Jump to content

Guiding Light Discussion Thread


Paul Raven

Recommended Posts

  • Members

When Reva went off in the car and got amnesia in San Cristobel, did they write her off the show or did they show her escapades down there? I'm watching Guiding Light 1999 now so I'm curious if this stuff with her having a kid with the prince happened or if it was just written after the fact.

Edited by SoapAnon
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Replies 17.3k
  • Created
  • Last Reply

Top Posters In This Topic

Top Posters In This Topic

Posted Images

  • Members

What I never understood was why the show didn't just write off Josh/Reva as leaving town instead of having Reva drive off the bridge... especially since he ended up leaving within 6 months after she did.

That way, the show wouldn't of had to do all the stupid things they did later in the mid 90s

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Members

GL had a bit of cast purge in the early months of 1991. Grant Aleksander, Beth Chamberlin, Kassie DePaiva (then Wesley), Robert Newman, Michael O'Leary all left. That cast purge also overlapped w/ the HW change from Pamela Long to Nancy Curlee.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Members

Yes, even if Josh had to stay on because of contract, Reva could have survived the bridge accident and be sent to rehab, with Josh dealing with his beloved in recovery and then leaving town 6 months later to be near her.

Then down the track the story could take off from there. If Josh came back alone they could have divorced or she could be missing etc.

I guess they didn't know for sure that Robert would leave.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Members

At least she was off the show for a good 5 years. At first I thought they tried to squeeze marrying a prince and giving a birth and being Amish into two years. Still dumb as hell.

Am I wrong in thinking that Reva returning as "Amish" was largely a sight gag for the Slut of Springfield? Doesn't seem like they did much with it beyond introducing Abby.

I'd really love to know how they reconciled all that backstory. Where did Richard find her? Did he try to find her family? Did anyone? I kinda get why Edmund was so upset, you mean that this random amnesiac's child is gonna have more power than me?

Edited by Darn
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Members

IIRC, @Darn, Reva's life was in danger - probably from Edmund and his goons? - so she left Jonathan with Marissa and her husband and then escaped from the island.  At some point, she suffered some kind of injury and turned up in Goshen with no memory of her lives in San Cristobel OR in Springfield either.  (And yes, @Darn and @Vee, I agree that it was all so very stupid, lol.)

It probably was, lol.  At the time, as the story was playing out on-screen, I remember justifying Megan McTavish's choice to bring back Reva as a member of an Amish community by saying she had subconsciously recalled when she and Kyle were hiding out years before in another Amish community after his plane had crashed onto the roof of an Amish family's barn.  Megan McTavish probably wasn't thinking about that story at all when she wrote it, but that was the only way I could explain why Reva turned up alive where she did.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Members

So, this is totally just conjecture based on reading Zimmer's memoir and Pam Long interviews.  It seems like Long felt some ownership over the character of Reva, which eventually caused some friction between the two women over discussions of what Reva would or wouldn't do as a character.  Zimmer writes of a lunch with Long and a CBS executive that devolved into a screaming match when discussing Zimmer's desire for some time off to go to LA for pilot season, resulting in the executive wanting to hide under the table.  And in her exit interview with SOD, Long talked about scuttled plans to bring back Reva in a dream for Christmas. 

Thus, what I would imagine occurred is that Zimmer wanted to leave, but Long held out hope for her to return.  The resolution was an exit that needed to be semi-permanent enough to please both women. 

Edited by j swift
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Members

Naah, McTrash was a writer during that original storyline...it was even dumber then Kyle's plane crashing into the Amish barn...Kurt the nicest dullest guy, until Frank Cooper came along, took a spear gun and  forced Kyle and Reva to parachute off the  plane, you see he was married to Roxie while she had a split of Rosie, and he was trying to save her. Reva had her big ass 80s hair and a big fur coat somehow actually crashed into the Amish barn (this was during that Harrison Ford movie being popular so it was a ripoff) and were a-okay. For reasons, Reva and Kyle didn't just go to a phone and call SF to let them know they were okay, so were subjected to scenes of Reva being washed with lemons by Kyle..(Amish don't have showers...) and if you don't think was all McTavish you don't know Megs. So yes, she was referencing that storyline, which no doubt she thought was a high point.

 

That was the exec producer who went out and puked in the street as the fight was pretty nasty.  Who knows what it was about, but Long wanted Zimmer back for a short "ghost/angel/dream" story of her visiting Marah and Zimmer was up for it. But CBS,which apparently had better taste then years later, said no, so that, and the Jewish storyline being nixed pissed Long off so she left when her contract was up. JFP used that story for the "ghost" return (so she didn't have to bring Zimmer back full time.) 

 

But that would be hard to explain why Reva stayed away from her kids so long without amnesia and if she did have it, why Kyle didn't clue her in on who she was. They should have just left it that Reva had one bout of amnesia that lasted for years, and if they want to throw in a past life, it was under the original amnesia and she escaped from a danger and hid out in amish town.  When her memories returned it was only her recent memories, and the rest of fuzzy...(and a good explanation why she allowed Alan to talk her into keeping it a secret from her family, all she remembers was something like hitting a man and there was blood..) But I agree, instead of San Crud, have Kyle come back to town, on the arm of his wife Amanda (CC would have made a great Amanda) to take on the Spaulding and Lewises. I can't believe a Prince on an island got out of the concept room.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Unfortunately, your content contains terms that we do not allow. Please edit your content to remove the highlighted words below.
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.



  • Recent Posts

    • I absolutely loved the last few episodes—devoured them! If Trisha and Ambyr’s performances aren’t Emmy-worthy, I don’t know what is. I wasn’t bothered by the lawyer girl not being at the gala from the start, or the grandkids being absent, or Vanessa being MIA. It just goes to show how unnecessarily huge the Dupree family is. And like Toups said, you can’t cram the entire cast into a single episode. Minor nitpicks: Yeah, Ted seriously needs a recast—been saying that since day one. I still don’t know where he stands, and he just comes off as a generic nice guy. Not having Ted and Bill share a single scene since the show started? Huge missed opportunity. And not having Leslie get anywhere near Bill in one of her wigs? Another big miss. It really weakened the impact of her big reveal about Bill’s involvement. Now it just feels a bit like fan fiction. I’m totally confused by Vanessa and Doug’s “arrangement.” One moment it seems like they’re in an open relationship, and the next Vanessa acts completely shocked when Doug so much as hints at her “distractions.” Huh? Can anyone explain what’s going on there?
    • You’d think he would’ve learned after the way Sprina took off.  I hope we get a proper Emma/Gio/Trina/Kai quad, as friends, romantic rivals, etc. In the few scenes that the four of them have had together, I felt like there was a natural chemistry between all of them, similar to the way that Cam/Spencer/Trina/Joss was, in the beginning.  And, it would be a lot better than all this stuff with Kai’s surgery. 
    • Hooray we made the exact same critique to Londonscribe!!!!!
    • I don't think they had any idea who he was this time last year. I think they were keeping their options very open. Same with totally dropping the Trina romance that was spoiled for him in the mags once FV clearly took a shine to him. Frank's priorities are bright and blazing in one color. I do think Gio and Emma seem to have worked out given that she is very dry and sarcastic and he is like a hot golden retriever, but I'd still play the field or explore quads with both with very different people - Emma with a scheming young man (of color), Gio with possibly Trina or someone else, or even a boy. Then maybe put them back together, who knows. But of course none that will happen.
    • Please register in order to view this content

    • Please register in order to view this content

       
    • He definitely got lost in the shuffle last year. First, they were implying that he was Drew’s son, then he was nothing more than just Violet’s bff

      Please register in order to view this content

      And then they changed him to being Dante and Brook Lynn’s son, which was clunky at first but I’m enjoying the storyline now. 
    • GM is adorable, charming and fun onscreen despite months of nothing to do until recently, and has a bodacious bod. I'm not cosigning the show or this story - I haven't watched a full episode in over a month - but I think we're all taking the small victories in 2025 at this point. I'm open to testing this theory!
    • I think Jason might've posted some numbers for the syndication a while ago and the numbers for Falcon Crest was horrible. Like 1.5 rating or something, which was terrible.    ETA: it was actually Paul Raven:   New to syndication 60 min Fall Guy 67 markets 3.1/8 Falcon Crest 110 markets 1.1/5 To get into the top 40, you needed a 4.6/9 rating for reference - and Falcon Crest managed to get into a lot of markets to begin with. In the fall of 1985 Dynasty, Dallas and Knots were syndicated (show / rating / share / coverage % / markets): Dallas 3.4 10 51.7 92 Dynasty 3.4 10 48.7 47  Knots Landing 3.3 10 12.5 20  So, Knots as an example trippled Falcon Crest's rating with 20 markets - I'm sure those were major ones but it just goes to show you how much Falcon Crest bombed in syndication. 
×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

By using this site, you agree to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy