I can imagine. I never knew what the jump off point was, so thanks for giving those details. It's such a change in appearance that I'm impressed fans went along with it. I remember Mimi Torchin using this to chide GH viewers who didn't like Billy Warlock (never mind that viewers accepted him soon enough, while GH never did).

Hey! Why are we not having an in depth discussion about all that was wrong but terribly entertaining with the re-cast of Alexandra on GL. No, I am not talking about Dusay taking over for McKinsey. I am talking about Joan Collins taking over for Dusay!

I got the GL Classics DVDs in the mail the other day and there is an eppy that heavily features Collins. Holy Mary Mother Of God! It's a good watch, but not necessarily for the right reasons. Collins relied heavily on the Alexis Carrington shtick, and seemed to have trouble with lines, names and dialogue. Her Alex was a cartoon, and though I was never particularly enamored of Dusay's portrayal of Alex, the show did the only thing they could, and brought her back when Collins ran out of the building screaming.

I actually thought Joan's Alex was much less of a cartoon than Dusay. Marj had a real style and charisma, and she was definitely more suited to a long term soap format, but there was always a craziness which didn't suit Alex.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ceun40-lkd0

I could never accept Baker as Babe. It was like going from loud technicolor, 3D shapes in movement to static, murky, muted, misshaped one dimensional grey figures.

I actually thought Joan's Alex was much less of a cartoon than Dusay. Marj had a real style and charisma, and she was definitely more suited to a long term soap format, but there was always a craziness which didn't suit Alex.

Carl, read my post again! NOT a Dusay fan here! I never cottoned to her Alex. Oh, for the first year or so, she was OK. But Alex devolved into a brainless buffoon, often playing comedy. The writers have to take part of the blame for that, but I think they were writing to Dusays "strengths". So while I did not enjoy her portrayal, how about we compromise and call Dusay's portrayal a "cartoon" and Collin's portrayal a "caricature"? Either way, they were no Beverlee McKinseys!

On GH, I had more of an issue going from Gerald Hopkins as AJ to Sean Kanan, so when Billy Warlock was hired I thought they went back in the right direction.

With OLTL, I think if Woodsy wanted to assume the male patriarch role, he would have, but I agree he and Robin were the second billing after Erika. JvD doing the father figure role may have been ingrained in the writers who had pasts with GL plus it could have also been his vibe.

I tend to do badly with recasts and see them as a necessary evil. I'd say I maybe like one recast in ten...

Edited February 5, 201213 yr by ~bl~

It's tough to say with Joan as she was only around a few months but there was a softness to Alex, a stillness, which I had desperately missed. Yet she also did a nice job with the little scenes that Beverlee probably wouldn't have had, like drinking beer with Buzz.

I do agree Bev was the best in the role.

I could never accept Baker as Babe. It was like going from loud technicolor, 3D shapes in movement to static, murky, muted, misshaped one dimensional grey figures.

AB was playing Babe when I started watching AMC. And, I hated Babe. I thought she was a terrible character. All in the performer cause I'm watching the old episodes on SN with AH playing Babe and I love her now. Havens can play a girl like Babe and pull it off. Baker cannot.

LOVED Baker as Babe. I loved AH as Babe but by the end of her run, I hated the character and wanted them to cut their losses with her. It wasnt tillABC took over that I started to love her again. I was upset when they killed her off but I liked that they managed to bring her back for a couple of guest appearances

LOVED Baker as Babe. I loved AH as Babe but by the end of her run, I hated the character and wanted them to cut their losses with her.

I personally think they should have just killed Babe off during the Satin Slayer storyline as that was the last time Babe was a key player on the show. She had meaning right up until February/March of 2007. They should have had her faked death be her real one right along with Dixie to give the show a real impact of loss. The last year or two (2007-2008) Babe was on the show she was useless and the character served no purpose. I don't understand at all why the show wanted to do Jabe 3.0/4.0 after they proved to be such a volatile pairing. Baker as an actress just didn't work with any of the key people she needed to work with. She never gelled with Bobbie Eakes, Micheal E. Knight, Jacob Young, Billy Miller or any of the Fusion girls outside of Chrishell's Amanda, and that was because they were both weak actresses.

Then to have the Babe character virtually re-imagined as Marissa was an even worse mistake because Marissa was pretty useless as well through her entire incarnation. The only value her character could have had was with a triangle between JR and Bianca but even that was poorly executed.

Baker's Babe was much more tolerable with JR than AH was. AH's Babne and JR's relationship was beyond toxic and what made me hate her. The writing was much better when Baker was in the role and she and JR clicked much better. I thought their reunion towards the end was bittersweet and I would have loved for them to have just been written off with that happy ending away from PV

Probably mentioned but Daniel Pilon as new Alan....wow seeing it again..shakes head...lol

Colleen Carlton

Lyndsy Fonseca/Adrianne Leon & Tammin Sursok

Patty Williams

Lillibet Stern/Andrea Evans/Stacy Haiduk

Ashley Abbott

Eileen Davidson/Brenda Epperson & Shari Shattuck

Jill Abbott

Brenda Dickson/Deborah Adair/Jess Walton

Sharon Newman

Heidi Mark/Monica Potter & Sharon Case

Mackenzie Browning

Ashley Bashioum/Kelly Kruger/Rachel Kimsey/Clementine Ford

Billy Abbott

David Tom/Ryan Brown/Scott Seymour/Billy Miller

Lily Winters

Davetta Sherwood & Scottie Pippen

Katherine Chancellor

Jeanne Cooper & Michael Learned

Rachel Gannon

Ellen Bethea/Mari Morrow/Sandra Grant/Daphne Duplaix

Daniel Romalotti

Cam Gigandet & Michael Graziadei

Going from Carrington Garland to Eileen Davidson must have been odd.

:lol:

To put it mildly...

The best comparison I can come up with for non-SB fans is to think Melissa Reeves recast with Eileen.

The switch from Mari to Sandra was odd, and a little bit ignorant, as she completely changed her skin tone. I'm surprised they didn't go crazy and cast Jennifer Gatti too.

To put it mildly...

The best comparison I can come up with for non-SB fans is to think Melissa Reeves recast with Eileen.

....and showed me the Dobsons had lost their ever-loving minds, since it was they who fired Carrington Garland. They reportedly thought CG looked "too young" for all Kelly had endured. Ironically, CG was two years OLDER than original Kelly, Robin Wright.

Edited February 6, 201213 yr by Wendy