fan casting:

Nichiolas Coster (SB) or Jed Allan (SB) as Alan in the 90s.

10 hours ago, Speed Racer said:

I suspected you'd like that second week of July 1993! (And I encourage everyone here who is already familiar to go back and rewatch that week. Crammed with good material, nearly non-stop. Not only Roger/Holly and Ed/Michelle, but Gilly/Hamp/Roger as well).

Monto Sharp is outstanding in those diner scenes. Just the look on his face! And poor Stavros. I really liked Stavros.

GL won for the Emmy for Best Writing of 1993. When you see what you just saw, GL95, it's no wonder.

Not sure why some people here admonish 1993 (resentful over the loss of Maureen, perhaps)? Things start to slide late in the year, but not until then.

@Speed Racer , I'm a big fan of this period as well. The writing for Roger was extremely effective, especially his reaction to Holly turning down his marriage proposal. The way that he coped with that by going after several other characters on the show was brilliant.

Annette

3 hours ago, GL Oldtimer said:

@Speed Racer , I'm a big fan of this period as well. The writing for Roger was extremely effective, especially his reaction to Holly turning down his marriage proposal. The way that he coped with that by going after several other characters on the show was brilliant.

Annette

A big yes on that! And the writing was great for several characters.

Months ago, I posted about a quick, almost brush-aside scene between Hart and Alexandra that I found unbelievably good. I love that kind of stuff, the seemingly unimportant, almost casual comments/observations that actually are a very big deal.

Curlee and crew were quite effective at it and didn't hesitate to employ it.

How does this relate to July 1993?

Ed and Michelle sitting opposite one another at the kitchen table. They're talking a tad tacitly about Ed's infidelity, but not so much so that any meaning gets lost. The writers gave Michelle/Rachel Miner what might be considered a throwaway line: "I knew, but I didn't".

Brilliant! Not only loaded with meaning and consequence, but also a perfect thing for a reasonably smart 11- or 12-year-old to say. It's so on target! Note that Michelle isn't screaming or yelling but rather is having a conversation with her father. And that conversation is done "Ed-style", putting Michelle in Ed's wheelhouse and not the other way around. That's critical. It gives Ed the relief from worry (about Michelle) that he desperately sought. He now understands where she is because she was ready to tell him and she instinctively knew how to tell him! The catalyst of her overt readiness, of course, being the prospect of her father dying at the cliff house.

All of that crammed into a maybe 2-3 minute scene. Blows my mind.

Note, too, that both characters are seated across from each other, at the middle of the kitchen table, rather than having either seated at the head of the table.

6 hours ago, Spoon said:

fan casting:

Nichiolas Coster (SB) or Jed Allan (SB) as Alan in the 90s.

In 1994 Nicolas Coster was on As the World Turns and Jed Allan was on 90210 so the timing was off.

I think JFP wanted to cast either Roscoe Born or Lane Davies as Alan but I suspect they were either not interested or not available.

6 hours ago, Spoon said:

fan casting:

Nichiolas Coster (SB) or Jed Allan (SB) as Alan in the 90s.

Of the two, I'd choose Coster, but mostly because I'd at least seen him as Eduardo. I've only scene Allan in episodic TV. I don't think either quite fits the role. Coster somehow doesn't seem imposing enough. Allan seems too straightforward to be a behind the scenes master manipulator.

1 hour ago, Speed Racer said:

A big yes on that! And the writing was great for several characters.

Months ago, I posted about a quick, almost brush-aside scene between Hart and Alexandra that I found unbelievably good. I love that kind of stuff, the seemingly unimportant, almost casual comments/observations that actually are a very big deal.

Curlee and crew were quite effective at it and didn't hesitate to employ it.

How does this relate to July 1993?

Ed and Michelle sitting opposite one another at the kitchen table. They're talking a tad tacitly about Ed's infidelity, but not so much so that any meaning gets lost. The writers gave Michelle/Rachel Miner what might be considered a throwaway line: "I knew, but I didn't".

Brilliant! Not only loaded with meaning and consequence, but also a perfect thing for a reasonably smart 11- or 12-year-old to say. It's so on target! Note that Michelle isn't screaming or yelling but rather is having a conversation with her father. And that conversation is done "Ed-style", putting Michelle in Ed's wheelhouse and not the other way around. That's critical. It gives Ed the relief from worry (about Michelle) that he desperately sought. He now understands where she is because she was ready to tell him and she instinctively knew how to tell him! The catalyst of her overt readiness, of course, being the prospect of her father dying at the cliff house.

All of that crammed into a maybe 2-3 minute scene. Blows my mind.

Note, too, that both characters are seated across from each other, at the middle of the kitchen table, rather than having either seated at the head of the table.

That reminds me that I appreciated the touch of humor to break up the tension when John Davis was attacking Holly and Holly was trying to shield Michelle from what was happening. Michelle walked into the bedroom where Holly/Davis were in a struggle over the gun on the bed, and when they froze and Holly looked aghast Michelle said something like, "It's okay, Holly. I know about these things," and then just walked out unphazed.

So many plots are coming together-today I got through 07.25 where everyone is questioning Bridget and Bridget essentially blackmails Billy about Peter to stay quiet. Jordan Clarke is still around and there was a fun moment where a desperate Bridget comes to Billy to ask for money for David and Billy gives her $500 and tells her she's lucky she found the one person crazy enough to carry this much cash just as Vanessa walks up. At first Billy is panicked as it's pretty clear that any money to Bridget is going straight to David, and after Bridget leaves Vanessa just says she's not asking any questions because how could you be in trouble from the police if you don't know where the money is going. They share a wicked smile enjoying the plausible deniability and little shared secret.

Sadly much of my viewing today involved far too much Nick/Mindy and Buzz/Jenna. (It's funny because I first got back Into GL when I discovered Lucy/Alan Michael clips existed on a channel called Jezzfanatic and it took me FOREVER to figure out what the channel name meant.) I don't like Barbara Crompton's Mindy, but Nick is currently acting like Mindy is a bad person for being scared of the person WHO TRIED TO KILL HER. I at least was happy when Eve finally piped up to Ed that she was lucky that she wasn't in jail given all the trouble David was in for what was a much less premeditated event. Eve has been the one weak link in everything right now-I don't love Buzz/Jenna but in this moment I actually mostly like the writing around Buzz where he wants to be part of his family again but is ultimately ambivalent about it. He mostly wants to want it at this point. Eve only being gone two months after what she did and just expecting to walk back into a job at the hospital is a crazy sense of entitlement to the point that I can't believe they're trying to write it that she's not still a danger.

1 hour ago, kalbir said:

I think JFP wanted to cast either Roscoe Born or Lane Davies as Alan but I suspect they were either not interested or not available.

Roscoe Born would've been all wrong as an Alan recast. He would've been much better suited playing Andy Norris.

Lane Davies would've been a better choice, yet he just doesn't look the part, if you know what I mean.

I, myself, would have cast someone like Edward Woodward, a.k.a. the OG Equalizer.

1 hour ago, kalbir said:

I think JFP wanted to cast either Roscoe Born or Lane Davies as Alan but I suspect they were either not interested or not available.

Even though they weren't that much younger than Raines, IMO, both were too young. Raines for some reason played older. (Maybe that's why he kept the beard the whole time?)

Lane Davies, totally wrong for Alan. I can't even picture it.

I think Born would have made an excellent Roger recast. Dennis Parlato would have been a much better Alan.

1 hour ago, P.J. said:

Of the two, I'd choose Coster, but mostly because I'd at least seen him as Eduardo. I've only scene Allan in episodic TV. I don't think either quite fits the role. Coster somehow doesn't seem imposing enough. Allan seems too straightforward to be a behind the scenes master manipulator.

Conversely, I think Coster was too old. If he was maybe 10 years younger he would have been a good fit.

That's a good point about Jed. My main memory of him was as Don on DOOL, and he was totally a good guy.

I've already mentioned some I thought would work: Jim Storm, John Gabriel. Oh, and another one who occurred to me the other day--Jerry Lacy. He definitely could do the suave thing and he had often played characters that were gray in the morality department.

I stumbled across this website and curious if anyone knew about it or if it's been discussed on the SON boards before? Might be better to ask in a general soap thread since most soaps are available for purchase, but curious if this is a scam or legit. And if legit, how decent is the quality? Seems like this would be illegal to sell copies for profit, but maybe not? LOL.

https://www.soapdvds.com/guidinglight

12 minutes ago, alwaysAMC said:

I stumbled across this website and curious if anyone knew about it or if it's been discussed on the SON boards before? Might be better to ask in a general soap thread since most soaps are available for purchase, but curious if this is a scam or legit. And if legit, how decent is the quality? Seems like this would be illegal to sell copies for profit, but maybe not? LOL.

https://www.soapdvds.com/guidinglight

That 1991 collection is tempting-abs I never covet the cheapest thing.

45 minutes ago, DeeVee said:

Even though they weren't that much younger than Raines, IMO, both were too young. Raines for some reason played older. (Maybe that's why he kept the beard the whole time?)

Lane Davies, totally wrong for Alan. I can't even picture it.

I think Born would have made an excellent Roger recast. Dennis Parlato would have been a much better Alan.

Conversely, I think Coster was too old. If he was maybe 10 years younger he would have been a good fit.

That's a good point about Jed. My main memory of him was as Don on DOOL, and he was totally a good guy.

I've already mentioned some I thought would work: Jim Storm, John Gabriel. Oh, and another one who occurred to me the other day--Jerry Lacy. He definitely could do the suave thing and he had often played characters that were gray in the morality department.

The real problem is that Chris Bernau had this reserved formality ( that's the best I can describe it) and way of holding himself that made him unique.

Like Raines, i think most actors would lean into the bellicose yell-y mustache twirling aspect. Of course, the writing doesn't help Raines, but it's like he went out of his way not to connect with anything CB had established for Alan.

38 minutes ago, P.J. said:

The real problem is that Chris Bernau had this reserved formality ( that's the best I can describe it) and way of holding himself that made him unique.

Like Raines, i think most actors would lean into the bellicose yell-y mustache twirling aspect. Of course, the writing doesn't help Raines, but it's like he went out of his way not to connect with anything CB had established for Alan.

Someone mentioned it upthread, but if if the mythical GL movie/reboot ever happened modern day Rick Hearst would be a good Alan. Watching some 80a episodes here and there it’s funny how Rick’s AM was never onscreen with Berneau but I completely can see him as Berneau’s Alan’s kid and not just physically.

1 hour ago, P.J. said:

Like Raines, i think most actors would lean into the bellicose yell-y mustache twirling aspect. Of course, the writing doesn't help Raines, but it's like he went out of his way not to connect with anything CB had established for Alan.

I think they did avoid writing Ron's Alan that way for his first year or so, but he just couldn't play the subtlety.