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

[DRW50]

I just wonder if Rauch would have seen her as a viable character. He didn't really do anything about a matriarchal role in the two to three years when Mary Stuart was rarely able to make appearances (I assume because of her illness).

I don't think Maureen would have been around by the time Wheeler and Kriezman were there, but you may be right. They did write quite a bit for Lillian though, so they might have seen Maureen as being in that vein.

[MichaelGL]

I wonder what Claire Labine would have done for Maureen; probably some light hearted stories, like the Bauers getting a dog, or Maureen gets a job. Of course Labine did pen the infamous Bauer kitchen shootout, so maybe she would have had Maureen heavily involved in the Santos drama.

[Delia]

What would've happened if Susan Lucci won an Emmy on her first try instead of her 19th? Would she still have been (and still be) Daytime's biggest star?

[DRW50]

I think so, yes. I think that the whole thing with the Emmys was a byproduct of her becoming very popular, not the cause. I don't think she would be AS big a star as she was for a long time if not for all the Emmy focus but I think she would still have been very popular. She had the TV movies and the run on Dallas in the 80s and early 90s and you don't get that because people talk about you not having an Emmy.

But it would have taken away some classic SNL jokes...

[DaytimeFan]

I think Susan Lucci was destined to always be a big star in the genre...but no, I don't think she'd be the biggest, most mainstream soap star that she is now had it not been for those losses. Those losses created the jokes, the jokes created notoriety and talk show appearances and commercials that put her into the mainstream.

Susan Lucci should pray every day in thanks for those losses. They made her who she is.

[StevieM]

I think Genie Francis was always going to come to Salem, regardless of whether Deidre Hall left. First of all, Kristian Alphonso and Peter Reckell left at the same time, so there still would have been the desire for new star power. Second, Diana was originally supposed to be paired with Mike (Michael T. Weiss), not RoJohn, but the fans liked the chemistry with Roman better. Third, Genie Francis was so much bigger at the time than she would later become. She wasn't just a top star of daytime--she and Geary were in a league all of their own. Luke and Laura were the stuff of legend, the people who transformed daytime. Her return to daytime, on any soap, almost took on a magical feel, at least when being discussed. At that point Genie was probably a bigger catch than Susan Lucci would have been. Certainly, Laura was regarded as a greater legend than Erica. I think people forget that because her subsequent 9 year run took some of the magic away--Luke and Laura were now stars, like many other top stars--not legends. No show--not one--would have turned down the opportunity to have Genie Francis on their show.

Now as for the St. Valentine's Day Massacre--that one's tricky. It is the symbol of everything that was wrong in that era, the period when the show as in flux between the old format and the new show that emerged with the arrival of the Bradys. But, in truth, some of the characters were seriously burned out. In the late 70s the show had seen a decade worth of long-term story lines finally wrap up. Imagine Passions without Theresa/Gwen/Ethan. Marlena was pivotal in keeping the show afloat, kind of like Jack and Jen were in the early 90s. Or like the way Don Mattingly was to the Yankees in the years in between their championship runs. I think the Massacre was an attempt to start over and open the canvas to new characters. Most didn't last. But it paved the way for the Bradys and the Super Couple era.

Steve

[Dr Neil Curtis]

After Isabella's ghost on Days today. What if she hadn't died? would she survived the salem stalker?

[darraholic]

What if The Brady Family was never created on DAYS?

[Dr Neil Curtis]

No Roman and Doc, no Victor, which leads to no Magic! No John Black would have been created nor the Johnson family.

[Khan]

In other words, DAYS would've been gone by the mid-'80's, if not sooner. ;-)

[DRW50]

What if AW's 90 minute format had been a success?

[Khan]

Then, DAYS, at least, would have followed suit; and one of the weaker-performing shows (THE DOCTORS?) would have been "killed" a little bit sooner in order to accommodate the expanding shows.

[Titus Andronicus]

It's interesting that the Brady family was originally intended to be something a bit different.

Here's a few lines from an article from 1982

"Next, Pat [Falken Smith] adds a blue-collar cop, Roman Brady (Wayne Northrop), to track down the Salem Strangler.

"Roman is from the mountains of Tennessee," says Pat. "We intend to explore the whole Brady family."

http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=ZjVUAAAAIBAJ&sjid=ZY0DAAAAIBAJ&dq=wayne-northrop&pg=5284%2C806124

The handful of scenes I've seen with Catherine Mary Stewart as Kayla seem to agree with that as well as the unseen brother, Marcus Aurelius.

Better what if: What if Bo was never created?

That seems to be what everything hinged on.