That must've been during the period when GF and TG weren't speaking and GH's writers had to write around that, even though Luke and Laura were supposedly still together.
Thank you! He could have quit at any time if he didn't want to keep playing "Luke & Laura Vs. Evil," but he never should have been allowed to dictate storylines to the degree that he did. Like you said, @carolineg, it's a disservice to the fans who have loved GH for years NOT to put them back together eventually.
I agree that having Nikolas and Spencer as Laura's only real, main family in PC is wrong, but if the alternative is suffering through another, miserable Lucky or Lulu recast, then I'm good with the current status quo, lol.
I suspect the adoration toward Luke and Laura was due to the fact that you had a young couple involved in these far-flung, very high-stakes adventures - the likes of which hadn't really been seen before, at least on daytime. Otherwise, yes, you take out the Left Handed Boy and the Ice Princess, and you have just another, run-of-the-mill soap opera romance (albeit, one with a very questionable beginning, lol).