Some shows never feel like shows at all. They feel like rooms you used to walk into every afternoon, familiar faces waiting, stories unfolding at the pace of real life. Guiding Light was one of those places for me, and I didn’t even realize how much until years later.
I ran home from school so I wouldn’t miss a moment. The early eighties were the years that stayed with me. Beth, Phillip, Rick and Mindy finding their way. Lujack changing the air in every scene he touched. And Reva beginning her wild rise, impossible and unforgettable, the kind of presence that could tilt the whole town with a single choice. I still remember the day Lujack learned Alexandra Spaulding was his mother. Springfield felt different for a while after that. It was the kind of story that settles in and stays.
I miss that rhythm. I miss the feeling of checking in with a world that kept moving whether I was there or not. The pieces that survive online are scattered now. Whole episodes gone. Storylines broken. Sometimes I scroll through what’s left and feel the loss more than I expect.
Maybe that’s the point. Some stories stay with us even when the show is gone. Some lights don’t go out. They just move into memory and keep glowing there, quiet and steady.
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7 comments
Although I never watched any daytime soaps, I was hooked on a few nighttime ones, so I understand. You totally get drawn into that world! Dallas, Knots Landing and Falcon Crest were shows I never missed. To this day, people still talk about the “Who Shot JR?” episode.
I know! That is so true. I was 10 when JR got shot, and I remember being all about who done it. LOL
There are many shows that feel like little rooms in my world to me.
A shared love with my sister was the 1960s series the Avengers, we even went to a fancy dress party as Steed and Mrs Peel. Though this when she she was shy and refused to wear a catsuit…
But many of my shows are ones I watch alone; Doctor Who, Red Dwarf, Blake’s 7, Adam Adamant.. but fictional worlds I love
Yes, you definitely get where I’m coming from. It’s amazing how those shows become little rooms we revisit, shared ones and solitary ones alike.
I still like to think Adamant & Georgie Jones are having adventures somewhere, the Boys from the Dwarf will get home etc
I can’t add anything to this as I’ve never watched those programs, my equivalent would be science Fiction movies. 😊
Thank you, John. Science fiction movies are great. I love those, too.