Guiding Light discussion thread

[P.J.]

Thank you!! Y'know I love Billy bein' a big ol' [!@#$%^&*] to Reva. And now I get it in English!

I think the Alex episode was the first episode of 1989.

[Kane]

I really like those scenes. It feels very authentic that Lucy, inexperienced and still struggling to process what happened and reconcile what she thought she knew about Brent with what he did to her, would second guess herself as she talked it out. Really nice supporting work by Melissa Hayden as Bridget tries to guide her towards seeing it for what it was. There's a similar discussion a month or two later between Lucy and Nadine as Lucy continues to come to terms with it.

I'm watching the Blake Marler channel.

[P.J.]

I'm not sure how they'd have explained the accent..but OMG, the diction between Ian and Maeve!

The slimy innuendos he tried to come on to Van---*flesh crawl*

[DRW50]

Thanks.

Jordan and Kim always worked so well together. I do agree with you that it was more interesting when he wasn't just in love with Reva.

[Contessa Donatella]

Those Alex dream/courtroom episodes were the very beginning of January & they were an experiment.

[P.J.]

I think it would've served the show a lot better in the long run, but que sera sera.

[DRW50]

Thanks. It gets confusing as the end has a Newhart promo for an episode that aired on January 23.

[chrisml]

I may have asked this before, but the search didn't come up with results. How long did Deas put on that terrible accent? I had stopped watching GL consistently at that point, and I found his performances so hard to stomach. The accent just made it worse. I assume the execs felt the same way as he eventually lost it.

[DRW50]

I'm sure someone knows better than me but I think just a month or two.

[alwaysAMC]

I totally agree.  I'm at the point now where Lucy finally went back to work and is still struggling with flashbacks and people touching her.  Bridget told Frank her suspicions and he's now involved, but she keeps telling them she's fine and nothing happened.  In fact, she just screamed at Bridget for saying anything to Frank, so there is anger finally coming out.  It's done really well so far.  Brent tried to make her think it was normal and continues to court her, but he now has his sights on Mindy.

[alwaysAMC]

I'm up to May 1, 1995!  Reva has returned, haunting poor Josh.  Her picture shows up in his wallet, he starts to smell her perfume on people, a Tulsa rose shows up here and there... and then just as he and Annie are about to have sex for the first time, she shows up in person (his vision)!  I'm excited to see how this storyline plays out...

I'm at the point where Buzz and Fletcher are too much for me to swallow.  If an episode has them both, I have to turn the volume down a bit haha.  Buzz's obsession with 5th Street is too much.  Right now, he was accused of stealing the money from the 5th Street Ball (donations), and now everyone is trying to figure out who would have stolen from the 5th Street restoration.  He's a bit off his rocker right now.

Dinah just moved into the Reardon boarding house for a bit, so this should be interesting to see how she terrorizes Bridget, David, Lucy, Matt, etc.  I loved that Ross finally took Blake's side and kicked Dinah out of the house.

Alex and Holly just got into a physical altercation in the women's bathroom over Fletcher... LOL.  

Did people not enjoy Ron Raines as Alan?  In the almost 3 months I've watched now, he's only been on in small doses and doesn't really have a storyline going, but I do enjoy his banter with Alex and he seems like a strong presence.  

[P.J.]

Yeah, I think he drops it once he admits to being Buzz in May.

[Kane]

Brace yourself because 5th Street becomes a whole story in 1996.

 

Raines was the only Alan I ever saw and I thought he was okay, though I never really felt like he sparked with any of the love interests he had during the time that I watched.

[Alan]

I liked RR's Alan but I was too young to have watched Christopher Bernau's Alan, who I think is the gold standard. Ron Raines interpreted the character very broadly - Raines's musical theatre background is very evident. CB was much more subtle, he could tell a story with one expression. CB was also believable in his love stories, where RR's Alan didn't have any believable romances. RR's Alan wanted to possess women, especially Josh's leftovers, but I never bought that he cared for any of them. As an aside I saw RR as Judge Turpin in Sweeney Todd a while ago - I had no idea he would be in the cast when I bought the ticket. He was great!

You are almost where I am in my rewatch.

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I am a slow watcher so you will probably get way ahead of me soon. 

[P.J.]

I think the writing fails to make RR's version into "Alan". Chris Bernau put such a stamp on the role, no one could live up to him. And as the writing for Alan got more atrocious, the less satisfied people were with RR. But I'd say he was more popular than Daniel Pilon in the role. *which, admittedly is faint praise*

RR's Alan is just too desperate. Too big a chump when it comes to women. OG Alan only *maybe* cared about Hope and Rita. Maybe Reva. Every other woman was a means to an end.