Guiding Light Discussion Thread

[InLoveWithSoaps]

In Italy no less. Did Reva have amnesia twice is what I don't get. When they brought her back in the mid-90's, were the Amish years established as all that had happened to her? How could they introduce the San Cristobel backstory years later and make it fit. It's just weird.
I thought it was such a missed opportunity never to bring on Marissa, Olivia's sister and Jon's adoptive mom, in the mid-00's. Instead they killed her off. There could have been a good rivalry with Reva over their son and an interesting relationship with Olivia, maybe an affair with Josh down the line.
I always thought anyway Olivia could have become Roxie before she appeared on air, with a mystery as to how she ended up in SC. And I thought Crystal C. would have fit the role well. Then again I also felt the looking for Reva's long-lost sister could easily have been reworked into looking for Roxie who would have escaped the mental institution. And if Reva just had to have a surprise sibling, wouldn't it have made far more sense for it to be deserter Hawk's kid rather than Sarah's?

[JarrodMFiresofLove]

 

Yeah, I think Cassie should have been Hawk's daughter, not Sarah's. It fit the idea that Hawk was a drifter and probably had been with many women during the times he strayed from Sarah and the family. Plus Cassie could have been a Shayne, there didn't need to be a new last name (Layne). If there was never a desire to bring Roxy back, then she should have died in the institution. And that would've happened right before Reva learned about the existence of another sister, thus compelling her to reach out and "save" the new sister, to make up for how she had lost Roxy and couldn't save her.

 

Were there ever any scenes between Rusty and Cassie? He did make guest appearances a few times-- in 1998 and in 2006, according to Terrell Anthony's IMDb credits. The first time would have been when Laura Wright was in the role, and the second time would have been during Nicole Forrester's stint. 

[SFK]

Would someone remind me the name of the character who had throat cancer in the mid-'80s? My grandmother had cancer of the larynx and had a laryngectomy and I have a vivid memory of sitting on the edge of her bed next to her as she grinned and nodded in approval as the fictional doctors explained to this man the operation he'd endure just as it had been explained to my grandmother years before. I will never forget that moment with my grandmother, she was so moved.

[victoria foxton]

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[JarrodMFiresofLove]

 

Johnny Bauer had cancer in late 1987.

[Mitch]

 

I would have watched the hell out of that and Zimmer would have eaten that up with a spoon (a younger man in bed with Reva..)  What a savy head writer you would make..doing a good storyline AND feeding Kimmer's ego!! I don't know if I would want Sonni after Jarsh again..too Annie Dutton..I think a fully inegrated Sonni, not good or bad, but savy and smart coming in to try to stop her kid late in the game...(would YOU want Reva for a daughter in law...) Have Cassie be the typical selfrighteous prig about it,  saying Reva is breaking the family apart, leading to a natural gulf between them,,maybe then do the Cassie-Josh thing....

[JarrodMFiresofLove]

 

Thanks. I agree that Sonni wouldn't want Reva shagging her son, but I think Solita would have gotten off on it, and then Solita would have had Josh, under the guise of pretending to be Sonni. So there are a lot of ways the triangle between Josh, Reva and Josh's son could have rippled across the canvas. Also, since Marah and Shayne are blond and very American looking, Josh's son with Sonni would have to be a bit more ethnic looking, black hair, dark eyes, where he looks a bit more exotic and sexy in a way that differs from Josh. A character like Josh's brother Billy could be used as a Greek chorus, commenting on how Reva had H.B., had Billy himself, had Kyle, and of course had Josh and now Josh's son. The fact she worked her way through the men in one whole family would not be lost on Billy.

[Mitch]

 

Yea, I am thinking dark haired, exotic young latin looking guy...someone some acting chops and who could challenge Zimmer, but not in the loud way TP did, but more subtle. I did like TP at first, he was one of the first "bad boys" on soaps who looked both physically threatening and sexual. (sorry Jessie, you were a fail) But we all know he jumped into over the top land and the critical acclaim must have kept the GL directors from reigning him in.  I think outside of Zimmer's orbit he would have been great, and I think maybe as Peter...(imagine Van dealing with TP/Peter..."I should have never let NOLA get her hands on him all these years!" )

 

I think Alex would have been a good character to point out that Reva put the zest in quasi incest...Marj was a fail as Alex but she never let Zimmer step over her lines and gave as good as she got in scenes like this.

 

[JarrodMFiresofLove]

 

Yes, Josh's son would have been a Venezuelan version of him, with charisma and a libido to match. I agree that Alex would have found Reva's relationship with Josh's son a fascinating one. She would have been grateful that Reva never lusted after her sons.

[Paul Raven]

In her book Ruth Warrick talks about her first soap role as Janet on TGL.

After a fairly successful movie career, roles were drying up and she moved to NY and live primetime TV (various anthology shows)

She met up with an old friend who now worked for P&G who pointed out that once she had appeared on the various programs that would be it for the season, and advised her to try daytime.

She agreed and then Irna asked that she appear as an under 5 nurse .Ruth said she could do a screen test or Irna could watch her movies but Ms Phillips insisted she wanted to see Ruth on the show to gauge how she would fit in. Ruth agreed to the small role and got the role of Janet.

Edited December 3, 2018 by Paul Raven

[victoria foxton]

Darcy returns  

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[JarrodMFiresofLove]

 

Interesting comment. To go from the heights of CITIZEN KANE to playing an under-five nurse on a daytime soap...other actresses would've crumpled up and died. But she rebounded in a big way and ended up reinventing herself on daytime television.

[EricMontreal22]

Keep in mind that virtually every actor on Citizen Kane was new to movies (including future film regulars Agnes Moorehead and Joseph Cotten).  Ten of them came from Orson Welles' own rep company, Mercury Actors.  Ruth Warrick in fact was one of the few with prior, minor, Hollywood work (Warrick thinks he cast her because she looked like his mother when she was young).  It also was a commercial *flop* big time and only a mild critical hit.  To go from Citizen Kane to GL ten years later, before Kane had really earned the reputation we now give it, would just seem like business as usual, really.

[SFK]

Folks in this thread seem to be pretty hard on Marj Dusay has Alex. And yet, as much as I adore her, I think the originally intended recast, Robin Strasser, wouldn't have been the right fit. What do you all think?

[EricMontreal22]

I'm more than fine with Dusay...  As for Strasser--I could see her playing Alex if she made it a bit less Dorian and slightly more like her AMC character (who I know she hated playing).