Guiding Light Discussion Thread

[chrisml]

Sometimes, you have to cut your losses when something is not working out. When you lose two thirds of a story, it's time to tell a different story. It was not that compelling a story anyway and it was already annoying viewers. Did viewers care about Eve? I don't remember viewers caring even though Edson got an Emmy nomination. Then JFP and the writers saddled Crampton with that ridiculous triangle with Lando where everyone knew how it would turn out so it was just killing time. I don't understand the need to have a controlling Alex wanting to be obsessed with Nick. What was the need to have that storyline?? I really don't understand so much of what happened on GL from 1993 onwards.

 

[alwaysAMC]

I'm up to Nov. 9, 1995.

I'm still really enjoying GL and continue to watch multiple episodes a day!  I know this wasn't a golden era in the eyes of older, loyal fans, but man this is really making me happy and engaged.  

As I assumed it would be, the Brent/Marion storyline is very entertaining.  Are there flaws?  Sure, but it still keeps me tuned in every day, and when the story isn't featured that day, I feel slightly down about it.  Right now, Lucy just found out she's HIV neg after her third test.  This time, Brent broke into the hospital and got to the actual blood samples himself to fake the results, however Reva (!) walked in on him when she was hiding from Rick and Brent lost his mind on her.  The two major storylines happening finally collide, even if for a few days, and I was so happy to see that.  Brent scared the crap out of Reva and threatened her life.  She escaped and ran to Alan for safety and he's now investigating who it could have been.  Reva made Brent drop positive blood samples on his shoes and he's starting to get concerned that he is now HIV positive. 

Reva woke up in Goshen in July and it is November and she still hasn't been seen by anyone in Springfield, but at least she's there.  If I were a viewer in 1995, I have to believe I would be so annoyed that it's been 5 long months (plus 3 months before that during "Ghost Reva") and she's STILL not been seen.  I'm really tired of her running around in a nun's outfit in the hospital and hiding in the shadows.  At least she now has her memory back (somehow), so we're getting close, but it's tiring.

Amanda is interesting so far.  She's playing it cool and sultry, which is a nice contrast to the Dinah character.  This of course is pissing off Blake which is fun.  Vanessa has a pretty visceral reaction to her, so I'm curious what that backstory is and why they don't like each other.  

Dinah and Roger are just a mess and I'm still not tired of it yet, surprisingly.  Right now, Roger is trying to find Hart, but Hart just showed up to town and is watching them for now.  I'm excited to see how this storyline turns out because I know this will bring Bridget back into the mix, who hasn't had much to do in a few months.  The actor playing Hart is handsome!

Speaking of handsome, I never really had a thing for Rick Bauer, but he and Annie just went to Mexico to get a divorce and he was shirtless that entire week and wow - now I have a thing for Rick Bauer

Please register in order to view this content

.  Abigail is now in Cedars and pouting about needing to find Rick, and she just found him during Halloween (creepy scene btw).  Will Abigail always be deaf?  I don't know how long she's on the show, but she's a contract player per the ending credits, and I just can't see a long-term future for her if she can't talk or read lips.  She doesn't know ASL and only can speak to her Amish family through their "made up sign language", which btw is so cringe.

Alan Spaulding just sucks.  He's trying everything in his power to keep Reva away from her kids and it's disgusting.  He's so selfish and off-putting in this storyline.  He lacks empathy and humor like Roger has, which is why I really like Roger.  Roger reminds me of AMC's Adam Chandler or David Hayward.

I'm still sad that many characters are barely used - like Gil!  In the 9 months I've watched so far, she's averaging 3-4 episodes a month, such a shame.  Holly/Fletcher have been pretty MIA since their July wedding (only sad bc of Holly).  Nick was barely used post-Mindy until he just met Susan, but that's a bit of a bore.  Ed isn't used much anymore post-Eve except to give Rick advice.  Lillian is only background in the hospital unless she's giving Annie advice.  Nola, Bridget and David aren't really used much lately except a random day in the boarding house to play referee to Vanessa/Matt/Dinah.  I've only seen Hampton like 6-7 times in 9 months.  Oh but I still LOVE the Towers set and wish I could have been there back in the day haha.

Oh and I got to see/meet HB!  He appeared in the carousel house to give Josh advice about Annie for a day.  He seemed to be a sweet father.

Anyway, I'll keep trucking along and enjoying  

[DRW50]

The treatment of Eve was strange, because she had a big introduction, yet was also treated as disposable. Then when there was a clear point where the character could have been written out, she was redeemed and stayed for a further year and a half. They seemed to just be throwing everything at Nick but didn't care about doing the work. Your idea for Eve/Nick sounds much better than what we got. 

I suppose Ed being at a loss as a character around this time helped Eve stay.

I did care about Eve. I have a feeling I'm one of the few who did.

Edited 5 hours ago by DRW50

[DRW50]

Thank you for keeping your reviews going. 

You've now seen HB's final appearance. Larry Gates was a wonderful presence - I'm surprised when I realize he was only on the show for a little over a decade as he was there when I started watching and it felt like he was there forever. 

The issues with airtime won't be getting any better, sadly.

I don't want to spoil too much for you, but Abi eventually gets a cochlear implant. 

I watched some of the Halloween episode a few years ago and it definitely was very disturbing. The Abigail POV is something I don't remember getting very often from the show, or other soaps.

I'd totally forgotten about Reva and Brent interacting, and his HIV scare. At the time I did think it was a deserved comeuppance for him - looking back I can see where it was kind of gross.

Michael O'Leary did have a thing for looking hot in shirtless dramatic scenes at random times. If you are still watching in 2000 you'll get another one.

 

[Kane]

Abby becomes a speaking character and stays on the show until about 2000. She's one of my favorite characters of this era and I find her evolution over her first couple of years very compelling. Quite a bit of that will happen in 1996.

 

I'm currently in July '97 and can report that Holly/Fletcher will remain MIA, that Nola will be criminally underused (although I know that she has a story coming up), and that Bridget gets quite a bit of story in 1996 but it's terrible and leaves you wondering who had it out for Melissa Hayden behind the scenes because of how insultingly Bridget is treated.

[DRW50]

I finally found my copy of the GL episode that ends with the Jessie (Rebecca Staab) and puppet beauty shot, which is one of my all-time favorite beauty shots just because it is so out of the norm compared to most beauty shots. Here's the whole sequence, which in of itself is a little bizarre, including open-mouthed kissing between Rebecca and Shawn Thompson that does not fit the nature of the relationship (you can tell they were together at this point, or soon would be), and what seems like open-mouthed kissing between Rebecca and puppet.

I also kind of love that India asks her to come talk immediately, which Jessie agrees to, and then the next shot of her is just leisurely drinking coffee and playing with the moose.

Please register in order to view this content

 

Edited 2 hours ago by DRW50