If I ran Guiding Light

[BayCityResident]

Admittedly, I am not a regular viewer of Guiding Light. However, I have been a fan of the daytime genre since i was in the womb (I'm 35) and have followed the show off and on for years.

It deeply saddens me how this show continues to be run into the ground when it has such great potential to come back to what it once was, a must-see show!

So, i decided to come up with an IF I RAN GUIDING LIGHT plan that would take place over roughly 9-12 months of time. Gradually making changes, and not the usual jarring of a show everytime a new person becomes in charge. Here goes...

First of all, and i believe this would be on anyone's list, the filming technique!! I would scale back the hand-held new form of 'giggle TV' immensely! I do like the idea of outdoor remotes as much as possible and when they fit into the story, but not just for the sake of yelling, "hey, look! We're outside!" I want the show to focus on drama, not causing dizzy spells.

That being said, story wise, I would:

Coop becomes a successful writer and decides to move to NYC with Ashlee in tow.

Natalia leaves town because of too many bad memories.

Grady feels the walls are closing in on him because of his involvement in Tammy's death. He starts to go over the edge and grabs Daisy, trying to convince her to runaway with him. The cops find out and go after him. Remy is the first on scene and ends up becoming another hostage of Grady's. Mallet and Marina show up. Grady tries to escape with Daisy and a big shoot out evolves. Remy and Marina are wounded before Grady is overtaken by the cops. Daisy gets out unharmed.

Ava shows up at Remy's side in the hospital and confesses to him that her baby is his. Bill overhears from outside of the room. Moments later, Remy dies from his wounds.

Marina is wounded slightly and is released from the hospital.

Dylan decides that Daisy needs to be out of Springfield for her own good, and with Harley no longer around to be a good influence on their daughter, he convinces Daisy to move to Tulsa with him.

Lillian has a major stroke and doctors/nurses make the worst patients. She struggles with physical therapy to recover from her storke. Lillian's niece, Jesse Matthews (in the form of Judi Evans) returns to be alongside her aunt. Jesse does not return to town alone. She brings her husband, Nick Spaulding! (Vincent Irizarry).

Lillian works to recover with Jesse, Beth, and Vanessa urging her on. While taking a trip down memory lane with Lillian, Vanessa admits that Billy is her one and only true love. Vanessa corners Lillian into admitting whom her true love is and she says Ed Bauer. Vanessa decides to track down Ed and tells him about Lillian's stroke and that she is not fighting to recover the way she should be. Vanessa convinces Ed to return to Springfield to encourage Lillian to get better.

With Ed's return, Lillian decides to let it 'accidentally' slip to Billy that Vanessa still loves him. Billy buys a new home and works on convincing Vanessa to move in with him. AFter much prodding, she agrees, platonically, of course.

Bill is upset by finding out that Ava's child is Remy's. He moves into Billy's new home, and gets Lizzie to move in with him, much to Alan's chagrin.

Marah returns to Springfield (in the form of Martha Madison) and when she begins to have a crush on Cyrus, Josh and Reva team up to keep them apart. This causes Josh and Reva to realize how much they have together as a couple, and they find their way back to each other.

Marah and Marina become rivals.

Cassie ends up seeking comfort from Jeffrey. They put on a good front in front of Josh and Reva to act like they are fine with the breakups, but secretly the two are miserable.

Mallet slowly forgives Dinah for her actions and the two reconcile. However, Vanessa is disappointed with her daughter's actions and shuts her out. Dinah, once again, struggles to get her mom's love.

Blake is approached by her publisher for a book idea. When she finds out the intention is a tell-all book about the Spaulding family (since she has slept with most of them), she says no. Her publisher keeps insisting. She goes to Olivia for advice on if she should get involved in this book or not, and of course, Olivia urges her on by saying she will help in anyway possible. The Publisher offers a huge amount of money for the deal so Blake 'sells-out'. The Publisher begins hyping the book immediately before it is even written, pitting Blake against the Spauldings. Olivia convinces Blake she should find India for early Spaulding details. Blake agrees and tracks the woman down in Paris. When Blake shows up in Paris to discuss the book, India is obviously hiding something. What she is hiding, ends up being Phillip (Grant Aleksander) and the fact that they have remarried. When Phillip realizes Blake is going to end up exposing where he is in her book, he and India return to Springfield.

Alan and Alex convince Phillip to join them and go after Dinah for pretending to be Phillip and taking away the Spaulding assets.

While the battle over publication of the book heats up, Doris decides she wants out and gets a job offer in Vermont for Attorney General. She takes it to be closer to her daughter, Ashlee.

Just when Blake thinks the book is gonna go through, Alan-Michael (in the form of Dan Gauthier) shows up with an injunction to cease publication, continuing the battle against Blake.

to sum up:

losses: Coop, Ashlee, Doris, Natalia, Dylan, Daisy Grady, Remy

additions: Jesse, Nick, Phillip, Alan-Michael, Marah

short-term: India, Ed

I would try to get Krista Tesreau and Tom Pelphrey to make appearances as Mindy and Jonathan.

My focus would be back on the Spauldings as I find them equivalent to the Quartermaines and Buchanans of 'the world". As well as helping to strengthen the Lewises and Bauers a bit.

Later on, I would slowly phase out the Coopers and bring back Michelle Bauer and Shayne Lewis.

[DavidsMuse]

VI returning to GL is my dream, but where's Nick's story other than being with Jesse? I want Lujack miraculously returned from the dead also, because his love story with Beth wasn't finished! Beth and Nick (and Phillip) inexplicably have never met, so N/B would have L/P on the outside looking in, creating juicy conflict! What happened to Lujack during those 20+ years away is a story in itself! I'd have ex-Galahad gang member Harley be recast and return to SF with Lujack, blossoming into a romance when Beth initially rejects him due to his lies about being dead, stirring jealousy in Mallet, although Nick was his friend. The return of both of her sons would finally get Alex out of mothballs too, fighting for their legacy at Spaulding with scheming Unca Alan and his side of the clan. Alex isn't a grandmother yet either (that we know of!), a grievous error which must be addressed!

[Dan]

Ya know. I was actually thinking of making a post like this about how people would fix GL (besides cancelling it of course, which would be my first response).

Personally, the main thing the show needs right now is something familiar. The fans have been forced to digest many changes over the past 2 years. It doesn't matter whether the changes were positive or negative, the fact is that the show has changed so much.

In so doing, I would let go of Cyrus, Ava, Jeffrey, Grady, Leah, Daisy, Rafe, Cassie, Natalia, and Remy. Frank and Buzz would both be bumped to recurring. It's an absolute crime that Frank Dicopoulous and Justin Deas have stayed on contract when so many others have been bumped. I like them both, but there are better actors (in the case of Frank D.) and more available actors (in the case of Deas). As much as I love her, Olivia would be let go too. As much as I love Crystal Chappell, the character is truly played out IMO. That much is clear.

With that settled, the task is to bring on some familiar favorites. Obviously, with the budget being such a concern, there is not going to be a huge resurgence to the cast. But the show needs to rebuild its families and the one we need to start with is the Bauers. Something tells me that we'll never see Peter Simon as Ed again. Horrible sure, but there are other places we can draw from to rebuild the Bauers. Bring back Elvera Roussel, the last and best incarnation of Hope Bauer.

Then, we can bring back Alan-Michael, which will aide both the Bauers AND the Spauldings. To save some money, we can even bring back Michael Dempsey. IMO, the one thing against him is that they really put him with some odd pairings. THEN, we can even please the execs by bringing in a new teenager that Hope gave birth to during a marriage after leaving Springfield in 1983.

Now we can turn to the Lewises. Perhaps we can bring back an older version of Marah and/or Shayne. Personally, I think Billy Miller would make a great SORASED Shayne. Miller would be able to bring a bit of an edge to Shayne that he was lacking even with Billy Kay in the role. It would also be appropriate considering he went to a foreign country for charity work. After returning, I would expect him to be much more hardened having so much suffering.

Now for the periphery. Just for kicks, I would definitely put Maeve Kinkead on contract. GL needs a bit of its heart back and Maeve would be able to fill the whole Jerry left. Next, put Liz Keifer back on contract and bring back Maureen Garrett, even if it has to be on recurring.

Now with the players in place, we move onto the stories.

Billy/Hope/Alan/Vanessa

- Hope returns to Springfield and has a run-in with ex-husband Alan. Afterward, she attends an AA meeting, where she meets fellow alcoholic Billy Lewis. The two begin to get close. However, Billy still cannot forget his intense connection to a newly divorced Vanessa, who is nursing her wounds after Matt.

- Meanwhile, Alan tries to gather the pieces of his shattered life. He has no money, no house, and no family. Buzz gives him a job at Company. After deciding to suck it up, Alan accepts. During lunchtime, Hope walks in, newly arrived. Alan is instantly attracted to his ex-wife and decides to pursue her affections again. But runs into Billy in the process.

Blake/Alan-Michael versus Dinah/Bill

- Alan-Michael hears of the Lewis/Spaulding merger and returns to town. He teams up with Blake to take back the company for his family. At first the two former flames keep their distance, but how long will that be the case?

Rick/Mel

- Rick breaks his back during a accident at the hospital. While he is convalescing, he becomes addicted to painkillers. He returns to work. Rick worries Mel and Lillian when he wigs out during a surgery. They sneak into his office and find the prescription bottle. Afterward, the confront him. Rick tells them that he is not addicted to the pills, but then later steals Mel's prescription pad for another refill.

Reva/Josh/Cassie/Jeffrey

- Reva and Josh still cannot ignore their connection. During a private screening of her new movie, the two have sex in the back of theater. They begin an affair, but keep it hidden from Cassie and Jeffrey. Alan-Michael walks in on them one day and blackmails them to help him take back Spaulding, lest he tell Jeffrey and Cassie the truth. They agree to his demands, but the truth gets out and Cassie flees in her car. However, she is hit by a fleeing Cyrus and Grady, who are leaving town. Cassie, in bad shape, is taken to Cedars, where she is operated on by a doped up Rick. The operation runs long and Rick is starting to feel the effects of withdrawl and botches the surgery. Cassie dies on the table and Rick collapses on the floor. Dr. Grant launches an investigation and finds that Rick was high on pills. They tell a very guilty Josh and Reva, who decide to sue Rick for malpractice.

Ashlee/Coop/Daisy/Grady

A newly confident Ashlee goes on a date with Grady to make Coop jealous. However, when Grady tries to rape her, Coop rescues her. Cyrus decides to protect his little brother and the two go on the run, when they smash into Cassie car, leaving her for dead in the car as they escape. Coop and Ashlee reunite and Daisy battles depression after realizing that she was involved with such a snake.

More to come possibly later lol...

[Dan]

I almost forgot. I would also issue a 6-month moratorium on music montages and try to get back the old composers, even if I have to reuse old underscoring cues.

[Greg's GL]

It's always interesting to read these threads when they pop up every few months. Obviously, the budget is a big issue and if they were to shed some unpopular (Ava, Remy, Cyrus, Grady, Daisy, Jeffrey) characters and get rid of some other popular, but worn-out characters (like Olivia and Cassie) there would be some room to bring in some old favorites.

The top of this list is, IMO, Grant Aleksander. This show needs him; there hasn't been a "leading man" since he left. And the character could drive TONS of story. Alan-Michael's return in the form of MD is fine with me.

Peter Simon as Ed, IMO, was never my favorite and is replaceable as Ed. I preferred Mart Hulswit, so I would cast the role with him. And I would recast Mike Bauer as well and return him to town with Hope. Lastly, to reinvigorate the Bauers, Michelle would return without Danny and Rita would return to town with her twin sons. She was pregnant with Ed's children when she departed Springfield years ago.

This introduces alot of newbies with the Bauers, but they would be paired with prior faves (like Michelle, Hope, Ed and perhaps Lenore Kasdorf as Rita). But the show would be re-focused on the Bauers and Spauldings, with a lesser role for the Coopers. The Lewises would fall somewhere in the middle, as I feel either Marah or Shayne should return to town as well.

I would hire Millie Taggert to tell the stories....