Guiding Light Discussion Thread

[DRW50]

I can't speak for Sonni, but I thought Annie came off as neurotic from very early on. That's just how Cynthia Watros plays her parts, and the writing went along.

I don't think Claire was mentally ill - they claimed she had a brain tumor, didn't they? I am never sure just why they made the effort given that she was leaving anyway. 

Edited yesterday at 06:39 PM by DRW50

[P.J.]

I'm not sure if the boy Carrie 2 seduced (I think his name was Ron) was still in high school or in college, but I remember he was very shy. I don't recall her making a pass at Alan, but she did make one at Justin, and she ended up banging Josh. I think there was an out of town business man too.

Reva thought Josh and Vanessa were having an affair. Vanessa had just been fired by Roger, and when Reva took off to India, Van started helping Josh with the children. He then hired Van to work at Lewis. She would hear him on a business call with Van and think they were arranging a tryst. Or they sat too close together on the couch, so of course they were hiding an affair from her. It was very weird and blew up really quick. 

It culminated at the party Reva was throwing at the club to introduce Dylan to Justin. Reva imagined everyone whispering about her and then she dumped a tray of drinks on Vanessa. When Vanessa hauled her into the ladies room to ask WTF, Reva accuses them of having an affair, asks if Van's pregnant, and then knocks her to the floor.

I do think Claire had a tumor. I know around Valentine's day, Claire is making passes at a young businessman (or maybe even someone college age), and Ross (Van kinda pushed her at him because she's not keen on Calla). There's also a young intern played by Burke Moses that I think she sleeps with.

[DeeVee]

She did. It was during a party at Amanda's. She didn't literally throw herself at him, but she was subtly coming on to him and he quickly shut her down. Yes, I remember she not only made a pass at Justin, she convinced Jackie that he was harassing her sexually. She also tried to convince Sara that he was pestering her.

Everyone banged Josh back then, LOL.

Whoa. I must have missed a good chunk of this first time around because I don't remember Reva going to India. 

What I recall is Harley being a nanny to the kids and then Reva driving off the bridge. Then they kind of toyed with the idea of Josh and Harley getting together but I don't think that ever happened.

Yes, that all happens but I don't recall the tumor. Maybe that's coming up soon with the videos being uploaded to Spauldingfield. The last one I watched, she was planning to vamp Kyle while taking care of the pregnant Maeve.

[DRW50]

I remember seeing him briefly when Rick went to confront her about her blackmailing him. (I briefly forgot that Rick's sleeping with Claire at this time was a retcon - or her lying that she slept with him, whatever that story was). I wonder if he interacted with Kurt given that Mark Lewis later took his ATWT role.

I tried to watch some of the full episode and it was all so alien and uninvolving. Roxy having a meltdown on that construction site for Mindy and Kurt's house that never gets built. Ed with Ross and Vanessa dealing with custody issues. Even Ross and Vanessa seemed flat, with Vanessa seeming oddly meek.

[Soaplovers]

Annie Dutton was anything, but sane when she was introduced.  She was very tortured and looked like she was on the verge of tears when she was first introduced.   While people, and writers, made it seem as though Annie lost her mind because of Josh.. I truly think that Annie had a lot of untreated mental issues that didn't manifest until her marriage to Josh.

Sonni was also anything, but strong when she was first introduced either.  

Claire in 1983 was a complete 180 from the Claire that we got in 1986... and I do agree that her character was degraded.

[P.J.]

Well, Josh was a horndog. LOL

Yep. It was one of the first really weird things Reva did with her PPD. She became obsessed with the idea that Dylan and Sam should get married. Sam was only 17, and needed her parent's permission. Reva helped them leave town so they could go to a neighboring state where Sam was old enough. Ross, Billy and Josh stopped them, then Sam went to India to try and persaude Justin. Reva followed her and didn't tell Josh she was going.

While Reva was gone, Josh advertised for nannies, and Harley applied. He ended up hiring someone else. But when Reva returned, she hired Harley because (in her weird mental state) she wanted someone she could trust with the kids (because she feared Josh was trying to get rid of her and that Vanessa wanted the children.). After Reva starts treatment, she asks Harley to stay until she's stronger because she's good with the kids.

At the party, Reva starts going off the rails, insulting Justin and Josh hauls her to a private dining room to ask WTF. Reva starts confronting him about the "affair" with Vanessa, and he realizes she is weird. He locks her in the dining room and frees Mindy and Van from the ladies room (where Reva has locked them in). Van starts telling him that Reva attacked her and needs help.  Reva escapes out the window of the dining room and goes back to the party, climbs onto a table and starts a striptease. Josh gets her to stop, takes her home and after filling Ed in, decides to go to the doctor the next day. Reva then takes off and spends days running around town, coming on to a guy she thinks is Billy, Billy, Hamp, Frank and Roger. 

Roger takes her to his apartment and takes nude pictures of her, which he tries to blackmail Billy with. He wants the deed to the land the Towers is on in exchange for them. (Billy had been left the deed by a sweet old lady who lost her home in the 5th street fire. Roger had stolen the deed from her before she died. After Roger took those pics of Reva, she saw him hide them, and took an envelope from the hiding place. She didn't realize she'd taken the deed and not the pictures.) 

Anyway, Billy and Vanessa trick Roger into burning the pictures, claim the deed and at the Towers opening reveal that Billy owns the land and therefore the Towers. That's what led to Roger and Alex's breakup and Roger and Mindy's affair.

Mark Lewis was on ATWT?

1986 is not a good year, storywise. No bueno. Muy no bueno.

[DRW50]

Indeed. I may try to watch it in full sometime, but not anytime soon...

Mark played Sean Baxter for a few episodes when Courtney married Andy. Burke was either on Broadway or at OLTL at that time, I suppose.

[DeeVee]

Eeek. I didn't know this either!

I will say, though, even though they skimmed over a lot of Roger's past, I will give them props for not trying to turn him into a hero.

Yeah, I was hoping we would get more 1986 episodes than were available on YT before, but now I'm wondering if I really want to see that. 

[P.J.]

That's an odd coincidence.

Yeah, Roger would turn anything he could to his advantage. At the time, he's just taking the pictures to bank leverage over Reva, Billy or the Lewises. 

I'm kinda squeamish about 1986 episodes myself. I'd love to hear the original version of Ross/Vanessa/Dinah, but the Cain story is bad, and I don't want Billy and Vanessa to break up.

[DRW50]

Yes. And I assume he met Mary Ellen Stuart at GL.

[P.J.]

shoot...he said in that Locher room with Krista. I think he met her before that---she was doing Broadway and they had mutual friends or an agent maybe?

[DRW50]

Thanks. That makes sense.

[robbwolff]

Annie was not brought in as an antagonist for Reva. Reva wasn’t even on the canvas when Annie first appeared in late 1994. 

[Mitch64]

Claire was always tightly wound, I think what Long was going to do is to throw the three into this impossible situation with no bad guys, Mo, knowing how to take care of kids from growing up but unable to conceive and Claire, who didnt know how to take care of kids and was totally focused on her career, gets knocked up.  Ryder took Claire off the deep end as a convenient way to make story for characters he wasnt interested in (though Pratt blames McTavish) with little effort. It was later explained to be a brain tumor (though why was she a bitch again when she returned?) \

Claire did sleep with Rick, she was his first!

[Soaplovers]

I think Long was probably planning to have Claire suffer from Post Partum, but she left the writing staff shortly after Claire had Michelle so that element didn't get explored.

And I always assumed that when Claire returned in the late 90s/early 00s.. that she was realizing that she messed up by not staying a part of Michelle's life and became resentful/bitter over her previous choices.  That was my theory.