Reviews

I originally bought the DVD because I'm a big fan of John Wesley Shipp, who played Ray Colton. Once I watched it, I was pleasantly surprised. It turned out I related to the plot, a young woman seeking revenge against relatives she felt did her and her father wrong. The performances of Mr. Shipp and Cynthia Gibb (FAME and SEARCH FOR TOMORROW) were good in that the reactions when they realized that their teenage daughter was right about Christy all along were that of utter shock and disbelief. The girls who played Christy and her cousin were adequate. The blonde girl who was part of Christy's plan came off like a total ditz. Perhaps Paris Hilton could have played the part better.

This short-lived show is famous for the fact that this was Jamie Lee Curtis' first big role before becoming going on to films (HALLOWEEN, FREAKY Friday, A FISH CALLED WANDA, TRADING PLACES, etc). I remember watching this show as child. The other actors I can recall were John Astin, Richard Gilliand (before marrying 'DESIGNING WOMAN' Jean Smart), Curtis, a blonde actress who resembled ALL MY CHILDREN's Taylor Miller (she played Nina Cortlandt Warner on AMC), and a brunette who later replaced Brenda Dixon in the role of Jill on THE YOUNG AND THE RESTLESS, when Dixon left Y&R the first time in 1980. As for the jokes and situation, I do not recall them. I did not find that funny, despite the fact that it had Astin as the star. This was NOT one of his best post-Gomez Addams roles.

This show sucks. It gives the impression that all gay men of color are effeminate, oversexed queens. QUEER AS FOLK portrayed some of the characters as masculine, normal men who have the same issues as straight. Anyway, there are gay men of color who are masculine. Unless they told you they are gay, you would not know it. As for this dreck, like the daytime soap PASSIONS, it should be cancelled. I could relate more to the men appearing in gay porn than the over the top characters on this show. I do not care about these characters. Noah, the effeminate queen. Dicky, the nymphomaniac. Alex, the gossipy drama queen. Change, the sexually repressed twit. I say that YOUNG AND RESTLESS' Phyllis should run them over with her car.

For nearly 7 decades, THE GUIDING LIGHT has become one of most beloved daytime dramas. GL has the distinction of being the longest running entertainment program in American broadcast history. Created by Irna Phillips, GL originally told the story of Reverend Ruthledge and his flock of parishioners when it began on radio on January 25, 1937. In 1948, the focus of the show shifted to the Bauers, a German-American family. On June 30, 1952, GL was the first radio soap to successfully switch to television (from 1952 to 1956, GL ran on both radio and TV). The Bauer clan was led by Frederick Bauer (played by Theo Goetz from 1948 until his passing in 1973). Frederick Bauer was affectionately known to those who knew him as Papa Bauer. He had three children: Trudy (briefly played in 1952 by Helen Wagner, who eventually went on play matriarch Nancy Hughes on another Irna Phillips creation called AS THE WORLD TURNS in 1956), Meta (played by longest by Ellen Demming: 1953-1975), whom many of early story lines revolved around, and son Bill (who later became an alcoholic) and his family. Bill's family included wife Bertha, also known as Bert, who would become one of the most beloved matriarchs in daytime television (she was played by Charita Bauer from 1950 until her death in February, 1985) and their two sons Michael and Edward. In the 1960s and 1970s, Michael and Edward became the focus of the show with their various professional and personal problems, including Ed's alcoholism. Beginning in the late 1970s, other families became part of the show's fabric (the Marlers, Spauldings, Coopers, Lewises, Chamberlains, Norrises, Reardons and Thorpes). Like many soaps, GL has had some memorable characters. One of which was Roger Thorpe, the most infamous villain in soap history (played to perfection by the late, great Micheal Zaslow on-and-off from 1971 to 1997). During the years 1995-2004, the show lost its focus. Those years were filled by incompetent producers and writers who created some of the worst story lines in the show's history. Some of these clunkers included the cloning of Reva, the Santos family, the San Cristobal story (the only good thing about that one is the emergence of Our Prince of Darkness---Edmund Winslow), and the Mary Anne Carruthers mystery. In early 2004, GL seems to be getting back on track with competent producers and writers at the helm, who have created story lines that make good use of the show's long history (the only down side is that Grant Aleksander, who played Philip Spaulding since 1982 was sacrificed).

Except for the last three years of its run (1996-99), I was a faithful watcher of this long-running serial. I remember the glory days of Aunt Liz, Mac and Rachel, Steve and Alice, Iris, Ada, Cass, the Loves and the McKinnons. The Steve/Rachel/Alice storyline put AW on the map in the late 1960s-early 1970s. Three decades later, fans are still recalling how Rachel (first Robin Strasser, later Victoria Wyndham) did everything in her power to break up Steve Frame and Alice Matthews.

I saw the movie at URBANENTERTAINMENT.COM. It is 20 minutes of pure film-noir. I admit that the story could have been better. It was well-acted and written as it was. The film should have established how the three major characters first came into contact with each other and the "job" that landed Johnny (Monti Sharp, who stars and directs) in prison for six years. The characters could have been a little more developed and fleshed out. However, had this film been a two-hour theatrical release, this would established Monti Sharp as a top director, as well as a major movie star. He is already known to soap fans for his work in that genre.