10 hours ago, MLH said:

Is there a scan here of the Soap Opera Digest article of the behind the scenes of Guiding Light in 1977?  The link on the blog didn't work.  

What blog?

There are some GL-related SOD articles I've been trying to find online but no luck so far.

15 hours ago, MLH said:

Yes.  It wasn't looking good at all.  I would be horrified seeing myself on tv with it. However, Roger would have gray one day and then be basically all brunette the next. LOL  It was like whiplash. 

Some unpopular opinions:  

I thought the actress that played Hope wasn't good.  She whispered so much, I could barely hear her. The storyline on the island was boring. 

Reva and Alan had no chemistry.  People say that Roger & Mindy didn't have chemistry, but I thought they did.  I didn't see the chemistry between Reva and Alan. Every time Josh was with someone, Reva had to be too.  She can't be single?

Now just some observations:

It is so hard to still not get what is being said on a lot of the German dubbed videos and not hear the actor's real voices. 

I think it's horrible that there is no way to watch full storylines for a character from each year. 

I was trying to see the storyline of Blake when she first got on and noticed that they tried to pair her up with Johnny!  They were also trying to match up Mindy and Frank!  

I thought the scene with Suzanne Deveraux and Roger in July 91 wasn't done that well. It's supposed to be some mystery woman in bed with Roger. Roger might as well be talking to himself as she said nothing. No chemistry at all. That character just disappeared after Daniel is killed.  Dumb and wasted character.

Well, Suzanne is pretty much a throw away character. the surprise was more about the fact that she was working for Ross, and that Roger had place her there. 

I will say, watching some of the latter half of '88, Mindy is maturing with Krista in the role. And maybe it's just the era, but I'm surprised how much I'm hearing Billy's name and little updates on him. We've all experienced the family member who left town, rarely to be mentioned again *coughTrishLewiscough* 

Ugh...Frank is like a chemistry free zone.

1 minute ago, P.J. said:

Frank is like a chemistry free zone.

Yet Frank Dicopolous was employed for 22 years.

13 hours ago, DeeVee said:

Reva? GL's perpetual love goddess?

NEVER! 😂

Right? As soon as Reva even thought about jumping ship, the next man was already drooling over her. 

4 minutes ago, kalbir said:

Yet Frank Dicopolous was employed for 22 years.

Didn't say he wasn't lucky...and sometimes it's better being lucky than a chem magnet. No need to be fired if the actress playing your significant other decided to leave.

10 hours ago, Mitch64 said:

I don't know how to write yet another woman in Alan's past..but it would work much better then that dumb nun story!

Oh, come on, it would be easy. The guy rarely kept his pants zipped, LOL.

Since he's a Spaulding and she's a Reardon, they both grew up in Springfield. Different parts of Springfield, but wouldn't be the first time a rich boy and poor girl got together. They might have even crossed paths while growing up because of their fathers being connected through that yearly fishing trip.

24 minutes ago, kalbir said:

Yet Frank Dicopolous was employed for 22 years.

He's not the only one whose long-term employment on the show is a mystery. Still can't understand how Ron Raines lasted 15 years. I'm sure he's a lovely person but he was a snore as Alan.

And don't get me wrong, I love Tina Sloan, but of all the characters on the show, Lillian is the last I would have picked to stay over 2 decades.

Edited July 18Jul 18 by DeeVee

34 minutes ago, P.J. said:

Didn't say he wasn't lucky...and sometimes it's better being lucky than a chem magnet. No need to be fired if the actress playing your significant other decided to leave.

I do think Frank had chemistry with Melina and Sherry. Not so much after that, but I guess he was willing to take a low salary and do as told. 

32 minutes ago, DeeVee said:

 

Since he's a Spaulding and she's a Reardon, they both grew up in Springfield. 

He's not the only one whose long-term employment on the show is a mystery. Still can't understand how Ron Raines lasted 15 years. I'm sure he's a lovely person but he was a snore as Alan.

And don't get me wrong, I love Tina Sloan, but of all the characters on the show, Lillian is the last I would have picked to stay over 2 decades.

Alan didn't grow up in Springfield. Neither did Vanessa or Ross, at least when they all were introduced. They were all from Chicago. Even if their histories got muddied later on. 

10 minutes ago, DRW50 said:

I do think Frank had chemistry with Melina and Sherry.

Frank mentioned in a Locher Room interview that he and Melina were good friends before she was cast. Their families were close, I think he said. Might explain a little why they vibed on screen. Sherry had chemistry with everyone. 

12 minutes ago, DRW50 said:

I do think Frank had chemistry with Melina and Sherry. Not so much after that, but I guess he was willing to take a low salary and do as told. 

Frank was a dependable, solid presence in town. If you needed a guy to date someone who turned out to be a psycho...there was Frank. Or be the "nice" guy who'd take the freshly single broken-hearted girl on a date...there was Frank. Or even if Vanessa needed to flirt with some side of beef to make Billy jealous....there was Frank (and it's funny as hell.)

1 minute ago, P.J. said:

Alan didn't grow up in Springfield. Neither did Vanessa or Ross, at least when they all were introduced. They were all from Chicago. Even if their histories got muddied later on. 

Yes, you are correct. However, this was retconned later on. There was a scene in an episode recently uploaded where Henry mentioned that Vanessa and Ross grew up in Springfield. When Ross dated Calla, they mentioned they were high school sweethearts.

The Barbados storyline revealed that Alan was born in Springfield on Founder's Day.

I mean, it kind of makes sense why they did this. With the reduced Bauer family and the invasion from Tulsa, for a while the Reardons were almost the only native Springfield core family.

43 minutes ago, DeeVee said:

And don't get me wrong, I love Tina Sloan, but of all the characters on the show, Lillian is the last I would have picked to stay over 2 decades.

One of the claims I heard was that Tina didn't really ask for much salary as she was very wealthy in real life. That would make sense to me as otherwise I think she would have been let go at some point between 93-97 (and probably banished around the Conboy or Wheeler eras to a few appearances a year).

4 minutes ago, DRW50 said:

One of the claims I heard was that Tina didn't really ask for much salary as she was very wealthy in real life.

Yes, I heard that, too. She's like Upper East Side NYC rich, like Charlotte on Sex and the City. But apparently she doesn't just sit back and live off her riches. Along with acting, she's also a writer who has published a bunch of books. Lady likes to keep busy!

3 hours ago, kalbir said:

What blog?

There are some GL-related SOD articles I've been trying to find online but no luck so far.

I found scans of very old articles that basically covered whole episodes on a blog on Tumblr. I haven't been on Tumblr in several decades!  There was one where they talk about how Holly refused to give Christina the broach (owned by his deceased Mother) Roger got for a gift.  I guess Christina was 2 at the time. Poor Roger!

Holly didn't want Roger as part of Christina's life and wanted back with Ed (I don't get why).

I think I found the 'picture' of Jordan Clarke as that Dr, and it is just a very small pic of the actor himself and talked about his background. 

There was also a scan with a nice picture of Michael Zaslow in 1975 and talked about his wedding at the house in Connecticut.  It mentioned that Charita went to the wedding. 

Here is the link to the blog Afternoon TV Stars - November 1975 - The Guiding Light – @vintagesoaparchives on Tumblr

Edited July 18Jul 18 by MLH

@MLH Thank you for the link.

I’m up to March 28, 1997.

Ross moves out and then delivers Blake divorce papers, which is so heartbreaking as she breaks down again. Ross starts to pay attention more to his own son, which is mean but understandable at first. Ross and Rick start to fight about immunizing the twins and their overall care. Meanwhile, Abby moves into Reva’s house for now, and Rick brings her mother Charlotte to see Abby. Charlotte is kind and considerate for once, but Abby decides to stay in Springfield for now. Rick vows not to give up on Abby.

Dinah and Hart have temporarily separated after their big blowout over her Parisian friends visiting and partying. Dinah and Matt support each other and spend time bonding over losing their loved ones, and they spend an entire episode watching Matt/Vanessa’s wedding video and home movies. Meanwhile, Vanessa has a breakthrough in Lucerne and can see light again!

J is taking art and camera classes and taking it very seriously (again, he’s now a more mature version). Their class is going to photograph a nude female model, who happens to be Michelle (what??). Thankfully she got nervous and ran out of the room before she disrobed. They keep talking about Michelle and Dahlia being in high school, but everything this show does screams inappropriate for high schoolers haha. There is no way a university would allow an underage high school teen to pose as a nude model. Michelle’s mom is dead, her father moved to Africa, and her caretaker uncle is a busy doctor who is wildly busy with his own personal life. I guess Michelle has a random Aunt Meta that she just met, but it’s wild to me that Michelle is left to essentially fend for herself while she’s 16-17 years old.

Dahlia tells Marcus she loves him. *Yawn*

Alan gets angry at Buzz, so he spills the secret that Jenna left Springfield pregnant and that Buzz is the father. Buzz doesn’t believe him, so he confronts Jenna and she tells him the truth, which was pretty touching. He is upset but eventually accepts it and wants to be a good father to Cooper.

Amanda is starting to get jealous of Holly and there is a little rivalry brewing, which is amusing.  Meanwhile, Annie gets upset when she hears that Josh went to Chicago to help Reva find her sister. She throws something and breaks Brandon Spaulding’s bust, which happens to be holding a secret birth certificate that Alex has been hiding. As the maid is cleaning up debris, Roger stops her and finds the birth certificate, which shows Brandon and a Jennifer Richards as being parents to Amanda Jennifer Spaulding.  Roger then shows Amanda, who is completely shocked. As am I! So that means Alan isn’t her father, he’s actually her brother! Amanda is very angry and threatens Alex, now her sister (not aunt), to leave Springfield to maintain some semblance of a life, or stay and face her wraith because she is now on a warpath. Without a word, Alex walks out the door. Later, everyone is wondering where Alex went because they can’t find her and she isn’t showing up to appointments. Meanwhile, Roger/Leo tell Amanda she’s entitled to half of everything Brandon owned. She then angrily tells Alan the truth, which Holly overhears. Alan is in disbelief, but doesn’t hold anything against Amanda, which surprises her. Meanwhile, Alex comes back to town and confronts Alan, who now wants nothing to do with her ever again. “You are dead to me!” Phillip consoles a heartbroken Alex. Alex leaves town (March 25), and I’ll miss Dusay so much. Alan continues to suck.

Billy calls and tells Annie that HB is ill and had a heart attack, which allows her to get Josh back home and away from Reva (her plan to send her on a wild goose chase was failing because Josh ended up helping Reva find her sister). Annie’s plan led Reva to a cemetery with a Dutton headstone, which they’re telling her was Reva’s sister’s foster family. Reva unravels a bit here. Reva comes back to Springfield upon the news of HB’s heart attack and sees Annie wearing a copy of her mother/sister’s cameo, and now Reva is concerned that Annie is her long lost sister LOL.

I find it odd that Josh and Billy refer to HB as HB and not dad/father, but maybe that was normal for them. Anyway, loved seeing all the flashbacks - Reva/HB, Billy/HB, Josh/HB.

March 6 - the opening theme cuts out all the character shots and just leave a shortened version of lighthouse. How disappointing.