Guiding Light Discussion Thread

[zanereed]

This was another reason I wish they would have brought back Mike Bauer during 1986 or 1987, after Alan returned. It wouldn't have even mattered to me if it was a recast or if they could get Stewart back. I would have tried pairing Mr. Law and Order with Van. I thought there was some odd chemistry between Mike and Van in the episodes I've seen from 1981, but I admit they were when Anna Stuart was filling in for Maeve Kinkead. I would have put Mike in Van's orbit, putting a potential rivalry with Ross, Alex, Billy...you name it. Plus, have Van eventually marry Mike, and have Van come to a Bauer BBQ (did she attend one in the 1980's at all...?!!?).

[Mitch]

She probably did when she was Mousey Mrs. Billy Lewis..which is why I could never stand them together....though I loved Billy, she was way too push overy with him.

[vetsoapfan]

There were so many valid, important reasons for Mike Bauer to return to the canvas. I would have preferred to get Stewart back, but always felt Jed Allen would have made an affable, attractive Mike too.

If Beverlee McKinsey had stuck around, I would have paired Mike with Alex, but a Mike/Vanessa pair might have worked well.

I did not warm up to Vanessa being with Billy, either, but preferred the two of them together over her and Matt Reardon.

[amybrickwallace]

@vetsoapfan, did you like Beverlee McKinsey better as Alex or Iris?

[vetsoapfan]

I thought Iris was a more complicated, explosive character, but Alex was more humane. If I have to choose one, I'd go with BM as Iris.

[amybrickwallace]

Thanks!

[zanereed]

@vetsoapfan, now you have me thinking of a Mike/Alex/Van triangle. That could have been more wicked and fun than the original Mike/Alex/Lillian triangle that Long was writing 

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[Mitch]

I think that was what the writers lost near the end of Bev's tenure and all during Marj..Alex felt the ends justified the means but she had a heart, she wasn't just a rich bitch. I think only Long got that.

 

Hm..interesting thought..however, I think Alex the Queen of Manipulation and Subterfuge would have issues with Mr. Law and Order Mike enough without a third wheel...(though if it got Van away from being mealy mouth Mrs. Billy Lewis.  Though I wonder if Long was heading towards Lillian winning the day and being Mrs. Mike Bauer which is interesting when you think of what lay in the future for Lillian and the Bauers.

[zanereed]

Great point. I really wish I knew what Long's endgame was with the Alex/Lillian/Mike triangle before Kobe fired Stewart. All I've ever been able to gleam with the few crumbs I've come across was that the triangle was going to run parallel and converge with Lujack/Beth. My theory was that Mike would eventually end up at least *engaged* to Alex by 1985. With that set up, it would only make sense for TPTB to eventually lure back Chris Bernau as Alan (as they did anyway in 1986) to create havoc in that potential pair-up.

[vetsoapfan]

I know she eventually became an accepted part of the canvas, but I always found Lillian to be pretty tedious, TBH. If she had quietly been written out, I doubt I would have even noticed. But can you imagine a triangle with McKinsey's Alex, Mike and Vanessa? That could have been quite explosive, and more evenly matched than a story with thevibrant Alex battling the dishwatery Lillian for Mike's affection.

Long was also the only writer, IMHO, who ever "got" Reva and wrote her correctly. And she was also the only writer who understood the Phillip and Rick relationship. Long had her flaws (I hated the low-brow camp she foisted onto the show, but when she "got real" and focused on characterization and genuine emotion, she could be quite effective. I wonder how she would have fared with Aunt Meta.

I do think Long would have ended up writing Mike and Lillian as end-game, but that would have bored me to tears, and been a waste of Mike as an older leading man/patriarch. In my daydreams, I wanted TGL to do another crossover with Another World, and have Beverly Penberthy show up in Springfield as Pat Matthews Randolph, and eventually rekindle her long-ago interest in Mike. Pat would have made a better, more beloved, more viable matriarch for the Bauer family than Lillian.

Edited October 22, 2021 by vetsoapfan

[zanereed]

I always found it more interesting when Mike was paired with a Charlotte Waring versus an Elizabeth Spaulding. I'm certainly not comparing Alex or Van to Charlotte (!), but when Mr. Law and Order could be paired with someone who was more "creative" with Law and Order, it made it more intriguing. Again, I don't know if Don Stewart and Maeve Kinkead would have had much chemistry, but I don't know if TPTB ever considered it, either.

The more juicy and complex idea would be to have Mike eventually marry Alex, the sister of his former nemesis/son-in-law. With all of that existing history between the Bauers and the Spauldings, that could have been the gift that kept on giving for years to come.

Speaking of Charlotte, had Mike stayed on the canvas and married Alex, I would have eventually had an illegitimate son come to Springfield that would have been the son Mike of and Charlotte (rewriting history a bit when Charlotte had suffered a miscarriage all those years ago).

[Nicholas Blair]

I was disappointed when GL killed off Charlotte, even though her exit story was great. I remember seeing a magazine headline "Melinda Fee Forced Off Guiding Light," but I don't know what the story was. However unpopular Don Stewart and Melinda Fee may have been with their castmates, the fans appreciated their work.

 

[vetsoapfan]

Right. Pairing a Dudley Do-Right type of character like Mike with a generic "good girl" would have lead nowhere but Dullsville. There needed to be some sort of internal differences and conflict to keep the relationship interesting.

Having Mike marry Alex, particularly if Hope returned and Alan persuaded her to reconcile, would have provided years of family-story fodder. And I've long said/agreed/wished that either Mike or Ed had had some "new" blood children pop up.

Unfortunately, I don't think TPTB in the last few decades knew or cared about TGL's rich history or the Bauer family.

[Liberty City]

And those that did we not given the chance to truly shine.

[Nicholas Blair]

I notice that several people mentioned wishing they had seen the storyline that led to Kit Vested (Nanci Addison) killing her "friend" Charlotte Bauer (Melinda Fee). The first half of this story is one of my favorites, something which was so true psychologically but never, as far as I can recall, imitated. Charlotte had become a pariah in Springfield. When Mike Bauer sued her for divorce, she suddenly blurted out in court that she was pregnant, although she wasn't, so Mike eventually got his divorce.

Charlotte began volunteering at Cedars Hospital to try to build back some cred with the community, where she became the confidante of shy, socially awkward Kit Vested. Kit had a huge crush on the very married Dr. Joe Werner (Anthony Call). Charlotte encouraged Kit to tell her what appealed to her about Joe and how he made her feel. Although Charlotte had never had any interest in Joe, seeing him through Kit's eyes suddenly made him attractive to her. Because Charlotte knew how to manipulate a man, she seduced him, mainly because she could.

Joe felt terribly guilty about this affair, but that was nothing compared to the cold fury Kit felt when she found out about it. When Charlotte went into the hospital for some routine surgery, Kit saw to it that Charlotte didn't come out alive. Everyone else thought Joe had made a mistake during surgery, and Joe felt so guilty that he began drinking.

From here the story went downhill, or rather on and on, as stories tended to do in those days. Joe left the hospital and his wife, the warm and understanding Dr. Sara McIntyre (Millette Alexander). Kit took him to a remote cabin and looked after him. I don't believe it was clear if Joe ever slept with Kit. I thought not, but one magazine had an article which suggested that Joe would have to be killed off because he was "living in sin with a murderess."

The eventual resolution was rather predictable: Sara eventually finds out where Joe is; Kit tries to shoot Sara; and Joe steps in front, taking the bullet. He did survive, but (I believe) suffered a fatal heart attack not long after his recovery from the shooting. This led to the introduction of Dr. Justin Marler (Thomas O'Rourke) as a new love interest for Sara.

I was not a huge fan of O'Rourke, especially in comparison with Anthony Call, but two resulting stories were terrific: 1) Sara goes off on a cruise, falls for, and marries Dean Blackford (Gordon Rigsby), a lawyer who is far from the sterling character Sara imagines. It was a treat to see Gordon Rigsby, who had played the wise and kindly psychiatrist Dr. Ian Northcote on TSS, as a villain. 2) O'Rourke worked much better as part of the Marler/Spaulding/Mike Bauer interlocking story that would unfold, an all-time favorite. GL was great in those days.

A side note: If you've always wondered why Nancy Addison was auditioning for the shy, socially awkward Faith Coleridge on RH, it's undoubtedly because she had played the shy, socially awkward Kit Vested on GL. Fortunately, someone realized she should read for Jillian, and that worked out brilliantly.