Watchung Booksellers of Montclair hosted a book signing and discussion period featuring actress Kim Zimmer, who played the infamous Reva Shayne on the daytime television drama Guiding Light.
On Saturday, August 6, four-time Emmy Award winner Zimmer signed copies of her book I’m Just Sayin’! and shared some interesting tidbits about her life and work in showbiz. Fans came from all over the United States.
The book store was packed. Fans came to not just to see a soap star but also to lament the demise of soap operas in general. There are only a handful of daytime dramas left on television compared to about 20 when the genre hit its peak in the 1970’s. Changing cultural tastes, more women moving into the workforce and the advent of the Internet are a few reasons given for the erosion of soap opera viewership.
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But the biggest reason is that they became too costly to produce. Kim Zimmer was asked her thoughts about the soap opera decline and said “There are just too many choices now for people to watch and it is cheaper for the networks to produce talk shows, game shows, cooking shows and reality shows than it is for an hour long television show five days a week”.
Guiding Light is the longest-running drama in television and radio history. It began as an NBC radio serial in 1937. In 1947 the show moved to CBS radio before airing regularly on CBS television in 1952. The last episode of Guiding Light aired on CBS on September 18, 2009.
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In 1983, the character Reva Shayne was introduced. The character would eventually become one of the most popular on the show.
Zimmer, who has been a resident of Montclair since 1984, was born in Grand Rapids, Michigan. She has been married to actor/director A.C. Weary, for 30 years and they have three children: Rachel, Max, and Jake Weary.
Zimmer began her acting career doing stage work. Even though she is best known for her work on Guiding Light, her portrayal of the character Bonnie Harmon on the soap One Life to Live was a precursor to her Reva role. In 1979, Zimmer replaced actress Kathleen Turner in the role of Nola Dancy Aldrich on the soap opera The Doctors. She also costarred with Kathleen Turner in the movie Body Heat in 1981.
Copies of I'm Just Sayin' are available at Watchung Booksellers, 54 Fairfield St. in Watchung Plaza.
