Guiding Light Discussion Thread

[P.J.]

There is some kind of arrangement going on between Justin and Evie, who seems to be caring for Sam. I'm not sure, but she may even be living there with Justin and Phillip. Phillip inviting Evie at least makes a little more sense (if the guest list was limited to women Vanessa liked, it would've only consisted of Trish and Helena. lol) 

Maybe it was more common to hang on to performers, back in the day? Instead of immediately kicking them to the curb? Evie hadn't had much to do after Chet was revealed to be her stalker. With Rita, Jackie and Ben gone, there weren't many on the canvas she'd really worked with, other than Ross. They could've pivoted her back to Ross, instead of letting him languish love-less for nearly a year other than goo-goo eyeing Amanda.

Nowadays, there might've been a moment written Jordan and Janet, an eye-wink to the audience about them having previously worked together.

[Robluvthebeach]

I remember Evie's last scene and it was in Justin Marler's house and she is telling them that Ben is asking for a reconciliation and she is going to join him. I always have wondered what Janet Grey did after leaving Guiding Light (I know from the interview with Kathleen Cullen that she did have a baby and they stayed in touch for awhile).

[alwaysAMC]

I’m up to April 01, 1996.

I think I’m starting to understand what many have said.. things are different. I miss the community vibe of Springfield, when you had people working at the hectic newspaper, the choatic diner, the rich were coming in for coffee, or the TV network was abuzz about the latest scandal. Things have become a little more tunneled into their own storylines. Right now, for me anyway, there isn’t a strong desire to see what happens next, ever since the Brent/Marian story ended. It was a darker, more suspenseful storyline that really got me intrigued and waiting to see what happens next, while everything else was just a nice view of midwestern families living their dramatic lives. And I love that too, when the characters and storytelling is strong, but right now, some things are a little stale.

In these last 5 weeks, we had two bigger events:

Nick and Susan’s wedding:  it was sweet, but I really found it weird they played music over their vows instead of being able to hear them. Then, they leave town immediately after and for good? We really didn’t get a ton of time with them - one minute Susan is in a hospital bed, post-coma, celebrating the new year, and now she’s married and gone. I’m having a hard time with the revolving door of characters since my early ’95 watch. This year we’ve lost so many characters, gained so many characters, and to what end?

Henry’s funeral:  this was so sad, considering the real actor passed. I’m curious what other fans thought about the funeral. Granted, when an actor passes, you don’t have much time to plan ahead, so you need to insert it into whatever storylines are happening at the time.  But sadly, this funeral happened when everyone was hating each other. Vanessa was upset with Matt because the Amanda secret came out and he kept it from her. Quint showed up, with his very young affair no less, which made both Nola and J upset. Amanda was there which upset both Blake and Ross. Roger insisted he give a speech which upset everyone. Vanessa was mad at Quint for bringing his young girlfriend, and then Dinah was so upset about her grandfather, which was emotional, but everyone is currently at odds with Dinah. The flashbacks were effective, and the most emotional scene was Vanessa’s breakdown when reading Henry’s letter to her.  Otherwise, it was a pretty hateful funeral, which felt icky.

Otherwise, my quick pros and cons currently happening…

Pros:

Alex and Hawk are great and funny. He gets under her skin and it’s hilarious to watch her react, but she needs him. They were in LA trying to get dirt on Amanda’s former life and Hawk was living it up with young gorgeous women and all the spending money at his disposal.  Generally, the Amanda and her secret storyline is interesting and I really like the actress. Alex vs. Amanda is entertaining.

Tina came onto the scene around the time Nadine died, but she’s been given a backstory which is interesting to me now. She’s a prostitute, who means well, and is trying to take care of her daughter, Dahlia. She grew up with Frank, who has a soft spot for her. Marcus, in a new storyline he desperately needed away from Dinah and his dad, has taken a strong liking to Dahlia. She sings well and he plays saxophone well, so their music is endearing. Sadly, Tina got involved in a robbery gone-bad, where they held up a Spaulding board of directors meeting. She flees, but Frank catches her outside and is forced to arrest her, while Cleary (she’s back!) arrests the main bad guy involved and saves the Spaulding family. I’m curious to see where this one goes, but curious, was Tina actually on the show before this or is she a brand new character?

Cons:

The Dinah/Hart/Roger storyline is pretty stale now. I need something new.

Lucy and Alan-Michael are barely on since Brent left, which is sad. You spend an entire year on a storyline that builds their relationship, brings strife and wedges, and now that they’re finally able to be together in love with no obstacles, you never show them? I want to see them happy! Oh and Lucy and Bridget/David haven't had a scene since Marian tried to get 'a room at the boarding house, which is weird because we haven't seen Bridget react to Lucy being alive. I don't even know if Lucy even lives at the boarding house or with AM, but it's sad pretending like Lucy/Bridget/David were never close friends.

Reva/Josh, which is hogging airtime, is a serious whiplash. One week Josh loves her, she hates him; the next week, she loves him, he hates her. He’s always lying to Annie, but now he’s marrying her again, the second wedding in 4 months. I’m also very tired of Marah, her angst over everything, and their overwhelming concern over her. As much as I don’t like Buzz, it is funny watching Reva work at the diner, but I’ll never side with Alan so watching him have feelings about Reva/Buzz or Reva/Josh does nothing for me.

Finally, the other small B storylines are only on like once a week which isn’t enough:  Gilly/Griffin/Viviane, Michelle/J, Blake/Ross/Rick, Rick/Abby, Holly/Fletcher and the baby. Something that just popped up out of the blue is David Grant leaving Springfield out of nowhere. He professed his love to Bridget, who turned him down, so he decides to leave when Griffin gives him a job opportunity. Sadly, another character written out for many new characters being introduced. Makes me wonder who is making these calls - the producers, the network, the writers, the fans?

Edited May 12 by alwaysAMC

[prefab1]

As always, really interesting to get your impressions! I was only watching sporadically during this period (whereas I was transfixed during the Marian storyline), but if I remember correctly 1996 was a pretty rough transitional year. It came at a period where P&G was playing musical chairs with its executive producers--ATWT was hit especially hard by this. The current executive producer, Michael Laibson, is out in November 1996, replaced by Paul Rauch, who stays for nearly 6 years. While Rauch has a few really bad ideas that cause long-term damage to the show, those don't really kick in until 1999, and his first couple of years are very strong. So once you get to 1997, you should see the show rebound significantly. 

[Soaplovers]

Marland was long gone by this point.  He quit in either August/September 1982.

I think it was due to letting the actress play out her contract and use her for party scenes and/or scenes with Phillip/Justin.  

I was surprised she was still on in June 1983 myself, because I figured she had been written out before Pam Long joined the writing staff.

Thankfully, having episodes uploaded during this period on Spauldingfield YT site has helped to connect some of the dots.  It looks as though Pam Long starts the first week or so of May 1983.. and in those first few weeks: Morgan and Evie were both written off and Lillian/Mindy/Billy/Beth/Annabelle all come onto the show.

 

 

[Mitch64]

This is where McLaibey falls apart. It becomes clear that McTavish had not thought past Brent/Marion...so the energy drops and she starts throwing things at the wall (Blakes twins, Lonatrat.)

 

Fans HATED this funeral. Everyone is mad at everyone else, which is fine, the death of a beloved community figure would give people a reason to come together...(Quint and Nola could come together at least for  a bit to support each other, Nola and VAn could finally admit they kinda, sorta like each other) Its just an example of McTavish's mean writing.

 

I have a feeling they were going to make Dahlia Frank's kid but they chickened out. Making Tina a prostitute didn't help, they could have been lovers when they were young but felt society pressure to part. Marcus took over David's role (you can't have two young black men at that time...)

 

Get used to it...this will happen, the same storyline over and over until the end.

[zanereed]

It is interesting that Ann lasts as long as she does as a character on the show. I assume the show chose not to renew her contract, but I don't know for certain.

I also believe Millette Alexander's contract wasn't renewed after she last appeared at Christmas in 1982. Looking back, I really wish that they had ended up pairing Sara and Mike Bauer versus Sara and Adam. Sara and Mike were already good friends, and it would have been an interesting twist in 1978 if Sara and Mike had a fling after Dean Blackwell's death, Sara turning to Mike for comfort after Dean's death. Mike and Sara certainly could have been a tentpole couple moving forward, unlike Mike and Elizabeth.

[DRW50]

 

I liked the actress who played Tina. She was not the typical soap hire. I hadn't thought of her in many years until I saw a Spauldingfield video of her. It makes sense if they were planning to make her Frank's daughter as she was tied to the Coopers and nothing else was done with her beyond singing and the relationship with Marcus that Rauch never cared about.

David was hurt by Monti Sharp leaving the role. I don't blame Monti for leaving, as he was getting less and less to do, but Russell Curry was a very generic actor was too old for the part. Yes, black don't crack, but he was nearly 40.

When David returns at the end of the decade they cast an actor who was a little too young, which just shows how little interest the show had in the character or black characters in general (and random recasting would return with the Boudreauxs).

Marcus is a character who got a lot of buzz early on and then the show lost interest (again). 

Anyway, if you stay watching, be warned that the Hart/Dinah/Roger stuff gets worse and worse. Luckily you don't have the same lengthy ties to the show so it may be OK for you. It made me feel a bit sick at the time.

Thanks for giving more info. And to @DeeVee and @P.J. as well.

I suppose there were tiers of people who were seen as disposable, and Eve was shielded for a time due to that tier. Once they were clearly getting rid of characters like Justin or Amanda, then she was also on that list (I know she left before they did but it wasn't that long before).

Characters like Eve, quiet, able to be used in many avenues, are important for community, or they should be, although she had clearly reached a natural end. The problem is no one really replaced her - all the characters who were likely seen as dull were shipped out from 83-85, and we were left with an unbalanced canvas (and characters who were meant to be exciting but were still dull, like Calla, Simon, et al).

[Soaplovers]

I always wondered if Jackie wasn't going to be recast after being persumed dead... if Marland was going to pair Evie and Justin as a couple reunited in grief over Jackie's death.

The one consistent thing I noticed about Evie during those months she was still on the show was that she was kind of a second mother to Phillip after Jackie's 'death' and Elizabeth no longer on the canvas.   But then one of the three interim writer teams decided to pair up Helena with Justin.. which left Evie even less to do than she had at the start of 1983.

You're right that Evie was a unique character on the soap.  She was sweet and trusting, yet she had a quiet strength that made it difficult to push her around (at least when the Dobson's were writing her).  The Ben/Amanda/Eve triangle was an interesting triangle because neither of the women were evil... and Ben did have chemistry and a connection with both women.   It had a pretty decent run from 1978/9 to 1982 before Amanda was spun off into her mother's new marriage to Mark as the other woman.

[P.J.]

Maeve breaks me reading that letter. If you ever need to cry, look it up. Other than the dopey line about Henry wanting to come home to Van's rice (or tapioca) pudding (VANESSA CHAMBERLAIN DOES NOT COOK, Y'all...) it's a sweet sign-off to one of the best father/daughter relationships on soaps.

Other than Ross, and Bill (if he says something, which I assume he does) and the letter, the rest of it is BS. I haven't watched it in a while, but it typifies what I dislike most about events that should be laden in history. The writers are too lazy to do the work and get it right. And it becomes about making sure characters X, Y and Z make their guarantees. Roger being there is an abomination. Henry never ever saw Nola as a gold-digger. She and Quint were practically engaged before he even knew Quint was his son. Before that, he was fairly close to Bea and enjoyed Nola's spirit. And Henry never helped Rick become an Eagle Scout. 

I get that maybe you don't want to play Amanda#1 or Dinahs 1&2, or Billy, Trish or Alan #1 clips, but damn it....don't make stuff up. I'd have much rather watched clips from Henry, Vanessa and Ross' early days than Rick blather on, or nuMichelle try and dig for a human-like emotion or wonder why after TEN YEARS, Dinah and Quint have never met.

 

Do not remember anyone named Tina. I barely remember Dahlia, and that's mostly because for a while, I saw Sharon Leal in everything after she left GL.

 

Reva and Josh airhogs? ALWAYS, darling. ALWAYS. RME. I hate to tar and feather Robert Newman with that brush, but DAMN. 

[DRW50]

I remember this getting a lot of criticism at the time.

[P.J.]

It was just inexcusable. SMH. I'm surprised Lisa Brown didn't change it somehow. 

[DeeVee]

I have watched the scene where Vanessa reads the letter and it's lovely, but I'm really glad now that I never got around to watching the funeral.

Henry ADORED Nola! He treated her like a daughter and Stacy like a granddaughter. That's why Vanessa couldn't stand her. He was crazy about all the Reardons. He spent a lot of time at the boarding house. He and Bea--they never explicitly said it was romantic, but they certainly were loving friends.

This sounds worse than Bert's funeral. I really did not think that was possible.

[alwaysAMC]

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 That's positive and something to look forward to for sure, because you're right, 1996 so far isn't nearly as good as 1995.

Ohh - what is Lonatrat? 

Sadly you're probably right. I did feel like David was rarely seen once Marcus came on. That would have been an interesting spin, having Frank and Tina be teenage lovers and Dahlia really being his daughter. I'm getting the sense that Tina won't be seen too much anymore, as she just left Dahlia with Frank/Eleni as she's heading to jail for a while.

I like the Tina actress too!  Her voice sounds a bit like Rosie Perez to me, which I love. I tried to find her online, but coming up empty. This was the only thing I could find about Tina Crede - a character snapshot video with clips and stills of her (randomly starting just before the 1:00 mark):

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That's wild that the David actor is nearly 40 here! Definitely surprises me.

[alwaysAMC]

The letter reading was very emotional, and Maeve really got to me too. I was a little worried because Vanessa doesn't give a speech at the funeral, which surprised me, but then we got the private letter reading and her true emotional reaction and I was satisfied there.

The YouTube channel I watch these episodes on (if not on our Vault), also had upset commenters talk about how Nola's line about Henry not accepting her at first/seen as a gold-digger was totally untrue. It's sad the writers don't do their homework and give fans the respect (and the characters respect).

And yep, Bill got up and spoke at the funeral too, which was nice. 

I didn't even realize that was Sharon Leal until you said it!  I had to Google it. I loved Sharon Leal in Boston Public back in the day haha.

LOL at your Reva/Josh ALWAYS commentary. What is RME though?