9 minutes ago, Maxim said:

Today I learned that Megan McTavish played a role on this show called Lola. Ha!

GUIDING LIGHT-- A Terrible Thing to Waste, part 10

Lola was one of those characters that just hung around. I think she'd made friends with Amanda when they were in jail together. There's a moment at Quint and Nola's reception where she must've told Billy he had a call, and she's hanging in the doorway like she doesn't trust him being in the Reardon kitchen. He tells her to save him a dance and she kind of rolls her eyes at the BS charm and leaves. LOL.

She's mostly known for wearing hot pants.

11 hours ago, P.J. said:

And at the time in '83 when Trish steps into Spaulding, Alan and Vanessa are on the outs.

That's normally where a soap romance begins, LOL. And didn't he start pursuing her after he briefly put her in charge of Spaulding with the intention of proving she was incapable? When he came back it was humming along just great even though he had people trying to sabotage her. So he decided to marry her, both because he thought they were well suited to each other without having to bother too much with romance, and it would diminish any chance of her getting too much power at Spaulding.

It's really a shame CB left in '84. Except for the stupid Dreaming Death thing there were a lot of good story possibilities in place.

Maybe that's also why the Ross/Trish thing petered out...maybe if he had stayed, that would have gone on.

6 hours ago, Maxim said:

Today I learned that Megan McTavish played a role on this show called Lola. Ha!

Oh, yeah, that mouthy woman who was always hanging around Company and even ended up being the bartender for a while.

One of the most annoying characters GL ever had. 😂

I’m up to August 31, 1998.

Jesse is starting to play poker more often now with Bill and his friends, and he starts to win some money. Drew is working with a guy named Mick and is secretly trying to get him to lose, in hopes that he’ll have to lean on her more to get his drawings into more art studios for money. Jesse tells Michelle he’s getting a new apartment and wants to take her to a fancy dinner at the Towers, but she gets suspicious about all this new money he has.

Rick secretly does bloodwork with Kevin at the hospital and does a paternity test. With Abby, he reads the results and breaks down because Kevin isn’t his son. This was a great performance by O’Leary; so very sad. Ross and Blake, however, have conceded and want to proceed with Rick getting more custody over Kevin because they don’t want to lose him completely. Rick suggests they draw up papers allowing him to always be the father regardless of biological tests, which Ross agrees to, but when Abby enters the room, Rick finally tells Ross the truth - he’s Kevin’s real father. Ross is conflicted with emotion and ultimately asks Rick to still be part of Kevin’s life because he’s been an important figure so far, which was sweet to see. I’ll say, Rick accepted this very quickly; I’m surprised they didn’t draw this out for a long time. At the same time, Ben is telling Blake the truth that Ross is his real father. Blake is ecstatic, but slaps him when he says he’s known the truth ever since Annie left town. She’s so disgusted at Ben that she says any guilt she had for liking him or accusing him of rape is gone and she hopes he rots in hell. He warns her that she’s never seen him as her enemy and she should be careful. After he leaves, Ross reunites with Blake and they revel in the truth. Holly stops by and they tell her too and they’re all happy, but still stunned. Holly tells them she went to her first AA meeting, which makes them happy. Holly leaves, but she takes another sip from her flask and tells herself she isn’t an alcoholic.

Vivian hosts a dinner to suck up to the Spauldings. She wants to bring David and Vicky together in hopes they’ll start dating, but Vicky brings Griffin as her date which upsets both Vivian and Griffin. David yet again reminds his mother that he’s not interested in dating Vicky. At the party, Vanessa coldly requests that Vicky start her career at Spaulding as her assistant (so Alan/Vanessa can keep a close eye on her). As Vicky and Griffin are dancing, she accidentally breaks a necklace and breaks down, saying it was from her mother who is dead. She had no siblings that she knew of, so she’s now all alone. She and Griffin then kiss, with David watching from the side.

The Coopers host a party at the firehouse to welcome Frank’s new partner, Teri, to town. We finally get to see Eleni after several months of being offscreen, but it’s still very brief. Marina has also aged a bit now. Teri notices Harley’s engagement ring and mentions she was once engaged, but it didn’t work out. Drew shows up (Jesse is there, because he’s friends with Buzz), and Selena clocks her for trying to flirt with Jesse. Drew calls her a hooker (because she’s a former prostitute) and Selena almost decks her before she’s stopped. Teri leaves the party and thanks everyone, and Selena makes it known to Harley that she doesn’t trust her or women cops, which seems ominous. The next day at the diner, Eleni starts to seem a little jealous of Teri and Frank working so much together, and voices her concerns to Selena.

While Vanessa and the Spauldings are all at their respective parties, Beth is alone and Matt comes to show her his sketches of the playhouse he’s building for Lizzie. They have a glass of wine and discuss life, but Matt accidentally spills his wine on himself when his watch alarm goes off and Beth tries to help dry him off just as Vanessa and Alan walk in from their party. I have to say, Matt and Beth have very awkward chemistry, but I guess they’re testing it out. So far, it isn’t working for me. Vanessa seems unbothered by it at first, but as Beth is trying to make things better, she makes a comment that she’s only old enough to be Vanessa’s daughter. Later at home, Matt ribs Vanessa and claims she’s a bit jealous which turns him on. That age line really upset Vanessa though, but they end up kissing and enjoying their evening.

Ben goes to Beth and tells him everything that happened with Blake. He’s upset and realizes he messed up and Blake will never love him. He wants to bury his pain by sleeping with Beth, but when he tries to forcefully kiss her, she keeps yelling no and pushes him off. He apologizes and they move through it, but he tells her how Annie told him about Kevin’s real father and she reacts the same as Blake - very upset with Ben for holding that information. He then asks Beth to tell him everything she knows about Blake’s checkered path and all the men she’s slept with in SF, because he’s gearing up to take her down (gross). Later, because Frank and Teri are still investigating Ben’s rape charge, Ben threatens Frank about going public with his sexual past with Blake. Teri then warns Eleni about what Ben is planning and Eleni, not being worried about it, tells Frank she knows and wants to help him beat Ben.

Later at home, Ross takes some videotapes back to the video store and Blake realizes the tape of her and Ben was in the stack, so she freaks out. Holly tries to get the tape back, but someone has already rented and bought it, and we then see a faceless man open the tape at their home and play it. The mysterious man later calls Ben’s office and cryptically tells him he has something that he would find very interesting.

Jenna and Harley visit Vanessa at her new office at Spaulding (with a new big set), and baby Maureen is there. Harley holds her and out of the blue starts to become upset and thinks back to the baby she gave up for adoption (Daisy, with Dylan). You’d think Harley would have felt this way with Lizzie, but anyway, they reassure her that she did the right thing by giving the baby up so she could live a better life than Harley could have given her at the time. Later at a Second Chances meeting at Blake’s house, Harley continues to be upset about her daughter’s birthday coming up and wondering if she had a nice life so far. Beth gives her a nasty dig about how at least she still has a daughter, even if she (Harley) blew up her marriage (ouch). Blake then becomes unhinged with the group, telling them about Ben’s plan to expose all the men she slept with in SF, which includes many of their partners in the room. Beth pushes her to tell the truth that Ben never raped her, which upsets the group.

Alan gets an email from Annie! The email says she’s surprised he still cares about her, but he needs to stop looking for her. She will be found when she wants to be found… interesting! He gets a second email later that says she’s considering returning, but it’ll take money. He tries to reply to her email later, but it says it was undeliverable. Later, Vicky arrives and tells Alan and Phillip that she’s moving into the Spaulding mansion. Phillip is mad and lashes out about it, but Harley gets him to rethink his feelings and Phillip apologizes to Vicky. Harley said she wishes someone from her family would show up and want to be with her (like Vicky is doing), and of course she’s talking about Daisy.

Later, Harley wants to have lunch with Lizzie, which happens to be the same day as Daisy’s birthday, and Beth tells Phillip she thinks Harley is trying to steal Lizzie and use her to replace her own daughter. She refuses to let Harley around Lizzie now and takes Lizzie on a quick vacation so she won’t be around.

Abby tries to comfort Rick and plans a romantic night for them, and tells him she’s ready to have a child. Rick is still sad and tells her that he just can’t move on that quickly.

The mysterious man with the tape then calls Blake and says he has the tape and she needs to meet him at the docks. Blake, still bound to a wheelchair, struggles and needs Meta’s help to get there. Ben shows up and she thinks he got the tape again, so he taunts her and makes her feel him up searching for it. He leaves and her wheelchair rolls off the docks out of control, but he comes back to save her.

Generally, I think this is pretty awful to change 1-2 years worth of storyline (the twins’ parentage) just to prop Ben’s storyline and Annie’s ultimate return.

Reva isn’t taking Dolly’s death well, and starts to lash out at Josh and can’t make love to him. She also wears Dolly’s wig and says she wants to feel what it was like to be in her shoes, which concerns Josh. Reva then sees Dolly’s spirit, who tells her basically to move on and she’ll be ok, so Reva finally comes to her senses and reconciles with Josh. Josh then takes her on a romantic trip to a cottage where HB and Martha honeymooned. We see someone is watching them from outside the window, hmm, could this be Annie? Ugh, come to find out, just a big man with a gun who says he owns the place and they’re trespassing, so they quickly leave and head back home. On the plan ride home, she has a throwaway line about being a grandma because of Dylan (which plants another seed for Daisy’s upcoming return).

Harley and David picked up a new client a few weeks ago who paid her $25K to do easy tasks, but come to find out through Holly’s research, this person doesn’t exist and now she’s concerned about what’s going on. She later gets a fruit basket delivered to her home with a nursery rhyme note (A-Tisket, A-Tasket) signed by the mystery client, Don Minyard, and then we see someone spying on Harley with a telescope. She eats an apple from the basket and we later see her collapsed on the floor unconscious, hmm!

1 minute ago, DeeVee said:

That's normally where a soap romance begins, LOL. And didn't he start pursuing her after he briefly put her in charge of Spaulding with the intention of proving she was incapable? When he came back it was humming along just great even though he had people trying to sabotage her. So he decided to marry her, both because he thought they were well suited to each other without having to bother too much with romance, and it would diminish any chance of her getting too much power at Spaulding.

It's really a shame CB left in '84. Except for the stupid Dreaming Death thing there were a lot of good story possibilities in place.

Maybe that's also why the Ross/Trish thing petered out...maybe if he had stayed, that would have gone on.

Oh, yeah, that mouthy woman who was always hanging around Company and even ended up being the bartender for a while.

One of the most annoying characters GL ever had. 😂

LOL...yeah, the fact Van hadn't tanked the company in the six weeks (or so) that he's gone seemed to impress him. He doesn't really pursue her though. Unless he's talking about it in scenes I normally skip through. He's too busy manipulating everyone like chess pieces---Ross/Trish and Reva as well as waiting for Billy/Van to implode. Unless complimenting her business acumen is his idea of foreplay--which admittedly just might be the case.

22 minutes ago, alwaysAMC said:

Vanessa seems unbothered by it at first, but as Beth is trying to make things better, she makes a comment that she’s only old enough to be Vanessa’s daughter.

I know soap ages are all over the place because of SORASing and de-aging, but what?

Beth is several years older than Dinah. Vanessa had Dinah when she was 17. She would have had to have been a pre-teen to make her Beth's mother.

Sure, they were using the age difference to cause issues between Van and Matt, but jeez, that's going a bit far.

27 minutes ago, alwaysAMC said:

Generally, I think this is pretty awful to change 1-2 years worth of storyline (the twins’ parentage) just to prop Ben’s storyline and Annie’s ultimate return.

This is one of my biggest gripes with soaps. Overturning established paternity seems to be a sport for them. (Amanda is another example on GL).

It's one thing when the audience is in on the secret from the beginning (like Marah being Josh's kid and not Kyle's). But to just say, "HEY, we were KIDDING!" is so mean and silly. And it rarely leads to anything much story-wise.

Honestly, I'm surprised they didn't come up with some wild tap dance to make Alan Phillip's biological father.

Edited November 22, 2025Nov 22 by DeeVee

19 minutes ago, DeeVee said:

I know soap ages are all over the place because of SORASing and de-aging, but what?

Beth is several years older than Dinah. Vanessa had Dinah when she was 17. She would have had to have been a pre-teen to make her Beth's mother.

Sure, they were using the age difference to cause issues between Van and Matt, but jeez, that's going a bit far.

This is one of my biggest gripes with soaps. Overturning established paternity seems to be a sport for them. (Amanda is another example on GL).

It's one thing when the audience is in on the secret from the beginning (like Marah being Josh's kid and not Kyle's). But to just say, "HEY, we were KIDDING!" is so mean and silly. And it rarely leads to anything much story-wise.

Honestly, I'm surprised they didn't come up with some wild tap dance to make Alan Phillip's biological father.

Haha, I didn't know how old Beth really was, but I assumed it was a cheap shot for sure and didn't make sense. Vanessa really didn't like it though LOL.

I totally agree with you on the paternity thing. To change history for a quick, silly plot point is just rude. You invest in months or years of story and then it just changes on a dime because they think it's cute... no thanks. If we're in on it from the beginning, then that works.

1 hour ago, DeeVee said:

I know soap ages are all over the place because of SORASing and de-aging, but what?

Beth is several years older than Dinah. Vanessa had Dinah when she was 17. She would have had to have been a pre-teen to make her Beth's mother.

Sure, they were using the age difference to cause issues between Van and Matt, but jeez, that's going a bit far.

Well, I've also seen (in some sketchy bios) that Vanessa was supposedly 25yrs older than ****, which is beyond ridiculous. While Van's age was probably tweaked downward with the Dinah reveal, **** is supposed to be older than Dinah.

It's all meant to be a crack on Vanessa's age, but at least with Beth's comment I kinda get where that came from. Beth and Mindy are the same age, and Van was a mother figure to Mindy.

Ugh...I so hate ****.

10 hours ago, DRW50 said:

GUIDING LIGHT-- A Terrible Thing to Waste, part 10

WOW! Thank you!!!! She's kind of adorable... and that outfit/body language - foreshadows her future career IMO. Such a bossy, head-of-something vibe.

THIS should definitely be the cover of her unfinished memoir!

3 hours ago, DeeVee said:

Oh, yeah, that mouthy woman who was always hanging around Company and even ended up being the bartender for a while.

One of the most annoying characters GL ever had. 😂

She is always in the MOST list of things.❤️ Hahahhaha.

Thanks so much @SoapDope78 ! Sometimes I forget just how far Holly stayed into 1980 (her exit may be in some of the Christmas episodes that were or are around). Those little changing of the guard moments are what I enjoy on soaps and we get one, sort of, when Holly and Nola are in the same shot (Nola rolling her eyes no less).

I can't get over Nola talking to Kevin Bacon. :) And about Rita's infamous party, no less!

Then there's Ross, mustache-twirling as he maneuvers Amanda into his web....

9 minutes ago, DRW50 said:

Thanks so much @SoapDope78 ! Sometimes I forget just how far Holly stayed into 1980

The following week (November 24-28, 1980) was Holly departure. A recap of that week is here

Edited November 24, 2025Nov 24 by kalbir

Thanks for reminding me @kalbir . It all blurs for me.