ALL: Saddest Soap Moments

[Gray Bunny]

And you do it sober. Every day. Even more lame.

Yes. Drunk after coming home spending time with *friends*. You should try it sometime.

[Y&RWorldTurner]

Whoever these people were, that certainly didn't stop the show from losing viewers every season. Reva's return story in '95 didn't ignite the ratings from what I remember and critics and many fans hated it.

But is this all down to Zimmer? People tuned in for sensational crap in the 90's. Viewers tuned in to see Carly being buried alive on DAYS, that was shocking then. It wasn't because Crystal Chappell was a name actress or that Carly was some legendary soap character, because neither is true. The same could be true for the cloning nonsense. BTW, ATWT was also treading up around this time from what I recall, at least compared to the AMC/OLTL.

But who says the show wouldn't have lasted until 2009 regardless? There was a GL before Reva Shayne and there was also one after her.

GL had a mostly older skewing audience, a lot of those people who watched religiously were probably there before Reva was introduced.

You obviously haven't seen the comments about Melody's weight and likening her to a cartoon pig here in recent years.

Zimmer was a star attraction for GL, but no way do I believe the success of a soap is down to one star alone. Susan Lucci is more of a name and has more star power than Kim Zimmer will ever have, but if Erika Kane left tomorrow, I don't think 2 million people would leave with her...

[Gray Bunny]

Oh, I totally agree. The early 90's were GL's last golden era. But see there are these things called network executives, show producers, and inept writers that f&ck up what's going strong. The staff in 1994-1995 were royally effed up. Let's not forget this was the time also of the O.J. Simpson saga where all three Procter & Gamble soaps played russion roulette with their shows, playing darts and hoping to hit the target. GL's powers-that-be f&cked up the momentum of 1991-1993 and needed a boost. La Zimmer's Reva succeeded in helping them, especially inthe 1997-1998 era. Great casting, great writing, great execution helped GL become the one-and-only soap opera to *gain* viewers during the year of 1997. What happened primarly in 1997? The hot Reva/Josh/Annie storyline. To them, Reva = ratings success. And they were mostly right. Even during the summer of 1998 when the clone story was strong (Two Zimmers at once!), the ratings held steady while other soaps (AMC, ATWT, OLTL) faltered. For a number of weeks while the clone story ran strong, GL was the No. 5 ranked soap. Would GL succeed had Michelle Bauer been cloned? Harley? Jenna? Vanessa? Beth? Me thinks no. And then in August 1998 when the clone story ended, La Zimmmer went on a 3 week vacation and ratings TANKED into the 3's. Coincidence? Hmm............

[Gray Bunny]

Oh I'm just stirring [!@#$%^&*] to rile up the dia(RIA)h fans who have a hate-on for La Zimmer.... GL had may problems in 1995-1997. But we cannot deny the attraction to the Reva/Josh/Annie story of 1997. And again, we can't ignore the writing. It's all about the writing. But nobody would give a flying fig if the hot triangle was between Jay/Michelle/Zachary in '97.

Who f&ckin' cares if Y&R's Melody Thomas Scott is a "pig" now? I'll never understand why FAT, UNATTRACTIVE, SOCIALLY-INTROVERTED people who watch soaps will so easily nit-pick on their favorite soap actors for not being a size zero? And let's get real and honest here: so many soap opera fans are ugly, unattractive, older, shut-in losers with poor social skills who get their fulfillment from watching fictional characters on a daily basis. If that hurts your feelings, well sorry, but that's the sad truth. You know it. I know. it. Soap fans are the unwanted. The overweight housewives, the unmarried, the sexually oppressed homosexuals who never found anybody for themselves.... and here you are, nit-picking because Melody Thomas Scott has "balooned up" to a size ten, or because the ridiculously talented 4-time Emmy-winning Kim Zimmer has said "to hell with it!" once menopause came about and ate everything in plain sight. You're ugly. You know it. You're not on a soap opera. You're miserable and love watching miserable people on soap operas try to deal with their miserable lives.

Let's face it. Once the last remaining 6 soaps end, there are some of you here who will literally have NOTHING LEFT TO LIVE FOR. This is your life. Watching multiple soap operas. And once they die, you'll have nothing left but to bitch 'n moan about what could've been. But ultimately, you've got NOTHING. And that's sad. Ugly, unattractive, overweight, unwanted people of society with no soap operas left to watch. And guess who gets the last laugh? Those who *DO* have lives outside of the televison. Ouch! Sad, but true. And you know it.

That said, La "Queen" Zimmer was certainly not the only attraction to GL during it's last 14 years. But she was a main part. As someone who's been to a fan event, she was considered *THE STAR* of the event. People pushed and grabbed for a chance to see "Reva"... and if you think people acted the same way to see Beth Ehlers (Harley), Justin Deas (Buzz), or even Robert Newman (Josh), then you're a damn fool. Kim Zimmer was THE STAR of these fan event attractions. Everybody wanted to touch her, to talk to her, to see her.

Guiding Light was struggling for life during it's final 10 years (remember the Santoses? Claire Labine's May, the cigarette girl, and Romeo and all the youngsters? The terribly rewritten story of Maryanne Carruthers?). Through it all, people wanted to see REVA. R-E-V-A.... if you think otherwise, you're f*ckin' ignorant. Straight up Zimmer-hatin' ignorant. Period; end of story.

(African-Americans for John Kerry, 2004! Lame....)

[DeeeDee]

LOLOLOL

[bellcurve]

I know, right?! What can you do other than laugh and shake your head at ridiculous rantings? And all over a soap star.

You gotta wonder whether the poor guy was looking to actually project his own sad, pathetic views and insecurities onto someone and chose this board to do it. I mean, the race baiting, the generalization and stereotyping of soap fans and members of the very message board where he's posted for almost or over five years, and the overall nasty, unappealing ugliness that fuels such awful rants.

No need to bother responding to such nonsense. Bitter, nasty, sad. Makes you wonder what his "friends" who went out with him last night actually think of him.

[DeeeDee]

+1.

[juniorz1]

Headlining news? Wake me up when Entertainment Tonight runs a story about Kathleen Turner's inadequate replacement being battled over by 3 soaps that are going to be off the air in a few years anyway.

Last I checked, in 2009, less than 2 million watched GL and not all of them adored Jonathan's mother. If Kim Zimmer sells so many magazines, why has she nary a cover in the past few years? And overweight has nothing to do with it really........overbearing, overacting, and overemoting come to mind before overweight.

In demand though? Don't you think she would have signed with a soap if she were so in demand? Crystal Chappell is/was in demand. Gina Tognoni was in demand. And, put it this way, Marcy Rylan has a contract. But in demand Zimmer? Nah, she's holding out for a role big enough for her ego.

I'd say that came more from notoriety than anything else. You walk like an ass, dress like an ass, and act like an ass on Awards shows, you must be an ass. A star is born! Sorry, but I suspect if you asked anyone on the street if they've heard of Cynthia Watros or Kim Zimmer, you'll have more Watroses than Zimmers.

And frankly, I'd take Deas, Chaimberlin, Brown, Garrett and Zaslow over Zimmah anyday.

As far as I see it, as of today, Zimmer too is in the borderline bi-polar out of work diva club herself......If I was 55 and busty, I'd be taking the first sinking ship that hired me & be hitting that Craft Services table from day 1. What's she waiting for, to be a guest panelist on Chenbot Chat when ATWT goes off the air?

The real punchline is that Marcy Rylan has a job & Kim Zimmer doesn't. Personally, I'm more interested in Robert Newman, Beth Chaimberlain, and Tina Sloan landing roles than Zimmer hitting the jackpot.

Do you really believe that Zimmer saved GL for 14 years? If so, she did it without a ratings spike or any real fanfare. So GhostReva, AmishReva, & CloneReva are responsible for GL staying on the air another decade? Pardon me, but I don't buy it, considering for a LONG while, there were more Cassie/Richard & Danny/Michelle fans than Reva the Crusader fans.

And what did her not taking a pay cut pave the wave for? The firing of 2 of those 4 actors and fleeing of another to GH, if I'm not mistaken.

Get over the fat argument. It's just a joke. And really, how much star power can you really have as the "star of GL" anyway? Spin it all you like, but their true creative glory period & peak was WHILE SHE WAS gone.

Her return signaled a shift for the downward in storytelling & the Reva show was not nearly as compelling as the Springfield ensemble that ran the show back then.

And, not for nothing, but Zimmer isn't even close to the best actress to grace GL. Far from it. That honor belongs to Bev McKinsey. The only reason people know who Zimmer is- because she drew even more attention to herself when she was hot in the 80s by, you guessed it, making a total ass of herself.

A class act she is not.

[Sapounopera]

The era of the Revas and the Marlenas is long gone. Nobody wants to remember the cloned-possessed heroines and there is a reason they are no longer around. I always thought they did more harm than good to their shows and I hated the fact that they were not connected/related to the core families. If Marlena's stories were given to Dr Laura Horton or Julie and Reva's to Hope Bauer I might like them better.

Oh and another thing. I hate it when posters try to act like bitchy queens (poor Nelson immitations). I really don't care about anybody's "friends" and nobody can convince me that writing on a soap board while being drunk is cool. Relax.

[juniorz1]

Maybe with Flannery in the role but there is NO WAY I'd watch Jamie Lyn Bauer possessed by Satan.

[DRW50]

Come on, she was great as nutty Laura!

Anyway, I guess this thread is pretty much derailed for good, but another scene I thought was very sad was on Knots when Greg was dying and his niece, Kate, was reading Dylan Thomas. As she began reading the part about "rage against the dying of the light," he began hallucinating that Kate was his dead daughter, Mary Catherine. That scene just hit me. I never cared that much about Kate, but in her few appearances as Mary Catherine, Stacy Galina had been wonderful, and it was so harrowing to see Greg, in his weakest moments, looking to his daughter.

[ian]

lol yet another thread takes a left-hand turn into Assholeville.

*Shakes head*

At any rate, thanks for the memories.

and when it comes down to it I don't think anyone really disputes Zimmer's influence on Guiding Light, however what one may call "pivotal" others see as "dreadfully overexposed". I think we can all agree that she was very prominent force on the show, for better or for worse.

and re: weight - it's actually to be respected that Zimmer commanded so much attention and/or food... er, respect that she was able to keep her job, while other actresses *cough* Adrianne Leon/Genie Francis *cough* found themselves unfairly pushed off of their show, supposedly due to weight-related issues, and many others due to pregnancy... JFP I'm looking straight at YOU. I guess that speaks to the size of Zimmer's ego and/or ass... presence?

Loved me some Reva, and I thought Zimmer was very captivating - especially when I started watching GL and of course Jeva are an important part of GL history, and while it is true that in some alternate universe Reva may not have been as important but as it were, all we have is what we're given and a large portion of the show, in its final incarnation, was Reva based. That's all there is to work with so I think it's moot to debate whether or not the show would have been a certain way without her because it didn't have to be.

Only love can save the world, but only Kim Zimmer can drive up the Craft Services bill, which, in Peapack was a plate of veggies and dip