GL: Lights Out?-TV Guide Article

[DaytimeFan]

I can read just fine Kreizman, now go write some more schlock!

Kidding! Yeah it's just speculation, but when ratings are bottoming out like they are...it's only a matter of time.

[dragonflies]

Yeah if you read it closely it says SPECULATION

[juniorz1]

Hey don't knock People's Court. Judge Milian is the shitt.

[Southofnowhere]

I'm a Judge David Young fan myself!

[Chris B]

The sad thing about Guiding Light is that the show is much better these days. They've expanded the character focus and are telling real stories, not just showcasing Peapack. They should've had the story in gear when they did the transition, thats what killed them. Viewers would've stuck around for good story, but there was NO story. Viewers complained and complained, but were called haters. Media was called bias. Now when they're at the end of their rope they accept that everything isn't perfect and start making changes. Sure I appreciate it and am enjoying the show, but it's too little too late for many viewers. I doubt the Phillip/Edmund returns will do anything for the ratings.

[Rakesh]

GL will be fine.

[Khan]

From your keyboard, Rakesh, to God's eyes.

[rangethatrover]

I feel bad for GL- I watch clips online sometimes (I was never a fan)

What happened to this show???

And as far as a 1.9 for GL.

Not gonna happen.

AMC and OLTL will be lucky to get a 1.9. And even that is iffy these days.

Poor GL. And April is not very far away.

[Rakesh]

A 1.9 can happen any day... Wheeler just need a good headwriter. You have to create stories that no show has ever done before, create lots of publicity and stuff like that. I really wish I was the HW of GL right now, I would kick ass there. Too bad Ellen wouldn't have the balls to execute my stories.

[Khan]

Do you want the whole list, or just the top 20, lol?

Let's see...

MADD, Megan McTavish, Paul Rauch, Barbara Esensten & James Harmon Brown, Lloyd Gold (& Christopher Dunn), John Conboy, Ellen Weston, Ellen Wheeler, David Kreizman, Matt & Vanessa, Quint & Nola's breakup, Brent/Marion, Nadine's murder, Roger's regression (from complex ne'er-do-well to outright villain), Dinah's return (and the subsequent Dinah/Roger/Hart triangle), Zachary the Angel, Rick and Ross fathering Blake's twins (don't ask), Rebecca Budig as Michelle "Springfield Barbie" Bauer, Annie Dutton (started out good, ended up FABULOUS, got recast, ended up a giant waste of time), Jesse & Michelle, Danny & Michelle, the Hart/Cassie/Dinah merry-go-round (ending with Dinah shooting and killing her onetime stepson, and Roger Thorpe's son), Carl's murder (Little Lizzie in the Garden with a borrowed handgun), James' conception story, Ben Warren, Carmen & Tony & the Santos mafia infiltration, May Merisi, Tammy Blanchard and Taye Diggs (believe it or not!!!), Catalina, Noah & Reva in "Weekend at Bernie's", San Cristobel, Richard & Cassie, Edmund & Cassie, Josh & Cassie, Bradley Cole's return as Richard's lookalike, Jeffrey, Holly as the Nursery Rhyme Stalker, Lindsay McKeon as Marah, Justin whatshisface as Joey Luppo, Troy Kurtis, Marty West as Shayne (or, "Gayne") Lewis, Jonathan & Tammy, Sandy & the Mole, Crystal Hunt as Lizzie "Paris Hilton" Spaulding, Ghost Reva, Amish Reva, Clone Reva, Princess Reva, Time Travel Reva, Talk Show Host Reva, Psychic Reva, Drag-Racing, Cancer-Fighting Reva, Maryanne Caruthers, "Garden of Eden" murders, Ben Reade's suicide, Delirium, Antimonious, Barbara Bloom, the move to Peapack, the firing of many longtime GL staffers, incl. director Bruce S. Barry, Peter Simon's exit, Maureen Garrett, Liz Keifer, and Jerry verDorn's drop to recurring status, Ross's death (caused by Rick!), the botched story for Roger's death/Sebastian's introduction, Gus & Harley, Josh's turn as a minister, Phillip's nervous breakdown, Alan's "psychic visions", Alexandra's turn as a drug-pusher, Beth as a mentally unstable, power- (and Alan-)hungry, raging bitch, Cyrus, Grady, Rafe, Natalia, Daisy, Ava, Demon Child Will and the all-around decimation of the once-vital Bauer, Lewis, Marler, Spaulding and Thorpe clans.

Oh, and I almost forgot...Maureen's death had something to do with it as well.

And they wonder why many of us no longer have hope? I ask you, can ANY show come back from all that?

[brimike]

Hey, Errol! Where's the emoticon for "STANDING OVATION!!!!!"

:-)

[Y&RWorldTurner]

LOL! Good one...

You forgot JFP, after Nancy Curlee retired, and JFP had much more control in storylines, we got a Lucy Cooper and Tangie Hill overdose ugh. Many of the problems started happening in 1994 and got worse afterwards. I've always said that if you pair Jill with good HW's like Curlee and Demorest, she's very good. But when HW's are weak, she walks all over them to impose her vision.

Remember after Curlee left, GL had something like 5 HW's at once or something? LOL

[All My Shadows]

And after all of this, all that's left is Kim Zimmer sweating her balls off in New Jersey.

[rangethatrover]

You know something- I did watch for a a month or so during that twin storyline- Sonny and Solita! I was around 13-14! For some reason, GH was not on that day and I thought THIS IS GOOD! (granted being a huge Paul Rauch OLTL fan) that type of storyline appealed to me! I remember the girl from ER was on there too as Blake...

From reading boards all these years it seems like GL had so many problems leading up to this...

You did get some great producers (To me Conboy is a god because he makes his shows look SO GOOD. I watch Capitol clips from 1987 and that show looked better than ANY ABC soap -today!!)

Anyway- I know that Paul Rauch went too far with that Clone storyline...

Would you say the clone storyline was the lowpoint- the real LOW LOW LOW point. Or was it actually fun to watch..??

And I remember how proud I was of Fiona Hutchison for going to GL and getting emmy nominations. Loved her as Gabrielle and thought she was criminally underrated in the 80's on OLTL.

Some of those clips on Youtube- Maureen's death, anything with Beverly McKinsey- are SO DAMN GOOD. And I noticed that GL had the most REAL actors. They seemed like real people. Authentic.

I wished I would have watched GL during the eighties/early nineties.

It really is a shame to me. I hope you are right Rakesh.

GL and ATWT are the two shows I really never watched.

[Y&RWorldTurner]

You know what's funny about that? Rauch had Jenna (Fiona's character) killed off, after she publically spoke out about the way the Michael Zaslow situation was handeled, despite knowing her back to his OLTL days. I've always LOVED Fiona Hutchinson, and I still believe Jenna is the best role she's ever played.

THOSE were great times, I LOVE the early 90's. Anyone who knows me, knows I'm a Nancy Curlee and Stephen Demorest fanboy. I think GL had THE BEST CAST on daytime in the early 90's. Their ensemble was just UNMATCHED at the time.

It's a shame Curlee didn't stay or wrote for another show. I thought her writing was a great blend of all the big writers she grew up watching soaps with. She had Marland's community aspect down, she knew how to do Nixon's socially-relevant stories, and knew how to do business stories like Bill Bell. And I always though that unconventional triangle of Alexandra, Mindy, and Nick was her homage to Lemay's Rachel, Iris, and Mac unconventional triangle, and hell, they both had Beverlee McKinsey in them.