vetsoapfan

Actually, Tom Hallick and Rod Arrants are both viable contenders for Mike and Ed. Arrants may have been a tad too young, but we've lived with that situation before. Michael O'Leary was never the greatest choice for Rick, IMHO, but he only got worse as he aged and his mugging increased.

Sometimes I must admit, that I find animals more humane and better companions than people. But we must acknowledge the simple reality, alas. Labine's two best stories on GH were about A) a child needing a heart transplant, and B) a young man succumbing to AIDS. Poignant, devastating stuff. That was the last year on any soap which moved me enough to tears. So you don't have access to Netflix? That's a shame. That's why the episode count for season two of HR must be longer than just six installments, so we can savor all the beats.

Oh, wow, thanks for going to the trouble to find and share a workable link for me. Who was the red-head who played Ron? He looked vaguely familiar.

Many years ago, I met a man who was stunningly attractive, physically. Everybody was ga-ga over him. But during one of our first dates, he laughed about how he and his buddies went to bars, sought out the "homeliest," most nervous-looking girl there, and see who could make her cry and run out of the bar first. It was a competition for them. UGH! He instantly became so repulsive to me, I had to leave. That's what many people are predicting. It's all a nightmare. And the orange felon thinks he's going to take over Canada to acquiesce, LOL. 🙄 Labine did have her flaws at RH. She wrote an idiotic story about a gorilla who fell in love with Delia Ryan and kidnapped her, a la King Kong. It was painfully stupid to those of us who were watching the show because we respected the nuanced characters and slice-of-life realism. Later, Labine introduced a bunch of newbies who were fighting rent increases in their tenement apartment building. They talked about it endlessly. A core principle of soaps, IMHO, is never introduce a bunch of strangers and immediately focus on them...particularly in a plot that is soooooooooo booooooooring. I must say, however, Labine was brilliant and Love of Life, Where the Heart Is and General Hospital. New soaps are fun to explore, when you realize they are so good. I've never been able to warm up to RC's work. Like James Reilly, Charles Pratt, Jean Passanante, Hogan Sheffer and Thom Racina, I avoid him. One teen show that is very good, and which Jacob Tierney applauded enthusiastically, is Royal Royals. It's a gay romance and lasted three seasons. It's still available on Netflix (well, in Canada at least; I don't know about the US). Don't get me wrong. I was able to stitch the pieces together and make the emotional/psychological leap with Scott too. I just wish we had been able to see all the beats.

Thank you for the info!

I agree. Allen was like Mart Hulswit to me, in the sense that their natural affability and charm were their best attributes and needed to shine in the roles they played. I agree. He was a bit too rigid for my tastes, but unless he left on his own, I would not have fired or replaced him. He had become popular to the audience, and even I had come to accept him as Mike.

Now I am curious; the video you posted is blocked in my country (Canada). What was it about?

Every word you wrote in this post is brilliant! Bravo! I think we all "get" why this show has become such a phenomenon.👍

Oh, believe me, I can appreciate a pretty face and body as much as the next guy, but we can all agree that the more you come to appreciate the mind, heart and soul, the attraction to a person deepens significantly. I'd happily take the opportunity to explore all the attributes of Scott Hunter, inside and out, to see what develops!🙃 The tragic, destructive turn to puritanical, heartless and oppressive ideals is a major stain on the heart and soul of the country, that's for sure. A massive, overwhelming blue wave is needed to drain the swamp of its heavily-contaminated elements. Still, it will probably take years to undo all the damage. Ryan's Hope was excellent; very heartfelt, human and humane, when Claire Labine was at the helm. Sadly, she came and went, and ABC suits did great damage to the show during her absences. (Not that she was 100% perfect; she did make missteps, like even the best writers do.) I was thrilled that Lorraine Broderick returned to give AMC the closure it deserved. IMHO, Broderick, Agnes Nixon and Wisner Washam were the best scribes during the show's run. I follow writers whom I respect from soap to soap, as well. I do find it...curious how certain writers produce brilliant material at one show, but much weaker material at another. I suspect network interference is the principle culprit. None of the current soaps have had good writing in decades. I think that's why Heated Rivalry has had such an impact on me (and other viewers who appreciate and long for intimate, well-written, adult drama): we've been mostly starved for it for years. Certainly on daytime TV. Yes, we will see when season two is released. My only quibble about HR's first year is how much the series skipped over Scott's emotional journey and growth. We went from him being highly repressed and closeted in episode three, to ready to come out (loud and proud) in episode five. I wish we had seen more of his transformation. But, of course, with only six measly hours, some elements had to be scaled back. I hope season two will have a higher episode count. I don't realistically expect 22, but 10 hours would be nice. Along with more Scott and Kip, I'd like to see more Hayden too. I find him endearing.

Zaslow was an incredibly charismatic man who exuded depth and emotion. We were so lucky to be blessed with his talent for so long. ARGH! All this talk about vintage TGL makes me long to go back and rewatch every single vintage episode I have access to! When this show was good, it was a class act.

Although Raines was 14 years younger than Don Stewart, I also thought he would make a better Mike than Alan. That being said, if Stewart were never to be invited back, the actor whom I wanted as Mike Bauer was Jed Allen, whose appropriate age, talent, affability and popularity would have made him a good fit for the role. I always found Stewart to be somewhat aloof, so with a stiff, morose, listless Ed in Peter Simon, the Bauers could have used a mellower, more affable Mike.

Chris Bernau and Beverlee McKinsey were so unique and strong as Alan and Alexandria, recasting the roles was always going to be a tough, iffy proposition. Sadly, to me, neither Ron Raines nor Marj Dusay ever worked out in the roles. I felt they were both poorly recast. Oh, oh, oh! I am so glad you found that photograph of Ed's and Rita's wedding. What a wonderful shot! Thank you so much. I found both Ron Raines and Marj Dusay to be weak miscasts for Alan and Alexandra, but the show kept them forever, anyway. Shades of Peter Simon as Ed. Amelia Heinle has been playing Victoria on Y&R forever, too, so inexplicable casting choices are not limited to TGL.

OMG, I remember thinking that the wedding dress looked like a set of doilies sewn together. Googling pictures of it now, however, I must admit that the dress does not strike me as quite so hideous. Good point. I justified the "cheap" wedding in my mind as Alan trying hard to convince Hope and her family that he could meet them on their level, act like a "regular guy," and not always remain in a gilded bubble with his immense wealth and power. To his credit, Marland continued to write for fan favorites on all his shows, including Mart Hulswit on TGL, for quite some time. Even Harding Lemay focused on Jacquie Courtney, George Reinholt and Virginia Dwyer for the first four years of his tenure on AW, despite disliking those actors. Some scribes do understand the importance of keeping audience favorites center stage. I appreciate that. The cast purge in 1983 and 1984 in Springfield proved what a disaster slaughtering vets is to a soap's structure and stability. Oh dear God in heaven, as our dear Mrs. Chancellor might say, what have I done to you? Have I cursed you, too, with my obsessive, nagging doubts?!?😬 Uh-oh. The Pinterest picture I am thinking of was definitely from Hope's wedding, and I believed Bill Bauer was present in that one...but I always saw Ed/Rita wedding shots on Pinterest too, and if I was looking at both the Ed/Rita and Hope/Alan photos simultaneously, who knows what tricks my mind is playing on me now? This added question may make me truly go around the bend!!!🤣

You are very kind--as always--and getting the script of that episode would probably solve the nagging doubts in the back of my mind. I'd appreciate it. That being said, please don't go to too much trouble; this is a not an issue on the level of solving world hunger or curing disease. I mean, somehow...some way...I can manage to survive living with unresolved questions and doubts about a fictional soap opera character from decades ago.🤭 I've always loved and been crazy about the soaps, but I am not totally insane! (LOL, I hear hear sarcastic replies from the peanut gallery as I type this.😝)

I do remember the show used Meta as a reason why Bert was out of town for so long. Maureen even asked Ed at one point, "How is Meta?" after it was mentioned that Bert was visiting and caring for her. I don't remember any mention of Simone (even when Hillary died), but of course I will readily acknowledge that I did not see every moment of every episode broadcast, so it's quite possible, even probable, I missed things.

I hadn't thought about this at all for about 20 years until I saw a photograph of the wedding party and its guests on Pinterest in about 2023. Scanning the actors in the shot, I am sure Ed Bryce was present in a suit and tie, which made me exclaim, "Oh! I forgot Bill Bauer popped up at Hope's wedding!" Was I wrong about the identity of the actor whom I identified as Ed Bryce? Possibly. Was I outright hallucinating? Also possible, ROTFLMAO.😝 But I've always been obsessive about rare references to, or appearances by, beloved characters no loner on the canvas. Mart Hulswit's Ed made a brief reference to Meta during a telephone conversation during the Dobson's tenure, and I zeroed right in on it, just like when Nancy Hughes once answered the phone at the end of an ATWT scene after Rosemary Prinz left, and explained happily, "Penny!" Jim and Mary Matthews talked about getting a postcard from a departed Uncle Dru, after Geoffrey Lumb had been let go from AW. I remember quirky things like this. If people clearly remembered the wedding, I'd be more likely to accept their thoughts as definitive. I'm not prepared to die on this hill since my own memory is hazy. But folks are going on theories or speculation which are logical to them. This is perfectly valid, and I understand/respect why they believe what they believe, but the nagging feeling, based on my cloudy memory of the wedding and recollection of the picture on Pinterest remain. Fortunately, this is not a question which will determination the fate of the world! Like on so many other subjects, posters' variance of opinions and recollections are to be expected.

Ahhh, see, this is why everyone loves you, @DRW50 !🙃 Unfortunately, that brief clip cut off before the camera pulled back enough for us to see all the attendees of the ceremony. But, since so many SONers are collecting vintage soap scripts these days, I wonder if we could track down the Hope-Alan wedding script. It would list that day's characters, and the mystery would be solved!

Way back in the day, I used to keep extensive scrapbooks on all my favorite soaps, collecting story synopses, reviews, interviews and pictures about each one. It was a fun pastime and kept my memories of the shows clear. Alas, I dropped the hobby in the early 1980s (life got too busy for time-consuming pastimes), and after 45-ish years, most of the scrapbooks have long since disappeared into the Twilight Zone. There are certain things no one else seems to remember that I am 100% sure about, but in the case of Bill Bauer at Hope's wedding, I'm hesitant to die on that hill because my memory about it is iffy. If you find that brief clip of the wedding, please let us know.

To me, the drunken sexcapades between Frederick and Christinia will always be heinously icky.🤮 Just like Craig Montgomery and Dani Andropoulos (whom he used to babysit) on ATWT. I would have disowned Freddie and slain Craig, LOL.

On soaps, any death is treated as a reversible inconvenience, to be ignored if writers so chose. We saw Brandon Spaulding die, but years later...voila! He was alive again. Personally, I hate when writers ignore, erase or contradict established canon from the past. I'll go to my grave railing against all the family patriarchs going fishing together during the stupid Ghost in the Attic story, the Brandon-is-alive bullsh*t, the heinous Amanda-is-Brandon's-offspring dreck, etc. TPTB were clearly ignorant and dismissive of the show's legacy and integrity.

Long and her team seemed to have little knowledge of TGL's past, and they made various continuity blunders during their tenure. They didn't even know certain basic facts. I'd lean towards them not even knowing Simone existed or who she was, but I could be wrong. I tend to doubt Bert mentioned Meta. I loved the character so much, I probably would have screamed with excitement, LOL! You're so right: as we get older and the decades pass by, the mind and our memory can be quite fickle! I swear that Bill Bauer appeared on the show to attend Hope's wedding to Alan. I even saw a photo at the time of the wedding party and all the guests, with Bill there, among his family. Unfortunately, no one else seems to remember this and it's gotten me doubting my sanity!😆

Nope, I do not remember the sisters being notified about Bill at all. I did not see every second of every episode, so I could have missed a momentary reference about Meta and Trudy at the time, but I doubt the writers included one. They didn't refer to Trudy when Papa Bauer died, either (again, unless I missed a nanosecond comment).

Sadly, after years of being totally ignored and her absence during all of Phillip's trials and tribulations unaddressed, the show did acknowledge on screen that Elizabeth had died some time before. Lyman should indeed have played someone more pivotal to the action, however. TPTB failed the show in so many ways, alas.

Gracias, @slick jones !

TIIC never understood this. (Or much of anything else, LOL.) Right. The introduction of all these strangers who had never existed or been mentioned before was more irritating than comforting. It was clear what TIIC were trying to do, but the audience was not as stupid or as easily duped as "the suits" wanted us to be. Faux Bauers, whom we did not know or care about and whose very existence was absurd, did not placate the longtime fans who were continuing to voice anger at the decimation of TGL's core family. Demming was only 63 in 1985. She could have retired by then, sure, but many folks (and many soap actors, certainly) continue to work well beyond that age. I was ultimately pleased with Mary Stuart being cast in the role (it should have happened right after SFT ended, IMHO), but I would have approached Ellen Demming first, and then only cast another candidate if Demming declined to return. I don't recall either Trudy or Clyde being mentioned in the 1970s or ever again until the show ended. When Jeanne Cooper made a guest cameo on the show in his last days, I really wanted her to show up as Trudy Bauer, to give her real historical purpose to the canvas. Alas, her appearance ended being unrelated to anything, and therefore meaningless. Your posts are always so informative and enlightening, @Reverend Ruthledge . Most sources don't even mention (or know) that Meta appeared sporadically for several years. It annoyed me to no end when she was just dispatched into oblivion in 1974, without any fanfare or closure for the character.