1 hour ago, Reverend Ruthledge said:

Hey P.J.

Yes, Peggy Scott became Peggy Fletcher after marrying Johnny Fletcher and then eventually married Roger Thorpe.

So, Johnny Fletcher then adopted little Billy Fletcher, who Roger later adored? Did Johnny Fletcher die?

43 minutes ago, P.J. said:

So, Johnny Fletcher then adopted little Billy Fletcher, who Roger later adored? Did Johnny Fletcher die?

Yes, Johnny adopted Billy. Johnny had a nervous breakdown, left Springfield and deserted Peggy and Billy (never to be heard from again). 

@Reverend Ruthledge May I ask you?  I've read about Holly being a stewardess when she was first introduced.  Is that factual, according to your memory, and was it referenced often?  Was it Stanley's company?  And, given that she didn't grow up in Stanley's house in Springfield, do we assume that Andy also didn't live there prior to coming to Springfield?

2 hours ago, j swift said:

@Reverend Ruthledge May I ask you?  I've read about Holly being a stewardess when she was first introduced.  Is that factual, according to your memory, and was it referenced often?  Was it Stanley's company?  And, given that she didn't grow up in Stanley's house in Springfield, do we assume that Andy also didn't live there prior to coming to Springfield?

Hey there. I'm sorry I can't answer your questions. I'm only up to 1969 in my reading. I'll have to get back to you on that when I get around to the early 70s. 

When Jackie (Scott) Marler and her father Emmett Scott were introduced the Dobsons were questioned as to whether they were related to Peggy, now going by her married name of Thorpe. 

They professed no knowledge that Peggy was a Scott, daughter of Ben and Maggie.

Or maybe it was pointed out and they didn't care, probably reasoning that it was a common enough surname.

Still wish that Billy Fletcher had been the Kelly Nelson character. Peggy was known to the audience, although her role had been diminished. She could have been there for Billy's intro 'handing' him over to Ed and Bert and hopefully Fran Myers would have agreed to return from time to time.

That continuity is something special to soaps.

Edited October 16Oct 16 by Paul Raven

Kim said she went in today for an ultrasound and everything is benign. Very happy for her.

Edited October 16Oct 16 by DRW50

38 minutes ago, DRW50 said:

Kim said she went in today for an ultrasound and everything is benign. Very happy for her.

Thank God! ❤️

On 10/15/2025 at 9:49 PM, P.J. said:

don't really seem to recall Guiding Light doing social issue stories. At least not in the way Marland's ATWT did. (which could get a little preachy, admittedly) Characters dealt with situations, (Bridget's teen pregnancy, Billy and Ed's alcoholism, Sam and Mallet's paralysis) but there's not a lot of focus on educating the audience. If this makes any sense...maybe I'm forgetting parts of the stories.

I always liked that about GL..they had people deal with issues just like they do in the real world, without a therapist showing up to spout about "there are 1.5 million teen pregnancies a year, most of them in people below the poverty level, leading to childhood malnourishment" such as Marland would stop a show to do...Info would come up, but it would seem more like real people focusing on their problem then a "social issue."

 

 

I hear what you're saying, and I suppose that it's not like GL veered away from incorporating current issues into their stories (yes, Bridget gets pregnant and realizes how much responsibility it is: Billy and Ed (well, Billy mostly) were always just a bad day away from taking a drink; even Olivia and Natalia's relationship (whatever one thinks of it).) 

And it's not like pushing a social issue story ultimately saved any soap. I just found it odd that I couldn't think of one. And even when they do try, like Meg having down's syndrome,  a retroactive transplant story with Jesse, Reva pulling the plug on Richard, or even how Springfield accepts Olivia/Natalia, they are so ham-handed  they usually fall flat. And it's not that CBS was afraid of okaying them---Y&R, ATWT and B&B all did some kind of AIDS story long before GL did. I mean, as much as I watch '89-'93, (at a point when Marland's ATWT was pretty vocal about safe-sex), the only reference I can think of regarding condoms was between Rick and Mindy, who's upset when she finds condoms and thinks Rick assumes they're having sex on a camping trip.

Not doing focused story labeled as "social issue", kind of gave them the option to chicken out and drop it.

Edited October 18Oct 18 by P.J.

On 10/17/2025 at 11:12 AM, Mitch64 said:

I always liked that about GL..they had people deal with issues just like they do in the real world, without a therapist showing up to spout about "there are 1.5 million teen pregnancies a year, most of them in people below the poverty level, leading to childhood malnourishment" such as Marland would stop a show to do...

Bill Bell did that on Y&R a lot too. They would have social issue stories that were basically a PSA. 

15 hours ago, P.J. said:

Not doing focused story labeled as "social issue", kind of gave them the option to chicken out and drop it.

That definitely deserves criticism. However...

Most "social issue" stories like the ones Marland and Bell did were pretty much entities on to themselves. What I mean is, they occupied a very small corner of the canvas. Often, characters would be introduced just for that purpose and shown the door once the point of the social issue story was made. 

Bell, for instance, would do a teen a pregnancy story and introduce a young girl for that purpose. There was one that in the early days of the show Chris was involved with. I think the girl was a runaway or something. Chris helped the girl and convinced her that putting up the baby for adoption was her best option. The girl gave birth, gave the kid up, then walked out of the hospital and off the show. The end.

Whereas Bridget was a member of a core family and her pregnancy and her child would impact many characters. 

The Roger/Holly rape story definitely was meant to be instructive. Laws making marital rape a crime were fairly new at the time. But instead of just making it about Roger and Holly, that story impacted almost everyone on the canvas. It generated story for years, even after Roger and Holly were written out of the show. And it continued after Roger and Holly returned a decade later. 

To me, those are the best kinds of stories.   

Like many of you have recommended, I reallllly wish I would go back and start 1989 and finish through to Feb 1995 where I started.... but sadly the Vault (where I watch the episodes, since the Blake Marler YT site is down), only has a handful of episodes. I need the full collection - I can't stand missing episodes and trying to fill in the blanks. I get FOMO.  It looks like all episodes are available starting Jan 1992, so I may start there once I finish through 1999. The Vault has been down for about a week, but I was on vacation and just got back. Hopefully it comes back online soon so I can start watching again  

Unless y'all know of another site out there with more episodes?  

Even before episodes were taken down, I hadn't found all of '89 up anywhere in English. 

AlwaysAMC - Based on what you said, you might want to start watching from January 1992 forward immediately.

IMO, watching 1999 isn't your priority here.  January 1992-February 1995 is.  Based on the vast history of the online universe, it's hardly guaranteed that you'll be able to see 1992 a few months from now.

January 1992 through September 1993 is a solid and sometimes excellent/astonishing period.  October 1993 through February 1995, while somewhat diminished, is considerably better than ANY of the crap that is 1999.

At no point in 1992 will you see any Reva or Buzz.  Imagine Springfield without those two, will ya?!  No ham-handed Me! Me! Me! crap.  

In fact, no Reva from August 1990 through the end of 1994.  Buzz shows up in January 1993.  Their absence is highly beneficial to the show.

 

 

I know I'll sound like a broken record, but I'd still start with '89. If episodes aren't available, at least there are SOD recaps available to augment. I know gaps are frustrating, but I'd watch as much of Alex/Roger as I could. That begins in '89. By '92, you're only going to see about 8 months of her.

@P.J. 1989 had the pivotal events of Roger return and Robert Calhoun becoming EP. Those events would lead to GL finally hitting its stride after some pretty bad years. 

1989-1991 Calhoun/Long/Curlee was GL's last golden era but unfortunately the ratings didn't reflect the quality of the show.