1987/1988 seems to be an extremely bad era for GL. 1987 had Vanessa and India. exiting, the introduction of bland Johnny, the art scam, the whole Paul Valere murder mess (warren, really??), Alex and HB dating,  and the oh so dull Fletcher/Maeve combo. ‘88 brings even more ridiculousness-Johnny’s cancer/miraculous recovery, the Rose/Rusty story, George/Cam drug saga, and Alan/Reva. The Sonni/Solida story has promise but gets murky-(was she  Solita all along? A multiple personality or both?)Mindy seems adrift—they just throw Will at her at one point. Alan-Michael/Harley sounds good, but they seem to throw Phillip into the mix as a spoiler (the less said about him and Chelsea , the better).

On 7/21/2025 at 10:57 AM, vetsoapfan said:

I found Jerry ver Dorn a lot cuter, TBH. And Michael Zaslow in his prime was a helluva lot sexier. WOOF!

Amen, lol!!

4 hours ago, VelekaCarruthers said:

The best plot for Rusty would have been one where he comes out of the closet and everyone kicks themselves for not realizing he was gay with those tight Levis and no undies all those years in Tulsa.  Now that would have been a great plot for the Shaynes.

I always thought Reva should have a gay brother, or son, who would be as man hungry as she was.  It would never happen at that time or with P & G...(didnt that boring Nuke on ATWT never kiss???) but how hilarious it would be and set TV's across the south and midwest on fire... Promo voice over "Look out...there's a NEW slut in Springfield!" and then show Rusty eyeing up Phillip's banana hammock!

2 minutes ago, Mitch64 said:

I always thought Reva should have a gay brother, or son, who would be as man hungry as she was.  It would never happen at that time or with P & G...(didnt that boring Nuke on ATWT never kiss???) but how hilarious it would be and set TV's across the south and midwest on fire... Promo voice over "Look out...there's a NEW slut in Springfield!" and then show Rusty eyeing up Phillip's banana hammock!

LOL - would have loved to see this, but you're right, never would have happened back then. Great idea though. So I've met Rusty twice now - once for Sarah's death and again when helping Reva figure out if Annie is really her sister or not. Looking good in both  

1 hour ago, Matt Powers said:

1987/1988 seems to be an extremely bad era for GL. 1987 had Vanessa and India. exiting, the introduction of bland Johnny, the art scam, the whole Paul Valere murder mess (warren, really??), Alex and HB dating,  and the oh so dull Fletcher/Maeve combo. ‘88 brings even more ridiculousness-Johnny’s cancer/miraculous recovery, the Rose/Rusty story, George/Cam drug saga, and Alan/Reva. The Sonni/Solida story has promise but gets murky-(was she  Solita all along? A multiple personality or both?)Mindy seems adrift—they just throw Will at her at one point. Alan-Michael/Harley sounds good, but they seem to throw Phillip into the mix as a spoiler (the less said about him and Chelsea , the better).

Joe Willmore was EP and he was awful. He wasn’t as bad as GL show killer Ellen Wheeler in the line of GL EP’s but he’s right up there. 

Edited July 28Jul 28 by TEdgeofNight

In my forum on FB I have an album with 115 pix of Beverlee. 

https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=oa.1690340338280129&type=3

   

     

     

And just 2 more ... 

14 hours ago, DeeVee said:

Someone mentioned earlier Claire's brother. When Michelle was born, they were going to name her Samantha after Claire's brother Sam. Claire changed her mind and put "Bertha Bauer Ramsey" on the birth certificate. Then Fletcher started calling her B. B. (or Bibi, or Bebe, don't ask me). Then suddenly Claire was telling everyone to call the baby Michelle.

Thank you! I have recollections of Claire's brother being named Sam, though I've seen a few websites refer to him as Jimmy. 

14 hours ago, DeeVee said:

Someone mentioned earlier Claire's brother. When Michelle was born, they were going to name her Samantha after Claire's brother Sam. Claire changed her mind and put "Bertha Bauer Ramsey" on the birth certificate. Then Fletcher started calling her B. B. (or Bibi, or Bebe, don't ask me). Then suddenly Claire was telling everyone to call the baby Michelle.

I don't remember that but I do remember the very strange B.B. Ramsey name. It was even stranger than you recall. Michelle was originally named "Berta Bauer Ramsey". Not even the correct name "Bertha" was used. I never understood that. The naming of that baby was just weird all the way around. I'm glad Claire changed the name to Michelle. 

@Contessa Donatella Awesome pictures! It seemed like there aren't any pictures of the year she left. 

In reading up on Guiding Light I saw Holly had a brother named Andy. He was written out. Anyone remember him?

Who is Samantha Marker named after?

 

Edited July 28Jul 28 by MLH

2 hours ago, Matt Powers said:

1987/1988 seems to be an extremely bad era for GL. 1987 had Vanessa and India. exiting, the introduction of bland Johnny, the art scam, the whole Paul Valere murder mess (warren, really??), Alex and HB dating,  and the oh so dull Fletcher/Maeve combo. ‘88 brings even more ridiculousness-Johnny’s cancer/miraculous recovery, the Rose/Rusty story, George/Cam drug saga, and Alan/Reva. The Sonni/Solida story has promise but gets murky-(was she  Solita all along? A multiple personality or both?)Mindy seems adrift—they just throw Will at her at one point. Alan-Michael/Harley sounds good, but they seem to throw Phillip into the mix as a spoiler (the less said about him and Chelsea , the better).

Not going to disagree on any of this, but 1988 was a year with some major upheavals. Bernau's exit, a long writers strike, then after Long & Co. returned they had to find a way to insert Roger into the story. So I give them a little bit of a break for 88. (There is no excuse for the mess that was 87, though).

I was just thinking while watching Reva and Josh investigating Sonni in Venezuela that Sonni and Roger had BOTH survived a fall off a cliff. Too bad Forbes left, it's like they were made for each other. 😂

9 minutes ago, MLH said:

In reading up on Guiding Light I saw Holly had a brother named Andy. He was written out. Anyone remember him?

Andy came back to SF in 1980 or 1981, I think? He was introduced just before Trish Lewis, who followed him to SF because she was his estranged wife.

Andy had the appearance of a golden boy, charming, handsome, affable. He got close to Alan by proposing writing a biography about him.

In reality he was a creep in every possible way. He abused Trish, did the same to Katie, who he dated for a while, and was blackmailing half of SF, it seems, including Alan. I think he broke into Sarah's office to get dirt on people. When Alan and Hope separated, he ingratiated himself with her, possibly hoping he could marry her after she got a divorce settlement from Alan.

He was eventually caught and sent to prison. His reign of villainy was fairly short. I think they were hoping to make him into a Roger-like villain, but he never really clicked.

 

1 hour ago, DeeVee said:

Andy came back to SF in 1980 or 1981, I think? He was introduced just before Trish Lewis, who followed him to SF because she was his estranged wife.

Andy had the appearance of a golden boy, charming, handsome, affable. He got close to Alan by proposing writing a biography about him.

In reality he was a creep in every possible way. He abused Trish, did the same to Katie, who he dated for a while, and was blackmailing half of SF, it seems, including Alan. I think he broke into Sarah's office to get dirt on people. When Alan and Hope separated, he ingratiated himself with her, possibly hoping he could marry her after she got a divorce settlement from Alan.

He was eventually caught and sent to prison. His reign of villainy was fairly short. I think they were hoping to make him into a Roger-like villain, but he never really clicked.

 

Seems that all of Holly's family was written out!  Such a shame.  

In fact, instead of Hart, it should have been Bill to return. But, I guess there would have been too many Bill/Billys around!

1 hour ago, DeeVee said:

Not going to disagree on any of this, but 1988 was a year with some major upheavals. Bernau's exit, a long writers strike, then after Long & Co. returned they had to find a way to insert Roger into the story. So I give them a little bit of a break for 88. (There is no excuse for the mess that was 87, though).

I was just thinking while watching Reva and Josh investigating Sonni in Venezuela that Sonni and Roger had BOTH survived a fall off a cliff. Too bad Forbes left, it's like they were made for each other. 😂

You have to watch July 3 or July 5 in 1989 of Roger and Sonni first meeting and their date on July 4th!  Neither were at the Bauer party.  It's pure gold!

Ewww at them even thinking of Frank kissing Samantha.  Poor Dylan ended up having to be the older man. LOL

Henry being a hypocrite as usual.

Who were the older couple at the BBQ?  Seemed like they were just ignored by everyone. Not the best Bauer BBQ to me. 

Edited July 28Jul 28 by MLH

1 hour ago, MLH said:

@Contessa Donatella Awesome pictures! It seemed like there aren't any pictures of the year she left. 

In reading up on Guiding Light I saw Holly had a brother named Andy. He was written out. Anyone remember him?

Who is Samantha Marker named after?

 

I'm sure there are pictures of her last time at GL because there are so many pictures available of her. That Weekly cover would be the disputed storyline, with the conflict between her over Nick's romantic relationship with Mindy, for example, so that is from that time period. 

I think 1986's GL is way worse than 1988. I'm not suggesting 1988 was a masterpiece, but 1986 was such a disaster (from what I've seen). It was rough getting through some of the 1986 episodes. I eventually just stopped because life is too short and I was not enjoying the show. As dull as 1988 GL could be, there was always something that was catching my interest. 1986 GL rarely if ever had that.

The Sonni storyline might have been convoluted but I didn't care because Forbes was so fantastic in the role. It could have gone for another two years and I wouldn't have cared. The only boring parts for me were the Josh/Reva sections when Forbes were not in the story.  It was Reva's inclusion in the story that dragged down in the story for me. I think the problem is that I wanted Sonni to win so Reva was just a gnat getting in the way.