8 hours ago, Mitch64 said:

I thought Paltro would have made a better Alan or Kyle recast.

Not sure I ever wanted a Kyle return, LOL, but I do agree Parlato would have been a good Alan recast. I liked him a lot when he was on OLTL, even though he played a really over-the-top villain in a very stupid storyline.

10 hours ago, DRW50 said:

And he seemed very ill-at-ease to me, as if even he knew the whole thing was wrong.

It was like a repeat of the Daniel Pilon situation, IMO. Both he and Parlato seemed very uncomfortable in their respective roles, and I would imagine part of it had to do with being put in an awkward spot because of how Bernau and Zaslow were treated by the network. 

Honestly, the whole mess makes me so mad every time I think of it. I remember seeing an interview with Zaslow after he appeared on OLTL. I think he was almost completely non-verbal at the time. He was communicating with a computer the way Stephen Hawking did. The interviewer told him he had heard OLTL wanted him to do more appearances. He cried, he was so grateful someone was giving him work.

A curse on everyone who did that to him at CBS/GL. If OLTL could figure out a way to do it, they could have, too.

Edited July 12Jul 12 by DeeVee

4 hours ago, chrisml said:

 

Thank you so much!  It's so nice to see a young Michael in 1976.  I wonder what the storyline during this time was for Roger. Seemed to be a popular character then too. 

@DRW50 I don't know about the guy that took over for Roger at the end. If he felt ill at ease, he should have said something. 

@Contessa Donatella LOL Well, I liked Frank (he got way too much storyline though) If I had my way, the only Coopers around would be Harley and Nadine. 

Oh, I am bitter. I started reading Michael's book and had to put it down.  He was so unhappy even before the illness that it made me wish so badly that fans knew. He felt like a failure, and he deserved the best.  To me, GL was not able to provide that, and it was meant to be that he ended up where he was appreciated and had Robin Strasser and the OLTL team show what true kindness is. 

Edited July 12Jul 12 by MLH

9 minutes ago, MLH said:

Thank you so much!  It's so nice to see a young Michael in 1976.  I wonder what the storyline during this time was for Roger. Seemed to be a popular character then too.

There is a really great thread on here that does some pretty detailed 1970s plot summaries for many of the soaps:

You'll have to dig around a little to find the GL summaries, but it's worth it.

1 hour ago, DRW50 said:

Thanks. I was not really watching during anything with Ava and Bill.

I did have memories of Lewis Construction in the Dylan years.

I guess considering our current policy is to destroy any energy but fossil fuels, we can say GL was ahead of its time.

I only scan the last few years for Vanessa and Billy. How Vanessa's children are running around being such brats I'm not sure.

46 minutes ago, DeeVee said:

It was like a repeat of the Daniel Pilon situation, IMO. Both he and Parlato seemed very uncomfortable in their respective roles, and I would imagine part of it had to do with being put in an awkward spot because of how Bernau and Zaslow were treated by the network. 

Hold up, what happened with Chris Bernau in 1988? I always thought he left by his own choice due to his health. I think his last episode was May 1988 and we know he passed away June 1989.

46 minutes ago, DeeVee said:

A curse on everyone who did that to him at CBS/GL. 

I'll name names: Les Moonves, Mary Alice Dwyer-Dobbin, Paul Rauch.

1 minute ago, kalbir said:

Hold up, what happened with Chris Bernau in 1988? I always thought he left by his own choice due to his health. I think his last episode was May 1988 and we know he passed away June 1989.

No, no, I'm not saying they fired him.

(Though do we really know that for sure? Considering what CBS did to Zaslow and Joseph Breen, it's possible he was fired. If they did fire him, Bernau kept it quiet, possibly because he wanted privacy, while Zaslow and Breen were very vocal about what they did to them).

Either way, what I'm talking about is how the network kept up the fiction that he was coming back when they knew full well he was gone for good. 

8 minutes ago, kalbir said:

I'll name names: Les Moonves, Mary Alice Dwyer-Dobbin, Paul Rauch.

Rauch is already roasting in hell. 😁 Consider Moonves and Dwyer-Dobbin cursed.

@MLHI posted the complete 1976 summaries a few pages back. 

6 hours ago, MLH said:

@Contessa Donatella LOL Well, I liked Frank (he got way too much storyline though) If I had my way, the only Coopers around would be Harley and Nadine. 

Oh, I am bitter. I started reading Michael's book and had to put it down.  He was so unhappy even before the illness that it made me wish so badly that fans knew. He felt like a failure, and he deserved the best.  To me, GL was not able to provide that, and it was meant to be that he ended up where he was appreciated and had Robin Strasser and the OLTL team show what true kindness is. 

MLH, yes, agree about Harley & Nadine representing the best the Coopers offered us. And, we stand in solidarity with our bitterness over the treatment Zas received at P&G/CBS. And, about the much better treatment at OLTL I would add another name to shout out & she is Brynn Thayer. I understand she was also one who supported him to ABC/Disney. So god bless her along with Robin Strasser. Yes, they were kind but also they offered respect & dignity which he deserved. 

8 hours ago, kalbir said:

I'll name names: Les Moonves, Mary Alice Dwyer-Dobbin, Paul Rauch.

I always, without fail, forget Moonves. So glad you do not!!!

9 hours ago, DeeVee said:

There is a really great thread on here that does some pretty detailed 1970s 

Changing the subject on you. I'm going to give you a way to remember MADD at her absolute worst. I'm going to put it under spoiler space so everyone won't have to look at it all the time.

Spoiler

What MADD said about Zas & ALS & it is a quote: Fan wouldn't want to see Roger as a wizened old man. 

Perhaps now you will recall her name in regard to poor treatment of Zaslow. Just tryin to help.

15 hours ago, DRW50 said:

Dinah would name something Maximus...

Good God no one thought that was...weird? 

They always treated Spaulding like it was a family owned hardware story..especially under Wheeler and Kreizman. No board, no investors, no regulatory, no concerns on changing the name of an international corporation, because its run somehow with a woman who can't balance her check book no doubt!!!!

6 hours ago, Contessa Donatella said:

MLH, yes, agree about Harley & Nadine representing the best the Coopers offered us.

Nadine was okay in short doses but no...I actually liked original recipe Frank and Harley and poor old Pops. That is where they should have left it. Frank and Harley had a nice relationship (even if it was a direct ripoff of Tony and Nola...nice big brother and trouble making younger sister) and of course Harley was always best at making trouble or at least blue collar tough girl hiding a heart of gold. 

 

3 hours ago, Contessa Donatella said:

Changing the subject on you. I'm going to give you a way to remember MADD at her absolute worst. I'm going to put it under spoiler space so everyone won't have to look at it all the time.

How old is MADD now...I'm sure she feels a bit wizened herself...and her body failing her (as all or ours do as we get older...)I hope she looks back on her choice and her words and feels remorse...sorry Catholic upbringing, whatever you put out in the world good or bad comes back to you and there is always a chance of redemption.

What adds to it was that I am sure they didn't want to waste that much energy on a story that didn't involve Reva...so we got Cleva...Double the Zimmer chewing scenery this time in face tape..WTF???

59 minutes ago, Mitch64 said:

How old is MADD now...I'm sure she feels a bit wizened herself...and her body failing her (as all or ours do as we get older...)I hope she looks back on her choice and her words and feels remorse...sorry Catholic upbringing, whatever you put out in the world good or bad comes back to you and there is always a chance of redemption.

What adds to it was that I am sure they didn't want to waste that much energy on a story that didn't involve Reva...so we got Cleva...Double the Zimmer chewing scenery this time in face tape..WTF???

MADD is now 85 years old. 

 

14 hours ago, DeeVee said:

It was like a repeat of the Daniel Pilon situation, IMO. Both he and Parlato seemed very uncomfortable in their respective roles, and I would imagine part of it had to do with being put in an awkward spot because of how Bernau and Zaslow were treated by the network.

 

Dennis Parlato had worked with Paul Rauch on One Life To Live and was an emergency recast. They had no time to audition or think who would be right as a replacement. GL was pressed for time and Rauch called up Parlato to ask for this favor.

It should be said that Dennis Parlato was extremely classy through this whole thing. The first thing he did before even stepping one foot in the GL studio was to write a letter to Michael Zaslow. Stressing to him, he is not after his job. This is only temporary, and has no interest in the job of playing Roger Thorpe. Once his health issues clear itself up, he (Dennis) will bow out and be cheering on his return, along with the rest of the cast of GL. 

Zaslow and his family were very moved by the letter. After Zaslow died, Dennis Parlato went to many Zas Angels benefits to perform (as he is a musical theatre actor) and raise money for the charity.

Edited July 12Jul 12 by TheyStartedOnSoaps

1 minute ago, TheyStartedOnSoaps said:

Dennis Parlato had worked with Paul Rauch on One Life To Live and was an emergency recast. They had no time to audition or think who would be right replaced. GL was pressed for time and Rauch called up Parlato to ask for this favor.

It should be said that Dennis Parlato was extremely classy through this whole thing. The first thing he did before even stepping one foot in the GL studio was to write a letter to Michael Zaslow. Stressing to him, he is not after his job. This is only temporary, and has no interest in the job of playing Roger Thorpe. Once his health issues clear itself up, he (Dennis) will bow out and be cheering on his return, along with the rest of the cast of GL. 

Zaslow and his family were very moved by the letter. After Zaslow died, Dennis Parlato went to many Zas Angels benefits to perform (as he is a musical theatre actor) and raise money for the charity.

Thanks for sharing this. What a great guy. Now I like him even more.

Someone mentioned Brynn Thayer upthread...I believe she helped Zaslow's wife found Zas Angels. We hear a lot about the awful people in the industry; it's practically a cliche. It's always nice to know there are also good people who don't turn their backs on their coworkers when they are in trouble.

It's quite telling that there wasn't much mention of GL in this segment.

@TheyStartedOnSoaps Thank you for the information about Parlato.  That was very kind of him to do, and I don't blame him for taking on the role.  I just don't think he fit and I don't get why actors were so afraid to speak out more what was done to Michael.

@Contessa Donatella Yes.  Brynn was a wonderful friend to Michael.  She even took him to appointments and moved to New York to help him!  It was also so nice to read about Sherry Stringfield.  How the family attended her wedding and Marika was her flower girl at 16. I am glad he was there for that.

@Paul Raven Thanks for the treasure trove of information here.  It would be fun to read the storylines from that time in Michael's life. 

That is also true that what happened to Michael to keep quiet might have been the same for Chris Bernau. Wouldn't surprise me at all. 

 

Edited July 12Jul 12 by MLH