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To many fans, it seemed only fitting that the last word spoken ("Always!") on TV's marathon-running Guiding Light was read by Reva Shayne, the mercurial character portrayed by Kim Zimmer. During two extended stints (1983-1990, 1995-2009) on the daytime drama, the four-time Emmy award winner experienced time-travel metamorphoses and life crises far beyond the range of even this memoir's subtitle. Zimmer's delightfully outrageous memoir brings you inside the life of this daytime diva and the heart-tugging show she helped sustain. Colorful photos; insider stories; good gossip.
Four-time Emmy winner Zimmer, best known as Reva "The Slut of Springfield" Shayne on Guiding Light, chronicles her career and shares behind-the-scenes gossip from the daytime drama.
Achieving longevity on a soap opera is no mean feat, and the author can't help but brag about surviving daytime TV as a manic-depressive, cancer-surviving, time-traveling vixen for close to three decades. Weaving between her own life and that of her character, the author lets it all loose as she revisits her career both on and off the screen. "I had it made," she writes. "I got to have affairs and live out almost every fantasy possible through the characters I played on TV." Zimmer shares the laughs and tears she experienced with fellow cast and crewmembers, her real-life struggle with alcohol and subsequent DUI arrest and a look at the zany scripts that led to her character being thrice-resuscitated from the beyond. That all came to a screeching halt in 2009 when the network pulled the plug on Guiding Light after a 72-year run (it began life as a radio serial in 1937). Ratings were down, core characters were pushing retirement age and a new writer and producer couldn't manage to turn things around. But Zimmer's here to relive it all as both herself and Reva. As one fan recently moaned to the actress-turned-author, "You're my family. What are we supposed to do now?"
Die-hard Guiding Light fans should enjoy the book. Others? Not so much.
A Letter to the Reader ix
Introduction 1
1 April Fools'! 7
2 My Early Days 19
3 New York, New York 39
4 The Role of Mom Will Be Played by Kim Zimmer 57
5 Guiding Light: The Early Days 69
6 Memorable Characters 87
7 The Family Business 99
8 Leaving Guiding Light … the First Time 111
9 Backstage Pass 119
10 How I Died Three Times and Lived to Tell About It! 133
11 Seven Husbands 147
12 Everything's Coming Up Rosie 167
13 Success Is the Best Revenge 175
14 Don't Call Me Diva! 191
15 Seventy Years Strong and We Were Dying 203
16 The Storm Before the Calm 223
17 Losing Mom 233
18 The Show Must Go On 257
19 So Long, Springfield 275
20 Fate 289
Epilogue 299
Acknowledgments 301
7062871
Posted August 29, 2011
I loved this book. It brought me back to the show that I grew up watching everyday. It could have ended better with Kim saying that GL was coming back!
1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.
Was this review helpful? Yes NoThank you for your feedback. Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.Anonymous
Posted October 12, 2011
Loved GL - grew up watching it, and once VCR/DVR became available, always recorded it. It was my guilty pleasure.
Honestly, I was never a member of the Reva Shayne fan club. Sometimes I liked her, sometimes I hated her, and most times I just wished she'd go away. If she wasn't the center of attention, then there was something wrong with the world. In "real life" I don't like self-absorbed people like that, which explains why I didn't on the show, either.
That being said - I wanted to read this book because I always figured I was being unfair to KZ because I didn't like the way the writers wrote her character. Unfortunately, after reading this book, my gut feelings were confirmed. There was a lot of KZ in Reva.
It was an "okay" read, I guess. Definitely a book about KZ - very little about anyone else. Which was to be expected, given the subject and author. However - I no longer feel guilty painting KZ with the paintbrush of my dislike of Reva Shayne. :)
Jchsb
Posted September 25, 2011
I watched the Guilding Light for years and when Kim lefted I stopped watching. Loved the book it had her life as Kim and her as Reva twisted together. I will read it again for sure as Im sure I missed a thing or two. Great read
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Posted September 22, 2011
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Posted October 13, 2011
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Overview
A candid and entertaining memoir from an icon of daytime television- packed with photos and insider stories!As the notorious Reva Shayne on the daytime television drama Guiding Light, Kim Zimmer has portrayed a vixen, a manic-depressive, an Amish woman, a time traveler, a Civil War belle, a talk show host, a cancer survivor, a loving mother, and a devoted wife. Now, in this rollicking, heartfelt and surprising memoir, Zimmer delves into her experiences as a daytime diva.
Blatantly honest and wildly indiscreet, I'm Just Sayin'! tells it all and takes readers on an insightful ...