Guiding Light Discussion Thread

[DRW50]

October 1952 Radio TV Mirror recap.

Many girls of eighteen manage to prove to their reluctant families that they are able to run their own lives. But Cathy Roberts is not so successful. Defying her father and repudiating, his affection and help, she finds herself involved in more trouble than she can handle. Will Cathy's problem be a decisive factor in the fate of her father's marriage to Meta White - the marriage so bitterly opposed by Cathy?

[DRW50]

So this fashion show wasn't just a bad case of food poisoning.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YoIbvde__yI&feature=mfu_in_order&list=UL

[DRW50]

I guess this was late 1983. Christmas? I love listening to the music and seeing the various character threads. Weird seeing Josh and Hillary together, especially since Josh hurt her friends. I guess this wasn't anything serious between them. Every time I see Hillary I like her more.

This was very early Reva, and she's accompanied by a "comic" maid, Anita, who talks about being oppressed. Weird. How long did she last? She seems like something out of Soap.

The Lewises always remained a pretty believable family, even through 25 years and 3000 different regimes, but I like some of their edge in these earlier years.

Who is the Asian doctor who is with Alan and is interested in Quint? I don't remember hearing anything about her.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=efQd2xJta7o&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k-j7F5NCZ9Y&feature=related

[soapfan770]

How on earth did Reva's true identity slip completely past Vanessa when others were calling her Reva almost right in front of her?

I love early Reva Its pretty clear to me why she got on fast there in 1983/84 although obviously becoming the entire show by 1986 was a too much

Funny about that Reva being escorted by Mike and being introduced to Ed. I remember in a 2004 interview SOD did with Peter Simon he wished that Ed and Reva would have hooked up at some point. Interesting as we could have seen Reva Bauer but I can't see a Ed/Reva pairing happening.

The funny thing about Reva's intro in November 1983 is she was talked about for a good week or two before she finally appeared. I've seen the 83 Thanksgiving episode Billy and Mindy talk about Reva, HB making Reva jokes and how Reva couldn't handle Mindy and how Alan was interested in bringing Reva to town and meeting her, all before she actually even appeared.

[DRW50]

I liked the fun little Ed/Reva scene. Maureen's scowling reaction was fun too. Too bad they didn't do more with Mike and Reva.

I didn't realize they were mentioning her that early on.

When was it exactly that they decided to turn her from being an outsider into the heart of the show? Or was it planned all along? Did Kim ever talk about her first meeting with Pam Long? It seems like Pam was so fascinated and entranced by the Reva character, and I wonder if that was because of or in spite of Kim (they weren't all that close as time passed on GL). But to Pam's credit, she wrote a beautiful romance between Josh and Harley after Reva "died."

[soapfan770]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JV8zXGGlC4U&feature=related

Josh and Harley were fun. I've always wondered why the show never revisited Josh and Harley although I think they made Harley slightly crazy when they had Harley burn Reva's clothes but then again just about every woman lost their sanity over Josh didn't they?

[DRW50]

I thought her burning the clothes made sense because Josh was locking himself in his room - she had to react. But knowing Harley's history she probably would have gone nuts at some point. By the time he returned in 1993 she was on the way out but I do wonder why they never considered it later. I guess because she was locked in to a few men, and he was with a few women. But then I don't know if he would have been interested in later Harley anyway. She was so brittle.

[DRW50]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f7eIy8ceR6M&feature=related

[Max]

I'm sure that this has been discussed before, but there's no doubt that the major reason why the Bauers were decimated was because they were considered too "old" and "boring" for the youth demo P&G and CBS so desperately wanted to attract. (Of course, the idiots in charge failed to realize that GL was never a soap designed to attract young people in the first place.) While everybody knows that GH was the hottest soap among young people in the early-80's, some of you may not know that the much lower-rated EON charged more for an ad than did GL (because EON had a younger audience); I'm sure that this fact alone factored big into P&G's decision to get rid of the Bauers. (I remember reading on a message board that a commercial on EON cost more than one on GL back in the early-80's, and was shocked to find that out.)

Edited September 20, 2011 by Max

[DRW50]

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[ZoeTate]

I think the Bauers needed a strong Rick Bauer. Rick was always Phillip's stooge. It should have been the other way around. Michael O'Leary was Barney Rubble. The first teen/adult Rick was Phil MacGregor, and sorry, but next to Grant Aleksander he just didn't register.

[KMan101]

I agree. I get O'Leary is a funny guy and a little bit of a goofball, but at times Rick was written almost like a joke.

It is a shame the Bauer's were never truly reinvigorated. There was a lot that could have been done with them.

I also think a lot of the middle aged Bauers were affected by the fact that, weren't Mike and Ed soarsed a LOT and then they did the same to Rick? And also, Michelle was aged way too much. Especially with Nancy St. Alban in the role. Nothing against her, but she made Michelle seem 40 when Michelle should have been a hell of a lot younger and not saddled with a husband and kids so soon. IMO.

Edited September 21, 2011 by KMan101

[DRW50]

I don't think Rick was aged that much compared to many others in the family.

I think the Bauers needed Mike, and a strong older female presence. Ed shouldn't have been written as the head of the family. Ed was too weak of a man to ever be that, and that's probably one of the reasons why the Bauers were dismantled to the point where it was just Ed and kids, then the kids.

[DRW50]

I think Michelle lost something after they fired Rachel Miner. She never had that soulfulness

[KMan101]

Yeah, Michelle was never all that interesting to me, ESPECIALLY with St. Alban in the role. Talk about ZZZZ. She was just too wrong for the role.

Mike should have been the anchor, with Ed as the weaker, troubled brother.

I also agree they needed a strong female presence. Maureen was OK, but I wonder if they moved her into matriarch mode too soon? Meta should have been brought back a lot sooner (like around Bert's death) to take on that role. Or have Mike have a no-nonsense wife who could fill that role. I don't know if he did or not, I'm familiar with a lot of GL history but draw blanks on Mike, sorry!