Guiding Light discussion thread

[Mitch]

I always thought Jed Allan was the perfect recast Mike. I don't blame them not wanting Stewart back and I could have cared less, after dissing Bev Alex for being too old!  I think Allen could have reigned in some of Marj Alex's uh, over the top acting and eye rolling.

[vetsoapfan]

I know viewers usually do prefer familiar faces in long-running roles, but if rehiring Stewart did not work out for any reason, including ego or personality conflict, I really do think the audience would have accepted Jed Allan in the role. Attractive, personable, age-appropriate; he would have made a fine choice. And pairing Mike Bauer with Alexandra Spaulding could have provided TGL with years of explosive family drama.

 

This show wasted so many opportunities in its last few decades of existence. As a veteran viewer, it was disheartening and infuriating to see the continued failure by TPTB.

[DRW50]

Jed Allan and Joe Gallison were both interested in playing Alan when they recast in 1994. I think they could have been good (especially Joe - Jed and Marj shouting at each other would have been a little offputting, although the incestuous vibes would have fit given that they played exes on SB).

[NothinButAttitude]

Oh wow. I didn't know those two were in the running for Alan. I still think that these two should've been offered other roles on the show. IMO, I think Joe would've been a good Ed recast and Jed would've been a good Mike recast as many have said. 

[SoapDope]

I think the show should have brought Rita back at some point. 

[zanereed]

They were very interested in doing so in 1988 or 1989, but Lenore declined to return. I always thought she should be been brought back during the whole Gus parentage saga.  Gus could have been Rita son by either Alan or Ed. That could have ben a good story to play out.

[zanereed]

I agree with both Mitch (as always!) and vetsoapfan.  Hulswit's Ed could have been the Bauer family patriarch had he stayed. He did exude the warmth of Bert, but still had the conflicts that his father Bill had. I also feel he would have melded into the grandfather mold (via the 2000's, had he stayed that long) very well. Stewart's Mike, however, would have been the better candidate. The problem was always that Stewart wouldn't let anyone be paired with Mike long term. It still amazes me that Stewart wouldn't accept the love triangle with Mike/Liliian/Alexandra - that triangle would have provided storyline for Stewart for at least two or more years.

Jed Allan would have been a great recast of Mike Bauer. Like vetsoapfan, I wish TPTB would have brought Mike back at any point during the 1990's, and let Stewart have first right of refusal for the role (hopefully Stewart had mellowed a bit by that point). If Stewart was unwilling to come back as Mike, Jed could have played the role perfectly. Hope should have returned numerous times over the years, especially to provide some good conflict for Alan and Alan-Michael. A wasted opportunity, in my opinion. Elvera Roussel would have been my first choice for Hope.

I never understood Marland's comment on Hulswit, either. Hulswit must have really upset Marland in some way for Marland to comment like that.  As you said, Marland never said a bad word about Allen Potter, and they really never got along well at all from what I recall.

 

I do know that Hulswit was criticizing the writing. Maybe that had something to do with it. I read that in a book or article that was talking about production of soap operas. There was a discussion of why GL made Alan Spaulding less villain-ish after a couple of years. In the same piece, they discussed how the executive producer let go of Hulswit because the actor was constantly criticizing the writing. I wish I could find that book or article again.

[vetsoapfan]

With the fast pace at which material must be churned out, I'm many most soaps would not relish the idea of any actor constantly kvetching about the quality of the scripts. Criticizing the writing did not do George Reinholt's career any favors, either. I suppose if TPTB wanted to go with a "younger, sexier" Ed, anyway, Hulswit's vocal displeasure with the material would have given them easy justification to let him go. Still, it was a short-sighted and stupid decision that robbed TGL of a familiar, comforting patriarch; the kind of character they sorely needed as time went on.

[DRW50]

I think the bottom ad is 1988, not 1989

[zanereed]

On a completely different subject of GL, a couple of days ago I was watching an episode supposedly from December 25, 1955 - the day after Joe Roberts died of cancer. Does anyone know why they killed the character of Joe off? Did Herb Nelson decline to return? I know Irna had a knack for killing off characters when the actors decided not to continue on the show (Reverend Ruthledge, etc.), but it just seemed out of the blue for Joe to discover he had cancer and die not too long afterwards. I've always wondered why she also decided to kill off Joe's daughter, Kathy (Roberts) Holden, just three years later.

[DRW50]

Is that on Youtube?

 

I always wondered if they did it to move Meta into new stories. Didn't she have a triangle with Kathy?

[zanereed]

I thought it was up on YT, but I guess not? I was watching it on a DVD-R that I got in a trade with some other 1950's GL episodes.

 

You are probably right about freeing Meta up for other stories. The odd thing was, Kathy and Meta were already in a triangle of sorts when Kathy was first introduced - Kathy never wanted Meta married to Joe, so she was an obstacle for their romance. I guess TPTB did take it to the next level after Joe's death, as Meta and Kathy would both be in a love triangle with Mark Holden.

[DRW50]

Ah. Thanks. I have a few as well, I'm not sure off the top of my head if that's one. I do remember seeing it on an old GL site that no longer updates. 

 

And then they sort of used Robin and Kathy for a quasi-triangle, before Kathy's death, didn't they? 

[vetsoapfan]

I have always felt that the slaughtering of multiple members of Meta's family over the years doomed the character to oblivion, which she eventually fell into during the early 1970s. Chuckie, Kathy, Joey, and Robin represented the next generation of Meta's branch of the family, and eliminating them all from the story was a curious choice that I did not appreciate then, and which annoys me again, even today. Of all her men, Meta had the best chemistry with Joe Roberts. The show never seemed particularly dedicated to the character of Bruce Banning, and I do wish Irna Phillips had not killed off Joe in such a pointless fashion. With Bill Bauer being such a screw up, and with Papa Bauer's death, a solidly-married Meta and Joe could have become Springfield's answer to Chris and Nancy Hughes. Virtually the ONLY right decision TPTB made in the mid-1990s was to bring Meta Bauer back home.

[DRW50]

April 1963 TV Guide review.

 

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