Guiding Light Discussion Thread

[DRW50]

I think the problem was Holly's main stories by that time were being a victim and being in love with Ed. She likely would have stood by as Rita and Ed fell apart, longing for Ed. This was also when they were going to start replacing Mart Hulswit. It would have been interesting to have seen how MG would have been with Peter Simon at the start, as I thought they worked well together later on. But I think with Marland's need to bring in the Reardon family, Holly would have been a third wheel to Maureen/Ed. I guess she also would have had a role in the Andy story.

I'm also not sure, as has been mentioned before, that Marland knew how to write for the type of heroine Holly was at this point. You don't see a lot of interesting heroines on the show during this time. They are a little drab.

It would have been interesting to have seen a story with Holly and Kelly, perhaps a doomed affair early in his stay in Springfield, which would have made him more resistant to Morgan and easier prey for Nola.

[DRW50]

I've always wondered why MG's Ryan's Hope role didn't work. For me, it basically amounted to my #1 rule - if Delia is humiliated to prop a character, then I will hate that character (my only exception to that rule was Jill). So that, along with my loathing Roger by that point, did her in in my eyes.

But most fans are not as pathetic as I am so I can't really imagine that this is why the role did not work out for other people.

[Khan]

Carl? If I ever get to write a soap opera, you are definitely joining my staff. You have my word.

[DRW50]

And if I ever start my AMC fic you can help me out.

I know it wouldn't have made any sense for Holly to associate with Alan after how he helped Roger, but I sure wish we could have seen some of MG and Chris Bernau. Maybe he could have hung around her out of a sense of guilt, and started to fall in love with her.

[Khan]

Anything is possible, Carl. You just have to take the time to get us there.

[DRW50]

Of course he was with Hope at that time (although the relationship seemed somewhat dull by the time they were actually married). Imagine all the conflict within the Bauer family if he was torn between Holly and Hope.

(This is taking out the Rita affair though, as Bert probably would have had enough and run Alan over several times...)

[Khan]

Speaking of Rita, am I the only one who believes GL missed a golden opportunity in not putting her in a triangle with Ed and Mike? Especially once it was clear Holly and Ed still loved each other?

[DRW50]

That would have been great, especially since Mike had more of a history of somewhat volatile women.

When he was working on Holly's case I thought they had chemistry, which I don't see with MG and Hulswit.

[katie_9918]

Speaking of Mike Bauer, I've been perusing the German DVDs and it's really in my face what a babe magnet that character was.

Every member of Alan's harem at the time (except, of course, for Hope) ended up having feelings for Mike. Ann Jeffers loved him for years before she left the show. Didn't he wind up dating Alexandra for about a minute before some idiot decided that Mike Bauer wasn't important and wrote both him and Hope off the show?

Mike had the goods. The first time I ever saw him in real time was the Cedars ball in 1997 and my sixteen-year-old self perked up and said, "Oooh, a good-looking older guy! Can he stay, please?"

Imagine my shock when I finally got some glimpses of '80s Mike on YT and then with the SoapClassics and German DVDs and realized that he'd barely aged between then and '97.

Jeez.

[DRW50]

Yes, he dated Alex and Lillian, until he was written out in 1984.

Mike seems a little lost in some of those Dobsons episodes, as if they don't quite know what to do with him. I think that the five and six sided love games were a way to keep writing for characters they may have been stuck on ideas for.

Stewart was a huge draw for female viewers in the 70s, to the point where he didn't even let the soap press know he was married with kids until the mid-70s. There is this "you had to be there" photo of him wearing one of those 70s white jumpsuits, VPL and all.

[DRW50]

BTW, I will still be posting those 1977 GL recaps, Katie. They're on an old computer that is tough to get into.

[katie_9918]

I've been going through a YT playlist chronicling the shooting of Roger Thorpe in 1993 and then into 1994 and I remembered how how much I liked Detective Cutter, a character I had almost forgotten about until he started turning up in that playlist. I remember being pretty devastated when Brent Lawrence/Marian Crane stabbed him in the phone booth.

Kind of a shame, because not long afterward, they started shrinking the Springfield PD until all that was left of it was Frank and Harley and David until Gus came along (and then David was just gone not long after that). I really liked Detective Cutter. He was snarky and very good at his job until the storyline-dictated loss of quantitative reasoning skills that led to his murder. I think they missed an opportunity for him to take Bill under his wing in that short amount of time between the 5th Street inferno and when Bill really accepted Matt into Vanessa's life. I also loved the way Cutter and Alexandra played off each other.

Did anyone else really love that guy?

Oh, thanks! I figured it was just taking you some time. Still very much interested, but don't rush on my account.

Edited October 17, 2012 by katie_9918

[DRW50]

I didn't like him at first, as I thought he was a little smug, but I did grow to care about him. He worked very well with Marcy Walker, and fans liked the pairing. JFP never let it happen because she was trying to push Tangie with bigger characters.

Remember Nell Cleary?

[katie_9918]

He was indeed smug, but for me it was part of his charm. He really was head-over-heels for Tangie, wasn't he? He seemed to go out on a lot of first dates with the women of Springfield and for some reason he and Blake seemed friendly with one another, I can't remember why.

Nell Cleary. The name definitely rings a bell, but I can't place it.

[DRW50]

Nell was Frank's partner when he first joined the force. She was on for about a year, or less. There were hints of Eleni being jealous and of a possible future triangle, but when Laibson left as producer that was dropped. I think she just vanished.

In their little "fans ask the producers/writers" section in fall 1994, fans even asked JFP why they couldn't do Mike/Tangie. Clearly this was something people enjoyed. This time on GL was often about making fans like things (see - pushing Alan-Michael/Lucy), not doing what fans wanted.

I think he went out with Mindy a few times too.