I think all those succeeding teams didn't care for a core family like the Bauers. The Spauldings and Lewises always seemed to be more attractive. Plus, once they SORAS'd the hell out of Alan-Michael in 1987 to 18 (born in 1981), it probably would have been tricky to bring on at least Hope due to this.
My issue with removing the Bauers was that a core family with a rich history was gutted in about year. By the end of 1984, Ed was recast for the second time in 3 years, Hillary and Bill were killed off for no good reason (though Ed Bryce was really brought back in a guest role to finish Bill Bauer's story), Mike and Hope were completely written off, and Charita passed away off screen. It was Ed and Rick remaining, with Michael O'Leary having a little over a year under his belt and (IMHO) Richard Van Vleet being completely miscast as Ed.
I still think that Kobe planned to recast Mike Bauer once she fired Don Stewart. Meaning, Mike Bauer would leave for Washington DC temporarily in September of 1984 and return by October or November with a new actor - just in time to rescue Alexandra in Barbados and to add further legitimacy to Brandon Spaulding's return. However, when Peter Simon didn't resign with the show, they quietly wrote Mike Bauer off to Washington DC, never to return.
By
zanereed ·
