I like those ideas. Steve could become the Papa Bauer type figure advising not only Rick and Ed bit also various doctors and nurses. And if Meta returned , there could be a sweet older romance to offset the shenanigans of the older set.

OK today's homework- who could have played Meta in 1985?

7 minutes ago, DRW50 said:

Thanks. I remember reading some of the synopses about Carter Bowden.

I don't really enjoy James Lipton in anything, although he's easier to take as Dick than some other roles.

It was a close race to see who could be more annoying: James Lipton or Dick Grant.

3 hours ago, vetsoapfan said:

The majority of the Reva tales in the show's dying years were total garbage: Reva the Ghost, Reva the Amish Amnesiac, Reva the San Cristocrapian Queen, Reva the Blind, Reva the Illegal Immigrant Savoir, Reva the Clone, Reva the Time Traveller...

You forgot Reva the Psychic, lol.

30 minutes ago, Paul Raven said:

OK today's homework- who could have played Meta in 1985?

Joan Copeland? Doris Belack?

37 minutes ago, Khan said:

Joan Copeland? Doris Belack?

Those are good suggestions.

She may have been seen as too old, but I wonder how Virginia Dwyer would have fared.

Audrey Peters also could have been OK.

@Paul Raven Ann Flood

Lori March?

10 hours ago, CrazySexyQ said:

😂😂

This is so true about Reva. Each story was more ridiculous than the last.

To be fair, the writing was often so poor in the show's dying years that many stories were ridiculous, not just those foisted on Kim Zimmer. Harley the Super Heroine comes to mind. Dear God in Heaven! The problem with the Reva plots was that TPTB were so desperate and determined to keep her on the front-burner continuously, they just kept throwing anything and everything at Reva, no mater how ludicrous it was.

10 hours ago, CrazySexyQ said:

It's been interesting and informative reading the posts about what others enjoyed about Guiding Light and how long they watched it for. I was too young for the Roger Thorpe era and Maureen Bauer stuff but I know it's lore that her being killed off set off the show going in a bad direction.

I started in about 1963, although I later acquired a huge library of radio broadcasts from a kind-hearted and generous friend who had hundreds of eps from before the television era. I got to hear a significant amount of 1950, centering on Meta Bauer's murder trial. It was thrilling.

The show really started collapsing in the 1980s, when a huge number of the core characters were wiped out (including most of the Bauers), the tone and style changed significantly, and the writing went drown the drain. It miraculously picked up again in 1989 or so, and was great for a few years, but TIIC killed off Maureen, the fine writer from that period left the show, and it disintegrated once more (with some ups and downs) after that.

Of course, this is just my personal opinion. I do know other viewers who enjoyed various parts of the show after I felt it had become unsalvageable. There's no such thing as a "wrong opinion." Everyone has the right to hold and express his own. I was just crushed to see how this once-fine soap had been decimated.

10 hours ago, CrazySexyQ said:

I really became a regular viewer in 1997. I think Rebecca Budig was still Michelle and had gone blind but Cynthia Watros was IT for me. I loved every minute of Annie torturing Josh and Reva, the perfection of that scene in the courthouse and Laura Wright's Cassie being introduced. Danny/Michelle and the Santos saga hooked me even more but that waned after the Michelle recast. Nancy St. Alban was serviceable but she never captured the same spark as Bethany Joy Lenz.

From what I could see, many viewers loved Rachel Miner as Michelle and others appreciated BJL, but no one ever seemed to warm up much to NSA, who was tepid at best and had no real spark with anyone.

10 hours ago, CrazySexyQ said:

My peak viewing was Jonathan and Tammy. Their love story should not have worked. For some, it'll always be taboo and gross, but Tom Pelphrey was a force of nature, and his chemistry with Stephanie Gatschet was out of this world. It was ham-fisted that Reva was his mother but Kim Zimmer and Tom were magic together. The Jammy story jumped the shark with the Lizzie baby stuff, and once the actors left, I was gone as a regular viewer, too. I kept up with SOD and saw some episodes here and there, but I just never returned to it like I once did. Too many choices were made, and by the time the show ended, it felt merciful.

Yep, by the time it was cancelled, putting the show out of its (and our) misery was akin to a mercy killing.

9 hours ago, Khan said:

You forgot Reva the Psychic, lol.

I had to stop myself; I was getting too mad, LOL!

I didn't bring up Reva Dissolving into the Painting, either.

I figured y'all didn't need to endure any more reminders.

9 hours ago, Paul Raven said:

I like those ideas. Steve could become the Papa Bauer type figure advising not only Rick and Ed bit also various doctors and nurses. And if Meta returned , there could be a sweet older romance to offset the shenanigans of the older set.

OK today's homework- who could have played Meta in 1985?

I wanted Ellen Demming (the actress who had previously played Meta for 21 years) to reprise the role. She was only 63 years old in 1985. Springfield needed the stability and comfort of seeing familiar faces back on-screen. Having her and Mart Hulswit return would have mollified me a lot. Having Don Stewart and Elvera Roussel asked back as well would have helped me forgive TGL for all the crap it had heaped on viewers for the last few years.

9 hours ago, Reverend Ruthledge said:

It was a close race to see who could be more annoying: James Lipton or Dick Grant.

OMG! Now I'm going to be up all night trying to make up my mind.🤭

8 hours ago, DRW50 said:

She may have been seen as too old, but I wonder how Virginia Dwyer would have fared.

Soap opera ages often fluctuate and become ambiguous, but in a 1950 episode, when Meta was on trial for murder, she told the court that she was 31 years old, or born in 1919. That's the year Virginia Dwyer was born IRL. It could have worked.

And after the atrocious treatment she got at AW, it would have been poetic justice to see Dwyer emerge the matriarch of another core family on another soap!