Guiding Light discussion thread

[DRW50]

Great ideas @zanereed 

This reminds me how much I wish someone could write an alt GL taking place somewhere around 1983 or so. 

[Paul Raven]

Yes great story potential there. Shows how easily Mike would have fitted into that storyline.

I'm guessing one of the reasons Mike didn't return is that TPTB wanted as few 'old' people as possible.

[j swift]

Just one more detail.  At some point Alan and Ed should have joked about sending the catering bill for Blake & Phillip's wedding to Justin and Roger.  I mean it's least they could've done... (lol)

[zanereed]

I'm thinking you're right. However, that was such short-sighted thinking, IMHO.

Actually, Mike Bauer *did* appear in 1989 via a phone call with Phillip, when Phillip called Mike in regards to Phillip investigating Adam (Roger). I don't know who played Mike, but it was voice only, and certainly not Don Stewart. The weirdest part of the call was Phillip saying to Mike when he called (paraphrasing), "Hey, Mike, it's Phillip Spaulding. Do you remember me?" 

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I actually thought that initial phone call was going to lead to Mike being recast and coming back to Springfield, but that didn't happen.

Honestly, Mike Bauer could have easily been inserted back in at this time, whether played by Stewart or someone else. Mike had been away from Springfield for 5 years, that it was probably safe enough to try to recast. Mike Bauer had ties to most everyone in the cast, so it wasn't as if he was a brand new face in town as had been the case with Holly and Roger, but TPTB made it work for them to slide back into the cast.

As for who would have played him if Mike had been recast, Don May would have been a "slam dunk", but I honestly think May would have been a decade too old to play Mike. Nick Coster might have been firmly planted on the West Coast by 1989, so I don't know if he could have been tempted to play Mike.

The David Bailey idea made me think of another ex-Russ Matthews from Another World, Sam Groom. I think Groom would have been affable, but still could have the "Law and Order" attitude for Mike.

Edited June 21, 2022 by zanereed

[zanereed]

That could have been one of Mike Bauer's plots to lure Roger out in the open 

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.

[Mitch64]

I thought that happened. I remember Phillip asking Mo if she had Mike's number in Washington, and she was like "I think I have it somewhere..." uh, its your brother in law (even though she was estranged from Ed at that time.) I remember at the time thinking it should have been Mike crashing on the island with Alex, not Fletcher (sorry, I could not STAND Jay Hammer in those years and they kept throwing divas at him to make it work when he just worked at a pal to everyone..) and then Mike finally catching up to Alan and putting him in prison.

[DRW50]

I have been casually going through some 1982, some of these I'd watched 6-7 years ago or more and am refreshing my memory while they are still there. I'd forgotten about this cable car sequence involving Mike. Does anyone know if the original sequence, in better quality, is around?  @zanereed ?

(not a big fan of that children's show score!!!)

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It also reminded me, of course, of the iconic (well, to me and @Soapsudsand Soap Opera Weekly editors of 1997's Greatest Soap Moments issue, anyway) cable car moment with Frannie and Daryl on ATWT. 

Something else that bugs me about this period with Vanessa is that any time she (and this happens with Josh too, but not quite as frequently) starts complaining about other people, or even venting about work problems, the Good and Moral residents of Springfield shut her down like she started threatening to set an orphanage on fire. While the show had its share of problems through the '80s and early '90s, I do like that during that time the business characters were allowed to just casually talk - and yes, sometimes bitch - without being put through such a bizarre purification ritual. 

Edited June 22, 2022 by DRW50

[Mitch64]

That was Marland and one of his weaknesses that I alluded to in another thread. No gossip or bitching was allowed from anyone...only BAD people complained about other people, occassionaly someone like Lisa could complain about Lucy, or Johnny or Suzie Q but that was chalked up to her eccentricities. Polite wasps do not complain or gossip on Marland's soaps. Good people all have to LIKE each other, and business people are usually bad as they let their ambition get in the way of being "honest" at all times.  I loved later GL where people gossiped about each other and good characters didn't necessarily all get along.

[DRW50]

When I go through some of these 1982 episodes, I stick on the scene with Morgan and Nola (and then Morgan and Kelly) early  in the clip. It's a prototype of the "forgiveness" and "the past is the past" that Oakdale-era Marland would layer with many therapy sessions (I think they may have had something along these lines with Bobbie on GH  too but I can't remember if he was already gone by the time she was reformed). It's such a halting scene, with so much left unspoken, and no real attempts at forcing a sense of caring, as later happened with relationships like Josh and Iva. When Morgan  talks about just wanting to move on with her life, and acknowledging her own mistakes, you can believe it (and it's one of the flashes of Jennifer Cook reminding me of Kirsten Vigard's work). And you get a shameless Kelly Speedos shot in the bargain.

There is also a lovely scene with Derek and  Nola later in the clip. I know Derek was "boring," but I find him very endearing and real. 

Lisa Brown often  seems so frantic as Nola, but in episodes like these, she is just luminous.

On paper, the idea of Hillary using the "don't  tie me down" attitude of the early '80s to vacillate between decent but dull Derek and live wire, sensitive soul Tony has a lot of potential...if the people involved had more chemistry and if I did not have to put up with Tony going on sanctimonious tirades in every other scene...

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Edited June 23, 2022 by DRW50

[DRW50]

I have  watched various parts of the  Carrie story - most of them in clip form from the old ClassicGL account. The most memorable parts of them took place at the Amanda dinner party where she is dressed like a child and Carrie goes around getting drunk and rattling Alan with her shameless gossiping, including a lengthy bitching session about his daughter delivered right to his face. 

Surrounding these scenes were various moments of Carrie, in melodramatic voiceover, thinking to herself about needing to get away, people she will kill if they won't let her get away, and so on. 

This is a set of scenes I hadn't really bothered to watch  until now because, frankly, I'm not a big fan of the story, but these were interesting, sometimes not for the right reasons, but interesting nonetheless.

In these, she has to spin out some big lies in order to convince Ross that Justin (who was about to call after a visit with estranged wife Jackie made him realize Carrie had threatened to harm her) had tried to rape her. She also makes wild claims that both Justin and Jackie threatened to kill her. 

The whole thing is so absurd, you just don't for a second that Ross, no matter how much he loved Carrie, would go along with it (even if Carrie Mowery's Jackie was so high-strung and twitchy I  could actually see her killing a few people...). It breaks reality and any sense of logic in a way I usually don't see with Marland. And it makes me wonder just how Marland thought Carrie could go this far and still remain on the show. I know the Carrie story was not the only falling out between Marland and Allen Potter, by any means, but I do feel like Carrie was written into such a corner that I'm surprised Marland could not see what the outcome would be.

Still, Jane Elliot is always excellent, and it's fascinating to see her in a role so unlike her other work. 

I know the idea is not new to either show, but some parts of this, especially the various occasions (the June 4th episode has another) where sleep brings out the "good" Carrie for fleeting moments, reminds me of Viki's DID sagas, especially the '95 version. @Vee @SFK 

This episode also has some lovely Ed/Maureen scenes, and some of my favorite Nola scenes, which I've probably watched about 4 or 5 times over the years, where she and Quint listen to Bertie Higgins and they get to replay her Casablanca fantasy flashback.

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Edited June 23, 2022 by DRW50

[Vee]

I'm always up to see more of this era, thanks.

[victoria foxton]

This episode was on bandstandmike's channel. Featuring Syphilis ridden Calla and Simon. Plus, Reva and Cain. Billy and Vaneesa. The best part of the episode was India and Alex locking horns.

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[MichaelGL]

Alex vs India is one of the few highlights from such a bleak era of the show. 

[DRW50]

@victoria foxton At  first I thought you meant Simon also had syphilis (which would not surprise me...).

[Paul Raven]

Marland always said he had the next phase of the story planned out, which would have been Carrie integrating her personalities.

Don't know how that would have played out onscreen (endless therapy sessions?) and how the Ross/Carrie story would have progressed.

Maybe Carrie says until she gets well she wants Ross to move on w/o her. Ross steadfastly refuses but is tempted by another?