Guiding Light Discussion Thread

[Khan]

Better yet, since Annabelle was also involved in the cottage mystery, it could've been her not-so-dead-after-all mother.  (Don't ask me how that would work.  I'm just throwing it out there.)

Edited February 23, 2022 by Khan

[j swift]

That's funny because I avoided Annabelle since their prior adventure had been about her family of origin, I thought they should give that side of the family tree a break and focus on Tony's stuff, given the recent addition of his brother.

[Mitch64]

 It need to effect family with ripples in the community involved. I think the Spauldings work as: it had to be big stakes for Ms. Piper to be involved, and it had to make a big impact on the entire community...a battle for Spaulding (before they started happening every year) the town, and I would guess the regions biggest employer would be that "big" Take into account that the artistocratic Spauldings would may be embarrassed by this, there is a lot of money involved, and it makes sense that it would be them.

But I do agree that no one in the family was involved until the reveal. Henry could be the stand in here.  Again, I would have had this be Nola and Quint's story and give Tony and Annabelle a more meat and potatoes story with his brother that does not need to be ignited by the cottage. Say Nola feels that they need to have their own home, and she always loved this old cottage few blocks away from the BH..it reminded her as a kid of a fairy tale (Cue Nola Fantasy part 3,000th) Remember, it was on a tract of land that Alan owned to knock down for a mall or something so Quint buys it from Alex and surprised Nola with it...and as soon as Henry hears he tries to stop Alex from selling it..."That house needs to be destroyed." but he wont come clean to Alex (lets say Sharina was Henry's maid, not the Spauldings..) but he knows the whole story of Brandon's affair but can't tell anyone. Nola starts seeing the ghosts...(no one believes her because..its Nola...) etc but Nola, being Nola shoulders on. Henry is very upset by it all and we can be lead to believe that Henry was the one who was in love with Sharina, etc.

I do think it was stupid to introduce Brandon and then just have him drop dead. I think having Sharina die, then having him come back home as an supposed reformed invalid, secretly manipulating Alex and his other kid would be much more interesting...(imagine Henry seeing his old business partner again..working on crafting Phillip in his mold while secretly despising him as a bastard but not as much as he despises Lujack) then what Alex got which was the sideshow to Andy Ferris.  They needed to cast a really, really good old theater actor who could go toe to toe with Bev.) I think just because we saw him die on screen, does not mean evil mastermind Brandon could not have staged it all.

 

Sorry, I am doing anything but the remote work I should be doing!

Edited February 23, 2022 by Mitch64

[robbwolff]

What could have been much more interesting is if the twist involved Alex and Alan’s mother Penelope. Let’s say Sharina worked for the Spauldings. Trapped in a loveless marriage to Brandon, Penelope struck up a friendship with Sharina’s brother Conrad and they started an affair. Penelope becomes pregnant and gives birth to a daughter, Victoria, who is clearly Conrad’s child. Angered by the betrayal, Brandon comes up with an elaborate lie that Penelope died in childbirth and exiles Penelope and Victoria to Barbados. In 1984, the truth is revealed and Alex discovers her mother is alive and she has a half-sister.

So much story fodder could have come from this twist. How would Alex and Alan react to their mother being alive and the realization that she stayed out of their lives for decades, leaving them with a cruel unloving father? This could have been a chance to not only introduce Victoria as a permanent character but also perhaps a short story arc for Penelope. They could have cast a name actress for Penelope. I’m envisioning someone like Barbara Stanwyck.

[j swift]

That's great idea, but I hope we can agree that Susan Piper's connection to the outcome of the plot was tenuous at best.  I mean was the secret love affair of two dying codgers worth all that trouble (and quicksand)?

Edited February 24, 2022 by j swift

[SFK]

My fantasy was Diahann Carroll coming on as Victoria when Joan Collins was playing Alex. Others suggested that Ellen Holly would have been a great Victoria. She’s in heaven now so I feel bad for saying this but the strikingly beautiful Kim Hamilton was not the strongest actress.

I was very excited when I read Paul Rauch’s SOD interview where he mentioned that he wanted to bring on “the black Spauldings”, plural. In hindsight, I wonder who even brought that history to his attention.

I first learned of the Barbados s/l in a soap magazine article and I was so confused. They showed pictures of these attractive twenty-/thirtysomething actors playing Brandon and Sharina without explaining that the story was also told in flashbacks. Much later, I saw a pic of the same actors in awful old age makeup and I finally put two and two together.

[Joseph]

I know i once imagined Ellen Holly as an elegant, rich woman from a traditional family, and that her favorite niece (who was White) who also adored her was engaged to racist guy who begins giving them a hard time, later she went a bit cougar and had an affair with a younger man, that's just my imagination running wild, What was The Victoria Character like?

[antmunoz]

Robb is right. Karen Williams brought the ice as Vicky, who was Michael’s cloning assistant (!!!), remember?  When he was killed, she and Vanessa had a feud. 
 

The recast had just come off AMC playing a Caribbean character. She didn’t really bring that to Vicky, tho, and was more fire (shrieking harpy) than ice. 

[Mitch64]

Actually, if I remember that interview, this was before Zaz got sick..and I really think the "Amanda is Brandon's kid" thing originally really had something to do with the black Spauldings. I know they were tied to Roger somehow, I slightly remember an interview with Zimmer during that time where she said Zaz's illness made them reshuffle a lot of things, the Spauldings and something about Ellen Parker. What that might mean who knows why flashback Mo would have anything to do with them, but maybe they were going to actually resurrect her on that island and Roger was hiding her? It would have been a total ignoring of what we saw on screen but when did that stop them.

 

Susan was one sick chick..she just did it for sh*ts and giggles! If I were her I would have kidnapped Tony Reardon and taken him to my secret evil villain lair..you know she had a round bed, leopard skin sheets (from real leopards) and mirrors.

[Joseph]

what you think of Verocina redd (Mamie #2) as Victoria? never liked her very much as Mamie because she was too elegant and a bit too young

[Khan]

If we're still talking about when Dame Joan Collins was briefly Alexandra, then I like @SFK's suggestion of Diahann Carroll.  Even if it was just for a few episodes, the thought of "Alexis" and "Dominique" reunited is too irresistible for words.

On the other hand, if we're talking about the original (Barbados) storyline, then I would have gone for someone like Nichelle Nichols or Gail Fisher.

Edited February 25, 2022 by Khan

[j swift]

I nominate Paula Kelly.  She was a Broadway actress, and Bob Fosse muse, but she played a memorable small part on Santa Barbara as Peter Flint's evil pimp who tried to threaten Kelly while posing as her dressmaker for her wedding to Peter.  She could have gone toe to toe with Alexandra, and she had a really intriguing presence on camera

Edited February 25, 2022 by j swift

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[TEdgeofNight]

Charita Bauer passed on this date 37 years ago. She has been gone longer than the 35 years she played Bert Bauer on Guiding Light.

[Mitch64]

Charita and Mary Stuart passed away on the same date..if so, that's weird.

What I can't believe is that she was only 63! She truly died way too young, and she somehow must have always played older then her age as as a kid I thought she was "old" (in a good way) and she must have just been in her 50s!