Guiding Light Discussion Thread

[alwaysAMC]

^ I posted that and immediately started Nov. 16, 1995 and they're now featuring Christmas and Josh, Annie, Marah and Shayne sitting on Santa's lap at the mall, with Reva watching from a distance.  Christmas came way too early in Springfield that year 

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[DRW50]

Thanks. That's not a bad way to set up Beth's return, although I like the idea of Beth just saying, "I'm not going to see that bitch." 

I suppose I'm biased because most of what I saw of Simon early on (admittedly I haven't watched every scene) was of a much more roguish man, doing his best to charm India. The pairing with Jessie, according to Thompson, was not planned, and someone at the show just said bad people and good people should be together (or something along those lines). There is a certain chemistry, but it's a very odd contrast for me - like Alan/Hope, but without any real buildup or consequences as these were both new characters and no one was going to care if they got together, beyond India. 

I think they did eventually break up due to the maturity difference...maybe that was after a producer change.

Do any of you who were watching this period more closely know if any of this at Soapcentral (I know, I know) is accurate?

 

In 1990, Beth Mentioned that Lillian had gone out of town To North Carolina To Visit Calla because Jesse had recently married Simon. Lillian later went out of town to Visit Calla again in late 1991 after Calla's ex-Husband Gordon Matthews passed away. In 1995, Lillian Told Ross she was going to Visit her sister Calla who just became a grandmother. Jesse and Simon had a boy They named Brandon after Simon's Half-Brother Lujack.

They never knew what to do with Cutter. He was a likeable, attractive, quietly charismatic figure, but he wasn't a "name," so they had less interest. 

This whole sequence with his murder is very effective - another case of something done before but executed well here.

You are getting some of the worst of Vanessa (and it will just get worse as the decade goes on). She loses a lot of personality and drive. I am not going to blame the pairing with Matt because that's too easy, but the writers and producers of the time had no interest in her as her own person. I do blame Dinah's arrival in part.

[P.J.]

Yeah, OGVanessa ('80-mid'83) is  a 180 degree turn from post-Billy Vanessa. She's basically Dinah, only with one parent. And more business sense.

[P.J.]

Honestly, Dinah ran rings around both Ross and Vanessa, which was ridiculous, given their own devious pasts. Not to mention Ross being a pseudo father to both Phillip and Sam, and Vanessa being stepmother to Mindy for years.

[Mitch64]

I know that this has been discussed upthread..but I really like that "genre" television and fiction can tell stories that inform and educate while being entertaining and not sanctimonious. As other's said, HIV WAS a death sentence and Brent getting blood on his shoe and freaking out is exactly what was going on then. I actually think McTavish did a good job in making an entertaining "thriller" story on a soap that talked about these issues. Let me tell you, this was more entertaining and less preachy then "Margo gets raped and has an HIV scare" that Marland wrote. That went on for months with characters talking about Margo possibly being "HIV positive" (they said this a million times and yes, that was the correct way of saying it but it sounded so fake...) and that storyline, like all of Marland's ATWT at that time, was gloomy and depressing. We all knew Lucy was NOT going to have HIV, but it gave McTavish a chance to explore how people were feeling, the hysteria surrounding that, and that people actually lived full healthy lives and had SEX when they were positive...( Lucy's gay friend, Susan.) that no other show was doing, and making it entertaining that we knew we were not going to get a "Marland lecture."

On another note on the Brent/Marion storyline, I think it was interesting that GL had him mocked up to look like JFP,  a misogynist who kills a mom..hmmmm?

Okay, so here McTavish gets a bit preachy...we already had this story with David.

[Mitch64]

She starts getting boring when she marries Billy and becomes a Lewis, and while she got part of her groove back with Long's second tenure..with Alex and Reva in place they keep her muted. I think this was the time that they could have turned her around, what with the arrival of her two nemesis from the past, Amanda and Nola, who could bring out the b*tch in her. Nola by constantly not buying  the St. Vanessa role, and rubbing her nose in her past "Matt, you DO know she was the town pump..sleeping with both your Uncle Tony and belive it or not, Uncle Ed" and Amanda a rival in business again. I HATE Lewis Oil and Van should have been at Spaulding. I would have written Alex out and Van goes to Spaulding and she is the one constantly trying to force Amanda out.  Matt gets pushed aside and he is the one who sleeps with Blake, bnot Rick (which was quasi incestous.)

[P.J.]

I just realized that had Mindy, Maureen and Reva not had miscarriages circa '84-'85 , Bill could've had a completely different set of friends. Granted, he'd have been uncle to Mindy's baby and nephew to Reva's, but still.

[DeeVee]

Speaking of kids that should have been, what's always been wacky to me is how every Spaulding descendant is through Philip, who isn't biologically a Spaulding. (Except Gus's kid, but I don't really think of him as a Spaulding).

It's wild that Alan Michael--who was thinking about having a kid with Harley when he was only 18--ended up childless. (This also cut off Mike's line, and the possibility of more Bauers).

Lukack got croaked before he could have kids and Nick ends up with a woman who at the time probably couldn't have children because of her HIV status. Amanda, who once upon a time longed to have children, underwent a total character reversal so she never had any, either.

Meanwhile, Philip almost single-handedly fathered that generation of kids, and there would have been more if Mindy's and Meredith's kids had lived.

They used to make jokes about Hal Munson on ATWT fathering every kid on that show--Philip was GL's Hal Munson!

.

[alwaysAMC]

Oh I got HB one more time!  Thanksgiving episode - November 24, 1995.  

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ETA:  Nevermind - that was Henry, my bad haha.

I've gotta say, watching gum-chewing Buzz and selfish Alan fighting over Reva is the last thing I want to see 

Edited Friday at 08:55 PM by alwaysAMC

[Speed Racer]

That may be Henry's last appearance.  William Roerick, who portrayed him, died in mid-December 1995.

What a fantastic actor he was.

 

[P.J.]

True enough...loved Hal!   

It's one of those weird coincidences. It's a good thing Phillip's "friendship" with Reva remained platonic---imagine the product of the father of Springfield with the mother of it. RME.

[Contessa Donatella]

Which made it all the more powerful when Phillip attacked Harley's house with a piece of heavy moving equipment, kidnapped ALL of his kids & then had a kind of a nervous breakdown!!! & the whole long scene was set to this music, like it was a montage or something. 

 

[P.J.]

William Roerick doesn't get nearly enough recognition. HB was the flashier role, but Henry was always a joy to behold.

[j swift]

I'm always amused, imagining both actors on their day off, living in contemporary Manhattan.

Because it is funny to think of them in that context, versus the iconic figures they portrayed in Springfield.  For example, think of a man looking like HB Lewis ordering a bagel and schmear from Zabars on the UWS.  That would be as legitimately funny as if I saw a woman who looked like Alexandra Spaulding on the subway.

I know the actors who played Hawk and Miss Sally must have assimilated into their environment.  But, it just makes me giggle to think of them trying on jeans at Bloomingdale's.

[DRW50]

Alan made sure to come back in at the end - I knew he had a child with Beth (I forgot his name was Peyton - I don't believe Alan would go along with that), but forgot she also miscarried his child.

Alan having a baby with Beth was a poor choice and just looked trashy.