My hats off to all of the GL fans (including yours truly) who stated eons ago that Olivia would end up being Ava's mother. We are a pretty savvy bunch and can usually see a story coming a mile away. I didn't really have the whole "hit man" angle, but then again, I try to see things from a rosier perspective.
So in the space of a week, we could see Olivia learn Ava is her child - and have her lose her at her own hands. Not that Olivia - who does show a pretty vicious mean streak - deserves any sympathy if Ava dies. Not that I'm sure that will happen - but 'Liv will certainly think she's a goner.
I was a little shocked to see Harley and Gus this week - when was the last time we saw them both in the same week? For a couple that some fans (although not me) complained they had too much air time, they have been off-screen for so long, you could almost forget they were on-canvas. I'm glad to have them back - and hope they get more air time soon.
Matt and Vanessa seem to be making Springfield home more and more. It's just a shame that most of my diehard Mattessa's aren't watching anymore to see their favorite couple. Still, I'd like to see them more often - as would many of you.
But what can you say about the story that has irked me for months - Josh/Reva/Cassie/Billy? I think I could have read "War and Peace" in a foreign language (and I don't speak/read any) before this story ends. I am wondering if the story will really end with Reva dying (although I've heard that is not the case) and the show ending. I hope this isn't the case. But I take any opportunity to watch Jordan Clarke as a positive thing.
Last week's rant about the show and it's total lack of love and romance certainly filled up my In Box. Here are some of your comments:
Kathy says: "All I want to know is when Reva finally tells Josh she has cancer. This has been going on too long now...enough already!"
Lakiesha states: Have Reva and Josh returned back together and have Reva beat the cancer. Without Reva & Josh there is no Guiding Light."
Mimi has several comments: "Am I the only one who thinks GL has the ugliest theme music on the air? It is so bangy it gives you a headache. Of course, considering the storylines this summer, maybe that's appropriate since this stupid unending Reva-Josh-Cassie thing is giving viewers a headache too. Too many stories are going no where and Reva's story has lost any value it had as heart touching. Not even Kim Zimmer can rescue this tiresome and aggravating storyline. Where has that GL we all enjoyed gone? Get some decent writers, please before some of the best actors on tv don't have this program to act on."
Now Lori has me thinking: "I had a revelation on your two scoop comments on the Springfield burns saga - wouldn't it be great if Phillip were the one behind this one. I mean we know he is out there but GL has never really went back to that. I think it would also tie in great to the whole "4 Musketeers" flashback with Rick and Beth. Just a thought! "
Long time GL viewer Peggy says, "I have watched Guiding Light for over thirty years and this is the first time I've been tempted to quit watching completely. I am so disappointed in the way Reva and Josh's story is being handled. It discredits those who are battling cancer and their families. Josh and Cassie hooking up is equally disgusting, not to mention what you have done to Mallet and Dinah. None of your characters are happy and while soaps are all about drama, there should be some solid relationships and content characters on a show. I can be depressed enough by real life events. Give us back the fun days of Nola and Quint, adventure and mystery without so much angst and sorrow. You have such great actors on GL. Please, use them wisely."
Dawn asks: "I'm wondering if Reva is REALLY dying. I haven't seen any info discussing that. Will she make a miracle cure? Or did she not sign her contract? If so, why would the producers write her off FOREVER? They usually always leave a window open. Reva not telling Josh by now is so unbelievable...and I can't believe she would not fight for her final moments of love. I believe she loves him enough to want him to be happy, but I also know that the Reva I KNOW isn't so selfish that she wouldn't let Josh help her and cherish those last moments. Still, I hope she does survive. "
Note: Dawn - Kim Zimmer did sign a contract, but the show has all of the control. Every 13 weeks the show can get rid of her - or any player under contract. Rumors are that Reva doesn't die, but I can't say for sure.
Mindy Lewis (another of my favorite characters) chimes in: "I've watched the show for 30+ years. Many of topics are the same just different character/actor but same old story. How many times can a character come to Springfield then find out they are adopted and behold one parent happens to live in Springfield. B O R I N G! Then I thought to myself on some of the night time drama that I enjoy watching and I found that new, fresh and yet shocking moments in a storyline kept me watching/entertained. I hate to say it but perhaps some of the characters should have shorter storylines. I guess they need to die or move away that is eye catching. And please don't kill them off or say they are moving away because of their contract or leaving the show for another show. Have them planned for only "x" amount of episodes. The show needs crazy/psycho characters. It also needs faster storylines. The fact Reva is sick you has gone on too long. I've lost interest in the story itself. Realistically she'd be in a bed and lost tons of weight given her months left to live. Whenever I see old characters in a coma or near death it only signals to me contract renewal. Heck, kill Reva off and be done with it. Then of course Reva can always come in a dream sequence or perhaps appear as a guardian angel to Josh/Cassie or better yet a ghost. Why not? It is a soap opera."
Another long time fan, Michelle agrees: "I have been watching Guiding Light for the past 30 years. I have loved watching Josh and Reva together. I am so sick of what you have done with these characters. I know that this is just a show. But this storyline is ridiculous. You could have really done something with Reva's cancer storyline. You could have ended up possibly winning the number 1 Daytime Show with that. Instead you have really just about lost most of your devoted fans, like me. You have wasted their talent. "
Elletra wants the show to return Carmen and Danny Santos: "I miss them so Much on GL and I'd like to see they back in the show. Carmen/Saundra is still in a coma and if the writers like they can write her awakening and Danny/Paul is somewhere out in the Country. I miss so much their ENORMOUS and AMAZING talent, I miss the relationship with other people in the show and...to be honest, GL is not the same without them."
Phyllis responds to my rant: "Kim. WOW I thought I was the only one who felt like that!!!! Everything you just wrote was so true it hurts. I could not wait to watch GLevery day but now I am so disgusted that I don't care if it goes off the air tomorrow. The Tammy, Lizzie, Jonathan thing finished me. They were the last couple left with any happiness and they ruined that too. I started watching The Young and the Restless . Now this is a real soap!!!!!"
Sharon shares her thoughts: "I agree that enough is enough! I, too, am a long, long time GL fan but am so fed up with this terrible Reva/Josh/Cassie thing that I am about to drop off. They could have done some wonderful handling of the cancer issue but chose to make it stupid and maddening. My sister died of brain cancer, but her husband who had been a traditional dominant husband laid off of work for the last 18 months of her life. He became a loving care-taker and said their time together was precious and he wouldn't have had it any other way. He became best friends with women (me and another friend) and eventually married my sister's hospice nurse, which my Sister did promote because she didn't want him to be alone. The writers could have done so much with Josh as the caring husband through Reva's illness. And if they wanted him to end up with Cassie it could have been after Reva's death-- sharing their loss. Instead we end up hating all three of them and Billy, too. I wish they'd just have Reva die already and end this ridiculous storyline.
Meanwhile, to rev up the show again I think they need to build on Dinah and Mallet's relationship. They are the only ones left with chemistry and fun together. I especially liked them when they played detectives together and could see them as a Hart-to-Hart couple in and out of lots of things, lighter than most police stuff.
More Harley, too, but not as a business executive -- so not her. She's such a great actress--don't waste her.
Sorry to hear Jonathan is leaving GL. He is a great bad boy you grow to love and could have picked up the Reva slack naturally, even if he ended up with Lizzie.
Hate Rick and Beth anymore -- they could be gone easily. Now we have to turn to the next generation I guess.
How about bringing Lujack back, now that the actor is free again? Perhaps pair him with Marina, pit him against Alan Michael. Would reawaken Alex. (Note: Lujack is dead, but Nick is not)
And perhaps bring in Olivia's brother -- he had something special about him. Maybe a thing with Mara. I assume we'll see Mara and Shane again if Reva dies.
Most of all -- GL needs new writers! All of these obviously must be in miserable relationships and hate their mates to even think up this Reva thing."
Adrienne comments: "I think the Reva/Josh/Cassie think is freaking crazy. I wish she would just tell them. Is Reva really leaving the show? If not I do not want to see Cassie and Josh together. It is just as unnatural as Tammy and Jonathan to me. I really do not like Ava's attitude. I kind of wish that they would recast her."
Hopefully Lyn will have a change in heart: Noooooo! I'm begging! Pleeeease dont' tell me Eva is the baby Olivia gave up for adoption! I swear....I'll stop watching the show. I just cannot handle that."
Longtime viewer (and Soap Central reader) Shirley echoes our sentiments: "You are now saying what I have been saying for a long time. How much longer can any of the characters stay with the show with the crappy stories they are getting? EW and DK have to be stupid people to want this Reva story any longer. They are ruining Cassie and it is so unfair for a new person to have this icky story. I'm wondering if LW knew this was coming and jumped ship when she had a chance. I'm sure she didn't enjoy her storyline with Eddie at the end either.
I feel P&G should fire all the writers and hire new ones. If they don't soon, there will be no GL.
I only watch a couple anymore and FF about 2/3 of every show. These three stories along with Josh and Cassie are boring, have lasted too long and are garbage besides. This Alan getting as bad or worse than Phillip is just plain sick. It is time to bury all the actors who have been front and center for years and years and give more people a good story. It is a sad day."
Angela adds: "You must have read my mind. Just today I was thinking that I would stop watching this show and just read the recaps. I am discouraged and disheartened that characters keep leaving or let go (Philip, Ross, almost all the Bauers, etc.) Now I hear that Tammy, Jonathan, and Cassie might be leaving. They can't make Dinah happy. What is wrong with these people. I started listening to this show on the radio with my mother. Then I watched it on TV with her. So I guess I have know the characters for 50 years. I remember Berta , Papa Bauer, etc. It is sad to me that the show has changed so much and that characters disappear. What about Reva's sister Roxie? What about the Reardons? What about Alan Michael's mother Hope? What about Alexandra's son? What happen to Susan Lemay? What happened to Holly and Ed? Philip leaving was a major tragedy. I'm thinking that I might be through with this show which is sad. My mother and I discussed the show and the characters as if they were family. This is a tragedy.
Carlita states: "I agree that there is no romance on GL and at this point certainly nothing that interests me. Two years ago at the Gathering Gina Tognoni and Bradley Cole both told us as they were sitting together at the autograph table that they were going to be a couple.
They had a past and it would have made sense. Mallet/Harley/Gus was supposed to be a story. I heard rumors that some personal things ended that so they put Dinah and Mallet together. The Idiots in Charge think that Josh/Cassie is their big love story super couple. After almost one year 90% of the fans still hate them, and hate the characters and many aren't liking the actors. Robert Newman has the most to lose because he was popular. Nicole Forester had some chemistry with Bradley Cole who she blew off and acted as if they never had an intimate moment for this stupid Josh/Cassie story. Reva's cancer story is not about Reva is it all to push this Crash storyline. Many are tuning out and no one seems to care. If TIIC think that their big love story is going to be Josh and Cassie, they either are on drugs or they should be if they aren't. I can understand not pleasing everyone, but when 90+ percent of the fans hate it, and they keep going on and on, then maybe they want the show to be cancelled. I sure hope someone keeps the light burning. I have watched this show for 40 years and now I admit that I only watch it the days that there is no Reva/Crash...."
Janette wants TPTB to know: "I agree with everything you have said in your last Two Scoops. I watch GL because I want to be entertained and get away from every day problems in the world. "
Former GL viewer Stepmother gives a new perspective: "I have probably watched this show longer than you, since I was born in 1950, and was the first on my block to have a TV. My Gram and Mom watched, so did I and later so did my stepdaughter. I quit about 6 months ago. I think GL is just about unredeemable. No Phillip, no Ross, no Ed and way too much poor-me-Reva. Why did she become the center of the show anyway? Remember the Bauers? Papa Bauer? Sadly, my only contact with GL is to read your column to see if anything looks hopeful. And it doesn't."
Agnes adds: "I have just about had it with this Reva-Josh thing. Why are the writers so stubborn they won't listen to the viewers and tell Josh about Reva's cancer? I am getting so fed up with this senseless storyline I'm getting ready to shut my TV. off for good."
WOW! Thanks for all of your comments. Sorry I can't print them all - but the page would be huge!! Hopefully GL is reading (and I know they do) and takes our opinions to heart.
Until next week...
Keep the Light Shining and Have a Great Week!
Kimberly
Kimberly@soapcentral.com
Kimberly
