Speed Racer

MLH - I'm surprised by your A-M/Gilly remark....what would A-M being part owner of The Journal have to do with A-M/Gilly potential? An aside - the crux of A-M/Gilly interaction took place well before A-M become part owner (Winter 1993/1994 versus Autumn 1994). The Four Musketeers? Passable, but hardly excellent. Beth/Lujack was good at times. What I never bought into was the horrific pairing of Morgan Richards and Kelly Nelson. Here's a dippy, plain jane girl (Kristen Vigard, whom I detested) that somehow enamors studly Kelly, who is pursuing an MD degree and is easily 10+ years her senior? The two don't work together on ANY level - intellect, ambition, age, experience, looks. The whole thing was pure nonsense, and an obvious ploy to attract the attention of high school age female viewers, who at that age naturally are devoid of sophistication. Yeah, the Bridget pursuing Hart a second time was tedious. You would think that Bridget wouldn't return to that territory after Dylan left. No imagination on the part of exec producers and writers of the time. More mid-1990s garbage. More reason to tune out.

A-M and Eleni were never a supercouple. An unexpected supercouple that never came to be was Alan-Michael and Gilly. Their on-screen chemistry was remarkable. It flew off the screen! A great many viewers saw it; how could they not? And a great deal of story could have been mined from their pairing. Early 1994 GL was determined to ram A-M and Lucy down our throats, sadly. Speaking for myself, I would have easily settled for a quick change of storyline direction, even if it meant derailing that part of the show for 1-2 months, to create a future for Gilly/A-M.

Good to read that Marlena write-up above. Especially notable is the observation that at the time, GL wasn't underestimating the intelligence of its audience. It was when GL decided to insult my intelligence circa 1995/1996 that I cut my viewership down to maybe 1-2 days per week. That plus an overload of Reva was too much. I severed ties with the show completely in 1998. Why should I remain loyal to something so determinedly poor? What De LaCroix doesn't mention is the almost unbelievable degree of "adept temperance" that those at GL exhibited during the early 1990s. The actors, writers, producers, stage hands, etc. As an example, speaking of the Lillian/Maureen confrontation in the Bauer kitchen...notice what's NOT in those scenes. The speed of line delivery has been slowed. No out of the ordinary lighting. And, most importantly, NO MUSIC! None. Consequently, there's all sorts of room for the audience to feel a very palpable sense of dread. The scene is set up so well. Yeah, the writing is much above average, but we know that already. People comment frequently on the "suburban joke" line that Parker delivers, but in my mind's eye, it's an earlier line in that scene that really makes my eyebrows go up - where Lillian asks, "is this a good time" to which Maureen responds, "another time might be worse". WHAT?!! Holy sheyit! And other than spoken words, there is no other sound. I've commented earlier how as a consumer of entertainment, I greatly appreciate being manipulated. This is yet another example of it at Guiding Light, when it good.

Speaking of India, I have long thought that she and Holly should have started a business together....perhaps when Holly was ousted from WSPR and went over to the Journal. I think India and Holly would be phenomenal working together. Imagine the love of words the two share! India with her penchant for European commentary and HolIy with her Latin. I'd make them fast friends. Kinda like Donna and Ginger, but much more sophisticated. Holly never had a female friend, so she'd be entering new territory here. MLH: Was it you that thought that maybe Hart should have been killed off when Jeff Phillips left the show? Fascinating idea. Would sure mess with Roger's psyche and spiral Blake out of control from a deep sense of guilt.

"My only objection to this would be Amanda marrying Ed...at least if Ed was still portrayed by Peter Simon. I can't see Cullen and Simon having chemistry. In theory, it's a GREAT idea because Ed and the Bauers are Alan's enemies. If we're shaking up the show, then an Ed recast could have been in order." The more I think about an Amanda/Ed pairing, the more I like it. Both the expected AND unexpected ramifications of their pairing are many, and could veer in numerous directions yet maintain strong legitimacy. Working in tandem, those of us here could easily generate 20+ viable storylines from their pairing. As a consumer, I very much appreciate any form of entertainment (tv, music, film, books, paintings, etc.) that effectively manipulate me. It's one of the yardsticks I use to decide whether I believe the entertainment to be any good. An Ed/Amanda pairing I think could afford that opportunity. "I thought she laughed a little longer too. It doesn't seem to be any longer in the German episodes." I'm pretty sure there's more to it, following the announcement from A-M and Henry. I also very much appreciate how quietly foreboding the conversation is between Hart and Alex: Hart: "Where's he going? He's my father." Alex: "You don't want this, Hart. You don't." Hart: "Yes, I do." BINGO! Just 16 words spoken, more if you want to count hyphenations. No histrionics, no music overtures underscoring the importance of the message. Yet it's near perfect and immensely effective.

"Jeff Phillips is someone I liked & also thought he probably was underappreciated. He does good work in these scenes. I was just watching the Country Club scenes and not for the first time, boy, Kimberly Simms is on fire!!" Agreed. I thought Jeff Phillips was the best Hart that GL ever had. Believable as a farm boy who knew something about horses. (Yet another young actor that McKinsey obviously liked). Two-thirds or more of the GL actors were on fire back then. Great work all over the place. They knew they were riding high at the time. (When the new intro appeared January 1, 1991, I was immediately impressed with its stride and its sense of purpose. It beckoned viewers with the idea of "look at GL now, at how good it's become...and we all know it, on our side of the screen and on yours). The show was on to something and went with it. Lasted three years, a pretty decent stretch for any soap opera. BTW, the McKinsey monologue was done solo. No other character present. Should I come across it, I'll make public note of it. And, yes, that's the Alex scene I was talking about (three significant events happening in one day and her reaction to it). I thought the scene was longer - maybe there's more after the commercial break? Thank you, Contessa and PJ!

Chrisml: Thanks for the explanation; you and I are very much in agreement. The February 1994 engagement party is correct. I have to wonder what Maeve Kincaid was thinking while doing these abysmal scenes with Dusay, versus the wonderful scenes she was doing with Ver Dorn, Roerick, Hayden and Englund re: Peter's custody battle. All that was happening more or less simultaneously. It appears that the custody battle was Curlee/Demorrest's last true effort on the show. Great dialogue, recall of history, intent, implications and cross pollination of characters. All of that missing from the Nick/Mindy/Alex story at that time. Floundering, listless, pointless retread of water long passed under the bridge. The June 1992 ending of Nick and Mindy was both solid and memorable and should not have been revisited. IMO, what needed to happen in March 1994 was a reintro of Hope or Rita as some here have suggested, or a reintro of Kathleen Cullen as I have proposed (Cullen would arrive with a warning about Alan nearing a completion of a Spaulding takeover from prison; later, she eventually marries Ed and becomes a Bauer). In any event, some sort of significant applecart needed to be turned over in 1994. Instead, we got Buzz and Nadine on a gameshow, Alan pretending to be Mr Toshua and Reva reappearing as a phantom figure by Christmas. Ugh. I was surprised when they brought Eve on in May 1992...a clear signal of an intended Eve/Nick/Mindy triangle with Alex encouraging Eve from the sidelines. A bad idea...Nick/Mindy was playing itself out. Eve was never intended to go nuts or move into Ed's orbit. Both stories made up on the fly out of necessity, following the departures of Simms and McKinsey. I don't think any of this 1994 Mindy/Nick/Alex stuff was sexist. Stupid? Yes. Uninspired? Yes.

"However, the writing for Alexandra was terrible. I couldn't get over what they did to Alexandra during JFP's tenure." I'm not sure what your time frame here is on this chrisml, but I'm going to disagree with you if you're thinking the McKinsey era. I also disagree with McKinsey's own assessment of how Alexandra was being written at the time. Alexandra should have been pissed and ready to steamroll the scene based on everything that happened to her from late 1990 to early 1992. It made perfect sense to me. Had Alex retained her restraint, that would have been unrealistic. McKinsey may not have liked what was going on with Alex (fair enough) and both she and some viewers may have been quite irritated by it (also fair enough), but to say it signifies character assassination is nonsense, imo. Who in the hell wouldn't act like Alex did in response? The lady had been though a hell of a lot. Had all that happened to me, I'd have been out for blood. With a machete. (Incidentally, Alex was never adept at having relationships with seemingly any man in her life - Brandon, Alan, Loch, Eric, Fletcher, Roger, Alan-Michael - so why would she with Nick? Because he's her son? Her track record sucks, with the exception of Lujack and Phillip. For her to go somewhat bat crazy over Nick/Mindy doesn't seem way out of character to me. And Alex wasn't bat crazy over Nick/Mindy for that long of a stretch, either - November 1991 to June 1992. That's 8 months tops. That's nothing in the land of soaps). It's easy to understand McKinsey's frustration and exhaustion. She was in heavy rotation for nearly three years straight and a lot was demanded of her. And she delivered. Now, if you are referring to the subpar Alex/Mindy (Dusay/Crampton) storyline/dialogue/characterization, you and I definitely agree. But that doesn't take place until late 1993/early 1994. McKinsey left the show in August 1992. JFP was around for much of both go 'rounds. BTW, maybe 300 pages ago on this site, someone mentioned the great acting of McKinsey upon finding out that Hart was Roger's son (the third Earth-shattering bit of news that Alex learned in one day)! Alex just starts laughing in an incredulous way - it's so damn appropriate and so damn good! I wish I knew the date of that episode. Must be late 1991 or early 1992. There's another episode from Spring/early Summer of 1992 where McKinsey has a maybe two-minute monologue in the Spaulding study. It's great! Bandstand Mike had posted it, but YT yanked it. I haven't seen in since. Bummer. Maybe someone here has seen it?

"I adore William's chemistry with everyone. He and Jerry ver Dorn as a pseudo father/son-in-law were gold" Yep, same with the father/mentor relationship he had with Alex. And with Jenna. BTW...and I know you're not a Jenna fan....you may want to watch some scenes between Roerick and Huchison circa early January 1993. Great there, too. I believe it's the same episode during which Maureen dies. Most viewers have forgotten Henry/Jenna as they watch only the Maureen dies YT clips. What I found maddening during Fall 1993 was that there was little to no connection portrayed between Henry and Bess (Brandon's secretary). If Curlee/DeMorrest had been around, I'm sure they would have found a way to capitalize on that. I'm not convinced that Tesreau could play a toughened Mindy circa 1993. I found her 'acting tough" scenes unconvincing throughout the 1980s. That said, people do change and grow. Including actors. It's too bad "Alex" didn't have more screen time with a broader spread of younger characters, like hosting big informal dinners where she's sharing stories and wisdom. You know who else was great with younger actors? Maureen Garrett. Not only did she have great rapport with Miner (Michelle) but also with Burke (Flether's son Ben). As with McKinsey, I found the on-screen chemistry between Garrett and Burke to be appealing as well.

"Characters like Reva and Mindy fit in better during the 80s.. and we saw how much they didn't fit into GL in the 90s and beyond. In fact, the show went OTT in order to fit Reva onto the show." So nice to read a comment like this! Mindy would make an easier return than Reva. IMO, and in many ways, it's Reva's mere presence on the show from 1995 forward that ruined Guiding Light, and for the exact reason you mentioned. The entirety of GL is seriously dumbed down when Reva is on the canvas. "Reva" was an enabler and an excuse for really poor storylines, plots, scripting and characterizations across the entire Springfield landscape.

Various comments to follow: Hickland as Hope Bauer? A very definite yes on that. Hickland as Mindy? No way. And I am thankful that TPTB didn't bring Tesreau back to play Mindy following Simms' departure. Tesreau's perky, chirpy, dumb blonde, cheerleader Mindy was fine during the 1980s, but after Simms, that ship had long sailed. GL didn't need two Nadines. A shame that we never saw Bernau, Zaslow and McKinsey grace out screens simultaneously for a 2-3 year time span. Can you imagine that?! Sure, we saw two of the three for various periods of time, but not all three. And yeah, Dee Vee, the fluidity of character relationships (of all types) during the early 1990s was remarkably well done. Frank and Sherry had fantastic chemistry...and it would make sense that Blake might be interested in/respectful of Frank, despite him being boring (even more so than Ross). Blake would be attracted to his stability and "solidness" considering she never had that in her life. Incidentally, regarding Frank, I found the semi-burgeoning friendship between him and Alexandra fascinating as hell (Alexandra hired him to get the goods on Musette, who was black mailing A-M). There's a scene where Alex intimates to Frank that she believes Eleni would be better off with him rather than Alan-Michael, but that she can't actively support that idea because A-M is her nephew. McKinsey and Dicopoulis have a real easy-going on-screen connection that's very appealing. One day, we need to comment on the McKinsey/Roerick chemistry and abilities. Alex and Henry laughing, conspiring or sparring - wonderful stuff! It's this kind of thing that I hope attracts AlwaysAMC and Ryan to watch the early 1990s GL. Perhaps they can someday synchronize their watches.....

Another positive note - the overwhelming majority of GL actors/actresses that have carried themselves publicly quite well over dozens of years now. It's impressive. I wonder whether Betty Rea played a role here...spotting people who could not only act but also retain a sense of dignity and class throughout. Likely subconscious, I know. I am surprised that the actors from numerous soaps haven't put together a book of sorts, sharing their experiences and reflections of Rea. Each actor could submit 1/2-1 page each, then present it to Rea's family. Offering thanks.

About Frank Grillo...he also plead guilty of securities fraud during the 1990s. So not only was he married and banging his married co-star during his time on GL, he also was dealing with a protracted Securities & Exchange Commission issue. Quite the hat trick! So stressful... Kim Zimmer seems to be a real peach, based on what's been posted here during the past two weeks or so. I do find supposition about Zimmer needing money to be laughable, no matter if I accept it as fact or dismiss it as ludicrous. Supplementing a massive ego can cost a lot of dinero apparently. "I Am Woman, Hear Me Roar....I Am Strong (Strong!), I Am Invincible...I Am Woman!" LMFAO! What B.S. Billy was *always* the more fun Lewis brother; Josh was the responsible, fussy stick in the mud. It's obvious who'd be better in the sack. And, on a positive note, I do find it refreshing how little plastic surgery prevailed among GL actors over the years. Numerous West Coast actors look like cheap dime store mannequins.

Susan Pratt would have been a solid Reva Shayne, better than Zimmer.

"And OMG, watching the scenes of Roger's return in comparison...the quality in the writing really nosedived. The stupid mask." Very much agreed. Having Roger hide behind a mask for weeks/months, with it culminating with him swinging in on a vine at Blake/Phillip's wedding....geez. So juvenile. IMO, Guiding Light never did a good job reintroducing major characters, either from the dead or elsewhere. Masked balls = awful. Amish = awful. When Reva was brought back from the dead, she should've just showed up in Springfield as Reva, and informed everyone that she had been gone for years because she felt like it. She had a four-year fling with some dude who ended up dumping her due to disloyalty. Josh would be pissed and declare that their love is not *always* but *sometimes* and he'd act accordingly. Her kids would hate her.

"Jordan and Robert have the best brother chemistry. " They certainly did! And that chemistry worked no matter who served as the protagonist in a given scene or story. A shame that a full-blown story was never developed for those two. Wouldn't have needed to be adversarial, either. Maybe a serious, unexpected, long-term outside threat, business or personal, to one of the brothers with the other coming to his aid.

AlwaysAMC - Your posts are a crack up; they make me laugh. Thanks. I especially like how detailed you get enthused about something, and how you curtly and flippantly you reject that which you find subpar. LOL. What's great about Annie is her increasing rooting value as time goes on. I often wanted Annie to be victorious. Watros infuses her with an energy and a vulnerability that really works, even at times when neither should. Soap viewers often remember and talk about the Big Moments, which is fine, but what I also find really interesting is the 1-2 week time frame that follows the Big Moment. Later, there are scenes between Annie and Rick involving a trip to the hospital (no way am I telling you why and what happens - hopefully no one does) that I think are as well done as the Big Moment. Astonishing stuff. Oh..and to reiterate...I ain't telling you sh*t. You'll just have to suffer! Ain't anticipation grand? LOL.

I never liked Reva, either the first time around, or the second. My issue for the first go round was that Reva dominated the show, which was a shame because I didn't like the character. Loud, insecure, narcissistic "look at me", "here I am, entertain me" individuals irritate me in real life. It wouldn't have mattered to me who portrayed the character...Zimmer or someone else. Reva is a character inherently inimical to the idea of ensemble. Post 1995, Reva was no longer a character, but a device.

Reva should have had a stroke...leaving her permanently MUTE. Not able to utter a single sound, not even the slightest blubber or gurgle.

Hey Always AMC -- am I to assume you enjoy times of colossal stupidity on soaps? If so, you might find yourself thrilled with GL for the rest of 1996. Lots of trains jumping the tracks. Off cliffs, even. Do keep an eye on Cindy Watros. She and Annie get increasingly interesting. Cindy steps on the damn gas pedal to notable effect. IMO, Annie's the only real reason to watch GL from mid 1996 through 1997. The rest is garbage.

Swift said: "But, isn't funny that they're all back in Florida, but nobody mentions this is where Reva went nuts and drove off a bridge. It seems like it might trigger some memories." Hilarious!! 'Tis a shame it didn't retrigger the same behavior as well. In a gray Volvo.

I very much liked office Cleary and the actress who portrayed her (as you say, Mary Peterson). A shame her turn didn't evolve into a contract role. BTW, does anyone know the timeframe/years that Betty Rae served as casting director? If i understand correctly, she not only led the effort for contract roles, but also for shorter 13- and 26-week roles. IMO, GL had LOTS of very well-casted, limited roles, too. I'm surprised the actors throughout the soap industry, and especially P&G actors, have not assembled a book or something similar, praising Rae. Each actor could write a few paragraphs or a page of text describing his or her experience.

Oh - PJ - regarding 1993... I understand where you're coming from, but I do think overall that 1993 was a decent year for the show. As you stated, worth watching as the Peter custody trial (culminating in the fantastic court scenes of February/March 1994). In addition, tho, I think the David/Kat/Vinny story holds up pretty well, as does Ed/Michelle/Holly. Cliff House was good. And while there are cast changes, there's still plenty of great actors present. Yet, those stories were pretty much wrapped up by September 1993. Yeah, Buzz quickly becomes a dirge, Lucy and Tangie are busts, and the revisit of Nick/Mindy is uninteresting (playing itself out in 1992). Unlike apparently everyone else in existence, I liked the actor who finished out Billy's storyline. He wasn't Clarke, but I thought he did well. I also thought Bess - Brandon's secretary who came on maybe in October 1993 - was a solid addition. Loved when Bess would give Dusay's Alex a hard time and corner Alex with her wheelchair (for example, "You liked the sex, didn't ya?", referring to Alex/Roger).

P.J. - Boy, do I ever agree with you regarding Jordan Clarke!! It remains somewhat flabbergasting to me how GL most fans don't seem to regale him with the laudatory praise earned. Yeah, I know Clarke eventually got an Emmy for Best Supporting sometime in the 2000s (I stopped watching the show for all practical purposes in 1998 once Watros left - everything else then was too insulting and insipid), but he deserved to win during that 1989-1993 timeframe you mentioned. Phenomenal effort and performance on his part. Continuously. Never phoned anything in. A request for all: the next time you watch the infamous Alex/Billy interaction at The Towers ("that viral thing was your grandchild"), instead of focusing on McKinsee and what she says, zero in on Clarke instead. He's every bit as good as she is.

That may be Henry's last appearance. William Roerick, who portrayed him, died in mid-December 1995. What a fantastic actor he was.