The 144,000 "faithful and discreet slave" fiction is, like judicalism and shunning, one of those doctrines that the WTBTS will NEVER give up. It is just too useful for them to discard, and so we will always see the requirement for anointed only on the governing body.
When the governing body started allowing post-1935 anointed as members, it was a sign that a majority of the then existing members knew that the Big A just wasn't going to arrive in time for a non-senile, dementia-free governing body to welcome it.
The governing body knows that there will always be a supply of post-1935 anointed for GB membership because of the associated perks of power and freedom from material want. I would not be surprised at all if we see future post-1935 GB members who decide that the are anointed only a year or so before becoming accepted on the GB. What the GB is looking for are JWs who have shown two or three decades of adult service with a clean record of toeing the WTBTS line and so can join the Good Old Boys club. The GB doesn't care about writing ability, research ability, or anything else that a normal person would associate with the teaching arts. Instead, they want members who won't rock the boat and can be counted on to perpetuate the cult's publishing empire and the easy living for the WTBTS elite.
The governing body doesn't give a rat's arse about what the rank and file think about post-1935 anointed being on the GB. That's because they know that the rank and file is nearly powerless and the GB intends to keep it that way. The only thing that the GB fears about new members in the body is the possibility of another Raymond Franz.