Guiding Light Discussion Thread

[SoapDope]

Ouch ! Telling him to dance with himself.  What actors do you think could have been a more suitable Rick ?

 

 

 

 

 

[DRW50]

Most of the worst aspects of Rick after he returned in 1995 I'd put down to direction and writing more than anything else, but if I had to choose, I think someone like Michael Brainard might have worked.

[kalbir]

What recasts or new characters in the JFP years do we think she tried to get her friends cast in, but the friend wasn't interested? I pointed out earlier that I think JFP wanted one of her friends for Alan recast but the friend turned down the part.

[DRW50]

A Martinez turned down a role, I think.

Edited August 13, 2024 by DRW50

[prefab1]

Michael Brainard is an interesting choice, because his Jake on AMC was a fairly similar character. But I don't think a recast would have helped the problems with Rick post-Abby, which plagued a lot of the aging "good guy" characters in the cast: Frank, Matt, even to some extent Josh. They were almost interchangeable, giving off the same "sad dad" energy (while occassionally slipping into judgemental self-righteousness).

And they just seemed adrift most of the time, as if they were waiting to be partnered with a more dynamic female character that they could act as the straight man for. If they had paired Frank up with Blake and Rick up with Mindy a little earlier, rather than waiting until the final week, both characters would have had more purpose.

GL was blessed with a lot of extremely well-written long-running female protagonists, who had distinctive flaws and points of view that made each of them unique. But for some reason, they couldn't figure out how to do that for most of their male characters, who seemed relatively flat in comparison. 

[DRW50]

I would agree. Brainard also played a slightly similar character on Santa Barbara, so that's why I named him, but the problem was more the writing and the lack of interest in the characters. By the last years the show only wanted to write for edgy men, even as they had no idea how to write for those men, ending in a bizarre and offputting hybrid (like Jeffrey) along with various psycho or borderline psycho men who often didn't last long (unless they were played by Tom Pelphrey).

[Sapounopera]

My question is... who could/should have played Blake?

The woman was raised as a Bauer, is the daughter of Roger and Holly, had all this drama with the Spaulding boys, is the mother to Ross Marler's kids, she is even Dinah's stepmom. She should have been as important as the Carlys on GH and ATWT. 

After Ross was killed, it was the right time to bring a stronger, sexier, more dynamic Blake. After the coma. Jamie Luner? Stacy Haiduk? Sarah Joy Brown? Tamara Braun? Sandra Nelson? Cady McClain? I know the show was a mess by still. 

[SoapDope]

Interesting choice. I wonder what Michael E. Knight would have been like as Rick (especially if he had been cast in the role in 1982) ?

l ways liked Nelson when she took over as Phyllis on Y&R, but a lot of the audience wanted Stafford back. I liked Stafford during her first run, then she started hamming it up on her return. 

[DRW50]

I think he would have been too smarmy, but you never know.

[Contessa Donatella]

I've been thinking. I know you have reasons why MOL should not have been Rick. However, to me I just bet that Mikey was such a member of the GL family that the actors abilities or lack thereof did not matter.

[SoapDope]

I guess being smarmy would have given Rick something of a personality....LOL

I remember someone saying Susan Lucci should be a recast Julia Newman on Y&R....

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[DRW50]

I think the biggest problems with Rick started in the late '90s/early '00s, which was also when MEK fell off (to be honest I am not a huge MEK fan anyway, although to his credit he has looked much healthier in recent years so more power to him).

I can't see Susan in that part at all.

[Sapounopera]

I like him too. He is Rick. Sure, I can think of several other actors (from Michael E. Knight, Vincent Irizarry, Ricky Paull Goldin, Robert Bogue, hey even Michael Park) playing the part through the years, but I think that he could be very valuable to the show with the right kind of writing. Mel was his last chance, I would have kept them together and would have given them the go-to-couple role. 

[Contessa Donatella]

Mel was a good actress, character, family member & pairing for a Bauer. They worked. 

[prefab1]

I think Mel and Rick could have worked as an anchor couple if only any of the writers had actually taken an interest in fleshing out Mel as a character beyond "black professional woman" and gave us more insight into her motivations and backstory. I think that Lucky Gold, who created the Boudreaux family, gave us a few hints of that--for instance, how she felt pressure to live up to her academic parents' high expectations of black excellence, while her brother Remy rejected them. But I can't recall that ever getting explicitly discussed on the actual show, even though it would help explain otherwise absurd stuff like Mel starting off as a doctor then switching careers to law. 

I think you probably could have gotten a good set of small realistic storylines out of issues like "Mel is busy with law school and feels like Rick isn't pulling his weight with childcare" or "Mel and Rick have clashing perspectives on raising a biracial child." But during the early 2000s especially, the show was not interested in telling those kinds of grounded realistic stories.