Guiding Light Discussion Thread

[P.J.]

Honestly, rewatching the mid-80's, I wonder if Pam Long GAF about anyone other than Reva. Even Alexandra, who isn't getting any great story that I can see, she revolves around her precious Brandon. 

Reva is supposed to be plucky, "tell it like it is" brave for living with no regrets, while she pisses and moans, biting the Lewis hand that clothes and feeds her so she can lust after a virtual stranger because they've both "hungered" to be a Lewis and feel like they've been excluded from the precious Lewis circle of trust. 

Lord love a duck.

Long didn't know how to write for strong women. She's not interested in Annabelle, Nola, Katie (although she hadn't had a story since '81) or Trish, Mo and Claire have babyitis, Roxy's an ex-whore, Mindy's spoiled but occasionally tries to grow up and Beth cries all day everyday.

Yes, Vanessa isn't the mover and shaker she was upon entering Springfield. But at least she was allowed to grow as a character. Unlike Reva, she's not hamstrung in some eternal sexpot role that she can't escape from. 

As much as I dislike some aspects of the Dylan storyline, it's arguably Long's best umbrella story. Yes, it could've been written without Vanessa, but it's undoubtably richer for her being in it.

[Soaplovers]

Actually.. I thought she restored Katie back to her more fun loving/self deprecating spirit after being watered down by Marland.  Even the actress that played Katie puts the blame more on Gail Kobe than Long.  

I think I understood what she was trying to do with Nola.. but it didn't work.  She was trying to write a character that gets her happily ever after with the man she loves... but struggles with the reality of living in real world after getting her happy ending.  However, the way she went about it was all wrong.

Trish, she wisely made the peacemaker of the Lewis family.. though I could understand the actress probably growing restless with being the pragmatic peacemaker by 1985.

Unpopular opinion:  I actually think Beth should have stayed dead.  I think it made his embracing of the dark side of Spaulding more realistic once she was dead.. and as we saw, it did affect his relationship with Chelsea during that period.

[alwaysAMC]

I’m up to May 16, 1996.

Lucy/A-M are getting married and they were holding this big secret for weeks on where the location was… all to find out it’s going to be an ad for Universal Studios haha.  Probably was fun back in the 90s, but a bit cheesy looking back now. Although they were on a boat alone, at night, reminiscing about Brent, and A-M promised a tearful Lucy that “the worst is over, there is nothing to be afraid of anymore”… and right after, freaking JAWS comes out of the water to attack them on the ride. LOL. I’ve actually been on that ride and it was as scary in person as it was watching it, but that scene ended up being very cheesy given how serious it was supposed to be.

Rick being there in Florida with everyone makes zero sense considering he doesn’t hang out with any of these people, but he’s clearly there because Phillip has shown up. Very plot-driven, but at least I’m getting old flashbacks of Rick/Phillip during this. But yeah, outside of the nuptials, this wedding and the Universal Studios trip (ad) turned out to be more about Phillip than anything. Skulking around in the Frankenstein costume, listening to everyone’s conversations about him, was… interesting. Rick dancing in the street by himself, while the other couples danced together, was pretty funny though.

The nuptials were beautiful and I loved seeing A-M/Lucy finally get married. I loved how they mentioned Nadine a few times throughout, but especially during their nuptials. It was a nice touch. I still can’t believe Nick, Susan, Bridget and David weren’t there.

I really love the Amanda/Alex rivalry. The digs they make at each other are so funny to me.

Dinah and Roger have gone off the deep end with their hatred for each other. She’s making him think he’s going crazy by dressing up as Hart’s mother, gaslighting him into thinking untrue things. Now, he’s putting a drug in her drinks that should make her hallucinate and be psychotic. They both want each other dead, and I can’t imagine they’ll ever come back from this.

Blake is now pregnant with twins, and the fear is that Rick is the father, or Rick and Ross are both fathers by split parentage between the twins. I don’t hate this storyline because it’s unique and also possible, which I didn’t realize until I googled it.  The storyline has been on pause for a bit while Rick is in Florida for the wedding, so I’m curious to see where this goes.

Annie/Josh have also been on pause a bit given that Reva/Buzz/Alan are all in Florida. I’m sure when Reva gets back home, Josh will continue to lust after her while Annie grows more uneasy.

Holly delivered Meg, their child with down syndrome, and she and Fletcher have had a rollercoaster of emotions about it, but overall pretty ‘slow’ and boring here. If I liked Fletcher more, I might care more. I found it really weird that Ben randomly decided to move away and go to boarding school because he felt like he’d be in the way, and Fletcher didn’t really seem to have a big problem with it. Seems more like the writers just didn’t want to deal with him and Meg together.

Viviane just confided in Holly that Griffin is Gilly’s father, just as Griffin and Gilly held hands/locked eyes at the diner. Viviane is now trying to seduce Griffin, in hopes that it will make them stay apart. This whole storyline is gross. They’re really going to let a father/daughter get romantic before they know their true relations? And instead of just telling Gilly the truth, Viviane would rather try to cheat on her husband again with Griffin and ‘compete’ with her? This is awful.

I’m also losing interest in Dahlia and Marcus. He just told her the truth about her mother, which upset Frank and got Marcus in deeper trouble. But yeah, I’m not really that invested in their budding relationship, especially since she’s still in high school.

Oh and they just introduced cell phones on the show and it’s hilarious.  Blake pulls out her cell phone and answers with “Hi, I’m on my CELL phone”. “Yeah, I have a CELL phone” - it’s so funny.

They finally updated the opening on May 2, 1996!  Which only covers half the cast, which tells me they will hopefully/finally have two separate openings. It was always weird to me that they could remove someone from the opening quickly, but never add someone new at the same time. The opening was getting so old that half of it was stock images that replaced people that left the show (Nadine, Eleni, Eve, Nick, Mindy, David, Tangie and then some shirtless guy I never could tell who it was). Reva has been on the show for over a year now and she was never in the opening until just now with the update. I can’t believe they let it go that long! Oh same with Annie and Dinah - both were on the show for like 16-17 months before they finally got in the opening.

[j swift]

Nope, we had taste, even in the 90s, and the richest family in town throwing a wedding at an amusement park was never cool.

But, isn't funny that they're all back in Florida, but nobody mentions this is where Reva went nuts and drove off a bridge.  It seems like it might trigger some memories.

Edited 6 hours ago by j swift

[kalbir]

Probably not.

Then again, if any character defined the final 25 years of GL it was Reva.

[DRW50]

Thanks as always @alwaysAMC

The remote was panned in the soap press at the time, especially Philip wandering around in the costume as well as some of the comedy. 

I have to admit it didn't bother me, even though I knew how ludicrous the idea was of the Spauldings having a wedding at a theme park. I thought there were some fun moments and I did like the scene where Lucy got to cry and grieve over what Brent had done to her. 

I think I was just glad to get away from the stories in Springfield, which were bad and getting worse. 

There are a number of attempts at revamping the opening music in 1996. I'll be interested in what you think of them. I remember being glad they updated the photos but also noticing how cheap they looked. The show did need a new opening. Sadly, Rauch would instead just not even have an opening for over 5 years.

[Speed Racer]

Swift said:  "But, isn't funny that they're all back in Florida, but nobody mentions this is where Reva went nuts and drove off a bridge.  It seems like it might trigger some memories."

Hilarious!!   'Tis a shame it didn't retrigger the same behavior as well.  In a gray Volvo.