Khan

I agree. John Conboy never understood that GL was not Y&R or CAPITOL. It did not need more gloss; it needed better stories.

The Affordable Care Act appears to be following the same arc as many "entitlements" that our country once balked at but now cannot fathom doing without. If I were a Democrat running for office, I would hammer home that fact along with reproductive rights and the inextricable links between them and the ACA.

Does anyone else remember when GL devoted an ENTIRE. EPISODE. To cast members building homes for Habitats for Humanity?

No, I don't. There was speculation, though? I think it would have been odd to see "Dr. Alan Quartermaine" now playing "Dr. Ed Bauer," to say the least. Plus, given SD's health at the time, I am not sure he would have been up to relocating to NYC and playing any role on any soap full-time. I agree. There came a point in GL's final year or two when it was obvious they no longer had a long-term plan for anything and instead were making up stuff based on which part of Peapack they were filming in that day.

This makes me laugh for some reason. Did Jean Holloway think she still was writing THE FIRST HUNDRED YEARS?

Yes, they do. As a matter of fact, a distant cousin of mine was released so he could attend my maternal grandfather's funeral, wearing handcuffs and being escorted the entire time.

Yes.

Wendy Riche does not need to return to soaps. She has more than earned her retirement.

I agree. Peapack was an embarrassment for everyone concerned. Nevertheless, a lot of people were depending on its' success in order to maintain their livelihoods. In the end, you can't fault anyone responsible for trying to do whatever they could to keep GL going and keep everyone employed. They just needed more competent leaders at the helm. Gil Gerard would have made for a better Clint Buchanan recast on OLTL. I, myself, would have reached out to Mart Hulswit to see whether he were interested in returning to the show. He might not have been a hunk, but I think Ed was past being a romantic lead anyway. Plus, having him there with Maureen Garrett as Holly might have made the Sebastian storyline less absurd.

My wish for GH in 2024 is the same wish I have had for GH for the past several years: that 70-80% of the current cast is wiped out in a hurricane that unleashes a new strain of Lassa Fever that occurs while a serial killer is simultaneously threatening the citizens of Port Charles.

Ah, the strange, sad case of one Bambi Brewster, lol. I do not know much about the character or her storyline - all that I know, I have gleaned from reading about her on message boards - but she might be a classic, textbook example of a minor/supporting character who becomes a lead literally overnight. In fact, I once joked that the show should have been renamed LOVE OF BAMBI.

I said the same thing as the storyline was playing out. If GA was not interested in returning, I said, then recast Phillip, so there would be a point to the "Who Killed Phillip?" storyline. I also said he even could return using a different name, like Scott Marler ("Scott," for Jackie; "Marler," for Justin), to illustrate how repentant he felt about the way he had treated all his loved ones before he was "killed" and that he wanted to clean the proverbial slate. Not an ideal situation, mind you, but at least there would have been a purpose to "killing" him off.

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!