Charita Bauer (Bert) passed away in February 1985.  Does anyone remember why TPTB waited an entire year before they acknowledged her passing onscreen?  They gave excuse after excuse why she was absent from Springfield- visiting Meta, etc.  Since they did wait an entire year, TPTB should have tried to get as many past characters as they could who had ties to Bert for her memorial.   Given her importance to the history of the show, her memorial wasnt't what it should have been.

1 hour ago, watson71 said:

Charita Bauer (Bert) passed away in February 1985.  Does anyone remember why TPTB waited an entire year before they acknowledged her passing onscreen?  They gave excuse after excuse why she was absent from Springfield- visiting Meta, etc.  Since they did wait an entire year, TPTB should have tried to get as many past characters as they could who had ties to Bert for her memorial.   Given her importance to the history of the show, her memorial wasnt't what it should have been.

There was some spin about the audience wanting to believe that Bert was alive and happy.

They should have done a proper funeral with Mike, Hope and even Peggy appearing .Surely the actors would have agreed to return to honor Charita.

And Meta could have returned for the funeral and stayed on as the new matriach.

 

On 5/3/2020 at 11:15 PM, DRW50 said:

 

Thanks for the rundown. Giancarlo Esposito played Clay, right? The lack of black cast on GL in the '80s, compared to what ATWT and AW were attempting, is striking (even though they were far from perfect). The most viewers got was IQ, or whatever his name was, who was mostly there to support Lujack and Beth. I don't think I've heard much about Matt. 

 

 

 

Yes, Giancarlo Esposito portrayed Clay. Matt Davenport didn't last long. A month or two, I believe. He was portrayed by James Carroll, who later played Leo Burnell on Loving.

 

I never understood why GL didn't do more with Alex and Alan's sister Victoria. 

2 minutes ago, robbwolff said:

 

Yes, Giancarlo Esposito portrayed Clay. Matt Davenport didn't last long. A month or two, I believe. He was portrayed by James Carroll, who later played Leo Burnell on Loving.

 

I never understood why GL didn't do more with Alex and Alan's sister Victoria. 

 

I'd say it was down to backlash over the retcons, but they probably never planned to do much beyond some brief exoticism for a sweeps boost.

 

Carroll did well on Loving, from the bits I've seen. It's too bad they didn't give him more of a chance. 

Actually, Pamela K. Long and Jeff Ryder had planned to do more with Victoria, along with the rest of Brandon's Barbados family.  However, as Ryder himself suggested to me (via email), P&G nixed it, because they weren't entirely comfortable with there being African-American Spauldings.

3 hours ago, robbwolff said:

 

Yes, Giancarlo Esposito portrayed Clay. Matt Davenport didn't last long. A month or two, I believe. He was portrayed by James Carroll, who later played Leo Burnell on Loving.

 

I never understood why GL didn't do more with Alex and Alan's sister Victoria. 

Its too bad the Vicky Spaulding was boring and didnt fit into Rauch's "Blond Babes" GL. I would have given most of Toby Poser's Amanda material to Vicky.(leaving out the Malibu Madame).who didn't agree with her mother allowing Alex to have the bulk of Brandon's estate and comes to claim her own power.  She would be hostile to Alex and side with Alan on all his fights with Alex, etc. Alex, having a good relationship with Victoria (as she stayed out of her way) would have no idea why Vicky was hostile.  Having a strong black woman taking on the white establishment in a soap opera way would have been interesting, but way beyond the GL that would not allow Gilly to be paired with AM and certainly not in Rauch/MADD cartoon world.

So what was the thought on the Rick before Michael O'Leary?

3 hours ago, DRW50 said:

Carroll did well on Loving, from the bits I've seen. It's too bad they didn't give him more of a chance. 

 

Speaking of James Carroll, what happened to him?  He seems to have dropped off the face of the earth!

5 minutes ago, Khan said:

 

Speaking of James Carroll, what happened to him?  He seems to have dropped off the face of the earth!

He's on Facebook. I saw commenting on Lauren-Marie Taylor's post. 

They also wanted Lisa Peluso for Amanda around then.

35 minutes ago, Khan said:

Actually, Pamela K. Long and Jeff Ryder had planned to do more with Victoria, along with the rest of Brandon's Barbados family.  However, as Ryder himself suggested to me (via email), P&G nixed it, because they weren't entirely comfortable with there being African-American Spauldings.

 

Didn't even need to see this comment to know it was straight up racism.

Isn't Toby Poser half black? 

I recall during the clone story when Vicky was an assistant..who seemed nice at first but became ruthless.  They were building up an Alan vs Vicky with Vanessa back as president.   The show recast Vicky and all she did was smile all the time...was paired with David..than in a boring triangle with David and another woman.  All dropped quickly.

2 hours ago, Soaplovers said:

I recall during the clone story when Vicky was an assistant..who seemed nice at first but became ruthless.  They were building up an Alan vs Vicky with Vanessa back as president.   The show recast Vicky and all she did was smile all the time...was paired with David..than in a boring triangle with David and another woman.  All dropped quickly.

Lord, yes, the boring Vicky smiling all the time.  The first Vicky was better and they brought her on as the clone docs assistant..(how she had medical knowledge plus her busienss but..) and then after Michael blew up the lab to protect the clone secrets Van went on a rampage and exposed her as Vicky Spaulding.  They were making Van more back to her bad girl days and more like Alex, a strong woman who did not take any [!@#$%^&*], and it looked like Alan and Vicky vs. Van as president .. all interesting stuff and would have given Matt a reason to fall into Beth's bed with his newly ruthless wife, but then they brought back Alex B & E said Vicky's story couldnt be told without Alex, Van went back to sighing all the time, Alex disappeared without a trace and they recast Vicky into the smiling woman who did nothing. Typical B & E.  I can only think they were gearing up to Van vs. Alan over Spaulding with Matt going for Beth but it all fell apart and was changed, etc.

3 hours ago, Forever8 said:

Isn't Toby Poser half black? 

I dont think she is but if she was she would have made a great Vicky...I LOVED her character, it just wasnt Amanda! I remember the time she was locked into a shed in winter, but got out, went to the Country Club, had cocktails with Dinah, and went back and pretended to have been locked in the whole time. It was actually also one of the only times I liked Marj's verison of Alex, the two of them had great bitchy chemistry.