18 minutes ago, DRW50 said:

Reva was always heavy in story, yes. I didn't really mind because I thought Zimmer sold what she was given and never became cold the way Beth Ehlers did, but I really don't believe B&E knew what to do with her most of the time. She's at a real loss by the time they leave. That continues for a long while where things just happen to Reva (she's blind, she's stalked, she is a psychic, etc.). For as much as she disdained Ellen Wheeler, Wheeler was the one who put more of a jolt back into Reva's identity and storylines.

I only wish we had episode counts from that era. I bet there was never a year Kim wasn't on top, even with maternity leaves.

Poor Reva would have to wait eight years and menopause to have another child-- baby Colin O'Neil.

20 minutes ago, Spoon said:

Poor Reva would have to wait eight years and menopause to have another child-- baby Colin O'Neil.

😂😂😂

How was this pitch ever approved? I'd say someone should've lost their job, but Guiding Light was all but dead at this point. I really wish the show could've gone out with more dignity (and not just because of this foolish story).

8 minutes ago, CrazySexyQ said:

How was this pitch ever approved? I'd say someone should've lost their job, but Guiding Light was all but dead at this point. I really wish the show could've gone out with more dignity (and not just because of this foolish story).

There were a lot of menopausal women on soaps who had babies. She was hardly the first. Ruth on All My Children, who had to be well into her 50s, had a surprise baby. I had always assumed the reason she adopted her sister's child was because she was infertile.

The only characters who don't have babies are the ones who've literally had their reproductive organs removed. And who knows, someone might come up with a work-around for that scenario one day (other than the obvious, a surrogate). Nothing is permanent on a soap opera, whether it's infertility or death. 😂

As far as crazy Reva stories, it's WAY down on the list.

Edited 1 hour ago1 hr by DeeVee

11 minutes ago, DeeVee said:

There were a lot of menopausal women on soaps who had babies. She was hardly the first. Ruth on All My Children, who had to be well into her 50s, had a surprise baby. I had always assumed the reason she adopted her sister's child was because she was infertile.

The only characters who don't have babies are the ones who've literally had their reproductive organs removed. And who knows, someone might come up with a work-around for that scenario one day (other than the obvious, a surrogate). Nothing is permanent on a soap opera, whether it's infertility or death. 😂

As far as crazy Reva stories, it's WAY down on the list.

Erica's un-abortion on AMC comes to mind. Now, that was a first.

Admittedly, I wasn't watching GL when Reva got pregnant. And even all these years later, I still don't want to watch full episodes of anything past Jan. 2007. So, maybe there was a meaningful story about Reva becoming a late-in-life mother again. But as @DRW50 noted, was the story told properly? Everything around Reva usually became a farce. Hey, I don't mind since it's a soap opera. But this random kid with Jeffrey is one of those stories I never could just roll with. The writers knew they were nearing cancellation and still chose this story. But again, if it was a meaningful story and not a Reva ego stroke, I'm happy to stand corrected.

But you're 100% right that Reva having another baby is at the bottom of her other wild stories.

Edited 59 minutes ago59 min by CrazySexyQ

9 minutes ago, CrazySexyQ said:

Everything around Reva usually became a farce. Hey, I don't mind since it's a soap opera. But this random kid with Jeffrey is one of those stories I never could just roll with. The writers knew they were nearing cancellation and still chose this story. But again, if it was a meaningful story and not a Reva ego stroke, I'm happy to stand corrected.

But you're 100% right that Reva having another baby is at the bottom of her other wild stories.

I wasn't really watching by then (when I came back to the show she'd already had the baby) but I imagine they didn't delve into her post-partum past or do much with the story. It seemed like a very random choice for the character - maybe they just desperately wanted to cement her relationship with Jeffrey for viewers. I will say it's probably in character for her to be a late-in-life mother and if the show had stayed on that would have been compelling to watch...if they'd actually shown us her being a mother instead of the kid being offcamera.

It was also after she'd nearly died from cancer. There's nothing like nearly dying to up the odds you'll get knocked up. (See Vanessa, circa '98.)

Reva was hardly the first "older" mother. Kim Hughes did it two decades before. But there was no one less suited to being a mother, yet knockin' out kids she barely(or never) raised.

IIRC, the show claimed that despite Reva going through menopause that her cancer treatment reversed it(?). I believe Ellen Wheeler claimed that it could happen.

How many of the older women on soaps went through menopause? We know Reva had menopause because it was a big plot point. Rachel on AW was older but she didn't get menopause yet when she had Carl's twins.

Re: 1985. You had all the departures plus the loss of Charita Bauer. TPTB thought the cast was largely replaceable as long as they had her as the constant-- kinda like Jo on Search. They wanted to maintain an illusion that Bert was traveling (like Sally Specra on Bold) but fan demand rightfully caused them to change their mind. Unfortunately, by the time they addressed her passing- most of the people she was on with were gone.

Edited just now1 min by Spoon