Guiding Light Discussion Thread

[P.J.]

Raise your hand if you saw GA on Capitol in a speedo. *waves*

Thank you. I always get Maureen O' Sullivan (Tarzan, Mia Farrow's mom) and Margaret Sullavan (The Shop Around the Corner) mixed up. And I really can't concentrate during Susan Piper story at all. 

 

And FYI, Ed and Lillian slept together 9/22/92. I think someone was wondering the date a while back.

Edited 16 hours ago by P.J.

[alwaysAMC]

Oh no!  Did you not like the Susan character? She intrigued me from that one episode I skimmed through. What didn't you like about her?

[alwaysAMC]

I’m up to Feb. 20, 1996, which means I’ve officially watched a little over a full year (Feb. 10, 95 - Feb. 19, 96)! 

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Everyone found out Nadine was the body in the lake, and what a heartbreaking scene watching Frank put the pieces together and realizing the dead body’s ring and jewelry was Nadines.  He broke down and then had to tell Buzz. So sad and heartbreaking. The funeral was nice, but small; I’m curious to see if anyone else in SF hears or reacts to her death or if that funeral was basically the end of Nadine.

Eleni had a really powerful episode when she found out Nadine died. She yelled into the rain alone, crying and asking God why this all happened. It was pretty powerful and the best material nuEleni has gotten in the year she’s been with the show.

Nola’s son, J, just showed up to town. His father kicked him out for hitting on his 20-something girlfriend (blah). Michelle instantly locked her eyes on him at Company and she starts dressing sexier to get him to ask her on a date. They go and he takes her to the lighthouse where Brent is holding Lucy. J forces himself a little too hard on Michelle, which upsets her, and Brent sees this and gets angrier because women keep teasing men with their sexual advances. J and Michelle escape the lighthouse unscathed, but Michelle is unsure about J now. A few days later, J identifies Brent on the TV at the mall, while Brent is there, and calls him out. Brent runs and accuses J of stealing his wallet, escapes and J is brought into the police station where Nola bails him out after convincing everyone that he really saw Brent. I do enjoy how they intertwine all these characters into this larger storyline.

At long last, the Brent storyline wrapped and what a wild ride the last couple weeks were at the lighthouse!  I was very surprised to see Beaty come back for 2 episodes in the lighthouse, and then Wolf came back again for a few more episodes after that before Beaty finally finished it out. They must have shot some scenes out of order, which is a bit jarring, but I’m glad Beaty got to finish out the last few climactic episodes at the lighthouse and jail. There was a very romantic scene with Lucy and A-M held captive, alone, and saying their vows to each other. I’m just happy they’re finally able to be happy, free of Brent/Marian and the HIV scare.

The Brent/Marian saga was very enjoyable, but I don’t think pieces of it were fully baked. It was clear they made a few things up along the way, like the mother’s mental/physical abuse and his mental illness/personality disorder. It definitely set up a potential return storyline that Beaty ultimately declined, but overall it seemed like the first 9 months was just a mad frat biz daddy who was set on revenge vs. a real mental illness that developed in the last 3 months. But yeah, I really enjoyed it overall and thought the acting was top notch amongst Frank, Sonia, Ric and the other supporting actors. This storyline was the reason I started my GL journey and it didn’t disappoint - I’m hooked on Springfield now!

The Blake/Amanda feud is heating up and I’m enjoying it. Amanda is teaming up with Dinah, and their antics included framing Blake for locking Amanda up in a warehouse and almost dying from hypothermia. Blake got arrested and put into the jail cell next to Brent Lawrence, who was either pretending or really believing he’s still Marian (his last few scenes!). He introduces himself to Blake and offers her a back massage through the cell bars and she freaks out - so funny!  I still need to know what secret Amanda and Matt have from their days in CA. Oh and now Amanda followed Ross to his cabin and Ross just willingly kissed Amanda, just as Blake got to the cabin and watched through the window! This should be good…

Finally, the other big storyline is Reva and the fight for custody over Marah/Shane. The judge eventually awards custody of the kids to Josh, but requires Annie to leave the house and live somewhere else given the testimony given about her alcoholism. Of course I’m very sad for Annie, but I can see the crazy in her coming out more and more.  The performances by Zimmer, Watros and Newman are wonderful, but I can’t help but wonder if the old Reva/Josh fans were pissed at this storyline or not. I just feel like if your wife/mother comes back from the dead years later, there would be more discussions and less fighting. They went too quickly into a nasty custody battle and everyone hating Reva like she’s this huge villain (having Alan in her ear hasn’t helped).  I just wish things would have gone differently here, but I’m still curious to see where it goes…

[P.J.]

Carrie Nye is just a little too arch for my taste, slinking around like some python on the make. (And some of the dialogue she utters...I'm surprised she could say it with a straight face.) The Cottage story is just a little too convoluted (yes, I know, someone's thinking "this, from the defender of The Fishing Trip, say what again? LOL...). And it's centered on three characters I don't care about (Tony, Annabelle and Jim). Yes, even though Tony and Annabelle are at the center of the Fishing Trip, it's balanced out with Nola and Henry and is an umbrella story that ripples through the town. I don't give a rip about the Spaulding history backstory. 

Other than some gorgeous scenery and shots (when Alex and Victoria go to spread Brandon and ....(? I can't come up with her name off the tip of my tongue) ashes is beautiful. But this was an action adventure story that should've been grounded.

[P.J.]

I'm sure old Reva/Josh fans saw the writing on the wall--and this was their pattern. They (or usually Josh) was so angry that they'd spend months yelling at each other, and then "boom", they were macking up on each other, regardless of who else they were entangled with. (This is the couple who slept together under HB's roof while Reva was married to him, after all.) "Always". *gag me*

[alwaysAMC]

LOL - this is a perfect description, and that's what I loved about it! May be a bit campy, but it immediately caught my attention in a good way. 

I'm not familiar with the Fishing Trip storyline, I'll have to look that up.

I've noticed that about Josh, which has made him less attractive to me overall. He just yells a lot when he's not happy. Wow, Reva was married to HB! 

LOL - "Always... eventually, and again"

[DeeVee]

Not only that, but Tony, Annabelle, and Jim had zero skin in this game. The Fishing Trip story had a huge impact on the Reardons and Annabelle because it was about THEIR relatives and how what happened to them shaped their own lives.

People directly and indirectly affected by this--i.e. Alan, Amanda, Philip, and even Lujack--weren't involved in this at all, either because they were off the canvas or involved in other stuff.

I mostly admire Long's talent for using the past to enhance her stories in the present, but this one was a huge turkey. We saw Brandon old and decrepit dying on screen. Even if we were able to suspend disbelief, why wouldn't he have wanted revenge on Lucille, who tried to kill him? If he wanted to go live with his Barbados squeeze, who would have cared about that by then?

In the end, it had little to no impact on the larger story because they were too chicken to bring in that branch of the Spauldings into the main story (until later). 

Just a really bad storyline that mainly existed to stretch out the GL stints of the actors who played Tony, Annabelle, and Jim.

 

[DRW50]

Sharina? 

@alwaysAMC I am glad you've kept writing about the Brent story all the way through. I think that Beaty may have had to briefly leave again, rather than scenes being aired out of sequence, but I'm not sure. 

You are right that the reveals of Brent's various reasons for being what he was bog down the end of the story a bit, although based on what is to come in 1996 I still kind of wish Beaty had stayed another year. 

I'd forgotten J and Michelle were tied to the end of the story. This J is generally just gross.

I don't really remember much of anyone caring about Nadine dying outside of her family. The worst part was Frank just giving a rose and saying it was from Harley, which made me very mad at the time. I am not sure if Beth Ehlers was asked to return and declined. Luckily this is addressed when she does return.  

I felt like it was one of those stories that was done via mandate - trying to keep the ratings gains they had, via more location shoots, more adventures, more secrets, etc. Tony, Annabelle and Jim were thrown in as they were meant to be important to the show at the time.

[Soaplovers]

Perhaps Lujack/Beth should have been the other couple involved in that location story with Tony/Annabelle instead of Claire/Fletcher or Jim.   Since Lujack was a Spaulding, the whole fallout could have caused him to further distance himself from having anything to do with Spaulding and Alexandra and as a result, pushes Beth away and potentially back in Phillip's direction.

Out of the three Pam Long major mystery/action stories in her first stint.. the fishing mystery story was probably the best... although I did kind of enjoy parts of Infinity and the cabin mystery stories as well.

 

 

[alwaysAMC]

Happy to see this!

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I know, I'm getting the sense they expected Beaty to stay if they were going the rehabilitation route with Abby. A few weeks ago, when Michelle was dressing sexy for her date with J, she let Abby try on a dress and Rick then taught her what dating was like, and she went in and kissed him. They were clearly setting up the Abby/Rick story, but then suddenly it has pivoted to Rick falling back in love with Annie and trying to convince her not to go to Josh since he and Reva are secretly meeting at the cabin (Annie is getting unhinged here). But with Rick focused on Annie again, it would have left room for Abby to work with Brent, had Beaty stayed (at least this is what I'm assuming based on what I'm seeing). Rick is also now in Blake's orbit - they both just got in a bar fight post-Ross/Amanda kissing and Annie rejecting Rick's advances. They're together and Blake is now coming onto Rick while they drink... uh oh.

[Mitch64]

I HATED Infinity (I could care less about Kyle Sampson and his hanger ons and the dumb Lujack video, and Mindy and Kurt were strong armed into being a fave couple and married off way too soon (Jeva didnt get that big of a wedding.)

I did like the Fishing Mystery (despite the changing of history..it was murky enough that it could be fudged) and the Cabin mystery started out good ..I thought Tony was hot and I liked Annabelle, it had supernatural elements but they did not overtake the story (i.e. Reva traveling through time..) and I love a gothic mystery.. however, it was bizarre that nosy Nola wasnt in the mix...she barely seemed interested that her sister in law was psychic, there may be ghosts in her brothers house, etc.  I don't know if there was a behind the scenes issue with Brown and Kobe, or if Long just wanst interested or felt tied up writing for Quola.  I would have had Quint blow up in the cabin instead of Hillary but..The big problem that the end result was...boring. Okay so there are black Spauldings..and they disappeared...so what now?

Not only was J gross...(I can't believe the actor IS actually just as obnoxious as J) they made Chelle into an airhead horn dog going after her cousin. Yes, by adoption but still her cousin. I wondered why she was not calling Nola "Aunt" when she first arrived, and they barely acknowledge each other ( I would think Nola would glomb on to mothering her sister's daughter, especially with Stacy not in town, much to Ed's chagrin) but it was in service to...this??? Wait until Chele gets all horny for an angel...oyyyy!

No one else in town reacted to Nadine's death,, cause Deas had to have his big dumb over the top reaction scene to Deenie's death. I can't imaging watching that scnene and thinking he was a good actor!

Edited 2 hours ago by Mitch64

[Contessa Donatella]

I just edited the 1998 SOD Awards & Laura Wright won Best New Character for Cassie on GL. Also Philip & Harley won something of some name for them as a couple & when they finished saying their effusive thanks at the mic, Grant picked Beth up & literally threw her over his shoulder & walked backstage that way. I mean, it's great that Beth Ehlers is a good sport, right? 

 

[Spoon]

In a 1997 SOD article, Ehlers mentions that she was asked to return several times, but was surprised she wasn't asked to return for her "mother's" funeral.  This was when she returned for the 60th Anniversary event.

They were a really popular pairing for a few years ago.  As an older viewer, it seemed strange seeing Beth as the odd one out, but 1998 Beth was a totally different character.  She was written as a manipulative, vixen.

[DRW50]

Thanks. I'd forgotten about that. It is odd she wasn't asked back. Maybe they just gave up. 

Harley/Philip is one of those relationships which lingered on longer than it should have. I never got the sense the show had any great interest in them together beyond the first six months or so, and there was little to no chemistry between them after that point.

[Mitch64]

Oh but those "Pharleys" were very adamant that they stay together and be featured everyday (though I did like their websites and the recaps they gave each day.) I agree, they were interesting at first, but the longer it went on the more Harley became this sad sack jealous wife, the more Phillip became a dumb Josh type character torn between two women and the more Beth became a pathetic looser chasing her ex.   I think after Beth came back it would have been an interesting triangle of three "good" people trying to find a way, and I did like the "Who killed Carl" and how Harley and Beth had to work together there, but we all know Phillip would have dumped Harley to get together with Beth, Harley would have been hurt but dusted herself off and moved on, and eventually Beth and Phillip would implode.

They didn't bring back one Reardon or Bauer for Mo's funeral...did anyone think they would waste money and energy on poor sad Nadine?