Guiding Light Discussion Thread

[P.J.]

There is some kind of arrangement going on between Justin and Evie, who seems to be caring for Sam. I'm not sure, but she may even be living there with Justin and Phillip. Phillip inviting Evie at least makes a little more sense (if the guest list was limited to women Vanessa liked, it would've only consisted of Trish and Helena. lol) 

Maybe it was more common to hang on to performers, back in the day? Instead of immediately kicking them to the curb? Evie hadn't had much to do after Chet was revealed to be her stalker. With Rita, Jackie and Ben gone, there weren't many on the canvas she'd really worked with, other than Ross. They could've pivoted her back to Ross, instead of letting him languish love-less for nearly a year other than goo-goo eyeing Amanda.

Nowadays, there might've been a moment written Jordan and Janet, an eye-wink to the audience about them having previously worked together.

[Robluvthebeach]

I remember Evie's last scene and it was in Justin Marler's house and she is telling them that Ben is asking for a reconciliation and she is going to join him. I always have wondered what Janet Grey did after leaving Guiding Light (I know from the interview with Kathleen Cullen that she did have a baby and they stayed in touch for awhile).

[alwaysAMC]

I’m up to April 01, 1996.

I think I’m starting to understand what many have said.. things are different. I miss the community vibe of Springfield, when you had people working at the hectic newspaper, the choatic diner, the rich were coming in for coffee, or the TV network was abuzz about the latest scandal. Things have become a little more tunneled into their own storylines. Right now, for me anyway, there isn’t a strong desire to see what happens next, ever since the Brent/Marian story ended. It was a darker, more suspenseful storyline that really got me intrigued and waiting to see what happens next, while everything else was just a nice view of midwestern families living their dramatic lives. And I love that too, when the characters and storytelling is strong, but right now, some things are a little stale.

In these last 5 weeks, we had two bigger events:

Nick and Susan’s wedding:  it was sweet, but I really found it weird they played music over their vows instead of being able to hear them. Then, they leave town immediately after and for good? We really didn’t get a ton of time with them - one minute Susan is in a hospital bed, post-coma, celebrating the new year, and now she’s married and gone. I’m having a hard time with the revolving door of characters since my early ’95 watch. This year we’ve lost so many characters, gained so many characters, and to what end?

Henry’s funeral:  this was so sad, considering the real actor passed. I’m curious what other fans thought about the funeral. Granted, when an actor passes, you don’t have much time to plan ahead, so you need to insert it into whatever storylines are happening at the time.  But sadly, this funeral happened when everyone was hating each other. Vanessa was upset with Matt because the Amanda secret came out and he kept it from her. Quint showed up, with his very young affair no less, which made both Nola and J upset. Amanda was there which upset both Blake and Ross. Roger insisted he give a speech which upset everyone. Vanessa was mad at Quint for bringing his young girlfriend, and then Dinah was so upset about her grandfather, which was emotional, but everyone is currently at odds with Dinah. The flashbacks were effective, and the most emotional scene was Vanessa’s breakdown when reading Henry’s letter to her.  Otherwise, it was a pretty hateful funeral, which felt icky.

Otherwise, my quick pros and cons currently happening…

Pros:

Alex and Hawk are great and funny. He gets under her skin and it’s hilarious to watch her react, but she needs him. They were in LA trying to get dirt on Amanda’s former life and Hawk was living it up with young gorgeous women and all the spending money at his disposal.  Generally, the Amanda and her secret storyline is interesting and I really like the actress. Alex vs. Amanda is entertaining.

Tina came onto the scene around the time Nadine died, but she’s been given a backstory which is interesting to me now. She’s a prostitute, who means well, and is trying to take care of her daughter, Dahlia. She grew up with Frank, who has a soft spot for her. Marcus, in a new storyline he desperately needed away from Dinah and his dad, has taken a strong liking to Dahlia. She sings well and he plays saxophone well, so their music is endearing. Sadly, Tina got involved in a robbery gone-bad, where they held up a Spaulding board of directors meeting. She flees, but Frank catches her outside and is forced to arrest her, while Cleary (she’s back!) arrests the main bad guy involved and saves the Spaulding family. I’m curious to see where this one goes, but curious, was Tina actually on the show before this or is she a brand new character?

Cons:

The Dinah/Hart/Roger storyline is pretty stale now. I need something new.

Lucy and Alan-Michael are barely on since Brent left, which is sad. You spend an entire year on a storyline that builds their relationship, brings strife and wedges, and now that they’re finally able to be together in love with no obstacles, you never show them? I want to see them happy! Oh and Lucy and Bridget/David haven't had a scene since Marian tried to get 'a room at the boarding house, which is weird because we haven't seen Bridget react to Lucy being alive. I don't even know if Lucy even lives at the boarding house or with AM, but it's sad pretending like Lucy/Bridget/David were never close friends.

Reva/Josh, which is hogging airtime, is a serious whiplash. One week Josh loves her, she hates him; the next week, she loves him, he hates her. He’s always lying to Annie, but now he’s marrying her again, the second wedding in 4 months. I’m also very tired of Marah, her angst over everything, and their overwhelming concern over her. As much as I don’t like Buzz, it is funny watching Reva work at the diner, but I’ll never side with Alan so watching him have feelings about Reva/Buzz or Reva/Josh does nothing for me.

Finally, the other small B storylines are only on like once a week which isn’t enough:  Gilly/Griffin/Viviane, Michelle/J, Blake/Ross/Rick, Rick/Abby, Holly/Fletcher and the baby. Something that just popped up out of the blue is David Grant leaving Springfield out of nowhere. He professed his love to Bridget, who turned him down, so he decides to leave when Griffin gives him a job opportunity. Sadly, another character written out for many new characters being introduced. Makes me wonder who is making these calls - the producers, the network, the writers, the fans?

Edited 12 hours ago by alwaysAMC

[prefab1]

As always, really interesting to get your impressions! I was only watching sporadically during this period (whereas I was transfixed during the Marian storyline), but if I remember correctly 1996 was a pretty rough transitional year. It came at a period where P&G was playing musical chairs with its executive producers--ATWT was hit especially hard by this. The current executive producer, Michael Laibson, is out in November 1996, replaced by Paul Rauch, who stays for nearly 6 years. While Rauch has a few really bad ideas that cause long-term damage to the show, those don't really kick in until 1999, and his first couple of years are very strong. So once you get to 1997, you should see the show rebound significantly. 

[Soaplovers]

Marland was long gone by this point.  He quit in either August/September 1982.

I think it was due to letting the actress play out her contract and use her for party scenes and/or scenes with Phillip/Justin.  

I was surprised she was still on in June 1983 myself, because I figured she had been written out before Pam Long joined the writing staff.

Thankfully, having episodes uploaded during this period on Spauldingfield YT site has helped to connect some of the dots.  It looks as though Pam Long starts the first week or so of May 1983.. and in those first few weeks: Morgan and Evie were both written off and Lillian/Mindy/Billy/Beth/Annabelle all come onto the show.

 

 

[Mitch64]

This is where McLaibey falls apart. It becomes clear that McTavish had not thought past Brent/Marion...so the energy drops and she starts throwing things at the wall (Blakes twins, Lonatrat.)

 

Fans HATED this funeral. Everyone is mad at everyone else, which is fine, the death of a beloved community figure would give people a reason to come together...(Quint and Nola could come together at least for  a bit to support each other, Nola and VAn could finally admit they kinda, sorta like each other) Its just an example of McTavish's mean writing.

 

I have a feeling they were going to make Dahlia Frank's kid but they chickened out. Making Tina a prostitute didn't help, they could have been lovers when they were young but felt society pressure to part. Marcus took over David's role (you can't have two young black men at that time...)

 

Get used to it...this will happen, the same storyline over and over until the end.