Soap questions you want to ask but havent

[Gray Bunny]

For GLers who watched during the 80's-early 90's: do you think Maureen Bauer would've been so highly revered and the new heart of the Bauer family (after Bert died) had Ellen Dolan remained in the role instead of Ellen Parker taking over in '86?

[MissLlanviewPA]

Yes, I think she played a younger Adrienne.

[Khan]

Yes. Frankly, I identified more with ED's Mo than I did EP's, even though I thought both actresses were good in the role. ED, though, seemed to capture more of Mo's spirit. She was a real Reardon, if that makes any sense.

[Y&RWorldTurner]

I've always found Ellen Dolan cold as hell as an actress, which is why I've always hated her Margo and can't watch clips of her Maureen.

I really couldn't see her Maureen as the sweet matriarchal figure everyone went to for care and advice.

[ghfan89]

What was the Keith Whitney story on Edge of Night about?

[JackPeyton]

Sweeney was a young Adrianne as a child. Of course Evans played two major roles. and both Renne Jones, Josh Taylor played another role before their current ones. The guy who played Franco did the same. Hapka and Rachel Melvin both were in an episode, Hapka as a grown Johnny and Melvin as a fake Gerogia, before being cast as Nathan and a recast Chelsea.

I knwo that for both Hapka and Melvin the casting director liked them greatly in their apprances so when roles came up that fit they called them in. With Taylor, he was a friend of Ken's, Sweeney likely had no connection between her two roles. Jones I am unsure of, and Evans was, i think, approached about playing Bonnie.

[DRW50]

I think she was warm up to the mid-90's, but not as warm as Ellen Parker. I can't see people having friendly chats with her, wanting her advice. She wasn't written that way when Ellen Dolan was in the role - she seemed to have a sharper edge.

[Susan Hunter]

Is there a headwriter whose work you hated while they were actually writing the show, but in hindsight, after they've been gone awhile, you realize that it wasn't all that bad?

[Khan]

To me, ED's Maureen had a lot in common with ANOTHER WORLD's Ada. Both were no-nonsense, shoot-from-the-hip types who didn't seem moved by sentimentality. And in a way, it's figures such as those who truly define the soap matriarch.

[Khan]

Yeah. Bill Bell and Kay Alden at Y&R. Especially where their dialogue, of ALL things, was concerned. Many writers in this business seem so driven by a need to be witty and hip with the words they put in characters' mouths that it often comes out sounding ridic. But Bell and his team really paid attention to how they wrote dialogue, using it as a tool to help the audience understand the characters and their motivations. Subsequently, every word counted. As I've said elsewhere on this board, I feel so ashamed of myself for not appreciating that more when he still was alive.

[DRW50]

I think she was that way at times, but some of her hysteria during the infertility story is just ugly to watch. A while back I posted a clip where she and Fletcher freaked out while listening to Charlotte Wheaton outing the Claire/Ed baby fiasco on a radio talk show, and it's like John Waters.

[vetsoapfan]

I never warmed up to Dolan as either Maureen or Margo. While acknowledging her technical skill as an actress, I always found her somewhat aloof and off-putting, even when she was playing more comedic scenes. But I adored Ellen Parker, and felt she was the perfect, warm, strong-yet-compassionate, up and coming matriarch type. Killing off the heart of the Bauer family, as has been said many times, was a fatal blow to the show.

Actually, that's true. I did find Dolan's Maureen to be more of a Reardon, whereas I found Parker's version to be more of a...Bauer. If THAT makes any sense, LOL!

[vetsoapfan]

Another vote for Kay Alden and even John F. Smith at Y&R. As much as I may have found fault with their decisions and take on things, the wretched writing we've had since then has made me long for the "good-old, not-as-bad-as-they-are-now" days.

[Mr. Vixen]

Why does Maurice Benard still have a job?

[vetsoapfan]

I've always wanted to know why TPTB at AS THE WORLD TURNS just didn't fire Eileen Fulton already. For many years before the show's cancellation, they obviously had no interest in writing for her, and the decimation of the character was painful to watch. From a complex, intriguing leading lady to the equivalent of a non-entity day player, who would show up occasionally to deliver a pithy few lines and then disappear again, sometimes for weeks or months. What blatant disrespect for the actress, the character, and the show's rich history. Other actors, whom their shows don't want to use, have been dropped over the years, regardless of their popularity, yet Fulton remained a slight, background presence until the very end. Why pay the salary to keep her around at all, but then not use her? The whole situation was weird.