Guiding Light Discussion Thread

[P.J.]

True. I don't think he became really established as Ed until after he returned in 1987(?)

And this is an insane happening. It's more than the equivalent of Bell dumping the Fosters/Brooks and rebooting Y&R circa 1980.

[P.J.]

As much as Reva annoyed me no end, it's ironic that she kind of flounders outside of Josh/the Lewises. 

[Mitch64]

Yea, he was created by E & B...and went through many bizarre changes..he was a doctor, who of course, was connected to San Crud (though he looked and acted like he was straight from California...) but was an art collector...(uh, no...) and then became a secret agent. He was WAY too young for Reva..and frankly, Zimmer(attractive as she was)  was at the stage where she could not pull off having a boy toy..plus even younger Reva would have thought Noah was a boring generic hunk.  The push of Dobies was no doubt from the Rauch camp who were still trying to make Reva work as an ageless love goddess and Zimmer who not only was feeding her insatiable ego and need for airtime, was wanting to be in scenes with someone other then RN.

An interesting plot that Labine could have written was to have an earlier menopause story for Reva, or just have Reva feeling her age, not have guys falling all over her, and dealing with that.  

[Vee]

Thank God. I thought he seemed an unusual lead for her.

[DRW50]

I didn't think he seemed that much younger than Kim, even though I knew he was, as he didn't play that young to me. I do think he was dull.

What I wonder about is why they didn't do more with that guy who rescued her on the island, Bill Bullimer (?). They dropped his possible relationship with her and also didn't go anywhere with his possible interest in Cassie. He was OK, even if the main talk he got was about his chest.

[Vee]

That island guy was so weird to me.

[DRW50]

He did have a lot of presence, but I agree he was very intense. That was an odd period for new male hires. I remember the heavy sexual chemistry Hart and the Rob Layne around then had, culminating in them grappling on a hotel room bed.

[kalbir]

I would think the cast changes were a reflection of the EP/HW changes over the course of the 1980s: Potter/Marland, Potter/various writers, Kobe/Long, Willmore/various writers, Willmore/Long, Calhoun/Long.

[DRW50]

Likely so. I don't know if any soap hollowed itself out in those years the way GL did. It's the end result of bringing in so many teams who did not actually care about the show or have any history with it.

[P.J.]

I'm sure that all the regimes came up with their own "game plan" and that contributed to it. It's just a stat that boggles my mind. At that point, your 33 yr old (tv) show's "vet" had six years in. Those four performers would've had less time onscreen combined than ATWT performers Wagner, Hastings or Fulton had by themselves.

When was Charita's last appearance? 

[robbwolff]

Charita's last appearance was 40 years ago this month: December 1984. It's hard to believe it's been that long. I still remember coming home one night in February 1985 and my mom telling me that Charita had passed away.

I enjoyed Island Boy and was disappointed that they didn't do more with his character. It was similar to the character of Michael Burke. Two promising characters that Brown and Esensten wasted.

[P.J.]

Thanks. I hadn't realized it took them so long to script Bert's death.

[Mona Kane Croft]

Yeah, they passed it off as, "We're going to wait a year or so before we write the death of Bert -- out of respect to Charita Bauer. "   But in reality it was -- "Nobody wants to write Bert's death. It's a no-win for the writer who finally pens it.  Nothing good can possibly come of this, so let's just pass the buck. . .  Whoever is writing next year can handle it."  LOL.   

[Reverend Ruthledge]

Yeah, I remember them saying that but it didn't make a lot of sense. It makes even less sense to me now. Why would it be disrespectful to memorialize Bert soon after Charita's passing? Disrespectful to whom? Her kids? Charita couldn't care at that point, obviously. It's not like they were capitalizing on her death. In actuality, it was more disrespectful to let the character and fans hover in limbo for a year. I don't know. Maybe there's some sensibility I'm not tuning in on. 

[Paul Raven]

Yes that 'logic' in delaying Bert's death was suspect.

What they should have done is make her death the starting point for a revamp that acknowledged and respected the past.

Surely Don Stewart would have returned for the funeral(he did later on for an anniversary). I wonder if he would have been happy to stay on with recurring/regular guest appearances (I think he was LA based at this point)

Bring on Meta for Bert's funeral and have her stay as the new matriach. Again, would Ellen Demming been available. If not maybe another known leading lady (any suggestions?) Lori March?

 A recast Hope? That character still had a lot of story to tell.

And appearances by Peggy, Steve Jackson, Sara Thorpe etc. Maybe use that occasion to bring on Billy Fletcher.

They really needed to consolidate, rather than constantly adding new characters.