2 hours ago, DRW50 said:

If they were going to write out Elizabeth, I would have had her find out about Justin and Jackie, but around the same time learn she was terminally ill. That would have been very heartbreaking, all her conflicting emotions, and as she likely wouldn't want Philip to see her die, slowly easing herself out of his life.

Since they didn't do that, there were decades they could have brought her back, but the show was so focused on Philip as just Alan's son that they never explored any other avenues. There were times Philip would disown Alan or plot against him but even then they'd never really mention Philip having other family, aside from Ross. I'm all for stories that present a close bond between an adoptive parent and child as soaps often do a terrible job with this type of relationship, but GL went all in...

Potter also should have worked much harder in finding a strong Jackie recast. Clearly they just didn't give a damn about Jackie.

I agree. The way she was written out was stupid. A terminal illness would have been better than having her leave a child she had raised, loved, and fought custody for with his natural parents and just vanish. They could have also written she has a mental breakdown over the revelation and has to be put in an institution. She would emerge years later back to Springfield.

Yes, the Jackie replacement actress was blah. Cindy Pickett really made that character. If Jackie had been brought back from the dead I would loved to have seen Pickett return to the role. If not, someone like Dee Wallace might have been able to work as a recast.

Carrie Mowery, like Jennifer Cooke seems to have been chosen for looks over talent.

GL really was in turmoil at that point-the Marland/Potter clashes, PFS and then LVB gone after 13 week runs, Potter leaving etc.

Seems like CBS and P&G were running scared. SFT and AW were both seeing constant writer changes also.

Another re-uploaded 1979 episode.

I think Lezlie Dalton's choices (the fragility, the breathiness and so forth) made sense, given the kind of woman Elizabeth was at that point in her life. After all, she was introduced as Alan's trophy wife, lol.

Also, I know I'm biased when it comes to Douglas Marland and his work, but I don't blame him for not doing much with the Jackie/Justin/Elizabeth/Alan storyline during his time on GL. I still believe the circumstances behind Philip's paternity and adoption were convoluted; and given how Marland had faced a similar situation previously at GH - specifically, writing out Heather and untangling the mess behind Steven Lars/P.J.'s surrogacy and adoption, which he disliked publicly - I could see why he wanted to avoid it on GL.

Edited 21 minutes ago21 min by Khan

48 minutes ago, Khan said:

I think Lezlie Dalton's choices (the fragility, the breathiness and so forth) made sense, given the kind of woman Elizabeth was at that point in her life. After all, she was introduced as Alan's trophy wife, lol.

Also, I know I'm biased when it comes to Douglas Marland and his work, but I don't blame him for not doing much with the Jackie/Justin/Elizabeth/Alan storyline during his time on GL. I still believe the circumstances behind Philip's paternity and adoption were convoluted; and given how Marland had faced a similar situation previously at GH - specifically, writing out Heather and untangling the mess behind Steven Lars/P.J.'s surrogacy and adoption, which he disliked publicly - I could see why he wanted to avoid it on GL.

Elizabeth being fragile is the reason I suggested she could have been written out as having had a mental breakdown. She was emotionally abused by Alan through their marriage, she falls in love with Mike, but can't be with him because of Alan poisoning Phillip against him to keep them apart, and the ultimate blow would be discovering the son she raised was not her biological child.