Guiding Light Discussion Thread

[DRW50]

A Down's story is nice on paper but not something which would ever work in a soap genre, especially modern soaps. The only one who may have pulled it off was Marland.

[Michael]

Yeah, it doesn't seem to have been well thought-out as far as what would come after Meg was born. Dramatizing the struggles of a family with a Down's child is basically the antithesis of what these shows have been trying to do for the past 15-20 years. I just haaaate dangling threads like that. It bugs the crap out of me that Holly that this daughter with special needs (and Blake a little sister) and she was never even referenced for the last decade of the show.

[MichaelGL]

I want to say that Vanessa's house was truly an example of JFP's first obsession with a "modern" newly constructed set. Later on AW, it seemed to be the hospital set.

[Y&RWorldTurner]

I loved Vanessa's house, even after they gave it to Reva, I still wanted Vanessa to move back in and reclaim it.

[DRW50]

I always liked it too. I always thought of it as Vanessa's home, as I always thought of that weird place that was built into a mountain, or whatever, as Reva's place. I know a lot of older fans hated the latter and wanted Reva back in "Revabend," or as it was called by then, "Hollybend."

Wow the GL ladies did a lot of house swapping.

[MichaelGL]

I didn't mind Vanessa's new home, I rather enjoyed seeing the set in a few episodes from late 1993 and so forth(the episode where a recast Billy has or will shoot Roger). Just was using it as a example of another one of JFP's quirks that was conceived on GL.

Carl, I recently watched the episode of where that particular home of Revas caught on fire and Michelle was trapped inside. From the camera angles and etc. I suddenly gained a new liking of that set,

Among Vanessa's many homes while on the show, the one that Matt built was my least favorite, for multiple reasons

[DRW50]

That house never felt like a home to me, mostly because it epitomized Vanessa being weak and written as some burden to Matt. I also have awful memories of stupidity like Dinah getting identical nightgowns for herself and Vanessa so Matt would try to make a move on her.

[Y&RWorldTurner]

I simply never and will never understand the Matt/Vanessa pairing.

I think it was an early example of JFP trying to live out her own fantasies vicariously through characters on her shows. She later did it with Vicki and Nora on OLTL.

There's an article from 1992 where Maureen Garrett talks about how much better the production values are on the show than when she first joined. They credit JFP for a lot of it.

http://articles.lati..._cbs-soap-opera

Edited January 30, 2012 by Y&RWorldTurner

[DRW50]

Supposedly that was supposed to be a short term story which then took off because of viewer popularity. I think the initial idea may have been for Josh/Vanessa.

I never liked Matt and I thought he was kind of patronizing and empty, but mostly I was annoyed at the endless implications of Matt/Dinah and the show's obvious eagerness for this pairing. I think GL resented that "Mattessa" fans fought against Matt/Dinah. I'm glad it never happened - or that it at least when it did, Vanessa got to exit the relationship with some dignity and finally got together with Billy again. All of this mostly happened offcamera, and more should have been done, but it was still better than anything she had under Laibson/McTavish, or Rauch.

Edited January 30, 2012 by CarlD2

[~bl~]

Maeve and Robert were all for Vanessa and Josh, but they were told they were too close as in-laws so they didn't want to go there. (I know, who would have thought that.)

[Soaplovers]

I remember it was suppose to a short-term affair and then they were to be paired off with other people... I wondered if Josh/Vanessa were the intended goal...imho, I think it would have been interesting especially if Billy returned after they hooked up.... what coud have been LOL

I recall that Lucy and Matt were suppose to be paired... or at least were tested (i remember several scenes where Matt/Lucy bickered and annoyed each other.... and then it was dropped... I even think they tested Lucy with Josh briefly as well.)

Michael,

Holly having a down syndrome baby was created by Mctavish.. and at the time, the plan was to showcase parents raising a down syndrome children.. ... I think the regime changes put a kibosh on that...and I think Holly becoming the nursery rhyme stalker was a result of her being a horrible mother to Blake and Meg. And they did mention Meg a few times in early 2000's.... and I hear there were suppose to be scenes between Fletcher/Holly in 2009. but they didn't happen for some reason

[DRW50]

I didn't know that about 2009.

I remember the endless, and boring, Alan-Michael/Lucy stuff. I guess one reason it was so endless was the show was looking for other options, yet never seemed fully committed (remember the thrilling Alan-Michael/Tangie story). Such a wasted character. They shold have put him with Gilly.

[rlj]

They def did test Lucy/Josj, I remember Josh saving Lucy off of some rooftop in 5thstreet during some disaster. I also remeber the Matt/Lucy story.

I def did not like Matt/Vanessa because I knew right off the bat it wasnt supposed to be long term and shouldve been short term, the characters didnt fit enough to be long term imo. I wouldve def gone with Vanessa and Josh because off all the soryline potential and the history of the charcters. They def teased a Josh/Bam pairing during Reva's PPDO story and hsouldve weent there after she dided; Harley shouldve been a spoiler for those two I def did not like Harley and Jsoh. I never understood the appeal of Harley lol.

Def liked the AM/Tangie potential pairing with Alan as a spoiler and def LOVED AM and Gilly, uh AM and Lucy sucked arse , so boring.

One thing I hated about the Cooper's is they were all the same, there was absolutely no diversity in the family; Harley, Lucy, Marina were basically the same character as were Frank and Buzz, even Nadine and Eleni turned out to be the same character, ugh disliked the Coopers as well

[rlj]

I meant Matt/Lucy scenes, not story lol

[Michael]

Thanks! It actually had never occurred to me that both Fletcher and Holly reappeared at the end but never interacted.