1 hour ago, Mitch64 said:

Who knows...Ehlers goes through men like she thought she was the real life Reva. She must have been damn good at something, as she scored some hot a** I will give that to her.

I swear there was a rumor somewhere back at the time that she tried with Murray Bartlett and he told her he was gay. 

36 minutes ago, P.J. said:

I'm not sure what point Mike would've served with only Ed's kids in town. Although God knows, Michelle's husband always needed an attorney.

Don't get me wrong, I think Mike returning would've made more sense than Meta, but GL obviously wasn't going to bring back Hope and Alan-Michael. Mike could've been the resident lawyer, since Ross was always bouncing around between lawyer/mayor/candlestick maker.

When did AW kill off Barbara Berjer's character again? I wish that'd happened, rather than Meta.

Barbara was written out of AW in spring 1996, around the time she was appearing every once in a while as Barbara. I agree they should have brought her back - that she wasn't there for Ken's story is strange, as she was still acting at the time (she made a brief ghostly return to AW). I suppose Rauch wasn't interested as Meta (who IIRC was rarely seen at this time as Mary Stuart was battling cancer) was enough for him. 

You're right about Mike's family not being on the canvas. I suppose I was just thinking Stewart's Mike might have fit where the Bauers were at that point - trying to keep Rick together with all of his messes and dealing with Michelle and the mob. If they didn't want to bring Hope back, as I imagine they wouldn't, then he might tangle with the Santoses - maybe get into a complicated tangle with Maria, who pretends to be the "good" one of the family and says she wants to help him, and as they get closer, he starts to question if she's actually running everything.

 

41 minutes ago, DeeVee said:

 

I had NO idea Gentry ever returned as Ed. Do you remember what the time period was

I'm not sure when he exactly arrived, but he's Vanessa's doctor when she gives birth to Maureen, so he's there in Feb '98.

45 minutes ago, DeeVee said:

Did Breen ever sue them? I would think he would have had a case, though that probably would have totally decimated his career. I believe he went on to have a theater career after that happened.

I had NO idea Gentry ever returned as Ed. Do you remember what the time period was?

At the time Breen was so horribly treated by the tabloids (Eileen Fulton once said when she saw one of the tabloids about him she threw it in the trash), P&G's role didn't seem to get any talk. I am just glad he survived and seemed to move on to a happy life.

Gentry briefly returned in 97-98 when Michelle was dating Jesse and they were having problems dealing with Jesse's father. He never really felt at home to me, although they barely tried. It didn't help that he had the coldest Michelle (Budig) as his daughter, but I don't think that mattered. I think he first came back in the fall. 

If Soapcentral is accurate, it's late September.

Edited June 14Jun 14 by DRW50

56 minutes ago, P.J. said:

When did AW kill off Barbara Berjer's character again? I wish that'd happened, rather than Meta.

Jill killed her. Her crime was being over 50.

I think Zimmer got spooked by the accusations of "homophobia" which were even in the mainstream press. She started to over-explain because she was angry. Those are the stories I remembered. Same thing happened with her memoir. She wrote it out of anger (primarily at Wheeler and P&G) and she was loose with the facts/details. She shouldn't have had to explain as Weary was too young for the change in storyline. I also think wires got crossed in the press (intentionally or unintentionally) because I think the homophobe in the situation was Martha Byrne since we all know how that turned out/continues to play out. I wonder too if someone at GL or P&G was using the homophobia accusations to get back at Zimmer. In looking at some of the articles, it feels very targeted.

@Mitch64I don't think working with gay men makes someone less homophobic. Someone can have work colleagues,  gay friends, and gay relatives and still be homophobic. They can still think of these gay men as less than even if they don't always articulate those feelings. I don't suggest Kim Zimmer feels/felt that way at all. 

1 minute ago, chrisml said:

@Mitch64I don't think working with gay men makes someone less homophobic. Someone can have work colleagues,  gay friends, and gay relatives and still be homophobic. They can still think of these gay men as less than even if they don't always articulate those feelings. I don't suggest Kim Zimmer feels/felt that way at all. 

 +1 

29 minutes ago, DRW50 said:

I swear there was a rumor somewhere back at the time that she tried with Murray Bartlett and he told her he was gay. 

Barbara was written out of AW in spring 1996, around the time she was appearing every once in a while as Barbara. I agree they should have brought her back - that she wasn't there for Ken's story is strange, as she was still acting at the time (she made a brief ghostly return to AW). I suppose Rauch wasn't interested as Meta (who IIRC was rarely seen at this time as Mary Stuart was battling cancer) was enough for him. 

You're right about Mike's family not being on the canvas. I suppose I was just thinking Stewart's Mike might have fit where the Bauers were at that point - trying to keep Rick together with all of his messes and dealing with Michelle and the mob. If they didn't want to bring Hope back, as I imagine they wouldn't, then he might tangle with the Santoses - maybe get into a complicated tangle with Maria, who pretends to be the "good" one of the family and says she wants to help him, and as they get closer, he starts to question if she's actually running everything.

 

I mean, they could've found a way to work Mike back on to the canvas--imagine them throwing Lillian and bone and have her and Mike have some whirlwind romance off-screen and come home married, making Mike Beth's stepfather. 

But yeah, you'd have thought with two of her child having a mental health crisis, it would've been natural for Barbara to return. God knows Blake could've used her.

22 minutes ago, Contessa Donatella said:

Jill killed her. Her crime was being over 50.

in '96, Berjer was 76. Not that that excuses any disrespect from JFP.

5 minutes ago, P.J. said:

I mean, they could've found a way to work Mike back on to the canvas--imagine them throwing Lillian and bone and have her and Mike have some whirlwind romance off-screen and come home married, making Mike Beth's stepfather. 

But yeah, you'd have thought with two of her child having a mental health crisis, it would've been natural for Barbara to return. God knows Blake could've used her.

I'd forgotten about the Mike/Lillian relationship (and I guess Alex although she was off the canvas most of that period). Maybe he could have tried to "fix" Beth to make up for what happened with Hope.

LOL...I think everyone forgot about Mike/Lillian. 

1 hour ago, DeeVee said:

I was also surprised to hear this recently. Back in the day, he was supposedly in a relationship with actress Marcia Cross when she was on OLTL. He used to wear a Claddagh ring. (It's an Irish symbol with a heart held by hands and topped with a crown. The way you wear it indicates where you are in a relationship). He claimed he and Cross had exchanged rings and he always wore his on screen no matter what character he was playing. They never got married. She married eventually, but he never did.

Of course, he could have been bi, OR, Cross could have been his beard. Again, it was considered career suicide for a male actor to be openly gay if he was a romantic lead on a soap.

With Marcia Cross??  I'm just learning so much today - color me shocked! Haha

9 minutes ago, P.J. said:

I mean, they could've found a way to work Mike back on to the canvas--imagine them throwing Lillian and bone and have her and Mike have some whirlwind romance off-screen and come home married, making Mike Beth's stepfather. 

There's your stable central couple that the show lacked after Mo was killed off.

Maybe have Lillian give birth to a late-in-life baby, to add to the Bauer line. (She probably was a tad too old at the time, but they had Ruth on AMC have a baby at an insane age, so why not GL, too?) Or, since Mike was off the canvas for a long time, have a secret kid show up. Why not? Better than having yet another Secret Reva Baby show up.

19 minutes ago, chrisml said:

I think Zimmer got spooked by the accusations of "homophobia" which were even in the mainstream press. She started to over-explain because she was angry. Those are the stories I remembered. Same thing happened with her memoir. She wrote it out of anger (primarily at Wheeler and P&G) and she was loose with the facts/details. She shouldn't have had to explain as Weary was too young for the change in storyline. I also think wires got crossed in the press (intentionally or unintentionally) because I think the homophobe in the situation was Martha Byrne since we all know how that turned out/continues to play out. I wonder too if someone at GL or P&G was using the homophobia accusations to get back at Zimmer. In looking at some of the articles, it feels very targeted.

Oh no, please don't tell me Martha is...  

21 minutes ago, P.J. said:

in '96, Berjer was 76. Not that that excuses any disrespect from JFP.

Nonetheless  it was 50 that she was going by! I said what I said with intent.

6 minutes ago, DeeVee said:

There's your stable central couple that the show lacked after Mo was killed off.

Maybe have Lillian give birth to a late-in-life baby, to add to the Bauer line. (She probably was a tad too old at the time, but they had Ruth on AMC have a baby at an insane age, so why not GL, too?) Or, since Mike was off the canvas for a long time, have a secret kid show up. Why not? Better than having yet another Secret Reva Baby show up.

Rachel, who was around the same age as Lillian, had just had twins on AW around that point too. And it would have been interesting story for Beth, seeing Lillian, who was always her rock, no longer able to focus on her.

7 minutes ago, DRW50 said:

Rachel, who was around the same age as Lillian, had just had twins on AW around that point too. And it would have been interesting story for Beth, seeing Lillian, who was always her rock, no longer able to focus on her.

And, Vicky W didn't want them &  she got a whole big amount of criticism over it.