I’m up to November 03, 1998.

*Halloween 1998 was very entertaining!

Jesse now wants to move into the apartment above Millennium, which Michelle is against. They tour the unit and love it, but it’s across the hall from Drew’s apartment. Michelle finally caves and allows them to get the apartment once she sees how much he wants it. But later, Drew pays off the landlord to cancel his check and decline them as tenants, which is weird. Not sure what she has planned here.

Leading up to her Christmas wedding, Harley picks out her wedding dress with Jenna, Selena and Cassie’s help. She then asks them all to be her bridesmaids. After, Phillip sees Harley in her dress and tells her how beautiful she is, which was sweet. Later, she tells Lizzie she wants her to be in the wedding along with all the other children (Rocky, Cooper, etc).

Ross has changed his tune yet again and wants to proceed with full custody of the boys. He meets with his lawyer team, with one being a girl he taught long ago in law school. She admits having a crush on him before, which she thought was appropriate to tell him now that he’s seeking a divorce (how professional haha). Elsewhere, Ben continues to feel miffed by Blake and tells her to rot in hell when she asks if he’ll help her with Ross’s custody battle (oh Blake…).

Vicky gets David to help her investigate the cursed coin. She tells him the curse says ‘The holder of the coin will have no love’.

On Halloween night, Alan has a private funeral for Annie alone, with that dead body in a casket and a huge painting of Annie looking over it. He recites his wedding vows again and Phillip then arrives to support him.

Buzz tells Frank he has a premonition that something bad is about to happen, which they refer to Nadine and her psychic abilities here where she envisioned her own death. Buzz doesn’t believe Ken is the stalker.

Reva/Josh host a party at their house on Halloween night and David is first to arrive, who tells Reva/Josh how interested Vicky is in the coin. He tells them the coin is missing from the trash can and Marah then comes by and shows them the same cursed coin that Tammy just found next to a framed photo of Reva/Josh! Reva decides to laugh it off as other people show up to the party, including Teri, Harley/Phillip, Buzz/Jenna/Frank, Rick/Abby, Michelle/Jesse, Cassie/Sean, Vicky. Reva makes an announcement that while the night isn’t a celebration of Annie being dead, it’s essentially a good riddance and goodbye, with others cheering and making comments. Michelle tells Rick about moving into an apartment with Jesse and he says over his dead body! Just before the party, we see Teri put some of the experimental truth drug from the police station in her purse. At the party, Frank and Teri talk about how well they work together with Harley/Phillip, just as Eleni surprises everyone and arrives back from Greece. Hart shows up to sign some work papers with Josh and sees Sean/Cassie together which makes him jealous. Sean tells him it’s clear that Hart/Cassie both want each other and just man up and make it happen. Jesse then announces that everyone is invited to the after party at Millennium and many leave for the club. Teri then pulls Josh aside and asks if they can talk privately about how Frank is making her uncomfortable by flirting too much and touching her inappropriately (what?!?). When they’re alone upstairs, Josh says that’s odd, not believing that Frank would do that. We see Teri get out the truth serum and she’s able to rub it on the back of his neck as he’s trying to get them back to the party. The drug starts taking effect and she assertively tells him to sit down, which he abides. This is when it’s revealed that Teri may be a villain, hiding her real identity. The creepy nursery rhyme background music plays, inferring she is the stalker. She then tells him he’ll only remember the parts of their conversation she wants him to remember. She then says her name isn’t really Teri DeMarco! She says it’s fitting for Halloween, to take her mask off and reveal her true self. She then puts up a cutout face of Watros’ Annie face, removes it and says she’s Annie!  Wow, how exciting this reveal was (even if far-fetched)! I need to understand how she looks/sounds different to the point no one knows her; how she has a past in Detroit, etc. I’m guessing she just stole the real Teri’s identity - maybe the dead body from the boat. I want to know if they tried to get Cynthia Watros back and she said no and changed the Teri character to fit Annie, or was Teri brought in from the beginning as the new Annie?

A calm, drugged Josh says it can’t be true because she doesn’t look like Annie. Teri says it’s a wonder what cosmetic surgery can do to someone (oh boy). She reveals she stole a body out of the morgue to put on the boat that exploded. She made the real Teri have an accident and now she’s in a coma somewhere. She damaged her vocal cords to sound different (LOL), and now she plans to take over Reva’s life. What she has planned for Reva is much worse than death! She then asks Josh if he ever truly loved her and would have spent the rest of his life with her if Reva never came back… and he says Yes. She gets ecstatic and says if he could love her like that once, he can do it again. She then tells Josh he can’t tell Reva anything about what she’s said, and he can only confide in Annie now. He can only listen to her and reminds him that they only talked about Frank and how inappropriate he is with her. She tells him that Reva will start to annoy him tonight and he’ll slowly fall in love with Annie again. Josh resists and says no, and Annie freaks out about the drug not working. Reva, searching for Josh, walks in and the drug seems to be working as Josh is quietly assertive with her, saying they were having a private conversation. Reva gets suspect, so Annie tells her about Frank kissing her, which is what she was talking to Josh about. Annie then leaves and Reva questions Josh about being so short with her. He is grumpy and finds her annoying, so the drug seems to have worked, and Reva is so confused about why he’s acting the way he is. When the drug finally wears off, he apologizes and says he’s not sure why he was acting that way, and they kiss and make up.

Annie goes to her own gravesite with white roses and Alan arrives asking her why she’s there with Annie’s favorite flowers. Annie says she wishes she knew Annie because she’s intrigued by her. Alan says she reminds him of Annie in a way and then leaves. Alone, she says she wishes she could love Alan, but Josh will forever be her one true love.

Knowing that Hart went to the Lewis house where Cassie was, Dinah purposefully starts a fire at Hart’s place to lure Hart back (she is certifiable at this point). She then calls the police for help while staying in bed (she took more blood pressure pills so she’s not healthy again). The fire gets out of hand and she panics, while Hart gets a call about the fire and he and Sean run to the house. The guys and firefighters arrive and save Dinah, but she has minor burns and is rushed to the hospital. They bandaged half her face and she freaks thinking she’s been disfigured.

At the Halloween party at Millennium, Drew is stressed out and in a bad mood. Selena tells her she needs to leave for LA for a couple weeks to follow up on a lead about her daughter, which angers Drew even more since they just opened and she wants time off. Drew tells her no and if she leaves, she’ll be fired. Drew later sees Mick selling drugs to a customer, so she privately calls the cops. They arrive and arrest Mick and he threatens her saying she’ll pay for it. Meanwhile, Michelle changes her mind and tells Jesse she can’t move in with him. Jesse gets upset and believes Bill has been pressuring her against it, so he confronts him angrily. Jesse then impulsively proposes to Michelle, but apologies soon after for being so quick. He explains that he just loves her and wants whatever she wants. I wish Michelle would just give in to Jesse and stop second guessing things!

12 hours ago, alwaysAMC said:

The drug starts taking effect and she assertively tells him to sit down, which he abides.

The infamous "SIT DOWN, Josh" that even RN made fun of in a Locher Room! The show is officially going off the rails when it could have gotten back on after the clone. Thanks for the synopsis...I forgot about that damn coin, which, spoiler alert, goes nowhere...(such sloppy writing from now on in..) And yes, how did Annie change her voice, her height, and actually lug a dead boy out of the morgue....(guess what...it doesn't matter cause it's really all stupid.)

I do love the Millennium set.

What is the backstory on Ann Jeffers and when did she first arrive on the show? I read one place 1972 and that she and Mike dated and another source lists Maureen Mooney being cast in the role in 1975. I read she had an alcoholic husband Spence Jeffers who she later divorced, and he kidnapped/hid their son. I think I read he committed suicide in prison? Did the son ever appear on the show?

8 minutes ago, Mitch64 said:

I forgot about that damn coin, which, spoiler alert, goes nowhere...(such sloppy writing from now on in..)

LOL, I thought that might have been the beginning of the time travel story, but I realized just now that's much later, after all the San Christobel stuff was introduced.

Here's a funny (and totally unrelated thing) that I discovered over on Wikipedia while looking for something else:

In the early 70s, Hope Bauer had a close friend named Christie Rogers...played by Ariana Munker. Who would later go on to play CHRISTINE Valere. Valere of course being her married name.

I know, this is probably a TOTAL coincidence, but one can't help but wonder if this was deliberate, and about the possibilities if it were. There was talk around that time that they were considering bringing back Hope. Wouldn't that have been something if Hope had returned to find out Alan was involved with her childhood best friend?

That would have been WAY more interesting than all the art theft garbage.

Oh, the missed opportunities...

41 minutes ago, SoapDope78 said:

What is the backstory on Ann Jeffers and when did she first arrive on the show? I read one place 1972 and that she and Mike dated and another source lists Maureen Mooney being cast in the role in 1975. I read she had an alcoholic husband Spence Jeffers who she later divorced, and he kidnapped/hid their son. I think I read he committed suicide in prison? Did the son ever appear on the show?

Here is a post that sums up much of the ending of Spence Jeffers time on the show, it explains a lot of what you're asking about:

https://boards.soapoperanetwork.com/topic/32166-guiding-light-discussion-thread/page/1160/#findComment-2021617

Paul has posted many summaries of GL storylines during the 1970s, you can search his posts for more.

48 minutes ago, Mitch64 said:

The infamous "SIT DOWN, Josh" that even RN made fun of in a Locher Room! The show is officially going off the rails when it could have gotten back on after the clone. Thanks for the synopsis...I forgot about that damn coin, which, spoiler alert, goes nowhere...(such sloppy writing from now on in..) And yes, how did Annie change her voice, her height, and actually lug a dead boy out of the morgue....(guess what...it doesn't matter cause it's really all stupid.)

I do love the Millennium set.

Ohh I'll have to find that Locher Room interview LOL! Yes, all unbelievable stuff, especially this truth drug they're using that instantly takes effect when you rub it on their skin 😂 But I have to say, I'm entertained. I like how the Annie/Teri thing weaves into the Nursery Rhyme Stalker story. It's a huge umbrella story that involves most of the cast which is exciting.

I've already noticed the coin not lasting. So random, it makes me wonder if they had more plans with Vicky and her past there.

So how was the audience reaction live... did people already know Teri was Annie or was this a huge shocker? I can't remember how bad spoilers were back then.

I do like the Millennium set and I'm finally starting to enjoy the Drew character (her intro was bad and the original storyline for her seemed to have dropped, as with Dahlia/Marcus). I think they need to figure out what to do with Millennium though. They have this big new set, but why is Ross conducting business meetings and why are some people now meeting there for dinner... it's a nightclub, let it be that. They don't need to make the older adults go just to be in a new spot.

I can't remember if this was posted earlier. Signy Coleman talks about GL starting @ 1:09:17

One-on-One with Signy Coleman - YouTube

49 minutes ago, DeeVee said:

Here is a post that sums up much of the ending of Spence Jeffers time on the show, it explains a lot of what you're asking about:

https://boards.soapoperanetwork.com/topic/32166-guiding-light-discussion-thread/page/1160/#findComment-2021617

Paul has posted many summaries of GL storylines during the 1970s, you can search his posts for more.

Thanks. After I posted I found the detailed 1976 summaries in this thread. I kept thinking Spence Jeffers sounded familiar to me for some reason and quickly realized he was the one who hit Leslie with his car and she later died. I remember reading about her death years ago (probably way back in the 1990's). It's interesting they kept Ann around for so long. She never got her son back. It would have been nice if they had done more with her character. After her initial story she just kind of hung around for years till she faded. I don't think she was around after about 1982.

Re: 1976 I think it's interesting that Ben bought Leslie's car and his brother used it in a robbery. I wonder if it was the same one that he was driving when he and Amanda were stuck in the mud.....LOL

I am fascinated with 1970's GL (and 70's soaps in general)...My Mom was watching back then and I wasn't born till 1978. I started remembering/watching the show at about age 3 in 1981 along with the entire CBS lineup.

4 minutes ago, kalbir said:

I can't remember if this was posted earlier. Signy Coleman talks about GL starting @ 1:09:17

One-on-One with Signy Coleman - YouTube

Thanks. I was able to use AI (I guess it has some positive use) to figure out her comments and the timestamp (it took a few tries) so it was nice of you to wade through all of that without having any help.

1 hour ago, alwaysAMC said:

Ohh I'll have to find that Locher Room interview LOL! Yes, all unbelievable stuff, especially this truth drug they're using that instantly takes effect when you rub it on their skin 😂 But I have to say, I'm entertained. I like how the Annie/Teri thing weaves into the Nursery Rhyme Stalker story. It's a huge umbrella story that involves most of the cast which is exciting.

I've already noticed the coin not lasting. So random, it makes me wonder if they had more plans with Vicky and her past there.

So how was the audience reaction live... did people already know Teri was Annie or was this a huge shocker? I can't remember how bad spoilers were back then.

I do like the Millennium set and I'm finally starting to enjoy the Drew character (her intro was bad and the original storyline for her seemed to have dropped, as with Dahlia/Marcus). I think they need to figure out what to do with Millennium though. They have this big new set, but why is Ross conducting business meetings and why are some people now meeting there for dinner... it's a nightclub, let it be that. They don't need to make the older adults go just to be in a new spot.

GL was ahead of its time, I suppose - this happens all the time now. On EastEnders they decided to open a gay bar, even though there aren't that many gay characters on the show, so in order to justify the set, there are all sorts of characters who go in there and have casual meals and conversations. It's fun to see middle-aged right-wing characters sitting in the gay bar chatting.

I imagine there was some speculation, but the Annie reveal was kept secret. In the Locher interview, Signy says she didn't know until she was two weeks into production.

She also says that Beth Ehlers was very friendly toward her...and Kim Zimmer was not.

I was going through your last 3-4 recaps and see we're now at the point of Dinah's final descent under Moniz. You're in for some hilarious times, including her holding a napkin over half her face for a good while so they won't have to give her scar makeup.

The scene where the door hit her got a lot of criticism at the time, from fans and soap magazines, because the door operated in a way it couldn't have, slamming out instead of in.

I love Vanessa's dig to Beth about all the unavailable men she is chasing.

Reva throwing a party to celebrate Annie's death...no wonder Annie hated her.

22 minutes ago, SoapDope78 said:

It's interesting they kept Ann around for so long. She never got her son back. It would have been nice if they had done more with her character. After her initial story she just kind of hung around for years till she faded. I don't think she was around after about 1982.

Yeah, it is odd they never resolved the story about her missing child. I do remember that she was very jealous of someone Mike was involved with (maybe Jackie?) and she got her on tape saying something not flattering. At the last minute she decided not to give it to Mike, admitting to herself he was never going to love her. For a hot minute it looked like they were going to turn her into an obsessed spurned potential lover, but they chickened out, I guess. Then she just basically suffered in the background. And they did have the odd "frienemy" relationship between her and Diane. Eventually they replaced her with Lainie as Mike's assistant...who also kind of faded away.

27 minutes ago, kalbir said:

I can't remember if this was posted earlier. Signy Coleman talks about GL starting @ 1:09:17

One-on-One with Signy Coleman - YouTube

This is fascinating and the kind of insight I wanted LOL. Thank you!

So she had no idea she was going to be Annie and replacing Cynthia Watros until after 2 weeks of being there, very interesting. She was taken aback realizing she was replacing an Emmy award winning actress and it made her nervous, but she said ok, I'm going to play this character as crazy as I can, more than you ever expected (which now I'm excited to see).

She said Kim Zimmer didn't like her from the jump. She was never warm to her and never liked her while she was there, and still doesn't today. Now I want to know Kim's side LOL.

She said Beth Ehlers was so gracious and friendly to her. I love to hear that.