Guiding Light Discussion Thread

[DRW50]

That's part of it, but he also looked a little thinner in the face.

[soapfan770]

Reva's revenge against Annie, and the aftermath of Abby's assault:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cRvNQv6ET_0

[Mitch]

I was really entertained by the show then. Sure it wasn't the Curlee era but it was fast moving, fun and still GL...Reva was front and center but the show had everyone involved. It wasnt until Santos and really the Fairy Princes showed up that the show really sucked..(even more then the Clone.)

I didn't like that they had to attack Abby..I know it made for a storyline but I was so sick of strong women being assaulted on soaps. MOL was still cute then...never figured out why they let Abby go and turn them into the nice normal couple everyone talks to.

[Soaplovers]

1997 was the last year that GL really felt like GL and the last time it had strong potential to correct itself after the death of Maureen.

You had a love to hate villianess in Annie Dutton, Reva/Josh were together as were Vanessa/Matt.. and the start of Cassie was promising while you saw Blake/Holly/Roger/Ross/Fletcher front and center as well as Abby/Rick being positioned as the next generation Bauer tent couple.

Who would have known 1998 would be almost the direct opposite of 1997 with Reva front and center at the expense of other characters, Dinah turning into a psycho and Holly becoming an alcoholic stalker (and I think the headwriters crafted the far superior Loving Murders which involved Gwen as a serial killer driven mad by losing her daughter and being rejected by her).

[cassadine1991]

I kind of enjoyed the Nursery Rhyme Stalker storyline, though it did damage Holly

I did hate what happened to Dinah in order to prop Cassie

Edited February 26, 2014 by cassadine1991

[Mitch]

I liked Dinah being a bitch again but they had to make her psycho...as someone at that time would see something work (Annie) and think, "Hey let's just beat this to death!" I would have preferred if Cassie was a trashy troublemaker with a heart and Dinah and her would be equals in battle...but they had LW who always has to play it like an entitled prom queen. I actually really like the Nursey Rhyme stalker and think it could have worked with a little less cartoonish-ness...people have done worse on soaps so I think Holly could have bounced back..and I would have liked it if they made her have some confidence and be a bitch taking on Alan and tossing off those bitchy one liners that Holly did so well.

I thought Abby and Rick were cute..nice and normal but not sugary sweet. It was the last time Rick and MOl was viable.

[DRW50]

I think the stalker story would have been OK if there had been an aftermath, instead of Holly mostly being offcamera.

[soapfan770]

I remember there being a very strange but oddly likable plot with Holly and Signy Coleman's Annie being roommates in a facility but it went nowhere as did Fletcher's return. The Nursey Rhyme Stalker caper was genuinely creepy and the reveal of a vindictive Holly being the stalker was gripping but yeah the aftermath was terrible. At least it did made sense to B&E's credit.

Moniz's final year as the villainous Dinah is when Moniz finally came into her own and was enough for people to talk about the Cassie/Hart/Dinah triagnle for years afterward as well as the excitement of Dinah's 2004 return although I really did hate losing Hart, especially since his eventual dying was such a nonsensical tale(the angel nurse). I don't think I would classify the story as a failure, just a good one with some obvious faults.

Despite B&E taking GL way out there with Reilly-esque storytelling at least 1998 never lost its entertainment value and still very watchable and the performances pretty much sold each storyline(see Joie Lenz as teen clone Reva as an example). Not to mention we had Lizzie the child murderess, Ross shooting Blake, and Vanessa in heaven as add-ons to the clone and Nursey Rhyme Stalker. It was indeed by the time the show went into full Santos/San Cristobel mode by the summer of 1999 that the show wasn't even entertaining anymore.

[DRW50]

Moniz was a revelation as the psycho bitch/lost little girl mixture of Dinah. I loved her work in those last few years. I was at a point where I didn't care what it did to the character's integrity because I had never seen her earlier incarnations and Moniz's work always made me want to kick my TV up to that point.

Edited February 27, 2014 by DRW50

[InLoveWithSoaps]

I never understood why on earth they killed off Hart when it was clear Michael Zaslow was never coming back (I believe he hadn't passed away yet?). Why kill off Roger's son under these circumstances? It just never made sense. It would have been really easy to recast him down the line (I found Grillo quite mediocre and uninteresting), thing you couldn't do with Roger. That just made the Thorpe's disappear. It would have saved us from another long-lost son story eventually (Sebastian). I would have killed off Dinah instead although that would have meant we wouldn't have gotten the awesome Gina Tognoni.

[zanereed]

An interesting post Stalker storyline should have been actually seeing Holly going through recovery in the mental hospital, and having Ken there as her support - especially since Ken had only recently been released from a mental hospital, himself. It would have been nice to also have Barbara return to help as well, even if it was just a limited stint.

Instead, Ken himself was just written out after trying to "outshout" Justin Deas. Roger Newman never stood a chance with that one.

[Mitch]

I don't remember Annie and Holly in the nut ward together. I remember Annie seing that Holy had the kids and calling Reva to get the cops but disappearing from there for good. Wasn't the last time we saw Ken he was out wandering the woods, never to be seen or mentioned again! Would have been great to have Holly accidently off Dustin Fleas...I don;t know who he was blowing to stay around so long.

Holly's recovery would have been great if she came out of it, as I mentioned more confident and sure of herself and tired of being the victim. A non psycho, kinda Bev Alex Holly would have been fun..especially since in their one brief scene Ron Raines and MG had great chemistry (personally the only one I think he ever did, he didnt with poor Signey Coleman. Holly marrying Alan for power and money and Alan marrying Holly to screw Roger over, but then them finding out that they really liked each other but they would continue snarking at each other. Imagine Aelx coming back and finding Holly her sis in law?

Didnt they bring Tom Wiggens in as potential love interest for Holly, he was a cowboy. They were good but then he got sacrificed to be con artist to steal Cassie's money so she would have to get invovled with the fairy prince. UGGGGH the show's potential bit the crapper with that stupid island characters.

[antmunoz]

I'm pretty sure thet Annie didn't disappear after calling about the kids. I remember scenes with her and Phillip, Lizzie, etc., where Lizzie defended Annie and spoke of Annie's role in her rescue. Annie was arrested, I believe. She went on the lam sometime later. And then years later, it was revealed that Alan had been footing the bill for her institutionalization. She somehow bizarrely lived in a hospital room totally redone to resemble Josh and Reva's living room!

Ken, however, just vanished. No explanation.

Holly's institutionalization was shown, but she was out in months. At one point, a reconciliation with Ross seemed possible while he and Blake were divorced. Then Sam, the cowboy con, came and went. Holly and Alan DID have chemistry--he bought The Journal in exchange for Holly receiving Spaulding stock--but Maureen Garrett then went off-contract and Holly was MIA until Sebastian and Ross' funeral. How Holly could've gotten involved with Alan, I don't know. Memories of all his schemes with Roger should've deterred her--her improsonment for murder, perhaps? LOL. Of course, MG really wanted Holly to come out and pursue Olivia. I would've preferred Holivia to the tepid Otalia.

[cassadine1991]

Was it explained how Holly left in 2006?

[Soaplovers]

1999 through 2002 had a series of short-term vigenettes/stories for Holly that would start and end suddenly after a few weeks or months.

Case in point:

Holly's stay in the mental hospital that had several scenes of her interacting with Annie, but no follow through once both were released.

Fletcher's return which only lasted a matter of a few months only for him to suddenly leave again taking Meg with him with Holly's blessing.

Holly with Sam the cowboy which lasted a few months with heavy flirting but being kept apart because both were out on parole. I still remember a scene where Holly and Sam were heavily flirting on the phone while Ross exclaimed that he's been reduced to chaporoning a phone sex date LOL She seemed determined to prove he was framed and was very confident.. then one day he steals money never to be seen again. I remember they had good chemistry.

Holly flirting with Billy, which was interesting but I think Jordan Clarke was having trouble in real life so they tried to throw in Buzz to make it a triangle but nothing came of it.

Holly/Olivia being friends and it seemed like there were some homoerotic underlying feelings.. hearing that The Children's hour was the inspiration.. I have a feeling Holly would have come out but Olivia would have been straight. i did like that Jill Lorie Hurst picked up that thread with Olivia.. even having Olivia/Holly interact about it in the last episodes of the series.

I almost think that the show didn't really want to write for her, but because fans wrote in.. they were almost forced to write for her.

I often saw Reva, Vanessa, and Holly becoming interesting Matriarch's of the show.. Reva being the rough around the edges one (i.e. like the mom from Queer as Folk), Vanessa being more of the elegant but cold one, and Holly being the cynical, sarcastic one.