4 minutes ago, Khan said:

Reading an article that @Paul Raven posted in the Y&R Classic thread has me thinking: what about Kay Alden?

I mean if it's in a totally hypothetical world, where she didn't write Y&R during the years when GL most needed rescuing, she wouldn't be so bad. Her tenure was the last when I regularly watched Y&R; after she left I fell off as a viewer.

I just see her as Bell's protege who was meant to take over when he retired. I connect her so strongly to Y&R. But she was a good HW.

12 minutes ago, Khan said:

Rita Lakin was a wonderful writer. I think she and Rick Edelstein were the best writers TD ever had. If she had been willing to take on GL, I think she would've done amazing work there, too. But I also think she told some interviewer once that writing for soaps was hard work and that it never allowed her to spend enough time with her family.

From what I recall, Rita was the only writer on The Doctors writing every episode for over a year. I think Rick Edelstein was added in order to give her some help because she was burning out fast.

I recall Edelstein was the one to write that creepy gothic kidnapping story on The doctors, perhaps he could have been a good fit at GL. I always viewed GL as more gothic in the 70s/80s.

I wonder how GL would have been if the Dobson's had returned to write after SB was cancelled?

54 minutes ago, SoapDope78 said:

I wonder how GL would have been if the Dobson's had returned to write after SB was cancelled?

That would be interesting, by that time the Dobsons were so different from their 70s material. One would never guess that they were the same writers. They would have fun with characters like Buzz, Nadine, Bridget for sure. Their Spauldings would become wackier and they might turn Alan-Michael into their Mason Capwell. Their Blake would probably not become boring and domesticated, she would have a fascinating dynamic with Holly. It would be fun to see what they would do with Roger.

2 hours ago, Sapounopera said:

That would be interesting, by that time the Dobsons were so different from their 70s material. One would never guess that they were the same writers. They would have fun with characters like Buzz, Nadine, Bridget for sure. Their Spauldings would become wackier and they might turn Alan-Michael into their Mason Capwell. Their Blake would probably not become boring and domesticated, she would have a fascinating dynamic with Holly. It would be fun to see what they would do with Roger.

I wonder if they would have brought back Elizabeth and Jackie (from the dead)?

Kay Alden was good for the Bell soaps, but they are a bit "stuffier" than the other soaps. Perhaps with a co-writer that can focus on lot while she focused on the character work.

4 hours ago, SoapDope78 said:

I wonder how GL would have been if the Dobson's had returned to write after SB was cancelled?

They left soap writing after SB ended. They had so many problems with NBC, I think they were just disillusioned with the whole thing.

But, again, if we're talking about a hypothetical world--let's say it was offered to them: I wonder if they would have wanted to come back. If almost every character I had created had been booted from the show I had won an Emmy for, I'd be pretty ticked off.

Sometimes soap writers returning works, sometimes it doesn't. Henry Slesar couldn't save EON when he returned, same with Claire Labine on RH, but Douglas Marland returned to ATWT twice and did well both times.

If I had my dearest wish, the Dobsons would never have been switched to ATWT. They would have stayed on GL, presumably until they left to do Santa Barbara in 1984. Marland would have been kept on at ATWT.

Marland did not care about the stories they left behind (which is understandable; writers are going to want to focus on their own ideas and characters) but SO MUCH had been set up that was NEVER really paid off, with the exception of the Roger Thorpe storyline. I'd want to see how they would have resolved the Phillip paternity story, Alan and Hope's relationship (which, IMO, would have gone in a vastly different direction), Amanda's mother, who I suspect would not have been a noodle-spined character like Jennifer, Mike & Elizabeth's relationship, where Holly's character would have fit in after Roger was gone, and so on.

Sure, we would not have had the Reardons. But you don't miss what you never had. I think the show would have been in a stronger position to face the many shake-ups to soaps during the following years if they had stayed.