1 hour ago, DeeVee said:

1989He definitely shows up other Christmases--1986 (he gets Alan to help out blind and homelss people), 1987 (he helps Chelsea deal with Phillip's lingering feelings for the "dead" Beth), and 1988 (he helps Alan Michael and Harley who are fighting about getting married). I would assume 1989 because Long was still writing the show, but I don't remember that one.

1989, Nick helps Phillip find Beth (I think Beth was about to marry Neal at Reva Bend with Blake in attendance) and helps HB find Josh, who is at the bridge that Reva jumped off of years before after Reva told him that Billy is Dylan's father and it wasn't rape. (Which involves a speech that completely whitewashes Josh's history of ducking out when things got tough, and forever puts some golden halo above his head, but I digress...) So he can go home and completely forgive Reva for being an idiot and lying to him yet again. Not to mention putting Billy through an emotional meat grinder...but HEY, she's our HEROINE. RME.

5 minutes ago, DRW50 said:

Is that Marah test story also around the time Alex and Alan have flashbacks of when he protected Alex from Brandon's abuse by saying he broke a vase, rather than her cat?

Yes, that is correct.

Ironically, I believe it was written by scab writers during a writers strike and yet it's one of my favorite GL scenes. I wish other writers had built on that backstory more. Instead of wacky stuff like Brandon being Amanda's father.

It's also sad that it was close to when Bernau finally left because of his illness. He and Beverlee were amazing together. In any other case, I would have been annoyed by the "sudden sibling" showing up. But they killed every scene together. I don't think they took as much advantage of that as they should have.

6 minutes ago, P.J. said:

Obviously, bringing Roger back was the right move. And at that point, save a very few, Roger hadn't actually interacted with anyone still in town. I just wish they had found a way to handle the Roger/Holly interaction differently, not as "star crossed love" but as a clearly toxic relationship that Holly got to put behind her.

Agree with both points.

Bringing back Roger helped revitalize the show. He and MG basically pumped new life into it. Even though he didn't replace Bernau as Alan, he basically took Alan's place on the canvas as the attractive and somewhat malevolant plot-stirrer. Which was very much needed.

And I totally agree that it should have always been a toxic relationship. I know there were new viewers who loved the two of them together, but for veteran viewers who remember their previous relationship, it was hard to watch.

3 hours ago, Spoon said:

@alwaysAMC IIRC, Lucy's twang went away quicker than Reva's early, thick twang. I think Lucy was from Arizona, although they traveled a lot. Even with GL's troubles- they got regular promos unlike troubled sister soap, Another World over on NBC.

I guess I should've clarified, yes, there was always a weekly GL promo. But you were lucky to catch it once or twice a week, as opposed to Y&R, which would air multiple times a day.

1 hour ago, Soaplovers said:

To everyone's point about GL and their lack of long term rivals, I kind of liked that the show didn't operate with that trope. There were times watching Y & R with Jill/Kay that I thought the long term rival trope really diminished both characters and made them both look petty and pathetic.

Nadine/Vanessa didnt like one another and it was usually stemming from two particular elements.... classism (Nadine was working class that wanted more while Vanessa was a purebred snob) and over a man (originally Ross and later Billy). Once Billy finally opted for Vanessa... Nadine eventually retreated back to the world she tried to escape and actually grew as an individual.. becoming a warmer person that learned to love what she had instead of always focusing on what she didn't have while Vanessa eventually moved on with Billy and later Matt. I recall that Nadine was even at the wedding of Vanessa and Matt.. which surprised me, but perhaps they let bygones be bygones.

To me, the only examples of long term feuds I could think of were Roger/Ed (with periods of a truce between them), Alex/Mindy (and that diminished both characters after awhile), and Alex/India (benefited from India coming and going on and off during the years).

Y&R's relationships could be somewhat static--Jill was always in ways the irritant outsider who never gets along with people, whether that's Kay, Ashley or Jack. And in that way Guiding Light let the character's relationships evolve. Ross and Vanessa went from being toxic to truly friends who stood by each other. Ed and Alan never really got along, they just generally stayed out of each other's orbit in the later years.

But having that built-in, long standing rival gives the writers a framework to keep incorporating history. ATWT's Kim and Susan were long standing rivals who didn't need to be bitchy to each other all the time. But when 30 years later, Kim can complain about "those Stewart women" continually sleeping with Hughes men, long term viewers know what she's talking about.

1 hour ago, DeeVee said:

Yes, that is correct.

Ironically, I believe it was written by scab writers during a writers strike and yet it's one of my favorite GL scenes. I wish other writers had built on that backstory more. Instead of wacky stuff like Brandon being Amanda's father.

It's also sad that it was close to when Bernau finally left because of his illness. He and Beverlee were amazing together. In any other case, I would have been annoyed by the "sudden sibling" showing up. But they killed every scene together. I don't think they took as much advantage of that as they should have.

Agree with both points.

Bringing back Roger helped revitalize the show. He and MG basically pumped new life into it. Even though he didn't replace Bernau as Alan, he basically took Alan's place on the canvas as the attractive and somewhat malevolant plot-stirrer. Which was very much needed.

And I totally agree that it should have always been a toxic relationship. I know there were new viewers who loved the two of them together, but for veteran viewers who remember their previous relationship, it was hard to watch.

I thought how Roger/Holly interacted between 1989 and 1992 was a tentative balance between hate and tolerance. I noticed in 1992/1993, the focus changed to them being in love, but because of the rape.. it couldn't progress to an actual relationship with Roger realizing he was at fault.

The two having a relationship again in 1993/1994 seemed so backwards and a disservice to anyone that was a victim of abuse because it was telling people it was ok to not only forgive your rapist.. but to resume a relationship with them.

The only credit I gave McTavish was during her brief stint as head-writer, she kept Roger and Holly in different orbits and only interacting when it came to their daughter Blake. Which was the most realistic way to handle things.

Upside was that Ed and Holly did end up together at the end, which was the Dobson and Marland's intentions during their writing stints.

22 minutes ago, Soaplovers said:

Upside was that Ed and Holly did end up together at the end, which was the Dobson and Marland's intentions during their writing stints.

Marland wrote Holly out. How does that signal an intention for Ed and Holly to be together?

4 hours ago, alwaysAMC said:

THANK YOU! I love this!

So how long did Lucy keep up the southern drawl accent? She definitely didn't have that in 1995 haha.

I like the last Phillip promo of that set the best - where it featured Alex, Alan, Amanda and A-M...even though that story was a dud.

I was always wondering if Dinah got much promo attention since she dominated the show from 1995-1998.

Always love Roger's "Quick! Turn on the light!"

It’s funny because I had no idea Lucy had that accent when she started since I started watching first run when you picked up. When I watched earlier eps I am not sure I would’ve liked Lucy/AM if I’d seen their first buildup. (While many say Lucy was a Lucy stand-in by the time 1995 rolled around she was an amalgamation of Harley/Blake/Eleni IMO. There was the Harley independence, being AM’s business right hand like Blake with some Eoeni guilelessness thrown in.)

3 hours ago, GL95 said:

It’s funny because I had no idea Lucy had that accent when she started since I started watching first run when you picked up. When I watched earlier eps I am not sure I would’ve liked Lucy/AM if I’d seen their first buildup. (While many say Lucy was a Lucy stand-in by the time 1995 rolled around she was an amalgamation of Harley/Blake/Eleni IMO. There was the Harley independence, being AM’s business right hand like Blake with some Eoeni guilelessness thrown in.)

Ahh interesting, I didn't know there was much Lucy/A-M history prior to Feb 1995. At that time when I first started watching, it seems like Lucy had just taken her new job as A-M's secretary and they didn't seem to have much history at all and their interaction was new. I'm curious to see what they were like prior to that!

46 minutes ago, alwaysAMC said:

Ahh interesting, I didn't know there was much Lucy/A-M history prior to Feb 1995. At that time when I first started watching, it seems like Lucy had just taken her new job as A-M's secretary and they didn't seem to have much history at all and their interaction was new. I'm curious to see what they were like prior to that!

It's been years, but I recall when she first blew into Springfield.. it was right when Harley and Mallet were getting married and going to Florida. She had more of an edge and spoiled when she first came to town and she was gunning for dad Buzz because he had taken money that was supposed to be hers in order to pay for Harley/Mallet's wedding.

She and A-M started kind of dating and were interested in one another in late 1993/early 1994, but two factors seemed to break them up. First factor was that Lucy had admitted to Buzz or Nadine that she was still a virgin and that made A-M pull back a little. Second factor was that Eleni and Frank had marital troubles due partly to Mallet's sister Julie making advances to Frank so she left Frank.. which gave A-M fresh hope that he could win her back.

By mid 1994, A-M had accepted that Eleni loved Frank while briefly being paired with Tangie before Alan came back and took her from him, plus the show hinted at A-M and Gilly without any follow through.

Meanwhile ,Lucy ended up interacting with Bridget, David, Dyland while at first the show tested her with Matt Reardon and later with Josh Lewis before she was put back into the Spaulding orbit with working for A-M and going out with Brent.

In fact, there was a scene where Lucy was accusing A-M of either making her work longer hours or dictating what she did with her time because he was jealous that she was dating Brent. I don't think that was the case, but I could understand how a new viewer coming into the show when you did would be unaware of Lucy/Alan Michael's first attempt at dating in early 1995.

Edited Sunday at 02:17 AM2 days by Soaplovers

12 minutes ago, Soaplovers said:

It's been years, but I recall when she first blew into Springfield.. it was right when Harley and Mallet were getting married and going to Florida. She had more of an edge and spoiled when she first came to town and she was gunning for dad Buzz because he had taken money that was supposed to be hers in order to pay for Harley/Mallet's wedding.

She and A-M started kind of dating and were interested in one another in late 1993/early 1994, but two factors seemed to break them up. First factor was that Lucy had admitted to Buzz or Nadine that she was still a virgin and that made A-M pull back a little. Second factor was that Eleni and Frank had marital troubles due partly to Mallet's sister Julie making advances to Frank so she left Frank.. which gave A-M fresh hope that he could win her back.

By mid 1994, A-M had accepted that Eleni loved Frank while briefly being paired with Tangie before Alan came back and took her from him, plus the show hinted at A-M and Gilly without any follow through.

Meanwhile ,Lucy ended up interacting with Bridget, David, Dyland while at first the show tested her with Matt Reardon and later with Josh Lewis before she was put back into the Spaulding orbit with working for A-M and going out with Brent.

In fact, there was a scene where Lucy was accusing A-M of either making her work longer hours or dictating what she did with her time because he was jealous that she was dating Brent. I don't think that was the case, but I could understand how a new viewer coming into the show when you did would be unaware of Lucy/Alan Michael's first attempt at dating in early 1995.

Thank you for the background, I can't wait to watch all of that! Wow, they tested Lucy with Josh and Matt?? That shocks me haha. Yep, when I started watching, Lucy was at the boarding house and friends with Bridgett and David, which I loved... so of course when they forgot those friendships post-Brent when Lucy/A-M were official and getting married, I was upset.

3 minutes ago, alwaysAMC said:

Thank you for the background, I can't wait to watch all of that! Wow, they tested Lucy with Josh and Matt?? That shocks me haha. Yep, when I started watching, Lucy was at the boarding house and friends with Bridgett and David, which I loved... so of course when they forgot those friendships post-Brent when Lucy/A-M were official and getting married, I was upset.

Oh yeah they did test Lucy with Matt when he first came on. In fact, I think the plan was that Vanessa/Matt were supposed to be a short term thing with the long term plan being Lucy/Matt. They had the standard bickering introduction that soaps do when they want to signal an enemy to lovers situation.

Lucy/Josh wasn't so much a testing, but it was due to a dating site or video dating site where they ended up getting paired up.. and I think they had more of a friend date than an actual date. I know that he helped rescue her during a fire.. and that was where he met Annie Dutton.. but again the details are fuzzy because I haven't watched that era since I watched it live as a middle schooler.

8 minutes ago, Soaplovers said:

Oh yeah they did test Lucy with Matt when he first came on. In fact, I think the plan was that Vanessa/Matt were supposed to be a short term thing with the long term plan being Lucy/Matt. They had the standard bickering introduction that soaps do when they want to signal an enemy to lovers situation.

Lucy/Josh wasn't so much a testing, but it was due to a dating site or video dating site where they ended up getting paired up.. and I think they had more of a friend date than an actual date. I know that he helped rescue her during a fire.. and that was where he met Annie Dutton.. but again the details are fuzzy because I haven't watched that era since I watched it live as a middle schooler.

Your memory is pretty amazing! From what I understand, the 5th street fires happened over New Years, just before I started watching in February 1995, and I know Annie came to town just before that in late 1994. I got to watch Josh/Annie's early courtship which I loved.

The Matt/Lucy pairing could have been very interesting, especially when you throw in Bridget being her best friend and Matt's brother, and Vanessa being Peter's co-mother with Bridgett. That could have put strain on Bridget amongst her relationships if there was a Lucy/Matt/Vanessa triangle for a bit.

1 hour ago, alwaysAMC said:

Ahh interesting, I didn't know there was much Lucy/A-M history prior to Feb 1995. At that time when I first started watching, it seems like Lucy had just taken her new job as A-M's secretary and they didn't seem to have much history at all and their interaction was new. I'm curious to see what they were like prior to that!

18 minutes ago, Soaplovers said:

It's been years, but I recall when she first blew into Springfield.. it was right when Harley and Mallet were getting married and going to Florida. She had more of an edge and spoiled when she first came to town and she was gunning for dad Buzz because he had taken money that was supposed to be hers in order to pay for Harley/Mallet's wedding.

She and A-M started kind of dating and were interested in one another in late 1993/early 1994, but two factors seemed to break them up. First factor was that Lucy had admitted to Buzz or Nadine that she was still a virgin and that made A-M pull back a little. Second factor was that Eleni and Frank had marital troubles due partly to Mallet's sister Julie making advances to Frank so she left Frank.. which gave A-M fresh hope that he could win her back.

By mid 1994, A-M had accepted that Eleni loved Frank while briefly being paired with Tangie before Alan came back and took her from him, plus the show hinted at A-M and Gilly without any follow through.

Meanwhile ,Lucy ended up interacting with Bridget, David, Dyland while at first the show tested her with Matt Reardon and later with Josh Lewis before she was put back into the Spaulding orbit with working for A-M and going out with Brent.

In fact, there was a scene where Lucy was accusing A-M of either making her work longer hours or dictating what she did with her time because he was jealous that she was dating Brent. I don't think that was the case, but I could understand how a new viewer coming into the show when you did would be unaware of Lucy/Alan Michael's first attempt at dating in early 1995.

AM initially hired Lucy at Spaulding when they were first dating and she ended up staying on as Alex’s assistant when AM left Spaulding briefly when he blew a bunch of bridges/Alex was obsessed with anointing Nick. Alex kept Lucy on initially to spy on AM but it didn’t really go anywhere. AM found out Alan was out of prison and there was a period pre-Tangie where AM literally was roaming the beach looking like a hobo for weeks when he thought Alan was trying to kill him. Lucy pretty much dropped off the canvas at this point without being seen much at Spaulding until she was left in an emergency and called in AM to help once Nick had peaced out, leading to AM and Lucy agreeing to be strictly business but after their first run of her mooning over him he started to want her when she put up boundaries/started dating Brent.

8 hours ago, Spoon said:

Corny 1991 CBS holiday promo

1983 promo featuring "Nick"

I think "Nick" shows up again at either Christmas 1999 or 2000, def around 2004 under Wheeler/Kreizman.

He shows up In 1995 to have AM get Lucy out of danger at Marian’s (without telling AM the full story so really only keeps Lucy safe a week haha) and visits Nick/Susan in the hospital after Susan was attacked by Brent/Marian.

I don't remember a lot of AM/Lucy, but there was a point early on when she said she was going to marry him, and of course, she ended up marrying him. That was cute.