Vizion

Question: How did people feel about the special Wednesday episodes that surrounded one character or story? Do you think they were a good idea? Was the idea good, but the execution poor? Do you think it was just a bad idea all around? Was there anyone's you liked - which ones did you hate?

Mitch, I agree with you, I liked Toby Poser's Amanda quite a bit.

Some Gina Tognoni interviews about characters she came close to playing (Carly on GH is somewhere on this list too....I have to wade through some articles)

2004

CBS.com: How did the casting come about?

GINA TOGNONI: I was talking to Y&R for the role of Victoria and I was really excited about that role. At the same time, [CBS Daytime Senior VP] Barbara [bloom] had said, 'We've got this role of Dinah that needs to be back on the canvas. Would you be interested in it?' They asked for a tape so I sent it over there and [GL Casting Director] Rob Decina saw it and liked it and then Ellen gave me a call and said, 'Lets make it happen.' Then we got in a conversation for about two weeks.

2007

I'll have to find the article (I have it somewhere), it was in SID, but she gives an interview about how she was approached by GH to play a character (she didn't say who) and it sounded interesting, but she ultimately decided to stay with GL because they were family (and she wanted to do the shooting story lol).

2010

Michael Fairman: So what went haywire at Y&R and B&B? Didn’t [b&B exec producer] Brad Bell want to team you with Jack Wagner?

Gina Tognoni: Yes, which I would have loved. It was a wonderful experience meeting with Brad, but it came down to asking myself the difficult question: east coast or west coast? I just got married last May. We live in New Jersey. We’re still on the honeymoon! All that came into play when I made the decision, and it really wasn’t easy. The same goes for Y&R, though we never got as far as talking about a character.

I also know the role of Shayne on GL came down to Jeff Branson and Colin Egglesfield.

Now that I have to endure ABC soaps, I realize that I didn't really appreciate the men of GL like Josh, Mallet, etc.

I never really had a problem with Cassie - I sort of lost interest around 2003 or so but before then I usually liked her. There was a certain warmth in Laura Wright I think she carried in all her soap work until around then, and she's been much harder ever since.

I could not stand the character (and I'm about as far from an LW fan as one can be, probably even less so than the folks in the GH thread lol). There was not one story that she was involved in that contributed anything positive or interesting to Guiding Light. In fact, her and Richard, and that whole San Cristohell storyline is what signaled one of the longest breaks I had ever taken from the show. Everything about Cassie was just wrong, from her existence to her constanty overpropped, smug presence on the show. Seriously Cassie brought us what exactly? Alonzo, Edmund, Richard (and then Jeffrey), Tammy, just NO.

I LOVED Cynthis Watros and Michelle Forbes. I always found it strange that to me, these two actresses outshined KZ in the storylines, and I always found myself rooting for them and not Reva or Reva and Josh

Listen I love KZ, but I totally agree. By the time Annie went psycho, I was so damn sick of Reva and Cassie that I rooted for Annie and Dinah to make both of their lives a living hell - repeatedly.

Y&R

The strong female characters were a big strong suit for GL, and most importantly, these were women who were complex, sometimes nasty, sometimes evil, but also often very empathetic. You felt a connection with them.

I started watching GL around the time Reva "died" and although I had a big soft spot for Ross and Billy, it was Nadine, Vanessa, Maureen, Alex, Harley, Holly, Blake, Mindy, who drew me in.

JFP's decision to center GL around unpleasant male characters was a big mistake.

GL was the show I had the most complex emotional reaction towards - as the years went by it would often infuriate me, outrage me, yet I would still come back, hoping for better and more. I often wonder whether I would have been better off if I hadn't started watching when the show was so good, if my expectations were too high.

I still miss the show a lot, yet I can't go back and watch as easily as I can with other soaps. In some ways it's too painful. GL is the show I always had the most connection with, it always had such a jagged edge and was so unique. I miss it a lot.

I know but the alternatives for me are GH or OLTL, and HELL NO to both. At least Y&R has Katherine & Nina lol.

GL was the show I had the most complex emotional reaction towards - as the years went by it would often infuriate me, outrage me, yet I would still come back, hoping for better and more. I often wonder whether I would have been better off if I hadn't started watching when the show was so good, if my expectations were too high.

I still miss the show a lot, yet I can't go back and watch as easily as I can with other soaps. In some ways it's too painful. GL is the show I always had the most connection with, it always had such a jagged edge and was so unique. I miss it a lot.

I know how that is, and I don't know that I realized just how much I'd miss Guiding Light until it was gone and I returned to watching other soaps. Even with the crappy production value at the end of its run, I think I would rather watch Reva, Dinah, and Olivia than 75% of the other female characters on the remaining soaps.

My fondest soap memories are, and probably always will be, from Guiding Light

I know soaps have an unfair and bad reputation for acting but again, in addition to it being incredibly unique, I just feel like the acting on the show (for the most part) was so honest, natural and real. I built connections with the characters on GL that I haven't been able to build with characters on any other soaps. I mean every soap has their ups and downs, but I always felt like GL made an effort to just dig deeper - to ensure that every character's complexities, insecurities, nuances, and layers were understood and displayed to the audience. I always felt like the GL actors understood their characters so incredibly well. Each character was so unique: Phillip, Alan-Michael, Alex, LuJack, Vanessa, Reva, Dinah, Roger, Holly, Ed, Maureen, India, Harley, Billy, the list goes on and on.

Oh and I watched this today. While the show had MANY problems during this period, I was completely glued to the screen and mesmerized by everything Cynthia Watros did, just absolutely amazed (I both loved and hated this story, loved it because it gave me the opportunity to see CW be incredible, hated it because it introduced that soul-sucking blackhole of a character "Cassie Layne")

I can't find the clip where she has to have a hysterectomy and she is sobbing as says to Alan "I can never ever have children. This is my punishment, I've been damned" but I cried so hard. I knew CW wasn't going to stay on the show, and her send-off was pretty awful IMO, but man was she something to watch.

Arguably, "Reva Shayne" is arguably the most widely known "DIVA" from GL, but there are any number of women that could have ended up in the same position, isn't there? Nola Reardon (who we discussed in the other thread), Vanessa Chamberlin, Dinah Marler, Blake Marler, Harley Cooper (damn close), Alexandra Spaulding, India von Halkein, Rita Bauer and even perhaps Carmen Santos (although I didn't care for the mob in Springfield).

Of those, it would have been so interesting to see what India's story could have become had they had tied down Mary Kay Adams. Why was she always so hesitant to stay on long-term?

Sigh, this is actually what I miss the most about the show. For all of the show's faults, and it had many, I felt that they almost always had very strong female characters. The current crop of soaps still on the air, just don't do that very well (I guess Y&R might be the best but eh). Most of my favorite female characters from daytime are from GL, and I don't think that is a coincidence (I have watched at least 7 soaps through the years). I maintain the opinion that GL set the bar for acting in daytime, the show consistently had the best and most talented cast.

I also absolutely loved Mary Kay Adams as India, adored her. I realy think India as played by MKA would have had the potential to be one of the most beloved characters in daytime and long remembered.

I don't remember when I started watching GL, I just say since birth since I used to spend summers at my grandmother's house and she would make us all sit quiet and pay attention when her "stories" came on.