Guiding Light Discussion Thread

[Mitch64]

I will always love Fiona for that...while bigger stars...( I think we know who I mean) knew what side their bread was buttered on and kept their usual big trap shut so they could continue to gobble up screen time.

 

[Soaplovers]

The only thing I remember about the blizzard was that Mindy got stranded with Nick/Eve... and this was the first time you saw that Eve wasn't dealing with a full deck when she started taunting Mindy.  Mindy had a look of disbelief/fear, but when Nick came into the room.. Eve resumed her normal demeanor.

Lana could have been a stage name, or a way to rebel against the Reardons since she could have been the black sheep of the family.

Or Lana is the americanized version of the Irish name Alannah

Edited April 11 by Soaplovers

[P.J.]

No, she plays a cop. I think she's Rusty's partner, but she also interacts with (maybe dates?) Ross.

[Contessa Donatella]

I was one fan who really liked Josh with Harley, obviously a minority position.

[DeeVee]

Soaps did not handle the issue very well back then. Almost across the board, when they did this kind of story it was always centered on a young, beautiful woman tragically facing death, usually because she had a partner who was a drug addict or slept with a prostitute. It was similar to the way 19th century literature used young woman beautifully dying from consumption.

I can't think of one show that had a man sick or dying from AIDs except for General Hospital. (Anyone who knows differently, feel free to correct me). GH was the only show that had the guts to have it happen to a main character, a young woman who the audience watched grow up from a little girl. (The male character who died was her boyfriend). They showed her living with HIV, going to medical school, eventually marrying and having a baby, etc.

The other shows usually imported a character only for this purpose usually while, as in the case of Lucy, a main character was going through an AIDS scare. ("Fun" fact: Ellen Wheeler portrayed this type of character on All My Children). The character would inevitably die on  screen (gorgeously, of course) or eventually be yeeted out of the story, as in the case of Susan on GL. I believe Susan was still alive and healthy by the end of the show. She was living off-screen with Nick. I seem to recall Alex talking about them.

Hands down the cringiest of these stories was on Y&R. I think her name was Keisha. Malcolm married her the day she died. As she faded away in his arms she declared how happy she was while wearing a white wedding gown. 

 

 

[Mitch64]

I think people did..it was just cut short with RN leaving. I liked them as a short term thing for him getting over Reva...(why or why can't soap characters simply date or have a short term relationship without it immediatley going to marriage or fans call them a "supercouple")  The problem was, as Curlee said, Harley was busy hobbling around in Reva's high heels, and it flirted with her becoming Reva Jr. (which Wheeler/Kreizman totally remade her into...EVERY man was in love with her..etc.)

I also liked how they flirted with Jenna/Josh before Fiona left the first time.

[Vee]

Can I ask where she talked about this? The Josh/Harley thing has always intrigued me.

[DeeVee]

Oh, yes, that would have worked beautifully. What like most about it is that it would subvert the audience's expection ("He's not getting involved with Reva AGAIN!" - I'm sure I screamed just this at the time). Then it would turn out the story was going in a different direction. Plus, it would eventually get Reva out his orbit.

[Khan]

I still remember thinking how ridic it was for Josh to take the kids and head off to Italy because he THOUGHT he saw Reva in some travel video.  And the thing is, when Josh and then Reva returned to SF, did they even MENTION the video, maybe explain or reveal that it WAS Reva, or "Princess Catherine"?  Nope.

[chrisml]

Amazing how so-called "rebels" and "straight-shooters" get very quiet and acquiesce when the issue is not about them and/or they are afraid of losing their jobs. It's the ones with real backbones who still speak out. I applaud Fiona Hutchison for standing up for Zaslow. It could not have been easy especially when the so-called face of GL did not.

 

[DeeVee]

I did not know this about her. I am so glad that someone spoke up for him. The way Zaslow was treated was atrocious.

[Spoon]

Remember the random date Josh had with Lucy?  That was an interesting Chem test.

[P.J.]

The problem with Josh/Harley is the speed with which it developed. Reva dies in July, and Josh is asking Harley to marry him NYE. Now, obviously, that was done to up the stakes before RN left, but honestly, the romance did more to develop Harley's character than anything.

And it was better than the other direction it looked like they were heading---Vanessa and Josh really start relying on each other through Reva's PPD and death. And in soapland....

 

[Mitch64]

I am not sure, I just remember an interview..most likely Soap Opera Digest when I was waiting in line at Jewel.

 

Totally, there is no way I would have Alan involved with Reva again, besides using her as a pawn, and the old Reva who went off the bridge, would be using him right back to land on her feet..instead of...what we got..Alan obsessed with Reva and tearing down the wretched 5th Street, and Reva crying over Marah wanting Annie "Mommy" and marrying Scuzz

Ha..yes, all of a sudden this straight shooter has NOTHING to say? She is busy pimping out her latest story but can't yack about that? I always wanted to like Zimmer but that made me really see her in a new light.

[chrisml]

I can understand some of the other cast members not saying anything because they had no power in the press. Kim Zimmer had a little bit of power. Kim Zimmer could have given an interview in the press. She always gave interviews when she was angry about something on the show, but suddenly, she was silent Kim. And she then goes to say that Paul Rauch was her favorite EP and that he would never have ruined GL the way Ellen Wheeler did.