1 hour ago, DeeVee said:

In this case, Fletcher fathered a child AFTER it was established he had had a vasectomy BEFORE Michelle was conceived. IMO, it is not only perfectly plausible to use that for a story, it's an excellent use of the show's history.

It occurs to me this may seem contradictory when I said earlier don't change paternity out of the blue, but I think this is a different situation:

For one thing, no one questioned Ed being Michelle's father because of the assumption it was impossible for Fletcher to have fathered her.

In this particular case, this reveal would have a HUGE impact on the characters because of how this upended the lives of all four people involved at the time. Claire and Fletcher's romance was destroyed. Ed and Maureen's relationship survived, but it caused damage that probably never totally healed. Ed never wanted to have more children after Michelle, which kept him and Maureen from trying to find a way to become parents of their own child.

So in this case, this wouldn't just be a temporary blip, it would be like a bomb going off in these characters' lives, with lots of things having to be sorted out, not the least being Michelle having to face the possibility of not being a Bauer.

In regards to the Morgan/Kelly situation, we all have to remember that Luke and Laura were the craze in 1979/1980/1981 and Marland had wanted to tell the story he had intended to tell with Laura/Scotty with Morgan/Kelly.

Genie Francis was 17 to 19 during the whole Luke/Laura courtship and wedding so I don't think people cared as much that a teen girl was marrying up with an adult male 30 and older at that period.

I think the 1981 wedding situation was in part to use the footage that had been filmed months before and also to compete a little with Luke/Laura since they were the top draw of GH and Marland thought that Morgan/Kelly would be that same draw only for Nola to be the top drawer of the triangle.

I remember Vigard said in the Locher Room that she had a two year deal and was going to leave when that was up so the show decided to recast Morgan right after the wedding and continue to tell the Kelly/Morgan marriage story with a new actress.

Problem was that the audience didn't have an attachment/connection to the new actress so Kelly/Morgan were doomed and eventually the show did break them up and put Morgan eventually in Josh's orbit before briefly having her be a sort of older sister type in a brief friendship arc with Phillip/Rick before she was written off.

Had the show known back in the fall of 1981 that the recast would have been a bust.. they probably would have stuck with Vigard for the rest of her contract till spring 1982 and then written her off and spun Kelly off into another orbit (I heard the rumor that Nola/Kelly were supposed to have ended up together down the line).

Kelly seems to drift aimlessly after the Morgan story ends, and Long manages to pair him with Claire Ramsey in an older woman/younger man story for a bit until he leaves in early 1984. It's a shame because Kelly and Claire did have chemistry.

Edited 12 hours ago12 hr by Soaplovers

Well, full disclosure, Nola/Kelly/Morgan was the story that hooked me as a preteen. And at the time, I was reading adult romances (rapemances) that wouldn't sell today, not to mention eagerly awaiting the latest from VC Andrews.

As much as these things should've always been questioned, I know it's today's optics that make them squeamish. (I'm sure anything "entertainment" had been doing similar since the dawn of man.) I don't think Marland was doing anything more than reacting to the times.

I think it is pointless judging Kelly and Morgan (or Holden and Lily or whoever else, or even Luke and Laura up to a certain point) outside of the times. The times were different, the performances were strong, the writing was well-done or at least very popular with certain audiences, etc. You take it or leave it while making whatever allowances you choose for the era.

10 hours ago, DeeVee said:

It occurs to me this may seem contradictory when I said earlier don't change paternity out of the blue, but I think this is a different situation:

For one thing, no one questioned Ed being Michelle's father because of the assumption it was impossible for Fletcher to have fathered her.

In this particular case, this reveal would have a HUGE impact on the characters because of how this upended the lives of all four people involved at the time. Claire and Fletcher's romance was destroyed. Ed and Maureen's relationship survived, but it caused damage that probably never totally healed. Ed never wanted to have more children after Michelle, which kept him and Maureen from trying to find a way to become parents of their own child.

So in this case, this wouldn't just be a temporary blip, it would be like a bomb going off in these characters' lives, with lots of things having to be sorted out, not the least being Michelle having to face the possibility of not being a Bauer.

It seems so odd that McTavish did not care about this when she wrote the Meg story,,,(which went to the wrong couple...this should have been a Frank Eleni story) when she was there when they wrote Ed/Claire and Pratt blames Megan for blowing up Fletch and Claire and then turning Claire into an all out psycho. Was it even mentioned that Fletch reversed the process? I am fine with it as it does work from history, but really did not want Fletch to have more story.. I could see it that Meg dies, and Fletch as her really only caregiver is crazed with grief. The bomb goes off, Claire returns (unpsycho but her usual brittle self) and Chele has to deal with all of this. But ultimately I want an adopted kid to say, "No, the guy who raised is my dad, sorry, you can be in my life but I only have one dad.") Chele would be the perfect character to do this as Mo was her Mom....(It woudl have been interesting to see adult Chele insist on adopting kids as she saw the avlue of that.)

On 11/26/2025 at 5:12 AM, DRW50 said:

Thanks again for these recaps @alwaysAMC there are still so many random moments I had forgotten, some hilarious (the show could be bonkers as hell in the late '90s). I loved Uncle Ken beating the hell out of Mick with his cane (offcamera). Roger Newman seemed to be having the time of his life in these appearances, all the more admirable because he'd been writing, not acting, for a long time.

I did remember this as being a very unexpected appearance by Meta, who hadn't been on in a while and would not be on again for a while. Mary Stuart was battling cancer at this time. I'd like to say the obscene amounts of money she printed for P&G led them to stand by her, but shame/backlash over how they treated Michael Zaslow may have been another issue. I remember thinking that Meta was probably wondering why she was involved in this batshit woman rolling all around Springfield amidst her crime coverups, but then Blake was an honorary Bauer (and so was one of her sons, until the show forgot all about that storyline).

I'd forgotten Dahlia was even on after Marcus left Springfield.

I think Laura Wright was pregnant at this time.

B&E tried to give storylines to black characters at all of their soaps. You could see the effort here too, with bringing in Vicky, bringing the Grants back, having a bit for Griffin. Sadly, I was not surprised that P&G or Paul Rauch shut that possibility down. (I also think Terrell Tilford, while likeable, was not the right choice for David - and it was a mistake to never bring Gilly back [by the time Amelia Marshall was written out of AMC in mid-1999 the story for the black characters was already pretty much knocked out anyway]).

You are so welcome!!!

I have to say, I'm loving Ken. He's clearly a red herring to the real Nursery Rhyme Stalker, but I'm very much enjoying this storyline. It's an umbrella story, which I normally always love. It's a break from Reva/Josh because they don't have anything to do with it (although they're slowly being brought in now with the Annie part of it). But I'm just really enjoying it!

Ahh I didn't realize Mary Stuart was battling cancer at the time, that's sad. She was MIA for quite a long time until the 4th of July party, and now with Holly going through her issues with alcohol, the Ben saga and losing Meg, they needed another babysitter and I'm glad they brought in Meta. Although Abby is being sorely underused right now and could have been in that role.

Yep - that's what I read about Laura Wright being pregnant. You can tell too, she hides her stomach with jackets and sits quite a bit.

I do like that B&E are trying to utilize the black characters, but it also seems pretty late. They were used horribly in 1996 and then when B&E came along, they were rarely used at all until now with Vicky and the reintroduction of David. I'm curious to see where it goes, but knowing Dahlia and Marcus both leave pretty soon, I don't have my hopes up.

I'll post more recaps this weekend! 😃