Guiding Light Discussion Thread

[alwaysAMC]

LOL - literally just added an edit to my post, because as I'm watching live right now, Dahlia is swimming in the pool alone and there is Marcus.  So annoying.

And Phillip just revealed himself to Rick. I have to stop watching now, but curious to see how those interactions go!

[DeeVee]

Or, they could have recast the role and written the character better. Maybe too much to expect, but it was a choice.

Surprised they never did. Was Raines ever popular?

Wait.

Wait.

WAIT!

THEY RETCONNED THAT AGAIN????

[P.J.]

There was something about her being kidnapped by a Professor (?) and then presumed dead when Judi Evans left. Then somehow she ends up with Neil Everest with amnesia and being mute. Beth Chamberlain doesn't say a thing for like her first three months on the show.

I sort of agree that Phillip should've been head of the family. But there's not a lot of family for him to be "head" of. Unless they could've found a better recast for Alan, I'd have been okay with him dying earlier. What Phillip really needed was an equal rival. Whether it was in the family or outside the family. And other than Roger and the first go-round with VI as Lujack, he never really had one. I'm hesitant to call Chris Bernau's Alan a rival, but he certainly was a source of conflict in Phillip's life.

[P.J.]

Sometimes you don't have friends as much as you have family. I'm trying to remember if Dylan really had a guy  friend. He and Mindy finally became friends after a rough introduction, and he interacts with Hart#1 and A-M#1, but I'm not sure they're really "friends". Maybe David.

Whereas with Bridget, because there aren't a lot of Reardons around, gets friends like Kat and David.

[Mitch64]

During Taggert Alan mentions Amanda as his "daughter" while that most likely is a writers slip up, I like to think it was a retcon. They never have Alex, on any of her frequent trips back mention Amanda as my sister, etc. I know they just want to forget it and Amanda was probematic in her marriage to Roger (i.e. MADD's decree that Roger will never be mentioned again..) Again, they could have easily brought her back with a handwave from Alex or Alan saying it was a trick from Brandon.

 

There is Amanda, AM and ALL the various offspring Phillip created. Plus head of family means head of Spaulding.   I would have thought it interesting if Phillip becomes more like Alan (but in the gray area he always was, not outright cartoon villain RR Alan) and AM comes back with more of his Bauer coming out and wanting to do things on the up and up..maybe AM became a lawyer like his grandfather in the missing years...and Amanda could play both sides against the other. 

But also they could have brought someone like Kyle Sampson back to rival Phillip and the Spaulding (maybe Amanda married him) but then, of course there would be ANOTHER man horning after long in the tooth Reva!

[alwaysAMC]

They just aired a montage of Marcus and Dahlia swimming, with music playing in the background singing "Skin to Skin", for 4 MINUTES.  No joke or exaggeration. 4 minutes of them swimming at nighttime, no dialogue, just swimming.  WTF.

[P.J.]

I was focused on 1995 Phillip. With only one child at that point, all he'd really have to rule is his harem of ex's. I'd have loved to watch Grant Aleksander and Rick Hearst go toe to toe, but he's on his way out and I doubt the writers would've ever let A-M best Phillip. 

Yes, to someone like Kyle, but no to someone to horndog Reva or be an ineffectual six month villain. They really needed to invest in a Roger-type villain who was built to last.

I don't know what it is about location shoots, but shows had a way of overplaying them. Just because you can swim the length of a real pool, or run in a literal field of flowers, etc...doesn't mean I have to see it in it's entirety. I just watched Mindy's wedding to Kurt, and Mindy must've walked a bleepin' mile between the carriage and the altar.

Edited yesterday at 05:37 PM by P.J.

[alwaysAMC]

LOL - such a good point. They think it'll go over well and be glamorous and amazing, but sometimes it just ends up being cringe. This wedding so far is a little cringe. They have ducks walking around the hotel foyer and towards the camera, for heck's sake haha.

[P.J.]

Well....gotta have ducks.  lol

[DRW50]

Around 2002, when I would have killed Alan, I'd bring back Amanda, who would have a love/hate relationship with Philip mirroring Alan and Alex, I'd have a proper Alex recast, I might bring back Alan-Michael (and maybe Hope or Mike on recurring), and I'd bring in a long-lost son for Philip who would be around his late teens or early twenties. 

I agree that Philip would still need a rival. That's where giving Roger another long-lost kid (not Sebastian) could have worked in this timeframe.

[Mitch64]

A proper recast for Alex, who pulls the strings behind the scenes (and doesnt HATE Amanda like MarjAlex did) would be great..at that point I see her having her fingers in the pie just to make sure it all doesnt go to hell.

My rival for Phillip would be my fan fiction of a kid of Ed and Ritas. Somehow Roger got a hold of him, made him think he was Alan's kid ( I would think Rita would push him as someone who could get a piece of the Spaulding) and secretly raised him to HATE Spaulding and work to take them all down...of course the truth comes out that he is Ed's kid, so we have a "bad" Bauer who is Phillip's match, and Rick is stuck in the middle trying to make a relationship with the brother who HATEs his best bud.

[DRW50]

Those are great ideas. That could adapt the whole claim that Gus was meant to be Rita's son. A child born of Ed and Rita and influenced by Roger would be great drama.

I should probably have Philip's long-lost son be mid-twenties to make sure he's in a different peer group than Lizzie. 

I do think Frank was an easy cut in the show's last decade, but I could at least say he was a good part of the show for his first 5-10 years and had natural relationships with the other Coopers, who were heavy in story. I don't hate Ron Raines, but there were no good times with him for me. He was more suited to Werther's Original ads. He seemed happiest when he got to have sweet scenes with little Lizzie, just doing grandpa stuff.

I agree that Amanda returning at that time would have had more of an impact than a stunt cast for Alex. Joan was terrific, but the show couldn't afford her long term, and they needed a strong Spaulding long-term. 

Great final moment for Alan.

I never knew Taggert planned to bring Alan-Michael back. What might have been...

[P.J.]

I will admit to not liking John Bolger in the role of Phillip, but on rewatch, he has a really nice friend chemistry with Michael and Krista. And I think it's the only period of time where Phillip hasn't pulled Rick into some stupid scheme that ends up hurting the friendship.

[Mitch64]

Bolger was good..just not as Phillip..he came off as older then Phillip (who along with all of the 4 Ms, forgot they should be college students) I dont remember any scenes with him and Rick, its like they were no longer friends. He was one of the few guys who had that kind of chemistry with MKA..but they threw her at Simon and tried to get him back with Beth, who he had no chemistry with. It would have been nice for Phillip and India to have a love/hate relationship of fighting and sex, for a bit before they found someone with proper chemistry with Bolger, and of course, India had Alan waiting for her, which I thought was interesting but they didnt do anything with it.

[P.J.]

LOL...who has time for college? They only went to half a semester, which wasn't really a problem for Mindy, Phillip or Beth. But no wonder Rick became known as Dr Death.