On 7/6/2025 at 1:59 AM, MLH said:

Long time lurker but had to post a THANK YOU for providing links to ways to watch old episodes of Guiding Light provided by Blake Marler but recently started watching the German ones to fill in some missing episodes (only wish someone would translate/subtitle them on the screen).  I never really watched Guiding Light & just recently got in a rabbit hole of watching when Holly and Roger returned in 1989. Don't know why, but I was drawn to Roger Thorpe (the 89 version) right away. 

IMO, I think Mindy didn't want to be the 'other woman' & didn't act adoringly. Roger dropped a major coup from Lewis Oil for her & she had already put a pause on sleeping with him at the time. IMO, his love for her & Blake was his downfall in 1991.  I think Blake brought out the worst in him. I think Simms did the role great.  She really showed how she loved her family and Roger. I liked how it was a slow progression with the whole Tower fiasco was for Roger & the Four Musketeers ending for Mindy.

My favorite relationship was Harley & little Marah. I loved them together. I also loved Maureen (most wasted character), Gilly/Hamp and some aspects of Alexandra/Roger. I also liked the pace Holly & Roger was going, but then in 1995/1996, it just seemed to crash to basically no interaction. Holly was sort of all over the place to me (but she had great chemistry with just about everyone) & I never cared for Blake. I loved how Sherry played her, but not my favorite character. 

How Michael Zaslow left also left me a bit bitter, because how much it hurt him. Roger should have been killed off after Michael died & not in 2004 when the vast majority didn't know who he was. No way would Roger ignore his son being killed by Dinah (btw, I hated Dinah/Roger), Holly's daughter being kidnapped (a crime) by Fletcher or not being part of his grand children's lives. As a Roger fan, it was a slap in the face! 

I tried to continue, but I was not impressed with Ben being the next Roger & just decided to read what happened next and didn't really feel the need to continue. However, it's still fun to read fans of this show after Michael died. 

Thank you for being a great resource for this cancelled soap opera. If there is any way to help support financially for space needed to keep the uploads going, please let me know how and I will see if I can. 

 

@MLH, glad to read your post! I too was immediately drawn to Roger when he returned to the show. At the time, I was watching in real time. I didn't know much about his backstory and once I found out, I still found myself rooting for him at times. Of course a big part of this was thanks to Michael Zaslow's portrayal of such a complex character. Those moments when he showed you Roger's vulnerability really shined. It convinced me the character was capable of loving another person, but he just had so much trauma and baggage to overcome. 

I was bummed when the writers stopped putting Holly and Roger in each other's orbit. While fans will disagree whether they should have been romantically paired together, I don't think many fans can deny their chemistry. The actors were just incredible together and I missed when they shared scenes together. Even when the characters were fighting, it was always thrilling to watch. I think 1996 was the absolute worst year for me as a viewer as the two barely had any scenes together. Things were also pretty bleak in 1997. Like others on this board, I will never understand why TPTB decided to stop having the characters interact with each other, especially with such a rich and compelling history.  

If only the fans could have dictated the storylines. 

Annette

Edited July 9Jul 9 by GL Oldtimer

1 hour ago, Soaplovers said:

I think it would have been more in character for Amanda to have been conned out of her money by a con artist man that happened to own an escort service.. then for her to have owned and happily run an escort service with glee.   Amanda could have been embarrassed to have Alan and the rest of the Spauldings find out that she hadn't really changed and was still gullible like she had been back in the late 70s/early 80s.

And I don't think the Amanda/Ross/Blake thing was a horrible idea.. but the execution was all wrong.  Blake still could have been jealous of Amanda... but needlessly so.. and that jealously causing Ross and Amanda to reconnect as a result.

So true...I thought it would have been interesting if Amanda had taken some of her Spaulding stock and sold it, and invested in a tech start up (they were just getting big in 95.) The guy just wants her money but dumps his wife because Amanda insists and will not be the other woman again.Unhappy in her relationship, and surrounded by a less conservative Cali vibe (which is how I would explain how dull sad sack Amanda became Theda Bara Toby Poser) she takes up with younger man Matt (who is not a prostitute but a guy who likes older rich women and the life they can give him.)  The tech guy is abusive and catches Amanda and Matt in the sack and blackmails her for more money. She then finds out he lost all of it of her money when the start up tanks, and one night he is mysteriously found dead in his pool. Both Amanda and Matt think its the other one, and go their separate ways to not implicate the other (Matt know the guy is abusive and Amanda who genuinely has feelings for Matt, though not love, cause, he's a hot piece of ass but dull as hell.) It will turn out it is actually his estranged wife or son who does him in and sets them up.

Amanda, broke and again alone, takes Alan up on his offer to return home and sets her sights on getting everything she gave up including Ross. I would write it that she has feelings for Ross, the savior as he once again has feelings for a conflicted woman who needs him. 

But this storyline that McTavish wrote sucked as you knew Amanda was going to fail, that Ross didn't have feelings for her, and neither did Matt. But it also had to portray Matt, despite his manho status as a goody goody dullard, so there were no stakes, no nuance no interest. If I wrote the end result is that Matt and Blake hit the sack, she gets preggers with one baby and eventually Van and Ross head back together after dumping their silly young partners. 

@Mitch64 Brent killing Fletcher would have made way more sense than Detective Cutter and Nadine!  I guess they sort of ruined Nadine's character with her fake pregnancy thing and didn't have a clue what to do with her. 

IMO, I think Matt and Dinah had way more chemistry. They should have went ahead and did the fake marriage thing and it blow up in their faces & found out the marriage had to be a year. LOL Again, I think Hart ended up being a waste of a character. They only used him to bash Roger.  Like there wasn't every freaking character against him by that time. Dinah could have been owing a debt to Roger for his help. 

I didn't mind Amanda being a madam, because that was all in the news at the time of a woman running an escort service. Heck, Blake did worse things than Amanda ever did.  I just think Matt being part of it made NO sense.  Like you said, he was a dull character. 

@GL Oldtimer Glad to be here!  I only vaguely remember watching anything GL until this year when I found something on YouTube and went down a rabbit hole.  I have been trying to find anything w/ Michael Zaslow in it. There are no clips of King's Crossing, nor his stints on Law & Order.  I watched an episode he was in with Spenser For Hire and Falcon Crest on Amazon Prime Video and Love Boat where he played a jewel thief on YouTube! I even found a radio theatre show he did in the 1970s.

More Unpopular Opinions: Gary was a better villain than Ben ever was. I would have had Roger bring him back once Blake started working for Ross running for the Senate seat. 

Edited July 9Jul 9 by MLH

Rest assured, I'm not crazy. Harley in '89

8 hours ago, MLH said:

 

@P.J. I wish I could help.  What year was that from? 

lol...I found it! I thought maybe it was the dress that Harley was dancing in that was a part of the Hold on To Love opening (it's not). Harley wore when she and Dylan went to dinner with Vanessa and Billy. Billy roped Vanessa into having a small family dinner (before Billy knew Dylan was his son) to show Dylan the finer side of things, and Harley invited herself. Bill tricks Dylan into ordering snails, and Ross watches as Billy and Vanessa drift closer.

4 hours ago, MLH said:

 

More Unpopular Opinions: Gary was a better villain than Ben ever was. I would have had Roger bring him back once Blake started working for Ross running for the Senate seat. 

I agree-- (Ben Reade or Ben Warren?)  I thought Gary really could've been a good antagonist, if developed,. What happened to Gary anyway?

Part of the problem with no long term vision is there's no one to build the "next Roger Thorpe". Not that anyone really could've, but you need newer "gray" characters too.

 

Side note: reason to watch "big" shows you don't think you're interested in...the same episode where Reva tells Alan this tragic story of being hungry when she's a child, is essentially the end of Ross and Vanessa. For some reason Vanessa is acting like a ditzy rom com heroine, trying to have dinner with Ross and a business meeting with Alan in two different rooms of the country club. Ross blows up and gives Van an ultimatum---him or working with Alan. Van doesn't want to give up her job, certain she can handle Alan. Ross walks out.

 

Edited July 9Jul 9 by P.J.

I’m up to January 31, 1997.

The 60th Anniversary Ball was nice overall. LOL at the cast doing the Macarena, especially Billy. Michael O’Leary is always a hoot during these cast scenes. I did find it slightly odd that a handful of non-contract characters had a lot of airtime: Annie’s fertility doctor, Fran; Jean-Luc and other Parisian friends of Dinah; and Jenna’s husband/crime partner. It moved storylines, so I’m ok with it, but just odd for a big event like this. And then half the cast left the party early to help Zachary, who went out to the water to help strangers in need. I’m glad they were able to get back in time for Vanessa’s tribute, which was short but sweet.

It was heartbreaking to watch Michelle grieve over the loss of her first love, Zachary. Budig is such a great actress, even in her early days. It was pretty crappy of Zachary to make her think he died though. Taking a page out of Vanessa’s book haha. But our last scene with Zachary was in Meta’s dream (or was it…), where Zachary says goodbye to a sleeping Michelle. I’ll miss Zachary, even though I didn’t love that he was supernatural.

Mike Bauer returned, which I think they said is Ed’s brother. He clearly doesn’t get along with Alan, but overall wasn’t really used much in this return.

Harley and Josh had a talk, where she tells him he broke her heart. Seconds later, she says he’s always been a good guy. Ok… haha.  Harley also keeps apologizing about missing everything - Nadine’s funeral, A-M/Lucy’s wedding, etc - but the one reason that finally got her back to town to see her family was to catch a thief (Jenna)?  Yikes. But, I do like how it’s tied to something happening, even if it didn’t amount to anything since Jenna didn’t steal anything in the end. I also liked Reva and Harley’s chat about Josh and their history; they apologized to each other and it was quite adult of them both.

Oh, so Alan knew Jenna was pregnant and always assumed it was Buzz’s. And now Alan is interested in Annie and just offered her a job being his private nurse, interesting. And of course right after Josh and Reva kiss at the lighthouse and return to the party, Annie tells him she’s taking the job and he freaks out.

Zaslow’s speech is really noticeable later in the party, so sad.

Post-Ball, Rick just asked Abby to marry him, which was very sweet, but really quick too.

Now that Blake Marler’s YouTube site was taken down, I sure hope I can keep watching GL on the SON Vault. Fingers crossed…

7 hours ago, alwaysAMC said:

I’m up to January 31, 1997.

The 60th Anniversary Ball was nice overall. LOL at the cast doing the Macarena, especially Billy. Michael O’Leary is always a hoot during these cast scenes. I did find it slightly odd that a handful of non-contract characters had a lot of airtime: Annie’s fertility doctor, Fran; Jean-Luc and other Parisian friends of Dinah; and Jenna’s husband/crime partner. It moved storylines, so I’m ok with it, but just odd for a big event like this. And then half the cast left the party early to help Zachary, who went out to the water to help strangers in need. I’m glad they were able to get back in time for Vanessa’s tribute, which was short but sweet.

It was heartbreaking to watch Michelle grieve over the loss of her first love, Zachary. Budig is such a great actress, even in her early days. It was pretty crappy of Zachary to make her think he died though. Taking a page out of Vanessa’s book haha. But our last scene with Zachary was in Meta’s dream (or was it…), where Zachary says goodbye to a sleeping Michelle. I’ll miss Zachary, even though I didn’t love that he was supernatural.

Mike Bauer returned, which I think they said is Ed’s brother. He clearly doesn’t get along with Alan, but overall wasn’t really used much in this return.

Harley and Josh had a talk, where she tells him he broke her heart. Seconds later, she says he’s always been a good guy. Ok… haha.  Harley also keeps apologizing about missing everything - Nadine’s funeral, A-M/Lucy’s wedding, etc - but the one reason that finally got her back to town to see her family was to catch a thief (Jenna)?  Yikes. But, I do like how it’s tied to something happening, even if it didn’t amount to anything since Jenna didn’t steal anything in the end. I also liked Reva and Harley’s chat about Josh and their history; they apologized to each other and it was quite adult of them both.

Oh, so Alan knew Jenna was pregnant and always assumed it was Buzz’s. And now Alan is interested in Annie and just offered her a job being his private nurse, interesting. And of course right after Josh and Reva kiss at the lighthouse and return to the party, Annie tells him she’s taking the job and he freaks out.

Zaslow’s speech is really noticeable later in the party, so sad.

Post-Ball, Rick just asked Abby to marry him, which was very sweet, but really quick too.

Now that Blake Marler’s YouTube site was taken down, I sure hope I can keep watching GL on the SON Vault. Fingers crossed…

Mike was Alan's former father-in-law.  His daughter Hope (last seen in '83) is Alan-Michael's mom.  He's the "Michael" in Alan-Michael.

10 hours ago, P.J. said:

Side note: reason to watch "big" shows you don't think you're interested in...the same episode where Reva tells Alan this tragic story of being hungry when she's a child, is essentially the end of Ross and Vanessa. For some reason Vanessa is acting like a ditzy rom com heroine, trying to have dinner with Ross and a business meeting with Alan in two different rooms of the country club. Ross blows up and gives Van an ultimatum---him or working with Alan. Van doesn't want to give up her job, certain she can handle Alan. Ross walks out.

Someone commented on YT that the episode before it was the first one after Pam Long's return. Minutes in and Reva is back in her Slut of Springfield red dress and KZ's getting 10 minute monologues for Emmy consideration. 🙄

I always thought not seeing the Ross/Vanessa/Alan story through and making Alan one of Reva's many love slaves was a mistake, but MK leaves a few months later, so it wasn't meant to be, I guess.

1 hour ago, Spoon said:

Mike was Alan's former father-in-law.  His daughter Hope (last seen in '83) is Alan-Michael's mom.  He's the "Michael" in Alan-Michael.

Ahhh ok - thank you! I do vaguely remember a Hope mention perhaps in their one scene together. I'll have to go back and watch again. I don't remember Mike and Alan-Michael having any interaction though, which would have been odd.  Although nuAlan-Michael, who is on his way out, probably wouldn't have pulled at any old fan heartstrings at that point. Hearst in the role, yes.

@alwaysAMC Glad to see the mini-reviews again.

Sad to say I don't even know if Hearst would have sold it as he didn't have as much Bauer interaction as he should have, but he would have tried.

Don Stewart fit back in so well, they really should have capitalized on it and at least had him as a recurring figure.

I think to fully enjoy Harley's return you'd have to know her history on the show. They dipped heavily into this (much more than I had expected, especially with Josh and Reva). The scenes with Harley and Reva got some soap press praise at the time, rightfully so. This complicated history isn't really used when she returns full time - I think the work here may be down to the interim writers having more history with the show than the writers who joined in a few months. 

The ball is also Michael Tylo's final appearance as Quint. He was abruptly fired, no exit, and I don't even remember if he was ever mentioned again until Nola's return in 2009. He deserved at least a proper exit, given how important he'd been to the early '80s for GL, but that's what we were getting by this point with P&G.

@P.J. Ben Warren.  I stopped watching when they had Blake acting stupid again over him and all that actor did to me was whisper his lines and acted like that meant he was mysterious or whatever. It was hard enough with how they did the Roger/Amanda storyline after Michael Z. left. 

@alwaysAMC I pretty much agree about the ball. It was good overall, but the whole thing with the whole lake/yacht thing didn't fit. The dancing was good. 

Speaking of disappearing characters, what happened to Roger's old CIA boss, Vaughn?  

Edited July 9Jul 9 by MLH

1 hour ago, DRW50 said:

@alwaysAMC Glad to see the mini-reviews again.

Sad to say I don't even know if Hearst would have sold it as he didn't have as much Bauer interaction as he should have, but he would have tried.

Don Stewart fit back in so well, they really should have capitalized on it and at least had him as a recurring figure.

I think to fully enjoy Harley's return you'd have to know her history on the show. They dipped heavily into this (much more than I had expected, especially with Josh and Reva). The scenes with Harley and Reva got some soap press praise at the time, rightfully so. This complicated history isn't really used when she returns full time - I think the work here may be down to the interim writers having more history with the show than the writers who joined in a few months. 

The ball is also Michael Tylo's final appearance as Quint. He was abruptly fired, no exit, and I don't even remember if he was ever mentioned again until Nola's return in 2009. He deserved at least a proper exit, given how important he'd been to the early '80s for GL, but that's what we were getting by this point with P&G.

I know, it feels like Harley was an important character to know. Although I have to say, BE left a bitter taste in my mouth after her AMC run, so we'll see if I can stomach Harley when she returns full-time.

That's shocking to me about Tylo. His appearance was pretty short/minor during it all, which I think was his first back since Josh Taylor took over. I wonder what happened?  He must have upset someone if they didn't even allow Nola or J to talk about him.

9 minutes ago, alwaysAMC said:

I know, it feels like Harley was an important character to know. Although I have to say, BE left a bitter taste in my mouth after her AMC run, so we'll see if I can stomach Harley when she returns full-time.

That's shocking to me about Tylo. His appearance was pretty short/minor during it all, which I think was his first back since Josh Taylor took over. I wonder what happened?  He must have upset someone if they didn't even allow Nola or J to talk about him.

She has her moments, but most of her good material is already behind her.

I think Rauch was just trying to dump a lot of people and Tylo was an easy exit, and Nola and J were not important enough to need to address his exit. There may be some mentions and I just forgot about them...

@Ryanc2 - curious, are you still watching GL 1999?  Still enjoying it?

2 hours ago, alwaysAMC said:

@Ryanc2 - curious, are you still watching GL 1999?  Still enjoying it?

I am at the end of February. I stopped for a couple weeks but I intend on getting back to it. Yes I’m still very much enjoying it but life got busy (had to do a couple weeks of night shifts)