Jump to content

Guiding Light Discussion Thread


Paul Raven

Recommended Posts

  • Members

I have a question for longtime viewers. It seems like every soap by the 90s had established some sort of leading lady type or face of the show that you would easily recognize or associate with said soap...Erica -AMC, Marlena - DAYS, Vicky - OLTL, etc.

While these ladies are usually beloved, Reva seems to be the most controversial. What is it about the character that makes this so? I know that Reva came on as GL was going through a massive change especially in characters. She's probably the newest of said leading ladies as most were part of their soaps for a lot longer. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Replies 17.6k
  • Created
  • Last Reply

Top Posters In This Topic

Top Posters In This Topic

Posted Images

  • Members

They never knew how to dress her, and that includes in Rauch's time, but it got worse the older she got.  I remember them dressing her up as a Queen doing that dumb ass storyline and she looked like someone's mom getting ready to embarrass her kids at Halloween.  Rauch just stuffed her into things (and Reva would NEVER wear a beige pantsuit!)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Members

PG wanted out of the soap opera business. Nothing would have changed if Zimmer had taken a pay cut. I don't think Ellen Wheeler intentionally killed the show, but I think she had to work within certain mandates (which is not to say I was a huge fan of her work on the show). No producer could have made Peapack work or GL during some of the dumb decisions. We all know Peapack was idiotic and a waste of time because I'm sure the decision had been made to kill the show before they did it. Wheeler did know how to give actors good Emmy material, and I still think Nicole Forester should have won the Emmy the year Jeanne Cooper did. I'm glad Cooper got her competitive Emmy, but I found her winning reels mediocre at best.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Members

Please register in order to view this content

When these outdoor scenes look better than anything Peapack did a decade later, it was bound to fail.

Even when it got better, the Peapack stuff still looked like college kids that filmed something for their TV production class. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Members

Not only was GL's new production model something to get used to, everything looked so drab and unappealing. 

In 1983 Gloria Monty produced The Hamptons for ABC primetime on location on alow budget.

Although it was only once a week for 6 weeks, it looked a hell of a lot better than GL. And that was over 20 years earlier. There must have been big advancements in production techniques over that time. Yet GL looked dismal.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Members

AMC: Erica was there from the beginning, a native & presented from the start as a handful. Erica always had one story per year that she was the star of but the rest of the time she was in on everyone else's stuff just as a regular person, sorta. 

AW: Rachel was there from early days not the beginning & she regularly had starring roles in s/ls but also functioned as part of groups & had friendships, etc. She was a native. 

DAYS: Marlena came along pretty early but was not a native. She moved there. Her first identity was just as a doc & Mickey Horton was her first patient. BITD I don't think anyone would have predicted she'd become queen of the show. But Pat Falken Smith created another iconic romantic couple out of Roman & Marlena. Then when Stefano became obsessed with her, her status was sealed. 

GL: Reva was not a native & not there from early days either. Brought into town, paid, to do a dirty deed. Reva was never just a part of the gang. She always had her own stories. She did participate in stories of people in her sphere of influence, like family. She was with every Lewis man but Bill. They retconned her past so she was a child in the Lewis household but the Lewises weren't native themselves.

3 of 4 probably had guarantees of 4. Deidre doesn't. 

Carly at GH is probably the most like Reva. Hmm, Carly at ATWT maybe too. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Members

I am unlike most GL fans because I did not dislike the end years or Peapack. Instead I thought that this might be the new way soaps looked. There were only 2 things that bothered me & they bothered me to an extreme. When EW repurposed offices to double as sets, most worked but the courtroom was an exception. The second floor was so steep to the first that it was ridiculous. It never should have been used. And the other was audio. They took way too long solving  horrible problems with audio. And if you can't hear a soap, you can just forget it. 

Other things GL that I hated: Maureen's death including the fact that Lillian paid a price & Ed was just untouched; the clone; traveling through time via portrait; Holly kidnapping the children; Roger's son imprisoning Holly in an actual cell & then trying to romance her; sock puppet; Maryanne Carruthers; teens tunneling & falling down, somehow, into Danny & Michelle's apartment; Ben Reade sex storyline & suicide; Marty West & that baseball diamond; Eden the whole character; Natalia until Otalia. 

Random things I loved: Laura Bell Bundy; Gina Tognoni; "Doris Wolfe" mayor in gay bar with a hat on; Aubrey Dollar; Matt Bomer; Lisa Brown & Michael Tylo; "Mattessa"; Melissa Hayden & all things Bridget; "Nadine Cooper" loved Jean; "Jenna" earlyish; all the Lewis men; Hawk & Sarah; Buzz; Emma always but especially "My 2 Moms". Otalia, the graveyard & gazebo, written by Swajeski; Jami, Tammy's death & Jonathan's reaction; Richard's funeral where Cassie read "Wild Geese" by Mary Oliver, Pullitzer winning poet; GusH, a love scene where Harley's arm was broken so Gus obliged her & it was clear it was oral sex. Many years later on DAYS oral sex happened again & many pearls were grasped, so GL was that far ahead of the game; another love scene directed by Bruce Barry with Philip & Olivia where Grant's bicep covered so much of Crystal's body it looked like they were both naked. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Members

while there were a lot of errors and omissions — especially re oltl — i have to give her a pass. she finished the book just before she died at 93, from parkinson's. her children were helping her, but i’m sure there was a lot they didn’t know,

when i saw her in 2011, her memory was already shaky.  

Edited by wonderwoman1951
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Unfortunately, your content contains terms that we do not allow. Please edit your content to remove the highlighted words below.
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.



  • Recent Posts

    • I have to be honest I’m really struggling with this show. I love everything with Eva/Leslie/Ted/Nicole/Kat and enjoy Dani and Bill’s shenanigans (I’m on the Hayley needs to be recast train now tho), Chelsea is second to Kat as my favorite Dupree grandkid and I loved her coming out to her mom. The show was on a truly great run with the big Leslie and Eva reveal at Nicole and Ted’s anniversary party and the fall out has still been good even with the unnecessary Ted recast and them making Leslie kind of dumb by exposing herself too much unnecessarily. The real problem for me started when they rotated back to way too damn much screen time for Derek/Ashley/Andre (if anyone should have been up first for a recast it was these three IMO). They tried way too hard to drum up drama between Ashley and Derek and the actors were clearly fighting for their mediocre charisma less acting lives to make it work but none of it landed, just horrible. Naomi and Jacob and this weird homeless woman story are also BORING. I can see where its potentially going but IDGAF at all, my only hope for them is that they’re building a triangle with Naomi/Jacob/Kat because Jacob and Kat have stronger chemistry together than their current love interests (Eva is the only one who can make the awful Tomas work). Martin, his secret and still cringe worthy acting got kind of interesting with Bill dropping hints to Smitty but they completely lost me with that lil fakeout scene at the country club. The lame “teenagers” (air quotes because Samantha is no Bianca Lawson and never beating the black Andrea Zuckerman allegations) can get off my screen as well. Joey creeping on Vanessa is grossing me out at this point, I actually quite like Vanessa and Doug now but Joey falls totally flat as a villain and someone we’re supposed to buy Vanessa being enamored with. I’m glad they’ve finally set up something interesting for Vernon and Anita to do with this girl band reunion instead of Anita wringing her hands and telling us she feels darkness coming and Vernon giving a civil rights speech every episode but yeah… People who’ve posted with me for other shows know I’m not one for fast forwarding or hate watching either, if I find a majority of a show is not working I usually just quit but because of what this show represents for me as a Black male soap fan I really want to stick it out. Its just become a challenge lately. I saw Guza has left the building and I REALLY hope we hear about some more BTS changes. The additions of Tracy Thompson and Jamie Giddens don’t exactly inspire a lot of confidence from me tho. Honestly praying hard for a new EP to replace JHC, a lot of the stuff that annoyed about her PC and AMC runs has started to match up here. I’m giving the show through the Summer to rectify some things but IDK how long I can hold on tbh. Its been a struggle to even finish some of these episodes lately.
    • I agree. I liked the episode but it felt jarring to suddenly return to a bunch of plots that had been put on pause since the Nurses' Ball started. Although I did like Laura popping in at the end to tell Alexis that millions of dollars have suddenly disappeared from Ace's trust fund. One set of scenes that made me feel optimistic for the next few months were between Sofia Mattsson and Rory Gibson. While Rory has been good as a darker, colder Michael this week, I was worried that he might not have much range. But he really warmed up with Mattsson, and I thought that (for the first time) Michael and Sasha had some genuine chemistry.
    • Next week is going to be such a sad time... I just feel it based on what was shown today. I'm wondering if the whole John being bandaged thing being a throwback to how he first arrived on the show was a Ron C idea since it just seems as though this would be something he would come up with.  If so, it's good that Cwikly/Ford are in charge with the implementing of the idea instead of him. Just a delayed thought from the Ciara scenes earlier in the week, or last week.. and how she had an odd way of dressing/acting.  I chuckle because little Ciara did say that she admired and wanted to be just like Kristen when she grew up.  So the fact that her outfit choices are so odd/off beat and her manner is a bit OTT just fits.. especially since Eileen's Kristen had an odd sense of fashion and that frantic OTT undertone to her delivery. With that said, a part of me wonders how Eileen's Kristen would have handled the scenes being done this week in regards to John's situation.   
    • My god the smirking was back in full force today. He almost started smiling after Johnny mentioned he wouldn’t be there if EJ hadn’t raped Sami. I will say I did like seeing him with Dee as they’ve always had great chemistry.    They really are giving a lot of false hope with John getting better. I wish they hadn’t done that. Monday is going to be devastating. I really liked all the characters mixing and mingling today.  Nu-Rachel is still too sweet for me. Loved all the flashbacks. Everyone looked so young. Really enjoyed Brady’s scenes with John today.  
    • Valerie Mahaffey Dead: ‘Northern Exposure,’ ‘Dead to Me’ Actress Was 71 Loved her. I've never seen her Doctors work. 
    • Valerie Mahaffey Dead: ‘Northern Exposure,’ ‘Dead to Me’ Actress Was 71 I just loved Valerie on my early '90s TV shows. This one gets me. 
    • I assume they did at some point during the finale...
    • Kelly was a horribly-written character overall. Just think, two Emmy-winning actresses (including Cynthia Watros, Nina, GH, and Annie, GL) couldn't make it work. Pamela is campy, but so are Dani, Vanessa, Leslie, and Joey. And, I don't want to be too judgy because my love for camp changes depending on the show. OLTL, DAYS, and some eras of GH had me rolling with the camp. However, Passions was overkill and I hated it. And, here, I can take it or leave it. It's ok in small doses (note to RC). I see this show as more of a serious drama.
    • I think one of the reasons that pilot didn't get picked up was because Vicki L was associated more with being Thelma Harper and playing older then she was playing her own age.  It was a blessing it didn't get picked up, or we would have been deprived of the syndicated era of Mama's Family.   Also, worth noting a Pre Night Court Marsha Warfield and pre Perfect Strangers Rebecca Arthur in the cast.  All talented women, but stuck with a bad script. And the other pilot had a pre Fran Fine.. Fran Drescher as the best friend.  I think that pilot might have been picked up if Karen Valentine and Fran Drescher switched roles.
    • So, on rewatch....did Rick and Mindy never have sex? 
×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

By using this site, you agree to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy