Members KMan101 Posted April 14, 2019 Members Share Posted April 14, 2019 (edited) Kind of a random idea, but every so often when I think back on soaps and casting and character mistakes (or not, depending on your preference), I always wonder "what if ..." Like, what if instead of forcing Rappaports on us on OLTL, Will was a Drew recast (and Drew obviously wouldn't have been dead), Jessica Morris instead was Sarah ... I could go on ... Anyone up for some "what if" theorizing or is this a pointless thread? LOL Edited April 14, 2019 by KMan101 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Forever8 Posted April 14, 2019 Members Share Posted April 14, 2019 What if Ricky Paul Goldin played Miguel Santos Jr. instead? - Guiding Light What if those rumors were true about Serena (Carly Schroeder) coming back with her adoptive sister Christina? - GH What if Sarah Brown took over the role of Cassie Winslow instead of Nicole Forrester? - Guiding Light Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members John Posted April 14, 2019 Members Share Posted April 14, 2019 What if Sarah Brown became Marty on OLTL instead of Christina Chambers Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Bright Eyes Posted April 14, 2019 Members Share Posted April 14, 2019 What if James E. Reilly had never done double duty and stayed solely with writing Passions, never returning to DAYS? What if Lorraine Broderick was given a real chance at DAYS? What if CJ Roberts was ever brought back to OLTL? Maybe the show just needed a handful more years. DAYS has brought back Sarah Horton finally, after all. What if Ryan and Greenlee were killed off on AMC and not Gillian and Leo? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Faulkner Posted April 14, 2019 Members Share Posted April 14, 2019 What if Gina Tognoni had replaced Amelia Heinle instead of Michelle Stafford on Y&R? What if GL had moved forward with Alan-Michael/Gilly instead of Alan-Michael/Lucy? What if Claire Labine’s Heart and Soul had gotten the green light at ABC? What if she’d gotten a shot at head writing AMC? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
victoria foxton Posted April 14, 2019 Share Posted April 14, 2019 What if GL's Maureen never died. Instead out of spite embarked on an affair with Roger. What if Days John had remained Roman. What if AW, ATWT, GL OLTL& AMC were never cancelled. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members juppiter Posted April 14, 2019 Members Share Posted April 14, 2019 With the P&G soaps I’m thinking we would be praying for a mercy killing at this point. Don’t know about AMC and OLTL. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Forever8 Posted April 14, 2019 Members Share Posted April 14, 2019 What if Greenlee left Pine Valley after Leo died never to return? - AMC What if CJ and Sarah Roberts returned to the show with good actors in the role ? - OLTL What if Nancy Curlee went to write for GH instead of retiring? - GH What if Guiding Light never went to Peapack ? - GL What if Loving stayed on air until the 2000's? - LOVING Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
victoria foxton Posted April 14, 2019 Share Posted April 14, 2019 What if GL's Bridget & David became a couple. What if GH's BJ never died. What if GH"s Sonny never appeared. What if GH's Alan never died. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members DramatistDreamer Posted April 14, 2019 Members Share Posted April 14, 2019 (edited) I'm not sure how specific to be because probably not everyone who reads this will know the characters that I speak of but here goes: What if...? On ATWT, in particular, had they rotated characters instead of purging so many when writing regimes changed, it might have helped continuity just a little bit, even as changes were made. Just the other day I was watching some old episodes and saw a character Cal Randolph, who I found to be quite interesting and thought it could've been interesting if he had not been killed off and instead made viable and perhaps had a romance with someone like Iva Snyder, down the road since both seemed to have had the misfortune of being put in unrequited love situations. Also, what if Lindsey Frost had been made into a different Stewart like Annie or Dee rather than Betsy and instead brought back Kim Ulrich, the actress who played Diana McColl. ATWT often brought back actors to play different roles and Ulrich and Runyeon had a lot more chemistry than Frost and Runyeon did-- perhaps the pairing of Steve and Betsy could've been saved, even for a few more years. Some actors on ATWT left to do movies and primetime but a lot more left because of the grind of soap acting. What if these shows had balanced the storylines and cast better to give actors more time and leeway? Some of the most popular actors/couples could've been kept on the show. Both Gregg Marx and Hillary Bailey Smith (at different times) wanted time to pursue other projects-- if the show hadn't been so rigid about keeping each in heavy story and instead, gave the actors sabbaticals to pursue other things and ceded some of that time to neglected characters (Heather Dalton, Roy Franklin, etc.) the show might have really developed a dynamic African American couple in Heather and Roy (which the show never developed) while keeping a highly popular couple in Tom and Margo with the two actors who brought a lot of romantic chemistry and sex appeal. Same thing for Scott Bryce and Finn Carter, instead of all of those ridiculous recasts, what if the show had rotated the characters out for a few years, and then just invite the characters for brief storyline arcs as a couple, instead of having Craig venture back to Oakdale, looking like a wayward husband and shoved in some pairing du jour. It would've made more sense to do things the way they did with Penny Hughes left and returned for brief arcs over the years (that should've continued). In short, what if the show had figured out a way to rotate characters so that they could keep their most popular actors on the show for longer periods over time? What if companies like P&G had saved all of their master reels instead of "wiping" shows? What if they had focused, not on cosmetic changes like theme song but focused on expanding storylines to keep them more relevant to an evolving audience? What if they had done a better job of promoting their shows as part of the cultural landscape, instead of a guilty pleasure that only housewives enjoyed to cure boredom? What if soaps had created a proper "pipeline" for writing talent? Properly scouted and recruited students at prestigious writing programs across the country for dedicated fellowships and apprenticeships, had those chosen to assist writers on scripts and then by the end of the program, had writing trainees write a spec script for shows within the P&G universe? What if there was a dedicated group of archivists and restoration professionals to restore the quality of classic episodes the same way films and other TV shows are restored? Edited April 14, 2019 by DramatistDreamer Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Webmaster Errol Posted April 14, 2019 Webmaster Share Posted April 14, 2019 So, this is a bit ironic. I had been writing for much of the afternoon and the article I just published ends with the very title of this thread! Wow. https://www.soapoperanetwork.com/2019/04/second-reboot-all-my-children-one-life-to-live-disney-abc Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members watson71 Posted April 15, 2019 Members Share Posted April 15, 2019 What if Douglass Watson had not passed away in real life in 1989? What would have happened with the character of Mac Cory on AW? Would Rachel have left Mac to be paired with Carl Hutchins? Would Watson have been fired by JFP who got rid of every character on the show over 55 years old during 1995 and 1996? JFP carelessly discarded "mature" characters on every show she produced. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Khan Posted April 15, 2019 Members Share Posted April 15, 2019 "What if..." Douglas Marland had not died (in 1993), and instead, his series, "The Soul Survivors," had been developed and brought to the airwaves (either by P&G, or by one of the networks)? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Paul Raven Posted April 15, 2019 Members Share Posted April 15, 2019 Whatt if Edge of Night stayed on CBS and instead moved it to 4pm in 1975? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members applcin Posted April 15, 2019 Members Share Posted April 15, 2019 (edited) GH - What if Ryan Chamberlain had not been turned into a psycho? JL and Kristina Wagner had some nice, romantic chemistry going on prior to that and I always wanted to see that play out rather than have him be a psycho killer and her ending up with Mac. GH - What if Genie Francis hadn't left GH in the early 80s at the height of L & L's popularity? Aside from how would their story have continued to play out, there would have been no need for the introductions of Emma Samms, Janine Turner and who would eventually become the bigger star, Demi Moore. Come to think of it, Genie may also have not ended up meeting and marrying Jonathan Frakes had she stayed throughout rather than leaving twice in a few years' span. EON- What if the show hadn't been cancelled? What would the next mystery have been? Edited April 15, 2019 by applcin Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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