I mailed Amy Ecklund a letter explaining how I was blind and that I wore contacts growing up how I got special glasses that could help me see.
On Sunday, February 9, 2003 at 7:55:14 AM UTC-5, Peter J. wrote:

Golden...@webtv.net wrote:

Here's my premise...You have to choose the 10 best storylines OR the 100 >best episodes of GUIDING LIGHT to be forever preserved for future
viewers. What would you pick??? Here's my list: 1) ROGER THORPE-HOLLY >storyline from 1979-1980, 2) death of Diane Ballard/ Carrie split >personality/Ross Marler storyline 1981, 3) Nola Reardon and Quentin
(1981- whenever), 4) Reva as "slut of Springfield", 5) return of Roger >Thorpe in 1989, 6) Brent as Marion Crane in 1995, 7) Annie Dutton >storyline, 8) Reva's clone, 9) Holly as the Springfield Stalker, 10)
Santos storyline. Feel free to agree, disagree, and
create your own TOP TEN storyline list. Have fun!

I have no idea what order I would put them in or what 10 I would choose, but picking a few off the top of my head:
The whole Blake/Ross seduction storyline during the summer of '92, culminating
in their very, very, VERY hot sex scene during the legendary blackout. That story added so many intricate layers to the characters of Ross and Blake, both
of whom had been growing somewhat stale, and Sherry Stringfield/Jerry ver Dorn
had a shocking amount of chemistry. You see Jerry and Liz Keifer and they are very believable and funny together, they have carried the "Bloss" tradition through many mediocre-to-poor plots and years of inactivity, but they have never quite matched SS and JvD. The feelings for her that Ross kept trying to repress finally just BLEW UP and I thought they were going to burn a hole in my
tv set during that first sex scene. That scene was the ending and beginning of
so much for both characters. Never has a parent/child love triangle worked as well as this one did. The scene where poor Holly walked in with coffee or breakfast food to surprise Ross and got the biggest surprise she ever could have imagined...classic, a triumph on every level.
Reva's "death" would be another, not because of Josh as much as the perfection
of her final episodes. The picturesque Florida locations (perhaps my favorite soap location sequence of all time), Harley wisecracking her way through the vacation and not realizing how much her own life was going to change within days, Ashley Peldon's Marah, who was so naturally adorable and never seemed to
be playing up to the camera, and the last scenes, which were a true nail-biter.
Samantha jumping out of the car, Reva driving further and further across the bridge until she yelled "I'm comin' Bud" and crashed into the water. Many soap
deaths are hyped as being momentous and making permanent changes, but this was
one soap death that had big, big, long-term reprecussions for a laundry list of
people - Harley, Vanessa, Josh, Billy, Nadine, etc. I was actually disappointed
when I found out Zimmer was returning to GL, not because I hated Reva, but because she had the dream soap exit and nothing she could do after returning would ever be able to top it. As a result, most of Reva's stories have seemed anticlimactic.
As I've mentioned before, Maureen's death is another crucial story point, because that is when GL started the slow decay which has continued unabated ever since. Oh, that drab housewife Maureen, she isn't flashy, she isn't 18, she isn't a size 2, no one will miss her. Well, they did, and many of us still
do. I remember when Ed found out she was gone, and I started crying, and I cried during episode all the way up to Roger's graveside visit, and it was because I loved Maureen, but also because inside I could sense what had been taken. When JFP murdered Maureen she did not kill a character, she murdered Springfield's heart, conscience, soul, and GL has never even come close to getting that back. I always hoped Michelle could fill that role, but the way that GL has casually butchered her beyond repair over the past year is a good example of how far off track this show and it's moral barometer has gotten. Jenna's farewell episode was, in many ways, exquisite. If someone has Nadine's
brutal murder and funeral and Jenna's final appearance on tape they should watch them back to back to show how a soap death should and should NOT be handled. Jenna appeared to all of her loved ones, her husband (possibly the only reminder for fans in the past 5-6 years that Justin Deas can act when he's
given material), her friends, helped them grieve, and as a result helped the fans grieve. Daytime loves to cheat fans out of their sorrow, or manipulate them ("oh, Arlene, Jim would WANT you to drop your drawers with another man a month after his funeral...I know he would" "Thank you Grandma, now go hide in the broom closet again until the holiday episode"), but Jenna's last episode wasn't about that. GL really did want us to have the chance to say goodbye. I wasn't a big fan of Jenna's, but after she came back to town she had a maturity
and a glow about her that she carried with her all the way to the end. I will never forget that episode because it was such a complete antithesis to most of
the plot-driven, overacted, overwritten horse manure which was being shoveled in our faces during that era of GL.
Harley and Mallet leaving the show and Lucy appearing mere moments later in that AWFUL, AWFUL beret I always wanted to smack off her head. Everything about
that character should be a lesson for future soap PTB that you cannot duplicate
the success of a character (Harley) simply by bringing in a younger version of
her, having her take over Harley's role in the family, and doing your best to show how adorable/sassy/spunky she is 3-4 days out of every week.
A lot of the Drew stuff, mainly in her last 2 years on the show. I felt like I
was watching a star-in-training, and apparently that turned out to be true. It's always a pleasure seeing green actors with a spark grow into strong, formidable talents, and she certainly did, unlike many newbies who start out green and end up gangrene. Drew's first meeting with her biological father (Ben
Warren) and the moment when she realized Jesse actually loved her were particularly beautiful performances.
Blake/Ross/Ben Warren, not for quality, for sheer camp value. This was the CAMPIEST story I have ever seen, and I howled my way through those months. My favorite parts were when Vanessa held a meeting of her support group, Second Chances, at Blake's house, and Blake, who was paralyzed at that time and hiding
the fact that she had consensual sex with Ben, suddenly yelled out, "I don't need a second chance! I've hard second, third, fourth, fifth chances, and I've
blown them all!" Then there was the *outrageous* story point where Holly's unbalanced brother Ken Norris came back to town, around the time Blake was trying to recover a compromising video of her and Ben. Inexplicably, she shoved
this in a video rental box and then in the closet so Ross wouldn't find it. Ross did, and took the video back to the store. Blake started getting blackmail
calls from the next person who rented the video (Wait Until Dark), and was supposed to go down to the docks. She was still in her wheelchair, and Meta Bauer drove her there. Meta wasn't in on any of this and after they got there Blake told her to drive back home. Meta was rightfully shocked and asked what Blake was going to do to get home. Blake said, "I'll call a cab, just go on, go!" And Meta, giving her a look which said, "you are a crazy woman", left. Then Blake was pushed towards the water and went rollllllling down the pier in
a scene I would never be able to forget even if I wanted to. The best part was
when Ken showed up at the Bloss home soon after with the incriminating video in
his hand. Blake didn't understand how he got the tape, and he just said he had
his ways or did what he had to do. Then they showed the blackmailer - a muscled
young man in his early 20's (Mick Santos, actually) - covered in bruises and black eyes. And Mick was in the mob. So not only did a portly, middle-aged man
manage to kick a young, fit man's ass, Mick never paid Ken or Blake a visit with a gun or bodyguards to rough them up or anything. Apparently you can beat
the crap out of mafiosos for fun and suffer no consequences! This whole story was almost a bad parody of soaps, with the perfect finish - Ben had drank drugged champagne and passed out in his bathtub, about to drown. Blake wheeled
into his hotel room, saw what was going on, and, sure enough, walked for the first time in months to HOIST him out of the tub and onto the floor. And that was it...no physical therapy, no relapse, she was able to walk again afterwards.
Various tales during Abby's tenure on the show. Amy Ecklund was a very powerful
actress who suffered the misfortune of being stuck in the Rick Bauer vortex, which means you exist only to be his wife and then sit around twiddling your thumbs until you're fired or quit at contract time. There were so many beautiful Abby scenes; a few I will list are -
Abby standing up to her Amish mother when she came to town to scold her
Abby quitting her job at Spaulding after realizing Alan was using her to get to
Reva
Abby's near-rape scene with the gang member, Roy Meachum, and her hospital scenes with Holly and Reva where she talked about how violated she felt even if
she hadn't actually been raped
Abby shooting Roy in open court
Abby hearing tissues and car keys for the first time after getting her cochlear
implant
Abby deciding to leave Rick because of his attitude and his demands that they have children. One night Claire had climbed into bed with him to make Abby think they had slept together. Abby saw them, and when Rick begged her to believe him, she said she knew how evil Claire was and that Rick hadn't been with her. She went on to say that they were just too different and loving each
other wasn't enough to make the marriage work. She then left for good and after
she was gone, Rick sank to his knees against the kitchen counter and began sobbing - one of the only times in recent years I've really felt sorry for Rick
instead of muttering some sort of profanity at him
Richard's funeral episode (the drums, Cassie's poem) and Cassie's understated grieving - exquisite work from Laura Wright, who always makes Cassie's feelings
clear without trying to hog the scene. She was also fantastic while Hart was dying. I remember back then that some people said Cassie wanted Hart to die, she was encouraging him to die, but that's BS. She knew he was almost gone and
she was mature enough to put aside her own pain and desires to help him on his
passage. Cassie may be the most believable widow or widower I have ever seen on
daytime television. She takes the viewer through every step and there is never
an overnight recovery period - the ache lingers inside her and slowly dissipates.
I have to mention Bridget and RealDavid's friendship, and Bridget/Kat's friendship, the talks they would have on Kat's fire escape, the growing pains,
the anguish, making them all viable and interesting characters without having to sacrifice the integrity of the adults around them to prop them up
When Harley visited in 1/97 for some ball or party, she ran into Reva and started in about Reva dumping Buzz. They stormed into the bathroom and every time a woman would try to come in to use the facilities, they would yell "occupied!" or "get out!" or "people are busy in here, go somewhere else!" Reva
eventually realized that Harley was still ticked off, rightfully, over Josh dumping her 6 years earlier to go track down Reva in Europe. They managed to resolve their differences in a very seriocomic way. Beth Ehlers has had a whole
lotta garbage thrown at her since she came back (the worst probably being the Harley/Beth/Phillip triangle, which had shitty writing from start to finish), and I honestly consider that bathroom conversation, and a later freezer confrontation with Jenna when Beth returned for good in summer '97, to be the last instances of the real Harley, the Harley with such a strong sparkle in her
eye and heartbreak in her voice that I fell in love with way back when, not the
dour, depressed woman who was broken by emperor of the pigs Phillip and has never fully recovered.
There are many honorable mentions, like any of Nadine's stories, or the initial
Vanessa/Matt romance (pre-Dinah), or Beverlee McKinsey's reign as Alex and her
delicious takedown of Roger/degradation and shaming of Mindy (I will never forget how betrayed Billy felt by his princess sleeping with the prince of darkness, and how his reaction cut Mindy to the bone).
I hope other people respond to this, because it's very good for catharsis.

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