10 hours ago, P.J. said:

There always should've been room for Hope on the canvas. Especially after Maureen died. She should've stepped in as the next Bauer matriarch. The aging of Alan Michael never was a barrier to that, as others have mentioned, actors playing parents/children haven't always been a generation apart. Successive writing regimes either weren't interested or didn't see the need.

I'm less convinced when it comes to Elizabeth Spaulding. The woman was dull as dishwater.

I say if Elizabeth had returned they would have recast. I doubt Lezlie Dalton would have returned after she was pretty much shown the door by Marland.

I saw that Dalton had a role on SFT in 1982. Are there any episodes from her time there available?

Dalton was Steve Kendall’s sports agent on “Search for Tomorrow” in May, 1983. I believe the episodes are online