Guiding Light: Encyclopedia II - Guiding Light - 1990s

Guiding Light - 1990s

By the early 1990s, the Bauers, Spauldings, Lewises, and the Coopers had been established as core families in the fictional midwestern city of Springfield. Added to the Coopers (Harley and Frank) were Buzz Cooper (Justin Deas) who had abandoned his wife Nadine (Jean Carol) and two children, Harley and Frank after his experiences in the Vietnam War. In the fall of 1993 added to the Cooper's would be Buzz's other child, Lucy Cooper (Sonia Satra), who was his child with a woman he met and later "married" in Arizona, whose name the audience only knew as Sylvie (who was identified as being from Sweden, and a nurse Buzz met at a V.A. Hospital). Lucy would get involved and later marry, Alan-Michael Spaulding (who had previously been married to Blake Thorpe -- as had Phillip Spaulding -- and then Harley Cooper and then Frank's eventual wife, Eleni Andros, a Greek immigrant played very well by a young, Melina Kanakaredes and later by, Jennifer Roszell).

The Reardons also returned, somewhat at this time, in the guise of Bea Reardon's second son (younger than her son Dr. Jim Reardon played by Michael Woods, who had been involved in the Dreaming Death and the Barbados Spaulding storylines and then left in February 1985; but older than Tony), Sean Reardon's children, Bridget Reardon (Melissa Hayden) introduced and living for a while with Ed and Maureen (Bridget would also have the first child that was a grandson of Roger Thorpe's, Peter Lewis Reardon; Roger's long lost son, Hart Jessup -- played by Frank Grillo and others was Peter's father -- Peter was adopted for a while by Billy and Vanessa Lewis), and also Matthew "Matt" Reardon (Kurt McKinney; Bridget's older brother) who would end up having a May - December romance and then marriage with Vanessa after Billy was sent to prison for attempting to murder Roger, in 1994. Chelsea Reardon though would leave in early 1991.

In January 1991, the opening was changed again, as the opening tune changed from My Guiding Light to Hold On to Love. The first new opening showed a lighthouse. Inside of the beams of light from the lighthouse were clips of characters from the show. These scenes changed as characters, actors and actresses came and went. And there were both jazzier versions of the theme, as well as slowed down and vocal versions of the theme song played at various times up to the spring of 1997. In the spring of 1997, especially with the departure of Michael Zaslow, it was decided to get rid of the scenes and just show a short excerpt of the lighthouse, with a much shorter version of Hold On To Love. The final version of this opening that started in 1997 would stay with the show until the fall of 2001.

The realism of the early 1990s was in stark contrast to the mid-1980s, when self-described "Slut of Springfield," Reva Shayne (played by Kim Zimmer) was Guiding Light's central character and storylines tended to be more campy. In fact, executive producer Jill Farren Phelps believed the show was so good without her she didn't approach Zimmer to return even though Zimmer was available. For a time, Phelps was right; the show had become much more of an ensemble piece, with several key players.

Before Long departed as headwriter, in January 1991, she presented a couple of storylines and reintroduced two characters, that appealed to Phelps' vision of an ensemble piece. Katell Plevin was introduced as a character named Dana Jones who pretended to be Beth Raines (during the time when Rick thought Phillip was losing his sanity). Later Dana got involved with Rick, but Rick dumped her when he found out her role in supposedly "playing" Beth. Dana then got involved with Frank Cooper, and they even got engaged. Around this same time Chelsea Reardon and Johnny Bauer got engaged, and Chelsea's college friend, and teacher, Rae Rooney (Allison Daugherty) came to Springfield to be Chelsea's matron of honor. But then Chelsea started to pick up a stalker (originally thought to be crazed fan of Johnny's, due to Johnny being a talk show host and singer on WSPR-TV). Chelsea nearly lost her life, two times (once due to someone trying to kill her with a pair of gardening shears in a park gazebo and once by poisoning her food). Dana Jones became chief suspect when Rick caught her impersonating Chelsea (Chelsea was a news anchor at WSPR and Dana just wanted to be like her). Later when Dana paid a visit to the control booth at WSPR she caught Rae about to kill Chelsea, again, and so it was Rae who was the stalker. Rae shot Dana, and Dana ended up in a coma at Cedars. Chelsea, Rick, Johnny and now private investigator, Frank Cooper, weren't sure who was the stalker. Then Rae paid a private visit to Dana's hospital room, and the shock of seeing Rae in her room caused Dana to die of shock. Eventually, in April 1990, Rae would get Chelsea alone in Chelsea's apartment and nearly kill her. It was revealed that Rae despised Chelsea for supposedly leading-on with romantic overtures her baby brother who was mentally ill (Rae's brother, Bobby, had also committed suicide). Rick, Johnny and Frank would save the day, and Rae would end up going to prison. Shortly after this, Chelsea and Johnny would be written out, when Johnny left to go to be with Roxie Shayne in Switzerland, and Chelsea left to go on tour as a singer herself.

Reintroduced to the show was first a SORASed, Samantha Marler (Suzy Cote) (who got involved with Dylan Lewis, and ended up being severely injured and for a time in a wheelchair, when she threw herself out of the car Reva would end up driving off the bridge to her supposed death), and then Dr. Justin Marler (now played by Chris Pennock) who returned from India to help both his daughter and his brother, Ross. (Although Pennock would leave in the spring of 1991 when Justin was cured of his malaria that he had picked up in India).

Blake played both ends against the middle with both Alan-Michael Spaulding (pretending to be pregnant and then pretending to have suffered from a miscarriage), Alan-Michael's older adopted brother, Phillip Spaulding, and her lover from her college days, Gary Swanson (William Bell Sullivan) who tried to kill at various times in 1990, Alan-Michael, Phillip and Blake, kidnapped both Alan-Michael and Blake, and also killed the man who brought an alive, Beth Raines (now played by Beth Chamberlin) back to Springfield, architect, Neil Everest (Patrick O'Connell) and tried to set up Phillip as Neil's murderer and almost succeeded, until Roger, Ross and a briefly returned to town, India von Halkein figured out his and Blake's plans (Alan-Michael would dump her, and Blake for a while would blame both her parents and Ross for doing this). Gary would end up going to the same prison as Alan was put in back in the summer of 1989.

After Long left, Holly and Roger were featured at the forefront, along with Roger's contentious marriage to Alexandra, which would culminate in a memorable scene where McKinsey's Alexandra decimated Roger in public. Holly would get involved (after suffering from migraine headaches), and almost marry for a short time a dangerous man who almost killed her and Harley Cooper, Dr. Daniel St. John (David Bishins) (who originally arrived in town with Justin and helped to make Samantha walk again) who killed his former sister-in-law, Jean Weatherill (Jennifer Harmon) who he killed by knocking her in the head with his own name plate that Holly gave him as a gift, when Jean threatened to go to Holly about the truth that Daniel had killed his wife and Jean's sister, Carol, and then let Blake discover Jean's body that was floating face down in the Country Club pool, and also shot Roger in the shoulder (but Roger shot Daniel dead), at the Bauer cabin. Samantha Marler, and Cote, who had clued in Harley about Daniel's rage would end up leaving shortly after this to go to law school and it would be later revealed off-camera that Samantha had become a lawyer like her uncle Ross. Holly instead of turning to Roger, as many people (including Roger) thought she would, instead ended up getting engaged to Ross.

Blake, who still blamed Holly for her divorce from Alan-Michael, plotted to steal her mother Holly's fiance, Ross Marler, but ended up falling for him, and became somewhat "reformed" (Blake and Ross would marry in a very memorable wedding in June 1994, with even Roger agreeing to except this union). Holly ended up for a time becoming addicted to pain relievers and alcohol and nearly accidentally killed herself. Harley Cooper, fresh from heartbreak with Josh Lewis, fell for cop AC Mallet (then Mark Derwin) and the two married (A.C. would later have an affair with an unnamed woman and the two of them would divorce with both Beth Ehlers and Harley coming back to the show in 1997; A.C. would return but with a different actor playing him in 2005).

Ross Marler also ran for the U.S. Senate, in the fall of 1992, but in a story that nearly mirrored Bill Clinton's problems in the Presidential election that year, Ross would have to contend with someone blackmailing him over his love life with the unpredictable Blake (in a surprising move this blackmailer turned out to be a clean and sober, but very angry Holly -- still angry at Blake taking Ross away from her -- , not Roger -- although Roger took the pictures of Ross and Blake in bed). On the election eve, 1992, episode, Ross had a very interesting dream where he couldn't even buy a vote from anyone in town, including the women characters he had formerly been or currently involved with still on the show (Vanessa, Holly, Nadine and Blake). This dream sequence from Ross was apparently well appreciated by the audience and is one of the things still discussed a great deal on the internet.

Also presented by then headwriter Nancy Curlee was a great story that still showed the capability of the acting of Maeve Kinkead, when Vanessa charged and rightly so, a fellow businessman, Jack Kiley (Tom Tammi), of attempted rape and sexual harassment (this was shortly after Anita Hill had charged Supreme Court justice Clarence Thomas of nearly the same crimes). Maeve spoke great lines, from Vanessa, to Billy about the unfairness still existing in many businessplaces about the "good old boy" network that secluded many otherwise hardworking, well-educated and capable, especially married women or women with children or older family members they needed to take care of. This brought Vanessa closer to Holly, since Holly urged Vanessa to continue to press charges against Kiley. Curlee, Reilly and others also introduced to Springfield several other new African-American characters that interacted with several characters including already established by Long characters, Gilly Grant and Hampton Speakes, amongst those was Gilly's brother, David Grant (originally played by Monti Sharp, later by Russell Curry and much later by Terrell Tilford), who started out as a criminal but later "reformed" into a private investigator, and Hampton's daughter, Katherine "Kat" Speakes (Nia Long) who had a relationship with David, until she went to school in Europe.

Phelps herself was a controversial figure among Guiding Light fans. Actress Beverlee McKinsey played Alexandra Spaulding, Alan's older sister, on Guiding Light during the Pam Long years, and executed an option in her contract that, combined with vacation time she had earned, allowed her to leave the show without giving the show notice. This was a great loss to the show, as McKinsey was part of a triangle of sorts, as the interfering party between her newly found son, originally named Nick McHenry (Vincent Irizarry who would end up being the twin of Lujack; and also was a newspaper reporter who would later be ensnared to be involved with the corporate intrigue at Spaulding, Enterprises) and his new girlfriend Mindy Lewis (Kimberley Simms). (Eventually, veteran actress Marj Dusay would take over the role of Alexandra.) It is widely believed that Phelps didn't read McKinsey's contract and thus allowed the show to lose the legendary actress. Another move considered a blunder by fans was the death of Maureen Reardon Bauer, played by Ellen Parker, since 1986. Phelps' decision to kill off the character of Maureen was based largely on input by focus groups; however, Maureen's death removed the "tentpole character", which Guiding Light has not had since.

After these two strong stories were either derailed or stopped in their tracks, the show lost its momentum, although into the first few months of 1994 things seemed to be okay, although not great, as such events as Nick's former girlfriend from the fictional island of Cambrai, Dr. Eve Guthrie (Hilary Edson) went insane and tried to kill Mindy (played during this time by Ann Hamilton and later by Barbara Crompton), until Eve went to a mental institution and when she got out started a relationship with the lonely Ed (Eve and Ed would later marry, but Eve was killed off from an undisclosed disease in May 1995). Of course Ed didn't get off the hook for the way Mo had died, for it turned out that Mo had discovered that Ed had an affair with her best friend, nurse Lillian Raines, when Lillian had a breast cancer scare, and Mo accused Holly of the affair (since Holly and Ed had an affair back in the first half of 1989), until Mo discovered a letter that Lillian had written to Ed right while Mo was cleaning her kitchen (Ed had apparently dropped the letter near the sink while he was trying to repair some pipes). After Mo died, headwriter Curlee presented a wonderful and powerful scene where Roger Thorpe visited Mo's grave, because Mo was the only one who treated Roger with any sympathy. But later when Roger had decided to fire Holly at WSPR television station, and hooked up with an English woman, and former jewel thief, Jenna Bradshaw (Fiona Hutchison, who at first claimed she was another daughter of Henry Chamberlain's and later got involved with and had a child with the re-married to Nadine, Buzz Cooper), it would be Holly who would become the sympathetic character as she helped Michelle through her first period, and later found out from Ed that he had an affair with another woman (which totally shocked Holly and isolated the two of them, from each other, for a great while; Holly would later find herself falling for and marrying Fletcher Reade and they would have a Down's Syndrome daughter named Meg). (Roger and Jenna married in the summer of 1993 in a rather gothic setting, with a divorced Jenna later telling Vanessa that she was the "Bride of Thorpestein"). Roger also saved Ed's life, in almost a reversal of what happened in April 1980 when Ed nearly fell off a cliff at a hideaway that Michelle and Holly were staying at. (Of course the person who set this up to happen was, Roger himself). And a little later, in November 1993, Roger threatened Jenna not to leave him while she was pregnant with his child (a child she'd later miscarry), Roger would crash Nick and Mindy's engagement party (with some great scenes of Alexandra and Roger going after each other, vocally, at the Country Club ballroom). And a little later a great mystery would be had, when Roger was shot, and left for dead (he later showed up back alive after getting Holly to treat his wounds and coercing Eve Guthrie to attend to him), at the Country Club's potting shed (this would later be revealed to be, Billy Lewis at the time being played by Geoffrey Scott, after Clarke had been arrested for drunk driving in Florida, and then fired by Procter & Gamble; Clarke would return in 1996). One other actress who later became famous that was on during this time, was one of the Spaulding's maids (originally started out as Jenna's), who played comic relief on the show, Ginger (played by Allison Janney -- later, C.J. Cregg of The West Wing fame) with one of the other Spaulding maids, Donna.

But by the spring of 1994 storylines aimlessly wandered, many revolving solely around characters played by new hires who were close friends to Phelps (several episodes featured nothing more than Justin Deas yelling on a rooftop). In spite of their talent, some of these actors, such as Marcy Walker (Tangie Hill; formerly a ward of Roger Thorpe's), Scott Hoxby who would later change his name to Derek Hoxby (Detective Patrick Cutter), and Veronica Cruz (Gabriella Lopez Grant; who married David for a short time to not be deported), were enormously unpopular with viewers. The storylines themselves were often stagnant and silly, such as Alan's (by then played by Ron Raines) return from prison involving his hiding his face at all times and effecting a fake Japanese accent (he was pretending to be a foreign businessman so he could regain his company), Nick becoming more and more distracted by the power of Spaulding, Enterprises, Alan shooting and wounding Alan-Michael (and Tangie acting as Alan-Michael's nurse, but caught in a romantic triangle between the father and son), Matt and Vanessa keeping their romance a secret from family and friends, and Alan and Jenna using a look alike of Ross' named Howie or "Hoss" (Jerry verDorn in a great dual role) to get to Blake's shares of Spaulding stock. Finally, after early 1990s headwriter, Nancy Curlee departed and was replaced by Megan McTavish, Procter & Gamble forced Phelps to bring Zimmer back for a limited run, but the story (Reva's ghost tormented Josh and his new love Annie Dutton played by Cynthia Watros) was panned by fans and critics as one of the worst in Guiding Light history.

In spring 1995, with rumors of cancellation growing stronger Michael Laibson succeeded Jill Farren Phelps, and brought back Kim Zimmer's Reva character for good, who had supposedly killed herself five years earlier in a bout with postpartum depression. Reva was revealed to be an amnesiac living as an Amish woman. Under headwriter Megan McTavish, huge chunks of airtime focused on the psychotic Brent (Frank Beaty), who had raped Buzz's daughter Lucy and was then presumed dead. Lucy soon befriended a dowdy woman named Marian. Marian was actually Brent in drag! The storyline garnered much attention due to some controversial twists such as Marian switching Lucy's AIDS test results to make her think she was HIV-positive, Marian killing Nadine Cooper when she found out the truth and then throwing Nadine's body in the river, killing Det. Cutter while on a "date" and beating an HIV-positive woman, Susan Bates, into a coma. Beaty's bravura performance carried the show along for months, but unfortunately he was not able to finish the Brent/Marian storyline and the role was recast toward the end. After the Brent/Marian storyline finished, new storylines started. One memorable storyline involved Blake thinking that her twin babies had two different fathers, Rick and Ross (Blake later discovered that Ross sired both.) Dinah Marler, Vanessa and Ross' love child was brought back with Wendy Moniz now in the role. Dinah had become penniless after partying her way through Europe and being kicked out of college (for failing grades) in Europe. Dinah tried to extort money out of the trust fund set up by her grandfather, Henry Chamberlain by setting up her own kidnapping (which went awry, with her mother's boyfriend, Matt Reardon saving the day). Dinah also tried to seduce Matt, but it backfired royally. Later, Dinah got involved with and married Roger Thorpe to gain access to her inheritance, with no one showing up to the wedding. Many of these scenes turned into Dinah becoming very agitated and yelling at many of the other characters. Matt and Vanessa did marry in a memorable wedding ceremony, in October 1995. In spring 1996, several months after the Brent/Marion storyline ended, Zachary Smith (Brody Hutzler) was introduced as a mysterious man trying to repair the lighthouse (which had caught fire several times before this), and later it appeared as though he was an angel who got involved with Michelle Bauer. Gilly Grant would find out that the man she thought was her biological father, wasn't, and then ended up having a brief relationship and nearly sexual (although this was stopped by her mother) with the man who was her biological father. Brought back in 1996 was (after leaving when Phillip married Beth in 1991), Grant Aleksander. Phillip came back looking for which member of the Spaulding family set him up all those years before. Roger Thorpe was written to be gaslighted and drugged by his new wife, Dinah Marler-Thorpe, and (the recently returned to town) Roger's son, Hart. Amanda Spaulding returned as a former madam, in California, and one of her high priced call men was none other than Matt Reardon. Nola (Lisa Brown) and Quint (Michael Tylo) were also brought back, separately, but mostly ignored by the writers, and Quint would leave town in January 1997. Ratings hit even new lows, resulting in Laibson and McTavish's firings.

Paul Rauch began producing the show in late 1996 and was joined by writers James Harmon Brown and Barbara Esensten in 1997. The story zeroed in on Josh Lewis' rocky marriage to Annie Dutton. Annie had once been a sweet nurse (and, at one point, Rick Bauer's wife; although this marriage would be later ruled to be illegal, as was the one with Josh, when it was revealed Annie had never even divorced her first husband, Eddie Banks) but had become a pill addict. Annie became a raving lunatic who got artificially inseminated to keep Josh at her side, and pretended to be Reva's long-lost sister to guilt her into staying away. When that didn't work and she also lost her baby, she pushed herself down a flight of stairs at the Spaulding mansion, framing Reva for the death of her fetus. A high-stakes murder trial led Annie to have a meltdown on the witness stand, after which she dramatically collapsed and was rendered barren. This somewhat campy material was bulldozed through by actress, Cynthia Watros, whose performance astonished viewers. Annie, with Alan Spaulding's help, then tried to manipulate Reva's real sister Cassie (Laura Wright) into breaking up Josh and Reva. Watros left the show in early 1998, after Annie was arrested for her past misdeeds at her and Alan's aborted wedding (and also having her attempting to be defended by another recently new character, attorney and also Ross, Justin and Lainie Marler's half-brother, Ben Warren played by Hunt Block), leaving a big hole in a show that had been largely centered on the Josh/Reva/Annie storyline.

In 1996, feeling the show needed a matriarch, Ed's aunt, Meta Bauer (who, though referred to occasonally in recent years, had not been seen since the character left the show in 1974) returned to Springfield. Soap legend Mary Stuart was cast in the role, adding a bit of a connection with soap history. The move was seen as an attempt to reclaim longtime fans of Guiding Light, as well as Search for Tomorrow, on which Stuart had starred for three decades. The character left in 1999 when Stuart suffered a stroke. She eventually returned in late 2000, remaining until the actress' death the following year. During the January 1997 60th anniversary episodes, Mike Bauer (Don Stewart) returned for a couple of days which also delighted many long time fans.

Another storyline during the first year of Esensten and Brown's writing revolved around the return of Jenna Bradshaw (Fiona Hutchison), who had secretly given birth to Buzz' son, Henry Coop Bradshaw (later given the last name of Cooper and going by the name of "Coop"), and Harley Cooper (Beth Ehlers), who had left in September 1993, and who had divorced A.C. Mallett. This storyline involved Jenna's return to being a jewel thief, but now being coerced by the criminal Jeffrey Morgan (played by Ramy Zada). To break up the couple and get the goods on Jeffrey, Harley pretended to be a prostitute named, Starla and her pretend boyfriend was Phillip. (Showing great chemistry together, Aleksander and Ehlers were written into having a full blown romance, for Harley and Phillip, after Jeffrey was arrested). Later Harley and Jenna (working undercover, together) would help Reva and Josh find out from Annie that Alan was working with her to keep the whereabouts of Cassie a secret. Jenna though would end up pregnant with Jeffrey's child, and Harley and Phillip would have to contend with the return to town of Beth Raines (Beth Chamberlin) who would drag her daughter with Phillip into killing the man who Alan had set Beth up with, in Arizona, who would turn out to be very abusive named, Carl Stevens (Joseph Murphy). Rick got involved with a hearing impaired woman named, Abigail "Abby" Blume (Amy Cox Ecklund, who was hearing-impaired in real life), and later marry her (but they would divorce early in the next decade when both character and actress received cochlear implants and regained hearing.)

Other less well-received storylines in 1997 included Nola's stalking of Buzz (Lisa Brown left in January 1998), Vanessa's pretending to be dead (and briefly running off and hiding in a convent in Switzerland), and Michelle's finding of the recipent of her deceased mother's heart, Jesse Blue (Paulo Benedeti) , and then falling in love with him.

In 1998, Esensten and Brown wrote a hotly debated storyline. Reva, who was believed to be dead a second time, was cloned at the request of her grieving husband Josh (Robert Newman). When Reva was found alive, the lonely clone (who, ironically, was named Dolly, like the sheep) committed suicide by drinking too much aging serum. As she lay on her death bed (actually a couch), Josh fumbled with a cure that would have reversed the effects of the aging serum. Unfortunately, he dropped it behind the couch and it was too late to save Dolly.

Emboldened by the attention the clone plot elicited, plots became more outrageous. Blake started carrying on a relationship with Ross' half brother, Ben Warren. When one day Ross arrived home and it appeared as though Ben was trying to rape Blake, Ross tried to shoot Ben with a gun he had bought—but accidentally shot and wounded Blake (with Liz Keifer in a wheelchair for several months). Blake also falsely accused Ben of attempting to rape her, but her guilt would get the better of her, and for some time Ross and Blake seperated -- although they'd have a daughter, Clarissa, in December 1999. Holly became an alcoholic after Roger and her husband Fletcher abandoned her, and as the "Nursery Rhyme Stalker" and was partly responsible for the death of the popular Jenna Bradshaw Cooper when Jeffrey Morgan came back to town and Holly let it slip that Jenna's youngest son, Rocky, was really Jeffrey's son and not Buzz', she then kidnapped the children of Springfield. Annie returned with a new face (Signy Coleman), but after an initial impact, the recast proved unsuccessful and Coleman was written out a year later. Susan Lemay was turned into a teen terror for a while, and was responsible for burning down her grandfather, Buzz Cooper's Fifth Street Diner. Reva's time away from Springfield was explained: she had been living in the island country of San Cristobel and was "Princess Catherine". And in a snowstorm in the mountains of San Cristobal, Beth Raines, Jim Lemay (who was getting romantically involved with Beth) and Phillip Spaulding were stranded on a crashed airplane, and despite Phillip being married to Harley (and Harley pregnant with his child, a son they would name, Zach), he and Beth made love (Beth would also give birth to a son, they would name James -- although in the last few years James has hardly been seen).

Adapted from the Wikipedia article "1990s", under the G.N U Free Docmentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki