"What If .." Thread

[victoria foxton]

"What if..." Generations and Sunset Beach had not been cancelled.                                                           

GH - What if Gloria Monty had not returned.
GH - What if Dr. Lesley Webber had not been killed off in 1984.                                                       GL-What if they haven't fired  Michael Zaslow.                                                                                   GL -   What if  Beverly Mackenzie had stayed.     

[Franko]

What if Irna lived a decade longer? I'd really love her commentary on the ABC revolution, especially since it inspired changes for her shows. After 1983 or so, though, then I'd feel like she'd just get depressed.

[KMan101]

 

lol!! I love it. Totally coincidental, too.

 

Thanks everyone for participating. Just a fun idea. I've often had the "what if" going through my head, especially in terms of castings ...

[Forever8]

What if instead of Prince Richard what if Kyle Sampson was the one who found Reva in the water after driving off the bridge? - Guiding Light 

 

What if Kyle came back to Springfield along with his trophy wife Olivia Spencer but fell for Cassie? How would the Lewis clan feel about that?  As well how would it impact on Ben and Fletcher were still on the canvas too?- Guiding Light 

 

What if Erica and Dimitri's son lived ? - AMC 

 

What if Theresa, Whitney, Kay etc...focused on career and professional aspirations as well as their personal ones? - Passions 

 

What if DAYS win the lawsuit with Sony? - DAYS 

[KMan101]

 

LOVE the GL idea!

 

I hated Kay, Theresa and Gwen, etc. all were always consumed by getting their man, but at least we understand their desires, hopes and dreams. Albeit as shallow and vapid and as selfish as they may be ... nowadays I struggle to understand a lot of characters and what drives them. At least Whitney did focus on her tennis career the first few years. It was dropped and she kind of became a nothing character. The lackluster Chad recast sure didn't help. I hated losing Donn Swaby and Travis Schuldt in 2002

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 Eric Martsolf was so green. He's much better now. Passions had some bad actors in it's run, especially recasts, but man it had some good ones who made the [!@#$%^&*] they had on paper shine. I always enjoyed Lindsay, Ben Masters, Kim Ulrich, Juliet Mills, Josh Ryan Evans, Donn Swaby, Travis Schuldt, Natalie Zea ... both Taylor Anne and especially Deanna as Kay (Heidi was passable but Kay was done as a character by that point) ... Lena Cardwell, Mary Winstead, Jade Harlow ... Andrea Evans, Kathleen Noone ... Anwyho ... lol, I'm already taking it off-topic! 

[Soapsuds]

What if Douglas Marland hadn't died. What if HBS and Greg Marx hadn't left their roles as Tom and Margo. 

[Forever8]

You're Welcome! 

I remember reading the original idea it in the GL Thread.

 

Perhaps Olivia could've gotten tired of Kyle still being enthralled with Reva. So out of revenge she went after Joshua which at first it is strictly for payback but she ends up falling for him. Meanwhile, Kyle could've been the one who became attracted to Cassie because somehow she reminds him of his time with Reva. Kyle and Olivia eventually divorce. Cassie begins to spend time with Kyle who also bonds with Tammy and R.J.. Whilst, Reva is on the outside feeling jealous of her sister and her former lover. Kyle gives Cassie a loan to save the Jessup Farm in exchange she would accompany him to different functions and at first Olivia warns Cassie to watch out because of his past. However, Cassie tells her that she can stand up for herself since she is a girl from the wrong side of the tracks too. Reva too tells her about Kyle but Cassie throws in her face that she is jealous and to worry about her own failing marriage to Joshua. Months down the road, Kyle & Cassie get married in a decked out wedding with most of the cast in attendance. Reva gives the couple her best before once again trying to convince Cassie to be careful. Eventually a heavily pregnant Cassie, Kyle, and Reva somehow get into a car accident which Kyle injuries our fatal in which Cassie raises Holy Hell because Reva would be inadvertently responsible for his death. Cassie becomes a wealthy woman with millions to spare and ends up purchasing the Beacon Hotel. Not before giving birth to their premature daughter Sally named after Kyle's late mother. Kyle would end up adopting Tammy and R.J. like Richard did too.  Cassie would read the hell out of Reva for everything and will end with her being alone since Joshua and Olivia our still together etc... 

 

 

[SoapDope]

What if.......Bill Bell had decided to keep the Foster, Brooks, and Prentiss families along with the Abbott's instead of phasing them out in 82 ?

 

What if.......Nikki had never met Victor ?

 

What if.....Capitol had never been cancelled and B&B was added to the line up along with it ?

 

What if.....Prime time soaps Dallas, Knots, Dynasty etc...had never ended and kept on running like daytime shows ?

 

What if......Eric Braeden was shown the door ?

 

 

 

 

 

 

[DramatistDreamer]

 

In my post on the previous page, I did a "What If...?" about HBS and GM.  And if there hadn't been so many recasts and actors leaving during the 1980s, in particular.  Soaps were really rigid in regards to allowing their talent to take sabbaticals to pursue other creative projects but I think, that had ATWT been more flexible in rotating their characters to give some of their neglected characters more story meanwhile others took some time away, the show might have been spared some of the upheaval that it experienced, upheaval that adversely affected the stability and continuity of the show and some of the storylines.  Marland had the right idea initially to try to rotate Scott Bryce and Finn Carter but veered slightly off-course by opting to create that whole OOC story with Sierra being unfaithful to Craig and Craig coming to Oakdale and getting involved with yet another relative of Lucinda's.  Marland did do the right thing by eventually reuniting Craig and Sierra but unfortunately, I think it set a blueprint for the wrong path for future writers to make Craig a ridiculous character who engaged in frivolous relationships (like a marriage to Barbara).

As for Marland surviving that surgery, I think the way the executives at P&G were behaving and the changes they were making on the show, Marland would've been frustrated to no end and frankly, I'm not sure he would've stayed for too long, especially if he was ill and wanted to spare his health.  
 

 

Although I don't really watch the show anymore, just the other day, I was wondering how the Brooks family would deal with the "fake news" phenomenon and being called the "enemy of the state/people", even the degradation of the publishing industry, had the newspaper still been active. 

I was really young when the Brooks, Fosters were phased out and I'm really only familiar with the Prentiss family from what I've read yet I wonder whether the show was worse off for choosing to have such a tight focus on the uber wealthy families on the show.  Even if you have an upper middle class family, you can still show the struggles in a relatable way if that family is struggling for survival of their business in a fading industry.  It would've added a dose of realism within that fictional world.

[teplin]

What if GH's Luke Spencer had been killed off after a few months, as originally planned?

 

What if Beverlee McKinsey had gone back to AW after she left Texas?

 

What if the O.J. trial hadn't been televised?

 

 

 

[amybrickwallace]

What if...

 

Rita Lakin had remained HW of The Doctors? Althea and Nick came alive through her pen, and I doubt she would have broken them up so soon - and in such an ugly, bitter way - after their lavish wedding in late 1968. Which leads me to...

 

What if Elizabeth Hubbard and Gerald Gordon had never left the show? Would Althea and Nick have walked into the sunset together when the show ended in December 1982? (Liz was back on the show by then, but GG was on GH.)

 

What if TD had kept Peter Burnell as Mike instead of going the cliched plastic surgery route and recasting the role six times in the next nine years?

 

What if Marcy Walker and A Martinez had stayed on Santa Barbara to the end? Maybe Eden and Cruz (and a different writing/producing regime) would have kept the show on for at least another couple of years.

 

What if Robin Wright had never been offered The Princess Bride? Or what if she had been offered the movie but the Dobsons wouldn't let her out to do it? 

 

What if Marcy Walker had not gotten pregnant in real life in 1988? Would Eden still have been written as pregnant and doing the kidnapping/Paris storyline?

 

What if Dane Witherspoon had never been fired? Would Kelly/Joe have gone on to become the signature couple of the show instead of Eden/Cruz?

 

What if the show had never hired Jed Allan? The role of CC didn't click until he took over. Would the show have ended up killing off the Capwell patriarch?

[j swift]

What if Genie Francis's Diana Colville had become a huge hit with the audience on DAYS in 1990?  Would Marlena have been able to return to John?  Would Luke and Laura reunite?

[titan1978]

GH- What if Bob Guza had not left GH when his co-creation, Sunset beach was picked up.  So many of his great stories were de-railed.  The return of Lesley.  Nikolas.  Miranda (who was supposed to have Alexis’ backstory), etc.  The computer game Lucky was playing against Stefan that led nowhere.  The faberge egg.  All finished by Culliton and not well.  When he came back they just moved on from all of this and started over.

 

DAYS- What if Carly and Lawrence hadn’t left early in Reilly’s tenure.  He gave her a fantastic story in buried alive, and made Vivian a true villain for her.  Would there have been room for Hope with Carly there at that point?  Would Marlena have been his focus for crazy since he had already had success with Carly buried alive?

 

GL-  What if Sherry Stringfield, Beverley McKinsey,  Kimberly Simms, and Ellen Parker had not left?  I think in less than two years that is a lot of front burner and important talent to walk out the door/be fired.  And in true JFP fashion, replaced with the likes of Lucy.

 

ATWT- What if Wendy Riche had taken over ATWT as was rumored a couple of times after ABC removed her from GH?  I think she would have been a good fit on that show.  Much better than when she was rumored for Y&R.

 

What if Claire Labine had landed at AMC would have been awesome. 

 

Curlee at GH would also have been amazing.

 

 

 

[BingCherry]

What if Loving never became The City post-Loving Murders?

[Fevuh]

OJ - I think alot of shows would have lasted much longer

 

ATWT - a more seriously done 5-angle - between Lucinda, John, Lisa, Emma, and Cal.   They kind of did with a few of these obviously, but I don't remember it being really heavy duty for any of them.  And Emma always kind of acted disinterested in Cal and I don't know why...I thought they had great chemistry.  And I just remember Lisa/John/Lucinda - they kind of just had Lucinda win John with not much back and forth.