Speed Racer

I don't think Raines was all that horrible, at least not to the extent that others here think. The guy had more talent than what we typically saw. Much of any skill he had was held abeyant. My problem with Raines is he was simply willing to go with the cards he was dealt. Pure supposition on my part, of course. I suspect he didn't spend much time watching Bernau. I suspect he never complained to the brass about character assassination. I suspect he didn't complain about the eradication of the Spaulding brand. A twirling mustache persona is light years away from who Alan Spaulding was. Dope-peddling is light years away from who Alexandra Spaulding was.

It's a funny thing about Ron Raines...I envisioned him as Justin Marler, not Mike Bauer. Raines seems like a doctor. Raines most resembled Alan in 1994, right after being cast in the role. Horrible writing and GL's non-commitment to the character took its toll. It was clear that no one knew who Alan was and didn't care to know. Reva was back and that's all that mattered.

And, yeah, I realize that Roger didn't resurface until 1989. He shouldn't have been reintroduced as Adam Malick, but as himself. Seeing Zaslow running around in a mask for seemingly endless months pretty much sucked. It would have been much more fun to see Roger suddenly inserted into an already hot quartet.

All this recent discussion is interesting to me as I didn't watch much of GL (at all) during 1987 and 1988. (The Paul Valere/Alan/India art scam was so bad that I had to ditch the show. That and everything Reva.) IMO, no triangle GL could dream up during that period could surpass the story opportunity/clash presented by the following pentad: Alan/Vanessa/Ross/Holly/Roger. The dynamics of those five operating off each other makes any triangle superfluous. Did Vanessa and Holly have scenes together prior to MG's departure in 1981? I assume not. If not, they certainly would have been aware of the other's existence.

Morgan Englund's first day on the show was at the Josh/Reva wedding, which was in July 1989. Coincidentally, the wedding was Kimberley Simms' first day as Mindy.

LMAO at the recent commentary! And all this time, I thought GL viewers considered Fletcher a suave, adventurous gigolo! LOL. Perhaps it was just the uncultured women (i.e. rubes) of Springfield who felt this way. (Or more likely, it was just Fletcher himself who felt this way). My faux pas. And yeah, we were spared a Hope/Fletcher pairing. In a major degradation move, Hope moves from Alan to Fletcher. Egad! In retrospect, perhaps it is all for the better that Deitrich didn't show up in town. He could have been portrayed by Jay Hammer, in a dual role!

jswift - I maintain that Holly and India should have started/ran a business together. With Holly's money and India's ambition, success would have been likely. Watching those two trade their trademark witticisms and barbs in a very complementary/amiable way would have been great fun for the viewers. Holly never had a female pal. Throw Roger, Alan and Dietrich into the mix...the legit storyline possibilities are seemingly endless. And that's what I like. Stories that move in unexpected yet very plausible manners. (I want to be thinking "Holy cow - I never expected that, but what a great idea!!")

For those unaware, it was through Dietrich that Holly cut her teeth in the media business. He owned TV stations in Sweden. That would have been from 1981-1988 when Holly was off-screen. I am thankful that Holly had sufficient time away for the writers to develop some decent backstory for her. It would have been good to bring him back late 1993/early 1994, as Roger and Jenna were making that play for Spaulding (what the heck, have Dietrich also be a suspect in that potting shed incident) . Have Dietrich sniff around WSPR right before Roger and Jenna lose their bid for Spaulding. That way, when Roger makes his move to take over WSPR in its entirety, Dietrich has already blocked it. Dietrich also could have been instrumental to Gilly's future...especially after A-M also loses his bid for Spaulding. Maybe it's with her help that he stops Roger. Gilly certainly would have the motivation.

Had Guiding Light based the Lewises out of Baton Rouge, their having something resembling an antebellum history AND making their fortune out of oil and gas refining would have been truer to life. I have a hard time believing that Pam Long was such a clod. More likely, it was the P&G suits in NYC who didn't know anything about cultural norms elsewhere (i.e., anything outside of the I-95 corridor from Washington to Boston). The inherently erudite rarely do.

Growing up in the 1970s, we were taught that the Midwest was crop growing territory. Ohio, Indiana, Michigan, Illinois, Wisconsin, Iowa, Minnesota, Missouri. The Great Plains were from North Dakota south to Texas. North and South Dakota, Nebraska, Kansas, Oklahoma, Texas. Not sure why some in those Great Plains states consider themselves Midwesterners. They are not. The lifestyles are different. Wheat fields and cattle ranches dominate much of the territory in those states. They have cowboys historically. Those living in the eastern portions of those states (Sioux Falls, Omaha, Kansas City) could argue the point. Once you hit Lincoln, Topeka and Tulsa? No way. I knew someone in Colorado who considered themselves Midwestern, which I found laughable. Same with someone in Oklahoma thinking they have much in common with someone in Wisconsin. That's like saying those in Georgia are the same as those in New Hampshire because they're all Easterners.

That we can remember these recurring characters proves their value. All good choices. I really liked it on the few occasions when Vera gave Roger the "what for". Vera's loyalty to Peanut was wonderful. Thinking about recurring is tough - I keep mixing them up with 13- and 26-week contract players! Yeesh. I liked IQ and Gina from the Gallahads, both definitely recurring. There was Howie at The Springfield Journal. And yet another cop from maybe 1992-1993 when Harley was in training/new to the force. Big tall blond guy who didn't say much but was on several times. Was Louie (at Cedar's nursing station) recurring? If so, he easily is near the top of the list. There was young, black woman who was a Spaulding secretary - don't remember the name. Another Evie? The name seems correct, but yet another Evie/Eve? She was on from maybe 1990-1991. Was around during the latter Carl Evans years, maybe the early Hearst period. She was good, too. There was Jim Haggerty, a lawyer. Tried to romance Eve away from Nick. He also hit on Harley. And much to the apparent irritation of many, I very much liked YaYa, Eleni's Greek grandmama (I think she was grandma). AND what was the name of the woman who held the deed for the Towers land deal? (She died at Cedars). Perhaps the actress was a 13-week contact? Probably so. Was the young Ben Reade (Greg Burke) a contract player? Or recurring?

AlwaysAMC - Based on what you said, you might want to start watching from January 1992 forward immediately. IMO, watching 1999 isn't your priority here. January 1992-February 1995 is. Based on the vast history of the online universe, it's hardly guaranteed that you'll be able to see 1992 a few months from now. January 1992 through September 1993 is a solid and sometimes excellent/astonishing period. October 1993 through February 1995, while somewhat diminished, is considerably better than ANY of the crap that is 1999. At no point in 1992 will you see any Reva or Buzz. Imagine Springfield without those two, will ya?! No ham-handed Me! Me! Me! crap. In fact, no Reva from August 1990 through the end of 1994. Buzz shows up in January 1993. Their absence is highly beneficial to the show.

Lots to comment on here.... > I liked Floyd Parker. A lot. Tom was great in the role and deserved more and better material. Floyd and Katie were a very believable brother and sister combo, too. A full-blown story centered on the two of them as siblings had potential. > I agree that the Meg non-story was a big, missed opportunity. So was Abby regaining her hearing. Since GL liked to brag about its social consciousness (and its PSAs), I remain flummoxed that the show didn't center more on Abby's hearing. Amy Ecklund had a cochlear implant during her time on the show - it would have been highly illuminating to explore that. Perhaps it was discussed and Ecklund didn't want to proceed? > AlwaysAMC, if you think GL is bad in 1998, just wait until 1999. It gets much worse. (As Mitch mentioned, the departure of Watros and The Dawn of the CIone was the true jump the shark moment). I suggest you watch through the end of 1999 (if you can stand it), then start watching GL from 1989 through end of 1994. Why? Because of the contrast between the two eras. You'll be astonished, which is part of the fun. (To reiterate, GL starts improving in fall of 1989, with the most serious leaps coming in Spring 1990. And it continues to improve...and witnessing the improvement is great fun). If you start early 1989, you'll be somewhat disappointed, but knowing that things improve. The promise of what's to come might be enticing to you. That you haven't seen much of Beverlee McKinsey in action vs Zaslow blows my mind. And Melissa Hayden/Bridget has plenty of story from mid 1991 through end of 1993! Lots of great acting all around, lots of solid scripting/dialogue, including the quietly delivered yet significant one-offs. There are plenty of non-hysterical, seemingly pedestrian moments that are excellent. > Tony was always a pain in the behind. > Don Stewart "a bit egotistical"? You don't say, LOL. Don's condescending personality flew off the screen! > Reva stopping Holly from committing suicide was the straw that broke the camel's back. Sickening. By that time, I was watching GL maybe once a week (and as other mentioned, as background noise). Turning off the show was easy to do. > I continue to love the humor on this board. Thanks, everyone.

It's the Reva-tization of the show that trashed Guiding Light from 1985 through early 1989, and again from 1995 through the end. I will *always* remain steadfast in that point of view. Ultimately, "Reva" served as THE conduit/excuse for poor writing, direction, isolation/sidelining of characters, destruction of characters, writing out of characters, inane plots and storylines, you name it. Whenever Reva was around, the rest of the show tanked. Reva allowed laziness from the very top all the way down, with the overall thought process being "with Reva around, we can present any type of garbage, and the viewers will lap it up." Reva's mere presence on the canvas immediately meant heavy decline in good, meaningful story for nearly all other characters, including Ed, Mike, Vanessa, Holly, Ross, Nola, Alan, Roger. Look what happened to Ed, Vanessa and Ross from 1985 to 1989. Look what happened to Holly and Roger (both in shared story and in separate story) from 1995 onward. Guiding Light as a whole was generally idiotic with Reva around. The notable exception was late 1989 through mid 1990 (Reva's post-partum story - wherein Reva was not acting like herself!).

Brent should have killed off Buzz, not Nadine. With Buzz dead, there'd be plenty of story potential for Nadine. For example, bring back Carroll (the truck driver) and have an honest, touching, lasting romance. One that shocks Nadine, the family and the audience. Is she capable? We find out she is! She quits the diner, gets her real estate license (residential and commercial) and takes over Fifth Street.

Soaplovers said: "and I have a feeling that had Hope not been written off, Alexandra would have been an ally of Hope considering the fact that she blamed Alan for her losing her own child" What a fantastic thought! Not only for the obvious friction via Hope/Alan/Alex/Mike, but also, what about Alan-Michael in all that? Hope gets custody, slaps a restraining order on Alan via Mike. And Alex approves, provided she gets visitation access to A-M. Or, conversely, perhaps Hope and Mike ban all contact between the Spauldings (including Alex) and A-M. Holy bonanza! I'd still have Amanda (she and Hope were friends) marry Ed Bauer a decade later.

Actually, there were three Elenis, not two. There was a substitute Eleni in late 1994/early 1995. Wendy (Kaplan?), who starred in at least one of the Friday the 13th movies. I liked her and was hoping she would be a contract hire once Kanakaredes' contract was up. Didn't happen, obviously. Speaking of horror movies, whatever happened to the actress who portrayed Trudy? She was a foe of Nola's and friend of Morgan's during the early 1980s. She starred in the 2nd Friday the 13th flick. Aside from that, I thought that the role of "Skunk" should have been expanded, also in 1995. He was the guy Bridget was seeing. Likable, and very much the type of guy that Bridget would be interested in. He was written out after learning that Bridget was a momma. Bridget should have had her own guy, new to Springfield. I don't like Bridget with Frank, Billy, Rick or Hart. Nope.

Paul, you are correct. I am wrong. Lee Bell's show was on WBBM, Channel 2 in Chicago. The show ran from 1956(!) through 1986, according to IMDB. That site says that there were just 155 episodes hosted by Bell, and another 20 by a few guest hosts. Thusly and apparently, a considerably sporadic show. Guest interviews included Gloria Swanson, Burt Reynolds and Sid Caesar. But get this - the announcer was Ray Rayner! Wow. Another well-known Chicago figure from the past. Having lived the first 30 years of my life in Chicagoland, the memories are flooding in. Sheesh.

To add to the Bell/Chicago info: Lee Phillip Bell, Lauralee's mother, had her own "news lite" program in Chicago. It aired at lunchtime on NBC (channel 5 in Chicago). I don't remember if her show was part of a lunchtime news program or a stand-alone show. It ran for years during the 1970s and 1980s. Very likable woman.

Happily, I disagree with you on that one, PJ. I can easily envision Van saying something like that to Reva, naturally with considerable tact. Which would make it even funnier. Better still would be if Kincaid could say something like that with a faint air of superiority. Maybe have HB Lewis overhear it and have him start silently laughing... Vanessa says outlandish things at times, like when she told Maureen that she thought it perfectly okay that an ex-wife acts upon the idea that her own ex is better off with her (Vanessa) than with his current spouse (in this case, Nadine). Maureen was a tad astonished by Vanessa's comment and told Vanessa that an ex doesn't get to do such things. To which Vanessa said, "Why not?" Incidentally, I could see the honey/whiskey-voiced Alexandra say the same thing to Reva. Maybe Alex and Billy should have had a fling. Why not? LOL

I haven't been around much lately, so maybe this has been discussed...but, it's a shame there weren't numerous scenes between Vanessa and Reva comparing notes on Billy. It would have been lots of fun to see the two women get into a fight, with Vanessa coyly telling Reva that Billy's repertoire was actually quite limited when Vanessa and Billy first got together, and that she taught him plenty of things that he was clueless about <grin>. Having Vanessa insult Reva in such a manner would have been fantastic.

PJ: "What drives me crazy about the Nadine/Billy/Van triangle is how Nadine makes a chump out of the both of them." I bet it did, noting your disgust with all things Nadine. LOL. Whomever here said maybe 1-2 months ago that Nadine should have been a real estate agent was right on the money! A truly excellent idea!! Nadine's personality and social dis-acumen (lol) would have been perfect. A lower-class broad, wheeling and dealing with the movers and shakers, and making boatloads of cash. Especially if she was both a residential and commercial licensee. The bs that could have come out of her mouth could have been at times hilarious and vomit inducing. Sleeping around to get a deal done, wearing garish clothes, sharing all of Springfield's gossip. Think about it PJ: Nadine. Springfield's Highly Apropos Real Estate Agent. Tacky billboards up on every arterial roadway in Springfield! TPTB could even display the billboards outside of car accident scenes. Or, maybe Bridget could have given birth to Peter in her car...with Nadine's billboard plastered in the background! Lovely thought! A highly desirable side benefit: No Buzz Cooper required.

Well, Soaplovers and PJ, I am going to disagree with you both to an extent regarding a perceived sterile and repressed take on early 1990s GL. Why? Note that during the early 1990s, a sizeable portion of the show's plot protagonists were shorter-term, intentionally disposable characters against whom the "contract" characters responded to. That laundry list included: Rae Rooney, Gary Swanson, Daniel St John, Jean Wetherill, the Vizinni mobster family, the guy who tried to rape Vanessa, Vinny Morrison. All of them moved plot. Some quite significantly. There are significant advantages in having bit players move plot. Smart scribes can better protect the integrity of long-term characters through the use of short-term movers and shakers. Additionally, short-term invaders of the landscape can impact any character significantly (even Roger or Alexandra, say) as the invaders might be total unknowns to all. And, even the bittiest of bit players can have significance. Think Elvis, Bridget's brief boyfriend. My take? I would agree that early 1990s GL may have been somewhat plot-sterile where "contract" characters are concerned. But the show overall being sterile? No way. Not even close. I was fascinated, easily four days a week.

Annette - I agree, and Vanessa/Holly could have found mutual respect/camaraderie in pursuit of practical advice/opinion in business matters especially. The two may also offer each other up as a useful, early detection system. Not sure if the two could eventually warm up to each other on a deeper emotional plane as Holly's highly neurotic/erratic nature would undoubtedly be anathema to Vanessa's earthy existence. (Although it would be awesome to have Vanessa learn from Holly directly that the latter's nuttiness has been largely a ruse. And for Holly to prove it. Now that is something Vanessa would understand and glom onto immediately. That, and catty conversations about all things Nadine.) kalbir - thanks for the article. I have not seen that. I like the last observation a great deal...about Holly's barbs and bemused detachment toward everything Roger. There was a lot of that portrayed on GL. However, I would think that would only increase Holly's sexual attractiveness to Roger, enticing him and egging him on. Certainly, it's a means of keeping your friends close, but your enemies closer, where you can keep your eyes on them. Holly sure loved to thread that needle! Always dancing on the edge of the cliff, wasn't she? PJ - That's a good response, too. Holly does offer the ultimate redemption to Roger (especially after Roger fails to obtain redemption from his father Adam). As a foundational source of his fascination with Holly, I could buy that. Especially since Holly's hell-bound to keep him at arm's length away as a means of self-protection. I think as important, Holly's really the only person that can grant Roger a modicum of self-respect. It's pretty wild that it is Holly who offers Roger the best shot at anything resembling stability. That's some crazy she-yit, isn't it? Gotta love it! Aside from that, PJ, it's a real shame that Vanessa and Holly didn't have a lengthy sit-down chat about Billy. With Holly's experience with pins and cliffs (no wonder she had so many migraines!), she would have been a great ear and perhaps an excellent source of advice to Vanessa as she dealt with Billy. There should have been a very strong heart-to-heart between Van and Holly in late 1993 right as Billy was going off the rails and the Peter custody battle was heating up. An opportunity blown by TPTB. The two could have had a helluva tete-a-tete regarding Ed, Bridget and Ross at the time, too. (It's interesting that later, in 1995, both Vanessa and Ross push Holly to have a conversation with Dinah in an attempt to deter Dinah from marrying Roger. It's the first time I remember Vanessa summoning Holly's street smarts. Holly does have that talk with Dinah - a fantastic and well written scene where Holly warns Dinah about her future with Roger. Watch it sometime.) AlwaysAMC probably ran across that scene a few months back. Any idea when that took place? Maybe Summer 1995?

And another question to address "Holly": Why was Roger fascinated by Holly? Roger's sexual attraction to Holly was both obvious and understandable...was that the sole source of his fascination, or was it some other tangible or intangible? After all, Holly was hardly the only enticing seductress in town.