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

[Khan]

What if people had stopped saying such nice things about Khan? Would his head have swollen any bigger than it already was?

[Khan]

Plus, keep in mind that NBC was notorious for interfering with their soaps to the point of killing them completely. I don't know whether THE DOCTORS ever would have recovered from losing Doug Marland as HW, but if DAYS and ANOTHER WORLD had had more champions at the network level, I think they would have rebounded eventually. As it is, though, the attempt to chase after GH's audience seemed to help DAYS, in the long run, but left AW in the proverbial dust.

Here's another one: as we know, GH hit number-two in the ratings during the 1971-72 season, but quickly lost ground. What if it hadn't, though? What if GH had rebounded and stayed in good shape throughout the early and mid-'70's? (Bear in mind, folks, if not for that slump, ABC might never have hired Gloria Monty to turn everything around.)

[Bright Eyes]

What if Pat Falken Smith's vision for the Grant, Brady and DiMera families would have come to fruition?

[Khan]

What was her vision?

[soapfan770]

I could see SFT rebounding only if they had a good stabilizing writer come along. I do think in the long run the line-up we saw from June '81 til March '82 would have been successful as well.

Imagine though if Bell got his way keeping Y&R at 30 mins and then SFT expanded to an hour.

[Bright Eyes]

Well, David Banning and Valerie Grant were endgame (as far as soap couples go). Trish becoming pregnant was only a rewrite forced upon her because the audience reacted negatively to the interracial romance. Proven by the fact that the time of conception didn't make since in the slightest, as it was more than a few months off.

Stefano originally wanted Julie and thought Tony would be good paired with Marlena, Kayla or Sandy Horton. Stefano was also supposed to have a daughter, Vanessa DiMera.

Joining Kayla and Roman, Marcus Brady was supposed to come to town.

[ClassicsSoapFan]

What if Pam Long hadn't returned to GL? Todd Bauer was supposed to have been Johnny Bauer's brother. Long made him Frank Cooper instead and brought on Harley Davidson Cooper. What would GL had been like without the Cooper family?

Would a resurgence of the Bauer family happen?

[Khan]

If that resurgence depended upon Johnny, "Todd," and Lacey, then the answer is "no." To many GUIDING LIGHT viewers at the time, Johnny and Lacey were Bauers "in name only," and annoying to boot. (They don't refer to 'em as "The Johnny Bauer Cancer Years" for nothing.) If a Bauer resurgence were going to happen, then it had to happen with Mike and Hope.

[Khan]

I've always wondered about that storyline. Did viewers balk at "Daval" b/c it was poorly executed, or b/c interracial romance was too much even for what was then daytime's most progressively-minded soap opera?

If not for the fact that Stefano became such a cartoon over the years, I'd be intrigued at the idea of him hooking up with a Horton. I guess that's why I'm such a big proponent today of Victor & Maggie. They are what I would have envisioned for Stefano and...well, not Julie, since that meant breaking up her and Doug (or worse, killing him off)...but maybe Marie.

[Y&RWorldTurner]

What if Gordon Russel had been transferred to GH as HW, like was originally planned before his unfortunate and sudden death? Would he and Monty been able to put on a coherent show and would the show have reached new creative heights?

If he had lived longer, would Russel be considered alongside Bill, Nixon, and Marland as a soap opera great?

[Khan]

No, for the simple fact that Gloria Monty had an often fractious relationship with her HW's. Don't get me wrong; I think a Russell-penned GH would have been fun to watch, but I don't think it would've lasted long enough before either he quit or she fired him. Then, if Sam Hall and/or Peggy O'Shea were working out okay at OLTL, Agnes Nixon would've convinced him to join Wisner Washam at AMC.

Russell in the same league as Bell, Nixon and Marland? Highly doubt that. If he had lived longer, I could see him eventually joining the ranks of Nancy Curlee, Harding Lemay, Henry Slesar and the Dobsons. As it is, though, he probably ranks among the third-highest tier of HW's, alongside O'Shea, Washam and Robert Soderberg & Edith Sommer.

[DRW50]

I think Russell might have done a good job at GH but I think that Monty's strongarming (didn't she chase away all of her headwriters?) might have taken a toll. I also wonder if he would have been able to deal with some of the issues unique to GH. At least he might have given the vets more to do...

What if Susan Seaforth Hayes had accepted the role of Stephanie Forrester?

[Khan]

Nothing, except a few less Emmys on B&B's record. (Not that Susan Flannery's contributions to the show haven't been invaluable, but I don't see Stephanie being any less of a titan w/ SSH in that role.)

[Khan]

Definitely, Luke and Laura's romance would not have begun with the rape had Russell been HW. And if it had begun w/ the rape and ended w/ the wedding, the road in-between would have been much, much rockier. For that matter, Tony Geary would have adored Russell b/c (if his treatment of OLTL's Brad Vernon and Marco Dane means anything at all) Luke would not have become the superhero he did become by the time GH had turned into daytime's answer to comic books. He still would've been the show's biggest draw, IMO, but also a character with far more complexities.

[DRW50]

It's interesting, because, by virtue of being a headwriter who had a lot of integrity, I think that he probably would have stopped GH from becoming as huge as it was. A lot of the things which helped push GH into the stratosphere, like turning Luke into a noble hero and the Ice Princess storyline, are unimaginable if Russell was the headwriter.

I wonder, because SSH tends to play Julie as a bit flaky at times, whereas Susan Flannery plays Stephanie as some kind of bulldozer. It seems like Bradley Bell clung to this gorgon view of Stephanie for many years. Would he have found the same inspiration with SSH?