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

[SFK]

What if Holly and Hayman had become the Lucci and Heflin of One Life instead of Slezak as our lead?

[cityfan01]

i feel like if daytime had taken over primetime, it would have died a long time ago. Primetime is notoriously fickle, and after the 80s would have turned into a worse vision of what we are experiencing now with the extinction of soaps

[soapfan770]

Dare I ask it, but given Bell said it was his biggest regret, what if Phillip III hadn't been killed off 1989? How much of an impact would that have been?

What if Maureen had never been killed off on GL?

What if SFT had expanded to an hour under the Corringtons?

[Ms. Chandler Quartermaine]

What if Vanessa Marcil actually got that fame she so desperately was seeking (and I'm not talking 'Las Vegas' famous, that crap is the equivalent of a model saying she hit it big, when all she got was the cover of your local piggly wiggly's penny saver)

Onc can dream......

[DRW50]

I think that Maureen probably would have been backburnered and slowly phased out, if not outright fired (can you imagine Rauch wanting her on the show?).

I do wonder what they could have done with Phillip. I don't think he would have stayed with Nina. I'm not sure what his impact would have been as a character. I could see a custody battle between Phillip and Nina, with echoes of the fight Katherine and Jill had, perhaps Jill siding with Phillip, to make up for lost time, and Katherine siding with Nina.

[soapfan770]

You know, at first I thought well maybe Rauch wouldn't treat Parker too bad given the numerous appearances as ghost Maureen during his tenure, but then if she had lived I suspect Maureen would have been subjected to the same humiliating or bizarre stories we saw with other her women her age group. Forget Holly, let's have Maureen be the Nursey Rhyme Stalker!

As for Phillip, I wondered if Bell regretted because he ran out of ideas of what to do with Katherine and Jill. The latter stopped getting storylines, the former was given some odd storylines. Another what if I have for the Chancellors is what if instead of Billy we had Phillip IV(Chance) be SOARSed in 1999 and be paired with Mac? I personally suspect that could have lead to some explosive family fireworks.

Another Bell what if....What if Sheila had not crossed over to B&B?

[DRW50]

I think the Maureen appearances were more about Michelle (aside from the one with Vanessa). There's always a chance that JFP, Laibson, and Rauch would have seen how superb Ellen Parker was and how much she could do, I guess I just have visions of her being turned nuts or being told she was unattractive and overweight and having Ed dump her or she leaves town in shame. I do wonder what would have happened if she'd been there while Peter Simon was gone. Would she have left with Ed?

Mac/Billy never seemed all that interesting to me (there was a reason so much of the story revolved around Jill scheming or around plot devices like Mac's stepfather or Brittany), but I think Phillip and Mac might have been, just to see Nina's reaction. That was what Nina/Chloe might have been.

[Y&RWorldTurner]

What if Quint and Nola had never left GL? Would they have been the signature couple of the show and not Reva and Josh in the latter years?

[DRW50]

In terms of longevity, moving her to B&B was genius. She had no story left in Genoa City. If the proper writing had been there, she could have lasted on B&B for a long time. As it was she petered out after 1996 or so.

If she had never crossed over to B&B I think she would have gone to prison for a few years, then possibly returned. I could see her being brought back after Michelle Stafford left in early 1997.

[SFK]

What if Capitol never existed and John Conboy was the original EP of B&B?

[DRW50]

I don't think they would have been able to go through all the changes of the different eras. Quint in particular was a very odd character. Nola might have been a different story, but judging by the antipathy Pam Long felt towards Nola and the general nature of the other headwriters of the 80s (I can see Sheri Anderson just making her a Calliope), I don't know how they would have survived.

[Sapounopera]

What if Douglas Marland hadn't left GL in 1982?

I guess the Reardon family would have expanded with more children over the years, the Bauers would have stayed around and we would have propably seen more of Jennifer, Kelly, Morgan and Amanda. (I always thought of Jennifer and her two daughters as an early version of Lucinda, Sierra and Lily. Who knows perhaps Morgan RIchards was actually a Reardon or a Bauer )

What if Terry Lester had never left Y&R because of the Cricket-mania? Would Jack Abbott still be around after his death or would the character have been killed off?

What if the last two years of Y&R were a dream? Forget Phillip3, crazy Adam, Patty/Emily, Jill Fennmore etc.Would you accept that or would this kill the show for good?

[applcin]

What if Asher Brauner hadn't left his role as Roy on GH? Luke Spencer would have died instead...no Luke and Laura, no formula for all the other soaps to copy.

One I wondered about at the time was what if Genie Francis hadn't gotten pregnant after L & L returned in the early 90s? Would TPTB have them continue to be the adventure couple instead of planting Laura's feet on the ground and making her Earth Mother, ultimately leading to their divorce?

What if Clint Ritchie hadn't had his tractor accident? Would the Viki/Sloane relationship have progressed?

What if GL hadn't kowtowed to fanatic fanbases so much?

What if the mob hadn't totally taken over GH? I might actually still be watching.

[Khan]

Easy. Maureen would have left Ed (b/c, after all, she'd found out about his and Lillian's affair) and eventually hooked up w/ Roger. You saw Nancy Curlee's writing heading in that direction during the blackout storyline.

[Khan]

Quint and Nola would have been where Billy and Vanessa were: namely, that once-upon-a-time couple who'd split up along the way and entered new and different relationships, but who fans (and this one, in particular) always believed, in the back of their minds, that they'd eventually find their way back to each other.

I realize the evidence speaks to the contrary; however, I really believe Pam Long wanted to do more for Quint and Nola (and others), but couldn't b/c PGP were dead-set on aping the success of DALLAS and DYNASTY with flashier Lewis and Shayne families. Of course, whether Long truly "got" Nola is a different subject entirely.