyone to WRITE them differently? I'm not a fan of having too many rich people on a soap canvas (a big problem with them today, IMO) but GL actually had a pretty great balance when it came to class. You had the old money Spauldings and Chamberlains, the new money Lewises, the aspirational middle class that was one or two generations from being immigrants, the Bauers and the Marlers, and the working class, also first or second generation, the Reardons and Coopers, with the Shaynes likely being on this continent a few generations longer. Characters like the Spauldings are needed to drive story. If you can't differentiate them, that is a lack of creativity on the part of TPTB. This was a huge mistake, IMO. By yeeting them (and Nick and Susan) they made almost all the Spauldings on the canvas Phillip's progeny. (And Phillip was not even biologically a Spaulding). Not to mention Alan Michael was also a Bauer, which was another way they were diminished.

Well, yes. To me, that was one of their biggest blunders, not seeing Rick and Mindy through. I'm on 1987 episodes when Mindy is widowed and MOL has left the show for a while. After less than 2 months she's tongue-kissing Rusty, who will become a non-entity to her very quickly. She had lovely scenes with Rick after Kurt's death. Why they wasted that potential time and again, I don't know.

They put SO little effort into this pairing. They met at a bar and talked about movies, next thing you know they're getting married. Might happen in RL, but this is a soap. So they invented a heart condition to create some drama (which was really done to give REVA a story, not Rick). The problem with Rick is they never gave him a star-crossed lovers story like they did with Phillip and Beth. Maybe they were so busy bending over backwards trying to normalize the idea of a biracial soap couple they forgot to write one.

A few other possibilities: The Lewises had their oil business in Venezuela. Didn't have to be Sonni/Josh's secret progeny (although that would be fantastically soapy, a fetus surviving Sonni's fall off a cliff). Lots of ways they could have gone with that. Then, there's Alan's missing years in San Rios. I hate everything to do with that offensively written fake Latin country, and Alan had plenty of secret children, but Gus could have been from that era of his life. (And they could have not killed him off). Then, of course, Roger. Another one of his kids from his years bouncing around the world as a CIA spook. I love the idea of bringing in another Bauer child through Mike, but I'm not crazy about cousin couplings. One was enough for GL.

That would have been amazing.

For something like two decades I did not know this scene existed. Thanks a lot. 😂

As someone who is Jewish AND Latina... I will give Long credit for TRYING to introduce a Jewish character. But my mom and I CRINGED at those scenes because they had Harley act like she was observing exotic animals in a zoo. Of course that got deep sixed REALLY fast. Don't even get me started on the Santos family. OF COURSE they were mobsters. (Love of Life did the same with an Italian family back in the day. Ryan's Hope tried to circumvent the stereotypes by making their mobsters vaguely Eastern European). A lot of the older soaps flunked big time in this area. It's not surprising the newer ones did a better, if not perfect, job.

Along with Jonathan, Jeffrey was another reason I mostly tapped out of the show at the end. I get that they wanted BC to play a character as different from Richard as possible, but why they felt they had to make him a relentlessly vile scumbag, I will never understand. Learn how to create a bit of complexity if you want an "edgy" character. Roger was always a really bad guy, but I never thought, "Ew, get this a-hole off my screen, he makes me want to hurl." That's because the writers didn't think making nasty words fall out of his mouth every time he opened it was all they needed to do to create the character. (And, of course, Zaslow could actually act).

Oh, yeah. She was his assistant while he was writing for The Mirror, and sleeping with him, too. The night he had Alan kicked out of Spaulding, Phillip locked out Chelsea on the observation deck of the lighthouse so she wouldn't warn Alan. They had already been on the outs because he wasn't as serious as she was, so he lured her there by making her think he wanted her back. Major creepazoid move.

I'm up to the point now where Phillip is with Chelsea. Even though I didn't love her character that much, I still see red when I remember what he did to her. You left out Ed. 😂

Not that I mean to knock you out more 😁 but it occurs to me that the romantic lead Josh evolved into after Reva hit town was a facade. Originally, Josh was a creep and a player who used women. He didn't really change. Outwardly, he seemed like a good guy. But he constantly yanked Reva around, and he yanked Sonni, Annie, and Olivia around. You have the more outward villains like Roger and Alan, then you have the faux heroes like Josh, and, I would argue, Phillip, who often treat women (people in general, really) disgracefully but don't get the reputation for it. I would argue that started even before the 90s. Alan was used this way a few times (Billy/Vanessa, Ross/Trish, Ross/Vanessa, Josh/Reva). In none of those scenarios was he a real contender for the lady in question. I suspect one of the reasons Larkin Malloy bailed was because he realized he wasn't going to be the third side of a triangle, he was only going to be the spoiler for Josh and Reva. So they gave it to Spoiler Dude Alan instead.

Do we need anything beyond the fact that Reva married his father and brother? Sure, we have other soap characters who have done this (I think I made a list recently). But she was like Delia on RH--obsessed with belonging in this family. Not to say she didn’t really love Josh, but that she was willing to change him out for his family members to be a Lewis seems pretty toxic. Then there's Josh, who, let's face it, literally drove other women he was with insane because he couldn't let go of Reva.

It took me a long, long time to realize TP is not a bad actor, he's actually pretty good. As Jonathan, he gave me the creeps. I just loathed the character. One of the big reasons I didn't watch the show much the last years.

Oh, but this makes it "edgy." (No, you're absolutely right, this was a terrible decision).

Somehow, I was unaware of this. I looked it up, and WTF? Why would anyone think this was a good way to wrap up a soap? It's making Josh and Reva reuniting by the lighthouse seem not so bad after all. The bar is set now for soap finales: at least they didn't have a gorilla. 😂

I'm sure plenty of EPs have cried--they just didn't get the scrutiny she got because they weren't at the center of the demise of the oldest soaps on the air. I have never understood why GL never went that route with Vanessa and Ross. All that backstory, the actors' incredible on screen chemisty, how popular they both were. It was no-brainer. They teased it a few times and then quickly ditched it every time. One of the great might have beens of GL. Oh, God, YES. Sorry, Ross/Rachel, Big/Carrie, and Josh/Reva lovers, but the knee-jerk compulsion to bring toxic couples together for a finale is one of the worst examples of fan service out there. Maybe Josh and Reva weren't exactly TOXIC, but their expiration date was LONG past. (Unlike, for example, Ross and Vanessa, who could have had years more life to their pairing)

Another attempt to save the show, desperately looking for that magic bullet. This was definitely not it. I don't even know why you would want to give up the "oldest show" mantle. It's not like being "young" helped the newer soaps survive.

WOW. I can't believe they had the chutzpah to ask her. Good for her telling them to pound sand. (Figuratively, if not explicitly).

I always assumed that AW was killed by NBC, not P&G. Weren't they were clearing the way for another soap? Passions or Sunset Beach? I don't remember which one. That was the scuttlebutt, so definitely, it could have been an exaggeration. For a long time I didn't believe it. I really did not believe they would toss ATWT. It just seemed... so wrong. GL was going through so much mess and turmoil, it seemed much more inevitable, but I was sure ATWT would survive. When it happened, I assumed the story about P&G wanting out of their soap gig was true. He was and remains the Devil to me. He did so much to harm the genre.

This is absolutely true. I was a teen when they introduced Katherine on Y&R and I LOVED HER CHARACTER! I was on her side, not Jill's, even though she was my contemporary. When GH became so popular with college students, I think they didn't realize it was a thing for students to watch the show together at the student union or watch together in other groups (I did this with friends). When they left college and started working, they lost interest. I was always a soap viewer from a young age, so I kept watching. My sister was devoted to GH during those years. As soon as she left school, she lost interest. When I tried to catch her up on the show, she was like, "Oh, that. I'm too busy to pay attention to that now." I think that was not unusual for that generation of viewers. It wasn't like the old days, when, once hooked on a show, people would keep watching.