Contessa Donatella

The Guiding Light by Dr. John Ruthledge I decided to watch.

I just really can't decide. When I ordered this & got it in & then watched all 3 days I was really delighted because I did NOT weep. Now, I'm not sure if I would blubber away. Phillip realizes Alan has died, sitting on the bench. Phillip calls Rick to come. Jonathan offers to Lizzie & Bill to take Sarah with them & to pick her up later. Rick double-checks Alan. "Only Love" theme song. Natalia is grieving that she just got Rafe back & he's leaving now. Olivia says she'll make a copy of a picture for Natalia. Rafe is now on diet control as a diabetic. Rafe & Frank hug & Rafe thanks Frank. Frank says he's a good man. Jonathan is frustrated & Reva is making sandwiches. Jonathan has never been away from Sarah. Bill & Lizzie are talking about playing dress up with dolls. Bill likes action games like Tag. Daisy tells James she needs to leave & go to Company to have a going away party for Rafe. Phillip tells Beth & Alexandra that Alan has died. Alexandra says "No" a lot of times. Alex says there will be a lot of calls to make. Beth worries how to tell Peyton & Phillip says to tell her that her father loved her. Phillip is going to go tell James & Lizzie. Alex is going to get on the phone to people. Alex is looking at a picture of Alan & crying. Beth tells Peyton. Phillip takes Lizzie off under a tree, taking her on a walk with him, and he tells her. Lillian takes a call at Company & passes the phone to Olivia, who tells everyone. Jonathan gets a call from Bill to come get Sarah & take her to the Spaulding Mansion because Alan has had a heart attack & died. Alex fills in the servants. She tells them that in his own way he loved them. Alan had talked to everyone at the wedding. Rafe talks about Alan being proud of him for going into the service. Reva says it's too much loss. Franks says Alan is the man behind the curtain, the Wizard of Oz, and then POOF he's gone. Beth says her relationship with Alan was SO complicated but now she can't imagine the world without him. Emma is sad. Rafe gives her a magical quarter to think of him. She says she'll miss him. Olivia & Natalia are holding hands all the time. Buzz is with Emma. Rick says the autopsy showed that Alan died of a heart attack. Alex says they know all they need to know about it. They say they'll have to plan a funeral. Alex says that Alan said he wanted to be cremated & for them to not to do anything elaborate. And he said he loved them all. Frank & Rafe hug again. Daisy hugs Rafe, too. Natalia is about to start crying, she doesn't want him to go, but she loves him. Rafe says BYE to everyone & gets on the bus. Olivia embraces Natalia. Lizzie is with Reva, Bill, Jonathan & Sarah. Lillian embraces Buzz. Alec goes to the hospital to Alan's body & weeps copiously. Phillip says Alan saved them all. "Life happens here" I made it through the show without crying! (Thursday, 6-6-2019) Guiding Light logo Telenext Media logo Previously on Guiding Light: Bill brought Phillip Alan's ashes in a box. Bill: "It's strange that a life as big as Alan Spaulding's would be as big as this." Man called Daisy to come to college by Monday---she has 4 hours to think it over. Jonathan & Reva are competing drinking straight out of the milk carton. She invites him & Sarah to live with her. Josh wants Billy to help him kidnap Reva to marry her. "Only Love" Josh isn't going to Venezuela any more. He wants to marry the love of his life, like Billy did. (I've got to watch that wedding DVD!) Whoa, Whoa, Whoa, Billy repeats it all back to him. He says Josh is on his own with this. It's been a year. A lot's happened! Josh drives off in the antique truck. Alex and Phillip discuss taking care of each other. They're going to the lake. (I presume to scatter ashes.) Frank can't pick a baby name. Olivia is willing to do it. Reva is trying to save herself every single day. Shane has a picnic lunch planned for everyone. Danny & Michelle & Robby are moving back! Lawrence didn't file a record of the marriage. They have no insurance & aren't really married. Jeffrey called, he's on Edmund's trail. Thinks he's working out of a warehouse right next door. Billy to Josh, "Where's your girl?" Josh: She's come a long way … There were children all around. Rick is harassing Ed Bauer about moving home from California. Ed claims to be reading. Really he just doesn't want to have to help Michelle & Danny move out of their truck. Spauldings at the lake, … (I really like Bill & Lizzie together.) There are a whole lot of waves to be a lake! (No one mentioned getting in touch with Alan-Michael, Vicky or Amanda! None of them are present.) Reva says Kathy on the phone that Kathy, that's great! She tells Jonathan she has found him a perfect place to live. James & Phillip pitch a Frisbee. Frank has asked out his online friend & she wants to see him, in person, on the bridge. Big fight between Jeffrey & some man. Then, across the way Edmund is laughing at Jeffrey. Here's Maureen in that striped shirt & Ed has just come to the door saying he's going to travel. Maureen asks how long she has to pack? He says 10 minutes. She says 15. He says he'll be there waiting for her. Phillip is both as sad as he's ever been & as at peace. He says Alan wanted to be brave. Alex says she'll be fine. Fletcher has come to see Alex. She's both hilarious & crying. Daisy's telling James she wants to go to Berkley. He's okay with it. Josh is going to Tulsa first. Jonathan's talking to Tammy "up there" about living in Cassie's place with Sarah. Reva loves it! Coming up on Guiding Light: Blog 66 DVD GL 9-18 FINALE Billy asks Reva if he missed Josh. He asks her what she's going to do in a year. She's crying & she doesn't know. Matt's daughter Maureen volunteered him to do sets. He's in construction. She's putting them together to ride bikes together. Everyone's getting together to say bye to Daisy & Ashley. James & Daisy say they love each other. They leave. They're driving to California! Blake & Frank both have to leave. Phillip thinks its weird to be the oldest Spaulding. Beth thinks Phillip should write everything down. She gives him writing materials. Rick calls him to come to the park. He tells Beth they're going to the park. Blake & Frank run into each other on the bridge. They figure out they are their online names. Frank says he really has enjoyed talking to her online. They go for a walk. Natalia & Olivia tell Frank they've picked out the name Francesca for the baby, after her Daddy. Jonathan is taking Sarah to feed the ducks. They're going to give Frank & Blake a hard time! Mindy and Danny & Michelle & Robbie are all back in town, in an enormous truck! Shane lost the coaching position at the high school but he got the assistant coach's position. Reva says Natalia can keep Olivia in line---and someone sure should be able to! And, she told her about meeting Josh in a year --- or not. "One Year Later" Billy says they got the bid on the new grade school & asks Jonathan if he wants to be the foreman. He does! Frank says she has two mommies but he always has to change the diaper. Rafe is home. Rick & Mindy are going to get married tomorrow. Daisy & James kiss passionately. Dinah & Mallet are watching the wedding. Josh is at the lighthouse & here comes Reva & Colin. Reva says she knew she was going to show up. But, she needed to live her life & find herself again. She found Reva again. Did he find Joshua? Does he still want her? Yes, he wants Reva. She loves him. She's in if he's in. They're both in! They kiss. Her stuff is in the car. Let's go! (Music.) The Four Musketeers are together! Reva says she's "Always" ready. enormous truck! Shane lost the coaching position at the high school but he got the assistant coach's position. Reva says Natalia can keep Olivia in line---and someone sure should be able to! And, she told her about meeting Josh in a year --- or not. "One Year Later" Billy says they got the bid on the new grade school & asks Jonathan if he wants to be the foreman. He does! Frank says she has two mommies but he always has to change the diaper. Rafe is home. Rick & Mindy are going to get married tomorrow. Daisy & James kiss passionately. Dinah & Mallet are watching the wedding. Josh is at the lighthouse & here comes Reva & Colin. Reva says she knew she was going to show up. But, she needed to live her life & find herself again. She found Reva again. Did he find Joshua? Does he still want her? Yes, he wants Reva. She loves him. She's in if he's in. They're both in! They kiss. Her stuff is in the car. Let's go! (Music.) The Four Musketeers are together! Reva says she's "Always" ready.

from an unknown soap opera writer: People have no idea what goes into writing these soaps. It's all planned like the most complicated military strategy. You need a storyline for Steve or Liza, and you have to resolve the euthanasia murder and figure out who did it and tie it up, and there's a trial and you have to figure out the outcome of that too. It's like a Chess game with various different elements all going on at the same time. Ann Marcus and Pete Lemay were both PGP writers who pitched proposals for gay stories "way back when." There were multiple conferences over it. PGP said it was too controversial & they couldn't take the chance that fans would turn it off or turn it over (to another soap). Soap writers were often trained in a way by progressive inheritance. Irna Phillips trained & mentored Agnes Nixon. Then, Agnes trained & mentored Wisner Washam, who then became largely responsible for ... AMC. James Thurber, the humorist, described soap operas: It's kind of a sandwich, whose recipe is simple enough although it took years to compound. Between thick slices of advertising, spread about twelve minutes of dialogue, add predicament, villainy, and female suffering in equal measure, throw in a dash of nobility, sprinkle with tears, season with organ music, cover with an announcer sauce, and serve five times a week. SOAP OPERA WRITERS: "In the Beginning Was the Word..." Actors in soaps identify very strongly with the characters they play. Concurrently with their own lives they're living another life. They never play the same scene twice so it's really like living another existence. They'll say to me, 'I know this character better than you do and she wouldn't do that ... ' I think of soaps as a marvelous form about day-to-day relationships. -- Harding "Pete" Lemay

Blog 64 GL DVD 9-16-09 Blog 65 GL DVD 9-17-09 Blog 66 GL DVD 9-18-09 Finale I have the last 3 days of GL on DVD. I'm trying to decide whether to watch them tonight or not.

Today is 9-18 Cancelversary Day for GL.

From ALL MY AFTERNOONS: THE HEART AND SOUL OF THE TV SOAP OPERA by Annie Gilbert. A&W Visual Library. New York. © 1997 Leslie Bauer was played by Lynne Adams who was a 2nd generation Bauer because both her parents were "radio Bauers". Meta Bauer was played by Ellen Demming; Michael Bauer was played by Don Stewart & by Glen Walken. Michael Bauer was named so to prevent confusion with Charita's real child; Papa Bauer was named Theo & everyone said he was always 'playing himself'. "Bauer Power" came from Mart Hulswitt when he was playing Ed & he philosophically dubbed the theme ... BAUER POWER! There was some romance and behind the scenes stuff between & among writers. The best GL example is Fran Myers & Roger Newman.

Oh, no, RIP Cokie

--derived by me from Melissa Scardaville's piece on institutional and aesthetic logics-- Institutional logics is all about the bottom line, money, economics, advertising, etc. In recent years there's been a shift to make institututional logics more important than aesthetics. Institutional lines up with EPs & network execs. At one point n the jore distant past aesthetics was the more important where the Creator, or Writer was actually an auteur, which is no longer true. The aesthetics are still the creative side of things. Comparing fans & professionals & pros who have also always been fans in a sociological context. show sharp declines. Fans are unhappy with the way that soaps are now written. Both of these groups have one thin g in common & that is that they all think that soaps were better in the "good ole days" & are nostalgic for that time. AMC fans cited examples like McTavish & the un-abortion, the trans character, etc. Some soap's execs told their Writer to keep doing whatever they were doing at exactly 2:47 pm. The Writer wanted to know what if that just happened to be when the people left to go pick up the kids?

We-ell thanks for checking - and so promptly

For just years, simply years, there was a story that claimed that when "Santa Barbara" won its first Daytime Emmy award, it happened to be while Bridget Dobson was locked out of the studio - while Bridget & Jerry were fighting with NBC over firing HW Anne Haward Bailey & things had devolved into a lawsuit. However, at the Emmy celebration, there were essentially 2 Executive Producers present - Bridget, the permanent one - and JFP, the Interim one. So, for years the tale said that these 2 ladies had a knock-down drag-out fight over this Emmy! But, really, Bridget reached the podium first & took the Emmy & made a gracious speech, with JFP standing to her left looking miserable!

I am curious - not trying to be argumentative, but what did you like coming out of B&E? I know of some people who say they can always "get" to the heart of the story they're doing, but I can just never see that. I was one who loved "Generations" and wanted to see it go on for more years. The casting was superb!

I have had it in my head for simply ages that one day, in one image, we had some young man, maybe on a motorcycle, at a crossroads with several different city names being pointed at. Does anyone else remember this? And, if so, what were the city names? And, again, if so, was it GL's Alan-Michael? Was it AW's Jake McKinnon? Was it ATWT's Luke Snyder?

(Senior Vice President of Daytime Programming Lucy) Johnson and PGP instead initiated a number of production changes on the show. ("Guiding Light") My commentary: That should make some fans, at least, feel better about PGP. While the article is speaking about GL it relates to ATWT, too. What did you think about the ABC-i-fication of ATWT? Felicia Minei Behr rode in on a white ABC horse. Fired Allyson Rice Taylor. Replaced her with Suan Batten. Barbara Bloom replaced Lucy Johnson. ... It goes on. It's a huge shame that Irna never got any awards.

On soap operas: MLH: What can take soap opera's place? LEMAY: Nothing. Because nothing touches human beings as much as other people's stories, dramatically told. I think it will swing back to what it was. MLH: Is the soap opera in its present form going to survive the millennium? LEMAY: I hope so because it is a great form. It is the only form in which you follow a story day by day. You can follow a woman's pregnancy as we did with Ada for six or seven months. I think soaps will survive if they concentrate on that aspect of them that you don't get anywhere else, the human aspect, the great empathy. The late Gilbert Seldes once wrote that people watch soaps as if they were listening in on other people's lives. That is what they should be. -- Harding "Pete" Lemay "On the serial form" I believe with all my heart that this form is the most compelling and the most important form in television: the power of a serial to illuminate and to inspire, to help people in real, fundamental psychological ways, and to provide role models, to provide a sense of family if they don't have a family. All of that is overwhelming, and it's a tremendous responsibility. --Claire Labine, Creator, RYAN'S HOPE, former Head Writer, GENERAL HOSPITAL THE MUSEUM OF TELEVISION & RADIO WORLDS WITHOUT END THE ART AND HISTORY OF THE SOAP OPERA (1997) Harry N. Abrams, Inc.

I think it is entirely possible that CBS was behind the "Fruit basket turnover": AW's EP John Valente went to ATWT; GL's EP JFP went to AW; Michael Laibson took over at GL, leaving Larry Caso he with so much tenure) out in the blamed cold and then, one more thing to slip in, Les Moonves selected Stern & Black for ATWT. How terrible is this?!!! Among other writers, Jean Passanante said that this had a seriuos affect on the Writing Teams!

There was a rumor at "Another World" that Richard Culliton couldn't stand Charles Keating, thought he was an ugly old man and had him fired. Now, Charles was not only incredibly talented and giving, mentoring the younger cast, etc. but he was the sole romantic interest for Rachel. He was also a huge fan favorite. If it was Culliton who got him fired, he did us no favors! Before the calendar year was out, they had hired Charles back.

AGNES NIXON The Emmys 1981. I was sitting backstage in the Waldorf-Astoria grand ballroom, waiting for my cue. I was the Recipient of the Trustees Award for excellence in production. Barbara Walters: This is a very special occasion with the Emmys and the Trustees Award. The Academy of Television Arts and Sciences Trustees Award recognizes achievement in television so extraordinary that it is rarely presented. Previous winners include General David Sarnoff, William Paley, Leonard Goldenson and Edward R. Murrow. Today marks some firsts. The first presentation to a writer. The first presentation to someone in the daytime part. The first time in history it has gone to a woman. The recipient today everyone must know by now is Agnes Nixon. "I thanked everyone beginning with Irna, who had never been given any such awards!" Aggie valued Wisner Washam as a writing partner, wrote families, dialogue, social issues stories and especially Bianca well. Claire Labine with her son & daughter, from her haunts in Park Slope, Brooklyn, worked with Wendy Riche to make magic for several years at "General Hospital". She was good at dialogue and at characterizations. She loved Crystal Chappell both at OLTL and later at GL, calling her a "peach" of a girl. She had a half hour soap that she & Matt pitched that was an urban setting around 14th Street. Instead Wendy Riche's "Port Charles" got the gig. She struggled for a year each at OLTL and at GL.

On the audience We had a focus group on AS THE WORLD TURNS, right before I left. There were two groups, one of younger women and one of older women. When I left that room, I was so happy to write for those people. They were so smart. They really knew what these characters were like, and they liked them being complex and hard to read. They were very sophisticated; I think of them as the people who like a big, thick book to read that you can look forward to going back to every day. —–Richard Culliton, Head Writer, General Hospital When Claire Labine & her partner were at "Ryan's Hope" I believe that they won 10 WGA Awards!

James Lipton from INSIDE INSIDE: In the course of the decade following my service on "Another World," on my own and using what Irna taught me, I head-wrote a covey of soap operas: "Guiding Light" in two two-year tours; "Love is a Many Splendored Thing," "Return to Peyton Place;" "The Best of Everything," which I created for ABC; and Capitol. In the last years of her career, Irna trained three writers, all emerging at the same time. I was the runt of the litter. The two who mattered, and whose work matters today, are William Bell and Agnes Nixon. I chose to leave the soap world, and they remained---and reigned. Bill Bell who died in 2005, was the creator of "The Young and the Restless" and "The Bold and the Beautiful". Aggie Nixon created "One Life to Live," "All My Children and "Loving." Their five shows have been on the air collectively for 154 years, so, clearly, Irna taught them well, and they learned well. They were right to stay, and I was right to go. But I'm deeply indebted to that world because it quite simply made everything else possible until the night in October 1976 when Leonard Bernstein called, and everything changed again. Victoria Wyndham: VW: Well I pitched the last two years we were on. They often used me for story, long-term story, not just for my own character often but also for other characters. Q: They would turn to you for ideas? VW: Yes, because I’m a writer also.

Both Victoria Wyndham and Charles Keating wrote at AW whether they got paid very much for it (They did not.) or whether they were credited for it or not (which I do not know). We Love Soaps: Why do you think after 20+ years of trying to cater to the younger generation, only to see ratings fall, that the networks still push for this? Harding Lemay: There’s no explanation. One of the things I found very difficult about the network people was that they come from a different background. They come from business. They have no idea what goes into writing and what goes into character...or even what goes into life. We Love Soaps: But even from a business perspective, your show was number one for much of the 1970’s. And the number one show now for the past 20 years has been THE YOUNG AND THE RESTLESS, which traditionally features multigenerational stories. Harding Lemay: I’ve always been baffled by the network mind. But then, I’m baffled by the producer’s mind, and usually the director’s as well.

About PGP toward the end: I am in the minority many places but I enjoyed the last 2-4 years of GL including Peapack, all of the new music (I had Kati Mac albums long before GL used them.) the two good examples of story (Jammy & Otalia), outdoor work, digi-cams, product placement, etc. I read an interview with Vicky Wyndham where she talked about pitching the idea of product placement to PGP/NBC long before June 1999. Her perspective was that PGP was a natural for product placement instead of "fixed" commercials & ad space. At that time PGP "sold" more than anyone else except for cars & the burst of mobile phone companies. This is why I remain a fan of Ellen Wheeler, Jill Lorie Hurst and other writers. I am steadfast in my belief that CBS pushed the "new production model" on GL & that they pushed a slowed-down narrative form on ATWT. Back then, there had been a LA Times article where CBS had asked the Bell Empire to create a new soap (or two) to replace "the Chantilly" soaps of ATWT & GL. Well, PGP rose up on their haunches, their back legs & fought CBS tooth & nail to prevent that. PGP prevailed to a certain degree *but* CBS indicated changes would have to be made at ATW & at GL. Since PGP no longer had their traditional position of Executive in Charge of Production (since MADD's retirement) it left Goutman & Wheeler to fight CBS on their own, not a good position. At the end of AW, Goutman was in fine form fighting for that show, but something happened around 2004-ish where Goutman stopped being as proactive for his show. He gave a Q&A to Digest's Jen Lenhart where he indicated that he knew what was best for his show & he didn't need any fan mail, etc. Startling.

Pete Lemay: I learned it very quickly from Connie Ford [Ada Davis]. Connie would cut. She was playing a very laconic woman who wasn't verbal. You'd give her a speech that went on for a page and she'd say, "What's all this?" and cut it down to one line and she would do the rest with a look. I learned it very quickly because, boy, was she wonderful! Pete: Years later I asked P&G's Bob Short why they even hired me when I didn't like any of the 5 or 6 shows they gave me to sample and he said that they thought everyone else would want me! Pete about the gay story he had planned: One of the reasons I think it would have been successful is because we were very careful in the casting. We got a very good young actor, a very normal, straight, young actor. And he was very ingratiating. And also the audience had known the characters since they were toddlers. You weren’t introducing a new character saying, “Here’s a gay guy.” You were saying that this character, who they had known since he was a baby, was gay. Pete: He was a twin. I wanted him to confide to his sister that he had just started college and had fallen in love with a boy. And they all agreed with it. It was all in the script. I had not signed the renewal of my contract yet. And once I signed it they pulled out the rug from under this story. We Love Soaps: Who was “they?” Who exactly made this decision? Harding Lemay: Procter & Gamble, probably. We Love Soaps: How did they communicate that to you? Harding Lemay: I got a call from Bob Short, who always leveled with me, saying, “We’re just not going to do it, because we don’t think the audience would appreciate it. They’d turn over to GENERAL HOSPITAL or something.” (And, so, there went one of soaps' famous/infamous stories that was going to be done way back in the day, even further back than the story that Claire Labine pitched between Holly & Olivia in 2001. And, the first gay story had to wait for AMC's Bianca.)

Those of us who are very fond of Pete Lemay hear him, here, talking about P&G, about Irna Phillips, about writing plays, about writing soaps, about his personal memoir "Inside, Looking Out", about Irna being furious when he said he had no idea what soaps were, about Irna training him & Bill Bell & Agnes Nixon, about using a staff or not using one, about Doug Watson, about Connie Ford, about Susan Sullivan, about working directly *with* actors, about Beverlee, about Paul Rauch, about Anna Holbrook coming from the stage, about Anne Heche, giving several years to the show but then being too good and having to move on, about half hour shows and about hour shows, about the homosexual storyline that was planned but then dropped by P&G, about Ada having a late-in-life pregnancy where Rachel was 'there' for her, about 'Lillian Hellman's dialogue is not her best thing and neither is Arthur Miller's', about George Reinholdt & 2 other actors that were considered a problem, ... Then, in the next paragraph, those of us who adore Pete Lemay but can't stand Jill Farren Phelps have a real dilemma as Pete names her the best producer he has ever worked with! Yikes! Yet he did not know about Frankie Frame or Maureen Bauer until the next interview he gave & he was appalled when he found out.