16 hours ago, DRW50 said:

It is very realistic that, IIRC, Laura is never happy with anyone Dick gets involved with. I imagine whoever he gets with after he leaves LA (the show was still in LA all through the '50s right?) would get that same bitterly frosty shoulder.

Dick was next married to Marie. Laura wasn't crazy about her either but the relationship wasn't as antagonistic as the Laura/Kathy relationship. But Marie wasn't as scandalous as Kathy was. She was just a farm girl from Iowa and Laura was such a snob so there was disapproval there. Yes, the show was set in Los Angeles throughout the 50s. Dick and Marie left town together in 1962. The show was still set in Los Angeles at that time.

15 hours ago, Paul Raven said:

Helene Benedict was the next snobby society matron who disapproved of her daughter Anne getting involved with Paul Fletcher. And like the Grants, Henry was much the much more tolerant father.

Actually, it was the other way around. At least, at first. Helene was the more tolerant one but Henry hated Paul and tried to break Paul and Anne up. Helene tried to rein him in. Part of his hatred for Paul was because of snobbery because Anne was due to marry a guy from another prominent family when she broke it off to be with Paul and Paul came from a very modest background. But it was also mistrust because he thought Paul was a conman when he learned what Paul was saying about his identity didn't add up. He actively tried to investigate Paul and expose him. Paul was just hiding the fact that he was illegitimate which was shameful for him in 1959. A story that couldn't be written today. Anne was furious with her father and wouldn't talk to him for a while.

14 hours ago, vetsoapfan said:

Marland almost always came across as a gentleman. I was really disappointed when, in a magazine interview, he snidely referred to Hulswit as a "dodo bird," whom Lenore Kasdorf allegedly couldn't stand working with and begged to be separated from.

Imagine anyone thing Peter Simon was "a more dashing leading man."🙄

PS was good on SFT, but as Ed Bauer, he was listless and morose, and lacked the charm and passion MH brought to the role. A few years later, when TPTB slaughtered the Bauer family, it would have been a comforting link to the past to have Hulswit in the role. Instead, we had the sparse remains of the core family on screen, and a non-descript actor as "new Ed" (which is how I referred to him for the next 27 years, LOL).

Dalton, as Elizabeth, was never one of my favorite actresses, but it was short-sighted and damaging to the drama, to have Elizabeth just disappear and remain off-camera, in limbo for years. We didn't even know if she was alive or dead for the longest time, until it was acknowledged she had died years before.

An actress of Maureen Garrett's caliber should never have been written out. She and MH's Ed worked beautifully together.

Yes, she became a supporting, talk-to character; supporting instead of a lead. I hated the way she was written out: announcing she was taking a three-month sabbatical from Cedars...and then disappearing into the ether and never being seen or heard from again. Why not just SAY she was retiring or moving away permanently?

Again, a poster in this forum who is a more creative than the actual TGL scribes from the 1980s, and from after Nancy Curlee's departure.

@vetsoapfan and I are very biased when it comes to Mart Hulswit as Ed 😁, aren't we? No one else who played Ed Bauer had both warmth and charm like Hulswit did. And yet Hulswit could turn it to irritation, anger, and even aggression at the drop of a hat if someone kept at him enough, which was mostly Roger Thorpe (to be fair). IMHO, Gentry lacked true warmth. Simon had zero charisma at all. Van Vleet was completely out of his depth. For example, could Hulswit's Ed take on Roger in a fist fight? Not likely, but he would absolutely try. Imagine Peter Simon as Ed Bauer in Santo Domingo chasing Roger Thorpe through the jungles in 1980. I'm just not seeing it. Hulswit's Ed might be difficult to imagine roaming around Santo Domingo, as well, but his Ed would act on complete instinct if someone he knew and loved was in danger.

I think that eventually under the Dobsons, Mike and Elizabeth would have ended up together, as would Ed and Holly. I always thought Hulswit and Garrett had good chemistry.

5 minutes ago, zanereed said:

@vetsoapfan and I are very biased when it comes to Mart Hulswit as Ed 😁, aren't we? No one else who played Ed Bauer had both warmth and charm like Hulswit did. And yet Hulswit could turn it to irritation, anger, and even aggression at the drop of a hat if someone kept at him enough, which was mostly Roger Thorpe (to be fair).

Yep, we are very biased indeed. I adored Hulswit, and he was my favorite Ed, for the reasons you outlined. I never fully forgave Marland for promoting MH's dismissal. Ed Bauer never recovered.

5 minutes ago, zanereed said:

IMHO, Gentry lacked true warmth. Simon had zero charisma at all. Van Vleet was completely out of his depth.

I will readily admit that Gentry was excellent as Ed in his first tenure on the show, and captured the character's essence extremely well. I was Team Gentry at the time. But as Ed grew older and matured, he changed under Hulswit's interpretation to the point where MH became the one and only Ed Bauer to me (just like Judith Light became the one and only Karen Wolek on OLTL when she assumed that role). When Gentry returned to TGL many years later, he no longer fit the character (IMHO), although I'd take him over Simon or RVV in a heartbeat.

5 minutes ago, zanereed said:

For example, could Hulswit's Ed take on Roger in a fist fight? Not likely, but he would absolutely try. Imagine Peter Simon as Ed Bauer in Santo Domingo chasing Roger Thorpe through the jungles in 1980. I'm just not seeing it. Hulswit's Ed might be difficult to imagine roaming around Santo Domingo, as well, but his Ed would act on complete instinct if someone he knew and loved was in danger.

I think that eventually under the Dobsons, Mike and Elizabeth would have ended up together, as would Ed and Holly. I always thought Hulswit and Garrett had good chemistry.

All of this: perfectly said. Bravo!

Edited 2 hours ago2 hr by vetsoapfan

vetsoapfan knows where I stand on the Ed issue. Mart Hulswit was the most likable Ed but I just can't look at the character as a likable character. So I have sort of a mental disconnect when I see Hulswit in the role. To me, Robert Gentry best personified the role. I had no problem with him when he reprised the role because he was acting like the Ed I'm most familiar with. Basically, douchey. Peter Simon's Ed was douchey too but in more of a wimpy way. Robert Gentry's was just a cranky jerk. That's Ed to me. Hulswit was, by far, the most likable Ed but, in my opinion, Gentry was the best Ed. The less said about RVV, the better. That was just a collective bad dream we all had.

Did anyone here buy Kim Zimmer's book, "I'm Just Sayin'"? I started a Jammy binge, and I still love them after all this time. I don't care lol. But Zimmer's Reva really anchored the show. I know she goes into detail about the show's final days which were tough to get through. The shaky cameras did me in.

1 hour ago, zanereed said:

very biased when it comes to Mart Hulswit as Ed 😁, aren't we? No one else who played Ed Bauer had both warmth and charm like Hulswit did. And yet Hulswit could turn it to irritation, anger, and even aggression at the drop of a hat if someone kept at him enough, which was mostly Roger Thorpe (to be fair). IMHO, Gentry lacked true warmth. Simon had zero charisma at all

Agree, but since MH was the Ed I saw until high school, he is kind of "my Ed." The 70th anniversary show, where they brought back Don Stewart would have been the perfect time to bring him back, and try to keep him there. With the fallout about Rick's paternity of one of Blake's kids, with Ed being stuck in the middle of Rick and Ross, (and his "step daughter" ) and references to Ed finding out Blake was Rogers, the storyline would have more depth to it then the "shock" value it was played. Of course, if we are dreaming, having him in place if they went through with a " Roger has ALS" would have really been interesting.

I think Simon had some energy early on...Long played him as a nice guy dad who had some edginess, and he had chemistry with Parker. It was just as the years went on Simon made Ed a cold fish...

I know they did try to get MH back but I don't know how hard they tried.

35 minutes ago, Reverend Ruthledge said:

vetsoapfan knows where I stand on the Ed issue. Mart Hulswit was the most likable Ed but I just can't look at the character as a likable character. So I have sort of a mental disconnect when I see Hulswit in the role. To me, Robert Gentry best personified the role. I had no problem with him when he reprised the role because he was acting like the Ed I'm most familiar with. Basically, douchey.

As you know, I cannot disagree with anything you have written. Ed had been a surly, abusive douche throughout Gentry's tenure, and RG played the role very well.

But emotionally, in my heart, I wanted Ed to grow, mature and soften; to become a more viable tentpole character. I was primed and ready for him to stop being a jackass, and MH's affable, gregarious (but still hot-headed and passionate below the surface) take on him allowed me to have the transformed Ed I wanted to see. Was the character transformation completely believable? Do people ever truly change that much? Maybe not, but Bert grew up a lot. So did Meta. So I allowed myself to embrace the older-and-wiser, gentler Ed, particularly after Papa died. Don Stewart's Mike did not exude the warmth that Papa had, but Hulswit's Ed did, and I wanted that warmth to continue on display within the Bauer clan.

35 minutes ago, Reverend Ruthledge said:

Peter Simon's Ed was douchey too but in more of a wimpy way.

Agree. He was a wimpy douche; listless, morose, and generally colorless.

35 minutes ago, Reverend Ruthledge said:

Robert Gentry's was just a cranky jerk. That's Ed to me. Hulswit was, by far, the most likable Ed but, in my opinion, Gentry was the best Ed. The less said about RVV, the better. That was just a collective bad dream we all had.

RVV was appealing as Chuck Tyler on AMC, but just...all wrong on TGL. UGH. Like Wesley Ann Pfenning as Alice Matthews Frame on AW. What were TPTB even thinking?

42 minutes ago, CrazySexyQ said:

Did anyone here buy Kim Zimmer's book, "I'm Just Sayin'"? I started a Jammy binge, and I still love them after all this time. I don't care lol. But Zimmer's Reva really anchored the show. I know she goes into detail about the show's final days which were tough to get through. The shaky cameras did me in.

The shaky cameras, the weak and spotty sound (although both eventually improved to a degree), the poor writing, all the extraneous characters, the STOOPID storylines; the show became a painful chore to endure in its final years.

1 hour ago, vetsoapfan said:

So I allowed myself to embrace the older-and-wiser, gentler Ed, particularly after Papa died. Don Stewart's Mike did not exude the warmth that Papa had, but Hulswit's Ed did, and I wanted that warmth to continue on display within the Bauer clan.

This was especially true after they killed off Maureen. A Bauer needed to be the tentpole comfort character..and there was no way that Simon could do that. I do think MOL COULD have been placed there when he was older, IF they kept him from doing his "comic" mugging.