Here’s a few quick bites about various stories and news items – including a spoiler for Guiding Light fans. (If you’re spoiler free, read no further.)
THE LIVING END: Now that the news is in this week’s Soap Opera Weekly, and GL has (insert loud gasp here) made the COVER (!!??!!), I’ll share with you the identity of the character who’s sick (and may die) that I mentioned last week.
The character who is ill…..is (drum roll please…..) Phillip Spaulding.
This week’s Weekly story explains that he goes to see an infectious disease specialist……Ed Bauer. (Clearly, poor 
Phillip has been ill for months – it COMPLETELY explains why he had to wear that red Adidas hoodie every day for a month, so he could stay warm!)
Seriously, I have to say that I really like this idea and am optimistic that this could be meaningful for long time viewers. It would be different at another time and with a different set of circumstances, but I’m encouraged to see this as the show ends.
Yes, it might have been a bit better if it had been a character that hadn’t (a) been assumed dead before, more than once and (b) hadn’t JUST returned to the canvas, but quite frankly, this is not the time to be picky.
If us losing a beloved character – and our show – gives characters a natural, organic and unintrusive way to return to the canvas AND come together, I am ALL FOR IT.
I’ve mentioned the uneven ending that Another World had; a member of the AW team told me recently that there was ten days between when the announcement was cancelled and the final writing/tape date, so everything had to be done in a rush and with a limited budget.
Guiding Light had a lead of several months’ notice to think about how things will end, and I hope they’ve come up with something that will be fitting and give the audience and the show itself some closure.
We don’t know for sure that Phillip is definitely dying, and I’ve heard about a half dozen possible endings. But we DO know Phillip is sick, and we’ll first see Ed next Tuesday, June 23rd.
MAGNIFICENT MARTHA: I did something today I thought I’d never do again – I sat through an entire episode of General Hospital. It was somewhat entertaining: the mob was at a minimum, for one. I saw Monica (Leslie Charleson!) for at least 30 whole seconds, and Laura Wright looks fantastic. (So did Jason Thompson…..why is he not the star of the show?)
But the main reason I watched was to see Martha Byrne’s debut as Andrea Floyd. Martha was GREAT. She did a great job creating a new, Lady McBeth-esque character in Andrea, who wants to dig her husband (John Bolger) out of the hole he’s dug himself into. (His injured mistress died on the GH operating tables.)
I didn’t see even a sliver of “Lily” onscreen, though Byrne’s performance as the controlled, tightly wound Andrea brought to mind Lily’s mom (and Byrne’s former ATWT acting partner) Elizabeth Hubbard in a few frames.
(For my recent post about Martha’s new acting partner-in-crime, John Bolger, click here.)
NO, I AM NOT LIZ KEIFER’s PR AGENT: But there’s a GREAT interview with her in Soap Opera Digest. A must see for Liz fans and Blake fans!
HELL HAS FROZEN OVER: And in other SHOCKING news, the new SOD cover has absolutely NO reference to ANY of the usual suspects from The Young and the Restless. Only a small picture of Cane, underscoring the building Cane/Phillip/Langley “who’s who?” storyline.
How can this be? How will we ever find the magazine without those familiar faces on them? I’m SO worried. This may be a sign of the End Times. I mean, wasn’t there something about this in Revelations?
THREE MONTHS: Today is June 18th, which means there’s exactly three months until September 18th, GL’s last airdate on CBS. I’ve heard from many GL fans who are sad, mad or are still in total denial. Last week’s news about Crystal Chappell’s move to DAYS intensified the collective agony (and the number of messages in my inbox).
A | THOUSAND | OTHER | WORLDS 
I think Y&R was mentioned in the Book of Revelation also. Was Lynn Marie Latham the Harlot who rode the Wild Beast, or just the Wild Beast itself? LOL (JK, LML, I still love KNOTS LANDING…)
Phillip Spaulding hasn’t been well since he returned to GL. Grant Aleksander previously mentioned that Phillip THOUGHT he was well, but that was in a mental sense. He obviously isn’t. This physical illness is affecting him on some level. It explains his decision to manslaughter Grady…his willingness to go to jail, TWICE…even his decision to return, NOW, instead of previously…because six months isn’t much time.
That said, it was obvious that AW was wrapped up at breakneck speed…but GL seems to be dragging some days. The reveal that Shayne is Henry’s father seemed rushed, but everything else plays out very, very languidly. I’m glad that GL is going to wrap up some stories before the end (I suspect Remy and Christina will leave town early, among others), but I’d like to see more things HAPPEN every week for the next 3 months. More drama. More romance. More gas-pumping. Yes, I loved today’s scene of Reva and Olivia at the gas station! For all that’s said about filming in Peapack, I NEVER thought I’d see characters on daytime fillin’ up! I loved it!
Ant – Bwahahahah! on the LML comment.
Even back when Phillip was “sick” and kidnapping his children he seemed physically unwell. I really believed the explanation for his behavior was that he was poisoned. (I think that awful Carrie Carruthers woman had somehow given him Antimonius, or whatever Ecstacy-like drug she had.)
I agree, I’ve felt like things are winding up to head to September. I also think it’s been hard for them to write something with a dual purpose – a fitting ending but one with an exit chute in case a miracle happens and GL is picked up elsewhere.
Thanks for posting this. If I read one more post written by someone who misunderstands the spoiler and thinks that *Ed Bauer* is dying, I’ll scream. Not only is the language of the spoiler very clear, but there was a HUGE anvil dropped last week, when Philip and Emma had that little talk all about how they have the whole summer, plenty of time to be together, yadda, yadda. It’s sort of heartbreaking to think of Philip really being killed off, but a great plot device for wrapping things up and giving James a realistic reason to reconcile with his father.
Actually, Ed dying would be an even better story, IMHO, because it really would be the heart of the show – the Bauers – dying.
It will be heartbreaking if Emma loses her father all over again.
Ed’s death would surely be poignant, but it would seem out of left field, considering that he’s been out of the loop for so long. So many current viewers don’t even have a clue who he is. Also, there hasn’t been any follow-up on the rumor that Maureen Garrett would be returning for the show’s end. I absolutely refuse to buy into a scenario where Ed is dying and Holly isn’t around for it.
I just thought Phillip loved Adidas, but it was because he was cold that the red hoodie became like a second skin. 😉 While I liked that GL was on the cover of this issue of SOW, I didn’t think there was much GL in the overall publication. There was more content in this week’s SOD, which I only went out and got this weekend due to your heads up so thank you.
That said, at least there was only one head scratching thing in the Liz K article. It said that Liz was staying in Jerry and his wife Beth’s attic at their guesthouse in CT, which is not what the magazines reported in the 90s. Back then, it was written that Liz was invited to Jerry and his wife Beth’s home, so she didn’t have to spend the weekend alone in the attic of a friend’s in CT. Liz became fast friends with Jerry’s wife too and became a frequent weekend guest.
I actually liked the end of AW even if it was a rush job. It was nice that SOD did a few page feature on the show. I would be horrified if GL killed off Ed. While I love watching Peter Simon as Ed, and yes I did squeal when I saw him in the previews, and I know he would bring it, I would be horrified if the only reason they would bring the character back would be to kill him.
Really enjoyed Martha Byrne on the episodes of GH she was on this week. How she played Andrea Floyd reminded me of a cross between Elizabeth Hubbard’s Lucinda Walsh and Hillary Clinton. I can watch Martha and John Bolger in this story and enjoy it. It is kind of novel to watch something on a soap with a beginning, middle and end.
I actually like much of GH, which may sound totally bizarre considering how critical I can be. Then again from the top of my head, I can list the following things I do like on GH: the development of Olivia and Johnny, Maxie and Spinelli as a couple, Robin/Patrick and their daughter, the family relationships among Mac, Maxie and Robin and Patrick/Matt, Jax/Carly, and how Alexis is on screen more especially with Diane.
My biggest issues with that show are the overuse of the mob, the destruction of the Qs and erasing of Luke/Laura history. I also don’t really care for the Nik/Rebecca plot and still don’t understand if Lucky and Elizabeth are back together.
I actually like how often GH uses Jason Thompson’s Patrick as it is “just right” for me. The other actors/characters who get more focus are on too much, as I don’t really want to see anyone 200 episodes a year as if I am really interested in them it becomes like sensory overload and if I don’t really care about the character I become bored.