Bauer Barbecue 2

Link to previous thread.

I just read in the old thread that Rosemary Prinz is 90 years old. Helen Wagner died a decade ago at 91.

I was too young to recall Penny and Jeff's heyday. But I was watching when she came back for Kim and Bob's wedding in 1985.

And then Nancy and Chris' anniversary in 1986 and then again a few months later for Chris' funeral. She popped up again when Frannie's story brought the family to London where Penny lived.

My hat's off to Douglas Marland. He certainly had enough women in Penny's age range or a few years younger in Oakdale. But he saw her significance to the Hughes family and made sure she was included.

You compare that to not seeing a single Reardon at Maureen's funeral over on GL.

For that matter, we didn't see Rick, Mike, or Hope, granted there were mentions of them.

I know I'm not alone in my love for these shows and the sense of family they provided.

I'm alone as many of us are in this COVID world, but I'm even more alone. My mom passed away earlier this year due to COVID and it sucks beyond words not to be able to call her.

I have days where I just would like to fall asleep and not wake up. I know this will pass and the world will open up again. That life I had pre-COVID that I hated so much? I'd love to get it back.

A proper lady never reveals her true age.

Doug was pretty amazing at bringing back people. Mary didn't come back with Don for the anniversary, but she got a mention at least. And then, not much later, Mary did return for Chris' funeral and mentioned how much she regretted missing the anniversary! He also worked David in whenever the actor was available. He accompanied Betsy to Greece, for example. Even Ralph showed up for the senior living storyline that never went anywhere.

R2 I know how you feel, these shows provided a family for me too. I hate that GL and AW are gone. It is so wonderful to share our memories and watch old episodes, especially through this current crisis. Hang in there.

I wonder if even Doug would be able to bring people back for funerals today. One of the big complaints I read on DOOL threads is that people who ought to be at weddings and funerals aren't. Some of them aren't even mentioned. (I'm not a fan of that show, so most of the specifics go right over my head, but I think there were a lot of people missing from Will's funeral.)

I don’t remember who it was exactly but on Guiding Light there was a funeral for a Bauer I believe and it was hysterical that they were like opening the door and waving at people leaving and saying their names as if they had been there but we never saw them. Many of these people I’ve ever watched on the show because I was too young but I was infuriated.

The last 10 years or so on AW were pathetic in regard to bringing back old characters / castmates for weddings and funerals. It was the bare bones; the rich history and the family dynamic was gone. Now, I would love to just see the bare minimum of the Bay City community.

R6 it more budgetary - back in the late 80s early 90s Soaps had money to burn and the burned through it with tons of location shoots. Marland chose to bring old faces back, instead of location shoots

Nowadays when there is a wedding or funeral, some contract players are not even there as it would cost too much. So if they can't even afford to have a contract player hanging around for a wedding, there is no way they can bring backs tons of old faces for the event.

Listening to the Locher Room writers chat... Did I hear them correctly? When they pitched the Roger has ALS story they intended to bring together Roger and Holly as soulmates? No f-ing way!

I didn't remember hearing that part, R10. (Not challenging you, I just didn't remember hearing that.)

R10 I do know that Zaslow did pitch that storyline (he suggested a stroke, not ALS) but it was shot down because TPTB at P&G said that is not Roger - he is not a "Wheezing old man" (P&G words)

A refocusing on Roger/Holly would have changed the trajectory away from the Fletcher/Holly pairing (snoozeville) not to mention the batshit crazy bit that Holly ended up with. Nursery rhymes and stealing kids - what a joke.

It was great to see Kristi Ferrell back on with Alan for the Bauer barbecue but it would be so nice if she was on one more time where we can actually hear her voice and see her face.

The other interesting part was their trying to get Peter Simon back for the Sebastian story and admitting how it failed without him.

I dont ever remember seeing this opening with Eddie and Georgia.

And isnt Scotty D so good-looking you want to eat him up!

[quote] It was great to see Kristi Ferrell back on with Alan for the Bauer barbecue but it would be so nice if she was on one more time where we can actually hear her voice and see her face.

She has a bad connection, wherever she is.

Alan should just do one with Ferrell and Elvera Roussel, both who had bad connections. And get them to do it somewhere there’s a decent one.

One thing I will give Jill Farren Phelps props for is that when she was doing OLTL she dusted off Zaslow's old character David Renaldi. So that he could remain working, as he wished to, after P&G said no.

It was a short return for Zaslow on OLTL, but it was nice of her. I think Brynn Thayer and/or Strasser had something to do with convincing ABC and/or Phelps, as well.

The Crying Game!

Aw, poor Kim. She can be accused of lots of things, including being the hammiest ham that ever hammed, but she cared, a lot.

[quote] It was a short return for Zaslow on OLTL, but it was nice of her

P&G actually blocked an earlier return, because even though they dismissed him - they still held him to his contract until Zaslow lawsuit with P&G got settled

Once a settlement was reached, P&G released him from his contract and he was free to move on to OLTL

Kim cared but she also made sure they paid her the full contract despite everybody else getting mandatory pay cuts to keep the show on the air.

And I doubt P&G said, "Aw, everyone but Kim took a pay cut--let's keep the show running!"

Business is business. Contracts are contracts.

Was it Kim who said something along the lines of I will take a pay cut when my contract expires but they need to honor the contract they agreed to until then

I wonder who they cut to keep her on.

R26 yes.

R27 I don't know if they had to cut anyone to keep her on, but she was the only person who got to do that. I believe Laura Wright tried it and they were like, um, no. She left for GH soon after.

I don't blame KZ. Maura West said similar things during her time at ATWT.

We all see "why is someone being unflexible, the show is struggling to survive" but we didn't always see the production elements, that they ask a lot of the actors. Susan Flannery talked about this at one time, where actors often were on set from 7 or 8 am until 1 am and then were expected to come back at 7 the next day.

It all depends on what kind of contract you've negotiated. A star like ZImmer could conceivably ask to work a Tuesday - Thursday schedule and be out by dinner time, giving herself a nice comfy 4-day weekend and banker's hours on the days she did work. What that meant for everyone else = hell.

She said she "sweated her balls off in Peapack".

[quote]And isnt Scotty D so good-looking you want to eat him up!

Well, I always thought so.

Those horrible women from ABC did not deserve to live, let alone make decisions about entertainment of any sort.

Kimberly Simms version of Melinda Sue was so serious all the time. Almost like a different character entirely.

R32 She's all but said that in several interviews. And they really were. But it was still good casting.....I actually liked Simms' version a bit better overall, to be honest, though I've always liked Krista Tesreau too.

This is why they call it show BUSINESS - don't think for a second the show would screw anyone over. Zimmer knew that, as she had seen heads roll over the years (she was there when Zaslow got axed)

Zimmer had P&G in a corner - as she is one of the very few stars that has a 52 week cycle. She just got renewed for her third and last cycle - when they came to her with the request of a pay cut. Even if they did fire her, they'd have to pay off the final year of her contract, which is 2 shows a week for the next 52 weeks.,

The show did get back at her by putting the character (Reva) on the back-burner. It seemed like punishment as Zimmer got antsy sitting at home wanting to chew the scenery,

Kimberley Simms’ Mindy gelled with Beth Chamberlin’s Beth. They were very warm with each other. I wonder how she would have done with Judi’s Beth.

Zimmer couldn’t have been in and out quickly. You don’t understand the process of shooting daytime, especially when you’re top of the call sheet. Days are long.

[quote] Zimmer couldn’t have been in and out quickly. You don’t understand the process of shooting daytime, especially when you’re top of the call sheet. Days are long.

Agree, not even a top star like Susan Lucci could demand working conditions like that. They only thing they could get is first in/first out clause

Meaning all their scenes would be filmed first. Erika Slezak and Victoria Wyndham had that

Zimmer said in the Emmy Archive interview that she was there early around 6 for rehearsals and then waited until the afternoon for her turn to shoot. This allowed her to watch the other soaps.

[quote] Zimmer said in the Emmy Archive interview that she was there early around 6 for rehearsals and then waited until the afternoon for her turn to shoot. This allowed her to watch the other soaps.

She didn't ask for the first in/first out clause - looks like she wanted to be a team player

She said Nicole Forester didn't know how to play subtext or words to that effect.

I'd love to hear someone like Jane Elliot discuss the different shooting schedules on the various soaps

BEFORE soaps dissolved into guerilla film- making (where they are basically filming dress rehearsal) this is how the schedules were done on the various soaps

On Days of our Lives, they had a 12 hour day. All actors had to get there by 6AM and were not allowed to leave until 6PM - even if you scenes was done really early, actors were not allowed to leave.

After the read-through the actors would spend their entire day running lines all day long, until the afternoon filming

At General Hospital and Young & Restless they had block and tape - much easier schedule. Actors showed up an 90 minutes before their scenes was scheduled, go to the set, block and then tape. Really fast, in and out. Which is why actors on those shows had an easier time to do night time work as they could move the schedule around

On the P&G soaps they had an AM and PM shift 7 AM to 1 PM / 2PM to 7 PM and it was Dress-Block-Tape

On the ABC NY soaps it was also Dress-Block-Tape, but it was more of a 9AM to 9PM - you didn't have to stay until the very end, Once your scene was done, you could go. Not so with "Days of our Lives" you were stuck there until 6PM.

Now all of this block-dress-tape is thrown out the window.

I'm not saying she was in and out quickly. I'm saying that she was prioritized first in the call sheet and shooting schedule, so she was out earlier relative to everyone else. When she was the A story year round, that meant a shitty schedule for everyone else.

[quote] I'm not saying she was in and out quickly. I'm saying that she was prioritized first in the call sheet and shooting schedule, so she was out earlier relative to everyone else.

Did Kim Zimmer say she had first in/first out privileges?

She was the only one to get an "and" in the credits I think.

R44 only during her first run - when she came back in 1995, she DID NOT get the "and" credit

She must have been peeved about that.

She campaigned to get back on the show in 1995 and JFP resisted until the network overruled her, the bastards.

Kim Zimmer return over-lapped with Marcy Walker exit - for a few weeks they were on the same show together. But shared NO scenes.

She made Cynthia Watros cry backstage because she was too cheery behind the scenes.

[quote] She made Cynthia Watros cry backstage because she was too cheery behind the scenes.

Cynthia disputes that, for her part she said she was over-acting in morning rehearsal and said she learned to save it on the stage.

Cynthia sets the record straight

I just want to set the record straight. I left GL and I was stunned, because there was some article that surfaced that said, “Kim Zimmer and Cynthia Watros had a real fight!” That is so not true, unless Kim remembers something I don’t remember! (Laughs) There was never, ever a fight. We had to bicker so much as our characters on-screen, but I respected Kim. I admired her, and I was in awe of her, and her talent. I have nothing but good feelings for this woman. I was honored to have worked with her, and blessed that she left me do the things I did to her on-camera. She was so patient with me. When I first started at GL, I was a super enthusiastic actress who would go into rehearsal, and would know my lines, and would be screaming at her. It was six o’clock in the morning, and I would be screaming at her as Annie. Kim would just take it (laughs) and I just love her for that. I think I spit on her a couple of times on-camera and she didn’t say anything; because this was about the characters we had to play. Kim was a professional, and she loved me through it. So when I read that stuff, and I see sometimes it randomly appears, I just want to clarify, once and for all … it did not happen.

But Kim was the one to say it. So who's lying?

Breathing Under Dirt.

Whatever that means.

They aged like fine wine.

....

Here's the bit I remembered reading where Flannery talked about Zimmer and Byrne and the union.

There are so, so, SO many pieces of the puzzle that we don't always know.

Not to say X performer isn't a bitch or Y performer is a ham, but there's a lot more to it.

This interview from Kristen Vigard talks about how she was working 14+ hours 5-6 days a week as a teenager. Which I think would be totally illegal now!

GL should've brought back Lucy Cooper at some point. Beth E. probably would've hated that.

Doug Cummings reveals himself as Kim secret admirer on As The World Turns (Kim finds the shrine Douglas constructed)

This episode won John Wesley Shipp the Emmy

Marj Dusay on Capitol.

Anybody remember Capitol starring DL fave Lana Wood as Fran?

R21

That is a huge diamond rock on KZ's hand.

The year Cynthia won

Marj Dusay seemed a lot more "Alexandra" like in the video at R60 than she ever did while actually playing Alex on GL.

I always though Bill Beyers was so cute as Wally.

Dusay was apparently a terrific lady but was, in my opinion, always playing caricatures, not people.

I loved Marj and disagree, though I think she had a tendency to play humor or over the top when writing wasn't there.

[quote] I think she had a tendency to play humor or over the top when writing wasn't there.

She did say that when she was first let go by Paul Rauch in 1998 - she said the writing so uneven, she had to throw in comedy as she only had two to say

"Amanda is a whore" and "Boys don't fight"

R66 Then she wasn’t a good actress. She had this annoying breathy delivery and would flub her lines. She didn’t portray the dignity or piercing humor Bev displayed. I know we’ve been over this a million times. Her and Ron Raines hurt the show badly as recasts.

Yeah, we have been over it a million times.

Everyone is entitled to say or post what they want but I would respectfully ask we consider not doing another deep dive on that topic.

[quote] Her and Ron Raines hurt the show badly as recasts.

Since Chris Berneau was dead and Bev didn't want to come back, it was either Ron & Marj or no character at all

So which would you choose?

R69 I wouldn't say that is true. I liked Marj's first run on the show.

I think there could have been many better choices than Ron, though.

R69 better recasts. Which they could have done. Or no character. Bring back Amanda as an Alex but as a villainess.

Thanks for the answer R67 - no Spaulding characters

[quote] better recasts.

Betty Rea cast both Ron Raines and Marj Dusay, so it is obvious you would rather not have Alex or Alan on the show, if it had to be those two

Betty was not perfect as we all could point to dozens of bad decisions. For every Kevin Bacon or Nia Long or Michelle Forbes there were dozens of Ann Hamiltons.

R74 then fine, no Alex or Alan on the show, if you had to have your way

I think perhaps it was time to retire Alex or Alan or backburner them. I like the idea of Amanda being brought back or Vickie as villains. I know they were brought back but a redo with better recasts would have worked. Phillip and Alan-Michael could have rebattled as the new generation.

R75 After what they did to Alex in her second run, yes, it’s better no character than character assassination. Same with Beth.

I didn't see the originals, so Ron Raines and Marj Dusay were Alan and Alex to me and I really liked them. I did like Joan Collins' run as Alex, though. Alan's death at the end of GL had me crying.

GL, snake bit since 1992, losing Joan Collins was tragic.

R78 That’s fair. I’m sure it makes all the difference when you don’t have something to compare with.

They actually did let Ron Raines go (due to budget cuts) and put him on recurring. The show had thought, Raines would wait by the phone for them call him in. But they faced scheduling headaches as Raines was in demand on the touring circuit, he would travel all over the USA to do one-night engagements. So finally TPTB cried uncle and signed him back on contract.

R168 Simms only wanted to resign for one year - P&G insisted on a two year deal and would not take no for answer

After Simms wouldn't budge, they just dismissed her and decided to recast

Thank you for this information. How disappointing that Kimberley Simms couldn't stay on as Mindy. They ended up with two lame recasts.

Ok-I know we have discussed actresses that would have been a better fit for Alex than Marj Dusay in 1993.

What about Alan? If not Ron Raines, who would have made a better Alan recast in 1995?

R83 Nicolas Coster; speaking of whom, get him for a Locher Room chat.

Ron Raines was so sexy as Alan. But too young for the part.

I can't think of one off the top of my head, R83, though R84's suggestion isn't terrible.

Alan had a certain quiet rage to him, a Gothic element that was popular in soaps in the 70s and 80s (think of Palmer at AMC, too) but Raines was neither quiet nor subtle enough to be Gothic. He played to the back rows, as theater actors do.

We seem to be forgetting Daniel Pilon was the first actor to replace Chris Bernau following his death.

Pilon was boring as fuck. An awful choice. I would have accepted Dennis Parlato as Alan.

Daniel Pilon's Alan physically abused Reva.

Pilon was a physical match in many ways to Bernau but really couldn't act very well.

Parlato would have been an interesting choice, for sure.

I'm not suggesting the actual actor here, but someone who had that quiet rage sort of thing down in later years was Trevor St John. Someone similar to that but the right age. Raines was also too young, or read too young onscreen for the role.

Ludo Sanders, the Dutch Alan Spaulding, is still hot as hell. He’s been on Goede Tijden, Slechte Tijden for over 30 years

R91 woof!

Here's Liz Hubbard, paying the mortgage!

Having the right people in the right roles is enormous for a show especially when the writing isn’t good. People will watch compelling actors playing crappy writing.

R94.

#truth

[quote] Ok-I know we have discussed actresses that would have been a better fit for Alex than Marj Dusay in 1993.

Who did we say would be better than Marj Dusay?

Gillian Spencer would have been interesting.

[quote] Gillian Spencer would have been interesting.

At that point she retired from acting, to focus on writing full-time

I do wish I could find the Weekly article that was posted after Bev's departure, that recommended 10 actresses who could or should play Alex.

Marj was on it, as was Robin Strasser (we know she actually talked to the folks at GL about it) and Constance Towers was also on that list, if I recall.

Diahann Carroll would have made an excellent Alex if her father spent more time in Barbados.

I remember reading that Christine Tudor (Gwyneth on Loving) was one of the ladies who auditioned for Alexandra. I always thought she could have worked in the part - she worked well with younger actors which Bev M. did very well. And she acted the heck out of her final storyline on Loving when she murdered half the town.

Jane Elliott would have.

Anybody would have esp during the second run.

Beth Chamberlin was a good recast but she was bland during her first run as Beth. Her hair was awful and she wasn’t as beautiful as she became later. She had good chemistry with Grant, KS’s Mindy and Michael O. She had great chemistry with Mark Derwin. I think, in hindsight mind you, they should have sent Phillip off to prison and brought Lujack back but Nick would have sufficed.

Florence Henderson pops in my mind as somebody who could have pulled off the role. She had an iron lady side to her that came out in interviews sometimes.

They really made Beth way too promiscuous when she came back the third time.

R105 Good writing could have sold that. Instead they just butchered a once extremely popular character. My mom told my her GH friends would ask her about the Beth storyline all the time and would watch if something exciting was happening. Several converted to GL until VCRs became standard. She came back nothing like she was before. I hate to say this but they raped the character all over again. I find it quite shocking what they did to Beth.

Yes. Also Did they ever explain why Phillip and Beth got divorced? They were a happy family with Lizzie and they couldn't make things better after all they had been through? It didn't make sense to have them at odds.

R107 No it didn’t make sense apparently Phillip was obsessed about who was A Spaulding. I think it had to do with the whole Neil Everest saga and why Phillip and Beth were exiled. He returned to SF against Beth’s wishes so she divorced him. Again, not believable but good writing could have done wonders to explain. Then Beth comes back a year later completely crazed and a total 180 from what she was before. I blame Paul Rauch.

Penny Fuller, Christine Tudor...Lydia Bruce....

ultimately, though, McKinsey was irreplaceable.

The whole A spaulding was dumb; the writer fell in love with the coincidence that Alan, Amanda, Alex and Alan all started with A.

I guess little Matthew Spaulding, Jennifer Richards' son, India, and Victoria Spaulding were off the hook.

I would have killed off Buzz (maybe he could have fallen off a roof like Maureen dreamed she was falling off a roof in her dream) and used the money to bring Beth back much sooner and hire a writer who can watch old episodes and read old synopses.

Paul Raunch and the writers were losing Cynthia Watros and Annie so they upped the psycho and bitch factor into Dinah and Beth. It worked on Dinah but it made no sense for Beth. Beth was pretty normal for the first month or two when she returned, other than making Harley jealous. But then they had Annie and Dinah molding Beth to be like them. Not long after Beth was whoring around and rubbing her tongue under her top lip. I bet it got Raunch aroused.

I do wish I could find the Weekly article that was posted after Bev's departure, that recommended 10 actresses who could or should play Alex.

Marj was on it, as was Robin Strasser (we know she actually talked to the folks at GL about it) and Constance Towers was also on that list, if I recall.

[R99] I remember that article. I used to have it but think it got lost in a move.

Yeah, it didn’t work for Beth. Dinah was enough. Now, having Beth triggered by dating the abusive Carl, like how Prof Blackburn triggered her when he kidnapped and tried to rape her leading to her killing him, would have been interesting. They played around with that but weren’t competent enough to pull it off and it was dropped. Like was said above, they took one of the most popular characters in the show’s history and butchered her. Was there outrage?

Great article

I still think Marj did very well on her initial run. I think she got the essence of Alex but also made it her own.

She was hampered even then by the show's insistence on rehashing the Nick/Mindy/Alex conflict, which really deflated the minute Ms. Simms left the role, but she had some nice moments in there.

The later runs were a mess......to me, the character of Alex died the day they had Alex stalking Reva in a blonde wig.

But Raines was never Alan to me, ever, not for one second. He was somewhat interesting with Annie, and his death at the end of the show was sad, but I think I might have preferred that the show killed off Alan years earlier and introduced another Spaulding of some kind in his place.

I always thought the only time that Ron Raines' Alan worked was when he was with Cynthia Watros' Annie. I also liked his Alan with Reva in late 1995. I wish they had stayed a couple and rocked the town as a power couple. Instead they stuck her with Buzz and the diner. Ugh!

I think one of the other Alex contenders listed was Domini Blythe, who was on the last several months of Search for Tomorrow.

If I remember right, she was Australian or South African and if she had been cast as Alex, that would have been (at the time) the second time Beverlee was re-cast with a woman with a foreign accent. (Of course, eventually they DID recast her a second time with the very British Joan Collins!)

Rauch was an idiot (sorry, it fits) not to utilize Mary Kay Adams when she came back as India.

She made Marj more believable as Alex.

She had history with Phillip, was a proven antagonist.

Agreed, R118.

I think India befell the same issues that Nola had: only the writer that created them really understand what to do with them.

*understood

Another great articke from Soap Opera Weekly via March 1992: Guiding Light: Blueprint for #1

Too bad Jill Farren Phelps ruined all of that.

Speaking of Mary Kay Adams Krista Tesreau said at Alan’s Barbecue show that she, Kim Z and MKA all appeared on The Merv Griffin Show but they had to be in bathing suits and MKA refused. I don’t think we ever saw MKA in a bathing suit on GL nor would we ever need to

Caught a stupid miss by the writers in a December 1997 episode. Lizzie and Beth are looking at photos from Beth and Phillip's wedding and they mention Alan being there. He wasn't, he was in prison about two years at that point. 🙄

Speaking of Mary Kay Adams Krista Tesreau said at Alan’s Barbecue show that she, Kim Z and MKA all appeared on The Merv Griffin Show but they had to be in bathing suits and MKA refused. I don’t think we ever saw MKA in a bathing suit on GL nor would we ever need to

[R122] That's right, wish that was available to watch.

I understand there's a fair amount of turnover on soaps and a good show only has certain actors for so long.

The thing that frustrated me about GL at the end was that there were SO many characters they could have chosen from to bring on in those last few years. I mean, sure, Jonathan existed after the San Cristobel retcon, but what about Peter Reardon? A boy with lots of family, connections to Vanessa, the Lewises and the Reardons, but no permanence......with Bridget as a mother and Roger Thorpe as a grandfather....who does he become?

There were three Ross/Blake kids that could have been SORASed.

I just got so frustrated with Jeffrey O'Neill eating the show and the writers being forced to forge connections for him. The actress seemed nice enough but why did Ava exist? That character served no purpose, and was gone not long after she arrived. All these children of existing characters or old favorites and we get.....Ashley Wolfe.

[quote] I still think Marj did very well on her initial run. I think she got the essence of Alex but also made it her own. She was hampered even then by the show's insistence on rehashing the Nick/Mindy/Alex conflict, which really deflated the minute Ms. Simms left the role, but she had some nice moments in there.

Marj Dusay & Kimberly Simms never worked together - was long gone by the time Marj Dusay joined the show

[quote] I think one of the other Alex contenders listed was Domini Blythe, who was on the last several months of Search for Tomorrow. If I remember right, she was Australian or South African and if she had been cast as Alex,

Though Domini was born in the UK, she resided in Canada and worked at the Stratford Festival - her best role was in More Tales of the City

Should also be mentioned that Susan Seaforth Hayes (Julie "DAYS") also auditioned for the part of Alexandria

[quote]Should also be mentioned that Susan Seaforth Hayes (Julie "DAYS") also auditioned for the part of Alexandria

Humm. Never knew that. But it does make sense. Days unceremoniously dumped SSH in Jan 1993, so she would have been available to play Alexandra when GL was recasting later that year.

They could've asked Louise Shaffer (Rae, Ryan's Hope) to audition.

[quote] Marj Dusay & Kimberly Simms never worked together - was long gone by the time Marj Dusay joined the show

I wasn't arguing that they did. What I was saying was that Marj was saddled with having to try to breathe life into that Nick/Mindy/Alex conflict, a story that lost a lot of momentum when Kimberley Simms left (and of course, when Bev left too). None of us cared about Nick and Mindy by the time Alex came back to town.

Marj was able to make some inroads with the character when playing other rivalries and/or relationships. There was a fabulously written dinner where she tells Roger to go to hell that reminded me of Marj's work at Santa Barbara, and I think both scenes were written by Patrick Mulcahey.

BTW Patrick Mulcahey told Soap Opera Digest recently that it was NOT a mistake to kill off Maureen Bauer - saying the passing of that character spun the remaining characters in new storylines, that would have happened if Maureen stayed on the canvas

On Friday the Locher Room is hosting William deVry from GH and his longtime romantic partner Rebecca Staab who played Jessie Matthews for a stretch on GL in the 80s.

That will be interested......Jessie and Simon were everywhere and then disappeared!

[quote] Jessie and Simon were everywhere and then disappeared!

they were actually a couple off-screen for many years

The guy that played Simon was Canadian and William deVry is Canadian

Yeah, show really pushed Jesse and Simon on us. And the publicity machine worked overtime trying to convince us they were the next big thing.

Perhaps they would have been, but 1986 was such a bad year for GL, Simon and Jesse certainly suffered because of it.

Simon was kind of cute if I remember correctly.

He was great with India and Alex

[quote] Yeah, show really pushed Jesse and Simon on us. And the publicity machine worked overtime trying to convince us they were the next big thing. Perhaps they would have been, but 1986 was such a bad year for GL, Simon and Jesse certainly suffered because of it.

That was Gail Kobe and Pam Long - when both left and replaced by Joe Willmore & Mary Ryan Munisteri the first thing they did was AXE the Jessie & Simon characters

The actor who played Simon (Shawn Thompson) absolutely hated doing a soap - after he left in the many WETH stories about Shawn Thompson he would say he;d rather sell shoes than do another soap again.

So maybe his unhappiness spilled over behind the scenes, and TPTB decided to just let him go, rather than have someone that unhappy be on the show.

They looked good together but certainly didn't have that sizzle.

He was Corny Collins for a minute but that's the last anyone has seen of him.

What was Simon's story?

Lujack had died and Simon came to town claiming to be Lujack's never before mentioned brother? And the show was hinting that Alex was his mother as well?

Axing Simon and Jesse was no great loss. But I was disappointed when they wrote off Jesse's mother, Calla Matthews.

Calla was Lillian's sister thus giving Lillian something to do/someone to interact with other than Beth.

Calla also was dating Ross Marler, who had been backburnered for four years, ever since they wrote off Ross's wife Carrie (Jane Elliot) in 1982. So, it was good to see Ross get some screen time as something other than a lawyer or an occasional talk-to character for Phillip.

Calla and Lillian

Calla and Ross

They traded Calla for Nadine

Calla was NO Nadine!

exactly they needed to use the money for Calla to pay Nadine character

Just looking at pics of Calla I'm glad she wasn't on very long.

I understand there's a fair amount of turnover on soaps and a good show only has certain actors for so long.

The thing that frustrated me about GL at the end was that there were SO many characters they could have chosen from to bring on in those last few years. I mean, sure, Jonathan existed after the San Cristobel retcon, but what about Peter Reardon? A boy with lots of family, connections to Vanessa, the Lewises and the Reardons, but no permanence......with Bridget as a mother and Roger Thorpe as a grandfather....who does he become?

There were three Ross/Blake kids that could have been SORASed.

I just got so frustrated with Jeffrey O'Neill eating the show and the writers being forced to forge connections for him. The actress seemed nice enough but why did Ava exist? That character served no purpose, and was gone not long after she arrived. All these children of existing characters or old favorites and we get.....Ashley Wolfe.

[R125] Ashley Wolfe 🤢 man, was she annoying. Her portrayer is also, like in the Locher Room chats.

Ava and Jeffrey were horrible characters also. No way she was Olivia's child.

[quote] The guy that played Simon was Canadian and William deVry is Canadian

How fascinating!

Lisby Larson's name is fascinating to me. Love the alliteration!

[quote] Lisby Larson's

She was great on Texas, at the time Beverlee McKinsey character Iris was using Lisby's character (Paige) as a punching bag, and just made her life a living hell

Sadly when Michael Zaslow was off of the show they had no desire to focus on Peter, Bridget and Hart. Peter Jessup was meant for wonderful things.

R153 and by that time Vanessa had left as well, so Peter had no ties to Springfield as his aunt Blake was on recurring and only showed up once a month,

Dearest R112/R124/R149, are you unclear on how to quote someone else's post in your posts?

Not asking in a mean way, we can show you how. It's a bit confusing to read when you do it your way.

Peter still would have had more of a connection to Billy and the Lewises than, say, Sandy.

[quote] Peter still would have had more of a connection to Billy and the Lewises than

Peter is a REARDON and THORPE - there is ZERO connection to the Lewises - other than brother Bill Lewis, and he was long gone by then exiting in 2005

The only tenuous connection Peter had was with Blake and Dinah

R155, Yes, I do need help on how to quote someone else's posts into mine. I mentioned it on another thread and I don't see an FAQ here. If you are able to help I'd greatly appreciate it!

Billy had a connection to Peter in the beginning:

[quote] In May 1993, Vanessa found out that Nadine's newborn son with Billy was actually the son of Bridget Reardon. After getting Bridget to admit the truth, she then forced Nadine to tell Billy who divorced her. Vanessa and Billy then reunited and married again, planning to raise Peter as their own. Unfortunately, the marriage was destroyed, this time by Billy's alcoholism, which ultimately led to his conviction of the attempted murder of Roger in February 1994. Vanessa, unable to handle the situation, divorced him and fought for custody of Peter in a long battle against Bridget. Finally (Bridget and Vanessa) agreed to raise Peter together by sharing custody.

Anyway, I wasn't suggesting Peter was a Lewis, but the show had so many characters with no connections where stories were pulled out of thin air and the writer's asses. The above is a very small connecting thread to Billy, but more than Sandy the Bug Eyed Wonder ever had.

That's the point of what would have made Peter interesting.....he did have connections in town here and there. The Bauers would have known him and welcomed him with the connection to Maureen. Vanessa would have been connected to him. But he would have felt like he was alone, welcome everywhere but home nowhere......

R158

See how R158 is with brackets? Just do that but put the word QUOTE in-between the brackets - then cut and paste the quote to next to it

R160 okay, thank you!

R159 Peter had no connection to Maureen other being Bridget son

By that time Bauer family had been axed as Michelle was let go (along with Danny) and Rick was downgraded to recurring.

Really you are grasping at straws because the time you are referring to introduce Peter,, he had NO ties to anyone

R158

What R160 said, but I believe you have to put the word in lower case letters - quote - in between those brackets.

Once you paste the part you quoted, hit return to get to the next space you want to type your new line that is not part of your quote.

For example, if I was quoting the first two words of this line, I would quote

[quote] For example

And then I hit return twice to come down to this next line.

R162 Thanks for sharing.

I smell the distinctive scent of the "Where Are Your Sources?" cunt.

I just noticed another GL and ATWT mention. On GL while Jenna and Nola are arguing Jenna calls Nola "snide" (Lisa Brown was a Snyder on ATWT) and Nola freezes for about 30 seconds. Nice joke there.

Since someone is so obsessed about getting Peter on the canvas, the only logical way is for Dylan (who is Peter step-father) to bring him back to Springfield and ask either Reva or Billy (the step-grandparents) to keep an eye on him, as he attends Springfield U

Phillip killed a guy when he came back and they never mentioned it again.

Ross and Blake had a daughter that they could've rapidly aged to be Peter's love interest.

R168 they are blood relatives

It was funny that Phillip threw Grady off of the cliff and nothing ever came of it. Didn't Grady's hand come up afterwards? Seems they got Phillip to do what the fans wanted done, threw the trash out. Jill Lorie Hurst did good work.

R169 whoops you're right.

Sandy was introduced as Reva;s secret son, but later revealed to be an imposter as the real Jonathan showed up

But would have been fun if Sandy was actually Peter impersonating Jonathan

Reva asking Peter "Why would you do this?"

Peter replying "I just wanted to screw with your head, Grandma" (Reva being Peter;s step-grandmother)

Grady killed Tammy which apparently aroused Daisy as she kept on sleeping with him even though her cousin was the victim.

Daisy lacked self control and a conscience.

[quote] Daisy lacked self control and a conscience.

Like mother, like daughter.

Harley was the town bike.

Everyone took a spin.

Grady killed Tammy, and Daisy still slept with him? What horrible people in charge of the show then. Ellen Wheeler and David Kreizman

Another sleazy thing was when Harley slept with Cyrus who was involved with Marina. I can't remember if Frank called her out on that one.

Why oh why has nobody mentioned Calla was, as far as I know, the only character in soaps to suffer from genital herpes? Well, at least the only one who admitted it.

Who gave it to her?

She contracted it before coming to Springfield, R179.

Thanks.

Here is her back story.

I'd forgotten that there was a time that Ross and Vanessa though Jessie was their daughter.

I don't know if that was a red herring, or if there was a writer change in there somewhere and they decided to create a new character for their daughter, versus an original plan of Jessie being their daughter.

I loved reading that, R121. The article and the comments are so interesting. I came along later to GL, but from what I've seen of that era on YouTube, it really was brilliant.

I love how well DL bitches know their GL.

Who played Peter Reardon? All I see online is "unknown actors."

R122, Grant gave a wry smile at Krista's swimsuit recollection.

I saw Mary Kay on a blooper's reel once and she didn't seem to be the type to clown around.

Amazing actress tho. She NEVER should have left the show. She landed things here and there in LA, but never a series regular, which is the goal. She landed her signature role right away and she could have been on GL for 25 years perhaps if she wanted 1984 - 2009. That'd be a pension and retirement, I'd think.

[quote Who played Peter Reardon? All I see online is "unknown actors."

I found this online:

Joseph Phillip Landolfi

(also goes by Seppe Landolfi)

[quote Who played Peter Reardon? All I see online is "unknown actors."]

I found this online:

Joseph Phillip Landolfi

(also goes by Seppe Landolfi)

Calla was insane over Jesse seeing Simon or any man; it made sense for one; she didn't want her daughter to get an STD

When Simon ended, they gave Alexandra a series of flashbacks, his intro, her hatred of him, accepting him, learning he was Lujack's half brother (they never brought Simon back for Nick, mistake); and ALex is listening to the music box theme and then snaps it shut; and viewers knew that was the end of Simon.

Sounds like the show was ready to move on from Simon and forget he existed, which I believe they did. Smart move.

Shows do that all the time, but the audiences don't forget.

Audience favorites may not be yours, Doug Marland wrote.

I don't know anything about Simon. Was he not Alex's son?

Don't put brackets around the thing you want to quote. Put brackets around the letters "quote." Then a space. Then the text you are quoting.

Grazie, r186 r187. Google reveals nothing. Was Peter hot?

Fletcher took Meg away from Holly. She went nuts as a result. What he did was cruel and unforgivable but glossed over by the writers.

Ben Reade also went bonkers. Fletcher was supposedly a good father but he took one kid away from her mother and his son (that he adopted from the late Maeve Stoddard and Kyle Sampson) became a serial killer.

I always thought Michelle could have actually been Fletcher's because obviously Fletch was not shooting blanks as was previously assumed.

Uh, Peter was a BABY, folks.

Which was part of the discussion above, that GL could have brought him back as an adult. But we only ever saw him as an infant/toddler.

Ahhhhh...thank you, r196.

R196, is it possible he was played by a doll? Or a rolled up blankie?

[quote] I don't know anything about Simon. Was he not Alex's son?

She initially thought Simon was her half-brother, an illegitimate child of Brandon Spa's. He did have a more distant connection to her - he was Eric Luvonoczeck's son, and Eric was Brandon/Lujack and Nick's father, too.

I've attached Soap Central's bio on Simon for anyone who wants to know more.

[quote] Brandon Spa's

Brandon Spaulding's. Whoops.

I liked that when Dylan returned for HB's funeral, the same actor played Peter and Vanessa hugged him!

Any one curious to see Simon Shirtless go 41:00 into video below and continue on through the various scenes from that point on

Wow, I don't remember THAT particular mix of the end credit music before!

R201, stuff like that is gold to soap fans. They've lost that.

r204

exactly and all it takes is someone to remember the history of the show and it can be as simple as a comment... Ashley on Y&R raised Nick and Sharon's daughter Faith(thinking it was her daughter) and they used to have Ashley ask about her when she saw Sharon

I remember Peter and Dylan visiting during HB's funeral. They made a special point of having a scene with Hart where he looks at Peter's 'family' drawing and Dylan is the daddy instead of Hart, who of course was Peter's biological father. Hart tried to remain calm and polite with Dylan while being unnerved that he was being forgotten in his son's eyes. It was a quick scene but a meaningful one that soaps just don't do any more.

The continuity of the Lemay family changed since this episode.

Haha, in the opening scene in R202’s link Simon says “We can’t SHIT here!”’and they let it go through.

When Phillip showed up at city hall for his marriage to India, he sees Beth, who is blind, and can't believe that India invited her to be her maid of honor.

Phillip processes the gall of his bride and I swear he mouths "effing bitch" - Beth, being blind, of course, can't see it. Brilliant.

Catfight! Catfight!

r210

I forgot Blake smoked! She was such a bad girl! WHo else smoked on soaps?

The divine Solita Carrera was known to puff.

[quote]Who else smoked on soaps?

Iris lit one up, one day in the penthouse. Vivien swirled through, waving her arms in disgust, shrieking, "Mrs. WHEELER!!!"

[quote] Iris lit one up, one day in the penthouse.

Original Recipe Iris or Brand New Sexy Iris? ; - )

Dinah smoked on GL when Wendy Moniz played her. Made sense since Dinah lived in Paris.

Chris Marcantel is hosting another Loving reunion, this time with the fellas. It should be starting about now:

[quote] Who else smoked on soaps?

On Y&R, "Kay Chancellor" smoked. In the early days, it was actually part of the story of how she stank of booze and cigarettes all the time, disgusting her husband, Phillip.

Also, on the same soap, I remember a very long scene with Barbara Crampton's "Leanna (Love Randolph" character (ca. 1987-88). She was pacing around her motel room, talking to herself, for what seemed like 20 minutes or more - the whole time taking drags on a cigarette.

A friend of mine got to say one of the best lines ever on GL. He was on it as a theatre director day player in one of the Sonni/Solita flashbacks. He got to say “Yes, Solita, you very well may have been the best English speaking actresses in Venezuela. Before all the men and the cigarettes, that is.”

“You very well may have been ONE of the best English speaking actresses in Venezuela...”

If they could have gotten her - Dyan Cannon would have been great as Alexandra.

r214 ORD, it was BNSI. I think Mac had just stopped talking to her.

I was very excited to see this "new" episode of ATWT from 1972. Very touching Bob/David scenes. Wow, the show had such a masculine vibe back then! Heavy on the patriarchs.

Could anyone who was watching back then fill in a few blanks for me? In this episode, it seems that Paul Stewart has recently died of a brain tumor, and Dan has just had surgery on his arm because he fell and injured it. Did he fall because his own brain tumor was already there? It's kind of weird that they had two brothers die of brain tumors, one right after the next. Any info from elder fans would be appreciated. TIA!

(By the way, this person also uploaded another snippet from 1972 that featured Susan, Dan, Paul, and Child Betsy.)

Does anyone know when GL first started doing the annual Bauer Barbecue? Was it started by Marland or Pam Long or who? Or does it date back to the 70s? Or even before that?

The Last One.

R223 That's actually a really good question that never occurred to me to know or ask!

I think it was Pam Long era when they really started doing it every year. I'm thinking it was a way to showcase the Four Musketeers while also featuring others in the cast.

But if I am wrong I would love to know the answer!!

Yes, I think Peter Simon was the first Ed at the Bauer barbecue.

Was the first Bauer BBQ when Alan-Michael parachuted in? 1986 or 1987?

I wish that Alan-Michael parachuted into my bed right on top of me.

I found a Bauer BBQ from 1984 on YouTube. This is not definitive but it’s the first one I can find.

I was almost Alexandra Spaulding von Halkein. Now I have the role of a lifetime, Katherine Shepherd Reynolds Chancellor Thurston Sterling Murphy on THE YOUNG AND THE RESTLESS, television’s number one daytime drama for over three decades.

Who doesn't want Alan-Michael's hot dog?

I'd take Alan-Michael's hot dog, even if it's raw dog!

Carl T Evans was a hot dish with no doubt a hot hot dog.

Any idea about his sexuality?

Alan-Michael tries to get physical with Phillip after Phillip throws their father out of the company.

Rather than deck, the kid, Phillip just restrains him; AM using every bit of energy to get out of his grasp.

Phillip is too strong.

There's so much in this episode. Great acting, great writing. Sonni in turmoil. Reva on fire. Perhaps one of the best Alexandra/Alan scenes ever.

IMHO Grant made Carl a better actor; he was never great, but he was solid at times.

Nothing against Evans but I guess in the first week of Rick Hearst's scenes, he really went deep on a reaction - tears, or anger, or something - and apparently Beverlee McKinsey said, "OK! We have ourselves an actor here!"

Not in a mean way, but: wow, this will be fun now, there's someone here I can work with.

Excellent ATWT Kim/John scenes from 1990 that have just been uploaded.

GL has asked a few times if Carl T Evans would be interested in returning - the answer was always no.

I only want raw dog!

Evans pinged for me for sure. Watching early 1990 scenes these days. Evans is gorgeous, I thought that since I was a kid.

Evans always read as Guido Lite to me. Funny that they cast him as the son of blonde Hope and Chris Bernau.

Wasn't the scene at R234 one of Bernau's last scenes? It wasn't much longer after that he left GL (and died the next summer).

An interview with Judi Evans from this past week, where she goes into great detail about what happened to her.

But who were the three guys in the woods that made her paranoid?

That 1984 Bauer Barbecue episode is GREAT. Show was really on fire in there. Thanks for finding it!

That episode has almost all the adult cast -- the younger set (the Four Musketeers) is noticeably absent, as is Alexandra. But it's got Michael Woods as hunky Jim Reardon plus lots more Reardons! It's got Fletcher chatting with Bert. Its got Katie and Louis (the day player she left town with a year later). It's got Reva and HB. It's got Josh chatting with his sister Trish. It's Quint and Nola. And of course Ed and Maureen hosting.

I do wonder about being the first Bauer Barbecue ever. It very likely is. What makes me question that is the fact there is a shot in opening theme of Ed Bauer in a chef's hat. That shot was part of the opening theme from when they first adopted that theme (and dropped the disco theme) in August 1983.

On those Locker Room GL episodes, they've said repeatedly how much Peter Simon hated wearing that chef hat. And clearly he had worn it in an episode in 1983 since its in the opening montage that was first compiled in 1983. I wonder if that shot of Peter in the chef hat was from a random party episode in 1983 or from a Bauer Barbecue 1983 episode.

Unfortunately, lots of 1983 episodes missing on YouTube.

I always loved that opening!

here's an episode with Simon wearing the hat in the opening; he's in two shots in a row; one solo with the hat and then a three shot with Ed, Bert, and Mike.

They must have known Mike was going to be leaving.

Jim Reardon made my jeans twitch.

The actor who played Sandy and his wife (who was on B&B/Y&R) had a baby.

Haha, thought this had been Murieled and the new thread was the one about the spacious house in Bay City, Michigan.

I saw that! I was going to leave a comment about how close it was to the Cory mansion but figured it might go over everyone's head.

Are we Murieled already? Geez louise.

I watch the Locher Room with Margaret Reed & Michael Swan

Margaret was talking about Melanie Smith (Emily ATWT) saying Smith has pretty much retired from acting and is now running a Yoga Studio in the midwest.

She also said that Melanie had a very healthy career in Hollywood doing episodics, and could've continued working in the biz, but she just lost interest in acting and wanted to focus on Yoga instead.

Please don't let this be murieled already. Aren't there other Atwt and Aw posts for those wanting to talk about? Cause I'd rather not.

So you want ATWT AW and GL to all have separate threads?

[quote] Please don't let this be murieled already.

LOLOL!

I thought they all get their own threads. Wouldn't it get automatically murieled speaking of other shows?

It depends on how much action interest it gets if it's Murieled, R256.

Not like it used to be when threads would just get closed or deleted

ATWT, April 1, 1985. Tom has a beard, Margo is wearing a truly hideous dress, Nancy and John take shots at each other, and drunken Craig quotes Talking Heads to lingerie-clad Lucinda. (The quality gets better as it goes on)

If we are Murieled I can make a new thread and will give it an AW title.

Interesting ep at R258. Must have been at a transitional period between the prior HWs and Marland.

An in-depth interview with Scott Bryce (Craig, ATWT). It excites me so much when young people, who were not even born at the time, discover the Marland years.

Terrible what Chris Goutman did to the Craig character - it was basically character assassination

Aw and atwt? Ugh no thanks, I'm out. It got boring here anyway.

So, I just finished listening to the Bryce interview, and I love that he has no more fucks to give! He calls Craig/Meg/Paul/Rosanna "The Quad from Hell," points out that he only had a few scenes with Hubbard and Dolan and almost NO scenes with Terri Conn, understands that Goutman actually fired him for being too good an actor and connecting with the audience, and calls Goutman "disrespectful" and a "coward." Hurrah!!!

Go to about 45:00 for his very satisfying rant.

Okay. Bye gurl

R264 he said WHAT? Wow. Will have to check that out.

We used to have separate threads for AW, GL and ATWT. Problem was, with such much overlap between the shows, especially GL and ATWT, the conversations would overlap. For example, we'd be talking about what Marland did on GL on the GL thread, but someone would mention how Marland handled a similar situation on ATWT. Or how actors overlapped, etc. Thus, we just started having on giant P&G thread.

Conversations can be good with one thread, but we get Murieled at about 250 replys these days.

Personally, I would have no problem going back to individual threads.

Cleaned up version of The Men of Loving hosted by Christopher Marcantel:

I've always liked having one P&G thread, but I watched two of the shows all the time, a third about a third of the time, and knew enough about some of the older classics like SFT and EON to remember them.

But I can see that if you were a GL fan only and we had 50 posts in a row about Kim Hughes then that would be tedious.

Want!

What’s with the crickets on this thread? It’s usually so gay and ebullient.

It may have been Murieled, Euphemia.

I wonder how Doug Marland felt about what Pam Long and Gail Kobe did with all the GL characters he created.

By the time Marland started HWing ATWT in late 1985, virtually all the characters he created were gone from GL. Only Vanessa, Henry, Maureen and Bea remained. But Josh would return a year later.

Given that Marland and Long were both working for P&G, they certainly would have know each other from industry parties. So, if he was displeased, he likely would have had the opportunity to tell them.

R273 That's a good question. He obviously had to be professional and refrain from commenting, and maybe he was too busy to worry much about it, but I'm sure he had an opinion one way or another.

Which reminds me: as much as I liked Kassie Wesley (DePaiva), and still like her today, she seemed like SUCH a miscast as a Reardon. Other than a slight resemblance to Ellen Parker, she looked more like the Southern belle she was in real life.

I don’t think he liked how GL was dominated by Reva, r274. I recall Soap Opera Digest doing a story in 1992 about GL’s 40th anniversary. Marland was interviewed and he said he thought the show at the time was much better than when it had been “The Reva Show” or something to that effect.

The GL anniversaries got so confusing, because it was the difference of course between celebrating both radio and TV versus TV.

GL had that week of old clips in 1987 to celebrate the 50th (radio and TV)

Then in 1992 it was the 40th (on TV only)

Then in 1997 it was the 60th! And of course the 70th in 2007.

R258 Gregg Marx looks HOT in a beard.

But why is Lisa in that getup?

Asking the essential questions of life....which one is YOUR favorite?

R274, I didn’t think Wesley, Michael Woods or the guy who played Matt looked like Reardons. I did think Melissa Hayden did, though.

Bauer Power

I really never thought Ann Hamilton was all that wrong for Mindy. She wasn't K. Simms, for sure, but she was eons better than Barbara Crampton. If anything, she (and Crampton) both read too old onscreen for the role.

r281

Didn't both the fake Mindys(Ann and Barbara) benefit from not having Rick or Phillip around? They definitely would have looked too old with those 2 around

Barbara Crampton being cast was all JFP idea -

Despite Betty Rea going all over the country looking for a "Mindy" - JFP thought Crampton would be the "perfect" Mindy

An offer was made, negotiations began, but then Crampton got cold feet and turned down the offer. So Betty Rea continued her search until Ann Hamilton was hired

But then Crampton ran into JFP at the Soap Awards, and JFP said "Crampton, you got cold feet" - Crampton said maybe she made a mistake. JFP told her if she ever changed her mind, give her a call. Crampton did and all JFP wanted to see was her reel to see if Crampton could be "vulnerable"

Few days later JFP made the offer, NO screen test required (even with Vince Irizarry) So just like that Ann Hamilton was out. Barbara Crampton was in

Even after two years in the role, (JFP was gone by then) P&G wanted to resign Crampton, but she had enough and wanted to go back to LA

That’s the kind of casting Jill wasted her efforts on

why not just give Simms what she wanted?

[quote]Didn't both the fake Mindys(Ann and Barbara) benefit from not having Rick or Phillip around? They definitely would have looked too old with those 2 around

Very true. If the other Musketeers had been around, the fact they were both totally wrong for the role would have been even more glaring.

[quote]Barbara Crampton being cast was all JFP idea

Yeah, leave it to JFP. Could have just resigned Kimberly Simms without any hassle but got her mind set on Barbara Crampton instead.

[quote] Could have just resigned Kimberly Simms without any hassle

They had such problem finding a "Mindy" they actually went back to Simms, but the same deal. Two years, where Simms said she would be willing to meet them half-way with an 18 month contract

GL said no, and continued the "Mindy" search

[quote]Which reminds me: as much as I liked Kassie Wesley (DePaiva), and still like her today, she seemed like SUCH a miscast as a Reardon. Other than a slight resemblance to Ellen Parker, she looked more like the Southern belle she was in real life.

I also am a big Kassie DePaiva fan, but she was miscast as Chelse. It was like she was a fake Reardon. Didn't seem to fit the role at all. Was Chelsea lost for a few years after a family vacation down South? That's why she had the Southern accent and looked nothing like her siblings.

By the time Chelsea came on, the Reardon family was barely in existence -- only Bea and Maureen left in town at that point and Chelsea didn't interact with either of them that much. I mean, not like Tony, Nola and Maureen had.

Chelsea's presence in town just seemed to be a reminder that the Reardons had been decimated and of how far GL had slide since its glory days 1980-85.

[quote] Chelsea didn't interact with either of them that much

That is not true, she lived in the Bauer garage apartment and was in and out of the Bauer home all the time

from soapcentral

In 1993, the entire Reardon family returned to Springfield to attend Maureen's funeral. After the funeral, instead of going to Ed Bauer's, they gathered at their old home, the Reardon Boarding house.

did this happen on screen?

R289 no it was off screen

r290

thanks, Did someone mention that is what the Reardon's did? Ed?

R291 I remember Ed or Vanessa mentioning it, I think.

I think the implication was that the Reardons may not have known all that happened with Mo, but may have known something about their fight, and so they gave him a cool reception.

wasn't that a lost opportunity R292...

criminal that not one unseen relative showed up.

Even for HB's funeral Trish and Peter and Dylan came back.

r293

and Mindy!!

And that was 4 years later.

But I can understand why. Maureen's death was about Ed, Holly, Michelle and then their circle of friends...and Lillian of course.

We must have been Murieled because this new thread is out and about.

R295, no, GL lost a big opportunity with Maureen's death.

We could have seen Bea, Chelsea, Tony, Jimmy, and Nola (on loan from GL) come back; plant some seeds when one overhears Lillian say something that could be played out later.

Plus, on the other side, we should have seen Mike and Hope and Claire come back. That's what families do for funerals.

Yes, Mike and Hope were at a conference overseas. Well, there are phones and planes. Alex could have flown them back on a private jet.

Hope could have stayed and assumed the matriarchal role once played by her grandmother, Bert.

Instead, we got Buzz Cooper.

Meh.