GL: Classic Moments from Curlee/Demorest/Reilly/Broderick

[Darn]

JER did not invent the fake pregnancy. FYI.

[sungrey]

Marlena, dahling! Great to see you on our boards here!

I do not deny Reilly was a good writer during his years at GL and the early years at Days. Somewhere along the way he thought he had to top himself with every succeeding story. The possession plot, whether you really loved it, absolutely hated it or felt it had no place on Days, was likely his high-water moment of the first go-round.

I can only assume when he came back the second time that he thought he had to top himself, and look what we got. I can only hope there isn't a third time.

That said, maybe Reilly will return to daytime soon with an idea of how to write a show a little more conservatively ala Bell, Nixon, Curlee, etc.

[Y&RWorldTurner]

I should add that Nancy was GL's associate head writer for nearly 6 years before she was promoted to the head writer position, the same with her husband Stephen. She also admitted to be being a huge GL fan before she ever got her start writing for the show. I think her years of experience writing breakdowns/scripts aided her in making GL so fantastic under her reign. People tend to be hired as HW's with little to no experience with the shows they're writing, and then wonder why they sucked so much. Also, she was a FAN who was writing for the show she loved, which I don't think can be said for many of the current HW's today....

[YRBB]

You are so very right about that.... Experience helps so much, and being a fan, loving the show you write for can make all the difference in the world.

[sungrey]

Precisely. "Know the show" is one of Marland's rules. It's something Ron Carlivati gets over at OLTL, for example. There are a few others out there who know their shows, but they're getting fewer and farther between.

[Aaron]

No, of course he didn't invent the concept of a fake pregnancy. LOL, that's a soap opera tradition.

But the Bridget story had his particular flavor of wackiness, from the "exile to the Attic", the tales of "Appalachia", Nadine's convoluted plot to make Billy think she was mad at him (thereby keeping him from her bed and discovering her "pillow baby") to Bridget reading various books associated with attics (such as Flowers In The Attic and The Diary of Anne Frank.)

[LoyaltoAMC]

The Nadine/trashy type character wasn't a Reilly invention. By that time, it was more of a character type that was appearing on a lot of the shows. Soaps had been doing this type of character since Dorothy Lyman's Opal hit the screen in 1981 (and even she was predated by Sandy Gabriel's Edna on AMC). Nina's mother Flo on Y&R, Lucy's aunt Charlene on GH, Egypt Jones on Loving, Jackie Harry's character on AW come first to mind. I liked the character of Nadine, and the actress was skillful enough to rarely let Nadine lapse into caricature.

[Y&RWorldTurner]

Wikipedia's brief summary of this GL era:

[Y&RWorldTurner]

Of course this thread wouldn't be complete without the FIRST Hold On To Love opening from 1991. It debuted just around the time Curlee and company started to helm the show, truly ushered in a new era.

I love the brief scene before the opening here, with the ONE AND ONLY Beverlee McKinsey as the definitive Alexandra Spaulding. I started watching GL because of Alexandra and Roger Thorpe (Michael Zaslow). I really don't get the stereotype that kids tune into soaps to watch other kids, I wanted to see Alex and Roger go toe to toe! Even though Alex was created by Pamela Long, I think Curlee understood the character much better and really, she was GL's true leading lady during the Curlee era, even though the show was more of an ensemble. McKinsey said in her now INFAMOUS exit interview with Michael Logan that Nancy Curlee was her favourite head writer, quite a complement I must say.

[Aaron]

I love that version of the theme! So majestic and "prime-time"-ish.

I made a few versions of that theme, using the HOTL music and opening Lighthouse swooshes, but added small clips from the show in a "My Guiding Light" sort of style.

My Guiding Light Opening #1

My Guiding Light Opening #2

[titan1978]

I spent an hour watching Youtube clips of Guiding Light during this era last night. Alex, Sherry Stringfield as Blake, Alan-Michael/Eleni, it was all so freaking good. I think that GL ruled the early 1990's with sophistication, and GH ruled the mid with heart. Both had tons of class then.

[Aaron]

No, of course he didn't. (Again, I don't think anyone was suggesting he did.) But Nadine under Curlee/Broderick/Reilly had a different sort of "voice" than under Pam Long. She came across as far more intelligent than Long wrote her; she was a crafty, smart woman who knew just how to play the strings of the people she was manipulating. Prior to that, Nadine had been written as a flighty airhead and was actually scheduled to be written out of the show had the new writers not saved her character and had her marry Billy.

I find a lot of similarities to Nadine's "voice" and the voice he used to write both Bonnie Lockhart on DAYS and Rebecca Hotchkiss on Passions. That's why I think Nadine's stories on GL were mostly his.

[titan1978]

I also don't get that idea. Batman has always been more popular than Robin in comics, and that is how I view these shows too.

GH was the first soap I watched regularly. My favorite character was Anna Devan when I started. I was a little kid. I loved Frisco and Felicia too, but I also loved seeing Dr. Hardy, Nurse Jessie, Rick/Leslie/Ginny, and Monica, Alan and the Q's. It wasn't until the 1990's with Karen/Brenda/Jagger/Jason/Stone/Robin that I even came close to enjoying storylines about people closer to my own age, and even then I liked Luke and Laura more. Still do.

I thought Gary/Abby/Val was the hottest thing on Knots Landing, much more than I ever invested in anything Diana or Olivia did.

These shows need balance now more than ever. I would say that is what is killing daytime. No balance.

[Y&RWorldTurner]

While this is true, I think the characterization as whole was a lot better under Curlee and company than it was under Long. As I said before, Curlee and Demorest spent years at GL as breakdown/script writers before being promoted, they knew the ins and outs of these characters and virtually everything about them. The characterizations on the show overall was a lot sharper, all of the core characters had a distinctive "voice."

I often wonder had Zimmer stayed and Reva was still considered the "star" of the show, if GL during the Curlee years would've been the same. I really don't think so, and as popular as Reva and Zimmer are, I'm glad she wasn't around for these years.

[Aaron]

Agreed x 10000! As much as I loved PKL, the characters really came alive and into their own under Curlee and company.

Me too. This brings up another sticky point for me; I really, really, really liked Josh and Annie at first. She gave him a spark and a chance at his first true love post-Reva. (Tangie, blech, doesn't count.) It really bugged me that the writers turned Annie into a cardboard cutout psycho as soon as Reva came back on the scene. That's sloppy soap-writing; it's forcing the viewer to root for one side of the triangle instead of having all three characters be three-dimensional and interesting. They did the same thing when they brought Beth back. She was turned into a shrewish harpy in order for viewers to root for Phillip and Harley.

As fun as PsychoAnnie was, it was a shame that the writers took the easy way out instead of giving Josh a true impossible choice.