2 minutes ago, Mitch64 said:

I would have brought him back to stay after the anniversary....I wonder how he and Marj would have worked together? He could have investigated the Amanda is Brandon's daughter, found out it was a hoax from Brandon to keep Alan and Alex fighting (manipulating beyond the grave still) and Roger kept the hoax going long enough to marry Amanda and drain Spaulding's assets before he disappears with Mike on his trial.

The idiotic butchering of Amanda's paternity was such an awful and unnecessary mistake; it really needed to be wiped out. She was Alan's daughter, period. I would have happily accepted your concept of how to repair the damage.

2 minutes ago, Mitch64 said:

 I think Mike as patriarch and a constant foil for Alan with Rick and Abby as tentpoles to take the place of Ed and Mo would have brought the Bauer back to center.

Yep. (Although I would have been happy with Stewart, Mart Hulswit as Ed and Ellen Parker as Maureen all being part of the canvas. I wanted Ellen Demming to return as Meta in 1985 after Charita Bauer died, too.)

2 minutes ago, Mitch64 said:

Even more so then Phillip AM should have had a huge identity crisis, being a Bauer and raised by his mother far from Alan's influence. When they brought back deaged AM he would mention hanging out with Rick and Mel but you never saw it...(the idiots who came for San Crud and the Mob and Jeva more then likely didnt even know they were related.)

History just not relevant to TGL at that point, alas.

8 minutes ago, Mitch64 said:

I always think who would have been a good age appropriate recast for Alan, RR was such a miscast...oddly, I think he would have made a good Mike.

If Stewart was definitely off the table, I wanted Jed Allen cast as Mike Bauer.

As for RR, I could see him as a better replacement for Mike than for Alan Spaulding.

51 minutes ago, vetsoapfan said:

 

Most of the show's pre-1983 history was severed when Gail Kobe and Pamela Long took over, and except for Maureen Garret, Jerry verDorn and Michael Zaslow, TGL felt like a completely different soap.

Yep. A lot of people think Ellen Wheeler killed the show. I would argue that the REAL show died in 1984. 

I agree that Ron Raines was miscast as Alan, but I can't see him as a Mike recast instead.  Billy Lewis?  Maybe.  Mike Bauer?  No.

2 hours ago, vetsoapfan said:

The idiotic butchering of Amanda's paternity was such an awful and unnecessary mistake; it really needed to be wiped out. She was Alan's daughter, period. I would have happily accepted your concept of how to repair the damage.

I still wonder if it was McTavish who came up with this, or if it was changed by the interm writers. The original scene has an exchange between Roger and Van that for some reason, Alan always cowtows to Alex...Van says that Henry knew of some papers that Alex has that could bring down the Spauldings..which means that Alex told Henry at least about the papers, and that Alan knows about it as she uses that to keep him in line.  I know Rauch wanted to get rid of Alex, which he could have done without the Amanda thing. They could have made it dramatic by having Brandon rape, seduce or blackmail Jennifer into have sex to hurt Alan and take his "first love" away. Jennifer is pregnant (from Alan) and tells Alex that she fears it could be Brandons. Alex know it would devistate Alan helps Amanda flee, and Brandon names Amanda as his heir (as he did during Marland) and then Roger just ties it all up with some faked documentation...a stretch (as if the Spauldings coudlnt afford a DNA test) but better then the idiocy we got which amounted to nothing  (It would have been fun to see Amanda throw everyone out of the mansion and start selling off Spaulding piece by piece to get back at everyone.)

On 10/31/2024 at 4:52 AM, rsclassicfanforever said:

There are some more to come, and we will jump to february 1982

These episodes are so good- thank you!  I can't remember but I think someone might have asked if you do have the 1990 episodes in your collection?  I would love to watch those also.  Thank you for sharing the episodes that you saved!

1 hour ago, Joshua Montgomery said:

These episodes are so good- thank you!  I can't remember but I think someone might have asked if you do have the 1990 episodes in your collection?  I would love to watch those also.  Thank you for sharing the episodes that you saved!

OMG..,I'm blissfully immersed in 1982. 

5 hours ago, Reverend Ruthledge said:

I would argue that the REAL show died in 1984. 

Did you like anything of the final 25 years?

5 hours ago, Khan said:

I agree that Ron Raines was miscast as Alan

I am 99% sure JFP had a friend she wanted to cast as Alan but we still don't know which friend it was and if said friend was either not available or turned JFP down.

Edited November 2, 20241 yr by kalbir

10 minutes ago, kalbir said:

Did you like anything of the final 25 years?

 

Hey there. Yes, I did. A lot. But it wasn't The Guiding Light as it was from 1937-1982. It was a different show. 

8 hours ago, Reverend Ruthledge said:

Yep. A lot of people think Ellen Wheeler killed the show. I would argue that the REAL show died in 1984. 

ITA. I think Kobe killed the show in 1984, and Wheeler finally just cremated it.

8 hours ago, Khan said:

I agree that Ron Raines was miscast as Alan, but I can't see him as a Mike recast instead.  Billy Lewis?  Maybe.  Mike Bauer?  No.

I can't really see RR as a good replacement for Mike, either. I just meant that casting him as Alan was even worse than casting him as Mike.

3 hours ago, kalbir said:

Did you like anything of the final 25 years?

The last year I truly loved the show and felt it was the "real" TGL was 1982. Then I appreciated the resurgence of Roger and Holly in 1989, Robert Calhoun's run as executive producer (1989-91), and Nancy Curlee's tenure as head writer in the early 1990s. Other than that, I loathed much of the final 25 years.

 

For me, 1997-98 was probably the last year I could stomach GL on a steady basis; and even then, I stomached it with much lower expectations, lol.

Edited November 3, 20241 yr by Khan

12 hours ago, Mitch64 said:

I always think who would have been a good age appropriate recast for Alan, RR was such a miscast...oddly, I think he would have made a good Mike.

He also could have made a good Justin, potentially. 

I'll concede that the writing did RR no favors, but i don't think he had enough oomph to be a good recast anyone. As harsh as that sounds. 

2 hours ago, P.J. said:

I'll concede that the writing did RR no favors, but i don't think he had enough oomph to be a good recast anyone. As harsh as that sounds. 

I don't think you're wrong, I just think Justin was a character he could have more easily slid into because he probably could have played the lighter moments and he did work decently well with Grant. The only thing missing is the intensity. 

7 hours ago, DRW50 said:

I don't think you're wrong, I just think Justin was a character he could have more easily slid into because he probably could have played the lighter moments and he did work decently well with Grant. The only thing missing is the intensity. 

 I'm sure RR would've been a decent new character. Recasts are so tricky and depend on so much. And with Ross stepping into the role of Phillip's father so early, I never really felt the need for Justin's return. Even though I would've always welcomed Tom O'Rourke back.

Does anyone know to whom Joan Collins was referring to when she mentioned that the producers had recast Roger and the audience would be surprised at who it was?