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Garrett was dropped to recurring under Conboy with Liz Kiefer, Beth Chamberlain, and Yvonna Wright. Wheeler brought back Garrett who had only had a handful of appearances after being dropped to recurring (the Bloss Christmas remarriage was one of them and a random February appearance talking to Ed as the Maryanne Carrouthers story was winding down). Garrett returned in September, 2004, when Kriezman launch the Roger´s death storyline. Garrett then appeared pretty consistently until at least January, 2005 when the San Marcos revisit was concluded. I think there may have been a lull in appearances in spring 2005 as the original ending of the San Marcos revisit was suppose to bring Peter Simon´s Ed back to the canvas. Simon didn´t agree so they scrapped Ed's return. Just before the budget cuts, the show was launching a new storyline with Holly. Holly had sold part of the Journal to Alan Spaulding in exchange for shares of Spaulding Enterprises while Josh Lewis, Blake Marler, and Sebastian Hulce had united under a plan to takeover Spaulding. The show then cut Doug Hutchison (presumably as part of the production cuts) and stopped using Garrett, who had remained off-contract since August, 2003.

There are times I´m incredibly grateful that ¨Guiding Light" was cancelled when it was so we never got the opportunity to see Ron Carvilati´s ¨Guiding Light" complete with a tribute to Conboy´s gay rave with 30 something Marty West running around in bootie shorts handing out drugs to Emma Spaulding. I enjoyed Tom Pelphrey´s Jonathan at the beginnning. His initial arc was strong, in my opinion. The minute the show decided that Jonathan / Tammy were end game, I was done. It negated the initial tawdriness of Jonathan seducing Tammy by making their relation tru soap love without any of the angst. The show lost all objectivity to Jonathan and that led to so many poor decisions. Now that I think about it, didn´t Frank Valentini try to steal Crystal Chappell for one of the Dr. Paige Millers recasts a few months later and GL wouldn let her out of her contract? People may have agreed, but they also were quick to jump ship. I remember Jerry ver Dorn had left, but, for some reason, I thought he had been dropped to recurring with Marj Dusay, Michael O´Leary, and I think someone else. I know they also cut Michelle and Danny at the same time after giving Nancy St. Alban an extended maternity leave to, what I assume, was to test the waters with a Manny-less show. Zimmer´s story, as I recall, also got traction because the cuts came when she was up for ¨Best Actress," which was just terrible optics.

Here´s the thing though. Was everyone really on board? Daniel Cosgrove and Laura Wright both left in the wake of that. Beth Chamerlain refused to accept a contract about the same time because it wasn´t lucrative enough. To me, Zimmer was well in right to say no. If that was a problem, Wheeler should have cut her. Reva wasn´t as important to the show in 2005. Shayne and Marah were gone. Jonathan was heavily featured but Jonathan´s maternal figure could have easily become his adopted aunt Olivia. Reva´s story in the summer of 2005 was her romance with Alfred/Nate?, Jonathan´s abusive foster father. You could have easily written out Reva through that story. Wheeler was wrong for keeping Zimmer and cutting the rest of the cast because it didn´t meet Wheeler´s vision of the show. Trying to produce a Marland-like canvas with multiple characters and stories on the very limited budget available was foolish. Personally, I still wonder what Gary Tomlin could have done on that show with Christopher Whitsell (or Lorraine Broderick or a Culliton) supporting David Kriezman in the writing department. I don´t remember the press criticizing Wheeler for keeping Zimmer, which would have been more balanced coverage. Though, the soap press by that point was getting pretty polarizing. Wasn´t Nelson Branco running TVGuide Canada´s Soap Opera section?

Grant Alexander was gone in 2005. Kim Zimmer´s point was a contract was agreed upon and it should be followed. This all played out around the time of the Daytime Emmys and most of the other nominees in her category ( I want to say Erika Slezak and Jeanne Cooper) agreed with her. I think Zimmerś point was that what was the point of a contract if it wasn´t going to be followed? Having had a similar issue occur many years later in my profession (education), I completely agree with Zimmer´s point. It was setting a precedent that has led to things like the entire cast of ¨Days of our Lives"being fired several years ago. Bradley Cole supposedly had an insane contract at the time too. Cole should have been cut loose as well since his character was such dead weight.

Your thoughts on Harley and the Coopers are pretty much how I felt. I didn´t think John Driscoll was a terrible actor, but the character was underdeveloped at best. Driscoll had auditioned for Jonathan and Wheeler was impressed so they decided to introduce Coop. If they were so hard up to get Driscoll, they should have put him on a holding contract (like they did with Michelle Ray Smith for whatever reason) until they could release Scott Bailey from his contract because they clearly had no use for his version of Sandy. I Though, I think at one point they were planning on revealing Sandy´s biological parents were characters with ties to the canvas. Honestly, Driscoll would have been lost as Sandy as well. The show only cared about Jonathan. And I say this as someone who liked Sandy/Scott Bailey (I was 17 and thought Bailey was hot lol). I thought the eminient domain story where Phillip tried to take Company was ok. The Ruth Karloff stuff was BAD. Then the investigation into Phillip´s murder just dragged and then they brought in Mallet and it was very clear where they were going. Kreizman had promise at the start, but by January, 2005, the writing was on the wall. With that said, I think the biggest mistake was how the show handled the budget in 2005 and nixed a bunch of people because Zimmer wouldn´t alter her contract. I say this with respect to Zimmer. I respect her decision, but I would have cut her or accepted that I was going to have to have a different type of show. I don´t think anyone benefitted from Kriezman and Wheeler trying to keep a large canvas of stories with a smaller contract cast and so many recurring veterans. By summer of 2005, I was pretty done with ¨Guiding Light. Regarding the CEO story, I think Michael Dempsey came on as Alan-Michael around that time. There was a definite attempt to do something with the Spauldings but it all quickly came apart. I was hoping to return to regular viewing, but the quick shift in direction made it clear that the show had not learned from any of its mistakes.

Bruno came on in early May as I recall after Kit Paquin´s short stint (March-April). Initially, Bruno´s Marina was being setup in a triangle with West´s Shayne and Scott Bailey´s Sandy in the case of two brothers loving the same girl. It was Aubrey Dollar played most of the Shayne/Marina romance. When they brought Shayne on with Marty West, they pretty much implied that they would pair them right away even though Ben and Marina had been a thing for a bit and had a loyal following. Marty West and Aubrey Dollar had a love scene when Shayne was paralyzed where Dollar pulls down his shorts and you could see West´s backside. He wasn´t the only one. Daniel Cosgrove had a shower scene with Deborah Zoe´s Eden where you could see his bottom as well. This was all January - early March 2004 as I recall right around the time of the Janet Jackson incident at the Super Bowl. I think Mark Collier may have shown his butt on ¨As the World Turn" around the same time. I really enjoyed parts of Weston and Conboy´s ¨Guiding Light" while also acknowledging the insanity and harm that was ultimately done. I had always heard the complaints about watching Ben Reade destroyed, bu it never meant much to me because the Ben Reade I knew was making bets to steal Marah´s virginity and had been the target of a social climbing Marina (prior to them softening her and deciding Marina and Ben were going to be an actual couple worth rooting for). I will have to revisit 2002-2005 someday to see if I still have the same feelings about that period. I thought Carolyn Culliton and Millee Taggart did some strong work, but there was also a lot of poor decisions that made enjoying the other parts difficult. I guess the same could be said for Conboy and Weston. I enjoyed Olivia faking Emma´s death. I liked Edmund and Cassie with Edmund´s guilt over his role in all the pain he had caused Cassie. I thought the younger set was fun. I found the mystery involving Carolyn Carrouthers fine. I don´t think I would enjoy it as much today. In retrospect, I can see how disjointed it was, but I still have a fondness for some parts.

I suspect it might have been a holiday spike/weather spike. As I recall, the Christmas 2003 episode was noteably strong compared to what had been happening in the months leading up to it. Blake and Ross remarried. A lot of characters who hadnt been seen were pulled out. There was a dopey, but holiday oriented, story about all the men to dress up as Santa because the kids stopped believing. I think that may have led into the next week of good will. Also, the East Coast got blasted that year was snowstorms (I was a senior in high school and remember catching stuff from the Salem Serial Killer a month later). I dont remember specifically if it was that week, but I feel like I remember it just snowing a lot that winter. I can only speak for myself personally. I enjoyed Harley and Phillip. I wasnt happy when the show went with Harley and Gus, but didnt see them as problematic at first. Wheeler and Kriezman made GusH the new Danny and Michelle. They were everywhere, they did everything. It seemed like everything revolved around Harley. I remember there was a potentially great story in the fall of 2005 (or maybe 2006) where Beth was going to assume the reigns of Spaulding. She had married Alan (who I think agreed to marry Beth to get Phillip to come out of hiding). Anyway, there was a board meeting. They even brought back Mary Kay Adams again. The conclusion: Harley as CEO of Spaulding. Good grief. The Coopers were treated differently under Wheeler and Kriezman. They were probably the most cohesive onscreen family (on-contract) that Wheeler and Kriezman inherited, but they were not interesting by that point in time. Frank was a C-level lead at best. Buzz was fine when Justin Deas was reigned in; I remember him (and I think Crystal Chappell) being one of the few people to get a decent performance out of the forgotten last hire by Conboy Kit Paquin. Harley was a strong lead when she didnt dominate the story. Mandy Bruno was bland and constantly paired with the wrong actor (they should have gone Marina/Jonathan, in my opinon). Marty West made some wrestling tapes prior to appearing on ¨Guiding Light." I believe the tapes surfaced online pretty quickly though West made them under a pseudonym. I´ve never seen them myself, but would happily accept a link in my messages lol). As of a few years ago, a lot of that GL younger set seemed to be in touch. Stephanie Gatschet had a pretty active Facebook a while back and had some (non-serious, as I recall) medical issues with her daughter and people seemed to be pretty supportive. West, in particular, I remember commenting and I feel like some others did too (maybe Justin Klosky). I know that teen scene wasn´t the strongest, but they were there during my final years of high school and first year of college so they are very memorable to me.

It is interesting to consider what Stacey's trajectory would have been had Lily stayed. Would she have been written off as a second tier heroine? Would she go for broke and become more of a vixen? There was some early 1985 material that I came across where Stacey and Jack have decided to carry on an affair even though Jack is married to Ava. Stacey has much more depth than she had later on. This seemed to be Marland and Nixon repurposing elements of the Merill/Roger story in a more effective way. Stacey felt guilty about carrying on with a married man. She was afraid her parents would find out. She was worried what this meant with her own religious beliefs. I think something like this could have happened with Lily / Jack / Stacey, but obviously repositioned. It might have been interesting to see Lily have been receiving psychiatric treatment, but rejecting Jack physically due to her traumatic sexual history even though I think with her alter Trista she bedded down with Curtis. Curtis could have egged Jack on that he was able to sleep with Lily when he never could and Jack and Stacey could start carrying on sexually becasue Jack "has needs." Stacey, who had feelings for Jack, would enjoy the sexual relationship, but obviously be upset that she couldn't have all of Jack. Since Curtis would want Lily, Stacey would start dating Curtis to incite jealousy from Jack with Curtis hoping this would lead to a split between Jack and Lily. To explain the motivation, I would make it clear that Stacey and Curtis didn't want to tell Lily outright about Jack and Stacey because they knew how much this would hurt Lily. Of course, Ava would learn the truth and then... the story could just keep going. Jack definitely seems to be like so many of the characters in the early years of "Loving," part Nixon and part Marland. I'm almost positive elements of the Lily - Jack romance were originally planned for Tara-Phil on "All My Children" with Phil murdering Nick, who was originally suppose to be a criminal type, I believe. Similarly, Jack also seems part Phillip Spaulding with the paternity secret. The difference with Jack was he knew he was adopted. He just thought his biological father was Hemsley Whitehead, who had died in a car accident with Jack's mother Linda Henderson Whitehead. His biological grandparents, Ada and Haddon Henderson, had given Jack to his mother's best friend, Ann Alden Forbes, to raise. I do think ignoring Jack's paternity after Dane left was a mistake. I feel like there was definitely story to mine with the Henderson side of Jack's family as well as the divided loyalty between Jack and his other families. Merrill wasn't as interesting as she could have been. The show would have been better off making Merill-Roger a B-story or lean in heavier on the guilt like they did later on with Stacey. I'm not sure even Susan Keith could have done much more with the character. Merrill and Doug were suppose to remain friendly after the broken engagement because Doug suspected one day Merrill would be ready to get married. Part of the issue is Merrill was an ambitious reporter, but I don't think there was much story to chase until Garth Slater dies. Shannon Eubanks manages to do a lot with a little. I've come to appreciate Callan White more in the last couple years. White is introduced in order to facilitate the Roger has died plot and is pretty much brought on to be a new character. Roger's death is suppose to alter her and she finds a new sense of self and purpose, which, since she didn't have much, was probably a smart move. Maneuvering Ann into the business world as they were introducing her half-sister, Shana, allowed a business rivalry to develop on top of the eventual sisterly rivalry that developed later on. Personally, I would have brought Roger back in the mid 1980s and paired him with Shana just to really cause a stir. I think there was space for the Donovans and the Rescotts if they developed the differences more. The Rescott/Sowolskys were more working class with the desire for upward mobility verse the Donovans who were heading into that middle class territory. None of the Rescotts were college professors or nurses. They were mechanics and cleaning ladies. I would have made Kate a little more slick than Rose. A quick wit, maybe even a past as a good time girl before she settled down and married Charlie and had kids. Though, given how Kate was written, yes, she basically replaced Rose. Lorna didn't work as a Meta Bauer type with the stepdaughter from hell. I think Edy Lester was intended to be an obstacle in reuniting Doug and Merrill. The Stephanie Sloane character who works with Doug in California and was investigating the murders that were tied to Jonathan Maitlane would have made more sesne as Merrill Vochek. Merrill learning Jonathan's ties to Edy would have meant Merrill destroying Doug's marriage which would have been powerful.

I definitely think there are certain elements of the original show that are tweaked or reused. To me, Dane comes off as more of a replacement for Garth, a foe for Jack, an enemy for the Alden family, and someone driven by ambition. Dane is not directly mentioned in the bible, but it is clear that Jack was adopted and there is a note that his parents died in a car accident. Jack is a variation on Phil Brent. In an early AMC bible, Phil ends up killing Nick and going on the run like Lily and Jack were suppose to. Dane seems to be a bit of a variation on that. I truly believe Roger Forbes would have returned some point down the line. I also suspect that Stephanie Smith was supposed to be a recast Merrill Vochek. Kate and Rose are similar types. I think Kate was going to be a slightly different variation on the Ada / Mona type. The Erica / Rachel type were always hurt by the abandonment by their fathers. Charles Rescott was dead, which, in itself, is a variation on the abandonment issue. I do think there might be more to it though. I had heard that there were plans once to reveal Ava (when played by Roya Megnot) was biracial, the product of an affair between Kate and an African American man. This would have been an interesting take on the abandoning by the father story. In some ways, Ava actually replaces Stacey, who was going to be a bit more cunning in trying to keep Jack and Lily apart. I had never considered a Gwyneth/Garth connection. Later on, Gwyneth ends up sleeping with a bunch of Trisha's men so there is a different sort of incest going on there. Gwyneth and Harry, at different points, have significantly unhealthy obsessions with their children's sexual habits. I don't know how Harry made it past his initial few months after kidnapping and nearly raping Shana and genuinely being a terrible human being. I think Lorna remains a complicated character until Marland leaves. Lorna alligns herself with Dane early in 1985 when Lorna sells some of her shares to Dane, but, now that I think about it, Linc and Dane are in cahoots so part of Lorna's situation is less about her own agency. I do think she slowly becomes more snobbish rather than cunning and actively manipulative.

I wonder if Donna might be referring the story where Bonnie's sister-in-law Calista Lockhart (played by Cady Huffman) was on. I think her character's husband was named Harrison Lord. This was a Ron Carvilati story. Ron was definitely referencing the actress Calista Flockhart.

I think the dropping of ideas is probably the result of a couple things. Certain story elements most likely were nixed by the network (the interracial romance involving a black man and a woman as well as the impotency plot). I imagine Jake Vochek was dropped because the network didn't want that many older characters, while I wonder if one of the reasons Patrick Donovan didn't kick the bucket in 1983/1984 was because they had killed off three other fathers in that time period (Johnny Forbes / Garth Slater / Roger Forbes). Part of the issue with the Bristows was that a bulk of their story was determined by Billy's impotence. This would have made Rita Mae's sexual pursuits a little more understanding to some people as it wasn't that Billy wouldn't satsify her, he couldn't. Instead, Rita Mae was just a neglected housewife moving from mild flirtations with Fr. Jim to Curtis to Doug. Furthermore, the shifting from Rita Mae to Ann gave the writers more story to play in the long run with Mike. Ann had more connections on the canvas so the action had more repercussions. Merrill and Roger are interesting as I initially thought the story ended fairly early when Roger returns to Ann and takes a post in Washington before the Garth Slater murder trial. Then, I realized they were continuing the story a bit with Merrill becoming involved with Warren Hodges, the district attorney who was a political rival of Roger's. The decision to drop Merrill seems to come at a time where they've positioned Shana to assume a lot of Merrill's place on the canvas. Shana is an attempt at a similar character, but without trying to pigeonhole her into the role of a heroine. Shana was more open in showing her hurt which I think helped. With that said, I think a Merrill/Shana friendship would have been delightful especially if Shana ended up using information she gathered about Merrill and Roger's relationship to hurt the Aldens. I'm curious where they would have gone with Lily and Jack. The bible ends with the trial which was suppose to be in the summer of 1984, wrapping up in August after the Olympics. There's suggestions that Stacey might become a threat to their relationship. A lot of space in the bible is spent on June, but I don't see where Nixon would have wanted to take her after the trial.

I may very well be wrong on this, but I do think there was mention of Meta Bauer being in Nova Scotia in 2002. Before Mary Stuart died, Meta was being used in the lighthouse restoration project story with a rivalry brewing with Claire Ramsay. I think Meta's absence was explained as her being in Nova Scotia, but I don't remember if she was visiting Trudy. I do know that Mike Bauer was referenced in May, 2004. When Michelle was shipped out of town by Danny at the time of the warehouse explosion story, Michelle and Robbie went to D.C. to visit Mike as they had just written out Ed Bauer around the same time.

Let's add to the Helen Wagner as Trudy mystery... I located this radio interview transcript with Wagner from 1994. where she speaks about her time on "Guiding Light." She says she was on twice between when "The World of Mr. Sweeney" was cancelled and when "As the World Turns" began, but the role sounds more like a dayplayer nurse. She does, however, also repeatedly state that she was on "Sweeney" for five years, when it was probably more like a year or so. https://www.peteranthonyholder.com/Archives/2016/atwt-n.htm

@slick jones Thanks for sharing. I think any early information about casting on the soaps needs to be called into questioned and examined. Clearly, we've been told for years that Helen Wagner was in the original television cast of the series, when this is clearly not true. The ninth television broadcast episode is there and it is clearly not Wagner. The picture isn't clear, but there seems to be a familiar close resemblance between Anne Marie Gayer (who is credited as playing Trudy Bauer in 1951) and the actress playing Trudy in the TV episode. For Trudy's casting, this is what I have: Gloria Grant (at least 1948) Laurette Fillbrandt (at least late 1948) [Fillbrandt suceeded Gloria Grant in the role] Mary Patton (c. January 1950) Anne Marie Gayer (1951, 1952) I don't doubt Holland played the role, but I haven't seen her listed in the newspapers. She was definitely in the cast in June, 1951, but the way the shows reuse actors is wild. The radio casts change all the time. re: Joey Roberts I found a picture in the paper from November, 1952 of Tarry Green as Joey. The character is described as a 16 year old. Green looks younger. There was also a picture of the Roberts clan from February, 1953, as they prepare to send Joey off to military school. I find it hard to believe that nearly 32 year old Richard Holland is subbing as Joey and then they bring back Tarry Green. I suspect Holland either subbed on radio or was brought back to town when Joe Roberts died as a slightly older Joey. Either way, I suspect Tarry Green departs as Joey in the February, 1953, episode. He isn't mentioned much in the multiple 1953 episodes that are available online. re: Gloria and Bruce Bruce is in the story as early as November 1951. I found an episode teaser stating that Joe has called Meta in New York to come back to Los Angeles, but Meta is intrigued by Bruce, a sophisticated doctor. Similarly, it would seem, based on the available story summaries, that Gloria was also around in 1951 as Gloria and Bill's initial emotional affair proceeds Gloria's TV career which is happening in 1952.

Patrick and Kimberly returned to New York on the same flight I believe. Patrick saved Kim's daughter, Arley, who had been ill. Siobhan was there around the same time as she returns in the St. Patrick's Day episode that year. It technically is like a three week period. I think Kim leaves for New York at the end of the first week of March. The second week, Pat treats Arley on the plane. The third week Siobhan returns home.

Potential mystery solved regarding the July 10, 1952 episode. A newspaper article from July 1, 1952 lists the original TV cast of "Guiding Light" as: Jone Allison as Meta, Herb Nelson (as Joe Roberts), Susan Douglas (as Kathy Roberts), Lyle Sudrow (as Bill Bauer), Charita Bauer (as Bertha Bauer), Theo Goetz (as Papa Bauer), Anne Marie Gayer, Bill Redfield, Ed Prentiss (as Richard Grant), Alice Yourman (as Laura Grant), Florine Seres, Santos Ortega, Anne Burr (as Gloria LaRue), and Phil Sterling (as Sid Harper). Some of this is easy to identify and I added in the names. It would seem that Anne Marie Gayer is the actress playing Trudy. https://www.gettyimages.co.nz/detail/news-photo/portrait-of-cbs-radio-actress-anne-marie-gayer-she-performs-news-photo/1163382053 Soap Central has Anne Burr and Phil Sterling appearing later in the year as Gloria and Sid, but it seems safe to say they are there at the beginning as Meta says she is going to see them. I also have a late August, 1952, episode description that says that Sid is excited about Alice Graham so Sid sticks around and we know that Gloria's infatuation with Bill Bauer seems to be receding by January, 1953, so I imagine Sid and Gloria return with Meta or shortly after. Ed Prentiss and Alice Yourman are seen in the 1953 episodes as Richard and Laura Grant so I imagine they are here, but I just don't know what there story would be. The bigger guessing game is the remaining actors: Florine Seres, Bill Redfield, and Santos Ortega. I'm gonna wager a guess that Florine Seres may be Alice. Similarly, I'd venture a guess that Bill Redfield is the actor playing Bob Lang as it is established during the trial that Bob and Kathy married around Labor Day. Despite what it is said online, Dick Grant does not seem to be present. I thought Redfield might be playing Dick, but I found an November, 1953, article describing the episode in which Kathy told Dick about Bob Lang being Robin's father and Kathy states she hadn't heard from Dick in six months when she married Bob. My only other guess is Redfield is Joey Roberts. I'm wondering if Santos Ortega is playing Dr. Bruce Banning, who would have appeared in the episode prior to the one that is online. If not Bruce, maybe the editor at the City Times John "Mac" McIntyre, who I think is referenced in the 1953 episodes online by Joe at one point.

Lisa Ann Walter's comments are interesting regarding soaps during the strike. I don't remember the exact timeline, but she was involved with "Watch Over Me," an English language telenovela that aired on MyNetworkTV after the WB and UPN folded into the CW leaving stations without affiliation. MyNetworkTV claimed their writers were translators and hired non-union workers. The WGA did get involved and the writers did get the proper recognition, as they were doing much more than just translating scripts from one language to another. Besides the incredibly low ratings, the telenovelas became less cost effective because of the unionization of the writers. I just don't know if this had occurred by the time "Watch Over Me" was in production. I don't remember there being any real press about the writers' labor issue until after it was settled, though I remember following the blog of one of the actors/writers who worked on the show and the implication was that they would get whoever they could get to "translate" scripts so that they could keep the costs low.

@Sapounopera There are probably more detailed responses in this thread from around 2019/2020 when @EricMontreal22 first discovered the bible. Actually, you commented on some of them I believe. It's been a while, but I will share what I recall. The story was originally set in a town called Carthage. The bible is written with three sections in mind: (1) the Jack & Lily romance with the Slater family secrets, (2) the affair between Roger and Merrill, and (3) Mike's struggles to cope with the events that occured in Vietnam. There is a character list towards the beginning that includes Jake Vochek (the father of Merrill, Noreen, and Jim as well as Patrick Donovan's army buddy/childhood friend) and Jeff Turner (the son of psychiatrist Dr. Ron Turner and Jack Forbes' best friend). Gwyneth and Clayton Alden are included in the list with a note that they would appear in Year 2. The bible itself covers story starting with the first daytime episode and going through the cliffhanger before the August, 1984, Olympics. The Slater family section spent a significant amount of time describing the backstory of Garth and June's marriage including the fact that Garth had knocked June up and had to marry her, only for her to miscarry the child. June later gave birth to a stillborn son after Lily I believe which led to severe depression and alcoholism. Garth had felt that June had stunted his career advancement. There was also a significant amount of space devoted to research on incest that Nixon had done. The research section reads like a pitch to sell the incest story, but also to provide ways to tell the story without a sexual aspect if necessary. Nixon outlines how incest can just be an inappropriate relationship between a parent and a child, which to me suggests that this research may have been done when she was planning the initial Nina and Palmer Cortlandt story. Jack and Lily's romance was slightly different than what played out onscreen. Lily's multiple personalities were not a story element in the bible, which meant that there was no romance between Lily and Curtis. Jack and Lily were to go on the run for a significant amount of time and build a life together in their new location. They did a much more abbreviated version of this with Jack and Lily running off together shortly before Garth's murder. Jack was still adopted. His mother was still a friend of Ann's from college, but there was no reference to who Jack's father was. There was animosity between Lorna and Jack as Lorna felt Jack was an outsider. Lorna was originally set to become involved with Jeff Turner in an interracial story that was just going to be about two young people falling in love without consideration of race. There was also a hint that Lorna would one day be drawn to Doug Donovan, but this was never completely sketched out. Stacey is mentioned as Lily's friend and pseudo romantic rival. There is a suggestion that Stacey might be manipulative in trying to gain Jack for herself, but that she would probably end up with Curtis for a bit as well. Stacey wasn't mentioned much, but I believe that she and Lily were suppose to be recent high school graduates. When Jack went on trial, June was going to go into a catatonic state of some sort and when she was at a sanitarium, Merrill Vochek would visit her. On the Friday before the Olympics, June was suppose to remember what happened the night of Garth's murder leaving the audience waiting until the Olympics were over in order to stay tuned. In the second major story, there was a very vague outline of what the story between Roger and Merrill was suppose to be about. The description of their emotional state was the main thrust and their motivations for the affair. Merrill was suppose to be someone who was deeply disturbed by her mother's untimely death during childbirth with her or another baby that didn't live; I seem to recall there being a bizarre number of miscarriages mentioned in the bible. Anyway, due to this, Merrill feared chidbirth. She was more career driven than romance driven. The implication, as I recall, was that she and Doug had been together a long time and that was what was expected of them, where as her relationship with Roger was more about lust. Merrill and Roger were not endgame. Roger was suppose to be a step in her romantic journey. Doug was deeply underdeveloped. All I recall is that there was a reference to a scene that was going to occur in the classroom where Doug basically admitted how joyful he was because he was getting married. Of course, he wouldn't get married. Ann was mentioned on a handful of occassions, and nothing to give a sense she was anything other than an obstacle in Merrill and Roger's romance. In the end, though, the larger obstacle would have been Merrill's resistance to commit to any man. Jim is presented as a moral compass for Merrill which she may or may not listen to. Roger's political motivations are discussed. Again, nothing to suggest any major plot movement, which is why I think Nixon needed to write the first year. I imagine it was only underdeveloped on paper and not in her own head, but maybe I'm being too generous. Lorna was also a thorn in Merrill and Roger's romance, which I think played out a little bit on screen, but not as much as I felt was written about in the bible. In the final story, Mike's Vietnam flashbacks were discussed. The 4th of July Speech was discussed, but I think in one of the few mentions in the bible, Jake Vochek was the one to present the award to his best friend's son. Mike refused to see Dr. Turner, a fellow Vietnam vet, and ended up involved in the police force where he was paired with an African American partner, who's name I don't recall, who would have also been a Vietnam vet. This partner on the force never materialized onscreen. Instead, the character may have been the basis for Mike's buddy Gage, who died in Vietnam and haunted Mike in the his memories. Similarly, Jeff Turner, Lorna's beau and Jack's buddy, became Tony Perrilli. Rita Mae was suppose to befriend Noreen and start sleeping with Mike. She was also going to carry on bit with Curtis Alden. There was a bit of a triangle among the three of them which escalated into a violent confrontation and would later be fueled by Patrick Donovan's death. Patrick was suppose to chase down the local campus drug dealers and die of a heart attack. This was going to haunt Mike as he was supposed to be on duty that night, but wasn't (he may have even been carrying on with Rita Mae). Billy was sort of a non-figure as he was impotent and refused to acknowledge the issue, from what I remember.

I think the college campus was an interesting location, but Nixon never intended it to be a big thing. She specifically states in the bible that she doesn't plan on focusing on stories set on the campus and that it was merely a backdrop. She basically stays true to this mantra when she returns to helm the writing staff in September, 1993, and pretty swiftly has Casey and Steffi drop out of college to pursue careers and has Cooper contemplate leaving in January, 1994. She also dropped, without any resolution as I recall, the story with Ava Rescott going back to school and taking one of Jeremy's courses. Whether or not Marland wanted to utilize the campus more is unknown, but, based on the scripts I have for "A New Day in Eden," it seems unlikely. Marland saw a college town as reason to have a lot of young people around, which logistically makes sense. Even in 1983, they could have utilized the college better. I think there was a way of telling the AIDS storyline in a meaningful way by developing a relationship between Noreen and the doctor in charge of the research, while the doctor faces opposition from the AU's conservative board of trustees who don't want their contributions used to fund research for something they deem a gay issue. Of course, I think the fight would be more meaningful if Doug Donovan was a closet case who felt compelled to out himself in a speech similar to Mike's Fourth of July monologue where Doug can no longer remain silent about the issues facing a community he has fought hard to remain on the fringe of. Of course, I'd also suggest that Curtis Alden, the product of Clay and Gwyn's open marriage and laizee faire parenting, would fear that he would have been exposed to the virus during his days as a European playboy when Curtis' "buddy" comes to town to admit that he is dying of the disease and Curtis should get tested. Of course, Isabelle would let Curtis' friend stay with them while he died after verbally attacking Cabot for manipulating the board into trying to cut the funding reminding Isabelle of her own brother who ended his life because of the shame he felt about his feeling for other men. I'm not sure ABC daytime (and more than likely not their audience) would be able to handle that story in 1983-1984. I prefer what Marland was able to accomplish in his final six months or so with the show. The last big revamp in December, 1984, really put the show in a good position. Trisha and Steve's story with Cece Thompson seems to be a variation on Marland's "Guiding Light" tales about teenage girls wanting older guys with the underage vixen seducing the older guy and him landing in prison for it. Though, I don't think Steve actually lands in prison until Nixon takes over again so maybe it wasn't as much Marland. I think Lorna and Linc were a good pairing. I thought Dane as Ava's silent benefactor in her scheme to land Jack was interesting. Ava's baby switch provided a bit of story. I think Dane and Ann's marriage was a great source of conflict for the Aldens. I think the show was in a decent place when Marland left, but it was his type of canvas, not Nixon's. With all that said, Nixon should have been the headwriter in year one to establish the tone, the characters, and the types of stories she wanted to tell. The bible left a lot of characters significantly underdeveloped which is why characters like Rita Mae, who was developed, end up falling by the wayside. Ann Forbes basically assumes the role of several characters by taking up with Mike Donovan and also developing a drinking problem (which was originally slated for Gwyneth when she arrived in Year 2 with Clay). There is almost nothing about Ann in the bible as she is merely a complication to Merrill and Roger's happiness, but even Roger and Merrill were never intended to be end game. Roger was suppose to just be one of the many unavailable men that Merrill would find herself drawn to because she was afraid of suffering her mother's fate of dying in childbirth.

There was a masquerade ball in October, 1992, at the time of the crossover with "All My Children." I struggle watching 1992, but I'll try to see if I can find that. I feel for Atwood as she wasn't really given a fair shake. The college revamp is hailed as a success because of the eventual quad of Ally / Cooper / Steffi / Casey, but the early stages had a lot of growing pains. Both Atwood and Roger Howarth played fairly underdeveloped characters and even the core players in the story (Ally / Cooper) went through a bunch of shifts in characterization throughout 1992. It would have been very hard to find the place for the supporting players when they could barely figure out what to do with the charactes tied to the canvas in bigger ways. Atwood may have quit in November, 1992, but the character wasn't on contract beyond the initial 13-week contract cycle. After the Casablanca Dance, Howarth's Kent is shipped back to Michigan after Cooper planted the drugs on Kent that Kent had planted on him. Without Kent, Staige was more aimless and she was released from her contract, according to the credits. She appeared on a recurring basis for a bit and did receive an on-air write off so it doesn't surprise me that Atwood left the role. Towards the end of her run, I think they were trying to develop a romance between mellowing rich bitch Staige and Trucker's nerdy assistant at the garage Arthur. In December, 1992, Cooper starts sleeping with Mia, a co-ed at Alden U who has dark hair and is sorta bitchy. I think this was mostly likely when they planned on bringing Staige back. Guza/Taggart took over a month later and immediately introduced Steffi into the story and Steffi, in many ways, was a more succesful version of Staige. Like Staige, Steffi's family was once rich and had lost their money; this was the reason that Staige left Corinth as her family could no longer afford tuition. Also, Steffi was involved with Arthur except Steffi was encouraging Arthur to pursue a very married Trisha McKenzie. Furthermore, it seems that Taggart and Guza came in and kept the entire cast from what I recall. Even Armand Rosario who had almost no story was retained on contract so I could see Staige being utilized based on this pattern. I can't see the show wanting to bring her back beyond that point because Staige was a prototype for the more developed Steffi Brewster. It would have been unnecessary given Staige's limited time and connection to the canvas.

Marland doesn't seem to get the Bristows. They definitely were more in flavor with what Nixon would cook up. I don't think Marland nixed the impotence storyline; I suspect that was ABC. I could be wrong though. Nixon's original intentions outlined in the bible seemy less hokey than the type of characters she typically would write like Opal Gardner. What I outlined is from Nixon's original bible. A lot of the more interesting elements never made it on screen and that's why I suspect there was network interference. Lorna's interracial marriage. Billy's impotence. I think Nixon suspected there would be interference because the Lily Slater storyline is presented in a way that if ABC wasn't comfortable with sexual incest that emotional incest could lead to similar results. I imagine that concessions made have had to be made and Nixon choose the incest angle because it was a story she may have intended for Palmer and Nina, but was never allowed to tell. The incest story gets a significant amount of space in the bible including research on the subject. Marland's biggest influence on Corinth that went against the grain of Nixon's view was the corporate landscape. All of the Alden Enterprises wheeling and dealing is slowly dropped over the course of about six to eight months. Similarly, the corporate element of Shana and Leo is dropped in late 1993 when Nixon takes over from Guza/Taggart.

I was sorry to hear about this. Blair had a pretty thankless role on "Loving." The character was originally developed to play a much larger role on the show as she was engaging in an affair with both Mike Donovan and Curtis Alden, which seemed more Rita Mae driven in the bible. The multiple affairs lead to a Mike-Curtis animosity that was going to build into Mike blaming Curtis for what Mike perceived was his role in Patrick Donovan's death (Patrick was going to have a heart attack while chasing the campus drug pushers and Mike would suspect Curtis was tied to the drug ring). Furthermore, Rita Mae's motivation for her lust was that Billy Bristow was suppose to be impotent. None of this really plays out so Rita Mae in the end appears as sort of a comic figure. Marland did some nice work with Rita Mae after the divorce when she hooked up with Tony Perilli. In what I've seen, Tony/Rita Mae are a B-/C-story but there is a sort of gentle simplicity to their romance with the twist that Rita Mae is the older individual with a younger guy. Marland and Blair I think left around the same time towards the show's second anniversary. My guess is that it was more likely outside commitments. Dennis Parlato announced prior to the serial killer story of his intentions to leave the show to focus on theatre and film commitments. Parlato was involved in the Hudson Valley Shakespeare Festival in late June and had previously been involved in a play called "Jack's Holiday" with Nicholas Coster and Judith Blazer from February-March 1995. I don't think it was a PTO issue for him at least. With Heinle, I don't know. Michael Weatherly went to Florida to film a pilot for a nighttime soap "Pier 66" that didn't get picked up in March-April and their child was born about nine months later so I wonder if Heinle didn't just ask for time off to be with Michael in Florida. Though that might be a little late, so I don't know exactly when these episodes would have been filmed. Buck's role in Trisha's death is neither explored nor revealed, is it? I mean it's pretty clear that Taggart was laying the groundwork for Trisha's eventual return and maybe that reveal would have come then. I don't know. I think a Buck-Trisha romance would have made sense. I never considered that they probably shoehorned in Buck's role, but you are probably right though I think the plan was going to be Buck and Tess breaking up Trisha and Buck's marriage. I think Tess was going to get whatever story that Taggart had planned for Dinahlee in 1991 that never got used because of her departure from the show. Mark Valley is my dream casting for Jack Forbes at any point in time lol

Meg Mundy wanted more money than ABC was offering. As I think I've said before, I suspect Taggart and Guza submitted their story bible before it was public knowledge that Noelle Beck was leaving the show. As such, I believe the original plan was for a bigger takeover storyline with Curtis and Trisha vs. Clay like started onscreen but didn't go anywhere because Trisha "died." How that would have been impacted the trajectory of the paternity tale, who knows? I don't think Patrick Johnson or Michael Lord would have fared much better in those stories. Personally, I would have switched Johnson and Brown and made Johnson Buck and Phillip Brown Curtis. Brown's drawl probably wouldn't have worked for the character, but I think Brown would have handled a character like Curtis much better than the other two. Holm is generous. It was pretty blatant where they were going the minute Addie Walsh stepped in. The flashbacks between Cabot and Isabelle, which had been sentimental and loving, ended with Cabot's ghost reminding Isabelle "of that terrible thing you did!" The transition from Munisteri to Walsh is very clear. There is an immediate shift in tone and texture of the canvas. Walsh's Corinth is more soap by numbers where as Munisteri's Corinth took more risks even if they didn't always pay off. With that said, there was always something about the Tides (or "the Bogs" as Holm's Isabelle called it). Even when it was mentioned early on, Isabelle's hatred for the place was well known. I have seen times where writers have mimicked plots coincidentally (Marland writing the incestuous relationship between Emmett and Cynthia Claybourne around the same time Nixon was penning the Garth and Lily Slater story in her bible for "Loving"). Maybe Munisteri would have told the same story, but I think it was initially appeared it was heading in the direction of Cabot having a mistress tied to the Tides. It was Cabot's infidelity which kept coming up. Haidee Granger seemed pretty much loathed by the cast. I've seen Paul Anthony Stewart say positive things, but all the men in the "Men of Loving" reunion who had worked for Granger weren't super impressed. She was out fairly soon after Nixon returns as Nixon is back in September and Granger is out by the end of October.

I don't think it was smart to revisit the books on the mothership. I preface this by saying I have never thought much of Ron Carvilati's work. He seems to have good intentions, but that's the way you pave the road to hell. It would have been smarter to just pretend that the books were actual books that Lucy and Kevin had collaborated on after the success of "General Homicide." I also was rereading some of the biographies and I forgot how truly bad those last few books got. There was some abandoned (I believe it was abandoned) storyline about the search for Alison's half-sibling that at one point led to Alison and Rafe thinking they were brother and sister. Ugh. Of course, this reminded me that it seemed they were setting up one of the band members, the British girl Reese, as Alison's half-sister before they decided to jump ship on that story. Also, wasn't Amanda Barrington a vampire by the end? Also, does anyone remember how far the "Port Charles" rerun of the early years got? When SoapNet launched, they were showing I think 2 episodes in the early morning (7am to 8am at one point). I remember catching some when I was in high school. They aired on a weird schedule though like 2 back to back episodes but only one new episode a day and possibly even repeating the Friday episodes on Monday or something odd like that. From what's online, it appears it was through at least the early General Homicide murders. I cannot imagine it got much farther than that.

Dabney is definitely more of a traditional matriarch figure. Celeste Holms is definitely more calculated under Mary Ryan Munisteri and Addie Walsh, though there are slight differences. Munisteri wrote Isabelle as having a skill set that served her well in the boardroom with her knowledge of people and using her associations to gather intel. Walsh's Isabelle has her own motivation: securing a legacy for Clay. The difference makes Isabelle less compelling, at least in its execution. This bleeds into some of Pat Barry's work. I think Taggart and Guza leaned intot he social snobbery, which Walsh started to real develop towards the end (and maybe earlier as 1992 is not my favorite year). It is hard to take Pat Barry's Isabelle as a serious threat. Nixon basically backburners Barry's Isabelle before writing her out. I think Mundy would have handled the transition from warm and loving to schemer much more effectively. I'm trying to imagine what it would be like if Pat Barry's Isabelle played the final scenes with Cabot on the night of their anniversary. It's not a pretty image. Celeste Holms' Isabelle would have been fine in that, but there would be added poignancy given that Wesley Addy would be dead in about six months. The Clay paternity story reads like the plot Walsh cooked up for Bradley Cole and one of the French characters on "Riviera," which Walsh had written for directly before heading over to "Loving." I think it was damaging to the show's canvas, even moreso than the serial killer. It was an unnecessary move that rarely resulted in much drama. Munisteri's Isabelle became a bitch; Walsh's Isabelle had now secretly been one for years. That's probably my biggest issue with the story. Isabelle's fling wasn't a crime, but her determination to see that Clay was in the CEO seat at Alden Enterprises seemed her ultimate long goal and made her love for Cabot even less real. I've considered Celeste Holms as Cabot's sister-in-law, Cooper's grandmother, and Larkin Malloy as Tyler Alden. Unfortunately, I don't think the best way to beef up the family would have been by adding a new branch, but ultimately that's what happens with nuClay and nuIsabelle and Cooper. Elizabeth Lawrence is an interesting choice. This got me thinking about "Road of Life" and now I'm wondering if Lesley Woods could have managed to balance the warm matriarch and the meddlesome mother that Isabelle Alden becomes. Structurally, so much of "The City" is ineffective because the connections are very narrow. I've been watching some of "The City" sporagically starting in April, 1996, and now in early June. The Richard-Zoey story is intriguing, but it requires the knowledge of so much backstory that is being established as the story is developing. Sydney and Nick's past affair, the combative marriage of Sydney and Jared, Richard's adoption, Nick's alcoholisma and fading career, and Zoe's mother's relationship with Nick. While I applaud the layers, at times it is hard to connect because so much is told to us rather than shown. I don't think Richard is a bad character per se, but his personality can be limiting in a sense because he's not super friendly so his world is small. I think it might have helped if Frankie was more involved with Hotline or whatever Richard's show is called. Zoey has the relationship with Angie, but that doesn't seem to be used very much at least at this stage of the story. Richard might have worked more effectively with a New York crowd similar to the cast of "Central Park West" rather than the transplants. A bitchy ex-girlfriend who found Zoey comical and a non-threat to her on-again/off-again friends with benefits relationship with Richard. Or a professional frienemy who picked up on the connection between Zoey and Richard and wanted to utilize it to move his own career along. Or maybe an older woman, or older gay man, patron who had been supporting Richard during the times Sydney cut him off. Not necessarily contract players, but enough of a world that would make Zoey uncomfortable and feel out of place.