29 minutes ago, Speed Racer said:

Agreed. "Garbage Can" pales in comparison to many other B52s songs. "Private Idaho" is much more fun.

Newer/younger GL viewers might be astounded by these clips, which is fantastic.

Thanks. I think there was another version around too - and there's also a full version of both those episodes at a Georgia university site, I think.

I wish all those disco performances were available. The only others I've seen are Bertie Higgins (notable for Nola thinking back to her Casablanca fantasy) and Jennifer Holiday (notable for seeing Trish getting down in the background).

2 hours ago, Speed Racer said:

A few simple questions for everyone:

Are you suffering from the winter storm? Do you have the blues?

What you need is a well-deserved break. What you need is to boogie down! More so than you imagine. So, get off your duff, create some room to move around, and view the attached on the largest screen you have at your place.

If Tom Neilsen (Floyd Parker) and Marsha Clark (Hilary Bauer) can let loose on tape, you certainly can do so in private. And you should!

Enjoy!

B-52's on Guiding Light 1982 Pt 1

B-52's on Guiding Light 1982 Pt 2 Private Idaho

I’ve never seen young Josh before outside of pictures. Fun-thanks for sharing!

16 hours ago, P.J. said:

Vanessa also engineers a scathing interview of Hope's to be printed that's highly critical of Amanda when she first takes the reins at Spaulding (while Alan is briefly jailed).

I don't remember this! Hope and Amanda were such good friends, and it wasn't the first time Amanda was in charge of Spaulding. Alan was grooming her to take over pretty much from the moment he decided not to contest Brandon's will. Later Alan takes Spaulding away from her and Hope is standing loyally by his side, but this is news to me.

Some of the scenes of Hope visiting Alan in jail are available, and I also remember a scene where Hope and Amanda are reconciling over some difference or other--maybe it's this one. But I don't remember this happening during this era.

Do you know if the German channel has some of these episodes?

13 hours ago, P.J. said:

It does have frustrating gaps. Between recaps, German episodes and what's up in English, I've cobbled together a lot of what went on, at least concerning Vanessa.

Someone brought up The Fishing Trip again, and I began to wonder why the Spauldings and Bauers are even connected to it. Other than Bill's death, the Bauers are barely impacted by it. Hillary isn't even invited to the big explanation party. And other than blaming some of the loose morality of the men on Brandon, he doesn't seem to matter. And Eli doesn't bother going after any of Bill's or Brandon's progeny until the very end, when they just happen to be at a meeting where he can blow everyone up at once.

It was like an idea that collectively seemed genius to a bunch of drunk people but never should have been pursued the next morning when everyone sobered up.

1 hour ago, DeeVee said:

I don't remember this! Hope and Amanda were such good friends, and it wasn't the first time Amanda was in charge of Spaulding. Alan was grooming her to take over pretty much from the moment he decided not to contest Brandon's will. Later Alan takes Spaulding away from her and Hope is standing loyally by his side, but this is news to me.

Some of the scenes of Hope visiting Alan in jail are available, and I also remember a scene where Hope and Amanda are reconciling over some difference or other--maybe it's this one. But I don't remember this happening during this era.

Do you know if the German channel has some of these episodes?

Let me look when I get home. I think the German eppys start mid-82, so I'm not sure.

But I swear, i think Vanessa pulled this stunt twice.

On 1/23/2026 at 8:10 PM, Paul Raven said:

What happened with Mike and Jennifer? No onscreen chemistry?

Geraldine Court was a Marland favorite, so I am surprised that romance was halted. Pure speculation but maybe Don Stewart wasn't happy with the pairing and spoke out. Allen Potter sided with Don. Part of the growing tension b/w Marland and Potter.

Agree that Hope and Alan were married too soon and given a dud ceremony. They could have got more out the relationship before a wedding. God knows, Alan had enough baggage to make Hope have some second thoughts before committing.

@Paul Raven - you called it. I can't remember if Stewart didn't get along with Court, or if he just didn't like the pairing. I think Stewart still wanted the Mike/Elizabeth pairing to be the endgame for Mike. However, Marland wanted Mike to be involved with Amanda's bio-mother, supposedly creating further tension with Alan and Hope.

I do recall the Alan/Hope getting married thing started in December 1979 at the end of the Dobson regime, but I'm not sure if they would have gone through it had they remained... or if they would have taken a darker turn had they remained in charge into 1980.

Elizabeth/Mike were the logical end game pre 1980, but Marland had his favorites and he had to recognize that Mike/Jennifer didn't share any chemistry right?

He kept trying to make Jennifer happen.. and her character didn't spark on the show even when he spun her off into a different orbit with Mark/Amanda in 1982. The interim writers at least recognized that Jennifer/Morgan weren't working and wrote them off in the spring of 1983 once Marland was long gone.

The part I'm still unclear about is the whole Ben/Evie story since the early 1982 episodes seemed to indicate that Marland was intending to reunite them, but by Christmas 1982.. Evie is celebrating Christmas at the Marler's and Ben is no longer on the show.. though they remarried. Did they marry and than break up right away? She's hanging out around until June 1983 before she vanishes even though her presence would have been needed during the Phillip paternity exposure that happened in August 1983. Considering she was the only female presence in his life by 1983... her presence should have been a requirement.

36 minutes ago, Soaplovers said:

I do recall the Alan/Hope getting married thing started in December 1979 at the end of the Dobson regime, but I'm not sure if they would have gone through it had they remained... or if they would have taken a darker turn had they remained in charge into 1980.

While the Dobsons were still there, they were talking about it, with just about everyone trying to talk Hope out of it. So it could have gone either way. But I believe they would have taken the darker turn. It was Marland who decided to gratify the fans who wanted them to get married. He said as much in interviews.

38 minutes ago, Soaplovers said:

He kept trying to make Jennifer happen.. and her character didn't spark on the show even when he spun her off into a different orbit with Mark/Amanda in 1982. The interim writers at least recognized that Jennifer/Morgan weren't working and wrote them off in the spring of 1983 once Marland was long gone.

Jennifer was so poorly conceived. It's one thing that she got involved with Alan when she was 16; it's another that she married a clod later on and then was easily fooled by Mark. I honestly can't understand why you would hire an actress like Court to play such a spineless, weak character. It totally went against the expectations the Dobsons set up by having her mysteriously arrive at Brandon's funeral in the black veils. Marland was totally aware of that, because he did a flashback where Jennifer's husband was giving her grief for going to the funeral in the veiled hat.

It seems like Morgan was soley created to do his teen fantasy story about a teen girl marrying an older guy. Once that happened, the character was kind of adrift.

Let's face it, he didn't write women well in general, unless they were a special pet of his, like Nola and Carrie.

47 minutes ago, Soaplovers said:

The part I'm still unclear about is the whole Ben/Evie story since the early 1982 episodes seemed to indicate that Marland was intending to reunite them, but by Christmas 1982.. Evie is celebrating Christmas at the Marler's and Ben is no longer on the show.. though they remarried.

Did they? I was under the impression that they were reunited but not married. And yet for some reason they kept Eve around for another year. I still say it was because they were planning to bring Rita back. That must have been scuttled because Marland quit or because Lenore wouldn't come back/they couldn't find a satisfactory recast. Possibly a combination of all three.

Edited 1 hour ago1 hr by DeeVee

On 1/25/2026 at 9:53 PM, alwaysAMC said:

I'm back and finally caught up! 😃

I’m up to February 01, 1999.

Hart arrives at Cross Creek to see Cassie and the baby. He bonds with the baby and tells Cassie that Dinah is a sick woman, tells her everything she’s done, and says he’s not with her. He asks Cassie to be with him so they can finally all be a family and she agrees. They (finally) decide to name their baby and after a few bad names, Cassie suggests Roger (his dad) and Joshua (to make Reva happy, blah), and Hart agrees to RJ for short. They leave Cross Creek and head back home to SF and Hart’s farm. While at the farm, Hart proposes to Cassie and she says yes! He also offers her the deed to the farm as his wedding gift to her, which seems impulsive to me. Dinah then comes by with a gift and tries to get them to believe she wants to move on, but she doesn’t seem very stable. She quietly asks if she can hold the baby, which Cassie agrees to and then Dinah leaves.

Matt and Vanessa are having dinner when Ross and India walk in on a date. Vanessa gets upset because Ross was supposed to be with Dinah to make sure she wouldn’t do something crazy, and Ross says she wanted to go to work at WSPR (which we know isn’t true). They argue a bit, like mature adults which is refreshing, and then India tells Vanessa she should worry about her own life. Ross says he’ll watch after Dinah more closely, just as Dinah walks in. They talk and Dinah seemingly will behave going forward.

Annie is going stir crazy in the locked attic, but Alan keeps reminding her that it’s the only way to keep her safe for now. Meanwhile, Frank shows up looking for Alan, but Alex answers the door and says Alan isn’t available. Frank says he needs to talk to Alan ASAP because Teri has come out of her coma and identified the real Annie. Alex plays along to protect Alan as Frank leaves, and she bolts upstairs to tell Alan/Annie. She pleads with Alan to ditch Annie and save himself, but Annie begs him too and Alan chooses Annie while kicking Alex out of the room. As Alan and Annie kiss, she steals the keys out of his pocket.

Blake tells Ben about kicking Holly out if she’s not going to support her dating him, and he is happy to hear that she put him first. He promises to protect her and they kiss, as Holly watches from the window outside. Ben surprises her with a trip to Paris. An excited Blake starts packing, while Alan calls Ben to come over. He offers Ben to be his attorney again and while they negotiate, Alex barges in saying Annie has escaped, not knowing that Ben is there to hear her. Ben now has the upperhand knowing that Annie is alive, but says the case is impossible to win and he’s not interested. Ben then taunts Alan about how soon he’ll go to prison, so Alan finally caves and offers him head of Lewis Oil if he remains quiet and Ben takes their case (not really sure how he can offer Lewis, but we’ll see). Alan writes up the deal which includes a stipulation that if Ben can’t save Annie, then the deal is off.

Meanwhile, assuming Blake isn’t home, a ski-masked Holly enters Blake’s house and takes their family photo and starts ripping up Blake’s dress she packed for Paris. She’s screaming to herself that Blake can’t treat her kids this way and live a life with Ben. Blake then walks in on her and they wrestle to the ground, with Holly holding up the scissors as if she might stab Blake, but Holly is able to knock Blake out instead and run away (what the actual hell is wrong with Holly haha). While Holly is about to leave, now unmasked, Blake wakes up and sees that the intruder is Holly and can’t believe it! Blake demands to know what’s happening and Holly said she did it to warn her. Blake then finds a Hey Diddle Diddle nursery rhyme about her being with Ben and she finally realizes her mother is the Nursery Rhyme Stalker! Holly tells Blake she wanted to be a better mother to Meg than she was to her, and the other mothers in town took their kids for granted and they need to learn how lucky they were to have their children. Blake realizes she also went after Ben and tried to kill him. Ben then walks in and wants to know why her dress is all cut up and Blake covers for Holly, even though it’s clear she’s really shaken up. Unfortunately Blake now has to cancel the Paris trip to take care of Holly, which upsets Ben. Blake begs Ben that if she tells him something, he won’t say anything other than to help her mother, which he agrees to. She shows him the nursery rhyme and he realizes she’s the Stalker and she tried to kill him before. He promises to help her, she leaves to take a bath and Ben says to himself that he will find a way to put Holly away for good!

Reva tells the real Teri all about Annie taking over her life (but not the plastic surgery part), which upsets Teri, who doesn’t trust Reva given what Annie told her long ago about her. Annie, who escaped from the attic, sneaks into the hospital and visits the real Teri (donning a mole on her face like Teri). She actually tells her the full truth, but says she was supposed to be in a coma her whole life so she did all of this as to not ruin the chance to continue on her legacy. But Annie then gets mean and injects her with a sedative. Seeing Reva coming, Annie hides Teri’s body and pretends to be Teri, saying she now believes Reva and will help her find Annie. Reva notices an earring on the floor and a napkin with Annie’s favorite nail polish stuffed in a drawer and gets suspicious. Annie then refers to Josh as Joshua and Reva asks how she knows she calls him Joshua, and says “it’s great to see you again Annie”! Reva starts to pin her down to the bed, calls for help and Josh and Alan run in to pull her off Annie. Rick then shows up while Josh finds the real Teri passed out in a bed behind the curtain next to them. The group sees both Teri and Annie, complete clones (omg, we have clones again haha!), and Annie is pleading to everyone that she’s the real Teri. Frank finally comes in and says he’ll take both their fingerprints to determine who is who, but then a desperate Annie pleads for Alan to do something, which blows her cover. Alan goes to call his lawyer, the real Teri finally wakes up and panics seeing Annie, and Frank puts Annie under arrest for the attempted murder of Teri. Annie pulls Frank in and tries to seduce him by reminding him of their kiss and how she has dreamed of him. She wants to be his soulmate and goes in for a kiss just as Frank surprises her by cuffing her hands. Outside, Teri thanks Reva and Josh for helping her and she’s wheeled away. Frank and Annie then come out which pleases Reva/Josh to see her handcuffed. Alan tells her to hang on because this is just a minor setback. Later in prison, Alan and Ben meet with Annie and Ben tries to calm her down and says he’ll be able to get her off.

Harley and Phillip tell Buzz, Eleni and Frank about being pregnant and they all celebrate. Frank and Eleni tell Phillip about catching Annie and he wonders if Alan is involved, to which Frank says yes, he could be in trouble. Phillip later talks to Alan and tells him about Harley being pregnant.

At the diner, Bill tells Drew he’s been trying to call this cop lady friend he made (Teri) so she can help them, but she won’t answer her phone. Drew shows him the paper with the headline that Annie Dutton has been caught, with her picture, and he can’t believe it. I’m very surprised they finally picked back up on this random Bill/Annie thing. Bill later goes to the prison to see Annie and lays into her for duping him at the hospital. She cries and asks for forgiveness and he softens a bit. After he leaves, Annie says she’ll be using him at some point down the line, which I guess is interesting.

Carmen calls the diner to talk to Jesse. He asks how she knew he was there, and she said she has eyes everywhere. She invites him back over to discuss details of the deal she presented before and this time, he agrees to meet with her. Meanwhile at the Santos house, Danny and Michelle have their first night together and Danny sleeps on the floor. Carmen starts coming in and they pretend like they slept together to keep up the ruse. Later that day they meet with the family priest and he presses Michelle on whether she’s entering this marriage against her free will, but Michelle is very convincing about loving Danny. Afterwards, Carmen introduces Danny and Michelle to her newest family employee - Jesse! Michelle and Danny both aren’t happy about this.

Drew confides in Selena about how much she is falling in love with Jesse. Jesse then comes by and tells her he has to quit working for her at Millennium because he got a job with the Santos family so he can watch over Michelle and save her. Drew of course doesn’t like that and she cries over it. She starts taking her clothes off and forces herself on him, but he stops her and she cries over all the things she’s done for him. Later that day, Drew visits Michelle at the Santos compound and puts a bug in her ear that she needs to convince Jesse she doesn’t love him anymore so she can save her own life. Drew says Michelle’s love for Jesse died the night Mick died and that’s just the way it has to be. Michelle seems to think she’s right and plans to sleep with Danny so Jesse can walk in on them. To really make it stick, Michelle plans to have Jesse find them sleeping together at the lighthouse, which is Michelle and Jesse’s special place and where they first made love. Drew works to get Jesse to go to the lighthouse, calls Michelle and tells her he’s on his way, and Michelle/Danny start kissing and taking their clothes off. Michelle starts having second thoughts about it and as Jesse starts knocking on the door, she yells at him to go away because he’ll ruin everything, but he walks in and sees a shirtless Danny and gets mad. He asks Michelle if this is really what she wants, and she says yes, she wants to start a new life with Danny and she and Jesse are over. He’s devastated and says he’ll never bother her again and walks out. Michelle is sad and Danny comforts her, while Jesse goes to Drew and tells her everything and she comforts him.

Reva/Josh host a party at Hart’s farm house for Cassie and RJ and while there, Phillip/Harley announce to everyone they’re pregnant. Matt and Vanessa are there and realize that Hart is not there because he’s with Dinah, who is telling her she is no longer welcome at the farm anymore. Vanessa calls Dinah to make sure she’s ok, but Dinah is still mad at her and Vanessa eventually mentions how Dinah’s baby wasn’t really Hart’s. Cassie overhears this and gets upset, saying Dinah is a liar and she should have known. She also goes off on Vanessa and calls her a liar for keeping the secret and not telling anyone. Hart shows up and Vanessa begs Cassie not to tell Hart, but Cassie grabs Hart away as he’s about to give a toast. They walk into the hall and find Shane and Tammy holding guns and they freak out. Shane knew where the key to the gun safe was and was playing around. This incident makes everyone leave and Cassie doesn’t end up telling Hart yet. Dinah later stops by looking for Hart and Cassie tells her she knows about the baby secret and she’s going to tell Hart the second he comes home. They argue and Cassie figures out that Rob is the father, which Dinah doesn’t deny. To keep Cassie quiet, Dinah draws her gun and points it at Cassie! Dinah starts screaming that Cassie can’t take Hart away from her, and then RJ starts screaming and they wrestle for the gun. Dinah gets the upperhand and points the gun back at Cassie and Cassie pleads with her and says Hart will have to find out that baby Laura wasn’t his, just as he walks in. He grabs Cassie and moves her out of the way just as Dinah shoots the gun and he gets shot in the back! Cassie tries to call for help, but Dinah doesn’t let her and continues to point the gun at her. She’s about to shoot Cassie, but Tammy comes in and screams, startling Dinah and Cassie is able to get the gun. Cassie calls an ambulance and Dinah leaves. Hart gets to the hospital and Rick says he’s lost a ton of blood and the bullet is lodged right next to his heart, so it doesn’t look promising. Frank is there and Cassie tells him that Dinah shot him and she needs to be locked up. Lillian privately tells Josh that Hart is in very critical condition and it’s not looking good. Ross shows up and says someone has to call Blake to let her know about her brother. Ben has taken the phone off the hook so they can enjoy their special evening together, so Ross can’t get through to Blake.

Dinah goes to Vanessa’s house and is rather calm. Vanessa sees blood on her hand and then all over her shirt and asks her what happened. Dinah finally breaks down and says it was all an accident, but she shot Hart and left him there with Cassie. She begs Vanessa not to call the police and says it’s all her fault that she’s in this position. She tells Vanessa that she’ll kill herself if she tells Matt or anyone. Matt comes home and Vanessa doesn’t say anything but Matt sees a bloody rag and asks what’s going on. Vanessa plays it off as something she found under the sink when cleaning. Frank arrives looking for Dinah and tells them that Dinah shot Hart, which makes Matt silently question Vanessa. Vanessa says she doesn’t believe it because there’s no way Dinah could shoot someone, especially Hart. Frank continues to press Vanessa on whether she knows where Dinah is and Vanessa keeps playing dumb (ugh!). Frank leaves and Matt asks Vanessa why she’s lying, because he knows that was fresh blood on the rag. She keeps lying and says she has no idea, which makes Matt angry. Vanessa finally tells him the truth and said she assumed he would turn her in and she couldn’t have that since it was all an accident. He demands to know where Dinah is so Vanessa finally tells him she’s there, in the house hiding. He looks for her but they realize she’s left out an open window.

Chile... this show is out of control. This is next level psycho sh-t. 🤭The clones again!!!!!!! CHILEEE. But it's so hilarious... it makes me want to watch just for that. Thank you for the write-up @alwaysAMC !

I was watching the Dec 19 1979 episode, so almost at the end of the Dobson's stint.

Holly is released from jail and has a farewell scene with Clara, her cellmate. I wonder if the Dobsons might have been planning for Clara to return in 1980, having been released from jail and meeting up with Holly. Maybe a handsome black doctor is on staff at Cedars and they play one of those storylines where Clara feel unworthy of the doctor and so on.

On the other hand the early 80's weren't kind to black characters. The Dobsons didn't introduce any on ATWT, nor did Marland on GL. Same with SFT, AW and Texas, so P&G weren't advocating diversity at that point. EON did have Calvin/Starr.

ABC was a little better but DOOL had nobody. The Doctors introduced Terri and Calvin in 1980 but they were dropped.