vetsoapfan

Actually, at the time, people did speak out against him, but then they let it go, and moved on. Viewers who were not around in the 1970s missed those rebuttals and replies to Lemay's attacks. The writer continued to bitch well into the 2000s, however, so that is all newer viewers saw.

Many younger or newbie soap fans take/took his words as gospel. It can be frustrating if they take a one-sided and biased account as fact, without any first-hand viewing experience of their own. Right.

Except that certain things Lemay wrote in his book, to denigrate actors he abhorred, was BS. Only viewers who watched the show at the time could refute his most petulant and untrue attacks.

To be fair, this was the one and only time I ever saw Marland being ungracious. On the other other, Lemay continued to belittle and/or bitch about certain actors for years after he left AW.

A (surprisingly) rude Marland derided Hulswit in one interview, calling him a "dodo" who needed to be replaced, and claimed that Lenore Kasdorf begged Marland not to work with Hulswit any more, despite their on-screen chemistry.

Now THIS is the Ed Bauer whom we knew and loved, and who should have remained at the center of the show until the Light went dark!

Exactly. Through his acting acting skill, warmth, and intensity, Hulswit made you BELIEVE in his character. I did not care that he was not a perfect physical specimen. Truth be told, I don't believe physical perfection is the main criterion demanded by most viewers, regardless of what some PTB may believe. While shows have hired muscle hunks and beauty queens for decades, ordinary-looking actors like Hulswit, Tony Geary and Judith Light have captured viewers' imagination and loyalty. Mart Hulswit simply was Ed. The morose portrayal offered by Simon and the simpering interpretation given by van Fleet did not cut it.

Whether we accept a recast or not has no logical, rational component. It's all a gut-level reaction. Judith Light was a recast as Karen Wolek on OLTL, but I accepted her (and preferred her) instantly. I also accepted all the various Dorian Lords, although Robin Strasser was my favorite. But after George Reinhot left, I never accepted any of the three later actors cast in the role. On TGL, I accepted and loved recast Maureen Garrett as Holly, but hated the recast Rogers.

I was also fine with RVF's portrayal of Chuck Tyler on AMC, but his Ed Bauer left me cold. To be fair, with Hulswit the definitive Ed, I still cannot think of any other actor whom I would have readily accepted in the part. It's weird: I readily accepted all the different Taras on AMC, along with RVF as Chuck, but I never accepted Nicholas Benedict as Phil Brent (even though I appreciated how he looked in 1970s' jeans, LOL). After mary Fickett left, I never really accepted Cat Ruth, either. On TGL, I preferred replacement Ellen Parker over Ellen Dolan as Maureen, but I never accepted anyone other than Jacqueline Courtney as Alice Frame on ANOTHER WORLD. I guess it's a gut-level reaction viewers have. Certain actors simply click with us and we don't ever want to see them replaced.

Things are getting hotter around here! Carlos Santiago:

Soaps were doing socially-relevant and important, educational stories way back in the 1960s, for heaven's sake. All that changed in the 1980s, when low-brow camp and pandering to the lowest-common denominator became the rule of thumb.

A nice, cool shower would definitely help. It's a sweltering 91 degrees in my apartment.

It sure is.

Sad, but true. In the early 1980s, I watched in horror as the show killed off Bill Bauer (again!) for the sake of a dreadful and meaningless story, and then went on a rampage, eliminating Hillary Bauer, Mike Bauer, Hope Bauer, Sarah McIntyre, Justin Marler, Kelly Nelson, Amanda Spaulding, etc., etc.. etc. At the time, producer Gail Kobe pontificated about getting rid of the show's "dead wood," but that asinine comment was akin to a new Star Trek producer announcing that they would eliminate the Enterprise's "dead wood": Kirk, Spock, Bones, Uhura, and Scotty. TGL fans were furious, particular because so many of the characters who replaced our favorites were badly written and forgettable.

I might (MIGHT) have been able to tolerate Reva in small doses, but once she and her loudmouthed, abrasive, and irritating family began to eat up the show, my initial distaste for the Shaynes grew to abject and utter loathing. The asinine, cretinously-stupid stories given to Reva in later years (the ghost, the clone, the time traveling} truly destroyed any remnants of the "real" Guiding Light, which had always been predicated on recognizable human interaction and family drama. I NEVER would have authorized Zimmer's return to the show after the character had been killed off. Her absence allowed TGL to temporarily feel as if it could be saved. Right. Hanna Bauer was never part of the TGL's history and canon, and could not have realistically been part of "our" Bauer family. The show did not offer her the obvious role of Trudy Bauer, which would have made the most sense. Viewers always appreciated the likes of Pat Falken Smith, Douglas Marland, Harding Lemay, etc., at least in part because they studied, used, and added to their shows' histories. TGL was never lucky enough to have a writer do that in its final 15 years or so.

Not tying new people to characters from the past can only be explained if TPTB are ignorant of history, and don't do any research. As for Roxie, I loathed all things Shayne. I hated Reva, Hawk, Minnie Pearl (errr, Sarah), Roxie and Rusty with a passion. I did not want them on the show at all, so Roxie's story with Johnny was a turn-off for me.

Meta actually had a stepson named Joey, whose young-adult offspring could have been introduced, but I doubt TPTB knew he existed. He was never mentioned after Aunt Meta returned to Sprinfield in 1996. Ed's father Bill had potentially fathered a young man named Paul (Hillary's brother), whose arrival could also have expanded the Bauer family and provided story fodder, but again, TPTB did not know the show's history. Johnny's being Trudy's grandson would have made him a real, blood Bauer, but since TPTB did not ever acknowledge Trudy's existence, that family tie never panned out either. When Jeanne Cooper guested on TGL during its final weeks, I wanted it to be as Trudy, a significant nod to history, but instead she appeared as an irrelevant nobody, with no ties to the canvas. Yet another waste by stupid PTB. If *I* had been running the show, so much would have been different. LOL. As for Johnny, I was indifferent. His being a fake Bauer TPTB foisted upon us always left me cold.

Johnny was a "fake," newly created Bauer, who sprang from a branch of the family tree which had never existed. His parents were the middle-aged Jack and Lanie Bauer, who briefly popped up in Springfield in the 1980s, to little interest. They disappeared not long afterwards. Jack's father was supposedly a man of German descent named Otto, brother to the the original patriarch of the family, Papa Bauer. (Papa was Ed's and Mike's paternal grandfather, introduced to TGL in 1948.) In four decades of life with the Springfield Bauers, we had never heard of this "Otto" or his descendants; they never showed up for Christmases, weddings, or even Papa Bauer's funeral. Their sudden appearance reeked of clueless PTBs saying to the audience, "There you go, some strangers with the name Bauer. Now shut up about that family." It did not appease the fans who longed to see beloved, familiar characters of yore.

Yes, I believe it is! And Somerset's Renee Jarrett is in the same commercial! Good catch!

Oh my.

LOL! That comes across in his autobiography and interviews.

Hacks write long-term bibles all the time...just not WELL. 1986 was great. The episodes surrounding Chris' and Nancy's wedding anniversary alone were golden!

Aunt Meta had a sister named Trudy Bauer Palmer, but neither Trudy nor her husband, Clyde Palmer, have/had been mentioned for decades. I doubt anyone associated with writing the show after Douglas Marland quit knew they even existed. I think a soap like Y&R got away with refocusing itself around new core families (the Williamses, Abbotts, and Newmans) because most of the original cast playing the Brookses and Fosters voluntarily quit the series, and because the show had the brilliant William J. Bell guiding the ship through the transition period. It was far different on TGL, many of whose core actors were unceremoniously fired in the early 1980s, and whose writing was in the toilet for much of that decade. Jeff Ryder: blechh. Knowing that stalwarts like Mart Hulswit, Don Stewart, Elvera Roussel, Marsha Clark, Millette Alexander, and so many others, COULD HAVE continued on with the program, was infuriating to longtime fans, who did not appreciate having 2/3 of the cast gutted. We lost Mike, Hope, Hillary, and the "real" Ed Bauer, and got stuck with Jackson Freemont, Suzanne Saxon, Warren Andrews, and a host of irrelevant and/or nauseating characters who stunk up the screen. Nooooo, thank you.

Roussel was by far the best of the adult Hopes, and I really wanted her to return, although I would have accepted either Mattson or Barr in the role. Nobody in charge gave a damn about the Bauers, or the history of the show in general, however, and many decisions that could have stabilized TGL were never made. When Aunt Meta returned to Springfield in 1996, they never even bothered to address what had happened to her husband, Bruce Banning. We surmised he must have died, and some fansites reported that as suppised fact, but it was never referenced on air. Lousy, incompetent writing and producing.

I always had the feeling that Van Fleet was trying too hard to be sensitive, and it seemed forced, whereas Hulswit projected a natural warmth and vulnerability which drew the audience to him. It did not help Van Fleet, that the writing during the 1980s was generally in the toilet. Yes, Gentry was used on a recurring basis upon his return, which suggested TPTB were not really sure of him or whether or not they wanted to commit to the character. Gentry might have grown on the audience if the show had used him more, or more effectively, but it did not. No one in charge understood the importance of Ed Bauer to the show's core and legacy.