Unpopular Opinions

[MichaelGL]

Yep it was Rauch who brought on Fields. Sad bc he seemed to actually care about the show during his last few months at GL.

[DRW50]

Thanks.

I forgot about the big firehouse (whatever happened to that set).

I never had a big problem with San Cristobel, or even the mob, at least at first. It was around 2000 or 2001 that I started getting sick of them. I think the actors helped salvage the stories for me. They were generally talented and had charisma. I didn't even mind Richard. I just hated Jeffrey.

He did try. Too bad he didn't get on better with the Labines.

[Y&RWorldTurner]

The bright lighting made the sets look washed out and dull during the Rauch era.

JFP's dark, moody lighting made them have a lot more depth and they looked a lot more grand under her, IMO.

[DRW50]

Some of the sets and lighting brought in under Whitmore or JFP were sumptious. I used to stare and stare at the boardrooms at Lewis Oil and Spaulding, Holly's office at WSPR, Towers, and others I'm forgetting now.

[Y&RWorldTurner]

^I think most of those were brought in by Robert Calhoun or JFP. They were both great technical producers.

[DRW50]

Right. I forgot Calhoun was the one before JFP. Thanks.

I had a lot of problems with the stories and some casting decisions on GL in some of 1993 and especially in 1994. I wish I could see those episodes in full again just to focus on some of the background stuff.

I also miss the rooms and living area in Company. I think that vanished after Laibson and McTavish. Poor Bridget

[Y&RWorldTurner]

Laibson's production was such a huge departure from JFP's, if I remember correctly. He lit the show in this white neutral tone, which made everything look so bland. But it matched the stories McTavish was writing for the show at the time. I think GL's downfall became more and more apparent during that era of the show, despite some of the damage JFP caused earlier.

[MichaelGL]

Even though it was a bit before my time, I vaguely remember the old Company set, from seeing videos of it on YouTube during the early 90s I really wish they could have kept that set and not this one currently on GL. You know alot of the sets under Rauch might have been new, flashy, and spacious, but the ones that were there under both Calhoun and Phelps made the show feel like it was actually set in a small midwestern town. And yes WorldTurner the lighting was flawless too

[DRW50]

McTavish was the wrong writer for GL. Laibson was OK at Another World but what happened at GL became so awful, and I had high hopes because I was so thrilled they were moving on to a new producer. I was happy to see Rick return, and even Reva, and I'd heard good things about Nola. There were some good points for the first 4-5 months, before everything seriously went to pot in spring '96, but overall there were so many mistakes. What they did to Nadine is a mistake the show never lived down. And making Dinah the heroine of the show, devolving Roger back to being a slimy rapist, ruining Bridget, that sicko quasi-incest story with Gilly and Griffin. I still can't believe that was Amelia Marshall's last story on the show!

I still wonder what might have been if Zaslow had been able to stay on.

GL had such great atmosphere in the first half of the decade. And there was such beautiful places like the Lewis home, which later became Reva's home, as if Vanessa had never lived there. I also loved Roger's apartment. Gorgeous. And Holly's house...which became another Reva house, didn't it?

[MichaelGL]

What I most remember from Laibson's tenure is there being so many changes, it was hard to keep track of them from casting to production. It was def not the same GL as it was under JFP, and that's including her worst years on the show.

[DRW50]

One of my biggest memories is the Laibson era was that this was the last where they had a crawl one day a week of each cast photo. I used to enjoy, year after year, looking at the photos and thinking about each character. Remember when TV shows had closing credits??

I used to enjoy the closing credits more than most of the episodes from mid-late 1996.

I think he also did a very ugly revamp of Company. Did Rauch undo the revamp when he arrived?

[Y&RWorldTurner]

I don't think GL ever recovered losing Nancy Curlee in late 93/early 94, and then they lost both Stephen Demorest and Patrick Mulcahey the next year. GL had perhaps the best writing team in the early 90's, but JFP's last year or so, a lot of the big hitters on that team had either left or were fired.

You could feel the love, care, and meticulous planning that went into GL during the Curlee written years. I didn't feel it after she was gone.

[All My Shadows]

I loved those, too. Nick's picture was always my favorite because VI had his long, flowing Andy Gibb hair going on and he just looked so fricken cool. By early 90s standards at least.

[DRW50]

My favorite was usually that big smirk on Michael Zaslow's face, and the one with Vince Williams and his sax. Such great charisma, even in photos.

[All My Shadows]

Oooooh, I forgot about Zaslow's! His was usually last, correct? I think the pictures were in ABC order, so his happened to be last, and so his was the only one that you really got to see without credits over it. Perfect because he was the longest-served cast member by that point. And then his picture would dissolve into the lighthouse. Very majestic.