29 minutes ago, alwaysAMC said:

Sadly it's so true about soccer mom Reva right now. They really screwed up not having Blake be the one to save Holly from the bridge IMO.

I actually liked Cassie and Sean, they had great chemistry! I'm still perplexed by the show's decision to let Sean go, but even more so to not allow him to say goodbye to Reva or Cassie, only random Dinah and Matt.

That's wild about Susan/Lizzie. If Lizzie was already SORAS'ed, I'm surprised they didn't bring Susan back to at least be the same age. I guess maybe they wanted Harley to still appear like a younger mother.

Hmm let's see... she tried to take Marah, but Marah was old enough to realize that was a dumb idea haha. I guess technically she didn't take baby RJ LOL. I'm surprised she didn't take Maureen since Holly sent Vanessa the spider and nursery rhyme. Otherwise I think you're right, I can't think of any other children on the scene right now since Peter is away with Bridget/Dylan.

It's bizarre how they didn't age any of Harley's children. Susan ends up nearly ten years younger than Lizzie, and the barely acknowledged Zach ends up younger than James, apparently.

I'm not sure anything would've made the story better, but putting Holly's focus on Maureen would've made a hell of a lot more sense. And Holly stealing Maureen out from under ****'s nose while he was bangin' Beth would've been the cherry on my sundae.

Then Vanessa could've divorced his ass with a clear conscience.

I can’t believe they had Reva in the climax with Holly! I mean I can, but I can’t.

I wonder if Blake and Holly will have any pay off scenes and look forward to seeing what they do with Holly in coming months.

1 hour ago, GL95 said:

There’s a scene circa 1995 where Marj’s Alex barges into the yacht to do one of her shrewish yammerings about Alan to the point where A-M literally covers his ears and starts making unintelligible sounds just to get her to stop talking. There’s obviously a character dynamic shift but even at his most irritated/pissed off you can’t imagine AM doing that to Bev’s Alex (or Rick making that acting choice). I hadn’t seen any of Bev’s Alex when I first watched and the entire tone of the show is so different.

When Holly completely loses it over Blake/Ross and is breaking down/lashing out for awhile Maureen plays it pretty big but it’s effective because Holly’s not generally over the top. By 1995 you feel like most characters would go on a 5 minute table clearing rant if they ran out of ketchup.

Call it "The Reva Effect." It is the mere presence of Reva on the canvas that creates ridiculousness throughout Springfield. Guiding Light increasing becomes a louder, more hammy and less intelligent program whenever Reva among the characters.

Reva encourages sloppiness. In everything. In breakdown, scripting/dialog, character development, story continuity, believability, acting choices. And it's painfully obvious that TPTB believe that anything goes once Reva is present.

You mentioned the change in tone. Damn straight. (A shame you won't get much opportunity to know the original Alan as played by Chris Bernau. Fascinating and expertly played. Light years apart from Ron Raines' moustache-twirling Alan). Alan and Alex being gutted/ruined coincides very nicely with Reva's return. It's no accident.

Guiding Light was already in a downturn when Zimmer returned in Fall 1994. "Reva" simply institutionalized Guiding Light's destruction.

It wasn't Maureen's death that represented GL's jumping the shark moment. It was Reva's return.

It was Reva saving Holly on the bridge that finally prompted me to turn off Guiding Light forever. That scene was beyond offensive. I mean, WTH? It's heartwarming to see others here react similarly.

Turning if off wasn't that difficult as I had watched GL only sporadically once Watros left. I mean, what was the point in watching without her? To be continually insulted?

@Speed Racer Whether we like Reva or not, she was GL's definitive character of its final 25 years.

I believe Kim Zimmer returned spring 1995 for a short arc but then returned permanently that summer and remained until the end.

18 minutes ago, kalbir said:

@Speed Racer Whether we like Reva or not, she was GL's definitive character of its final 25 years.

I believe Kim Zimmer returned spring 1995 for a short arc but then returned permanently that summer and remained until the end.

That's correct. And look what happened.

TPTB could have done something interesting(!) with Reva but chose not to. Have her vocal cords permanently severed in a car accident. Have her be the culprit in an STD outbreak.

Or - wait for it - have Reva get sued for enticement. That's a story never told on any soap and a ratings bonanza for Guiding Light as soap rags, television media and GL viewers fight about the justification of such a thing.

We were just talking about how (arguably) Jane Elliot broke the mold and may not have "fit" the GL brand.

We had other actresses that "broke the mold" of what a GL actress had been, but "fit"---Lenore Kasdorf, Lisa Brown, Cindy Pickett---and were unique without gobbling the show.

And then there was Kim....lol. If there's one perception of GL I could change, it's that it was "the Reva show". Or that it was only the Reva show.

41 minutes ago, Speed Racer said:

Call it "The Reva Effect." It is the mere presence of Reva on the canvas that creates ridiculousness throughout Springfield. Guiding Light increasing becomes a louder, more hammy and less intelligent program whenever Reva among the characters.

Reva encourages sloppiness. In everything. In breakdown, scripting/dialog, character development, story continuity, believability, acting choices. And it's painfully obvious that TPTB believe that anything goes once Reva is present.

You mentioned the change in tone. Damn straight. (A shame you won't get much opportunity to know the original Alan as played by Chris Bernau. Fascinating and expertly played. Light years apart from Ron Raines' moustache-twirling Alan). Alan and Alex being gutted/ruined coincides very nicely with Reva's return. It's no accident.

Guiding Light was already in a downturn when Zimmer returned in Fall 1994. "Reva" simply institutionalized Guiding Light's destruction.

It wasn't Maureen's death that represented GL's jumping the shark moment. It was Reva's return.

I think Reva’s return was the nail in the coffin, but the Alan/Alex recasts then bringing on Buzz (and Barbara Crampton’s Mindy and Wendy Moniz’s Dinah) all were casting decisions that made the show hammier. Putting Holly (someone generally more grounded) with Fletcher certainly didn’t help. I feel like if Reva is back in this stodgier environment where one of the conflicts is she doesn’t quite fit into polite society it makes for a more interesting story and the whole show isn’t so “loud” for lack of a better word.

It all came to a head in summer 1996 in the terrible Sixth Street plot-though they then went the other way with the AM recast to go completely wooden. You had hammy Alan/Buzz/Alex/Reva mixed in with a monotone A-M. All the extremes.

Not disagreeing that the Reva of it all ate the show, but it’s like they set the tone for everyone to be more like Kim Zimmer stylistically before she even came back.

To me I think Marj’s Alex started the change but then bringing on RR to have the same tone as Alan was the real turning point. That Alan vs Alex battle over which progeny wins was excruciating and Zas having to play off them made Roger basically have to shift from a cooler, more calculating villain into something more blatant. (Zas was still good and the material started to really suck for Roger once Alan was back-they gave up on Roger being a real player post takeover for far too long in that godforsaken Dinah/Hart plot.)

Edited 32 minutes ago32 min by GL95

6 minutes ago, Speed Racer said:

TPTB could have done something interesting(!) with Reva but chose not to. Have her vocal cords permanently severed in a car accident. Have her be the culprit in an STD outbreak.

Or - wait for it - have Reva get sued for enticement. That's a story never told on any soap and a ratings bonanza for Guiding Light as soap rags, television media and GL viewers fight about the justification of such a thing.

I'm only glad it ended before Reva ended up in bed with Bill, because you just know, in your soul, that some dumb IIC would've had Reva move on to the third generation of Lewis men. (and that she never slept with Ben Reade, because even though they forgot, he was kin to the Lewises. Or at least Billy.)

1 hour ago, Speed Racer said:

Call it "The Reva Effect." It is the mere presence of Reva on the canvas that creates ridiculousness throughout Springfield. Guiding Light increasing becomes a louder, more hammy and less intelligent program whenever Reva among the characters.

Reva encourages sloppiness. In everything. In breakdown, scripting/dialog, character development, story continuity, believability, acting choices. And it's painfully obvious that TPTB believe that anything goes once Reva is present.

You mentioned the change in tone. Damn straight. (A shame you won't get much opportunity to know the original Alan as played by Chris Bernau. Fascinating and expertly played. Light years apart from Ron Raines' moustache-twirling Alan). Alan and Alex being gutted/ruined coincides very nicely with Reva's return. It's no accident.

Guiding Light was already in a downturn when Zimmer returned in Fall 1994. "Reva" simply institutionalized Guiding Light's destruction.

It wasn't Maureen's death that represented GL's jumping the shark moment. It was Reva's return.

I'd agree if Reva had returned in 1993, but that's the period the show starts to really lose what it had built up over the past few years for me. I think the weak state it was in leaves the opening for both Reva and Dinah to gobble up too much focus, although I think Dinah hurt more characters than Reva did in those first few years back (Vanessa, Roger).

"Not disagreeing that the Reva of it all ate the show, but it’s like they set the tone for everyone to be more like Kim Zimmer stylistically "Before she even came back.'

That could very well be...makes a good deal of sense.

While JFP had no interest in bringing Reva back, she sure wanted Justin Deas. P&G likely put its foot down on stylistic possibilities other than what we got.

P&G et al covered their behinds by blaming the mid-1994 OJ Simpson trial for ratings decline, rather than their own decisions.

@alwaysAMC Enjoying your reviews as always.

I just wanted to say that I have a feeling they gave Reva that bridge moment with Holly because Reva had a long history with bridges in her first run (she jumped off a bridge twice [once in a suicide attempt, once to save Josh's life], she saved Sonni's life on a rotting rope bridge, she drove of a bridge to her "death"). I wonder if Kim asked for that, although I'm not sure she was ever quite that demanding.

1 minute ago, DRW50 said:

I'd agree if Reva had returned in 1993, but that's the period the show starts to really lose what it had built up over the past few years for me. I think the weak state it was in leaves the opening for both Reva and Dinah to gobble up too much focus, although I think Dinah hurt more characters than Reva did in those first few years back (Vanessa, Roger).

You could also argue that Dinah stomped all over and devalued Bridget, who was poised to be the relatable young heroine at the time.

4 minutes ago, P.J. said:

You could also argue that Dinah stomped all over and devalued Bridget, who was poised to be the relatable young heroine at the time.

You aren't wrong there.