Spoon

It always seemed somewhat fishy that GL was operating on all cylinders and occasionally beating GH in 1984 for them to only dismantle it all in 1985 and for the show never see such (ratings) heights again. They thought having Reva was enough so they killed off lujack, wrote out all of Maureen's siblings and brought in an influx of dud characters.

@P.J. where you watching when they killed Roger offscreen in 2004 and the resulting Sebastian storyline? Having Roger's son become obsessed with Holly and holding her captive in Santo Domingo until she fell in love with him. Kinda sick. MG pretty much was gone after that story. At the time they planned a romance with her and Olivia, that plot later was reworked with Natalia instead.

Wanted to add that GH was not only getting competition with a strong GL, but they had newcomer Santa Barbara to contend with in Fall of 84- hence the stunting with Luke and Laura.

@alwaysAMC To get a sense in how popular Beth and Lujack were at their peak, GL beat GH in the timeslot a couple of times around August 1984. GH got Luke and Laura to return for a story arc in the fall of '84 as a counter-move: an adventure story in Mexico. "Almost Paradise" was their love theme, and their classic "supercouple" love sequence was them riding horses on the beach. GL 1984, Almost Paradise

@alwaysAMC Re: Jenna. I loved the big umbrella plot in 1992/93 where Roger used Jenna to take over Spaulding and booted them out of the company. I still remember the "evil" music they played at their wedding 😆. Roger had a female henchman at the time and the big climax involved a teddy bear being tossed around and Lucy catching it.

Alex and Beth became close because of Alex's son LuJack. Upthread, ppl posted that Jenna was let go. Speculation that it was because she spoke out about BTS stuff. Theories on where they are going with Ben?

@DeeVee I meant from where AlwaysAMC is at in 1999, I didn't make that clear. The one with LuJack was replayed in that 90s Christmas clip show.

Corny 1991 CBS holiday promo 1983 promo featuring "Nick" I think "Nick" shows up again at either Christmas 1999 or 2000, def around 2004 under Wheeler/Kreizman.

GL, Clarence rap promo 1990 WCBS, Clarence courting SB viewers over to GL 1990 Gilly, Kat and Hamp promo 1996, Some Dinah GL promos around 10:00

@alwaysAMC IIRC, Lucy's twang went away quicker than Reva's early, thick twang. I think Lucy was from Arizona, although they traveled a lot. Even with GL's troubles- they got regular promos unlike troubled sister soap, Another World over on NBC.

1997 Annie Promo January 1999 Amnie Promo 1990 Reva exit Promo 1986 Cain and Reva promo

1992 Nadine baby scam promo 1991 Roger's enemies promo 1986 Return of Alan promo 1986 James returns on ATWT and Josh returns on GL promo

@alwaysAMC 1993 Lucy intro Promo 1995 Phillip return promo 1996- 5 short character promos 1993 Lead-up to Roger's shooting promo

WCBS 10am GL Promo, 1995 Amish Reva Promo 1994 Billy Lewis Trial Promo 1993 Ed, Holly and Eve Promo

They should've brought LuJack back instead of creating Nick, just say that his "death" was orchestrated by the FBI and that he was in witness relocation. Relatively easy fix. @DeeVee spoiler warning for @alwaysAMC ....similar thing with Rauch in 1999 when Grillo and Moniz left together. Reports was that's why they killed Hart and tried to make it very hard to have Dinah return or be redeemed. Of course Ellen Wheeler/David Kreisman would bring back Dinah during their run.

https://youtu.be/ZAv9O_NX_SY?si=npo9CvOXxtpctbMO Here's the German dubbed copy of the US 1-2-91 episode. They are still using the 1985-87 theme and the 1982-87 visuals. This is soon before Josh leaves (he's long gone by February) and they are really ramping up on Josh and Harley in this episode. Matt Weiss and his fashion label is referenced, remember that's the issue Pam Long left over. She wanted to introduce a new, Jewish family around this Matt character but I guess CBS (or P&G) vetoed it.

February 1, 1991 https://youtu.be/UPqbM1mPaZk?si=YXOyk64mlLDmomlC The earliest long "Hold Onto Love" outro that I could find. Phillip and Beth haven't left and right off the top there's an announcement for a fill-in for Roger.

January 2nd milestones, including GL: 1-2-84 Young and Restless's "yr" logo is introduced. 1-2-90 All My Children introduces a new theme and title sequence for their 20th year. 1-2-91 Guiding Light introduces the "Hold onto Love" theme along with a new visual identity. 1-2-92 One Life to Live debuts a new "satin sheets" opening sequence with "new age" sounding theme music.

@alwaysAMC speaking of John Bolger's Phillip-- I was always fo d of this end credits sequence of hims and Beth. This was a month after Lujack was offed- full cast list included. Also, this alternate arrangement of the theme is so warm and cozy. 12-27-1985

When India returned, it would've been a good opportunity to bring back Dinah's childhood BFF Dorie to fill the void of Marcus. But we know at that point Dinah only existed to prop up Cassie, with only guilty Van being in her corner- especially with what's coming up ahead.

@DeeVee the HWs at the time were Mary Ryan Munisteri and Ellen Barnett. Munisteri was HW for Ryan's Hope from 1983-84, but was only at GL from May-October '86. Alan returned during the Summer, but that could've been set in motion by Jeff Ryder.

@alwaysAMC Chris Bernau's Alan, Peter Simon's Ed and India from 1986- shortly after Bernau and Simon both returned to the show. 1986

@alwaysAMC I always liked this clip of India ogling a shirtless Phillip set to Tina Turner's "What's Love Got to Do With It?" Phillip and India

Grasping at straws here, but India was married to Phillip- so that's kinda a connection- was India involved with faking Phillip's death in 1990? Also, Ross was in the Spaulding orbit shared by India and India adopted Dinah's BFF from the carnival- Dorrie.

@alwaysAMC for some reason, I misremembered the PHARLEY wedding as in January- so I thought you were later in than you actually were. ✌️