I actually liked Matt and Beth.

Janey Gret is really pretty and Stephen Yates is yummy, I understand they (Ben and Eve)were a popular couple in their day.

Didnt like the Mob or San Cristobal stories either.

I actually liked Matt and Beth.

Janey Gret is really pretty and Stephen Yates is yummy, I understand they (Ben and Eve)were a popular couple in their day.

Didnt like the Mob or San Cristobal stories either.

I liked the "idea," behind Matt and Beth. I never liked Mattessa and think that Van would be bored to death with her young hunk after the sex thing wore off. I do like that at that time they had Van go back to Spaulding and get back her "Ummpph," I liked that they had her go up against Vicki, and Alan, and can see why they would use her in that capacity instead of Alex (once again, love Marj, hated Marj's Alex.) MK makes a much better icy bitch then a loving matriarch sighing away in her rose garden. I think that after they killed Mo off the show was desperatley tyring to find a woman in that age range to fill that role and since MG wasnt the type they tried to shoehorn MK into it.

Beth needed to be redeemed after they make her the spoiler in the Phillip Harley and Matt was the type of laid back hot guy she needed. However, they continued on with the selfish bitchy Beth and had it all be about age, and calling Vanessa old and have her question her sexuality and age..which Van would never have done, she would just smash Beth under her heel!(of course, I would never have given Van the miracle baby..I would love for one soap opera woman to say, "You know, I had enough kids, I am done now, and by the way, forget about the marriage thing, I did it and am tired of it.")

The Mob was another good "idea," SF had become awfully upper middle class with the Reardons all assimilated or gone, and the Coopers the same, and with Buzzard winning the lottery . The show needed an "outsider," family to come in and stir things up and having a hispanic family was a good idea. Also having a less then sweet matriach was a good idea, but Carmen was a cartoon, where she should have been a morally ambivalent woman who, while wanting to ascend into SF society, also resented the people who were already there. Simply having some shady ties to organized crime or something less then legit would have been fine, maybe her husband was a mobster who was killed, and she was trying to legitimize the family. Having her hate Chelle but using the Bauer name and ties to the rest of the families would have been more interesting then what we got.

LOVED Sonni/Solita...lol..Sonni smacking Reva with those pictures..wonder if that was a choice on Forbes part as Zimmer looked kind of surprised. Also, funny that Reva and her goofy brother had the same exact hair do! I never liked that guy.

Haven't had time to post in the classic soap threads much lately however I'm posting here the highlights of the 2nd half of 1997 that was published in 1/7/98 Soap News, some of it very interesting to read:

July 3, 1997 - Frances Foster who played Vera, Alexandra's maid and friend, died on June 24th of a cerebral hemorrhage. She was 73 years old.

July 4, 1997 - Congratulations to Frank Dicopoulos (Frank Cooper) and his wife Teja Anderson on the birth of their daughter Olivia Anderson Dicopoulos. Olivia was born on June 24th She weighed 8 lbs. 4 ozs. Happy birthday today to Mary Stuart (Meta Bauer who turns 71 today. For the week of June 16th to 20th Guiding Light was in 5th place in the Nielsen ratings.

July 9, 1997 - Congratulations to Elizabeth Keifer (Blake) who wasoutstanding performer for the week of June 9th (the week Blake testified at Reva's trial).

July 11, 1997 - For the week of June 23rd to 27th GL was 7th in the Nielsen ratings.

July 21, 1997 - Congratulations to Cynthia Watros (Annie) who is Outstanding Performer for the week of June 16th.

August 13, 1997 - According to insider sources , GL writers decided not to pursue a Matt/Dinah pairiing due to protests from fans.

August 14, 1997 - Congratulations to Michael O'Leary (Rick) and his wife Joni, who became the parents of a second child and second daughter on August 9th. Caroline Parker O'Leary was born at 1:35 pm and weighted 8.6 lbs. She was 20 1/2 inches long.

August 18, 1997 - Congratulations to Kurt McKinney (Matt) who was chosen Performer of the Week. This was for the week when Vanessa and Matt reunited. The 8th Annual Soap Opera Update awards will be shown at 10 pm/EST on Lifetime television on Sunday, September 7th. Nominees from GL are as follows: Best Actress: Elizabeth Keifer (Blake), Wendy Moniz (Dinah), and Kim Zimmer (Reva); Best Actor: Robert Newman (Josh), Grant Aleksander (Phillip), and Michael Zaslow (Roger); and Best Male Newcomer: Frank Grillo (Hart).

August 23, 1997 - A People Magazine article in the 9/1/97 issue revealed little more than is already known about Michael Zaslow's health and problems. Highlights include: he suffers from an undiagnosed neurological disease there is no name for, he wears an obturator (an orthodontic device) that improves his speech by lifting the soft palate, and he feels fine except his speech is slurred. Michael is shown biking in one photo. His speech physiologist feels that Michael will improve, but that he has a long way to go. Mary Alice Dwyer-Dobbin is quoted as saying they'd like him to return in good health. He is in arbitration with P&G over compensation. P&G didn't want to write the disability into the story. Zaslow said that when he was asked to take a leave of absence, he took that as a direct dismissal.

August 25, 1997 - Beth Ehlers and Frank Grillo (Harley and Hart, respectively) are scheduled to be presenters at the 8th Annual Soap Opera Update awards. See August 18th entry for full details on when the show will be on.

September 8, 1997 - At the 8th Annual Soap Opera Update Awards, which aired on Lifetime on Sept. 7, Ellen Dolan and Scott Holmes (Margo and Tom, ATWT) presented the award for Best Actor and Best Actress to GL stars Robert Newman and Kim Zimmer (Josh and Reva). The Soap Opera Update Awards give a Best Actress and Best Actor award to each soap and then present an overall "Best of the Best" award. Robert Newman dedicated his award to Larry Gates, who portrayed H.B. Lewis. Kim beat out fellow nominees Liz Keifer (Blake) and Wendy Moniz (Dinah). Robert beat out fellow nominees Grant Aleksander (Phillip) and Michael Zaslow (Roger)..

September 19, 1997 - Amy Ecklund (Abby) received an award from the National Council on Communicative Disorders for the effort she's put into public awareness of hearing-impaired people. Congratulations to her.

September 23, 1997 - Amy Ecklund was honored as Performer of the Week by for the week when Abby was almost raped. Laura Wright was given "This Week's Standing Ovation" by Soap Opera News for her work as Cassie Layne.

September 29, 1997 -We featured Matt and Vanessa's reunion as a Golden Moment for August in their September 23rd issue. Robert Newman (Josh) was chosen by as the outstanding performer for the week of September 8th. This was for his performance during H.B.'s memorial.

October 1, 1997 - Fiona Hutchison (Jenna) and her husband, John Viscardi, are expecting their second child in March. The pregnancy will be written into her storyline.

October 6, 1997 - In our 10/14/97 issue, the "backstage buzz" is that Fiona Hutchison isn't the only GL leading lady expecting. They say they know the mom-to-be's identity, but want to wait until the first three months of the pregnancy have passed. That is, they say, unless the actress announces it first.

October 7, 1997 - Another GL leading lady is that is expecting. It's none other than Liz Keifer (Blake). Her and husband Bobby Convertino are expecting their first child in April. It's unknown at this time whether the pregnancy will be written into Blake's storyline. Congratulations Liz!

October 18, 1997 - We enjoyed Beth Ehlers' (Harley) performance while she was in the mental institution. We named Ehlers Outstanding Performer for the week of September 22.

November 12, 1997 - GL Christmas music CD is released.

November 14, 1997 - Brianna McMullen has begun a letter writing campaign to Soap Opera Digest. She would like Michael Zaslow (Roger Thorpe) to receive a special recognition award at the Soap Opera Awards for his many years on GL. If you're in favor of this you can send letters of support to: Soap Opera Awards, c/o Deloitte & Touche LLP, P.O. Box 1444, Church St. Station, New York, NY 10008-1444.

November 15, 1997 - Kurt McKinney (Matt) and his wife, Maronda, are expecting their second child in March. They have a son, Cole. Reports say they're "pretty sure" they're having a girl.

December 2, 1997 - Congratulations to Michael Zaslow (Roger Thorpe) who was honored with a 1997 Silver Circle Award by the New York Chapter of the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences for outstanding contribution to the arts for a career spanning more than 25 years.

December 15, 1997 - Guiding Light had a rating of 4.1 for the week of November 24th. It ranked seventh among eleven soaps.

December 22, 1997 - GL had a rating of 4.1 for the week of December 1st. It ranked seventh among eleven soaps.

December 26, 1997 - GL was named the best daytime show of 1997 by TV Guide.

PS did you guys know Paul Rauch once tried to nab Michelle Stafford as a recast Annie there in 1998? No lie, I'll be posting the story later...

Frances Foster

They were right to not do a Matt/Dinah pairing, even though they tried several times. It would have just been trashy, although at least it may have caused them to abandon Vanessa/Matt (yay!).

I didn't remember that Zaslow was still undiagnosed (or at least to the public) by mid-97. I still remember first hearing the change in his voice, and worrying, wondering what it was, and thinking, after a few weeks, that hey, maybe it was getting better, and then...ugh, it hurts to think about. I still can't believe what happened.

Liked Crazy Carrie, screwing the delivery boy, but hated "normal," Carrie and her health food stuff she was talking about, This was one of Marland's first times where he took a sexual viable conflicted guy (Ross) and had him totally wuss out for a less then attractive chick. Sorry, the Carrie actress worked and works as a villainous Tracy, but not as some sex pot a good looking guy like Ross would fall totally for. I remember one horrible scene where she convinces Ross to take up "jogging," and they both have matching track suits!!!!

I hate to admit that I would have hated to see Carrie in therapy to merge her personalities..Marland's therapy scenes were tedious. The only good to come out of it is if she came out of it conflicted and kind of bad...dumped Ross and became a semi bad person.

I thought I was the only one who hated all that health food stuff Carrie used to talk about all the time. Used to get so sick of her and Ross sitting around eating yogurt all the time. And I thought Carrie was too milquetoast for Ross. I did like crazy Carrie though!

Thanks so much to saynotoursoap. I'll just link the first two parts and you can see the rest on Youtube.

Random Tony beefcake in the first clip.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2viJqAJhK5s&feature=mfu_in_order&list=UL

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OSi49wCdxh0&feature=autoplay&list=UL2viJqAJhK5s&lf=mfu_in_order&playnext=2

Loved these, especially the Lisa Brown scenes. I remember the scenes at the hospital, I thought for certain Nola had gone through with the abortion. Poor Floyd, he was a nice guy but I was so happy when Nola later ditched him at the altar. Lisa is one of my all-time favorite soap actresses, and Nola is near the top of my favorite soap characters.

Edited November 15, 201114 yr by jam6242

Lynn Deerfield has passed away. I'm so sorry we never got to see her work as Holly. I remember Maureen Garrett talking about how Lynn would sometimes show up early in her run as Holly, just to watch taping, and Maureen would wonder if she was being replaced. But it sounds like Lynn had a very full life away from GL.

http://www.stltoday.com/news/local/obituaries/former-guiding-light-star-lynn-deerfield-dies/article_dd767e24-b52f-54fb-83bb-474afacd83bc.html

Lynn Deerfield has passed away. I'm so sorry we never got to see her work as Holly. I remember Maureen Garrett talking about how Lynn would sometimes show up early in her run as Holly, just to watch taping, and Maureen would wonder if she was being replaced. But it sounds like Lynn had a very full life away from GL.

http://www.stltoday....4afacd83bc.html

Lynn was sublime as Holly. I loved her throaty voice and seductiveness. This is purely hearsay, but I had a friend who knew Lynn and her husband Bill, and according to her, Lynn was very keen to continue on GL. Allegedly, she vacated the role at her husband's command. I always thought that she probably regretted leaving, as her interpretation of Holly was so interesting. Lynn's characterization was quite different from Maureen Garrett's. It took the longest time for Maureen to win me over. Ironically, I would have to admit that Maureen is probably my favorite actress from the series, but I never quite forgot Lynn either. How sad that we have lost her at such a young age.

What was Lynn's interpretation like? I know Holly was a very neurotic character from the start.

I wish that some of her work was out there.

That beautiful picture of her reminds me of Jennifer Garner.

I posted this in the recast thread a few months ago.

The bathtub scene in this is creepy as hell. I'm surprised that got past the censors.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YIxt5Zr8p5o

In January 66 John Boruff joined Agnes Nixon as headwriter.He had been playing Henry Benedict on GL.This was when Agnes took over AW,so she must have stayed on at GL for a while also.

Theodore and Mathilde Ferro became headwriters in May 67.