Guiding Light Discussion Thread

[j swift]

BY "good guy"  perhaps I should have specified both Mike and Bill as their respective mother's favorites?

 

It is interesting to me that these guys who were a little too old for their respective action stories of the 70's were never adapted to age later in the series.  I am filled with memories of actors with hair dyed a little too dark, running around in safari leisure suits chasing villains.  Of course there are actor issues but, I wonder if it is easier to keep a female character going (like Reva or Vanessa) than a male lead character?  Most soaps had fathers and uncles who aged but I can think of few examples of leading romantic men willing to age into their roles and even be backburnered a bit without a recast.

 

 

[zanereed]

 

Great point. The number are definitely few and far between. Don Hastings was able to adjust as Bob Hughes shifted in his role, but part of that was Doug Marland finding interesting things to do with Bob, even if it wasn't all front burner material.

 

I think in the case of Don Stewart, he tended to resist the "aging" of Mike Bauer. I think someone stated on here in a previous posting that Stewart was upset when Hope and Alan had Alan-Michael, as it then put Mike into "grandfather" status, which he did not want. However, as mentioned earlier, he missed out on a huge opportunity to be in front burner story line with a love triangle with Lillian and Alexandra.

[Soaplovers]

 

I was too young to remember 1984...but who did Mike click with better...alexandra or Lillian?

 

I'll say I recall 1985 as a very small child..and liked beth/Lujack...and India.  I even liked the infinity story though I recall my mom thinking it was kind of stupid until the conclusion resulted in Lujacks death...with Alexandra heartbroken over losing her new found son (I think that explained why she was so clingy with Nick...a second chance coupled with not wanting him to be with the woman who broke up her marriage...a good Pam long/Nancy Cutler twist).

[cassadine1991]

Is it true that the show wanted Vincent Irizarry back in 2006 or was that a rumor?

[zanereed]

 

A scene of Alexandra and Mike:

 

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...and another scene involving Mike, Lillian and Alexandra. Tina Sloan's subtle acting after Alex swaps up Mike cannot go unstated here:

 

 

I think Mike and Alex would have been fun to watch, personally.

Edited January 17, 2018 by zanereed

[MichaelGL]

1984...back when the show was seemingly firing on all four cylinders. GL was at its best IMO when much of the drama was taking place at or around Cedars. 

[Paul Raven]

The clip above shows GL was interested in Mike (the airplane sequence,which reflected Don Stewart's abilities as a pilot)

So who knows what went down for Stewart to depart.

[Soaplovers]

I could see why from just watching those two episodes from 1984 why the show dethroned GH from the #1 spot that summer... balance.. a mix of the veterans and the newbies.

[vetsoapfan]

 

Personally, I would say Alexandra. She was a leading lady and BM was a STAR, more befitting of Mike Bauer's/Don Stewart's leading man status. To me, Lillian was best suited as a supporting character. Besides with all the past tension between the Spaulding and Bauer families, a Mike/Alex pairing would have provided a lot of storyline fodder for years to come.

[j swift]

This is total speculation but one imagines that BM would have preferred an Alex/Mike/Roger triangle over Alex/Mindy/Roger - a star would always want to be the crux of the triangle not the older, less desirable one...

[vetsoapfan]

 

Speaking as a rabid fan, a Mike/Alex/Roger triangle would have sent me into NIRVANA. Imagine those three stars working together, and the fireworks it would have engendered? WOW.

 

Lillian was best suited, I thought, for LT Larry Wyatt, whom she dated briefly in the early 1980s; another affable supporting player.

 

At that time, GH was being written by the dreadful Ann Howard Bailey, and the weak material on that series could have benefited its competition. 

[zanereed]

 

Agreed! Again, Mike and Roger definitely had history, too (besides Mike's history with the Spauldings). It wasn't only Ed and Roger that had issues.

 

 

I wonder how Pam Long would have written Lillian if the Alex/Lillian/Mike triangle continued. Would Lillian have become a stronger character during this love triangle, or would she have remained the more demure character? Obviously that triangle would have spilled over to Beth/Lujack, but I wonder what the intended outcome would have been?

[vetsoapfan]

 

In the early years, I found Lillian to be too passive, too demure; a bit of a dishrag. I did not want Mike to be paired with such a dull (IMO) character. I wanted him to romance someone strong, charming, witty, with a mind of her own, who could keep up with him and even challenge him if need be. I would have loved a Nick and Nora Charles-type romance for our dashing Mr. Bauer.

 

(Of course, being as ancient as I am, probably no one else at SON has even HEARD of Nick and Nora, LOL!)

[Mitch]

Interesting how soaps would have even their "heroes," do some not very nice things...but the characters still got called on their behavior and did not get a free ride as now..they have a character do something and it is brushed off or excused because the person they did it to was worse then there are.

 

I thought in the last years they should have made Ross and Blake move into the Bauer house with their kids and be the core couple...as Ross was already the Bob Hughes of SF. I am surprised that so many people did not like LK...I thought the actress who came before her was too campy and over the top, but I think LK had a nice warmer vibe which may not have made for a bitchy Blake but as a nice grown up woman and mother.  Would it have been too controversial to break Ross and Blake up for good at the time of her and Ben Warren and bring Hope Bauer on to be in a triangle and eventually marry Ross and be matriarch. I reallly hate how the MADD soaps had couple break up all the time to just end up where they were before...(Jeva, Holden and Lilly, Ross and Blake, Carly and Jack..) it got very tiresome.

[zanereed]

 

Now THAT would have been a riot, especially if they did verbal "jabs" at each other (McKinsey would have excelled at this). Imagine the two of them solving Springfield mysteries together!

 

 

Good point. That's the issue Harding Lemay had when he started at Another World, which is why he fought to have Walter killed for murdering Wayne Addison, and to have Steve imprisoned for bribery.

 

I, too, thought that Ross and Hope would have a been a good couple, even when both Ross and Hope were on the canvas together in the 1980's. Imagine Hope leaving Alan and turning to Ross (a MARLER, and Phillip's bio-uncle!!!).