For Rick to have been a leading man, another actor should have been cast. It also bugged me that O'Leary looked like none of the actors who were cast as Ed who were blonde. Even the child actors that played Rick reflected Ed's looks.

I'm speaking soap blasphemy here, but I often wonder if Aleksander should have been Rick instead of Phillip. 

I never really liked Peter Simon as Ed. After Mart Hulswit was dismissed, they should have tried getting Robert Gentry (who was on AW at that time) back. 

 

Does anybody know of any website that sells GL episodes, in particular from the 1970s? It seems like there were some such sites at one time but I can't find them anymore. 

2 hours ago, Mitch64 said:

O'Leary could be good as the big brother, best friend, nice reliable guy, connector in town everyone feels comfortable with and that is what a show needs. He is not a romantic lead or a dramatic actor and while he has a humorous charm, the show needed to really pull him in (like Deas, Zimmer, Dusay, the show just let the actors lean into their worst instincts.) Of. course, back in the day I like Rick over Phillip (the intensity was too much..) but Long wrote for him (most of the time) to his strengths.  The Abby pairing was going to go nowhere..as she was just too nice (even Bert and Maureen had their time not being super nice...) I did wonder how Rick and Bridget would work...maybe Peter gets sick and he is the doctor and they grow close (bugging the crap out of Roger) and they have to bring Hart back for a blood transfusion or something...a better entrance then the one McTavish wrote for him. Both Rick and Frank needed a partner with a bit more of an edge or spark. 

I love the idea of Rick and Bridget! Rick adopts Peter and Hart wants to be a part of his son's life, not to mention that nosy Aunt Nola gets to remains  part of the Bauer family forever.

Rick and Abby should have been the next tent pole couple.. but the show didn't really know how to write for tentpole characters.

Abby wasn't all perfect either.. she was a hot head and would defend a friend no matter what.  Even Reva had to calm her down a few times when Abby was in defense mode.   The show just didn't know how to write for her, and the actress had enough presence that people did grow to like her.. and with Rick too boot.

25 minutes ago, Soaplovers said:

Abby wasn't all perfect either.. she was a hot head and would defend a friend no matter what.  

And Abby's hotheadedness gave us one of GL's all-time best shocking scenes, when she shot her attacker in the middle of a crowded courtroom. (It was such a good scene that the show's timeslot rival General Hospital ripped it off a few months later when Carly shot Tony in court).

 

On 8/11/2024 at 4:59 PM, P.J. said:

It made me mad all over again that they then end up throwing her at himbo Matt.

Coming out of lurking to thank you for posting those great June 1994 scenes and then to sheepishly admit that I was one of those Matt/Vanessa fans. In fact, they were the storyline that got me into watching Guiding Light that summer, a habit I'd keep off and on for 15 years.

I rewatched some of those scenes a few months ago, and I was struck by how how much they focused on Vanessa going on a voyage of self-discovery and reconnecting with her own desires, apart from her socially proscribed roles as mother and pillar of the community. It was the kind of storyline that even today you don't see very often in American TV or film; maybe you'd see it in a French film starring Juliette Binoche or Isabelle Huppert. 

It helped that they really took their time setting up the story with Matt, and he had a bit more of an edge to him in those early days. I think that subsequent writing teams just lost sight of what was interesting about Matt and his relationship with Vanessa. Matt's pride and his very different class background should have been a source of organic conflict for years, but the writers instead manufactured conflict through idiot plots like Vanessa faking her own death.

1 hour ago, Sapounopera said:

I love the idea of Rick and Bridget! Rick adopts Peter and Hart wants to be a part of his son's life, not to mention that nosy Aunt Nola gets to remains  part of the Bauer family forever.

Exactly!!! You wouldn't need an Aunt Meta...(not that I didn't love MS) but you would have buttinsky Aunt Nola getting into everyone's business! 

I always thought it would have been cool if GL has cast Frank Beaty as Rick rather than bringing back O’Leary. Beaty was a powerful and charismatic actor who could have made Rick a leading man rather than the supporting character Rick was with O’Leary in the role. 

22 hours ago, Contessa Donatella said:

 verDorn said that if a director like Bruce S. Barry told you to move from here to there at this point you do not say (mocking) what is my motivation for the movement. No, it's your job. Move. Figure out in your own damn mind why.

God Bless Jerry!! Talk about a class act.

21 minutes ago, P.J. said:

God Bless Jerry!! Talk about a class act.

Class act fits him so totally to a tee. Also a gifted, nuanced actor One of Ellen Wheeler's blunders was taking him off contract & putting him on recurring. 

18 hours ago, DRW50 said:

The main reason was probably the intense response from their fans, although that didn't stop GL from still nixing other pairings. I wonder if JFP having to do that pairing (beyond Matt/Lucy I think some have said Josh/Vanessa was the plan) is why she immediately broke up an older woman/younger man pairing, Donna and Matt, in an ugly way, upon her arrival at AW.

In theory I don't have a problem with Dinah resenting Vanessa, there should have been good story, but Vanessa was rarely if ever given a fair chance to show her strength or point of view, and I just did not think Wendy Moniz was a strong or sympathetic enough actress for the inconsistent way Dinah was written. I don't think she found her footing until Rauch decided to make the character an outright bitch.

Mindy and Dinah were both in town for a few months in 1995, but I don't know if they ever interacted. By that point I'm not even sure how much time Mindy spent around Vanessa.

Be other worst stories mentioned, I would include the Lonitrat fiasco with Roger/Dinah/Hart and the stories given to Griffen (nearly sleeping with his own daughter and then having himself shot for the cause). Such a horrible use of Geoffrey Ewing.

I just wish they'd found someone with some soap cred to pair with Maeve. Not someone with "himbo" as his wheelhouse. I don't know who else was available in '94-'95 (and honestly, for all I care, they could've blown up Ross/Blake and given Ross/Vanessa a real shot finally) but there had to be SOMEONE.

LOL...as I was watching the custody battle, and suddenly Josh is all intense and defending Vanessa, and pissed at Ross ...I'm like---geez, OMG, would they have gone there? They were already taking enough heat for hooking up Roger and Holly at the time, so I don't know if they would've crossed that line. As much as Reva, Blake and Harley slept through families, it's not like GL didn't know how to write it.

Vanessa always did have a blind spot when it came to her kids. She's always quick to defend Bill from any criticism, and she keeps defending WM's Dinah to the point of enabling her behavior. If there was anyone she'd really unleash on, it was a guy. Her fights with Billy could be brutal, and the best moment in the entire Vanessa/Fletch relationhip (imo) is when she rears up and tells him to never EVER make her chose between him and her son, 'cause Fletch ain't winning.

Vanessa and Mindy were always close, but as Vanessa would swing in and out of Lewis sphere when not married to Billy. I watched her giving birth to Maureen, and while Josh and Reva finally show up as she's about to die (which really seemed like mostly an excuse for Dinah to bitch at Reva about Cassie), she's got flippin' Jenna moaning in her ear about their precious friendship. I'm like bisch, step back, you're boring the woman to death.

Lonitrat? Is that when they were gaslighting Roger? 

8 hours ago, Mitch64 said:

Wow this is good! This is an umbrella storyline that works...Bauers Chamberlains, Lewis, Reardons and Marlers all having a legitimate stake in this. If only Nola were back to take up Bridgets side.  Then of course, it's the Buzz Cooper fill in that takes the momentum out. 

I always thought Ross and Vanessa should have been end goal.  If only Matt and Blake had been the ones to screw.

Seriously---about the only people in town not involved were the Coopers. Even Tangie took a side (I'm not sure why, but she was on Vanessa's.) 

YES! another Ross/Vanessa fan. Maeve's smile always seemed a little more sparkly if she were smiling at Jerry or Jordan. Her face just lights up. I get a little sad thinking of GL at the end--it's like we only got Vanessa back because Ross died.

20 minutes ago, P.J. said:

Lonitrat? Is that when they were gaslighting Roger? 

Yes. I just thought it was an awful story. Given that Roger had behaved horribly I wasn't rooting for him, but I resented the choices made with the character to get him to that story, including having him rape Dinah. It felt like a major regression all for the sake of having her sleep with his son. The caliber of an actor like Zaslow being stuck in that story...and knowing it would end up being his last storyline. 

3 hours ago, robbwolff said:

I always thought it would have been cool if GL has cast Frank Beaty as Rick rather than bringing back O’Leary. Beaty was a powerful and charismatic actor who could have made Rick a leading man rather than the supporting character Rick was with O’Leary in the role. 

Beaty was certainly a much better actor, but to me that might have been like casting Tim Gibbs as Kevin Buchanan on OLTL - adding so much intensity to a part that didn't need it. 

9 hours ago, SoapDope said:

For Rick to have been a leading man, another actor should have been cast. It also bugged me that O'Leary looked like none of the actors who were cast as Ed who were blonde. Even the child actors that played Rick reflected Ed's looks.

I'm speaking soap blasphemy here, but I often wonder if Aleksander should have been Rick instead of Phillip. 

I never really liked Peter Simon as Ed. After Mart Hulswit was dismissed, they should have tried getting Robert Gentry (who was on AW at that time) back. 

The only Ed where I really noticed a blonde look was probably the weakest (Richard Van Vleet), but I do see what you mean. They cast a brunette Rick before MOL too.

The main problem with Aleksander as Rick is that Rick hadn't had the dramatic life Philip had had. Even though Jared Ross' Philip was quieter, there was a lot of story for Philip to be darker as he grew up. I think Rick worked as the lighter contrast. It's just that as he got older the show lost sight of how to write for him and they veered into pathetic. 

I remember MOL telling a story of when they went to Universal for the Lucy and Alan-Michael wedding, and I think he said the director asked him to dance with himself, while all the couples were dancing, and he thought it was [!@#$%^&*] pathetic. And it was. 

5 hours ago, prefab1 said:

Coming out of lurking to thank you for posting those great June 1994 scenes and then to sheepishly admit that I was one of those Matt/Vanessa fans. In fact, they were the storyline that got me into watching Guiding Light that summer, a habit I'd keep off and on for 15 years.

I rewatched some of those scenes a few months ago, and I was struck by how how much they focused on Vanessa going on a voyage of self-discovery and reconnecting with her own desires, apart from her socially proscribed roles as mother and pillar of the community. It was the kind of storyline that even today you don't see very often in American TV or film; maybe you'd see it in a French film starring Juliette Binoche or Isabelle Huppert. 

It helped that they really took their time setting up the story with Matt, and he had a bit more of an edge to him in those early days. I think that subsequent writing teams just lost sight of what was interesting about Matt and his relationship with Vanessa. Matt's pride and his very different class background should have been a source of organic conflict for years, but the writers instead manufactured conflict through idiot plots like Vanessa faking her own death.

There's no need to be sheepish. I'm a tad obnoxious about Billy/Vanessa, but I've rediscovered my love of them/Maeve/GL in general in the last six months or so.  I know Vanessa/Matt had their fans, and Maeve's said she got plenty of fan mail from people who connected with Vanessa picking up her life and moving on.

I'm actually glad to have found so much Billy/Vanessa online. They kind of predate VCRs, fandoms and squish names. Hell, they don't even really have a special song that's  identified with them. It is what I envy the Matt fans---that story is probably almost all online. 

7 hours ago, Soaplovers said:

Rick and Abby should have been the next tent pole couple.. but the show didn't really know how to write for tentpole characters.

Abby wasn't all perfect either.. she was a hot head and would defend a friend no matter what.  Even Reva had to calm her down a few times when Abby was in defense mode.   The show just didn't know how to write for her, and the actress had enough presence that people did grow to like her.. and with Rick too boot.

 

7 hours ago, prefab1 said:

And Abby's hotheadedness gave us one of GL's all-time best shocking scenes, when she shot her attacker in the middle of a crowded courtroom. (It was such a good scene that the show's timeslot rival General Hospital ripped it off a few months later when Carly shot Tony in court).

I didn't love that story but it was definitely a shocking, powerful moment, which helped keep GL's 1997 momentum going. 

Amy Ecklund was a very underrated actress. She was on paper just cast in a token part but always made Abby seem genuine. They just stopped writing for her, aside from a few moments like the cochlear implant story, because she wasn't intended as one of the leading ladies. 

I also liked her and Rick a lot as a couple until the show lost interest in them.

@Mitch64's idea of a Rick/Bridget pairing is interesting. It could have worked, especially as I think Melissa Hayden would have been a good balance to MOL.

Regarding Matt/Vanessa, I completely agree with you that the pairing made more sense when Matt was written with a personality and motivations. By 1996 or so they just stopped writing for Matt entirely as a character. 

I'm also aware many did love the pairing, and I respect that. Most of my criticism of that period is down to the writing for Vanessa, which wasn't Matt's fault.

Edited August 13, 20241 yr by DRW50

9 minutes ago, DRW50 said:

Yes. I just thought it was an awful story. Given that Roger had behaved horribly I wasn't rooting for him, but I resented the choices made with the character to get him to that story, including having him rape Dinah. It felt like a major regression all for the sake of having her sleep with his son. The caliber of an actor like Zaslow being stuck in that story...and knowing it would end up being his last storyline. 

 

eeee....I have read recaps about it, but I haven't watched that at all. There's a moment before the custody's resolved where he's having a court visit with Peter at Vanessa's, and he taunts her with "we could solve all of this---by getting married." and Van looks like she wants to throw up. I know it gets uglier with Ross and Vanessa once Dinah hits town. At some point, I did realize that Ross and Vanessa deal the most with Roger after his return. Everyone else capable of throwing up roadblocks, Phillip, Alex, Billy, Josh (who, let's face it, isn't a threat anyway) tap out at some point from '90 to '95-ish.