Once Search was cancelled Mary Stuart should have been brought over to GL immediately as Meta in 87/

With a publicity push- 'For 35 years you shared her triumphs and tragedies as Jo,(montage of photos) and now Mary Stuart returns to daytime. Mary addresses the camera. "I found my tomorrow-see you in Springfield"

Make it an event. Meta could announce that Hope and Alan Micheal have been staying with her-thus paving the way for their return.

The only relative that Meta might have is a grandchild from her stepson Joey Roberts. It would be a tenuous link but could work. James Goodwin could play that role.

I still say that Trudy Bauer should have been revived since she hadn't been on the show since the 50s.. and had married/moved to New York City.  Perhaps Johnny could have been a descendant of that blood line.. and been either her grandson and/or son.

Johnny really didn't get a lot of focus/attention.  The two stories he was known to have (his cancer and the stalking story) were more focused on his lady loves (Roxy and Chelsea) than on him.   I guess even back in the 80s, pretty guys were just arm candy for their female love interests as much as pretty girls were just arm candy for their male love interests.

6 hours ago, Soaplovers said:

Johnny really didn't get a lot of focus/attention.  The two stories he was known to have (his cancer and the stalking story) were more focused on his lady loves (Roxy and Chelsea) than on him.

He was a major part of the art smuggling story. But in that case, also, it was more about his infatuation with Christine Valere. 

Maybe they thought if they gave him a family he would click more with the audience, the way Josh did once he was embroiled with his family/lost love Reva. Unfortunately, the family members flopped, and his subsequent stories (especially the cancer storyline; don't get me started on that one) were not good.

I wonder also if they pushed him so hard (Frank D., too) so they had a back-up hunk for when Grant Alexander would inevitably take breaks from the show.

Edited October 9Oct 9 by DeeVee

9 hours ago, Soaplovers said:

I still say that Trudy Bauer should have been revived since she hadn't been on the show since the 50s.. and had married/moved to New York City.  Perhaps Johnny could have been a descendant of that blood line.. and been either her grandson and/or son.

I think the reason Johnny and his family were introduced was because they had the last name Bauer. They wouldn't have been introduced if they were distant relatives who didn't have the last name Bauer. This way, the writers could create their own characters, give them the last name Bauer and say they were bringing on more "Bauers" without bringing back the real Bauers. 

7 minutes ago, Reverend Ruthledge said:

10 hours ago, Soaplovers said:

I still say that Trudy Bauer should have been revived since she hadn't been on the show since the 50s.. and had married/moved to New York City.  Perhaps Johnny could have been a descendant of that blood line.. and been either her grandson and/or son.

Expand  

I think the reason Johnny and his family were introduced was because they had the last name Bauer. They wouldn't have been introduced if they were distant relatives who didn't have the last name Bauer.

I see what you're saying. Trudy's progeny would have had a different last name.

Who knew they effed up decades before when they didn't give Bill Bauer a brother?

Seriously, though, I don't think anyone could have foreseen that a producer would step in and virtually annihilate the Bauer family. Otherwise, you would think the Dobsons would have made Hillary a boy. Or previous writers would have had Mike and Leslie have a son.

Maybe the network and P&G saw the success Bill Bell had almost totally erasing his Y&R core families and replacing them with new ones and thought they could do it, too.

51 minutes ago, DeeVee said:

Seriously, though, I don't think anyone could have foreseen that a producer would step in and virtually annihilate the Bauer family. Otherwise, you would think the Dobsons would have made Hillary a boy. Or previous writers would have had Mike and Leslie have a son.

Well, I wasn't watching when Bill Bauer came back from the dead so I don't know for sure but I've read history books that said that Bill also had a son, Paul, who was his other child with Simone. However, I've also read that there wasn't a Paul. So, I don't know if Paul really existed and if he was Bill's son. If he did and was, they could have brought that character into the show. But, for whatever reason, they didn't. Instead, they chose to kill a childless Hillary. I tell you, it was very clear that they were out do decimate the Bauer family around 1983/1984.  

1 hour ago, DeeVee said:

I see what you're saying. Trudy's progeny would have had a different last name.

Who knew they effed up decades before when they didn't give Bill Bauer a brother?

Seriously, though, I don't think anyone could have foreseen that a producer would step in and virtually annihilate the Bauer family. Otherwise, you would think the Dobsons would have made Hillary a boy. Or previous writers would have had Mike and Leslie have a son.

Maybe the network and P&G saw the success Bill Bell had almost totally erasing his Y&R core families and replacing them with new ones and thought they could do it, too.

I don't know if they saw the Bauers as a family they had to erase or if there were a lot of factors coming together to decimate the family.

They may have had issues with Marsha Clark.

They may have had issues with Don Stewart.

They assumed Charita would be there for a long time to come. 

Then there was them supposedly firing Elvera Roussel to show that no one was safe...which was just stupid for many reasons, among them that they got rid of most of the cast anyway, so wouldn't firing all of them already tell them they knew they weren't safe? Would they feel threatened while in the unemployment line?

With that said, I think they may have also felt that similar to what they did with the Hughes on ATWT around the same period, that newer, younger viewers didn't want to see the old guard. They wanted hot half-naked bodies in glamorous locations.

Edited October 9Oct 9 by DRW50

46 minutes ago, Reverend Ruthledge said:

Bill also had a son, Paul, who was his other child with Simone. However, I've also read that there wasn't a Paul.

There was a Paul, but he was Bill's stepson and Hillary's half brother.

12 minutes ago, DRW50 said:

They may have had issues with Marsha Clark.

The story goes that Clark wanted to take time off to do pilot season, which necessitated pre-taping her scenes for the Dreaming Death storyline. Supposedly this ticked Kobe off so much she had her killed off.

15 minutes ago, DRW50 said:

Then there was them supposedly firing Elvera Roussel to show that no one was safe...

I've heard that they didn't like her, that they thought she wasn't thin enough or interesting enough (kind of like the stuff hurled at Ellen Parker). 

I can totally understand why they would have wanted to free Alan from this marriage to a nice woman. It held the character back and it had pretty much run its course. Ironically, Bernau left soon after anyway.

But there was no reason to send the character off the canvas. They had set Hope up to be stronger apart from Alan. How great would it have been if she had moved on and then Alan came back two years later, maybe liking the "new" Hope and causing problems in her new life? It would have been a heck of a lot more interesting than that stupid art smuggling story. If they didn't like Elvera--get a different actress!

Like many decisions they made during this period, it was short-sighted. 

37 minutes ago, DeeVee said:

There was a Paul, but he was Bill's stepson and Hillary's half brother.

Ok. That would make the most sense. Thank you. 

I had heard that Elivira R wasn't thrilled with the direction her character was going in, or what she perceived the direction the show was taking her character.  Wasn't she struggling with alcoholism, hanging around Warren, and making herself look like she was an unfit mom?  

Considering that Hope/Alan were started under the Dobson's and written as a mismatched couple under Marland, I saw the direction that Long was taking Hope to be one that was logical.  The episode that was around YT from November 1983 showed a much more decisive and stronger Hope going up against Alan seemed to show that there was going to be a War of the Roses type of divorce story between the two until she was suddenly written off the show (and I have a feeling that had Hope not been written off, Alexandra would have been an ally of Hope considering the fact that she blamed Alan for her losing her own child... and perhaps Hope could have been the pathway to getting Mike/Alexandra to interact in a more organic way).

Marsha Clark.. I heard it was due to her wanting to do pilot season and Kobe being bent out of shape because she and Long had big plans for Hilary.

And I always envisioned if Hilary hadn't been killed off and she did end up having a child.. she wouldn't have changed her last name and would have raised that child with the last name Bauer.  

33 minutes ago, Soaplovers said:

I had heard that Elivira R wasn't thrilled with the direction her character was going in, or what she perceived the direction the show was taking her character.  Wasn't she struggling with alcoholism, hanging around Warren, and making herself look like she was an unfit mom?  

I've heard that story, too, but I find it hard to believe. For four years she was playing the sweet, adoring wife. Who WOULDN'T want the chance to break out of that and play some meaty stuff? (Say whatever you will about KZ, she would play anything they gave her. I don't recall her ever complaining about even the dumb stuff they gave her).

Some actors object to playing certain things because it's against their religion, but if that's the case, they are usually very vocal about it.

And like you said, it was making Hope a stronger character, and opening up new possibilities for her character. 

33 minutes ago, Soaplovers said:

Marsha Clark.. I heard it was due to her wanting to do pilot season and Kobe being bent out of shape because she and Long had big plans for Hilary.

I'll say it again...if they had a problem with the actor, they should have recast the character! It's insane to kill off the character out of spite. 

Edited October 9Oct 9 by DeeVee

59 minutes ago, DeeVee said:

I'll say it again...if they had a problem with the actor, they should have recast the character! It's insane to kill off the character out of spite. 

I’d like to gently revisit the idea that what’s often interpreted as spite might have been something more pragmatic. It’s easy to project the chaos of the soap itself onto its production, but I think we sometimes overestimate how reactive or personal those decisions were.

Looking strictly at the facts, there’s a plausible scenario rooted in logistics. Gail Kobe reportedly liked the character of Hillary and had plans for her. When the actress left to pursue pilot season, Kobe reassigned Hillary’s storyline to another character. With Hillary now sidelined for the foreseeable future, and new actors needed for the revised arc, the decision to write her out may have been practical rather than punitive.

There’s no need to assume hostility toward the actress, or even a broader dismissal of the Bauers. In fact, framing it as a situational choice—rather than a long-term strategic one—feels less speculative and avoids the gendered assumptions that sometimes creep into these discussions. Holding Kobe accountable for not anticipating what the show would need a decade later doesn’t quite track with how soaps operate.

Just offering another lens, not a contradiction. I'm certain we have all have a task where a resource became unavailable, and we had to make-do, without much time to consider how this one decision would affect the course of the future.  Whether it is substituting an ingredient in a recipe because you didn't want to go back to the store, or changing one ingénue for the next, it is all the same process.  And we rarely have the opportunity to consider foresight.

Also, I never cared for the character of Hillary.😎

Edited October 9Oct 9 by j swift

34 minutes ago, j swift said:

Kobe reassigned Hillary’s storyline to another character.

Now I'm intrigued. Do you know which character that was? I'm trying to guess but I can't figure it out.

What you're saying makes a lot of sense, but killing her off wasn't the only option. If they couldn't afford the character anymore, they could have written her out.

17 hours ago, Paul Raven said:

Once Search was cancelled Mary Stuart should have been brought over to GL immediately as Meta in 87/

With a publicity push- 'For 35 years you shared her triumphs and tragedies as Jo,(montage of photos) and now Mary Stuart returns to daytime. Mary addresses the camera. "I found my tomorrow-see you in Springfield"

Make it an event. Meta could announce that Hope and Alan Micheal have been staying with her-thus paving the way for their return.

The only relative that Meta might have is a grandchild from her stepson Joey Roberts. It would be a tenuous link but could work. James Goodwin could play that role.

Great idea...PG could be really, really stupid. I know in interviews Long said she was always really interested in Meta as she had this wild backstory, but then why were they considering her for Hannah?  How long between Search ending and Long starting was there?

I think Meta could have taken in her cousins kids in the years...say this Jack and Lanie had died when the kids were young and Meta during her time in SF took them in..that would give her a bit of a family ..though I think a now childless woman was perfect as town matriarch..I remember one BBBQ EVERYONE in town was addressing her as "Aunt Meta,".