GL: Week of March 17

[P.J.]

Okay, can anyone remind me why Dinah is holding Alan responsible for Ross' death? I thought everyone was pissed at Rick for some reason...

Oh, and would someone call GL's makeup people and tell them to cut back on Dinah's mascara? They now look like they could cut her eyeballs if she blinks too fast.

[Noel]

I wish that I could give you an explanation, but I wasn't watching Guiding Light at that time. The whole Ross' death was yet another contrived plot-driven story. Maybe Dinah wants to get down to the bottom of it since it was her father? And with Blake now in the momentary picture (don't blink your eyes because she'll probably be gone sooner than you think), this would give more air-time to Elizabeth Kiefer?

ETA: Hot damn! We finally have a Guiding Light Discussion thread!

[UKBoi]

It looks A LOT better now, they're finally working out the kinks in the production model. Some of the scenes could use better lighting but the sound quality is picking up and it's not as shaky. Plus I LOVE that there is actually more than 2 or 3 sets.

This storyline with Lizzie and Alan is really intriguing me, I know that somehow she's going to get out from under his clutches (as only love can save the world apparently, and just now Bizzie is love, at least that's the message EW is sending us). I like how Dinah and Bill are now scheming against the Spauldings, they both have their own motives but are uniting to bring Alan down...I'd really love it if Philip was alive after all and would call their bluff.

Rafe/Daisy are BLAHHHHHH. I would really like for them (along with Natalia) to just ride off into the sunset and then bring Daisy back a few months later as Susan played by an actress that I can actually stand to watch.

Marina is just a little too bitter for my liking these days. She's taking out her frustration at Harley and Cyrus on Mallet for taking over Frank's job for a while, which is out of line. And it seems like she's been on crutches FOREVER.

I liked the scenes with Cyrus and Harley's kid (I dont know his name...I'm new to GL). This week has been a lot better so far with a lack of Reva/Josh/Cassie/Jeffrey, what does that tell you?

On a side note, I would really like it if they got some new music, this mix of bland, anonymous songs and wannabe-edgy scores are a little irritating.

Hopefully GL can continue to keep this level of quality up, both story and production wise. I just hope they can begin to keep the quality consistent as it seems to vary from week to week.

[Noel]

Three kids of Harley's come to mind:

Daisy/Susan- father is Dylan Lewis

Zach Spaulding- father is Phillip Spaulding

Jude Bauer- father is Rick Bauer

I'm thinking the kid you saw was Jude. I missed that episode, but with Rick in the picture and not too happy about the Harley and Cyrus situation, I can see this kid that you're talking about being Jude Bauer. He's Leah's older brother being born before Leah and Leah is now a grown teenager making Jude still a little toddler.

[P.J.]

Yeah, I was half-watching the show at the time too. Rick had helped Phillip somehow....OH WAIT...weren't faulty Spaulding parts behind the plane crash? Sigh...it took me days to remember why everyone is suddenly referring to Alan shooting Phillip. And then mostly what I remember is Alan set Harley up for it.

I love the thought of Dinah running Spaulding (and bringing up her Grandfather Henry was so sweet...). But TIIC need to do some reminding on motivations.

Oh, and ITL offically over? I haven't seen any annoying titles on Wednesday eppys in a while.

[JamesF]

Not watching regularly but seriously, Dinah's in the running for Spaulding now? It was bad enough when Harley was insta-CEO. I hate that Y&R seems to be the only show that even attempts for a little corporate realism.

Yep. Read an interview with Ellen Wheeler before the NuLookZOMG! and she confirmed it.

[~bl~]

If Alan hadn't shot Phillip and faked his death, there would have been no need for Ross to go looking for Phillip, and that's why Ross went down in a plane crash.

[Vee]

I never understood how the hell Harley became CEO of Spaulding. Did she have any corporate experience?! It was a shocking twist but couldn't work, really, I guess.

Today, Harley is unbearable. She keeps pushing this Cyrus thing on her family at the worst possible times. I couldn't believe she went to the hospital twice.

The editing is still extremely scattershot; every episode has the timeframe of an ITL now, stories move way too fast as a result, and it does not work. We cut from Cyrus with Harley to Cyrus at the hospital? Bill wants to bulldoze into the Spaulding grounds, then gives up on Lizzie, then [!@#$%^&*] Ava, then goes back to Lizzie all in the same day (which was implied in the last few eps)? No. Come on. They need to go back to a more typical soap pace. And the lighting, sound, etc. still have huge issues, along with the camerawork. The hospital set is still pathetic, underlined by the fact that Blake's office was apparently in there!

I also really wish they would stop basing so many storylines on the possibility of Phillip coming back. These are doing nothing to lure Grant Aleksander back to the show and it's getting really, really old.

Finally, the Gus/Olivia/Natalia story is so [!@#$%^&*] stupid it defies description. Olivia's behavior towards him has been psychotic and completely random since Day One. Natalia is still awful and Gus has been ruined. And also - why the hell are they testing Cassie and Cyrus on top of everything else? Haven't they bounced people from lame story to lame story enough in the last six months alone? Do they think that because the stories from day to day are so scattershot and insanely fast-paced that every romantic possibility must be as well?

I swear, the show has great actors, good staff writers, and horrible stories and execution.

[P.J.]

Anyone else think Blake will bed Coop before Ashlee does? *raises hand*

I get Olivia is "fierce". But I had more sympathy for her when she was wrapping herself in saran wrap and having Josh's kids walk in on her than now, when she's supposed to be dying. And I'm going to just say it...there is something WAY weird about her nose. It's driving me nuts.

So...when they can't shoot through leaves, branches or grass, they spend the day shooting through windows? *RME* You'd think the "Christmas buzz" aspect of playing with the new "toys" would be over by now.

[RoseVioletDaisy]

Harley became CEO of Spaulding, despite having zero corporate experience or anything even resembling a decent education, for the same reason she became Ruth Karloff, The Comic Book Hero, and The Whore of Springfield: because David Kreizman is obsessed with her, thinks the audience is too, and seems convinced that we will all agree with him that the character can do no wrong no matter how selfish and reprehensible her actions are.

I could believe it. Harley has been unbearably selfish and hurtful for years. What's happening now is nothing new, she's just escalated her behavior and is now acting out against her own family because they are the one's currently standing in the way of what Harley wants, therefore they are the enemy and fair game to get hurt. In Harley's sick mind anyway. She is pushing Cyrus on everyone at the worst possible times BECAUSE it hurts them, especially Marina, and that's exactly what she wants. She is behaving like she is mentally ill and if the writers don't realize that, they're even dumber than I ever imagined.

Exactly, the ITLs aren't gone, they're just everyday now. And as a result every episode plays like it's being played at warp speed.

Everything about the show's visual asthetic and dramatic pacing is just pitiful. There's nothing more to be said. It's terrible.

I think they know that GA is NEVER returning and they don't care. The mere mention of Phillip still gives some viewers, especially those who may not know the circumstances of his leaving and might think a return is a possibility, something to hope for and stick with the show over.

It's a total mess and has been from the beginning. The reason is that, just like with almost every other "story", it was rushed in order to accomodate another plot point. Gus had to be dumped by Harley so that she could become obsessed with and steal Cyrus, so they threw Gus into a triangle with Natalia and Olivia because even the show knew that Gus and Natalia had nothing together and they used Olivia as some sort of spark. Now that RPG is, very wisely, leaving, they're not even trying anymore.

They're testing Cassie and Cyrus because Harley and Cyrus have been a massive, pathetic failure on every conceivable level and I guess they're trying to figure out where to stick Cyrus if BE walks in May when her contract expires, since she's rumored to be seriously considering an offer from ABC. I'm crossing my fingers and praying that she does leave because Harley Cooper has become the single most destructive character on this show and is now very unpopular, totally unsympathetic, and IMO irredeemable.

The randomness of the plots and who gets dropped in them is a huge problem.

Yes, I think they think that they can randomly and quickly pair any two people up and make the audience like them just because they're being shown. But as random as it would be, Cassie and Cyrus would be lightyears better than Harley and Cyrus, that much is obvious already. Forrester and Bartlett actually have some chemistry together, he and Ehlers have less than none. Although I don't understand why they wouldn't just have Cyrus realize what a nutcase Harley is and pull out all the stops to get Marina back. Bartlett has the most chemistry by far with Bruno.

[PJA]

At least Dinah has worked at Spaulding before. Plus she's staging a takeover so it's not like the Board is electing her to run Spaulding like they did Harley which was completely stupid.

This week was a lot better than the past. The cameras are much better and not shaky anymore which is a releif. I still think that sometimes there are too many closeups and they are super close.

[Noel]

Well, when I need a good laugh at the shows expense, I'm getting basketball instead. I need to be paying more attention to the pre-emption dates this month that's for sure.