4 minutes ago, Maxim said:

Yeees! That 2017 return with the unexpected head turn made me pee myself from shock! (just joking!) Sadly... it unraveled quite fast from there. BUT... I still prefer that attempt to revive Sheila to what is happening since 2021.

Same. I used to rewatch that scene so much it was sooooo good. As much as I still like seeing her, the haphazard writing this time around is just ridiculous. She is too watered down. I would have love to see a properly written attempt at redemption which I felt 2017 at least was going for...right down to retconning Phiela/Sarah. Right now, she just appears wherever the wind blows. Heck, given she just saved Steffy's life, I'm surprised she's not trying again to make in-roads with Finn while Steffy ain't there. Or will Steffy now give Sheila a chance? And what happens if she did, but the family had an issue? The potential is there.

 

The best thing about this return for Sheila...was the wine bottle switch and even that was overkill. Oh, and any moment she has a catfight with Li. But I said before it would have been nice if Bill/Sheila had happened. In the background while other stories were going on. And what if Li was already closer to Bill. And we could have gotten a Sheila/Bill/Li triangle but when Bill/Li were having scenes and post-Finns-alive. 

 

10 minutes ago, Maxim said:

Sheila, IMO, should still be trying to cage Eric in some way. She used to be clinically obsessed with him. These days they haven't shared even 1 scene. Why is that? Why haven't we seen her interact with Lauren... at all!

Same. I'm still surprised that her and Lauren had had no run-ins even when Lauren has popped into town. 

 

 

19 hours ago, Soaplovers said:

Guiding Light:

Reva's whole return from 1995 to 2009 wasn't a success.  Her very presence caused the show to adjust to accommodate a character and actress that really had no business being on the show after 1990.

Beth's return in late 1997 was a failure... not because the actress was horrible (she proved to be a decent Beth in her first goaround)... but because the writing instantly established her as the heavy and the character never truly regained the spirit and essence of the character.. even though the writing did improve for Beth somewhat.

On the flip side Reva’s return also gave GL an additional 14 year lifeline. Idk it’s hard to say because by 1995 the show was on the downhill and it needed a jolt to the arm with Reva back from the dead  and again in 1996 it was in serious cancellation territory yet got another serious jolt to the whole system with Reva/Josh/Annie. Problem was the show kept going for shock and awe like it was Melrose Place and just ran out of steam.

I had wondered if P&G ever asked Judi to stop AW (at that point Paulina being written bad) to rejoin GL, but I can imagine Rauch pushing back especially given Judi’s weight issues at the time. Had Judi rejoined GL in late 1997, I can just imagine Rauch dictating a heyday between Harley, Blake, Amanda, Vanessa and Dinah joking how fat Beth had gotten. Yikes. 

21 hours ago, titan1978 said:

It was fun to have Robert back, but Anna was just a mess under Guza. She was fine in stuff with Robin, but that whole Eli Love thing was just stupid and beneath Finola’s talent and Anna was way too important for such throwaway stories.

I thought the first few Anna and Robert returns were pretty good. The virus, that island adventure with Holly and Luke, when Robert was sick and they did the big 80s reunion (which might have been on Night Shift tbh, it all blends together). It was the later stuff when they had Anna making a fool of herself with Luke and Rich Springfield, Robert running after Holly again because of nonsense with Ethan right after Robin had "died", etc. I'm glad the show finally committed to both of them being on the canvas because like you said, Anna especially was beneath a lot of that.

 

21 hours ago, titan1978 said:

It was a disaster. First of all Bill was like three different characters in one year, because they were always trying to make it work. Riche and Geary managed to somewhat salvage him by turning him into an [!@#$%^&*], and mostly deadbeat dad. And for some reason after 2006 or so Geary decided that personality was Luke’s, and that he had always been playing him that way, which the audience knows was BS.

I think had they gotten Cari Shayne and Antonio for Port Charles as Karen and Jagger, it might have had an actual shot at real success, and Karen would have been as important as the show wanted her to be. The first recast was just okay, and the next was awful!

What was so bad about the Bill mess was that they basically made him Luke, just without Laura and the name and with a crazy wife. Bill also had a redhead sister he was protective over. He also had a shady past. He also was in love with Holly, had some issue with Scott and Sean, was friends with Tiffany and Robert, whatever else. It did get better once he was with Julia. But then they started up whatever that was with him and Dominique's shady husband and Faison and some cartel and then had him and Holly scamming with Lucy (which they then just turned around and had Luke do a few years later). Like whew enough. By the time they'd almost gotten it to work, they'd decided to bring back Luke to try and salvage that and at some point Geary decided they were one and the same. Like @Vee has pointed out many times over the years, he clearly never got over losing Bill and decided that was who Luke really was. When he had someone to rein him in, it was fine. But then JFP and FV let him go hog wild with it and we got whatever that was that last decade.

I never thought about it, but yeah, PC could have used a few more GH characters and definitely a good Karen and Jagger. I remember PC starting off strong and then it just kind of died. After whatever that was with Dominique's relatives, it just became the interns on one side of the show and Lucy, Kevin, andScott stuck in an endless quad with whatever soap vet they brought on for six months. I hate that we're stuck with dead Karen because of PC but one of the best things GH has done in the past two decades was just say Lucy and Kevin had been married that whole time and just hand waved away most of whatever was going on PC.

13 minutes ago, AdelaideCate007 said:

I never thought about it, but yeah, PC could have used a few more GH characters and definitely a good Karen and Jagger. I remember PC starting off strong and then it just kind of died. After whatever that was with Dominique's relatives, it just became the interns on one side of the show and Lucy, Kevin, andScott stuck in an endless quad with whatever soap vet they brought on for six months. I hate that we're stuck with dead Karen because of PC but one of the best things GH has done in the past two decades was just say Lucy and Kevin had been married that whole time and just hand waved away most of whatever was going on PC.

They did say that the Silas story was real...yippee...

23 minutes ago, soapfan770 said:

On the flip side Reva’s return also gave GL an additional 14 year lifeline. Idk it’s hard to say because by 1995 the show was on the downhill and it needed a jolt to the arm with Reva back from the dead  and again in 1996 it was in serious cancellation territory yet got another serious jolt to the whole system with Reva/Josh/Annie. Problem was the show kept going for shock and awe like it was Melrose Place and just ran out of steam.

I had wondered if P&G ever asked Judi to stop AW (at that point Paulina being written bad) to rejoin GL, but I can imagine Rauch pushing back especially given Judi’s weight issues at the time. Had Judi rejoined GL in late 1997, I can just imagine Rauch dictating a heyday between Harley, Blake, Amanda, Vanessa and Dinah joking how fat Beth had gotten. Yikes. 

I didn't care for a lot of Reva's return stories, but I don't think she was ever one of the worst parts of the show, and I do think the Annie story in 1997 staved off cancelation.

Beyond the weight and Rauch's sexism, Judi also had very bad memories of her time at GL. 

1 hour ago, soapfan770 said:

On the flip side Reva’s return also gave GL an additional 14 year lifeline. Idk it’s hard to say because by 1995 the show was on the downhill and it needed a jolt to the arm with Reva back from the dead  and again in 1996 it was in serious cancellation territory yet got another serious jolt to the whole system with Reva/Josh/Annie. Problem was the show kept going for shock and awe like it was Melrose Place and just ran out of steam.

GL was not in a very good place creatively in June 1994 (Nancy Curlee left the writing team three months earlier) and from the ratings it was effectively over in the aftermath of OJ, thus cancel territory in 1995. IIRC cancel rumors got really strong in 1996 when it looked like Bradley was preparing to expand B&B to 1 hour (which I suspected was being timed for the 10th anniversary in March 1997) but as we all know that didn't happen.

42 minutes ago, DRW50 said:

Judi also had very bad memories of her time at GL. 

That explains leaving at the end of initial contract and going to Days. Judi Evans was employed steadily for the better part of 16 years, from her joining GL in 1983 until the end of Another World in 1999. The gaps between GL/Days and Days/Another World were only a few months if I'm not mistaken.

1 hour ago, DRW50 said:

They did say that the Silas story was real...yippee...

I didn't care for a lot of Reva's return stories, but I don't think she was ever one of the worst parts of the show, and I do think the Annie story in 1997 staved off cancelation.

Beyond the weight and Rauch's sexism, Judi also had very bad memories of her time at GL. 

I think the problem was Rauch tried to recreate the magic with Reva/Zimmer that had been so successful with Viki/Slezak for him at OLTL. While both are very talented, Erika wasn’t showy, and didn’t eat her scene partners alive if they couldn’t keep up. She could sometimes be a little mannered, but that suited Viki. Her Niki could chew some scenery though. But Zimmer was kind of a force of nature on Guiding Light, and I don’t think she could play a Reva that wasn’t intense. I don’t think Reva is a comfortable fit as a central heroine that has trouble heaped upon her. I think she was more successful as an antagonist and her own worst enemy.

The Annie story worked because of all the players involved, especially Watros. But I don’t think much of stuff like the Clone, the island princess story, etc.

6 minutes ago, titan1978 said:

I think the problem was Rauch tried to recreate the magic with Reva/Zimmer that had been so successful with Viki/Slezak for him at OLTL. While both are very talented, Erika wasn’t showy, and didn’t eat her scene partners alive if they couldn’t keep up. She could sometimes be a little mannered, but that suited Viki. Her Niki could chew some scenery though. But Zimmer was kind of a force of nature on Guiding Light, and I don’t think she could play a Reva that wasn’t intense. I don’t think Reva is a comfortable fit as a central heroine that has trouble heaped upon her. I think she was more successful as an antagonist and her own worst enemy.

The Annie story worked because of all the players involved, especially Watros. But I don’t think much of stuff like the Clone, the island princess story, etc.

I didn't mind the clone story, but the San Cristobel story was nonsense (and it only seemed to get more fan support when her role was deemphasized).

I do see the attempt at making her like Viki now that you mention it.

On 9/7/2025 at 7:31 PM, soapfan770 said:

On the flip side Reva’s return also gave GL an additional 14 year lifeline. Idk it’s hard to say because by 1995 the show was on the downhill and it needed a jolt to the arm with Reva back from the dead  and again in 1996 it was in serious cancellation territory yet got another serious jolt to the whole system with Reva/Josh/Annie. Problem was the show kept going for shock and awe like it was Melrose Place and just ran out of steam.

Actually...Annie Dutton saved the show from cancellation.  People were watching that storyline for Cynthia Watros... not Robert newman or Kim Zimmer.

 

Dallas:

Lucy Ewing Cooper's return in 1988 was a bust.

Bobby's return from the dead in 1986 actually hurt the show in the long term, and he wasn't as compelling to watch once Pam left the show.

 

Edited September 9Sep 9 by Soaplovers

Y’all still blaming Kim Zimmer for GL’s cancellation?

 

Blame camcorders, a town in New Jersey, and an ever-crying EP, Miss Ex-Marley Love, for that. 

21 hours ago, anthonymolchan said:

Y’all still blaming Kim Zimmer for GL’s cancellation?

 

Blame camcorders, a town in New Jersey, and an ever-crying EP, Miss Ex-Marley Love, for that. 

I don’t see people blaming her, maybe I missed it. I saw people saying she was t what kept the show going. Her star power helped, but it wasn’t the 80’s anymore. 100% it was Wheeler that killed the show.

3 hours ago, titan1978 said:

I don’t see people blaming her, maybe I missed it. I saw people saying she was t what kept the show going. Her star power helped, but it wasn’t the 80’s anymore. 100% it was Wheeler that killed the show.

This probably isn't the right thread, I know, but I don't blame Wheeler. GL was extremely lucky to have lasted that long. By all rights the show should have ended in 1995 or 1996. Somehow it got a second wind. And then Conboy absolutely desecrated and bankrupted what little was left of merit in his stint as producer. That the show lasted another 5 years after he left was amazing.

On 9/7/2025 at 9:56 PM, Soaplovers said:

Actually...Annie Dutton saved the show from cancellation.  People were watching that storyline for Cynthia Watros... not Robert newman or Kim Zimmer

That story never would have happened without Reva's return. You can see how interested fans were in Annie before that point.

Edited September 10Sep 10 by DRW50

9 hours ago, DRW50 said:

his probably isn't the right thread, I know, but I don't blame Wheeler. GL was extremely lucky to have lasted that long. By all rights the show should have ended in 1995 or 1996. Somehow it got a second wind. And then Conboy absolutely desecrated and bankrupted what little was left of merit in his stint as producer. That the show lasted another 5 years after he left was amazing.

On 9/7/2025 at 8:56 PM, Soaplovers said:

I do agree about Conboy. That stupid baseball story! I was really enjoying many aspects of the show when they kind of reset things and had momentum with good story around Joan Collins coming in as Alexandra. Even after she left abruptly. I still feel like Wheeler was the wrong choice to lead any show.

GL died from blows from many hands. You could easily say the troubles became lethal during the end of JFP’s run, the period it was almost cancelled after her, and after that first 1.5 years when it staged a comeback under Rauch. It just took a long time to finally kill the old gal. Mobsters and the royal family of San Cristobel should never have taken over the show.

But the truth is, so many soaps suffered from 1995 on. The wrong people made the worst decisions and creative instincts were so off, even with shows that were still good, they were wounded.

Edited September 10Sep 10 by titan1978

Yeah, I don't blame KZ for GL's cancellation.  That show was in danger long before she returned.  As others have said, though, it's a miracle that it lingered on for as long as it did before somebody remembered to cancel it.

Quote

The best thing about this return for Sheila...was the wine bottle switch and even that was overkill. Oh, and any moment she has a catfight with Li. But I said before it would have been nice if Bill/Sheila had happened. In the background while other stories were going on. And what if Li was already closer to Bill. And we could have gotten a Sheila/Bill/Li triangle but when Bill/Li were having scenes and post-Finns-alive. 

KILL IT WITH FIRE! NO NO NO! Bill and Sheila had NO chemistry and he and Li have it in spades. Sheila shouldn't have been rewarded with anything she's gotten since the bottle switch(Deacon etc)

1 minute ago, dragonflies said:

KILL IT WITH FIRE! NO NO NO! Bill and Sheila had NO chemistry and he and Li have it in spades. Sheila shouldn't have been rewarded with anything she's gotten since the bottle switch(Deacon etc)

Hush you! lol. You were in the message boards when it was going down and we were discussing why that story never worked aka it should have been a C plot when Sheila was running around with her wigs and disguises and we saw a connection form onscreen since Bill was dealing with being a powerful, but lonely man. They would have had chemistry to make it work...if we had seen it onscreen and not as a jumpscare shock plot twist. And bonus...Sheila vs Li had already been established (as had Bill/Li) that that would have been fun to watch. But you know I'm still waiting for Round 3 of Li vs Sheila. Probably not getting it now sadly.