I never really thought of the similarity. You're right, they are very similar early on.
Early Bobbie is also similar to what we know of Charlotte Bauer.
Beyond GL and GH being such different soaps, and the huge popularity of Luke, I think the biggest difference between the siblings is how quickly the show pivoted Nola away from a seedier world. Even after Bobbie was "redeemed" (which took much longer than Nola's redemption), her past was never truly gone.
Marland's choice to make the Reardons so nice outside of Nola also meant there was less backstory to mine compared to the Spencers. You had Ruby, who was kind, but also razor-sharp, a reminder of where they'd come from. Nola had Bea, who was the stock sweetie pie mother.
By 1982, Nola was moving away from most of the foundation of the character, and there wasn't very much left by the time Lisa Brown quit the show.
They could have brought some of that hard edge back in her second run, but it just never worked out, due to terrible, terrible writing from start to finish.
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DRW50 ·
