Guiding Light discussion thread

[zanereed]

Absolutely agree.

Pilar was on TGL for two years (1963 to 1965), and you can see one episode of him from 1963 in the role of Mike on YT when Julie gives birth to Hope. Pilar didn't return again to TGL at all after leaving in 1965 - it was a few months later when Mike and Hope Bauer reappeared in Bay City some time in early 1966.

I've heard that the reason the show didn't ask Pilar to return as Mike was that they were looking for more of a "Daytime Mannix" look-and-feel for Mike Bauer. This is supposedly why they originally cast Pickering, and then opted for Don Stewart later in 1968 (and let's be honest - Stewart certainly looked like a younger version of "Mannix").

Well, Don Stewart never "left" TGL, Gail Kobe fired him. I've said this previously in this thread - I think if Peter Simon hadn't quit as Ed in the fall of 1984 and therefore TPTB had to quickly recast Ed with Richard Van Vleet, Kobe and Long were going to originally recast Mike Bauer in order to continue with the Alexandra/Mike/Lillian love triangle that was supposed to have ramifications for Beth and Lujack. Pickering certainly would have worked. Was Pickering still acting in 1984? I can't find any credits for him at all in the 1980's.

Edited 6 hours ago by zanereed

[Soapsuds]

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[Paul Raven]

I doubt that anyone at GL in 84 had any knowledge of Pickering and would be interested in hiring him, considering he didn't work out the first time around.

Don Stewart seems to have been written out quickly. Do we know the circumstances?

I imagine his contract was up and maybe GL offered to renew with fewer guaranteed appearances, meaning Don's income would drop. That seemed to be happening a lot around that time.

Maybe Don was insulted and suddenly decided not to renew, thus requiring a quick write out.

He could see the writing on the wall that Mike would become a talk to.

Another possibility is that GL didn't want to draw attention to Mike leaving and upsetting viewers. Better to have him just fade out.

[Reverend Ruthledge]

It's a shame Gary Pilar and Robert Gentry weren't on the show at the same time as they were my favorite Mike and Ed. It would have been great to see them together.