GL: March Discussion

[Dan]

If I wasn't sure there would be more of the reunion next week, I'd have been let down too.

Now about Beth Chamberlin. Probably because I *didn't* watch the scenes when they originally aired (mostly because I wasn't even born yet.) that I don't necessarily mind that Judi Evans wasn't playing Beth. Even so, the four still had a great deal of chemistry that I thought it was believeable.

[P.J.]

Yeah...this was one week I was actually looking forward to GL's reunion all week (especially given some heinous ATWT spoilers) and it's a LOT of Grady, Buzz screeching, and poor Lizzie face down on a icky cement garage floor (along with one HELLACIOUSLY random realization that Grady was her kidnapper) and not a lot of the Musketeers.

I mean, honestly....lunch room trays and applesauce? Not one mention of "hey...what's with doin' my little brother, Beth?"

[Angela]

This may be a little off-topic and maybe it's been posted elsewhere already, not sure, but GL made Entertainment Weekly's "The Must List" --> 10. READER'S CHOICE: OLIVIA AND NATALIA on Guiding Light - Mature takes on love aren't usually soaps' forte, but the CBS sudser gets it right with Olivia (CC) and Natalia (JL). Great writing and even better chemistry give "Otalia" one hell of a slow burn. -- Submitted by Christi

[Greg's GL]

See, I am of a completely different mindset. I think what GL is doing looks cheap, fake and very unrealistic. While Y&R is very entertaining. To each their own I guess. And judging Friday's episode, the writing hasn't improved that much.

I love BC as Beth. She's one of the best recasts on the show and I would never want to see JE return to the role. If there's more reunion next week, perhaps I'll tune in. Maybe.

I'm glad that the lunchroom trays rubbed someone else the wrong way. No high school reunion I've ever seen would serve people on those things.

[bleedingroseca]

Thanks Angela. It's been a very long time indeed since EW mentioned any daytime drama at all.

This is great for Otalia and even better for Guiding Light.

[Dan]

[BadBoy93]

where can u find GL Current episodes on YouTube.

[Dan]

Just search "Guiding Light" and then filter the results by day added. But because the episodes are added unofficially by members, the quality and timeliness of the episodes may not be what you want. CBS.com does have official daily episodes also.

[DRW50]

I think Y&R is uneven and if some of their stories were on GL (like the mess with Chloe, or the forged diary silliness, or Kay's kidnapping), they would probably get a negative reaction, but Y&R is seen as a more stable show, while GL is seen as being on its last legs. I've started trying not to look at any soap and go, "This is so much better than (other soap)", although I'm very tempted, because now all the soaps struggle for basic quality. I was very happy with the material when Phillip came back and Coop died, but even then I should have remembered some of the crap waiting for a return.

I don't know if they can't get rid of Grady until a certain time or if they want him to stay around, but I wish they could wrap up the kidnapping story. Or even give Lizzie aphasia. I don't care. I like Lizzie, or I liked Marcy Rylan in other stories, but seeing her wail and roll on the floor is going to actively drive viewers away.

Weren't there rumors Bradley Cole only came back so quickly because MADD loved him? She's been gone for years but Jeffrey's still there. Is he popular with someone at GL or is this because someone doesn't want to reunite Josh and Reva? I would hope this story with suing Reva over their unborn baby is a way to write him out, but if the Olivia rape story I've heard so many bad things about didn't write him out I guess this won't.

I've never been to a high school reunion where one of the people involved tried to kidnap all his kids and was then presumed dead for half a decade. To be honest I was surprised they could even afford extras. If not for the previews they played all week I would've expected them to have a reunion in an empty ballroom.

The realism I don't need but I would have liked to have seen more of them just talking and seeing where their lives have gone. I think the show wanted to go for a more comedic tone, which I enjoyed with Rick, but I'd rather hear more about what Mindy's been doing, seeing them reflect what they were in high school and what they thought they'd be at this age. I hope there will be more of this on Monday's episode, when Phillip gets done screaming at Grody.

[jfung79]

Didn't Mindy and Bill already talk about this before on another visit a few years ago? I saw that mentioned in an online character profile for Mindy.

Old news and water under the bridge anyway, it's not like there's no email or phone for them to communicate when they don't see each other.

Overall I've been really happy with this week, including the surprise of seeing Colin again and Shayne *finally* having a day where he is fun and not bitter/broody. This has been the best week since January, not so much misery (despite Lizzie's understandable paranoia about her father) and finally resolving the kidnapping story where Lizzie knows who did it. The only thing it was missing was more characters like Vanessa, Matt, and Alex (they aren't on enough).

Don't get me wrong though, GL has been strong throughout 2009 -- Phillip's return and the month of February were great too.

I still maintain it was a bad move to kill off Coop, despite the great drama the past few weeks -- too much misery, another fanbase alienated, waste of a great actor and character -- so I'm glad the show is finally moving on to featurng other stories.

It's good to see this comedic side to Rick that his fans talk about that I have not seen so much of. Speaking of humor, Olivia's sarcastic humor has been out in full force, and I love it!

I wonder when Olivia will finally be able to tell Natalia how she feels. They are still great.

I thought Josh and Olivia had chemistry during their group scene this week too. Josh said somethig positive about Olivia which I noticed, I don't remember what though. Josh was probably thnking something like, "Why wasn't Olivia more like this when we were married? That would have lasted." I never would have thought in 2000 that half the cast of GL would be gone 9 years later but Josh and Olivia would still be sharing a scene like this. It really felt right! It was nice to see Olivia being on Reva's side to Jeffrey too when Jeffrey told them about how he had stormed out.

I'm glad Emma knows Phillip is back in town and looking forward to how that reunion will be.

I am missing Rafe. I hope we get at least one more scene with EJ Bonilla before the rumored recast.

I don't think Grady was featured too much this week. It is good to see what he means to other characters who will still be on the canvas after he leaves like Daisy and Cyrus. I like that he was this close to becoming the town hero before it will all fall apart. I liked the twist of Alan being arrested and the tension when Lizzie went to confront Grady not knowing that he had been her kidnapper.

The literal cliffhanger at the end of the week was brilliant, the icing on the cake, suspenseful!

The previews were way confusing, especially Jeffrey suing Reva to save her life, but I'm still looking forward to next week.

[Soapsuds]

Is it true that

[Phoenix11]

Ruckston Hills -

About Jeffrey/Reva suing each other, this is what I understand:

Or some nonsense like that.

I think that once GL ends these ridiculous storylines that they've been forced to deal with, the show as a whole will improve. We've already seen flashes of brilliance and they seem to be listening to the fans more these days. I just hope that if what we've seen lately of the new stories is JLH's influence, they sign her to a lifetime contract.

Otalia this week... it's torture! I'm loving every minute of it though!!

[DRW50]

I could've done without all the pizza face jokes, but otherwise I enjoyed the reunion scenes. They managed to find muzak which almost sounded 1984ish, and some of Rick's non pizza face dialogue, like putting gum under the teacher's desk, was very funny. The part where Beth and Phillip said Rick and Mindy dancing together seemed right was very bittersweet, as it should have been. I also loved Rick booing when they put the crown on Phillip's head.

The crowning glory of the episode, and one of the best scenes I've seen anywhere recently, was the scene with Beth and Phillip dancing, Beth talking about how she thought Phillip's "strong hands" could have protected her forever, not realizing those same hands had just pushed Grody off a cliff. Even without the double meaning, the scenes were wonderful, they spelled out so much of the Phillip/Beth relationship.

I hope we can find out more about Mindy's life and her thoughts, but I'm not going to expect too much, I have such low expectations I was surprised to even see she was in the previews for tomorrow's episode.

So Grody isn't dead, presumably, since GL wouldn't bring Phillip back to have him kill someone after only a few weeks, but I hope he's dead. I know he's going to pop back out and Daisy will probably take care of him, but I hope he's dead.

The scene where Buzz had some quiet regrets about teaming up with Grody, while Daisy sung his praises, was also well done. That type of stuff suits Justin Deas more than the bombast.

[Dan]

I know. I wish Phillip had gone down and CHECKED first to make sure he was really dead. You can never be too sure on a soap these days. But LMFAO at the nickname Grody. It totally fits.

I dunno. I really liked the jokes. Probably because MOL's comedic timing is just that good. And his impression of the teacher had me rolling. But I agree that the scenes were pretty much close to perfection. I didn't even mind that we didn't get flashbacks (and I mostly understand the JE/BC reason).

But I have to disagree with Mindy. Those times weren't innocent and pure, lmao.

[P.J.]

Well, then how about...my brother is dating your daughter now? How about reminiscing about when they ran away to New York, or whatever else they did? All this crap about "Pizzaface/Dave Carter" means nothing because I know it's all made up CRAP. And as much as I like seeing Mindy (even if she seems abnormally chipper) with the other Musketeers, it would be nice to see her interacting with her other family members in town too. One two-minute visit with Billy? C'mon...

"Grady" falling off that cliff??? HILARIOUS.