One of the biggest mysteries in GL history is why they never brought Hope back. Especially after Alan-Michael came on the show. Not bringing Mike back was another mystery but Hope's absence was even more of a mystery. They just really seemed to hate the Bauers post-1983. I'm actually shocked that they kept Ed and Rick on the show for as long as they did.

I can't explain the rationale behind never recasting Hope. Especially when they decided they needed a Bauer matriarch and brought Meta back. If viewers in the late '90s didn't know Hope, they sure as hell wouldn't have known Meta.

While I'd alwayss argue a Bauer was relevant to the canvas, I really think what kept Rick around was his connection to Phillip. MOL was a fan favorite in his own right, but for most of his run, he was the foil to Phillip, intentionally or not.

13 minutes ago, P.J. said:

While I'd alwayss argue a Bauer was relevant to the canvas, I really think what kept Rick around was his connection to Phillip. MOL was a fan favorite in his own right, but for most of his run, he was the foil to Phillip, intentionally or not.

That and Michael seemed well-liked behind the scenes.

2 hours ago, Reverend Ruthledge said:

One of the biggest mysteries in GL history is why they never brought Hope back. Especially after Alan-Michael came on the show. Not bringing Mike back was another mystery but Hope's absence was even more of a mystery. They just really seemed to hate the Bauers post-1983. I'm actually shocked that they kept Ed and Rick on the show for as long as they did.

Both Hope and Mike should have been brought back.

Maybe they got the idea for eviserating the Bauers from watching Bill Bell successfully (eventually) almost totally replacing his initial core families. GH also sank many of their original core characters and went on to be a huge hit. They didn't get rid of them, but pushed most of them way into the background.

But I think in Y&R's case it was a little different because the show hadn't been on the air that long, comparitively speaking.

Maybe it would have made sense to phase out the Bauers if they didn't still have ties on the show, but they did. A lot of history tied to the Spauldings and Roger Thorpe. It's kind of wild that Ed became Alan's enemy when his real nemesis was Mike. It's insane that Hope wasn't there for her grandmother's illness and memorial, and wasn't there for her son's weddings.

Bringing Hope back had so much potential. Was she going to be stronger, more confident, less vulnerable to Alan? Or still the sad sack who couldn't control her drinking? Or something in between? Maybe she could have taken her grandmother's place at the hospital. There were so many things they could have done with her character.

I'm guessing they kept Ed and Rick around to placate veteran viewers. Yeah, we still have Bauers, we still mention Bert now and then, what else do you want from us?

11 minutes ago, DeeVee said:

Both Hope and Mike should have been brought back.

Maybe they got the idea for eviserating the Bauers from watching Bill Bell successfully (eventually) almost totally replacing his initial core families. GH also sank many of their original core characters and went on to be a huge hit. They didn't get rid of them, but pushed most of them way into the background.

But I think in Y&R's case it was a little different because the show hadn't been on the air that long, comparitively speaking.

Maybe it would have made sense to phase out the Bauers if they didn't still have ties on the show, but they did. A lot of history tied to the Spauldings and Roger Thorpe. It's kind of wild that Ed became Alan's enemy when his real nemesis was Mike. It's insane that Hope wasn't there for her grandmother's illness and memorial, and wasn't there for her son's weddings.

Bringing Hope back had so much potential. Was she going to be stronger, more confident, less vulnerable to Alan? Or still the sad sack who couldn't control her drinking? Or something in between? Maybe she could have taken her grandmother's place at the hospital. There were so many things they could have done with her character.

I'm guessing they kept Ed and Rick around to placate veteran viewers. Yeah, we still have Bauers, we still mention Bert now and then, what else do you want from us?

The biggest difference is that the actors who had made the Brooks and Foster families popular had all left or were leaving.

I think there was a push from P&G to clear out or whittle down the core families, and Kobe seemed determined to make her own stamp...stamping until nothing was left.

It's a sign of how messy GL was compared to ATWT in the same timeframe that no effort was made to rebuild the Bauers after Kobe left, unless you count Johnny and his family.

1 minute ago, DRW50 said:

The biggest difference is that the actors who had made the Brooks and Foster families popular had all left or were leaving.

Well, there you go. When you make a show called The Young and the Restless and fill it up with young and restless actors, they are probably going to take off sooner rather than later. I never heard this before, but it doesn't really surprise me.

3 minutes ago, DRW50 said:

I think there was a push from P&G to clear out or whittle down the core families, and Kobe seemed determined to make her own stamp...stamping until nothing was left.

It looks like they wanted to make the Lewis family the major family--doing what OLTL did with the Buchanans. Dallas was the big thing at the time, there were suddenly a lot of Southern/Southwestern families pouring into soaps. They weren't going to get rid of the Spauldings because they were their Dynasty-type family.

Even though a lot of soaps were doing something similar at the time, someone should have reigned Kobe in.

10 minutes ago, DRW50 said:

It's a sign of how messy GL was compared to ATWT in the same timeframe that no effort was made to rebuild the Bauers after Kobe left, unless you count Johnny and his family.

I do not count them. 😂