That's one hell of a write-up re: Jackie, DeeVee. A big thanks for that.

I'm convinced more than ever that GL very much missed the ball by not making Phillip a raging alcoholic. His four "parents" should have all suffered considerably at his hands, at any or several points from 1984/85 forward.

59 minutes ago, DRW50 said:

The first group are Meta Bauer, her husband Joe and stepson Joey. They are worrying over Joe's daughter Kathy, who had just been on trial for the death of her husband Bob Lang in a car accident, and is also pregnant. She is now married to Dick Grant, whom she'd wanted to be with all along, and he thinks the baby is his (it's not). The second group are Dick's parents, Laura and Richard. Laura hates Kathy and sees her as ruining the reputation and future of Dick.

Thank you, DRW50. Are you interested in the 50s? I could share my 50s synopsis with you if you'd like. I'm just finishing 1959 right now. I thought about posting it on here but most people seem to be interested just in the last years of the show. Let me know if you're interested.

Just now, Reverend Ruthledge said:

Thank you, DRW50. Are you interested in the 50s? I could share my 50s synopsis with you if you'd like. I'm just finishing 1959 right now. I thought about posting it on here but most people seem to be interested just in the last years of the show. Let me know if you're interested.

I have seen some of your synopses in another thread, but I would be interested here and I'm sure others would be too. Thanks for all you share.

Thanks @DRW50

'There's nothing really wrong with Kathy except for mental and physical exhaustion'. Meta, that's a lot actually.

The Roberts need to invest in a 3 seater sofa -it was kinda squashy.

Not sure what was going on in the Grant's living room set. Were those curtains and a bamboo blind, or some sort of wall feature?

@Reverend Ruthledge Would love to read the 50's stuff. Enjoyed your summaries of TGL in the radio thread.

Edited 1 hour ago1 hr by Paul Raven

Thanks for this '53 ep. Another gem.

GL's decades of layered families within families, villains, etc. that then give way entirely to others is another reason it is so modular and mutable for rebirth IMO.

Edited 1 hour ago1 hr by Vee

11 hours ago, DeeVee said:

If there's one thing that made no sense in this story is WHY Alan did this. He didn't even LIKE Elizabeth. She was never going give him children of his own. Why didn't he just divorce her and marry a woman who could give him children? Or if he could accept an adopted child, why not mourn the child he lost with Elizabeth and then somewhere down the road adopt one?

(It's possible this was explained in more detail at the time, but this is what I remember and what I've read in recaps).

He claimed he didn't want Elizabeth to have a breakdown, yadda, yadda--but he didn't care about her. Like at all. If she lost her mind he could have parked her in an institution and divorced her. The only reasons he flipped out when she left him was because she did the leaving and she was taking Phillip away.

(It's hard to ignore the fact that he was abusive. Not is a physical way, but in an emotional way. He made her life hell. That's why I'm convinced if the Dobsons had remained, he was originally slated to do the same to Hope eventually, which didn't happen until Ryder and Long took over the show).

So the thing that was missing here, again, is what was his motivation, other than to create a long-term baby switch storyline?

I think it had to do with Brandon. If the Dobsons had stayed, it might have been revealed that for one reason or another (my guess is a trust) he HAD to present Brandon with a male grandchild. He specifically asked the doctor for a male child. Remember, Alan Michael had a trust that he tried to get hold of, and even though that happened under different writers, it not hard to imagine that Alan wanted control of a trust for his first child, too. He would have almost certainly been the trustee and would have controlled it until Phillip grew up. (I also think a possible reason he married Elizabeth is because Brandon commanded it--which would be another reason for him to hate him).

He stays with Elizabeth because he falls head over heels for Phillip--come on, Phillip was the one true love of his life; that was the ONE thing that was consistent about Alan though many, many regime changes, right down to the last episode of GL. So much so that he was willing to give up having biological children. He even told Elizabeth after Brandon died and Jackie divorced him that it was unlikely he would ever have more children. It was really Hope who wanted to have a baby, and as we see over the years, AM was never as important to Alan as Phillip was.

I don't know if there was ever anything brought up about Brandon/the will, but it wouldn't surprise me. I can see Brandon being fixated on a males (after all, Alexandra, even though we don't know about her yet, was deemed inferior for being a girl, Amanda is given to an old lover) and that for Alan, having a male heir legitimized his right to take Spaulding from his father. There's also always a fixation on men having a son (Henry even seems to fall into that trap when he searches for Quinton, and Billy is later giddy at having a boy.)

There was some talk a while back that Alan may have only married Elizabeth because she came from a rich family, and that played into his business aspirations. He rarely gives in to the concept of loving someone.

Edited 1 hour ago1 hr by P.J.

19 minutes ago, Vee said:

Thanks for this '53 ep. Another gem.

GL's decades of layered families within families, villains, etc. that then give way entirely to others is another reason it is so modular and mutable for rebirth IMO.

That's a great way to put it, and part of the unique experience of GL.

1 hour ago, Speed Racer said:

That's one hell of a write-up re: Jackie, DeeVee. A big thanks for that.

You are very welcome!

31 minutes ago, P.J. said:

There was some talk a while back that Alan may have only married Elizabeth because she came from a rich family, and that played into his business aspirations.

That's why I think it's possible Brandon forced him to marry Elizabeth, threatening to disinherit him the way he did with Alex. (Of course, the Alex part was written in much later, but seems consistent with Brandon's character).

I do believe that they mentioned Elizabeth was raised by a rich uncle, so possibly she was an heiress and/or Brandon wanted to merge Spaulding with her uncle's business. (IIRC, Phillip is named after that uncle), Which may be another reason why Alan couldn't divorce her, at least as long as his father was still in charge of Spaulding.

That thing about men wanting male heirs was all over soap operas at the time. Lots of soap men bellyaching all the time about not having a son, blah, blah, blah. (More often than not, they'd get one and completely ignore him).

It's funny that Brandon left his Spaulding stock to Amanda. It plays now as a poke in the eye at Alan because he took Spaulding away from his father. He couldn't imagine that Amanda and Alan would become close and that he would be willing to mentor her into becoming the head of Spaulding. They got the last laugh on Brandon.

Thanks, @DRW50 !

I don't believe I've seen this episode before. What nice quality!

And any time I get to Meta is always a treat.

1 hour ago, Reverend Ruthledge said:

Thank you, DRW50. Are you interested in the 50s? I could share my 50s synopsis with you if you'd like. I'm just finishing 1959 right now. I thought about posting it on here but most people seem to be interested just in the last years of the show. Let me know if you're interested.

As always, I am interested in reading any and all synopses you are kind enough to share. :)