Guiding Light Discussion Thread

[Soapsuds]

John Bolger as Phillip....

 

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[DRW50]

 

Long overused her but I liked that she did try to make her a broader character on the canvas, like her friendship with Philip, or the later story where Roger took compromising photos of her. 

 

I'm still surprised we got that scene where she and Philip caught up when he came back from the dead. 

 

I got serious hag and gay bestie vibes from Kim and John Bolger's Philip, which makes me enjoy them together more. 

 

 

 

Edited April 11, 2020 by DRW50

[Vee]

In college I dreamed up a truly bizarre storyline involving the Marler twins and Carrie Todd (as played by Marcia Cross, who pre-DH back then was not getting much work). I won't repeat it bc it's archived here in my posts if you search. But yes, Holly would've become the lead heroine. I've always found Maureen Garrett fascinating.

 

I do think Reva was approaching the Britsoap archetype at times in the final years - they openly wrote her as a woman who was matter of fact about casually drinking and [!@#$%^&*], being over the hill. They may have intended it to run KZ down vs. Nicole Forester or something, who knows. But it and she worked day to day even when the stories didn't.

[antmunoz]

Mitch, I agree. However, GL did position Reva and Harley as the two female leads for many years. Their alternating GL openings with each of them at the beginning is proof of that.  I think Laura Wright’s Cassie was a strong third, but not Nicole Forester’s.  Were both (all three) characters better as complicated women rather than straightforward heroines?  Yes, of course, but every complex women on soaps eventually gets watered down, neutered. Any complexity in Reva or Harley was eventually down to the actresses. 
 

Contrast with Beth, who started as the most innocent of ingenues and eventually became a hot mess of repeat abuse victim, adulterer, conniver, kidnapper and so forth.  That forgotten daughter with Alan sealed her coffin for me.  Holly was always complex and fascinating, only sometimes a heroine. I choose to ignore her Stalker days.  I never saw Vanessa as a heroine, even in the Matessa years. 
 

The non-Reva years are awesome. GL was perhaps the best ensemble on daytime. Many other shows suffered without their central female lead (DAYS without Marlena and Hope, for example).  I don’t really like most of Reva’s post-return storylines. Amish. San Cristobel. Psychic Reva. Time-travelling Reva. Dolly. (I did like her with Pelphrey and I know that subject opens a whole ‘nother can of worms.)

 

But I’m glad to see some support of Zimmer. She gets a lot of bashing online, even ten years later. She’s not Ellen Wheeler, people. 
 

Now, in defense of Justin Deas...

Reva became her Mama. She wasn’t white fur-wearing Reva any longer. She wasn’t surburban Reva any more. She was never really Amish or a Princess. She became Sarah Shayne. As she should have. Life wore away all the artifice that Reva had built up over the years. Ultimately, she was a down-home gal who lived in places named Reva Bend and Cross Creek. She loved a cabin!  (Josh and Billy also became less jet set and more good ol’ boys towards the end as well.)

 

Reva would be the quintessential earth mama on GL 2020, advising and meddling in her kids’ and grandkids’ lives. It makes me sad to not be able watch Reva with Marah, Shayne, Dylan, Jonathan, Colin (although best forgotten), Henry, Sarah, Peter and any others that have come along since then. 
 

I just miss her. 

[antmunoz]

All this talk of Reva...and I’m missing her polar opposite, Holly, just as much. 

Here’s a great read on Holly Reade...

 

 

https://1000worlds.wordpress.com/2009/08/28/holly-woman-of-heart-and-mind/amp/

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[Mitch]

I like what you said about wearing down the artifice on Reva...I always felt Reva being "REVA"! was to hide that she still felt like the trashy daughter of a drunk and the Lewis maid..and was playing a part that men wanted to see her in..but then she was okay with being Reva Shayne.  I would never have had her with Jeffie..I would have had her on her own after Josh left, starting a business, (again, I think she would have made a great bar owner pouring drinks and getting into eveyone's business..) and then when Josh came back to her they took in long and slow, finally realizing its okay to be on her own as she said in the finale..."On my own? Being surrounded by family and friends and healing."  Or something like that.

 

I would have loved to have seen Reva with Bridget as a daughter in law! Peter in town and step granny Reva taking care of him..and Nola making guest appearances arguing with her over Peter. God,  I would be in gay 1984 heaven!

[BetterForgotten]

Vanessa would have also been in that mix!

[titan1978]

What a waste that they did not keep Bridget around.  She’s great.

 

I find it fascinating that Long kept Reva so central when I read that she and Zimmer were so antagonistic with each other.

[antmunoz]

Well, Kim was Reva AND Pam was Reva. They both fought for her, fiercely, but there was no personal animosity. Kim tells of one time when a network exec vomited at lunch during a fight between her and Pam. But they made up by the time the check came. LOL

[BetterForgotten]

Though, in a way, I'm glad he didn't come back as I'm sure he would have been wrecked by poor writing, but Peter was probably the most connected character on the show - connected to all the main families somehow (Reardons, Thorpes, Bauers, Lewis/Shaynes). Roger's grandson, Blake's nephew, Reva and Billy's step-grandson, Vanessa's semi-adopted child, Ed's niece's son (whatever that is), etc. 

[KMan101]

 

LOL.

 

I just didn't think she was yelling. I appreciate loud brashy women like Zimmer, Maura West, etc. Be who you are  

 

Looking forward to these! I love Alan Locher is going all in.

 

LOL at Ramsey, Rylan, Watros and Wright all on GH at the same time. I often forget, not sure why. I don't even think of Cassie or Annie when Laura/Cynthia share scenes.

 

More so looking forward to the 15th. 

 

I have to agree with this.

 

I hated Buzz's Guiding Light but Deas COULD be capable. 

[Aback]

 

She did mention Sebastian but she did not comment on the story per se.

 

What did MG say about Peapack?

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 I thought she was not part of the final episode?

[Gray Bunny]

 

Zimmer also said she didn't think her son was ready to portray something that complex and important. 

[vetsoapfan]

 

Maureen Garrett did not appear on the final episode. There were a lot of basically useless, irrelevant characters (IMHO) taking up precious air time, but NO Holly and NO Ed Bauer, the two longest-running characters on the canvas. It irked me to no end. Ed and Holly should have been part of the very last act of the show. I begrudging accept that TPTB closed out TGL with Josh and Reva, but considering the historical and emotional significance of the Bauer family, Ed and Holly should have been featured as well. 

 

Peter Simon and Maureen Garrett did appear in the second-to-last episode, however.

[antmunoz]

Maureen mentioned “Sebastian” when Robert, I think, was discussing storylines that were here today, gone tomorrow. Granted, the Sebastian story ran for almost a year, though.  In hindsight, it accomplished nothing.  

 

The only things I liked about this story were Maureen, who can sell ANYTHING, and Holly and Michelle finally reconnecting onscreen.  Blake’s obsession with another long-lost brother got on my damb nerves. She was way too protective of Hart, and now THIS GUY.  Peter Simon wouldn’t return to play Ed’s role in the story which really crippled it.  I would’ve asked Mart Hulswit if he wanted the work, IMO. 

 

I always felt that Holly and Ed’s last scene was filmed when Maureen filmed her previous episode a few weeks earlier. Just a hunch.  It was weird that a year later, Ed wasn’t back to attend Rick and Mindy’s wedding (which seemed poised to take place the following day, which we never saw). Since everyone got paired up, I would’ve liked to have seen Ed and Holly still together even if not married. And why weren’t Phillip and Beth making it a double wedding?

 

Maureen commented negatively on her Peapack experience in SPW at the time. No rehearsal. Just say the lines and move on. We know the drill. She was sad to see the show end but it had done her no favors the last four years.  Let’s be honest, Holivia was the lesbian relationship that should’ve happened.  Crystal Chappell had way more chemistry with Maureen than Jessica Leccia (even though CC and JL

have coasted on that relationship for a decade), and Natalia was never credible as a woman-lovin’ woman. 

Edited April 15, 2020 by antmunoz
Misspelling