2 hours ago, DeeVee said:

Viewing GL back in the day was a little bit lonely for me because my friends were all into General Hospital. I appreciate you guys. 😊

2 hours ago, kalbir said:

I can so relate! I was the only CBS fan among the soap fans in my friend group/classmates. They were mostly Days fans and some General Hospital/All My Children fans.

I think that was the case for me and my immediate peers as well. Those who did watch soaps tended to watch DAYS or the ABCD shows. I personally didn't know of anyone else (besides my mother and grandmother) who watched the CBS shows, let alone the ones P&G sponsored.

It is the thing I think I miss most since the shows were canceled, discussing it with other fans.

1 hour ago, Khan said:

I personally didn't know of anyone else (besides my mother and grandmother) who watched the CBS shows, let alone the ones P&G sponsored.

As the World Turns and Guiding Light unfortunately had the reputation of being grandma shows, at least among 1980s kids/1990s teens that became soap fans.

15 hours ago, kalbir said:

I can so relate! I was the only CBS fan among the soap fans in my friend group/classmates. They were mostly Days fans and some General Hospital/All My Children fans.

I was very surprised when I went away for college so many people in the dorm were into ATWT and GL, and the CBS lounge (back in the day of three networks different floors of the Student Center had different lounges tuned to a particular network) was always full (I remember a football player would yell out at the screen "Jame F*CKING Stenbeck..Barbara girl you in trouble NOW" and when Brown first appeared on ATWT, "Nola Reardon's in town!" ..if only it was Nola and not depressing Iva.) It was the original SON as everyone would make fun of the show at time but still come back for more.)

15 hours ago, DeeVee said:

Bridget and Matt's dad Sean could have been a cop. Better than...whatever the heck he was supposed to be. Used car salesman?

In my headcanon NotLana is a former flower child and suspicious of cops. Which would be a good conflict between her and her brother.

What a waste of a Reardon...they had references for years about Sean borrowing money from Ed and Mo...but they could have made him a cop who had money trouble...and cast him better then that sleevy looking guy they got who looked no way like the siblings they had previously cast.

If only you were head writing...I love the idea of NotLana being a flower child that got involved with Alan and secrelty had the REAL Spaulding male heir before Phillip (letting some air out Phillips ego.) I would want a flashback of NotLana smoking a joing on the Boardinghouse porch!)

34 minutes ago, Mitch64 said:

I would want a flashback of NotLana smoking a joing on the Boardinghouse porch!)

I know they would NEVER have allowed it back in the "Just Say No" era, but I can envision a flashback of her persuading Alan to get high. And telling Alan Michael about it when he got in trouble for drugs! 😂

2 hours ago, Mitch64 said:

I was very surprised when I went away for college so many people in the dorm were into ATWT and GL, and the CBS lounge (back in the day of three networks different floors of the Student Center had different lounges tuned to a particular network) was always full (I remember a football player would yell out at the screen "Jame F*CKING Stenbeck..Barbara girl you in trouble NOW" and when Brown first appeared on ATWT, "Nola Reardon's in town!" ..if only it was Nola and not depressing Iva.) It was the original SON as everyone would make fun of the show at time but still come back for more.)

OH....I would've been falling down laughing to witness that!

When I was growing up in the Chicagoland area in the 80s/90s... All My Children, General Hospital, & Days of our Lives were what were talked about when I was a kid and into high school.

My late mom watched CBS live, but she taped Days of Our Lives & Santa Barbara to watch on Friday nights and Saturday with me. So I picked up All My Children in the early 90s in order to find something to talk to my peers about.

When I was in college in the early 00s, everyone watched Passions.

P & G soaps were always what grandma watched though because I was exposed to GL as a kid, I did have a soft spot for it.

Beth Chamberlin (Beth) revealed she was been diagnosed with early-stage endometrial cancer in October.

2 hours ago, Liberty City said:

Beth Chamberlin (Beth) revealed she was been diagnosed with early-stage endometrial cancer in October.

Oh, wow. How fortunate that it was detected early! Sounds like she's going to be O.K., thank goodness. Wishing her all the best!

13 hours ago, DeeVee said:

Oh, wow. How fortunate that it was detected early! Sounds like she's going to be O.K., thank goodness. Wishing her all the best!

Early detection is always a blessing. Truly.

You said it best! So glad she'll be ok.

13 hours ago, DeeVee said:

Oh, wow. How fortunate that it was detected early! Sounds like she's going to be O.K., thank goodness. Wishing her all the best!

The talk of viewing GL brings back memories good and bad. The hardest time to watch was when I went away to college in 1985. Trust me it is very uncomfortable to be a young man who gets to the tv lounge first and puts GL on and have other walk in wanting to use the TV. If I didn't get there first I was forced to roam the campus looking for GL lounges. The girls would talk about beating the "General Hospital" people to the lounge. Sometimes they did beat and there was no GL to be had:(

As for the good and bad well...it was good when I found a lounge the day Lujack's video finally premiered because after months of build up I did NOT want to miss that. I remember watching that week of shows with the Kurt & Mindy wedding with a girl named Beth Mueller. She was so excited when she thought it was Quinton that came riding up on a horse at the Spaulding Retreat but it was just Ross. That was good. The bad was a few years later I was saddened to hear Beth was murdered by an intruder while she was on a phone begging for help. I didn't know her well but she was a true fan.

Anyway, by my last year I got my own room with a staticky tv and could watch but by then it was dreadful Christine, Paul Valere, Johnny Bauer stuff running. In retrospect though that stuff was better than anything to be found in the Peapack years.

Glad to hear Beth Chamberlain will be okay. I always liked her. I remember there use to be this Message board called GL Media Domain. Loved that board! One of the favorite things was from a poster called Debbie and she would issue a daily "Continuity Report" that included such things as what background extras were doing. Unfortunately, it devolved in a daily Beth Chamberlain bashing session that I felt was unwarranted and ruined the posts.

Edited 10 hours ago10 hr by Lujack4Ever

On 12/5/2025 at 2:32 PM, DRW50 said:

As we're near the end of the year I'm trying to cobble together the things I'm still grateful for in this world. One of the things I appreciate about this thread is how we can rag on the show, many different eras of the show no less, but it's clear we all still loved GL. That's a nuance which can be difficult to understand about soap fans.

Love to read this - agreed! :)

16 minutes ago, alwaysAMC said:

Love to read this - agreed! :)

And your recaps are a big reason the thread is entertaining (and covers so many eras).