Thanks!

So this wasn't far off from Carrie's arrival or Diane's murder. Busy few months.

Reading up on the 1981 monthly summaries, I was surprised to see Vanessa and Ed being so chummy throughout most of 1981 with Rita getting jealous but still wanting to divorce him. I just didnt see Vanessa and Ed as being friendly with one another.. do you think she was inserted in there with the abrupt departure of Holly?

Ed liked spoiled little rich girls. Holly was the Vanessa of her day!

SamanthaKitCat,

You make some very valid points. I don't necessarily consider myself a Bauer "purist" at all. In fact, I really liked the way Pam Long wrote the show.

For example, I think the way that Phillips parentage was finally revealed between Phillip, Alan and Justin was fantastic. It made me very psyched to see where the story would go, now that Philip finally had the knowledge that Justin was his biological father. However, not even a month later, Justin is written out!

As far as the Bauers go:

I never expected Ed Bryce to come back as Bill Bauer, so it was a surprise to me in 1983 when he DID return. However, if Bill had to die, I just wish he had a better storyline to go out on versus what he received (the "Annie Simms/Eli Simms" storyline was not a favorite of mine).

I also thought making Hope an alcoholic was a great way to advance the Alan and Hope story. It actually helped give some fire back to Hope. I understand if Elvera disagreed with the storyline and they let her go, but I've always wondered why they just didn't recast Hope when Elvera was let go?

Don Stewart allegedly disagreed with being in the Alexandra/Mike/Lillian triangle. As you stated, it was clearly being set up throughout the summer of 1984, and probably would have had an impact on the Lujack and Beth romance as well. It's debatable as to whether or not Stewart actually quit or was fired (I still believe the infamous story of Kobe firing Stewart when he was on vacation). It's a shame, though, as Long wanted to write for Stewart/Mike Bauer! I think if Simon hadn't left the show at the exact same time, they might have been tempted to recast Mike.

I never really knew why they let go of Marsha Clark (Hillary), so it was interesting to read about Marsha's apparent writing aspirations.

One final clarification - Doug Marland really didn't write Roger Thorpe into a corner. He was told when he took over the show that he had about 3 to 4 months to get rid of Roger. Honestly, I don't know what Marland could have done with Roger after Roger had raped both Rita and Holly, had faked his own death, etc. That was all done when the Dobsons were still writing GL.

Edited February 2, 201511 yr by zanereed

Reading up on the 1981 monthly summaries, I was surprised to see Vanessa and Ed being so chummy throughout most of 1981 with Rita getting jealous but still wanting to divorce him. I just didnt see Vanessa and Ed as being friendly with one another.. do you think she was inserted in there with the abrupt departure of Holly?

I guess they needed a scheming character to help push the RIta/Ed breakup, since Ed was a good, passive man. After that I think they wanted to show Ed having a final break from this type of woman so viewers would be more willing to accept him with Maureen. I also wonder if they stretched the relationship out because of Simon not being popular at first as Ed + Maeve being on maternity leave.

They definitely needed someone for Ed to be chummy with, since Lenore Kasdorf was not going to stay on and TPTB couldn't really see a recast for Rita working (they were right, of course). Looking at the GL canvas at that point, I don't know who else they could have put Ed with that would have made sense. Well, maybe Ed and Jennifer Richards...?

That would have made sense (and maybe Amanda could have developed a fixation on him that he would not return, sparing me the Amanda/Mark/Jennifer story that I found sleazy and cliched).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BowbY0Rlgfk

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SiH2YgSsE9c

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zabKWLYU33E

Ugh, I hated this story of Amanda regressing to childhood and wearing hair ribbons.

What gets me is she still wore those clothes after she was supposed to have gotten better.

She looks so much like Barbara Jean in Nashville.

Nola is such a fun, nasty little witch here. I can see why the fan hate was so high. We have all known a Nola. She stirs and she stirs, she pits people against each other, all while being the victim. It's great entertainment. They're lucky that Kristen Vigard was still Morgan at this point because that's the only reason I feel anything for Morgan in this.

I get uncomfortable with how aggressive people need to be in "proving" to Morgan that Kelly is so perfect for her. Seeing Hillary literally get on her bed and start berating her for throwing out some flowers - I wanted to file a damn report. And there's no focus on what Morgan wants. It's all about what Kelly wants and how Kelly really really loves Morgan so she'd better accept it. That's what some women call the "nice guy syndrome." Yes, Morgan did love Kelly, but she was an 18 year old girl being shaken down by a woman a decade her senior right after a major car crash. Get over yourself lady!

Geez.

Edited February 4, 201511 yr by DRW50

Again, that's why I can't stand Hillary in any of the clips I've seen her in. I'm still dying for someone to post the episode where she got splattered to smithereens so I can feel good. I just don't care for Hillary. Again, it is my blind love for all things Nola.

But didn't Hillary have a thing with Kelly before Morgan came into the picture? If so, why was she always their biggest cheerleader? The average girl at their age would've secretly loved for Nola to put the screws to them.

Yes, Hillary always wanted Kelly herself and she pined after him a long time. So I always found her to be hypocritical when it came to Nola. But similar to you, I was devoted to Nola. She was the reason I started watching GL again after stopping for a while. I was flipping channels and she caught my eye and sucked me in.

Well I fell in love and was introduced to Nola when she returned in the 90s. I thought she was comical but I never cared for her being obsessed with basic ass, gum-chewing Buzz.

It wasn't until I sat and watched her backstory on YT that I truly fell in love with her. Quint and Nola are possibly my favorite daytime love story. I loved how Nola brought Quint out his shell, and Quint genuinely cared for Nola's interests. And for a man to love a woman despite being pregnant with another man's child [who she didn't love] and not scolding her for it [like much of Springfield was], was refreshing. But I am glad that I wasn't born and able to watch them in real time b/c I would've been nutty for them, and super distraught when they were written off.

Yes, I was very upset when they were written out. It seemed kind of sudden to me at the time (or maybe I had been in denial). I was so crazy over them at the time that I tape recorded their scenes so I could play it back (and I'm talking audio recording, not video, lol).

I loathed what they did with Nola regarding Buzz. Apart from her behavior, no way would she have been attracted to someone like Buzz. He was the exact type she worked so hard to get away from.

I always thought Bridget should have been Nola's daughter instead of her niece. I don't know why Stacey never appeared as an adult.

Edited February 4, 201511 yr by jam6242

Yes, I was very upset when they were written out. It seemed kind of sudden to me at the time (or maybe I had been in denial). I was so crazy over them at the time that I tape recorded their scenes so I could play it back (and I'm talking audio recording, not video, lol).

I loathed what they did with Nola regarding Buzz. Apart from her behavior, no way would she have been attracted to someone like Buzz. He was the exact type she worked so hard to get away from.

I always thought Bridget should have been Nola's daughter instead of her niece. I don't know why Stacey never appeared as an adult.

They wanted to make Mary/May (the fed who slept with Danny and loved old movies) Stacey, but Lisa Brown didn't want to return to the show.

It's always interesting to hear how fans watching at the time felt about Nola and Quint. Watching just their clips, they feel so isolated from almost everything else by the time they left - even most of their family, sans Henry and Bea.

Watching these clips I sort of wish if they were going to bring her back with a chip on her shoulder, they'd had her stirring and being unpleasant the "pleasant" way she was here, to suppress her pain over feeling her life was wasted, instead of how they handled it.

But didn't Hillary have a thing with Kelly before Morgan came into the picture? If so, why was she always their biggest cheerleader? The average girl at their age would've secretly loved for Nola to put the screws to them.

I think the idea was that she was self-sacrificing and if she couldn't have Kelly she wanted someone good and pure like Morgan to have him. Which is fine, but not when taken to this extreme. To me that would have been interesting to explore - seeing her get overinvested and controlling to make up for not being Kelly's girlfriend/wife.

Edited February 4, 201511 yr by DRW50