Guiding Light Discussion Thread

[DRW50]

I think it would have been a mistake recasting Mike, especially with the shaky recast of Ed not long before, but I am sorry we didn't get a Mike/Alex pairing. That could have provided so many layers and so much family drama, especially if Hope returned. Alex ended up feeling much more aged than she should have been, between the pairing with Warren (who always seems very gay to me), then HB, and all the obsessive focus on Lujack and later Simon. 

[zanereed]

Others on this board have suggested Jed Allan would have been a solid Mike recast (as Allan had been playing someone similar on DOOL as Don Craig). However, I don't know if Allan could have been persuaded to move to the East Coast.

I never understood why Stewart hadn't wanted to "play ball" with the storyline. I know that Stewart moved to the West Coast once he was fired from TGL to look for roles out there. Maybe he was ready for a change?

I think that had Stewart had been willing to play out Long's original storyline, he would have lasted much longer on the show. 

Edited June 7, 2022 by zanereed

[Mitch64]

In a perfect world Kobe would have talked Simon into leaving and recast Mike...or gone back to the well and rehired MH and then recast Mike. The Mike/Alex thing was too could to let go and never get back to. Of course years later I would have preferred RR to be cast as Mike and someone else as Alan...especially at times they made MarjAlex seem less of a control freak sister and more a jealous girlfriend (though to be fair their were always elements of that in Bev/Alex and Bernau, but Bev knew how to play subtext and Marj..knew how to chew up the scenery (God love her!!!)

[Spoon]

RR was so campy as Alan, I doubt he'd be much better as Mike.

[Mitch64]

When he first came on he wasn't bad...and he had kind of a sexy (I know weird) rascally vibe, he was just not to the manor born Alan and he always came off as too nice..so he tried to make up for it as being bombastic or grumpy.  

[j swift]

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Which of course lead to the notoriously poorly edited headline

credit @will81's fantastic tumblr

Edited June 9, 2022 by j swift

[Paul Raven]

Interesting. i don't think CBS/P&G or Gail Kobe had much investment in older legacy characters. 

They were expensive, had a lot of story baggage and worst of all, over 40.

They were interested in the here and now, hot new couples. 

But it was a short sighted policy in that there was no solid structure. Each new set of writers dropped some characters, introduced their new pets and  a lot of young actors chose to leave. So we had fragmented families and constant turnover. 

If the writing and characters were interesting and appealing as happened with Pam Long then viewers were there for it. And a lot of her new characters were tied into established families eg Bauer, Spaulding, Reardons.

But as time went on there were only a few characters that had been there more than a few years. Not a good thing for viewer loyalty IMO.

[chrisml]

Exactly. Soap producers ignored this lesson. When you constantly change things, viewers tune out. Viewers want consistency. They don't want a new show every time a new producer or writer comes on the show. For some bizarre reason, the execs, producers and writers thought they had ditch the older characters and bring in the younger ones. Time after time, research showed that younger viewers liked long-term characters. They usually watched with their mothers or grandmothers do they enjoyed the "older" characters. I remember reading how YR's Jeanne Cooper was hugely popular with the younger audience for ex.

I was almost seven when Ellen Parker was written off, and I still remember Maureen's death as if it happened yesterday. It's been over 29 years and I'm still upset by it (I'm also still upset by Frankie Frame's death on AW). I think soaps died because they gutted the heart out of the shows and they didn't respect viewers' loyalty and love of the show. They were constantly on the search for the "teen viewers" but they did it by alienating the people already watching the show. After Maureen died, I didn't watch GL for years. It was like losing a family member which I know sounds strange, but it was such a gut punch.

[heffos]

I think RR could have been a better Alan with better writing. Despite the physical miscast (he had a more stockier build) he was a good enough actor to make up with it, to a certain extent. The problem is he was written all wrong compared to Bernau . The CB version was obsessed with how he looked in Springfield society, often causing him his main problems. While he had issues with individual characters like Ross, Mike and Ed he was never hated by everyone the way Raine's Alan was. He would only get involved
with women that had good personal status like Hope, Vanessa, Trish and (once she cleaned up her act) Reva. He would not have a puppy love for a town pariah like Annie. At best, he would have treated her like Diane Ballard, a plaything on the side while he pursued more upstanding women. And he would never let him get implicated in any murders, attempted or otherwise.

[zanereed]

I had always heard that Stewart was just outright fired by Kobe, and that there was no "reduced contract" or anything offered.

"We Love Soaps" essentially confirmed this back in 2013 or 2014, stating that Stewart was fired by Kobe while Stewart was playing a round of golf.

I really don't blame Long, as she *wanted* to write for Mike Bauer, essentially placing Mike - a legacy character and a Bauer - at the center of a major love triangle with two newer characters, Alexandra and Lillian. Plus, that triangle would have a direct impact on the new, "hot" couple, Beth and Lujack. I can't confirm this, but I have a feeling that Long's initial endgame to this triangle would have been Mike and Alexandra together and engaged. And, that would make sense and would be a great - if confusing - pairing. Mike Bauer would be engaged to the sister of his on/off nemesis since 1977.  The "confusing" part would be that Mike would be engaged to Alan-Michael's Aunt! 

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[victoria foxton]

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[slick jones]

These are a great treat!

 

[Contessa Donatella]

I still feel losing that battle over Frankie to JFP & MdP as vividly as I think of things from this past year. And, over & over again new EPs were brought in with mandates to cut the size of the cast, make the cast younger over all, save money, shake things up, etc. Half the time they were working at cross purposes! Fans really don't like change. Yet change was what was thrust at them with every changeover in PTBs! Many AW fans completely left fandom with the demise of Frankie. The trauma was too great.

[DRW50]

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[Mitch64]

Agreed, I LOVE bitchy Van, no one could cut someone like Maeve (okay, Bev is the queen of that...) It was a shame that they made her a matronly bore for a few years right after this. I still think instead of recasting Alex they should have had Van step into the role..they could have still had the dull as dishwater Mattessa but maybe spiced it up a bit with Van getting her mojo back.