In honor of the last two weeks of Guiding Light being available on a two disc set, soapclassics.com has released the November 25, 1996 episode. This particular show is the follow up episode to the fifth episode on disc one of the Bauer Family DVD.
Warning: I wasn't too enamored with Guiding Light in this period. I apologize in advance for any snarky remarks. That said if in 1996 someone would have told me this would be considered a classic episode I would have been utterly confused. For the sake of this summary I am using regular character names and not the couple ones I would have used back then, as I would be writing things about Jeva, Rabby and Bloss instead of Josh/Reva, Rick/Abby and Blake/Ross.
At the time this episode aired, GL had two versions of the "Hold On to Love" opening. This isn't the original HOTL theme or the one that was introduced earlier in the year that was panned, but the third version I believe. This used the Bauer, Thorpe, and Reardon characters. The other one focused more on the Coopers and the Lewis/Shayne families. The closing credits just have the lighthouse logo and the PGP one with the theme, so I have no idea who wrote or directed this episode. This was a transition period, and some plots were altered due to behind the scene personnel changes, but more on that later in the entry.
Meta (Mary Stuart, a soap legend who played Joanne on Search for Tomorrow for its entire run) comes to Springfield and moves in with Rick (Michael O'Leary) and Michelle (who isn't in this episode). Abby (Amy Cox Ecklund) lives next door in the garage apartment. Meta talks about how she and Grandma Bert babysat for him and changed his diapers. Meta called him Freddie and she mentioned how he liked powder. Phillip (Grant Aleksander) wants to move into the Bauer house too and in in these scenes in the Bauer kitchen.
When Abby and Meta are out of the room, Phillip and Rick talk. Phillip mentions how Alan set him up, and that's why he wants to move in as Alan made it look like Alan-Michael was responsible. Phillip is so disgusted that he may not be able to even stay in Springfield. They talk about how Phillip helped Annie to detox in the Bauer cabin. Phillip mentions how he is still a married man. Aunt Meta forced them into kitchen duty. Rick thinks that Ed (who is out of town) would kill him, if he sent Meta away. Phillip leaves to go to the Carriage House to see his cousins the baby Marler twins as they just were discharged from the hospital.
Meanwhile at the Carriage House, Ross (Jerry verDorn) and Blake (Liz Keifer) are holding their babies Jason and Kevin, who are a bit fussy. They wonder how the nurses had the magic touch, and perhaps it is their uniforms. Blake makes a comment about having a french maid's costume, but he quipped that would excite him and not the kids. Before Ross and Blake become too frisky as there was no way they could have sex yet as she just had a c-section and a regular natural childbirth, Phillip is at the door. He comes in and is bearing gifts, which Ross calls payola. Phillip talks about bringing Lizzie home from the hospital and how long it has been. Philip holds Jason and talks about Alan setting him up at the company. Alan can't even move his legs, but he doesn't seem to care. Ross goes to bring apple juice with something in it for Phillip. It is awkward between Blake and Phillip, as they will never be friends due to past history their failed marriage. (There is mention of how Blake and Rick betrayed Ross, yes I am using a euphemism, but better that than the alternative of snark. I could do a whole blog entry on just my issues with the "twins fiasco" and how glad I was when Abby reran the DNA in 1998, which made Ross the biological father of both children.) Ross comes in as baby Jason starts getting upset. Ross calls Phillip a big mouth, and Phillip says that is nothing new. Blake worries as Kevin seems to be a little warm. The kids are laying next to each other, and Phillip says they don't look alike, so how could they be identical. Then there was some explanation of polar twins. Basically they have the same genes from their mother, but not from their father, which does happen rarely. Note: Everything that happened after Blake gave birth was subject to rewrites, as originally Ross was going to find out about the lies at the hospital, instead he found out months later after Blake got into a serious car accident. Also Liz mentioned back then that she continued to wear pregnancy padding as she didn't believe Blake would lose all the weight that quickly.
While Phillip is with Blake and Ross, Abby and Rick talk about how they went to see her parents. They don't accept their relationship or even that she lives in Springfield. Rick wants to discuss ground rules, but Abby says she doesn't want that. They talk about the kiss they shared at Michelle's party. Abby tells him that her parents upset her more than she released. She feels unworthy of them and of him. Rick admits how he is unworthy of her, and that she is wonderful. Abby says they should take it very slowly, but she thinks that Meta will be a good live-in chaperone. Rick and Abby are about to kiss and Meta walks into the kitchen. She asks where Michelle is and calls Rick a nice boy, and that Bert would be proud of him. Meta mentions a recipe for Tarragon chicken and how she will look for it as that would be a good meal for dinner. Abby says with Meta there it seems like a real family, the Phillip walks in stopping Rick and Abby from kissing again. Abby leaves, and the phone rings. We don't see or hear Blake who has called about Kevin having a fever and Rick nearly calls him son instead of godson. Phillip picks up on this and wonders why he is so freaked out about Ross's child.
Annie (Cynthia Watros) is at LOWHAD (Land of Wishes Hopes and Dreams). Back in those days, LOWHAD was used as an invective, and that set was loathed by many on the internet. That was the carousel house she and Josh (Robert Newman) shared. Katie the babysitter is also shown for a couple of seconds. Shayne (Bret Cooper) and Marah (Kimberly J. Brown) are thrilled to be home as they had been out of town. Eleni (Jennifer Roszell) and Marina (Sasha Martin) are with them. While Annie and Eleni are talking the kids come in and ask to watch a movie. Annie says they have to do their homework first, but Josh usually checks it. She tells them she can do that. Eleni agrees to allow Marina to stay and do her homework with the Lewis kids. Annie gets a call from Josh telling her the bad news that he won't be coming home right away as Sarah (Audrey Peters) is too sick to be moved to Springfield. Annie and Eleni talk about what is going on, and Annie mentions about wanting to have a kid with Josh. When Annie tells Eleni she needs to run an errand, she stays behind to look after the kids. Annie goes to see her old friend Fran Richkin (Catherine Curtin I had to look her up on IMDB as I couldn't recall her name). Annie asks for help to get pregnant and wants to get inseminated. She wants Fran to give her sperm right now as it is the perfect time to conceive. Since Annie helped Fran graduate from nursing school, she feels Annie owes her. Annie lies about her and Josh trying a year to have a baby. She convinces Fran to allow her to look at the list of potential sperm donors. The number for the potential donor that sounds a lot like Josh in looks is 75329. During this episode there is a flashback to Annie destroying her diaphragm by putting holes in it to try and get pregnant.
Josh, Reva (Kim Zimmer), Buzz (Justin Deas), and Hawk (Gil Rogers) are in Rome, Italy to get Sarah back to Springfield. She has pneumonia, and the doctor tells them without a miracle Sarah will die. Sarah was nearly at death's door when she went to the hospital, but if she had gone sooner, she would have survived. While Sarah knew Reva was alive, they hadn't seen each other until today. They talk about Roxie and Dylan. Hawk apologizes to Sarah for being a bad husband. He understood why she left him the last time after he lost all of their money. Josh started to talk to Sarah too, and then Sarah the most important thing is that they are there together. Sarah apologize to Josh about the sending the kids back to the US. (At this point, Reva is married to Buzz, and Josh is married to Annie, so they are not truly together.) Reva introduces Buzz to Sarah. Josh calls Annie to tell her, he won't be home and he explains how Sarah is dying. Sarah says she wants to talk to Reva alone. While Sarah lay dying, she admits to being afraid and ashamed of her deepest darkest secret, which she must tell Reva. This secret gives a lot of story, but I was so disappointed they killed Sarah especially since in real life both William Roerick (Henry) and Larry Gates (HB) died so their characters passed away in 1996 and 1997 respectively. What isn't in this episode, is how Sarah's secret is a child that was a boy not a girl. I am uncertain if this change of sex was a rewrite or a mistake.
That's my summary of the November 25, 1996 episode. I tried my best to not lay on too much snark as I wasn't overjoyed with any plots going on at this point in time. As a viewer, I focused on the performances and got pleasure from that hoping eventually things would improve on the story side of the equation.
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