Khan

Even better: introduce a new, male character who is not interested in going to bed with her. Not because he is gay or transgender, or because he is impotent or a eunuch, or because he is merely related to her, but because he is just not that into her. Then, make her lose her mind in trying to seduce him anyway - even though she is supposed to be happy again with Ridge - because, as she realizes later in court-ordered therapy, she needs to have every man who comes in contact with her be totally in love with her in order to have any self-worth. Almost forgot... DAYS: Someone at the studio "accidentally" spills a vat filled with celery tonic on all the episodes they have taped ahead, forcing DAYS to return to a production schedule that allows for actual adjustment of characters and storylines that are failing.

Being a fan of Frank Salisbury's, I definitely approve adding him to the writing staff, lol. The thing is, Ann Marcus tended to use her own stable of writers at each show she worked on: Jerry Adelman, Rocci Chatfield, Raymond Goldstone (her brother), Ken Hartman/Daniel Gregory Browne, Laura Olsher, Joyce Perry, etc. (Notably, she kept Elizabeth Harrower on the staff when she took over HW'ing duties at DAYS, but probably lived to regret it when Harrower subsequently maneuvered her out of the job and off the show). So I don't know whether she would have been receptive to having associate writers foisted on her, for lack of a better word. Rick Edelstein, Jane Avery and A.J. Russell are all solid choices, @dc11786. Especially Edelstein (who is mentioned in Barbra Streisand's autobiography, by the way, as is her former acting teacher, Allan Miller (ex-Dave Siegel, OLTL; et al)). He and Rita Lakin (another hypothetical replacement for Ann Marcus) were the only two writers whose work on THE DOCTORS I could tolerate. As for EP, what if CBSD had been able to snag Jorn Winther to replace Cathy Abbi before he began work at AMC?

Pairing Michael Dempsey's A-M with Mandy Bruno's Marina was so wrong when you consider that Eleni believed for awhile that A-M was Marina's biological father. I agree.

Literally anything would have been better than his being the Unabortion.

I agree 100%, @Paul Raven! TC could have featured descendants from one of NYC's oldest and wealthiest families, along with a brash billionaire (...yes, like whatshisname...) who represents "new money" that the other family looks down their noses at. And then there also could have been an ethnic, blue-collar family - with ties both to law enforcement, like the Reagans on "Blue Bloods," and to organized crime in the city - who, along with the other family, becomes involved in various ways with the LOVING transplants at the Greene Street building. TC could have had a traditional set-up for a soap, just with a twist on its' execution that would have made it feel fresh and different at the same time.

I apologize, @dc11786, it was meant to be a joke. (But, hey, if you like the idea, who am I steer you wrong, lol?)

I agree on both counts.

LOL!!

Yes. Sometime after the beginning of her run as EP at OLTL, Linda Gottlieb, along with newly installed HW Michael Malone, featured several, limited-run storylines with characters who were connected but only tangentially to the vets. The one example I can think of off the top of my head was a story about Viki's previously unseen maid, played by some actress who was later convicted IRL either of murder or attempted murder, who was being abused by her husband, played by Craig Wasson ("Ghost Story"). These stories were but one way Gottlieb was going to "reinvent the wheel," as she had told the press. The experiments did not take, however, and they were abandoned in due course, for the simple reason that they were about characters whom no one had heard of before and knew nothing about. Good point, @dc11786! And I agree that less people should have moved to TC. The new show could have made do just with Debbi and Darnell and whoever was playing Frankie at that point, since viewers were bound to remember them from AMC. I agree!

Good question, @dc11786! Depending on how well Ann Marcus' material might have been received under better circumstances (better timeslot, more affiliate clearances, etc.), I think CBS would have held onto her, at least for awhile. Abbi, however, probably would have been replaced with a more competent producer. The question is, who would have been available in 1980 to take over producing duties, who also had a good, if not great, track record beforehand? If I had been in charge at CBSD, I would have tried to tempt John Conboy away from Y&R. Not just because of Y&R's success up to that point, but also because he and Marcus had been a very good team for the most part at LIAMST. Other candidates might have included H. Wesley Kenney (DAYS), Bud Kloss (AMC) and maybe even Hardy again.

Poor Liz. She kept trying to avoid talking about the issue, but Matthew would not let up, lol. I do not know why, but it feels to me like all the drama over Matthew's learning the circumstances behind his conception is a lot of ado over nothing. Maybe it is because Matthew knows already that Mitch is his biological father and that takes some of the sting out of this latest revelation. (Why did all this information not come up when he did learn he was Mitch's son?) Maybe it is because Mitch had redeemed himself somewhat in the original story by trying to stop Janice from killing Mac, even though Matthew is refusing to consider that fact. Maybe it is because I cannot understand Rachel's antipathy toward the entire Frame family when only a handful of them - Steve, Willis, Janice, Jason - caused trouble for the Corys and others (and Steve's mention on that list is debatable, because it was more than clear that Rachel herself was the antagonist in that triangle with Alice). Again, I do not know why. However, this much, I do know: I think AW had changed so much in the years that Harding Lemay was away that I question how successful he would have been again, even if he had been allowed to continue.

I agree.

I agree! I agree with these points as well!

Nope.

Good question, @Soaplovers! Unfortunately, even if LOL had survived past Feb. 1980, I doubt that it would have lasted that much longer. The way I see it, LOL was trapped in a no-win situation. Their core audience seemed to be older and more conservative than other soaps'. Therefore, they were not as willing to embrace whatever changes were necessary in order to make the show more contemporary and competitive with the Bell or ABCD soaps, especially if those changes meant de-emphasizing Vanessa as the show's central heroine. At the same time, because of its' reputation as being "your mother's soap opera," it seems as if younger audiences for the most part steered clear of LOL, possibly out of the belief that the show had nothing to interest them.

1995 was not one of ATWT's better years, IMO. Then again, I think all years on this show after 1993 ran from mediocre to outright horrid. (Say what you will about Douglas Marland, but the man knew how to craft stories in a way no other writer could). And "Christmas-ing" the theme song at the end just takes a boring song and makes it even worse. Meanwhile, Alexander Walters (Mark) was so much more good-looking than Shawn Christian (Mike). I wonder whatever happened to him (or why ATWT never thought to have Mark work as a male stripper, lol).

Wishing you and yours the merriest of Christmases and the happiest of New Years, too! (Let's hope 2024 doesn't suck too much.)

Why did they want to kill Alan, though? Was it because of Stuart Damon's real-life medical issues? If SD had decided he was no longer physically able to work, then I could understand killing off Alan. But it seems like TPTB just wanted to be rid of the Quartermaines and most actors over a certain age.

Suzi lost so many people in her life: Doug, Eunice, John, Wendy (in a way). She also was abused and manipulated by Warren (and in my two scenarios above, she suffers what might be, for many women, the cruelest injustice of all: the inability to have children of her own). Jo appeared to be the only constant in her life. Then, when it looked as if she finally would have some happiness and stability of her own with Cagney and Jonah, what happens? She gets killed. It is as if TPTB lived to make that poor girl suffer. That is why I gave Suzi some agency in both my scenarios, because if there is one that I cannot stand, it is a female character who is victimized by everyone around her and does nothing to take control of her own life. Actually, @dc11786, I could see a scenario where Stephanie and Wendy believe each other to be responsible for shooting and/or killing Warren. Stephanie would confess immediately to the crime in order to protect Wendy, whom she believes to be the culprit; and Wendy, not realizing why her mother has confessed, would be as stunned as everyone else when she does. It is only later, as mother and daughter are alone and able to talk, when Stephanie and Wendy realize that neither was responsible for the crime. But there is a twist: in order to be cleared of all charges, Stephanie needs Wendy to corroborate her new story (that she confessed only because she believed her daughter to be guilty), but Wendy refuses, because doing so would mean confessing to a major secret (such as Warren faking his own death for reason or another). Essentially, Wendy is fine with allowing her mom to continue taking the rap for a crime neither have committed; and even though Jo begins to suspect that neither mother nor daughter is being completely honest with the authorities; and even though Stephanie is heartbroken over his daughter's actions, Stephanie still refuses to admit the truth to Jo or to anyone else. And the whole time this is going on, no one even suspects that Warren's killer/"killer" is none other than Kristin, lol. That is a neat twist, @dc11786. But, you know, people loved Jo/Mary Stuart so much. TPTB would have forced you to change that scenario somehow, so that Jo would be exonerated entirely, simply because there would be a tremendous outcry from viewers who would not want to see that knowledge dangling over Jo's head like the Sword of Damocles. It is kind of like what ATWT's Don Hastings said about the possibility of his character, Dr. Bob Hughes, killing someone: viewers might simply shrug and say, "Oh, well, so the gun went off." Similarly, people would not want to see Jo guilty even of accidental murder, nor would they want Jo to punish herself for the crime even after the court had found her innocent. If anything, people would be writing in, telling Jo to stop feeling guilty about trying to do away with scum like Warren Carter and enjoy the rest of her life, lol! Obviously, I cannot speak for the rest of the audience, but I feel like the only husbands of Jo's who could have been considered as endgames were Arthur Tate and Tony Vincente, with Tony being the most endgame, if that makes sense. To me, Martin could not possibly have been endgame, given his background as a gambler and womanizer. I know he had reformed somewhat by the time he and Jo had married, but I still believe they were too entirely different for theirs to have been a long-lasting union. My idea would have been to cast Forrest Compton, fresh from the cancelled EON, as Jo's new love interest, Stan Potter (an P&G in-joke). It would be established that Stan and Jo's first husband, Keith Barron, had been business associates; and that Stan and his recently deceased wife, Emily, also had been close friends with Keith and with Jo. Business opportunities had forced the Potters and their two sons, Robert and Eric, to relocate to Cincinnati (another P&G in-joke), but now that he was retired and a widower, he was moving back to Henderson. As Jo and Stan resume their friendship, we would see flashbacks of the Barrons and Potters in their younger days, along with the gradual realization that Stan has long carried a torch for Jo. As Stan later admits, he always wanted to express to Jo his true feelings, but never could, out of respect for both their marriages. At the same time, Jo, who believes she is truly finished with romance after the implosion of her last marriage, realizes that her feelings toward Stan are turning into something deeper than friendship. Eventually, Stan would propose to Jo near some place where they and their spouses used to frequent. Jo accepts Stan's marriage proposal; Patti returns to Henderson for her mother's wedding. (Ideally, I would have loved to get Lynn Loring to return for a limited engagement). We also would meet Rob and Eric Potter for the first time. Trouble looms on the horizon, however, when an older man whom Sunny has been following as part of her series on Henderson's burgeoning homeless community turns out to be none other Keith Barron himself. (Yes, he would have been the second of Jo's lovers who turns out to be alive after all, with Sam being the first. Fret not, however, as Jo and Stu would acknowledge that fact, along with the ridiculousness of having not one but two paramours return from the dead, lol). Ooooh, I like that idea, @dc11786! It would provide an unexpected connection with what was probably one of SFT's biggest stories from its' entire run. And if you could not get Joan Copeland to return and resume the role, then I would try and get someone like Lee Grant. It would have been the second SFT role for Grant, but Rose Peabody was so long ago, lol. Or...I would go for broke and have Patti's mystery lover turn out to be female. I. Love. This. Idea. So. Much. LOL. Seriously, @dc11786, you always have such incredible story ideas!

I agree. I agree. Nevertheless, GL's finale still felt follow to me, even with all the returns that @DRW50 mentioned. True!

I never will understand what the various PTB had against the Quartermaines.

That certainly was true for AW. Between OJ and JFP, AW never stood a chance.

That is exactly what I would call GL's cancellation, @vetsoapfan: a mercy killing. ATWT still had life left in it, because its' core had not become as wrecked as GL's had become. All it needed was an EP and HW who cared enough and who could write and produce the show without too much interference from P&G or from CBS, and it would have bounced back in no time. But GL could have had all those things and more and it still would have needed at least 1-2 years that it did not have just to become watchable again, let alone good or great. I agree.

Jim Thomasen (AMC): a character and storyline that were so dark, it apparently forced Roscoe Born, who originated the role, to quit the show in mid-storyline. (If that is why he quit so abruptly, then I do not blame him. I mean, a man who engineers a plane crash to cover up his child pornography? And do not get me started on Brooke English basically getting away with killing him later in cold blood. Or the means Tad used to help exonerate her. Or poor Robin Mattson's hysterical "OMG, that's Amanda [in one of those pictures]!" in that courtroom.) I think that is the kinkiest and most lurid Douglas Marland ever got on daytime, "A New Day in Eden" notwithstanding.

I agree. I might have said this before, but I think Nancy Curlee was GL's last, best hope. When she left, GL was finished.