Guiding Light Discussion Thread

[DRW50]

That's a good question. Later history would suggest that he was behaving this way to suppress his feelings for Reva.

I haven't seen a ton of 1984 and 1985, but Billy seemed to be toned down significantly as a character when he returned to the show in 1989.

[Paul Raven]

Was Beverlee's arrival the first mention of Alex or had it earlier been established Alan had a sister?

[Mitch]

Beverly's arrival was the first mention of Alex or of Alan having any siblings. No mention of it during the Brandon death scenes, etc.

Yes, Billy's attitude toward Reva was to cover up his feelings, however, even in real life if your ex wife tried married your elderly father you would have problems. Reva in her first appearances was more of a crafty trashy manipulator then the good time girl with a heart of gold she quickly became.

I miss Mindy's attitude toward Reva, and liked it that even when they let it go, they still could annoy each other...(loved the scene when Mindy was involved with Will, and arguing and Reva says, "Listen missy, I changed your diapers and I can still take you over my knee.." and Mindy just turns around and sticks her tounge out and then Reva kicks the door! They needed more of the Reva/Mindy thing, almost as good as Vanessa/Nola who learned to care about each other but still could do at it.

[Soaplovers]

Did.the show ever address that josh married two women that were psycho...sonni and annie? I did.find it funny that Olivias mental state was shaky as well at times.

Never understood why women would go crazy trying to keep josh. He was attractive but not worth going crazy over. Some could argue Reva had trouble with her mental state as well.

A shame that more wasnt delved into in regards to the Shane family's mental state. Roxie went crazy, Reva tried to kill herself, hawk seemed not too stable either...only rusty seemed sane to me though he never did remarry after his wife was murdered right?

[DRW50]

Both Annie and Sonni had longstanding mental problems so I guess he was just another trigger.

He was so boring and sanctimonious I never got the appeal. I did like him with Harley.

Overall the Shaynes seemed stable to me. Roxie going nuts just felt like cheap writing.

[OzFrog]

That is indeed true, but at the same time, let's not forget that HB essentially bribed Reva into marrying him as he saw she was getting too close to Josh and he wanted her for himself. In saying that though, I believe HB is the only Lewis that accepted Reva for whom she truly was as a person (flaws and all) and did not judge her like everyone else did.

Also, the impression I got from the late '83/early '84 stuff with Reva was that her character was intended to be a caricature more than anything else, however she gained so much popularity with the audience (not in the least due to Kim Zimmer's amazing work in bringing Reva alive) that the writers started to flesh out her character and past with the Lewises a lot more. There is one awesome scene from the Valentine's Day Masquerade Ball in Feb '84 where Reva and Vanessa teamed up to lock Billy's date away in the storage cupboard. I personally got a kick from watching that, and later observed a number of really heartfelt scenes between those two, particularly when Vanessa was starting to drift away from Billy due to his obsession with getting rid of Reva.

Did Reva and Vanessa interact much together after that initial period of '84/'85?

[DRW50]

I think there was some interaction in 1987 when Alan dumped Vanessa for Reva. And some intermittent interaction in later years.

[zanereed]

I think they were trying to close out any lingering romantic entanglements between Mike and Elizabeth so that Mike was free to pursue Jennifer moving forward (and at the same time, bring closure to Renee). If I recall correctly, though, Mike and Elizabeth would still interact all the way through early 1981, when Elizabeth finally left Springfield (as can be seen in "The Trial of Jennifer Richards" DVD set).

...and you're right - who wouldn't look at Rita?!!?

[DRW50]

Do you think Don Stewart objected to Jennifer/Mike? Or did they just drop their relationship to push the mother/daughter triangle with Mark (which I think was a bad idea)?

Someone asked me to put those episodes on Youtube. I guess I will learn how to do this someday.

(the trial episodes)

I know some of them are already on there through the WLS channel.

[Mitch]

They always turned up in each other's way, well, until Rauch came along. Van dumped Alan to go help Billy, but also because Alan wanted Reva as his slut. Van was the first SF character that Reva turned to for help after everyone knew she was alive and Josh rejected her and didnt want her near the kids, etc. However, my favorite scene was actually during Wheeler's time when Reva and Bill and Lizzie are toasting Van and Billy's engagement and Lilly admits she is intimidated by Vanessa. Vanessa is all like "Who ME???" and Reva chimes in..."I've ALWAYS been afraid of you!" It was a great scene and a nice full circle with the three characters who have been getting into each other's hair for so long even if they werent BIG storylines.

[MichaelGL]

Wasn't Vanessa heavily involved in Reva's postpartum depression storyline?

Edited January 7, 2015 by MichaelGL

[rlj]

Yes she was Van and Josh were getting very close cause of how Billy was mistreating her and it fueled Rivas PPD paranioa

[Mitch]

I have to say, Bev and Alex look so "classically stylish" here that she doesnt look dated at all like some of the other characters...(Reva.Big Hair, Im looking at you..) They could plop her down today and she would look great. Its too bad they didn't stay with this look for the whole run....(I don't think Alex would change her hair as often as Bev did...)

[saynotoursoap]

Somewhere I have the episode in which Reva went bonkers at Dylan and Samantha's engagement party at the country club. Vanessa innocently attempted to help an unstable Reva, who responded by locking her would-be rival in the toilet. When Vanessa's absence was finally noticed, and someone asked where she was, Reva cooed, "Where else...in the LADIES room!" It was a very humorous episode. The semi-rivalry between Roxie and Mindy was fun, as well.

[DRW50]

I remember not long after Reva came back from the dead, there was this odd, random scene with Vanessa and Lillian with Annie, cackling over what a homewrecker Reva was and what loose morals she had. The whole thing seemed so tacky and random, and as someone wrote in a letters page at the time, Lillian was the absolute last person to criticize another woman for being a homewrecker (and Vanessa would have known that). It just shows how GL's greatest weapon (it's history) was so often ignored and misused (this was also around the period that Reva told Marah she was her first born, and then the whole Amanda/Alan paternity rewrite mess).