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[NothinButAttitude]

 

Exactly. And I always felt GL should've snagged Robin Mattison after her AMC to play Hope (again) or even tapped Julia Barr or Linda Dano to play her. She was desperately needed as she should've taken over as the Bauer matriarch that the show was missing. 

[Khan]

My personal choice for a Hope recast -- provided, of course, Elvera Roussel wasn't up for returning -- was Marcia McCabe (ex-Sunny, SFT; ex-Alicia, OLTL).

[zanereed]

I would have taken any of the above. I have a soft spot for Roussel, but if she declined, Mattson or McCabe would have more than been capable. Now that you mentioned Mattson, @NothinButAttitude, it would have been fascinating to see if Mattson and Raines had any chemistry...

[Forever8]

I was surprised when I found out that Caroline McWilliams also played LuAnn Pruitt, Ray Pruitt's boozy white trash mother on Beverly Hills 90210. 

[DramatistDreamer]

What could have been. Probably because by the time I began to watch GL for the first time, Hope Bauer had already left the canvas, I never thought about her coming back after Maureen's death but it would have made perfect sense for so many reasons! With Alan-Michael still on the canvas, Hope would have added a very interesting dynamic.

I did get the sense that by the mid 90s that the show seemed anxious to move away from the classic soap matriarch, which was a big mistake for a show like GL.

Edited January 19, 2022 by DramatistDreamer
Ugh autocorrect

[Khan]

Personally, I don't think Raines had/has chemistry with anyone.  He's entirely too much of a ham.  But, that wouldn't matter to me.  Even if a Alan/Hope redo didn't pan out, I'd still want Hope to be there, keeping the Bauer family alive in some fashion.  I'd just find someone else to pair her with.

[NothinButAttitude]

 

I think Mattson would've been good seeing as she did play Hope (once upon a time). 

 

I think Linda would've been a hoot because if they were to revisit Hope suffering from the Bauer curse (alcoholism), nobody could play a drunk better than Linda. 

 

I think Julia Barr would've been able to capture to softness that Hope exuded (from clips I've seen). 

 

Hope returning would've softened the blow of Maureen being heinously (and stupidly) killed off if done correctly. 

 

 

If they had brought her back in the early to mid 90s, they could've paired her with Fletcher. 

 

I wouldn't mind her being paired with Billy, but Buzz...

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[Vee]

I said it before and I'll say it again: In 2003 when it looked like OLTL was dumping both of them (and they did dump RB), I wanted GL to take Roscoe Born as Alan and Cat Hickland as Hope. Weird, maybe, but it's not Ron Raines!

[Khan]

Yes.  If Marcia McCabe were playing Hope, I could see her having good chemistry with either Jay Hammer or Jordan Clarke.

True.  But, on the other hand, I think Roscoe Born would have made a much better Andy Norris recast.

[Darn]

Alan was definitely the worse of his soap opera ilk, the selfish multimillionaire business mogul with a string of ex-wives, a la Adam Chandler, Victor Newman, Victor Kiriakis etc. I always felt like they inserted him into plots because they needed a fall guy, his motivations rarely made sense to me (and were rarely explained frankly, "control" I guess?). He was always just the heavy in someone else's story, he didn't feel like he had any sort of inner life. They also paired him with all the "bad girls" that came on the scene (Annie, Olivia, Carmen), even if it felt inorganic and didn't make sense.

[Vee]

Every time! And with the worst possible actor for it, IMO. Ron Raines just leaned into the nonsense of the latter-day character. Whereas you go back to Chris Bernau and he is sexy, dashing and magnetic.

[NothinButAttitude]

 

I do think that Roscoe would've been a good Alan as he would've provided sex appeal that Ron Raines' version lacked. 

 

Do you think that Cat could've been a good Trish recast too? For some reason, she gives me Lewis vibes. 

I think that is an issue with all soaps where 

That would've been interesting. It would've at least provided Holly story outside of Blake/Ross.

[Vee]

I think she might've been a little young for Trish, but then Roscoe was maybe a little young for Alan. (He did go gray right after his 2003 OLTL stint ended though, looked amazing and that would've completely sold it to me.) So who cares?

[NothinButAttitude]

Ron was born in '49 and Roscoe was born in '50. I think he could've pulled it off as Alan. At least then, I would've believed in Olivia or Beth wanting to mount Alan. 

 

[Khan]

RR always played Alan as if he were still doing dinner theatre with Debbie Reynolds in Florida.