Guiding Light Discussion Thread

[P.J.]

The last Cooper that i really liked was Aubrey Dollar's Marina. After that, they just became obnoxiously insufferable. The guy who played Coop wasn't bad, just bland. It's amazing that with Buzz/Jenna and Nadine's DNA, their children/grandchildren could be so sanctimonious.

For Peter---I would've put up with more ****. Peter (who's an honorary Lewis in my book) comes to live with uncle@@@@ and Auntie/Mom Vanessa. Peter raises a little hell, ***** gets all strict, while Van enables him a little, and Billy sticks his nose in it, aggravating **** and drawing Van and Billy closer, while they reminisce about back in the day when they were raising him.

Would've worked for me.

 

Edited yesterday at 02:38 AM by P.J.

[alwaysAMC]

Thanks for posting this, how fun!  LOL at this 80s windbreakers. I just love MOL - he's so funny and charming to me. I'd love to have met his mother, she sounds like a fun lady.

[SanCristobelsFinest]

Can anyone remember Mary Ellen Stuart's run as Jenny? I'm trying to fill in the cracks for missing stuff that we overlooked. 

Bulletpoints: 

* Dated Ross

* Rusty's police partner

* Directly responsible for Dinah coming forward about George Stewart (Cam's father)

[P.J.]

Some of those 1988-ish episodes are up. I'm not really sure she did much else. I think I recall something along the lines of she and Rusty had been suspended over the investigation of Nicky, George's supplier.

I'm not sure she even gets some kind of goodbye. I think she just disappeared when Pam Long returned.

[SanCristobelsFinest]

So Pam didn't create her? I thought she had the whole of 87-88. I'll look around, thanks for the point in the right direction.

[DRW50]

Glad you enjoyed watching. Yes, Michael seems like fun. I am always interested in more of these niche talk show appearances.

[P.J.]

Oohh...now I'm not sure. Long did come back in '87, didn't she. She broke up Ross and Vanessa almost from her first minute back. Van and Ross are at the Country Club when Josh dumps Reva. And Reva dramatically drapes herself on the CC stairs. 

[DeeVee]

Was that when she put on the"Slut of Springfield" red dress and made a complete ass of herself at the CC, so of course Alan fell madly in love with her on the spot?

[Soaplovers]

There are episodes with Jenny (Mary Ellen Stuart) that she was in pre-writers strike.. and I know that she lasts until at least August 1988.

It's a shame that the show didn't try pairing her with Rusty since the two had more chemistry than she had with Ross and that he had with Rose.

[SanCristobelsFinest]

I've been specifically looking for the episodes for Ross and Van together, because they essentially both raise Dinah at that period and the recaps around her typically avoid the Dorie years, the carnies, or Alan-Michael and Cam. I'm really just trying to trace a throughline between Paige, Wendy, and Gina. The last two are "easy," but it just messes with my timeline when Dinah thinks Alan-Michael would kill Ross. Then again, that Alan-Michael slept with his own stepdaughter, so...

[P.J.]

Yes. Why? I don't really care. Vanessa is also acting dumb, trying to run between tables, on a date with Ross in one room and a business meeting with Alan in another. 

One of the few times Van is written as less than the smart woman she was. 

Although I'm nearly positive the Slut of Springfield dress is white. I don't know when "Reva Red" really became a thing. 

Edited 6 hours ago by P.J.

[P.J.]

Then 87 is the year you're looking for. Vanessa leaves town in Jan 88.

When I saw Jenny counseling Dinah about George making the pass at her, all I could think was that Van would be pissed Ross' latest fling was advising her daughter. Cop or not. 

[SanCristobelsFinest]

I'd agree, but this is also after Dinah and Vanessa finally bond I think. So she'd be like "wait I'm not equipped for this" and turtle up. I don't think she really flexed her mom muscles until Bill and Peter.

[DeeVee]

Yeah, that was an outlier for Long. She usually wrote women really well. For some reason she must have had a problem with Ross and Vanessa, because shd seemed really intent on wrecking them fast. 

We know why she did the Alan thing. Someone had to worship Reva until they were ready to put Josh and Reva back together. 

[P.J.]

Yes, it was. Dinah had started to soften after Henry's heart attack in March. After Paige Turco took over the role, the attitude is turned way, way down.

The thing about Vanessa was, she could be very territorial. If Dinah had gone to Lillian (who had befriended Dinah before she knew Vanessa was her mother), that would've stung a bit, but Van probably would've understood. But Dinah getting advice from Ross' new girlfriend would not have sat well with her, the same way Van later bristles anytime Nadine tries to stake some kind of role in Bill's life.

@DeeVee  I know it's been brought up before, but I hadn't really connected Long breaking up Ross/Van to the fact that she'd neither created that backstory or been responsible for giving them a love child. 

I wonder what she would've done had she been there when Jordan left, and had to break Billy/Van up.