Guiding Light Discussion Thread

[j swift]

Regardless of the plans of any particular writer at any particular moment in time, pairing Alan's son(s) with Roger's daughter is the proverbial Chekhov's gun of GL.  He proposed that if you introduce a weapon in the first act, it creates an expectation in the audience that it will be used. 

We've seen enough Romeo & Juliet stories on soaps to know that there's no way these characters were not meant to be intertwined.  As two enemies in any soap town are bound to have second gen characters of the opposite gender.

Edited April 16 by j swift

[DRW50]

Blake probably should have had longer-running ties to the Spauldings. I think a combination of Ross/Blake being more popular with viewers than the show anticipated along with a lack of interest in writing for Liz Keifer (plus the decision to saddle her with kids) isolated her. I haven't ever watched that story closely but the early idea with Alan's 1994 return where he lured in/kept tabs on various women he'd had ties with, Blake included, should have gone further. 

[kalbir]

I saw some scenes in 1979 and 1980 episodes where Phillip, Freddie (Rick), Christina (Blake) interacted as children, so maybe the writers thought that Phillip and Rick wouldn't recognize Blake as they hadn't interacted in close to a decade (going by real time).

[DeeVee]

True, however, Ed was considered Blake/Christina's legal father and Rick was her "brother." (Yes, I know, they eventually slept together, which was even ickier than Blake sleeping with Alan). It's hard to believe they never got pictures and never visited her.  

I know, I know, it's a soap opera. Maybe they explained it (like Holly's husband didn't want her ex around, or something) but it makes me think again that initially Blake was not supposed to be Christina.

[P.J.]

I don't know if there was a way to do that at the time without it being called a direct rip off of the Reva/Lewises story. I guess Blake/Ross were popular for a reason, but they also became the direction because Alan, Alex and Phillip were all out of town. 

It might've been interesting to see Phillip be hell bent on keeping Blake out of Ross' life.

[DRW50]

I don't necessarily mean more romantic partnerships, as Blake had already speed-run the Spaulding men (unless they wanted to try Nick/Blake), just her still being involved in the company and various schemes.

I do wish they'd had Philip react more to the whole mess with Rick, Blake and Ross. At that time he only seemed to have the dropped story with Annie...and swearing vengeance on Alan over Alex which was promptly forgotten. 

Edited April 16 by DRW50

[P.J.]

But there's where being Roger's daughter was a detriment. No one trusted her---or trusted her not to be used by Roger. And it cut Blake off from a lot of business stories. She could've moved over to WSPR or The Journal while Holly was involved with them, but even Holly barely trusts her.

[alwaysAMC]

I'm up to October 3, 1995.  I'm still enjoying the show, but some of these storylines are starting to drag longer than storylines seemed to in early '95 - Dinah wreaking havoc on Springfield, Josh/Annie, Reva and Alan in Goshen... 

The character of Susan Bates is too boring and preachy.  If I hadn't already known she would end up with Nick, I would assume she was brought in to be Marian's first murder victim.

They've been slowly hinting at Nadine becoming a clairvoyant, which came out of nowhere, but now she's having full on visions making her believe death is imminent.

Josh/Annie just broke off their engagement when Josh found out Annie was married to Rick in Chicago and was an alcoholic.  I'm glad the secrets are finally out so we can see the aftermath.  I really like Josh, he's handsome, but when he gets angry and yells, he's very loud and its no longer sexy...

I just realized that the young actress playing Marah is Marnie in the Halloweentown movies!!!  Wow, another good GL cast surprise.

I really wanted to like Alan Spaulding, but man is he just an unlikeable villain from what I've seen.  He doesn't have any likable qualities like Roger does, for example.  He used Brent to his advantage and didn't care that Lucy was raped, he used Tangie and Sid both in his trial, and how he's taking advantage of Reva in Goshen by pushing himself on her and tricking her to believe they were destined to be remarried.  He won't tell her the truth about Josh.  He just gives me the ick.

Speaking of Sid, he just had a tearful goodbye with Gillian and I guess he left the show?  It wasn't clear and I can't find anything online, but the only other strong tie he seemed to have was to Alan, who has now been stuck in Goshen.  I guess Sid wasn't as big of a character as I thought when I started my watch.

Dinah and Roger just got married and Vanessa and Matt are about to soon.  That Dinah is a terror, but I really like the actress, Wendy, and I think she and Maeve look so similar with their hairstyles.   I would say this Dinah storyline and the related side stories (Blake/Ross, Vanessa/Matt, Roger) have been the most front burner since Feb '95 when Dinah arrived.  They really worked Wendy that year.

One reprieve I've had for months now is no Fletcher!  Fletcher and Holly got married in July and they've barely been on since.  They had about a 1-2 week storyline where Holly found out she was pregnant and Fletcher got upset, thinking it was Roger's because he had a vasectomy, but that ended quickly once Roger got back in Dinah's orbit.  Otherwise, they've been MIA.  I really like Holly, so hopefully she returns soon.

I'm still really enjoying the show and will continue watching

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 Like I've said before, this is giving me wonderful nostalgic feelings and reminds me of how great soaps were back in the day when compared to today.

Edited April 16 by alwaysAMC

[DRW50]

Sid had a lot of fanfare early on - I am not sure if he would have been a higher-profile character if JFP had lasted. 

[alwaysAMC]

Which is a bit of a shame, because I thought the actor was really good.  But GL is his only acting credit on IMDB and I can't find anything about the actor online, which is so odd.  I wonder what happened to him.

[Contessa Donatella]

As we all probably recall I was a late bloomer when it came to GL. So, I have a lot of questions. Who in the hell is SID? Which actress was playing Marah at this point? Also, who is Gillian?

[Mitch64]

She wasnt...they wanted Zaz for an Alan recast, he said it would be weird as the two characters were constantly in each others' orbits, so he suggested bringing back Roger. Long had no idea who Roger was (oh..Pam!!!) and Curlee pushed for it and pushed to make Blake, Cristina. Holly was supposed to come back to intro the idea that she was Blake at Christmas, and Long thought she was sexy so brought her back (to one of my fave entry lines, she goes to the Spaulding mansion to get Blake and says, "This is not a home...this is BEIRUT!")

 

Yea, it was weird.  I thought the Amanda is Brandon's story had legs...she fits in nowhere, Alan and Alex hate her...Alan and Alex are back to being antogonistic...Alan walks away from Spaulding pivots towards Annie, and Phillip should be pissed at Alan as Alex was as usual, trying to protect him in a Spaulding way..and he is bound and determined to not let Amanda  and Roger get their way holds the fort, putting him in a Alan frame of mind..instead of sitting around doing nothing until he moons over Harley. Since the Zaz thing was happening, I would have him steal all of Amanda's money, leaving her poor and desperate...tons of ways to spin it instead of rewriting history for nothing.

 

Alan needed a person to bounce his evil schemes off of, I would have made Sid like a young Ross, willing to play whomever is going to get him ahead...Gilly is turned on but resists and then Vicky Spaulding comes. God, anything but the incest story for Gilly.

Sid is Alan's attorney and Gilly's love interest for a short time. Marah was played by IMO the annoying toothy actress who made your teeth hurt with her "Im a child STAR:" ways , but she went on to do other things.

[Contessa Donatella]

Oh, that means Gilliian = Gilly. Now, are you possibly describing the wonderful child actress Ashley Peldon? If so, you must have quite a bias against those precocious kids on soaps!!!

Edited April 16 by Contessa Donatella

[alwaysAMC]

Ok LOL at your description of her, but I get it and know what you mean.  She was too 'on', but for a child actor in soaps, I guess its better than the alternative.

I haven't seen Vicky yet or the incest scene.  That must come after Sid leaves, before Amelia goes to AMC?  Gilly's brother is David Smith, does she have another sibling out there we don't know about?

No - this one was Kimberly J. Brown (1993-1998).  She goes on to be the popular Marnie in the Halloweentown movies.  

[Contessa Donatella]

Thanks, not familiar with those movies. Liked her Marah. IIRC she did an amazing job on a Stephen King movie of the week. Actually, there was only one Marah that I did not like & I hated her, Lindsay Mckeon.