Bill Bauer

4 hours ago, prefab1 said:

Long-time lurker, first-time poster here. I just wanted to point out that GL actually did bring Mike (and Don Stewart) back very briefly in 1997, for the 60th anniversary. You can see him around the middle of this clip, interacting with Rick, Meta, Ross, and Blake: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pBLINo71kLA

Yeah, that was GREAT! That was actually my favorite part of the anniversary show. Thanks for pointing it out.  I was talking about as regular cast members. 

3 hours ago, Stitches0210 said:

Hello, SON Community Members!

 

I am a new member here.

 

This is my first post.

 

My favorite period of CBS’s Guiding Light was during the 1991–92 and 1992–93 television seasons. (It’s my personal favorite period of any daytime soap.)

 

I have been enjoying the YouTube-published episodes of The Locher Room, with publicist Alan Locher, which are livestream discussions with past members of not only this series but also CBS’s As the World Turns. (That this was created and launched by Mr. Locher for entertaining and insightful purposes given this terrible period of COVID–19.) And Mr. Locher has also covered other daytime dramas, no longer on the air, like ABC’s All My Children and One Life to Live and NBC’s Another World. (I have experience having followed all the daytime soaps since the 1980s. I have not watched much of what remains lately.)

Given this board is for Guiding Light, which was on NBC Radio first, in 1937, and which transitioned to CBS Television in 1952, on which it ran for an additional 57 years, until its cancellation in 2009, I look forward to reading more comments. And I would like to continue to participate as well.

—Stitches0210

Welcome.

16 minutes ago, BetterForgotten said:

I mean, by the time anyone cared, they were likely being told by CBS and P&G that those characters were too “old” in age and that “no one would remember them.” 

I guess they didn't have much faith that their viewers stick around for any significant length of time. Or that most of them struggle with senility. 

20 minutes ago, All My Shadows said:

I always have to remind myself that Hope last appeared in 1983 and wasn't killed off, because it makes no sense whatsoever that she was never brought back. She was easily the strongest link between "old" Guiding Light and "new" Guiding Light. I know Elvera Roussel participated in some events when the show ended - did she ever speak about ever wanting to return or if they'd even asked her about returning? They could have even went after Robin Mattson after SB and signed her before AMC got her.

Not bringing Mike and Hope back NEVER made sense.

To each their own. Some people like that focus. I'm just not a fan. It probably doesn't help that most of the characters they tend to focus on I find unlikable but, again, that's just me. I wish you hadn't reminded me of Janet. I had successfully repressed that memory. Thankfully, I had largely tuned out by that point.  

All soaps tend to devolve into a one-woman show: AMC (Erica), AW (Rachel), DOOL (Marlena,  then Sami), ATWT (Carly), GL (Reva), etc. I don't get why that happens. Since soaps began, there was always the ensemble soap(TGL, Against the Storm, One Man's Family) and the one-woman soap (The Romance of Helen Trent, Stella Dallas, Ma Perkins) and there was the two subgenres.  However, the long-lasting soaps such as the ones mentioned in the first sentence started out as ensemble pieces and then slowly changed to the one-woman show. In the case of shows like GL it took a very long time to devolve (or evolve depending on your viewpoint) into a one-woman show. I LOVE ensemble shows and HATE one-woman shows so I tended to lose interest in the shows after a while. 

59 minutes ago, DramatistDreamer said:

 

I don't think I've seen the full story since I was in elementary school (if that), so seeing the full conclusion was actually something of a treat for me.  Like I said, the episodes on YouTube are all incomplete, only showing what happened up to Bob getting to the house and seeing lit candles all over the living room with Laura waiting for him.  It was interesting to see how Beau got into the house (crashing through glass seemed to become a recurring theme for short term male characters in the late 80s/early 90s.

As well as how Beau and Bob subdued Laura so that Bob could tranquilize her. I did find myself giggling at something that, I'm pretty sure wasn't meant to be funny though.  Laura is raging at Kim, who has just entered the house and Kim, panicked not knowing if baby Christopher is alright mentions him and Laura quickly, completely changes her tone and calmly tells Kim that Pam took Christopher to her uncle's house and left her a note.  Then just as quickly, Laura begins to yell and rage again.

I remember seeing that scene where her tone changed so quickly and remembered it all these years later. A little DID, I assume. As creepy as Laura was, I thought Beau was just as creepy. 

1 hour ago, DramatistDreamer said:

 

I know that most people aren't interested in this storyline, but that same YT channel has what looks to be the full reception of the Barbara and Hal wedding, as well as the conclusion of the Laura Simmons storyline. Other posted videos only show up to when Bob reaches the house and is confronted by Laura but doesn't show what happened the very next day.

The Laura Simmons storyline is strangely forgotten. I guess it wasn't popular. I loved that storyline though. Maybe I'm one of the few. 

That's why I'm doing this not just for myself but for the other collectors out there who are in the same position. I figure if my tapes are dying, other collectors' tapes are dying or have died and so me doing this will help them. I wanted to preserve these episodes before they're gone forever. 

5 hours ago, vetsoapfan said:

 

Folks tend to take for granted that what is printed in books is true, but that is not always the case in soap-related publications. There were even painful errors in the Agnes Nixon tome.

 

I think Jackie Smith made an error and got her writers mixed up. The actors who played the Quartermaines, and Douglas Marland himself, have all acknowledged many times that he was the one who created the Qs. He was also the writer on board when Gloria Monty took over as producer. It was the Montry/Marland pairing that ushered in the new and improved General Hospital.

 

I believe Russell came aboard as a consultant in the early 1980s after the divine Pat Falken Smith was foolishly fired. I remember scanning the list of writers at the time, cringing at how awful their material was in comparison to the DM/PFS regimes.

 

If you are the uploader known as It's A Long Story, thank very much for all the time and hard work you have taken to share so many amazing vintage gems. Believe me, longtime soap fans appreciate folks like you, Eddie Drueding, and all the other people who share your treasures.

 

 

Well you are very welcome! I have a massive videotape collection that I had to transfer to digital because, as you can maybe see in some of the videos, the videotapes are deteriorating. Why not share it with others who would enjoy it? I know I would appreciate others sharing their gems. The only problem is that I can't share everything for fear of getting taken down due to copyright issues. What I feel free to share, I do. 

I haven't watched GH since around 1979. Do they even show the hospital anymore? 

56 minutes ago, DramatistDreamer said:

How many people watched the Locher Room livestream with Scott Bryce, Hillary Bailey Smith and Gregg Marx?

In all this talk about writing regimes and continuity, it got me thinking about something Scott said and I'm a bit confused and now I have a question:

 

Scott said that Doug Marland would put these really humorous notes in the script. Love notes, Scott referred to them as being.  One note, Scott said was one where Craig and "Carlos" (Sierra Esteban's alias while she was disguised as a boy) are in Montega and there is an explosion and Craig throws his body on top of Carlos' and Scott said that in the script there was a "love note" that said that "Craig is strangely attracted to Carlos". 

I chuckled at that but now I'm a bit confused: Wasn't those Montega scenes/storyline supposed to fall under Susan Bedsow-Horgan's purview?  Was Marland "ghostwriting" or supervising during that time? Was he already embedded in the Writer's Room by then?

I ask because I've been told many times that Marland's work didn't show up onscreen until Autumn 1985 or late summer, at the earliest but these scenes that Bryce speaks of, clearly happened earlier in 1985 (late winter, at the latest).

 

Bryce seemed pretty clear on his relaying of the story.

Thoughts? Anyone?

I'm sure it's just a matter of him misremembering. There's been a lot of that in those interviews. 

Well for someone who only still watches for the Hortons, it's one less reason to watch the show. Although people tend not to stay gone for long on Days. Even if their character dies. 

I could be wrong but I think 1984 was the first year for the Bauer BBQ but it wasn't really called "The Bauer Barbecue" or become a tradition until 1987. 

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL3NrEvLS1q7xKQyW7DOIBxMprwqoqTYum

6 hours ago, Mitch said:

These days I wouldnt charge one single person with putting the shows in the grave. I think Kriezman had good ideas but typical for younger writers, couldn't follow through and storylines petered out.  I think he had his all two obvious faves and like most writers, needed a strong producer to reign him in or guide him, which he didn't have at GL. I did like that he admitted its better for a writer to not have favorites and he does seem intelligent. And yes, he has aged into his looks and is very good looking.

 

Which all of the writers did on the show, so its really interesting that some really bad storylines came out of them. I like that Brown was embarrassed about the clone and had interesting things to say about Mo's death and Zaz and ALS. I am glad to know the writers and Rauch wanted to proceed with the storyline..as a big an ass Rauch could be I always felt he was embarrassed by the treatment of Zaz. I loved that Taggert got that the Bauers were the heart of the show, but had to laugh at the other writers blank stares..

 

And yes, I wanted more indepth questions such as "Whose idea was the clone" (Alan has to know damn well it was an exec. I think the dreaded Wendy Fishman who came up with it.) Why do you think the Bauers were obscured..what character did you HATE writing for. Did the actors ever try to influence storyline...(LW looking at you blondie) what did you think of what the writers who came directly after your stint and their material..(would love to hear Taggerts thoughts on Weston and her destruction of Alex and everything else.)

I was kind of perplexed when Taggert said that about the Bauers. If she felt that way why didn't she at least bring back Mike and Hope? Maybe she tried. I wonder how many head writers get the blame for things that were producers' decision like the clone story. Maybe it was the producers who wanted to downplay the Bauers. We'll probably never know. It sounds like being the head writer of a soap can be a very frustrating job. 

7 hours ago, Soapsuds said:

David Kreizman is SW for Days. Interesting that he didn't respond to any of the Days talk. He kept mum .

I kind of felt sorry for Kreizman. Maybe I'm seeing something that isn't there but he looked embarrassed when they would talk about Days. Then I looked him up and he was kind of the ones responsible for putting GL and ATWT in their graves. Yikes.

I love how the town psychiatrist officiates weddings. I guess it's appropriate for Salem. 

1 hour ago, DRW50 said:

 

I agree that he was good, although I think by the time they recast Rick he would have been too old for the role. 

 

Seeing Grant's first episode reminds me again of how confused I am by Eve's last year or two on the show. 

I was confused by Eve's entire time on the show. I never got the character or what she was all about and there was something I found annoying about her. The last couple of years she did just kind of hang out. 

Does anybody know whatever became of Stephen Yates? 

2 hours ago, DramatistDreamer said:

 

Same.  I know that it was popular with quite a number of fans that were still watching the show but I really wonder whether it would be as popular if the show had not been, in general, so dreadful by then.

Of course, everybody's tastes are different but I consider it a low point for the show. I was perplexed when Kelly Menighan, Martha Byrne and/or Maura West talked about the storyline in fond terms during one or more of the Locher episodes. They seemed to imply it was innovative. I just thought it was ridiculous. 

52 minutes ago, DramatistDreamer said:

I think ATWT should have written Michael Louden's character "Duke" as having passed away on the show. By the end, the show desperately needed a dose of reality and other than Hal's passing (which was disappointing by writing standards), it really lacked for it, which went against the "grounded" more realistic nature of the show.

ATWT was never really a show that had characters running around trying to save the world from a polar freeze or having one character being demonically possessed for like, a year.

Which is why I found the "evil spa" and "rapid aging serum" storyline so egregious. On a show like Days, it would just be a normal Tuesday but on ATWT it was such an aberration for a show that (outside of a year or two in the early to mid 80s) was perhaps the most realistic of all soaps. 

35 minutes ago, RavenWhitney said:

The Dobsons wrote for GL from early 75 through December 1979. Marland took over in Jan 1980 and wrote the show until near end of 82, I think.  Pat Smith and L. Virginia Brown each wrote the show for a few weeks/months, but I can't find any youtube episodes from their short periods.  I know the Cullitons/Tomlin were interim head writers from early March 1983 until May when Long started.  I found episodes with credits during that time.

 I have a Christmas episode from 1982 that fell under Brown's tenure but that's it. 

Hey there. Those two 1968 videos came from me. I just posted some more classic episodes. I am not familiar with GH at all. If any of you historians could help me place the episodes with exact dates I would greatly appreciate it. I posted two from 1963 and two from 1975 that all I know is the year. I'm not even 100% sure about the year. Thank you!

5 hours ago, victoria foxton said:

I found Anderson and Manetta run very generic and bland. The Paul Valere stuff was bad. The 50th anniversary episode was a big  disappointment. With dull Meave trying to get the 50th anniversary edition of the Springfield Journal to print. No old favorites returning. No classic flashbacks. Just dullness. 

I remembered how disappointed I was with that 50th anniversary. It was pitiful. You're right. No returning characters, no in-show flashbacks. No real celebration. Just detached clips at the end of each episode that week and the actors seemed depressed while presenting them. And it was strange that it was in July and not in January on the actual anniversary. It was a low time for GL. I remember watching the Daytime Emmys that year and there was a camera shot of the GL table. They had a "50 years" sign on the table but that was the extent of an acknowledgement if I recall correctly. The actors even looked depressed at the table. The 60th anniversary and even the 70th anniversary were handled much better. I think the best anniversary show the soaps have ever done was ATWT's 30th. That's how an anniversary show (or week) should be done. Did soaps even do anniversary shows before that? I can't think of any before 1986 for any soap. 

3 hours ago, victoria foxton said:

Claire gives birth to Michelle. With syphilis ridden Calla.  Plus the Infinity saga. 

 

Thank you, Victoria! 

13 minutes ago, Darn said:

 

Good lord young Vincent Irizzary looks like a Greek statue come to life.

 

During Billy and Vanessa's party they're playing orchestral versions of "Yesterday" and "Just The Way You Are", they sound so pretty.

 

I had no idea that there was a Lewis...sister?! Did she ever show up in the last decade? I only started watching in '99 and do not remember her.

Ah, Trish. The lost Lewis. Not only do I not think she reappeared after she left town, I don't even think she was mentioned again. Maybe when H.B. died.