Guiding Light Discussion Thread

[NothinButAttitude]

 

Bill Bauer had another that was Hillary's brother? I gotta go read up on that. Makes no sense why they never brought him. 

 

I do think that tying Johnny to Trudy would've been the most sensible seeing as the character wasn't seen in decades. Her history was practically a blank canvas that could've been filled in with anything. That's something I just don't get with writers. Instead of creating all these new characters out of nowhere, why not use an old character that hasn't been on the canvas for decades and tie a new, young character to them? 

 

So seeing as you didn't care for Johnny that much, I am guessing you weren't keen on his pairing with Roxie either? I know a lot of people on another forum I used to post on used to go on about them like they were some great romance. 

[KateW]

20 years ago this month:

 

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From recaps I found online, the exact airdate was either June 19 or June 20.

[vetsoapfan]

 

Not tying new people to characters from the past can only be explained if TPTB are ignorant of history, and don't do any research.

 

As for Roxie, I loathed all things Shayne. I hated Reva, Hawk, Minnie Pearl (errr, Sarah), Roxie and Rusty with a passion. I did not want them on the show at all, so Roxie's story with Johnny was a turn-off for me.

[NothinButAttitude]

 

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I'm find out more and more each day on this board that so many people hated the Shayne clan with a deadly passion. I didn't mind them (as I love Reva), but even I have to admit from the time I started watching (the early 90s) to the end of the show that upon the time KZ returned to the show that her clan ate up the show. 

[robbwolff]

 

I recall reading an interview with Mary Stuart who said that she was slated to join GL in 1987 after the cancellation of Search for Tomorrow. She was supposed to play the role of Hannah Bauer. Like Jack, Lainie, and their kids, Hannah (to my knowledge) had never been mentioned before. I wonder if Hannah was going to be Johnny's mother originally.

[victoria foxton]

Kurt. Roxie, Kyle, Maeve, Jessie, Calla,  Miss Sally and Johnny were all duds that ate up airtime. GL had been badly gutted of their best characters. 

Edited June 17, 2017 by victoria foxton

[vetsoapfan]

 

I might (MIGHT) have been able to tolerate Reva in small doses, but once she and her loudmouthed, abrasive, and irritating family began to eat up the show, my initial distaste for the Shaynes grew to abject and utter loathing. The asinine, cretinously-stupid stories given to Reva in later years (the ghost, the clone, the time traveling} truly destroyed any remnants of the "real" Guiding Light, which had always been predicated on recognizable human interaction and family drama. I NEVER would have authorized Zimmer's return to the show after the character had been killed off. Her absence allowed TGL to temporarily feel as if it could be saved.

 

 

Right. Hanna Bauer was never part of the TGL's history and canon, and could not have realistically been part of "our" Bauer family. The show did not offer her the obvious role of Trudy Bauer, which would have made the most sense. Viewers always appreciated the likes of Pat Falken Smith, Douglas Marland, Harding Lemay, etc., at least in part because they studied, used, and added to their shows' histories. TGL was never lucky enough to have a writer do that in its final 15 years or so.

Edited June 17, 2017 by vetsoapfan

[vetsoapfan]

 

Sad, but true. In the early 1980s, I watched in horror as the show killed off Bill Bauer (again!) for the sake of a dreadful and meaningless story, and then went on a rampage, eliminating Hillary Bauer, Mike Bauer, Hope Bauer, Sarah McIntyre, Justin Marler, Kelly Nelson, Amanda Spaulding, etc., etc.. etc. At the time, producer Gail Kobe pontificated about getting rid of the show's "dead wood," but that asinine comment was akin to a new Star Trek producer announcing that they would eliminate the Enterprise's "dead wood": Kirk, Spock, Bones, Uhura, and Scotty. TGL fans were furious, particular because so many of the characters who replaced our favorites were badly written and forgettable.

[AArredondo02]

Excessive SORAS hurt GL in the long run. In hindsight, Don Stewart and Mart Hulswit should have been older Bauer cousins, and Tom O'Rourke and Jerry Ver Dorn should have been Justin and Ross Bauer, Bill and Bert's sons, instead of Marlers.

 

[NothinButAttitude]

 

I've always felt that Reva wouldn't've been a big problem if she had ambitions and was rooted a bit more to reality. I think that the closest she's been to that was about when Reva was on her own and trying to find herself after nearly committing suicide. It was refreshing to see her try and piece her life back together with help from Roxie and Fletcher, and she was working as writer then. Sadly, it all got tossed out the window and Reva started chasing Kyle again and later Josh. 

 

All of Reva's stories consisted of her chasing a man. We never saw the career ambition and drive that the women on the show had. I guess that is why I am loving the early 90 episodes of GL b/c ALL the women had drive and didn't allow men consume their every being. That's why Holly, Gilly, and Vanessa have always been my faves on GL. 

 

 

I doubt that Ed and Mike being SORASed had any part of hurting the show as Don and Mart were (and still are) well-received by fans. Nothing is wrong with SORASing when it is done correctly. Ed and Mike were done correctly. 

[NothinButAttitude]

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 at Bridget pushing that poor woman in the wheelchair off into a passing orderly's arm. She had me rolling too over how she kept snatching that hat off her head despite Lillian telling her to wear it. I just enjoy her and Kat together. This is a friendship, a sisterhood on soaps that seriously needs to be duplicated. We rarely see anything like it nowadays.

 

While I don't generally care for stories about women moaning about wanting kids, I do when it comes to Maureen. Nancy Curlee did it in a way where I felt for Maureen and it wasn't overkill. I was touched watching Ed feel saddened as Dr. Sedgewick and Maureen discussed her options about having a baby. 

 

Dylan is so damn hot. IDC what anyone says. Morgan Englund is sex on a stick. I'm right alongside Bridget in lusting after him. If I were Eleni, I would've mounted him in that truck.  Screw driving lessons. We'd be having other lessons. 

 

 

[BetterForgotten]

I wonder how things would have netted out with Bridget and Kat had Curlee and team been allowed to do the Bridget/David relationship they wanted. I liked Kat/David, but always felt that David was weirdly Bridget's soulmate (even if they never became romantic). 

 

David doesn't show up for another year or so, so definitely interesting to see how he's introduced to Bridget/Kat (as I can't for the life of me remember his introduction). 

Edited June 18, 2017 by BetterForgotten

[NothinButAttitude]

 

Wasn't he introduced having something to do someone's wallet being stolen? Was it Roger or Ross...? Or maybe that was another character on another soap. 

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But I would've never liked Bridget/David being together. I always enjoyed the fact that they were simply friends and nothing more. I'm glad that Curlee was halted with this decision. Their friendship was more powerful than anything. Especially, that scene when Bridget runs into David's arms at the courthouse when he's found not guilty for killing Vinnie (aka the future Nick on Another World). 

 

Let me go watch that scene right now. 

[BetterForgotten]

David also helped Bridget deliver Peter, and I don't think I've seen those episodes since they aired (were they ever on YouTube?). Bridget/David just had a really great bond that I don't think the characters ever really shared with anyone else. 

 

Patrick Mulcahey later tried to pair them as well after Curlee left and he was Co-HW with like 100 other people - he later said that was the exact reason he quit the show because CBS/P&G just wouldn't allow them do an interracial relationship. 

[NothinButAttitude]

 

Oh wow. P&G lost a stellar writer in Patrick Mulcahey, but I didn't want Bridget/David together as I always felt they had a sibling relationship if anything. 

 

I am over here crying over the scene of David being cleared. 

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This scene is so powerful and relevant today. Sadly, we'll never get something like this on daytime today. Guiding Light at its best was truly ahead of its time.