vetsoapfan

My first Ed was Robert Gentry, who was excellent in the role, but when Mart Hulswit took over and Ed softened and became more of a protagonist/leading man, I grew to adore him. Hulswit became my Ed Bauer, too. I don't think Simon is a terrible actor per se, judging from his work on SFT and ATWT, but after the affable Hulswit, he was a major let-down on TGL. The show totally dropped the ball with the character of Rick Bauer, in terms of his potential to become a leading man, or a patriarch as he grew older. O'Leary's unbearable mugging made everything worse. IMHO, he's not as funny as he thinks he is, and the character fell into a grating second-banana position which ultimately rendered him impotent on the canvas. His sleeping with his "sister" made me turn against the character. With no Papa, Bert or Maureen, Springfield felt rudderless without a "guiding light" patriarch or matriarch at its helm. I've had a beef with Long since she said in a long-ago interview that her first mission at TGL was "getting rid of all the dead wood." UGH. Even against General Hospital, which was a huge powerhouse at the time, TGL's ratings were strong and the show was in very good shape. To me, there was not a lot of dead wood to be found, yet Long and Gail Kobe swiftly slaughtered a majority of the existing cast. No one could avoid losing Bert, unfortunately, but Long killed off Bill Bauer (originally introduced in the 1940s) and Hillary Bauer, and wrote off Mike and Hope. Those losses, along with a poorly-recast Ed, basically decimated the core family.

This is so well articulated. Gentry embodied the truest sense of the character as Ed Bauer was first written as a young adult. I often wanted to box his ears, he could be so annoying, but he was perfect as Ed at the time. As the character mellowed and matured, however, the charming Hulswit fit the part beautifully. Ed could still have a temper, but showed a softer side of himself as well. Hulswit's version made Ed sweeter and (dare I say?) cuddlier. So true, and I believe that to viewers (at least the longtime ones), the last remaining patriarch of the once-core family being morose, sour and weak was not what we wanted to see. At least Bert's transformation into a kinder and more loving individual was earned, and more gradual than Ed's relatively swift changeover from annoying dick to leading man. (I accepted it because I adored Hulswit, but found it somewhat jarring at the time. Like Rachel Davis on AW, who went from bitch to insta-heroine practically overnight in 1975.) That is NOT true, LOL! Your commentary is always fun to read.🙃 Yes, as noted Kelly was Ed's godson, and Hillary was Ed's half sister (they shared the same father). They were in the same family orbit, but not biologically related.

LOL! Robert Gentry was actually very good as Ed when he originally played the role decades ago, but when he returned, the magic was gone and he no longer fit the part. Of course, lousy writing and TPTB's apparent disinterest in the character at the time made the situation worse. The less said about RVF, the better. He clicked as Chuck Tyler on AMC, but he was woefully miscast on TGL. If RG and RVF were the only other options, I guess I'd grudgingly have to accept Simon as Ed Bauer, but his listless, morose take on the character was a turn-off. I've always been team Mart Hulswit, and felt firing him was a decision that damaged the character and the show in the long term. I'm glad that I'm not the only one to find Derek Colby attractive.👍

I love watching how different series incorporate flashbacks into their episodes. On Peyton Place: The Next Generation, the director chose to use sepia tone (like in the opening and closing scenes of The Wizard of Oz) when showing flashbacks to the original 1964-69 primetime drama, and I found it both nostalgic and effective. (BTW, I don't know why, but I was surprised to discover that Jean Bruce Scott played the comatose Allison MacKenzie in that 1985 film.) I love when shows give us flashbacks from the distant past.

It shocked me that Helen Wagner and Don McLaughlin were dropped from contract status in the early 1980s (one of the all-time most bone-headed moves on daytime TV), so I was always expecting David and Ellen to be shoved off the back-burner as well. In the end, I am surprised that Patricia Bruder made it all the way to 1996, considering how little Ellen had to do in her final years on the series.

Ahh, the revisionist-history Bauers, who had never existed or been mentioned since the family was introduced in the 1940s. With known and established characters like Mike, Hope, Meta, Trudy, etc., out there to use in the TGL universe, I resented how these awkwardly-inserted strangers were suddenly supposed to be part of the family. Nope. I called them all "the fake Bauers," and never accepted any of them. Daughter Lacey was particularly painful to tolerate. At least they came and went fairly quickly. I had to endure Peter Simon as "the fake Ed" for a looooong 27 years, LOL! I really liked Derek Colby and was disappointed that the show dropped him so suddenly. He was vastly more appealing than so many of the revolving-door newbies who kept being foisted on us as the 1980s progressed.

Lee Godart always turned me off completely, on both AMC and TEON. I would have preferred Woods remain in the role, TBH. Did anybody discern actual chemistry between Godart and Lucci? I can't say that I ever did.

While I technically still have my ancient Facebook and Twitter accounts, my usage of those platforms has dwindled to almost nothing. The toxicity, dishonesty and unbridled hate speech on those sites is just not tolerable.

Oh, no, no, no. Please do not apologize. It is not your fault that hate speech permeates any site upon which you happen to find a video of interest to soap fans. No one would expect you to pour through the entire Rumble archives before sharing a classic ATWT episode. I'm grateful that you let us know about the vintage upload. If we can find soap gems on any site, I'll investigate them readily, but fortunately we don't have to watch or endorse any of the other, toxic content out there. God knows, there are many things on Twitter/X and even Youtube I disagree with, but I just block or ignore them, and save the content I want. On the internet, I think we all learn pretty quickly to navigate through the murky waters.

I just glanced around a bit, but I was shocked and sickened to see all the hate speech, disinformation and toxicity given free reign on the platform.

Once venomous trolls target someone, they never quit, alas.

I can't see him deserving to be banned on any site, unless his posting style is vastly different than what it is here.

Thanks for the tag, @DRW50. I can't imagine why @EricMontreal22 would get banned. He's a great poster and adds value to conversations.

He wasn't on very long, and never was a major character, so I doubt many viewers remember him. It's like Pam Chandler and Tim Ryan; most folks today have no clue who they are/were.

It is. She played Janet Mason on TGL. Deerfield and Garrett struck me as quite different. I felt that Deerfield came across as flighty and less substantial than Garrett, who brought a somber depth and thoughtfulness to the role. Garrett made Holly a full, flesh-and-blood woman, which made her much more memorable and powerful to watch. Holly is an icon thanks to Garrett. JMHO.

Bert Bauer, Mike Bauer, Ed Bauer, OG Holly Norris, Janet Norris, Peggy Scott, Leslie Jackson, Steve Jackson, Wilson Frost, Sara McIntyre, Ken Norris, Adam Thorpe, Barbara Norris. Don't ask me to name 85% of the characters from the final few decades of the show, LOL, but when TGL was great, its characters were memorable. Thank you @Sapounopera. I enjoyed seeing that. It sure brought back a lot of memories!

Thanks @Joseph and @DRW50. I haven't seen this episode since 1975. SFT was so good that year.

Another goodie! Thanks @MissPalmer and @DRW50!

Hear, hear! Everyone who alerts the community to "new" vintage episodes deserves applause. Thank you, @MissPalmer!

I appreciate the viewable link, @DRW50! Between this the ep of The Brighter Day you've told me about, I'll have a vintage-soap weekend! Gracias!

Thanks, @DRW50. I don't believe I had seen this episode, either, but I've generally enjoyed the eps of TBD which I have watched. I look forward to it.

As always, I appreciate your alerting me to a rare video, but clicking on this link only leads me to a page that says the content is unavailable. Thanks anyway!

A critic who takes it upon himself to "review" a book about a TV series (or play or film or album or artwork) which he has never seen, heard, nor has any knowledge of whatsoever, cannot be taken seriously as a credible voice of analysis. This dithering piece shames the NYT more than it does Lemay. This is a mesmerizing scene between Pat and Jamie. Beverly Penberthy was the kind of gem (like Jacquie Courtney) whom TPTB should have moved heaven and earth to hang onto, particularly because by 1982, she was one of the few, comforting links remaining to the past. By now, the long-standing idiocy and incompetence of TPTB is well documented, but it never fails to disappoint how willfully and consistently they crippled the soaps over the years. Thanks for sharing this.

As I say, personal opinion can vary completely from person to person. And, it would be terribly tedious if everyone sat around saying nothing but, "I agree with you! You are so right! Ain't that the truth? Nobody could ever deny that!" At least contrasting opinions keep things lively. It's like people who say they hate puppies. They immediately raise my suspicion and ire, LOL!

Perfectly expressed, by both you and the legendary Irna Phillips. To me, Sheffer did not write the soaps in a way they were meant to be written; he wrote them in a destructive, modern-era fashion, a weak bastardization of the genre. Folks like Ron Carlivati are continuing on with that unfortunate practice today, and the soaps are worse off for it.