*Bea, not beautiful. I think her and Henry should've been foster parents to a black teenager. Speaking of minorities they should've invested more in IQ from the Galahads. That Hispanic doctor (Louie?) with the ball cap seemed to appear a lot, maybe build family around him. Speaking of Cedars in '85/86, I would've kept Reva as a candy striper (or whatever) at Cedars to "ground" her slightly.

*Bea, not beautiful. I think her and Henry should've been foster parents to a black teenager. Speaking of minorities they should've invested more in IQ from the Galahads. That Hispanic doctor (Louie?) with the ball cap seemed to appear a lot, maybe build family around him. Speaking of Cedars in '85/86, I would've kept Reva as a candy striper (or whatever) at Cedars to "ground" her slightly.

9 hours ago, DeeVee said:

One of my big complaints about GL's later years is too many main characters being cops. It's a soap opera, not a prime time cop show. Even EON didn't have that many cops.

Running an Irish pub was a great occupation for an aspirational character like Tony. He wanted to lift himself up in the world, like Nola, but he wanted to do it through work.

Bea could have remained as a character like Ina on OLTL or Myrtle on AMC. Running the boarding house set her up to be a surrogate mother to younger characters starting out their lives. They even did that for a while with Beth and Lujack.

Bea also does it a bit with the Kurt/Mindy/Rick/Roxie quad.

I find it a little odd that there wasn't at least one cop as a main character, although my guess would be Mike being a lawyer filled that law-and-order slot. Making all the Coopers cops was overkill. And considering Frank and Harley's parents were Buzz and Nadine, unintentionally hilarious.

I always thought the parallels between GL and AW were interesting. Both shows were basically gutted of vets in the early 80s and kinda staggered along for two decades, constantly failing. AW was way worse at this than GL. It's a wonder that Margaret dePriest didn't have a hw stint at GL.

I think having cop characters mixes things up, a break from all the whole collar business folks. Otherwise you have b&b.. no cops, medical doctors (until recently with Finn) or lawyers. I guess Carter is technically a lawyer but that show doesn't do crime stories).

I don't think anyone dismisses needing a mix of occupations on shows. After Hillary's death, the only full time nurse I can think of was Lillian and (briefly) Annie. Five cops towards the end (Frank, Gus, Harley, Marina, Mallet) seemed a little like overkill. Even if they were trying to optimize set usage due to budget.

6 hours ago, Spoon said:

I think having cop characters mixes things up, a break from all the whole collar business folks. Otherwise you have b&b.. no cops, medical doctors (until recently with Finn) or lawyers. I guess Carter is technically a lawyer but that show doesn't do crime stories).

Isn't Taylor a medical doctor? I've only ever watched B&B sporadically, but I think that's right.

I hate cop stories, it's one of the reasons I've fallen off from watching BTG. I think GL had it right when they had Larry Wyatt who only came out when there were crimes being committed. That's literally all the cop you need.

3 hours ago, P.J. said:

I don't think anyone dismisses needing a mix of occupations on shows. After Hillary's death, the only full time nurse I can think of was Lillian and (briefly) Annie. Five cops towards the end (Frank, Gus, Harley, Marina, Mallet) seemed a little like overkill. Even if they were trying to optimize set usage due to budget.

Yeah, it's wild how they got rid of Hillary, Katie, and Leslie Ann and were left with only Lillian as a nurse. Why didn't they think to make Lainie Bauer a nurse and have her involved at Cedars? Maybe then people would have become more invested in the character and her family.

When they got rid of Mike, Ross was the only major character who was a lawyer for a long time. Until, I think, Ben. That's crazy. There's a reason certain occupations are used on soaps.

1 hour ago, DeeVee said:

Yeah, it's wild how they got rid of Hillary, Katie, and Leslie Ann and were left with only Lillian as a nurse. Why didn't they think to make Lainie Bauer a nurse and have her involved at Cedars? Maybe then people would have become more invested in the character and her family.

I would've made Roxie Shayne or Harley Cooper nurses before I made them a model and cop, respectively.

1 hour ago, Khan said:

I would've made Roxie Shayne or Harley Cooper nurses before I made them a model and cop, respectively.

Wasn't Roxie going to college for a while? That would have made a lot of sense.

Harley was the Queen of Job Switching. She had so many careers.

@DeeVee remember that one time where Harley was supposed to be a computer whiz and hack into the Spaulding computers? Never mentioned again.

24 minutes ago, Spoon said:

@DeeVee remember that one time where Harley was supposed to be a computer whiz and hack into the Spaulding computers? Never mentioned again.

LOL, honestly, I don't! We made a list one time of her many careers/almost careers but I don't remember that being mentioned.

It's amazing she never became an astronaut.

12 hours ago, Spoon said:

I always thought the parallels between GL and AW were interesting. Both shows were basically gutted of vets in the early 80s and kinda staggered along for two decades, constantly failing. AW was way worse at this than GL. It's a wonder that Margaret dePriest didn't have a hw stint at GL.

I'm surprised she didn't. Thank goodness. McTavish came close but I don't know if GL ever had the hellmouth of misogyny that DePriest unleashed in her AW stints.

1 hour ago, Spoon said:

remember that one time where Harley was supposed to be a computer whiz and hack into the Spaulding computers? Never mentioned again.

Some of that (her being on a computer and then Alan-Michael or Roger giving her truth serum while she was sleeping) I remember seeing as a kid. I haven't watched it since so I don't know how it played.

Of course who could forget the infamous crossover with Marvel Comics where Harley became a superhero known as, wait for it.... The Guiding Light.

9 hours ago, DeeVee said:

Isn't Taylor a medical doctor? I've only ever watched B&B sporadically, but I think that's right.

I hate cop stories, it's one of the reasons I've fallen off from watching BTG. I think GL had it right when they had Larry Wyatt who only came out when there were crimes being committed. That's literally all the cop you need.

Yeah, it's wild how they got rid of Hillary, Katie, and Leslie Ann and were left with only Lillian as a nurse. Why didn't they think to make Lainie Bauer a nurse and have her involved at Cedars? Maybe then people would have become more invested in the character and her family.

When they got rid of Mike, Ross was the only major character who was a lawyer for a long time. Until, I think, Ben. That's crazy. There's a reason certain occupations are used on soaps.

Taylor was a cancer specialist when she was first introduced, she was brought in to treat Caroline. She later dabbled in psychiatry, as in telling Brooke she was obsessed with Ridge, etc. I don't have a clue if they still acknowledge that.

Lainie was gone before Katie or Hillary, but you'd have thought the writers would've realized they were down to one nurse (although they always had nurses milling around.)

They did the same kind of thing with lawyers. Ross was the primary (who would flip between being the DA or a defense lawyer) and they'd occasionally bring in someone for a story arc. Robert Lupone as Leo Flynn, Mady Kaplan as Lisa Drevicki (she's the one who Mallet was working for when he was trying to prove Phillip had faked his death), Roger had another lawyer who's name I can't remember, etc.

3 hours ago, DRW50 said:

I'm surprised she didn't. Thank goodness. McTavish came close but I don't know if GL ever had the hellmouth of misogyny that DePriest unleashed in her AW stints.

Some of that (her being on a computer and then Alan-Michael or Roger giving her truth serum while she was sleeping) I remember seeing as a kid. I haven't watched it since so I don't know how it played.

Harley took a computer course when she was trying to figure out her life. Now, if Alan Michael had gone to college for more than about half a semester, maybe he would've taken some computer courses himself.

Roger was embezzling money through the Spaulding Foundation. His lawyer (the slimy one who had set the Fifth Street fire) had given Harley some drug to get the Spaulding password from her while she slept (or something like that, however it went, Harley hadn't knowingly given him the password) She ended up tracking him down, and once avoided being found in his office by going out on the window ledge.

24 minutes ago, P.J. said:

Lainie was gone before Katie or Hillary, but you'd have thought the writers would've realized they were down to one nurse (although they always had nurses milling around.)

I'm not talking about Lainie Marler, Justin and Ross's sister. I'm talking about Lainie Bauer, Johnny's mother. They didn't introduce Jack and Lainie Bauer until a year or so after Katie was written out (Hillary was written out the year before, I believe).

Anyway, my big gripe with Jack and Lainie Bauer is they didn't DO much other than hang around in the background. They never gave them any real storylines. Did they run Company for a while or something? But still, they didn't give them much to do. At least Hawk and Sarah were always involved in Reva's drama. Putting Lainie at Cedars as a nurse would have helped people see her as a major character.