30 minutes ago, P.J. said:

Diane and Joe were killed within weeks of each other.

IMO, if Douglas Marland made any real mistakes while at GL, it was killing off Joe Bradley. Now, Diane's murder might've been unavoidable, since it's my understanding that Sofia Landon wanted to leave; but Joe, as seedy as he was, could've transitioned into the kinds of storylines and romances that Fletcher Reade was a part of down the road.

8 hours ago, Reverend Ruthledge said:

I tell you what, vetsoapfan, Hope's wedding is an episode I would probably like to get. Not because I like weddings. I actually hate them. But I want to see anything with the focus on the Bauers. I will get that episode eventually, even if it's post-1976 and the mystery will be solved for you. It just might take a while.

You are very kind--as always--and getting the script of that episode would probably solve the nagging doubts in the back of my mind. I'd appreciate it. That being said, please don't go to too much trouble; this is a not an issue on the level of solving world hunger or curing disease. I mean, somehow...some way...I can manage to survive living with unresolved questions and doubts about a fictional soap opera character from decades ago.🤭

I've always loved and been crazy about the soaps, but I am not totally insane!

(LOL, I hear hear sarcastic replies from the peanut gallery as I type this.😝)

2 hours ago, Paul Raven said:

What happened with Mike and Jennifer? No onscreen chemistry?

Geraldine Court was a Marland favorite, so I am surprised that romance was halted. Pure speculation but maybe Don Stewart wasn't happy with the pairing and spoke out. Allen Potter sided with Don. Part of the growing tension b/w Marland and Potter.

That's another thing that got scuttled because the Dobsons were kicked over to ATWT. The woman who came to Brandon's funeral in the hat and heavy black veils was obviously being signaled as a woman of mystery, maybe truly the love of Alan's life. Or not, she could have been out for revenge against him and his family for what they did to her.

In spite of the convoluted backstory Marland cooked up for "Jane Marie," it was pretty insipid and Jennifer was also insipid. I am certain Court could have played her as a MUCH more interesting character than what Marland created. If Stewart objected to being paired with her, it might have been for this reason. At least with Elizabeth (who also could have been characterized as insipid, which is kind of ironic) they were caught up in a big storyline involving many other possible connections/love interests with some real conflict driving the love story. After the trial (which Marland ripped off from that old movie "Madam X") there wasn't much else for them to play that was interesting.

2 hours ago, Paul Raven said:

Agree that Hope and Alan were married too soon and given a dud ceremony. They could have got more out the relationship before a wedding. God knows, Alan had enough baggage to make Hope have some second thoughts before committing.

I believe that is very close to what the Dobsons were planning. No quick wedding, possibly no wedding.

As the Dobsons exited the show, Alan was going to be juggling a lot of women: Hope, Rita, Diane, Amanda's mother...they must have had a very big, very complex story planned beyond Alan and Hope getting married.

5 hours ago, DeeVee said:

You'll really hate this one because it's AWFUL. When Alan married Jackie it was a snazzy wedding on a yacht in the Mediterranean attended by European aristocrats and Arab shieks. Jackie wore a beautiful couture gown in a couple of shades of gold with Phillip giving her away.

He married Hope in her grandmother's house populated with hostile wedding guests. Hope wore a dress that looked like it was made out of a tablecloth.

OMG, I remember thinking that the wedding dress looked like a set of doilies sewn together. Googling pictures of it now, however, I must admit that the dress does not strike me as quite so hideous.

5 hours ago, DeeVee said:

The cake looked like they got it from Publix and they danced their first dance to Bert singing "Let Me Call You Sweetheart." (I SWEAR I didn't make that up).

Now, you might be saying, "It's a Bauer family wedding, that's nice, it's homey and sweet."

But it was ALL WRONG for the story and the characters. If she was marrying Ben, that would have made sense. She was marrying one of the richest men in the country and it seemed like an afterthought.

Good point. I justified the "cheap" wedding in my mind as Alan trying hard to convince Hope and her family that he could meet them on their level, act like a "regular guy," and not always remain in a gilded bubble with his immense wealth and power.

5 hours ago, DeeVee said:

Even though Marland kept Alan and Hope in front burner storylines (because they were a popular couple with the audience--he said that in interviews, I didn't) he just did not care much about the characters he inherited.

To his credit, Marland continued to write for fan favorites on all his shows, including Mart Hulswit on TGL, for quite some time. Even Harding Lemay focused on Jacquie Courtney, George Reinholt and Virginia Dwyer for the first four years of his tenure on AW, despite disliking those actors. Some scribes do understand the importance of keeping audience favorites center stage. I appreciate that. The cast purge in 1983 and 1984 in Springfield proved what a disaster slaughtering vets is to a soap's structure and stability.

5 hours ago, DeeVee said:

Anyway, I also want to see it again, to confirm it was as bad as I remember it and now I won't rest until I know if Bill Bauer was there, too. 😂

Oh dear God in heaven, as our dear Mrs. Chancellor might say, what have I done to you? Have I cursed you, too, with my obsessive, nagging doubts?!?😬

5 hours ago, DeeVee said:

By the way, @vetsoapfan is it possible you are thinking of Ed and Rita's wedding? A picture of them on their wedding day with the guests (Rita's in her traveling clothes after the ceremony) pops up in my Pinterest feed every now and then. Now I'm trying to remember if Bill was in THAT picture. If I see it in my feed again (searching for it yielded only a picture of Ed with Rita in her wedding gown), I'll let you know.

Uh-oh. The Pinterest picture I am thinking of was definitely from Hope's wedding, and I believed Bill Bauer was present in that one...but I always saw Ed/Rita wedding shots on Pinterest too, and if I was looking at both the Ed/Rita and Hope/Alan photos simultaneously, who knows what tricks my mind is playing on me now?

This added question may make me truly go around the bend!!!🤣

Edited 3 hours ago3 hr by vetsoapfan

3 hours ago, soapfave06 said:

Also, does the show go through a zillion characters between 1980 and 1982? I’m reading this thread which led me to the book and my mind is blown at how many characters are popping in and out and then so many seem to just flatline.

They do. With three writing regimes going in/out from '80-'83, you lose lots of major characters.

2 hours ago, Khan said:

IMO, if Douglas Marland made any real mistakes while at GL, it was killing off Joe Bradley. Now, Diane's murder might've been unavoidable, since it's my understanding that Sofia Landon wanted to leave; but Joe, as seedy as he was, could've transitioned into the kinds of storylines and romances that Fletcher Reade was a part of down the road.

Not to mention, every town needs a sleazy PI/lawyer. I wonder if the actor wanted out.

5 minutes ago, P.J. said:

Not to mention, every town needs a sleazy PI/lawyer. I wonder if the actor wanted out.

Good question!

Now, if it had been me, I would've introduced a younger sibling of Joe's at some point, in order to show he wasn't a TOTAL sleaze. Although I tend to be cynical in my everyday life, I think characters work best when they have layers.

Edited 1 hour ago1 hr by Khan

1 hour ago, P.J. said:

Not to mention, every town needs a sleazy PI/lawyer. I wonder if the actor wanted out.

I think he quickly moved to the Doctors, although that show was widely known to be on its deathbed by then so you'd think it wasn't his choice. I do wish they'd kept Joe on longer, as a soap needs a sleazy but not too OTT baddie to drive stories. I can't guess where he would have been if he'd stayed though. I could have seen him teaming up with Josh for Josh's schemes.