Here's a couple of more ideas:

It was HEAVILY implied when Claire came on the show that she had had a baby and gave it up for adoption. That connects Lucy to the Bauers through Michelle, as she would be her half-sister.

The other possibility that occurred to me is India. Never quite understood her maternal impulse for Dory. If she'd had a baby and abandoned her with her father, that might explain it.

Maureen being involved with Buzz is plausible because they grew up near each other. Though I have a hard time believing she would keep him being alive a secret from his kids.

18 minutes ago, GL95 said:

Is there a viable Marler option? Lucy being related to Phillip and Ross would actually create the most drama for A-M I feel like. I know Sam’s too young and Jackie died too soon, right?

Why they didn't make Hawk Cassie's father is a head-scratcher. It sure would've been more believable than the pious Sarah having some random affair.

There's Lainie Marler, Ross and Justin's younger sister. She wasn't on the canvas long, so I doubt her history was that explored. But I doubt they would've ever brought her back onscreen.

5 minutes ago, P.J. said:

There's Lainie Marler, Ross and Justin's younger sister.

Can't be Lainie, unless, again, Lucy was older than AM.

Lucy got married and left for Chicago, I think around 1981, the year AM was born onscreen. She appeared once or twice after during the Carrie Todd story, which would have been 1982. She was pregnant at the time but all indications were she was in love with her husband.

Can't be Jackie. She lost a baby by Alan, then not that long after reunited with Justin and became pregnant with Samantha. Not long after that they killed her off.

The other thing to take into consideration is which of these women would have been interested in sleeping with Buzz? Narrows the field, I think. 😂

5 minutes ago, P.J. said:

Why they didn't make Hawk Cassie's father is a head-scratcher. It sure would've been more believable than the pious Sarah having some random affair.

There's Lainie Marler, Ross and Justin's younger sister. She wasn't on the canvas long, so I doubt her history was that explored. But I doubt they would've ever brought her back onscreen.

What’s funny is I actually could see it still being a Sarah deathbed confession that she’s always known about this secret kid of Hawk’s.

I actually like the Lanie Marler thought best just because Lucy and Phillip forming a familial bond that’s separate from A-M would be an interesting dynamic. It would also make Lucy Dinah’s cousin plus more organically put A-M/Blake into the same orbit to be confidantes again.

16 minutes ago, DeeVee said:

Can't be Lainie, unless, again, Lucy was older than AM.

Lucy got married and left for Chicago, I think around 1981, the year AM was born onscreen. She appeared once or twice after during the Carrie Todd story, which would have been 1982. She was pregnant at the time but all indications were she was in love with her husband.

Can't be Jackie. She lost a baby by Alan, then not that long after reunited with Justin and became pregnant with Samantha. Not long after that they killed her off.

The other thing to take into consideration is which of these women would have been interested in sleeping with Buzz? Narrows the field, I think. 😂

Just how dead was Jackie? Buzz was dead on the show until 1993 haha. Phillip’s mom coming back from the dead AND being Lucy’s mom would be high drama at least.

It reminds me of when they have Reva doing the police sketch of Brent as A-M and Alan dramatically watch. First, it’s sort of funny because while Reva was attacked by Frank Beaty’s Brent she remembers the face of the new actor. But then Alan and A-M spend a solid minute going back and forth saying “It couldn’t be” while Reva has no clue what they’re talking about, then them finally telling Reva the guy she drew was dead. No one in the room mentions that A-M would also have thought Reva was dead at the time she had the altercation with Brent. I really wanted Reva to say, “I should know just because you think someone’s dead doesn’t mean it’s true.”

Edited 1 hour ago1 hr by GL95

To me, Tangie should have been Ken Norris and Janet Mason's daughter.. which would have made her Holly's niece and Blake's cousin. MW actually fit in well in the Springfield Journal orbit.. and had she been Emily Norris, she could have still had the interaction/conversations with Roger without the weird foster father backstory.

I think Lucy's mother not being anyone that was in Springfield was probably for the best. I liked that some of the families didn't totally mix and were kept separate.

In regards to Blake/A-M, I think once Rick Hearst took over as A-M.. it became less believable that she was taking advantage of him because he looked more mature than the actor that he was replacing. When SS was playing Blake, I liked the friends with benefits with the hope of more element that went on between Blake & A-M.

When Liz K took over as Blake, the whole dynamic between Blake/A-M changed and they became friends with no hang ups on his end nor her end toward one another. I recall a scene where A-M was pouring his heart out to Blake about Eleni and it made her realize in that moment that she wasn't jealous nor resentful that he didn't feel the same way about her that he did for Eleni. She also understood where he was coming from because he was in the same position with Eleni as she had been with him a year or so earlier.

Blake and her friendships with Frank & A-M were abandoned by 1995. It was as if the second she married Ross, her whole orbit had changed and she hardly interacted with either Frank nor A-M after 1995 until the show finally wised up and paired her with Frank near the end.

I had no idea that Blake/Frank had been friends and had also hooked up going all the way back to when SS played Blake. However, there were scenes with Blake/Frank hanging out, going for a dip, listening to one another,.. and it really gave SS's Blake more layers.

I also remember one significant friendship scene between the two when in early 1994 when Blake came over to be a shoulder for Frank to lay on after the whole Eleni/Julie situation blew up. She said she had no judgment for whatever he was going to tell her... listed to him, and than asked a very valid question after he was done venting to her. She asked if he enjoyed the attention Julie was paying him and if perhaps he felt something for her back in return. I don't recall how Frank answered it, but I think it did make him do a little soul searching about how things went south between him and Eleni.

@alwaysAMC Reading your write-ups of 1998 and the whole Blake/Ben/Ross situation made me remember being a young teen during that era and having a few of my friends coming over to hang out. The moment Blake was on screen in the wheelchair, my friends took notice and watched her for a few moments before turning to me and asking 'what's her story?'. And they sat down and watched that story in particular because they were fascinated by Blake.

It's interesting to me that when I was in college in the early 00s that I got several people to switch to watching Guiding Light... and it was all because of the Blake/Ross/Tory story that was going on. The show never really understood the appeal she and Ross had.

21 minutes ago, GL95 said:

Is there a viable Marler option? Lucy being related to Phillip and Ross would actually create the most drama for A-M I feel like. I know Sam’s too young and Jackie died too soon, right?

There's Ross' sister, Lainie. She was last seen in 1982, pregnant (due to the actress being pregnant). 1982 is probably too late but you know how soaps are.

I didn't remember that they were thinking of bringing in Lucy's mother. Sarah would be a huge stretch but it would make more sense of Reva/Buzz (beyond the show just wanting to pair off two of their most acclaimed/highest-voltage cast members).

I don't know who else it could be. Maybe Holly, but there'd be no story.

@alwaysAMC You're right. I'd never thought of it but there was a lot of Vanessa in Marj's performance for that confrontation.

Sometimes I forget just intertwined Alan-Michael and Blake were. I think it's because for much of Sherry's last year, Alan-Michael has no use for her, beyond schemes. He clearly thinks he's better than her. Sherry is so vulnerable and fragile that I felt sorry for her. It helped that I didn't know the history, didn't know just how awful she'd been to him during their marriage.

I hadn't heard Liz's comments about struggling for fan acceptance. I wonder how long that was. It took me about 3-4 years, partly because I just lost a lot of interest in the show anyway during some of those periods, but mostly down to feeling she lacked the spark and ready chemistry with co-stars that Sherry had. I do think Liz had a good rapport with Jerry, and by the time of the woeful "twins by two fathers" story, I warmed to her as she did her best to sell that nonsense.

Still, even today, if I go back and watch Blake/Roger or Blake/Holly scenes, Sherry is still the one I miss.

7 minutes ago, GL95 said:

Just how dead was Jackie? Buzz was dead on the show until 1993 haha

Well, her body was never found. Soo...in the 'not exactly dead-dead' category.

Edited 1 hour ago1 hr by P.J.

1 hour ago, Soaplovers said:

I had no idea that Blake/Frank had been friends and had also hooked up going all the way back to when SS played Blake. However, there were scenes with Blake/Frank hanging out, going for a dip, listening to one another,.. and it really gave SS's Blake more layers.

They tried hooking him up with pretty much every woman on the canvas (and they failed every time, so they had to literally import one). I'm NEVER surprised to find out, "Oh, yeah, Frank was briefly paired with so-and-so."

1 hour ago, P.J. said:

Well, her body was never found. Soo...in the 'not exactly dead-dead' category.

Of all the possibilities, Jackie is the one I REALLY can't imagine hooking up with Buzz. She may have had that "boho" thing going on, but she was also a society lady. Kind of like Alex, though not as rich and arrogant about it.

32 minutes ago, DRW50 said:

Sometimes I forget just intertwined Alan-Michael and Blake were. I think it's because for much of Sherry's last year, Alan-Michael has no use for her, beyond schemes. He clearly thinks he's better than her. Sherry is so vulnerable and fragile that I felt sorry for her. It helped that I didn't know the history, didn't know just how awful she'd been to him during their marriage.

I hadn't heard Liz's comments about struggling for fan acceptance. I wonder how long that was. It took me about 3-4 years, partly because I just lost a lot of interest in the show anyway during some of those periods, but mostly down to feeling she lacked the spark and ready chemistry with co-stars that Sherry had. I do think Liz had a good rapport with Jerry, and by the time of the woeful "twins by two fathers" story, I warmed to her as she did her best to sell that nonsense.

Still, even today, if I go back and watch Blake/Roger or Blake/Holly scenes, Sherry is still the one I miss.

I started my current viewing on Rick Hearst’s first day in June 1990 when A-M gets rescued from being kidnapped/tortured. I didn’t watch him getting scammed into the marriage but they have him come from this ordeal laying it on thick how the only thing that got him through the kidnapping was knowing the baby was coming. It’s a pretty horrible watch seeing her tell him she miscarried because we know he’s about to find out Phillip “died” as well.

I think Blake/A-M after they divorce is a pretty great soap dynamic with two strong actors good at portraying characters whose wheels are always turning. A-M in a lot of ways is the monster of her own making. While he was definitely ambitious and out to prove something, a lot of his rush to grab power was Blake whispering in his ear and hitting all his insecurities. (She is very much her father’s daughter as played by SS.) She was the one who pushed hard to get back into his life when he wanted nothing to do with her, but then a lot of the confidence she instilled in him from successes that had a lot to do with her became arrogance. Then Blake calling immigration on Eleni led to the A-M/Eleni marriage. I liked the dynamic they set up even though it’s almost hard to watch, as Blake is scheming to break up A-M/Eleni but A-M knows full well Blake is working to prop him up because she is still in love with him. However, she’s also so closely hitched her own career prospects to him that if he cuts her loose and stops leading her on that she has nothing so there’s not much he can do to do right by her. What SS does so well is convey that she absolutely knows what is going on and it’s crushing, but she also is going to try to keep scheming until she wins just like Roger would. Until she decides an interlude to channel her pain towards hurting Holly is what she wants.

I liked those scenes with A-M/Blake when they are just friends/confidantes who get each other (with some remaining sexual tension). I like those relationships like Ed/Holly being on the canvas that are always there and vaguely threatening to their respective partners, but also keeps the characters’ histories alive through their conversations.