GL Oldtimer

@alwaysAMCSince you're a fan of Holly and Roger, you really do need to see some of their key moments from 1990 to 1994, starting with the Acapulco storyline in late 1990. I would also recommend the Cliff House storyline in late June and July of 1993. Great stuff! Annette

This is about the time I really started to lose interest in Guiding Light. I thought there was a lot more that could have been done with Roger, Holly, Fletcher, and Meg, but all of these characters were thrown to the wayside. It was frustrating to watch in real time. Annette

@SoapDope, thank you for posting this episode. I have never seen the rape scenes in their entirety. Powerful stuff. Annette

@MLH, Thank you so much for the link! It's a treasure trove. I'm certainly going to enjoy reading what people had to say. Annette

@MLH, can you direct me to that forum? I would be interested in reading what was said about the tribute. The situation with Michael Zaslow breaks my heart to this day. Thank you. Annette

Roger and Mindy were intriguing to me. I didn't love them together for many reasons, but I didn't hate them either. And unlike all of Roger's other women, excluding Holly, I actually thought Roger did love Mindy. Not as much as he loved or wanted Holly, but I did believe he loved Mindy. Loved the showdown with Roger and Alexandra at the Country Club over his affair. Classic stuff. Annette

I remember doing the same exact thing - rushing home from school and rewinding the VCR recording to watch these scenes! They were riveting. The chemistry between those two just radiated through the TV screen. Annette

Since we've been discussing Roger and Holly, I have a questions for those of you that have a lot more knowledge about these things than I do. I wasn't old enough to watch the show in the 1970s, so I didn't see any of their groundbreaking storylines play out. When the characters returned in the late 1980s, was there a push by the fans to reunite them as a couple? Were they a popular pairing with fans in the 1990s? Annette

You are completely right about that. In real life, this wouldn't even be up for discussion as far as I'm concerned. But in soaps, especially in the years that I watched, I always felt like the writers made the victim be the key to the perpetrator's redemption. Annette

I hated when the show paired Holly with Fletcher. As a Roger and Holly fan it was a tough watch, especially since the writers spent so many years working Roger and Holly back to one another. Several pages back, @MLHhad mentioned that it didn't make sense that Holly went back to completely hating Roger. I totally agree. Too much progress had been made by that point in their relationship for her to revert back to hating him. I do think the writers wasted an opportunity once they paired Roger and Holly together as there was a lot of baggage these two had to work through just to be together, and I thought that was something that could have been explored more while they were together. Mostly though, I was so annoyed at how Maureen Garrett's talents were wasted for almost two years after the writers paired her with Fletcher. Holly got backed into a corner with that pairing and the writers didn't seem to have any interest in untangling her from it. Annette

I think it was because Holly truly loved him. I remember the Cliffhouse scenes in 1993 when Roger told Holly that that he never saw in anyone else's eyes what he saw in hers. I also think that Roger, in some ways, felt like he could be himself around her. Granted, he was never truly himself with anyone as there was always an ulterior motive to most of his actions, but the pair shared some really fantastic conversations, and he certainly opened himself up more with her than any of the other women he was paired with. They had a best friend quality about them at times. I also think he never wanted anything else from Holly other than her love, whereas with all his other women there was something else he needed from them. They also were evenly matched in terms of intelligence and sophistication. Annette

Interesting question. I think so as they were both very intelligent women. I think that perhaps that could have helped bond them.

I'm one of these fans. As a teenager, I didn't know the details of their history when I first started watching the show. By the time I did, I was already invested in them getting together romantically. As an adult, I understand how wrong-headed my thinking is as I certainly would never support such a toxic and violent pairing in real life. However, I will admit that even once I knew their history, I still rooted for them. I think the vulnerability that Roger showed in certain scenes with Holly really got to me. It really humanized him. Also, the chemistry shared by the actors was just so captivating. I always remember being riveted by any scenes Michael Zaslow and Maureen Garrett shared together. Now that I'm older, I can admit that the characters never should have been romantically paired again as they were in 1994, but I do still think they should have remained in each other's orbit. The push and pull away and toward each other was fascinating to watch. I imagine the writers could have continued to just play on that, but perhaps that would have gotten tiresome for the audience after several years. I certainly missed it when they stopped throwing the characters together in part of 1995 and 1997, and nearly all of 1996. To me, that was a big mistake. Annette

This is my take on Holly . I think she really struggled with admitting to herself that Roger was the one for her and the one she wanted to be with, despite it all. Oftentimes, I felt like the character was always searching and grasping onto whatever or whoever she could in an effort to convince herself that she was over Roger and didn't need or want him. I think that is why Holly always remained a bit of a mystery to me. I loved the character because Holly was unlike any other character on Guiding Light or on the CBS lineup that I watched at the time. Annette

I would LOVE that too! I would certainly buy more than one copy.

I want to thank everyone for posting information about what happened to Michael Zaslow. This discussion has been very interesting, while also heartbreaking too. At the time that the situation unfolded, I wasn't on message boards. The only sources of information I had was what was printed in publications like TV Guide and Soap Opera Digest. To this day, I still can't believe what Mary Alice Dwyer-Dobbin said about him, and in print no less. There are many ways that a point can be conveyed without resorting to such cruelty. I imagine if this same situation happened today, the public backlash would simply be too great to withstand and MADD would be fired. Annette

First, thank you to the posters that answered by question about how the show handled Holly's absence in the mid-2000s. Second, I have a question about Michael Zaslow. When exactly was he fired from Guiding Light? The way that I understand things is that he left before he had a diagnosis of what was wrong with him. I was always under the assumption that his departure was only going to be temporary. I'm assuming that he took some sort of medical leave with the hopes of getting better and returning. Am I right to assume that is what happened initially - he was initially not fired but went on a medical leave? I'm guessing that he was then fired at some point when he was on leave. Did he have a diagnosis yet when Guiding Light fired him? Decades later, the whole thing still makes me so angry and sad. I can't imagine what it was like for Michael and his family. I just remember feeling such a void when he left Guiding Light. I pretty much stopped watching the show after that. It was never the same for me. Annette

I have a question about Holly. I stopped watching the show consistently once the character of Roger left, although I did tune in here and there to see what was up in Springfield and specifically what Holly was doing. I did watch some of the Nursery Rhyme Stalker, although it wasn't easy. After that, I pretty much stopped altogether. I know Holly left the canvas at some point in the mid-2000s. How exactly did they explain the character's absence, or did TPTB simply not explain it at all? I think I read that at some point Blake was in a coma or a bad accident and that the TPTB didn't even have her return for that. Shameful. Thank you. Annette

Thank you very much! Thank you very much! I appreciate you both! Annette

@MLH, glad to read your post! I too was immediately drawn to Roger when he returned to the show. At the time, I was watching in real time. I didn't know much about his backstory and once I found out, I still found myself rooting for him at times. Of course a big part of this was thanks to Michael Zaslow's portrayal of such a complex character. Those moments when he showed you Roger's vulnerability really shined. It convinced me the character was capable of loving another person, but he just had so much trauma and baggage to overcome. I was bummed when the writers stopped putting Holly and Roger in each other's orbit. While fans will disagree whether they should have been romantically paired together, I don't think many fans can deny their chemistry. The actors were just incredible together and I missed when they shared scenes together. Even when the characters were fighting, it was always thrilling to watch. I think 1996 was the absolute worst year for me as a viewer as the two barely had any scenes together. Things were also pretty bleak in 1997. Like others on this board, I will never understand why TPTB decided to stop having the characters interact with each other, especially with such a rich and compelling history. If only the fans could have dictated the storylines. Annette

The Vault sounds like such a wonderful gift to all soap opera fans. I just learned about it and I'm very excited to use it. Thank you @ChickenNuggetz92 for all your work in keeping it going! Can someone provide me the most updated link to view Guiding Light episodes. I did see that on Page 1 of this thread, but I want to make sure that's still the right link. Thank you! Annette

Thank you very much for all your help, @Contessa Donatella. Thank you very much @BoldRestless for this information. I really appreciate it. Annette

I hate to be a pest, but could someone direct me to this Archive (the Internet Archive) some of you are referring to for episodes of Guiding Light? Thank you. Annette

Thank you very much for the tip. Annette

I'm so bummed about the Blake Marler YouTube channel. I was so delighted when I found it a few years ago and have been rewatching old Guiding Light episodes here and there. It's been great fun. Does anyone else know of a site where Guiding Light episodes are posted? Thank you! Annette