Memory Lane.....

[smiley_b]

I have spent most of the last few evenings watching clips from this YouTube channel:

http://www.youtube.com/user/bandstandmike

Loads of videos from Guiding Light, especially the glory daydream that were 1993/94 - the story that got me hooked, "Who Shot Roger", features heavily, as does clips of Marj Dusay as Alexandra. But wrapped up in all these are some lovely Dylan/Bridget scenes, as she struggles to get custody of baby Peter back from Vanessa (Dylans stepmother). I loved loved loved Dylan and Bridget back in the day - I still refuse to acknowledge the TRAVESTY that was Brian Gaskill - they were friends before they got involved romantically, and I remember a lot of will they won't they (mostly because of the custody battle) and that's the kind of thing you don't get in soaps today, that slow burn as opposed to insta-romance

One of my favourite moments occurs in The Secret Wedding Clip 13, where Vanessa confronts Dylan over his support of Bridget and throws him out of the house.

God, I miss this show.

Comments

[yahtzee63.livejournal.com]

Oh, now I'm NEVER going to get anything done ever again.

I had been watching since infancy, i.e. the early 1970s, but the late '80s and early '90s were as good as GL -- or, for that matter, soap opera -- ever got.

[smiley-b.livejournal.com]

I feel like I should apologise for ruining your productivity, but I really don't want to!

GL only aired in Ireland for a couple of years, but the93/94 years is where I started watching from (Bridget busting up Dylan & Julies wedding) - there's just so much to love about GL in this timeframe! God bless YouTube!

[yahtzee63.livejournal.com]

Bridget! Such a great character. And DAVID! David might have been one of my top favorite guys on GL ever. That actor was phenomenal -- it always kind of kills me that he didn't break out.

And poor original Hart.

[smiley-b.livejournal.com]

I loved David too!! Such a great character, and I agree that the actor should have broken out - I remember he was on GH, and they criminally underused him. Melissa Hayden was great as Bridget too - always rooted for her.

I never actually saw original Hart, so this is all new to me - I'd heard about his accident, and its such a tragedy, he was probably the best of the Harts the show had.

[yahtzee63.livejournal.com]

What I principally remember -- aside from how freakin' good Hart Prime was, somebody who really might have gone on to bigger things -- was that he had his hang-gliding accident on a weekend; that Friday, apparently, they'd ended the day in the middle of filming a hugely emotional confrontation between Hart and Julie. I still remember that the argument began with the Hart we knew, and another plotline or two got its scenes in, and then the voiceover said, "The part of Hart Jessup will be played by XX" and some poor extra grabbed at the last minute had to pick it up. I always thought a lot of the actress who played Julie for not missing a step there; that had to be enormously challenging both personally and professionally.

I spent that night surfing old Roger scenes. God, I loved Roger. I hated myself for loving Roger. Sometimes I hated him too. But he was endlessly interesting, and Zaslow was truly one of the great soap actors.

Jenna Bradshaw! Nadine! Billy Lewis! How I have missed them all.

[smiley-b.livejournal.com]

I knew about the hang-gliding accident, but not that they'd stopped in the middle of a scene like that! God love the poor chap who had to pick it up!

Totally agree that Zaslow was one of the all time greats - and god he was treated awfully shabbily by the higher ups when he got sick. I remember watching eps where you could see him struggling to get the words out; so so sad because he was just an amazing actor.

Jenna was one of my faves; killing her off was beyond stupid. And I will never forget my shock when Brent/Marian killed Nadine!

And now I want to wander to YT, but I have to be up in a few hours!!

[yahtzee63.livejournal.com]

I actually quit watching GL when they fired Zaslow so shabbily. Major props to OLTL for bringing him on again and writing in his character's condition. I can see that obviously he would be unable to keep working -- but the GL higher-ups could have written a storyline with Roger falling ill, done proper tribute to the character and given the guy who was probably the show's #1 character, ever, a real ending. Instead they killed him off-screen. Roger Thorpe. That's like having Reva Shayne just move to Florida or something.

I am also the one lonely Roger Thorpe/Maureen Bauer shipper in all existence. Sometimes I ask for it for Yuletide. The response is always dead air. Oh well.

God, Nadine was great. And Vanessa. And yes, Reva, who kind of ate the whole show but often deserved to.

And when I did the TV meme for "my top ships EVER EVER EVER" last year, Frank & Eleni tied for the top spot. I used to have dreams about her learning the truth and leaving Alan Michael for him.

[smiley-b.livejournal.com]

Grr, this comment fell into the "no notification trap...."

Killing Roger off-screen was just the lamest thing EVER. And you're right, TPTB at the time should have worked in an exit storyline for Zaslow that would have done justice to the character, because you're right, he's one character who is utterly synonymous with this show.

Roger/Maureen, again I have only seen through clips, but I can absolutely see why you'd ship them!!

Reva did eat the show at times, but I still loved her. Always loved her friendship (and indeed marriage!) to Buzz - you could tell that Justin Deas and Kim Zimmer really enjoyed workng together.

The Frank/Eleni/Alan-Michael stuff was brilliant - I adore Rick Hearst, A-M is one of my favourite GL characters (though, as with Dylan, I tend to ignore the last recast.)

[yahtzee63.livejournal.com]

I loved Alan-Michael while not wanting him with Eleni -- Rick Hearst was so good and really found the soul beneath all the mechanations, which was always the key to playing a Spaulding.

Roger and Maureen would NEVER have worked as a relationship but it would've been awesome "we hate Ed" sex. I never could get into Ed, even though he was generally well-acted. He was the one Bauer whose niceness/goodness we were always supposed to take on faith; his behavior never really matched up, and he lacked the wit that made other white-hat characters on GL shine. GL was actually very strong at creating "good" character who were never dull. Except Ed.