I like Justin, although part of that may be down to thinking he's #)U#$ hot. He's stuck in the boring and traditional leading man role, but the actor has charisma and talent. You can see a fun side of him in the Guiding Plight clips.

Hope does seem a bit weepy and washed out. The best I've seen of her was the first clips when she and Alan were on the island together (when they fell in love).

Something has always bugged me about the Potter/Marland era that I was only reminded of when watching the GL DVD....

....why the hell was Derek Colby not brought back? Having read synopsis and a few youtube videos here and there of his romance with Vanessa, (and the actor seemed fairly cute), why did the show not continue such a wonderful pairing?

Doug Marland did not want to hire Harley Venton, who played Derek. Marland's instinct was that Venton was not right for the part; however, all of the women in the production office thought he was sexy as hell. Marland acquiesced and later regretted it. Venton was handsome, and in his defense, Derek was another one of Marland's milquetoast male characters. There was not much characterization for the actor to sink his teeth into. Unfortunately, the actor failed to have any chemistry with the other performers, especially his onscreen love interests. Vanessa would have eaten Derek alive. She needed a much different type of man, at least those of us who watched in the original airing thought so. Harley Venton is still an attractive man. I remember seeing him a number of years ago on an episode of Law and Order and remarking how well he looked.

That's interesting - all I've seen of Derek was him being wan and weak (when he was dating Hillary but she pined for Tony). He must have been very different offcamera for all the women to love him.

I like Justin, although part of that may be down to thinking he's #)U#$ hot. He's stuck in the boring and traditional leading man role, but the actor has charisma and talent. You can see a fun side of him in the Guiding Plight clips.

Hope does seem a bit weepy and washed out. The best I've seen of her was the first clips when she and Alan were on the island together (when they fell in love).

I concur regarding Tom O'Rourke. He was definitely on my short list of soap actors I wish I could have done.

Seriously, though, Justin (and to a degree Mike, Ed, and Marland's Ross Marler) did fall into that boring, traditional trap, just as I feel that Elvera Roussel did similarly as the ingenue Hope. Perhaps she was a bit long in the tooth for the ingenue classification, but Roussel's Hope was the type of soap heroine common to that era. Also, Elvera suffered the same burden that JWS and Tom Nielsen did, playing goody-goody characters opposite powerhouse actors such as Chris Bernau and Lisa Brown. Chris was so strong in his portrayal of Alan, Elvera never stood a chance of competing. She would always pale in comparison. Perhaps under the Dobsons Hope may have grown a backbone and retaliated, but that was not happening with Doug.

Also, as Michael pointed out, the focus of the Alan/Hope pairing was really about the animosity between Alan and Mike. The point was to give the show years of potential conflict generated by Alan's treachery, Mike's attempt to expose him, and Hope placed in the untenable middle position between her father and husband. Had Doug remained the headwriter, I feel that the conflict would have continued and escalated instead of being diluted and dropped as it was by future headwriters.

Edited February 22, 201213 yr by saynotoursoap

Do you think any women in Alan's life ever were a match for him?

I guess Jackie could have been, but she and Alan never even seemed to like being in the same room together.

I wish we could see Alan/Rita.

saynotoursoap, thanks for all that background info! I think the idea behind the Reardon and Lewis families is good, but it sucks knowing so much of that potential wasn't realized. I don't understand how the Reardon family ever died out, especially with all those potential siblings. It's also a shame Chelsea wasn't more interesting as she could've kept them going. It worked out better with the Lewis family, but it just shocks me knowing how popular Nola was and Lisa Brown that more couldn't have been done. Even in the Ellen Wheeler days when they did those big budget cuts. That would've been the perfect time to reintroduce Nola and Quint and try to revive the Reardon's. Instead we had so many different chopped up families and those dull Coopers.

I've wondered for a long time now whether the Reardons were even popular as a family. The Bauers, the Lewises, the Spauldings, had interesting or warm family bonds, but the Reardons sometimes come across to me as people who just have the same last name. Maureen was popular mostly through Ed, Nola through her schemes and then Quint, Tony with Annabelle. Aside from the story about their father did they ever really have strong family stories? I know it's not every clip available but in the last year or so Quint and Nola were on GL, the clips I've seen, they rarely spent time with most of the family. I saw them bowling with Tony/Annabelle/Jim once, and nothing with Maureen.

Got to jump on the Nola bandwagon I've seen. I first got into GL around 2005 (yeah, I know, can of worms there...) and even though I've not seen much of it, I know a lot of the GL history. Lisa Brown as Nola is just amazing. For sheer watch-ability and charisma she'd probably be in my top 5 of anything I've ever seen on daytime.

Also loved the 2002 episode. Joan Collins is hit or miss with me but she's actually, God forbid, fairly subtle as Alex. There's something in particular about the way she interacts with Mindy at the board meeting which is hilarious.

Hope Bauer was one of the few characters on the set that made me want to FF. She seemed a bit lobotomized.

Alan/Hope was my favorite GL couple and my favorite GL story was the Island of Hope.

Alan/Hope was my favorite GL couple and my favorite GL story was the Island of Hope.

I liked Alan and Hope too. It's a shame they wrote off Hope.

So happy to see Nola gaining new fans! She's my favorite GL character and near the top of all-time favorite soap characters. GL was never the same to me after she left. Hated what they did to her during her 90s return.

From what I understand, I think a lot of characters written well under the Dobson's didnt seem to be written as well under Marland (i.e. Amanda, Hope, Justin, and Ross come to mind). That seems to be the consensus that I'm reading on various message boards.

Regarding Nola.... I think Pam Long sort of got her character.. but at the same time, focused on the ditzy aspect of her character. I think that Nola would have made a great reporter or P.I. With her ability to snoop, she would have been a natural.. and I agree with an earlier suggestion that she should have been helping Tony/Annabelle with the Susan Piper mystery.... wasted potential all around.

Still finishing the Reva episode I am coming Bud...eppy..and damn...Robert Newman in a speedo...mmmmmmmm

Gotta love fruitcake Reva....I'M COMING BUD....LMAO....great episode! I thought that Dylan was still in the car with Reva before it went off the bridge. Was it Sam that gets out of the car and is paralyzed?? It wasn't shown in this episode. Loved seeing the long credits and music after the episode.

From what I understand, I think a lot of characters written well under the Dobson's didnt seem to be written as well under Marland (i.e. Amanda, Hope, Justin, and Ross come to mind). That seems to be the consensus that I'm reading on various message boards.

I'm not sure if Marland did anything with Ross which wasn't already underway with the Dobsons. They began his redemption, via his love for pure, sweet Eve. He was, at least, a leading man under Marland, which he would not be again for another decade.