All: What If................

[Dr Neil Curtis]

In honor of ABC What If Story let's discuss our own what ifs. May it be crossovers, characters not dying, storylines not happening, etc.

Ex. What if Another World was not cancelled? By now I think Iris would have been back on the scene. The Matthews probably would be back more than likely Russ or Alice. Mac probably would have another child out there. Vicky would probably return from the dead or never would have died.

[Khan]

What if... Linda Dano had returned to OLTL not as (Gretel) Rae Cummings, but as her ANOTHER WORLD character, Felicia Gallant?

For one thing, if ABCD had been willing to shell out the bucks for rights to all AW characters (as it was rumored they had to do in order to use Felicia), I believe we would have seen a mini-Bay City invasion on ONE LIFE, if not all the ABC soaps across the board. Imagine, for example, if Robin Christopher had joined OLTL not as Skye, but as Lorna. Would she have still shared a past with Mark Derwin's Ben Davidson? And would she (and we) have been spared the three-soap spanning "Who's the Daddy?" Story That Would Not Die?

Others that I think would have transitioned to Llanview include Joe Barbara (Joe), Judi Evans (Paulina), Sandra Ferguson (Amanda), Lisa Peluso (Lila), Kim Rhodes (Cindy), Dahlia Salem (Sofia) and Stephen Schnetzer (Cass). Granted, Peluso and Schnetzer had been on ONE LIFE before (as Billie Giordano and Marcello Salta, respectively), but for some reason, I could see all these actors meshing nicely (...more or less...) w/ OLTL's cast. In particular: Cass and Lila would have broken up, moving Cass into Viki and Dorian's orbit, and Lila (and/or Cindy) into Todd and Blair's. And I definitely see Bo and Amanda hooking up, too, w/ Victoria Wyndham's Rachel making recurring appearances.

Matt Crane (Matt), Anna Stuart (Donna) and Ellen Wheeler (Marley), I could see moving to AMC. Of course, AMC's writers would have had a devil of a time explaining how Marley -- who, if you'll recall, was horribly disfigured in an accident to explain away Wheeler's returning to AW as one twin but not the other -- was a dead ringer for twins Cindy and Karen Parker. (More than likely, the explanation would be that Michael Hudson fathered all four girls (Cindy, Karen, Marley and Vicky), which is ironic since Kale Browne's AMC character, Denny Benton, wound up fathering Lily and Ava.) However, once that was all out of the way, I could see mentally unstable Marley in a triangle w/ Adam and Stuart; Donna squaring off against Erica (shades of Jackson/Erica/Mary, no?); and Matt being passed around all the available single ladies in Pine Valley, w/ Wyndham again making recurring appearances.

As for Jensen Buchanan (Vicky) and Tom Eplin (Jake), though -- maybe GH? By that point, however, Buchanan was truly ready to ditch Vicky, so her character's death would've probably happened, anyway, just not in ATWT's Oakdale.

[DRW50]

I think Rachel and Carl probably would have left Bay City for a fresh start.

Matt and Donna would have finally married and she would have fought with Lila over Jasmine's well-being, as she would want to get things right this time around.

Marley would have run some kind of a home for children in need of help. She would have been in a triangle with Tyrone and her first boyfriend, Ben McKinnon, who reminded her of when her life was simple.

Sandy Cory would have returned to Bay City with wife Blaine and son Alex. Estranged daughter Maggie reunites with Sandy and surprises everyone with her news that she is battling breast cancer. Sandy would have clashed with Amanda over the future of Cory Publishing, and with Rachel over the direction of the family, helping make her decision easier to leave Bay City. Alex would have come out in his late teens, a decision which disturbed Sandy and led to many arguments among them. Cecile, having lost most of her money thanks to a Ponzi scheme, would have returned to try to make up with Maggie and after Sandy tries to force her out of Maggie's life, Cecile tells Alex that his father had once been a male prostitute. Alex calls his father a hypocrite and becomes closer to Cecile. Alex falls in love with the crown prince of Tanquir.

Iris and Cecile would put aside their longstanding dislike for each other to take over Cory Publishing.

Cindy would become a pornographic movie producer, bewildered to realize that Grant was her secret financier.

Paulina and Joe would have divorced and initially fought for custody over Dante before deciding to do what was best for him.

Cass and Lila would have divorced and remarried and had a son who was very serious and withdrawn. Lila became convinced he had some sort of psychic powers, like her grandmother.

Felicia would have divorced Sergei after catching him in bed with her chaffeur. Generally sick of men, she would have focused on Lorna's many problems before surprising herself by falling in love with Cal Strickland, a doppleganger for late husband Zane. Given that all the dopplegangers she had known turned out to be insane, she was wary, but Cal won her over.

[Dr Neil Curtis]

What If Marlena didn't "die" in 1987. Would there have been a Diana or an Isabella? Would John stayed Roman as long as he did. Would there have been a cruise of Deception?

[Khan]

Diana? Probably not. (IMO, Genie Francis was lured to DAYS b/c they needed her star-power to compensate for Dee Hall's departure.)

Isabella? Probably not her, either -- but I'd like to think a character like Isabella would have come along at some point to come between "RoJo" and Marlena.

Honestly? I don't think Wayne Northrop's return as RR or the "Two Romans" story would have occurred at all had DHall not left then come back four years later. Drake Hogestyn would be the one-and-only-Roman to this day.

WOAH. Perish that thought.

[DRW50]

I think there still would have been an Isabella, since they might have wanted to give Victor a daughter.

I do wonder what would have happened to Sami and Eric. Weren't they shipped off to their grandparents for years and then when Sami returned she was very disturbed?

[Dr Neil Curtis]

What if NBC still had this line up Search for Tomorrow, Days of Our Lives, Another World, Santa Barbara, and Sunset Beach or The Doctors.

[bellcurve]

What if Josh Griffith had gotten his way and sent Maria Arena Bell back to Bel-Air, where she belongs?

[Dr Neil Curtis]

I agree! What if Bill Bell was at the helm of the show today!

[ClassicsSoapFan]

I have often wondered.....

What if the soaps stayed at thirty minutes,how many would be around today?

What if CBS hadn't given in to P&G's demand that they shuffle the schedule and group their shows together? Would Search for Tomorrow,Edge of Night and Secret Storm and Love of Life lasted longer?

What if Y&R had been moved away from their spot in the schedule? Would they be number one in GL's old time slot?

What if Douglas Marland hadn't died? How long would he had stayed at ATWT since some think his material was slipping. Would ATWT be cancelled today? Could a writer like Marland make it in today's soap environment?

[Khan]

I don't think SECRET STORM or LOVE OF LIFE would've lasted any longer than they did. In SS's case, the general consensus has been that selling the show outright to the network, more than anything else, sealed its' fate. If the show had remained American Home Products' property, or had been free of constant network interference, then I'd say it had a fighting chance. Conversely, LOL, IMO, was always plagued by a premise that was hoary, weak, and impossible to sustain. Claire Labine and Paul Avila Mayer were apparently the only HW's who could build upon what was already there w/o alienating the show's core fans. However, their success ended up backfiring on the show; had it not been for their work, I believe, there never would've been a RYAN'S HOPE. Subsequently, when they did leave for their own show, all the momentum they'd brought to LOL was lost.

OTOH, if PGP had left well enough alone, I definitely think EDGE OF NIGHT and SEARCH FOR TOMORROW would've lasted longer -- and in fact, I'll go on record as saying EON, at least, would still be on the air today and kicking everybody else's tail in the ratings. Granted, Henry Slesar would've burned out and quit sooner-or-later; and yeah, the show might've stumbled a bit creatively afterward as it adjusted from one HW to the next; but as long as PGP kept a solid, creative mystery writer at the reins, EON's premise, IMO, was can't-fail.

Here's what I think: at some point, yes, Marland would have left ATWT. Two things to remember: one, at the time of his death, he was developing his own soap (which would have been picked up by some network, I think); and two, when he did die, ATWT was in awfully good shape, sluggish storylines notwithstanding. As much as Marland clearly loved writing for WT, I think even he realized it was time to move on, if only to keep both himself and the show fresh. (And if his own show had not sold? Then, there's no doubt in my mind that PGP wouldn't at least have considered asking him to take over ANOTHER WORLD.)

Now, whether WT would've survived at all w/o Marland, dead or not, is hard to say. Clearly, for all his faults as a storyteller, Marland seemed to "get" that show better than others (save, of course, for Irna and Bill Bell). Therefore, I think the better question to ask is, What would have happened to WT -- or really, to all the PGP soaps -- if Ed Trach had not retired as Executive in Charge of Production? Or, better yet, what if someone like Laurie Caso or Robert Calhoun had been his successor and not Ken Fitts, who proved to be not in the same league with Trach and Bob Short?

Simple answer: yes. Love Jim Reilly or hate him, but the fact is, he was/is the last HW to make a significant impact on this industry; and while I don't think he could touch Marland even on his best day(s), even I have to admit the two possessed similar approaches to storytelling.

Remember, too, it wasn't O.J. or cable or the Internet that killed daytime. It was the networks' knee-jerk, jumping-the-gun reaction to them. Most HW's simply couldn't work under those conditions; Reilly, however, was largely left alone, b/c he proved he could attract an audience. Considering how high WT's ratings still were when Marland died, if he had lived, I think he would've been extended the same luxury.

[DRW50]

What if viewers had accepted the lesbian/bisexual storylines on DAYS and Y&R in the mid-70s?

[Khan]

People would still make too big a deal out of Nuke. ;-)

[DRW50]

What if Bill, Hope, Hillary, and Mike Bauer had not been killed off and/or written out of GL in 1983-1984?

[Bright Eyes]

What if the Valentine's Day Massacre hadn't happened on Days?