Guiding Light Discussion Thread

[Mitch64]

Thanks for the clip..I wonder what would have happened if Marland had stayed with GL longer?  Interesting to see a bit more of the Boarding House then the kitchen..and..interesting attitudes on abortion here...(I get that Floyd is against it, and Bea and Tony being Catholic...but they could have had someone else mention a different point of view.)

Thanks, I always heard it was Peapack, which, should have sued GL and Wheeler for making the place look like a dump! Speaking of did NSA (Michelle) really say that Wheeler was kind of a b*tch on a Locker Room episode? If so I can imagine Alan clutching his pearls!

[P.J.]

LOL...Reva walking over hill and dale in a daze...rme.

[Mitch64]

It is funny..and really all Reva there...and no one seems to run after her after she leaves the church...I think they are just happy there can be a bit of quiet...and no one notices this big blond woman in a wedding dress wandering about ("George, I think I just saw the Slut of Springfield bump into our trash cans...well, from what I hear that is JUST where she belongs!")

I did like Original Recipe Reva, (though not taking over the whole show..) I just really, really dislike Post Resurrection Reva...like Marland and Nola, no one could writer for her besides Long.

Edited November 29, 2024 by Mitch64

[P.J.]

It's literally four minutes of forlorn Reva trapsing around in her HUGE dress to the swelling music of Barbra in the background. Does Reva deserve her moment? Sure. (..rme as much as I've come to detest Reva and now think she's getting her karma for how she careens like a wrecking ball through everyone else's life..it's a tragic moment) But four minutes? Oy vey.

Mindy's husband is dead, and she's not gonna get that treatment.

Edited November 29, 2024 by P.J.

[Contessa Donatella]

So, over a year ago one of you set me on a course hunting for a specific Beverlee episode where Alex is throwing a small family dinner party while in her front room, Harley is trying to shake her down for money over her husband Alan-Michael's alleged dallying with other women & another story with Bill Lewis and Mindy out at an eatery and yet another story with I think Rusty & people I don't know! So, a GL fan found it for me! The episode is March 5, 1990 & it's up in full in 2 places - Blake Marler upload without commercials & someone else with. Now, I've done an edit to highlight just the dinner party & Alex's fabulous one-liner. You can see it at 

rumble dot com

ACCT: shallotpeel

Video Title: GL 3-5-90 Alex and a Family Dinner Party

Have fun! Now, back to your regular discussion. 

[P.J.]

The only welcome new face in 1986 is Ellen Parker.

Is there a lower point prior to Peapack? 

[prefab1]

Not sure if it's lower than 1986, but most of what I've seen from Claire Labine's run in 2000-2001 was pretty darn bad. Not only did she inherit a show that was completely losing its identity with the mob and San Cristobel mess, but she actually made it worse with characters like Mae the cigarette girl and wretched social issues stories about Reva saving refugees and the teens learning why they shouldn't use Napster. 

[kalbir]

GL avoided cancel territory in the 1980s because Capitol showed no growth and B&B wasn't a hit right away.

GL became CBS's lowest-rated daytime drama in 1989 but it doesn't enter cancel territory until the aftermath of OJ.

From what I remember in the soap press, the first cancellation rumors started in 1995.

[Vee]

What??

[prefab1]

The short-lived "teens get in trouble when Sam burns CDs" storyline starts around 33:00 in this episode. At least they dressed Wes Ramsey in a sleeveless top that shows off his nice arms. 

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As a whole, the episode exhibits a lot of the same problems the show was having in 1986, including a focus on boring newbie characters. Aside from Kim Zimmer, Robert Newman, Jordan Clarke, and Mary Stuart, there's no one here you'd recognize if you stopped watching a couple of years earlier (say, around the time of the clone story). And around this time, they were writing Reva like she was Joan Lunden--a TV host and polished suburban mom--so they weren't exactly playing to Zimmer's strengths. 

Edited December 1, 2024 by prefab1

[DRW50]

Even at the time I thought that was a silly story (admittedly I was already fed up with that period of the show anyway). I can only assume it was something the government asked them to do.

Wes Ramsey got a lot of praise at the time, and many comparisons to Michael Zaslow. He was no Zaslow, but still, I was sad to hear in later years he just became known for playing a character despised by GH fans. (what was he called on here - Parking Lot Pete?)

Edited December 1, 2024 by DRW50

[Vee]

Yep. He was doing some sort of weird Eurotrash Richard Dreyfuss thing on GH a lot of the time, honestly - it was bizarre and hilarious yet tiresome to watch. Given a halfway normal character (maybe an arrogant doctor a la Patrick Drake) I think he could still be thriving on that show.

[DRW50]

@prefab1 I don't know if you remember the day, but doesn't Daisy/Susan's home get raided by the feds at the end of this story?

[prefab1]

I had to search the Soap Central recaps, and apparently they stretched this idiotic story out over more than 2 months. The scenes with the Feds come on November 30.

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Sam was one of the very few memorable characters created around that period. Some of that was down to Wes Ramsey's charisma, and some of that was because Sam was more well-defined than the typical soap teen. I feel like we all knew a guy like Sam in college, the sarcastic know-it-all who's smart, but not quite as smart as he thinks. And of course, the show had little idea what to do with him, so they mostly stuck him in a storyline where he had a crush on Marah but played second fiddle to Tony. 

Edited December 1, 2024 by prefab1

[DRW50]

Thanks! I was going to praise them for devoting the entire episode to this story and the reactions of various families, but of course San Cristobel is dropped in from a great height.

I remember Kim ZImmer saying you could tell when she was not happy on the show based on whether she experimented with her hair. I am not sure if that is the case here or if it's just the rough early '00s styling. 

Poor Liz Keifer also looks terrible. This is also that period they seemed to be writing her like Lucy Coe.