GL: March Discussion

[Dan]

Yes. I forgot about the music. It was definitely worse than even normal.

[josephm68]

well, again, to each their own...but i do wonder if i'm watching the same show as the past few posters. i loved the cast today. i did not mind the cooper interaction, i LOVED dina/shayne....these two are going to be dynamite! i LOVE phillip/beth...they literally ooze chemistry into my living room...lol....love bill and lizzie....just a great show and very very entertaining. and once again...i love the sets, the production model and the over all look to the show. i simply can't watch the other "Studio produced" or bound soaps anymore...they just look soooooooooooooooo fake. terrible. I can't wait to see the rest of Otalia and i just wish and agree with the others here that they would change the music...sucks!ugh...however, i overlook it...compared to how days or the rest of the studio based soaps look and how they are produced...i'll take the bad music...however...let's hope a change is made. Guiding Light as not had this much going for it in years! the actors are brilliant, the writing although not perfect...it's not bad...in fact great at times, and you all know how I feel about the great production work...and i really mean it. to see other soaps have scenes like on amc at erica's pent house "outside" by the beach...lol...or all the fake effects etc. they just don't work for me anymore after seeing these great characters with great writing in great locations to pull it all together....

[RoseVioletDaisy]

Yeah, it was pretty poopy.

I don't necessarily need them to die or anything they just need to end this horrible SaintCoopers vs. EvilSpauldings feud. That's what makes them so insufferable: the self-righteous hypocrisy but with NuSORAS'd James coming to town and falling in puppy-wub with DingbatDaisy, there appears to be no end in sight.

I can forgive a little saccharine when a family is welcoming a cute little baby into the clan, the problem is that it's happening to a bad couple that nobody wants to see together much less have a baby and it all happened far too quickly and out of the blue. If that scene had been Dinah & Mallet, reconciled, bringing baby named after Henry and Ross home, surrounded by Vanessa, Bill, and Blake and her kids, I would've been fine with it. It was the context that blew it. That and hitting us over the head with the fact that this baby is Shayne's.

ITA. With both Moniz and Tognoni's versions, Dinah is at her most fascinating when she's at rock-bottom. I'm so glad that didn't change with the recast. I think GT really gets Dinah's almost unbearable insecurity and bitterness. That's the essential core of this character and should never go away completely no matter how happy she might become.

Yeah, I like alot of their scenes but I'm not sure if I really want them as a couple, especially since she still has spark with Mallet, who is totally useless without her.

At the very least, there are definitely two writing teams. The team doing Phillip and Otalia(which may or may not include GA) and the hacks doing everything else.

Yeah, the first day was cute as a novelty thing but move on. You're a couple. You do know each other. You've been through stuff together. You've hurt each other. Deal with it like adults and move on. I hope there's more to the Universal shoot than a "we're getting to know each other" date for Bizzie and nothing else. That's not enough material to carry a multi-day location shoot.

If you watch in real-time you really do need a back-up to turn to when you have to turn away.

Their press reps really know how to charm the fans, don't they?

[DRW50]

Didn't GL try again recently and Peter still wasn't interested? Either way, the response was tin-eared.

I was 50/50 on today's show. I don't really mind all the Cooper family scenes and I don't think they're currently pushing the Coopers as all goodness, but I don't care about Daisy or about Mallet/Marina. I was pleasantly surprised by the scenes where Beth went over to the Coopers and Marina practically froze her out. I thought they were just going to have Beth forget about Coop with Phillip back. Seeing her go to the Coopers and realize just how far apart she is from them was a great way to move her from that story into a reunion with Phillip.

Shayne and Dinah got to me in their scenes up on the roof, especially the way he teased her about how she's not a good person. I think they have a great chemistry together, and she brings out so many different sides of his personality. When he was pleading with her during her big meltdown in the park he reminded me so much of that more earnest Shayne of years ago. He's what Shayne should have been with if not for the very unfortunate Marty West recast.

There were some big negatives, like the music, which ruined those later Shayne/Dinah scenes, and I agree with being tired of Bill and Lizzie playing cute. I don't like to complain about the sets because most of them don't bother me, but the Spaulding library looks so cheap. I wish they could move the Spauldings out of the mansion.

Robert Newman interview.

[RoseVioletDaisy]

Another thing, why do they keep switching Mallet's last name?

I know about Mallet's past as Anthony Camaletti and that he changed it to AC Mallet after he went undercover in the mob. What I don't get is why these writers can't keep what his name is now straight.

When Mallet married Harley, Dinah, and Marina, all three of them became "Mrs. Mallet". Marina was pronounced "Mrs. Mallet" by a judge just three months ago. But last month at the adoption agency they were called "Mr. & Mrs. Camaletti" and so were Dinah & Mallet at the orphanage in Bosnia. And the baby is now supposedly "Henry Cooper Camaletti".

Well, which is it? Are they the Mallets or the Camalettis? If the Camalettis' are their legal name, their wedding might not be legal because it was done under the name Mallet. It can't be both, you can't have two different legal names.

A little continuity people.

[jfung79]

I liked Monday's episode. I agree with a lot of what josephm68 wrote. I also agree with CarlD2 that the show is not making the Coopers out to be the "good Coopers vs evil Spauldings" or the Coopers as victims of the Spauldings. Daisy's shooting Alan and irrational blaming of Alan for everything is not meant to be something the viewers agree with. Buzz was bringing up his own failures to Jenna last week, talking about how he left Frank and Harley -- nothing to do with the Spauldings.

The best parts of Monday's episode were between Shayne and Dinah -- from "I'm not going to jump, you moron" to "how male of you" about the playing ball, and then the breakdown in the park and Shayne being so great with Dinah. They have a lot of chemistry. Jeff Branson has finally won me over as Shayne. With GL's track record of breaking up good couples, Shayne/Dinah are probably going to be broken up (with one of them perhaps being killed off -- GL loves killing off popular characters when they leave) at the height of their popularity in about a year, but I am hoping against hope that that won't be the case.

I don't think Dinah and Mallet ever had that much chemistry -- unfortunately, Mallet is just boring with anyone he is with. Dinah/Mallet again would feel been there, done that, to me.

I loved Bill's freakout at Dinah, and how forward-thinking Lizzie was that Bill won't always be freezing Dinah out, and she's okay with that because they'll be together.

I have no problem with the Bill/Lizzie do-over because it's not all the time. They talk to each other for real when they need to, but then they go back to the coyness of the do-over after. There are people commenting on how silly it is within the show itself, so it's not meant to be taken too seriously, at least for now. I would be far more annoyed if it was just dropped (which would be poor continuity) -- instead, I'm glad the writers are sticking with the thread they started and have confidence in it.

Things are too idyllic in the Bill/Lizzie world right now though -- I expect conflict to arise soon, not sure from what source.

The Beth / Cooper family dynamic was interesting. I agree with CarlD2 about how the show was able to transition her with that subtle coldness from Marina from Beth mourning Coop to being more involved with Phillip -- didn't notice that at the time, but that's a good analysis, CarlD2! Good writing on the part of the show.

I liked how Phillip pretended to be oblivious about Beth deciding to help him with the trial.

I like how strong a friendship Daisy / Ashlee have.

I have no problem with the sets ... Rakesh, I seem to remember you used to think the new production model interiors were good, but now you hate the sets? What happened? LOL. I was just seeing an old "Another World" clip on YouTube which showed where Dean and Jenna, the celebrated youth couple of that early 90s period of AW, were living. GL's current sets look way better (as well as realer) to me than that did. Dean and Jenna's apartment(?) gave me claustrophobia and it was all the same yucky purplish gray color.

About the music, I'm getting more used to it now. I like that they are starting to re-use some bits -- it's good to have a feeling of familiarity. I still don't understand why they switched over to this from more traditional soap music scoring though. I'm not sure how it could be cheaper.

I don't feel like there are two writing teams ... The stories are all pretty much of equally high quality to me, and also they intersect well. The way it was described to the bloggers who visited Peapack if I understand what I read correctly, there is one writing team, plotting out the long-term story, with all four headwriters involved. They communicate via email and in person. The three men take turns doing breakdowns (and sometimes scripts, which gives them a week off the stress of breakdowns) and Jill Lorie Hurst makes sure there is continuity. (This is why I am not on the "it's all JLH, all praise JLH" bandwagon, since I actually think continuity has not been that great. Continuity is better now that it was in December/January though, when Beth was going to Colorado and then had left for Colorado and then actually was still in town and wasn't going and then hadn't made her mind about going and then said she was going and then decided not to go and drugged Alan and then ... or when the whole family was going to China except Lizzie and Beth, which became only Lizzie going to China. I'm making it sound worse than it played out, LOL, but it was still frustrating. Part of the problem with continuity also arises from the editing that the new production model involves, I think, rather than the writing. Scenes seem to be shot without yet knowing which episode they will be in, and scenes seem to be chopped off and mashed together with other scenes a fair bit.)

[Southofnowhere]

Things i learned from watching GL this morning:

Daisy needs to die.

Marina has no GF's

I now know what happened to Jonathan Lavery.

Love can save the World.

[jfung79]

Great interview! I'm glad he seems happy with the show right now.

Marcy Rylan then proceeds to give too much away though, ack. Do not read that part if you want to avoid spoilers. The only thing I like about the spoilers revealed is a character I did not expect to be involved with the Spauldings, apparently picking up on a thread which was started earlier.

[DRW50]

I'm sorry, I should have warned about Marcy's part of the interview.

What you said yesterday:

I definitely see them moving more and more towards the Coopers being very flawed people. Mallet lied to get a baby, and Mallet and Marina will probably go to desperate measures if they ever face the possibility of losing him. Daisy is a mess, and Buzz exploited her pain for his vendetta against Alan. The sanest Cooper is Frank, but even he's much too desperate about Natalia. Even the scene with Beth showed how they can (intentionally or not) shut out those who aren't in their inner circle.

I think the Coopers could do with some pruning, they're not very interesting at the moment, they need a spark plug like Harley or Nadine used to be. But at least this Spaulding/Cooper feud isn't as black and white now.

[Greg's GL]

I caught the show today since I was working from home.

I want to like the show. [!@#$%^&*], I want to LOVE it like alot of y'all in this thread apparently do.

But I don't. I can't stand it. Really. Apart from the cast, this show has absolutely nothing going for it. Nada. Zip. The writing is still very uneven and character motivations are never explained. Important, dramatic events - like the baby adoption - are rushed through. Perhaps we would care more about Marina and Mallet's need for a baby if we knew the character's motivations. I want to SEE them express why it's so important to them. But TPTB rushed through the adoption using Dinah as a plot point - and a carrot to Mallet/Dinah fans - in order to usher in this zzzzzzz happy family horse [!@#$%^&*]. That's boring. Compelling drama is non-existent on this show.

Have they ever explained Phillip's missing years? Where was he? Why did he supposedly plot with Rick and end up downing Ross' plane? What about the near miss at the island house when Beth and Alan were there? Have they bothered to explain ANY of this? His story might be the "best" on the show right now, but that ain't sayin much. That's like saying "Well, at least I'm driving a Pacer instead of a Yugo".

The reunion was a fuckin joke. What a disappointment.

The music takes any dramatic effect away from the story. It's horribly distracting. And for the life of me, if TPTB want to save money, why on earth do they continue to pay for the rights to use this crap??? The music on Y&R adds much more to the story and it wasn't that long ago that GL had some great scores. Why not just dig them out and use them now? Save the money they're paying these "musicians" to use the utterly pathetic [!@#$%^&*] we have to listen to today.

The teeny tiny sets and people running into each other coming out of the bushes - apparently at random - has to stop. How is that realistic?!? It's laughable.

[Phoenix11]

Greg's GL - I'm sorry you're not enjoying the show at all these days. I remember watching GL out of loyalty more than interest - but I can't say that's true anymore.

I love everything about GL right now. I even didn't mind the Coopers today, maybe because I was wanting to see if anyone picked up on Otalia (and I think Buzz might have!), Buzz/Lillian, and Dinah. I love that they used an actual church with different rooms. Loved the exterior of the church with the Shayne/Dinah scenes.

I love how GL has gotten back to having many different scenes between characters each day instead of the whole day with two characters only interacting with each other. I'm already counting down the hours til tomorrow's show and can't wait to see the Otalia and Dinah scenes!

CC truly put on a clinic today showing Olivia's heartbreak at Natalia interacting with the Coopers and it broke my heart to see her hang her head and the look she gave Natalia when Frank was talking about how great it is to be a Cooper. That woman can say more with one look than most can with pages of dialogue! GT was at the top of her game too. And the actor playing Shayne is quickly becoming one of my favorites!

Again, I'm sorry you aren't seeing the same show I am, but I love the Light.

[P.J.]

I didn't expect much from the reunion---but it felt like an even bigger stunt that I thought it was.

I'm tired of GT's "raw" acting style. It's past annoying. Does she have some kind of nervous stutter I don't know about? Where is the take-charge ballsy Dinah? I know I'm supposed to be appalled that she had Lizzie kidnapped, but I'm a lot more pissed at her betrayal of Bill than the silly-assed kidnapping.

[Greg's GL]

Phoenix11 - I'm happy that you are finding GL as compulsive viewing as I did once upon a time. I think it's great that others are enjoying the show even though I am not.

What I will say is that in reading your post - is that the CAST is GL's strongest suit right now. And has been for the last 3 years (at least). I absolutely love CC, KZ, GT, GA, BC, MK...the list goes on. The cast is the only thing about GL that is worth watching right now.

Granted, Crystal's performance lately has been outstanding. I have enjoyed her since the day she showed up on my screen as a secondary fiddle to Reva's "Catherine" identity. She delivers very nuanced performances. However, in a lesser actress' hands, the character could very well come off as comical. And I have been a fan of Jessica L's since the early days of her arriving in SF when other posters were yelling "off with her head!". There was something I sensed in her scenes with (the over-rated IMO) Beth Ehlers that draw me to her. But because she came between "GusH", alot of viewers disliked her on sight.

GL was the first soap I fell in love with at 11 years old. I would so much love to enjoy the show as you do....but I simply cannot break from my thoughts what the show would be today in the hands of more capable writers. I need to understand why these people in Springfield do the things that they do...and the supposed "savior" Jill Hurst is no better at explaining this than her predecessor DK was. Without that, there is no reason (for this viewer) to be concerned about their lives or to invest in their machinations - knowing that they will turn on a dime for the next story that will ooze from the poison pen of TPTB.

In the end, I'm very happy that you're enjoying the show, Phoenix. Keep on truckin'!!

[Phoenix11]

Greg'sGL - I totally understand where you are coming from. I've watched this show since I was a kid also and had a crush on Lujack. I've seen it go through some very good times ('92-93 comes to mind! Along with stories featuring the old supercouples) to some very bad (various Reva stories, Harley as a superhero, Zach the angel, and specifically. the last two years). For me, at this point, there is still room for improvement, but I really can't wait to see it every day. I'm a HUGE college bball fan and usually I love the break and am all about March Madness, but this year, I found it to be bittersweet. A whole week without Otalia and two days with no GL was NOT good.

It was Otalia specifically that made me sit up and pay attention again, but I only would during their scenes. Until the early part of this year, it was like something shifted, and all of a sudden we were starting to see old GL again. I don't know whose influence that is (though from all I've read, it is JLH), but I think that person deserves a lot of credit. I think we'll eventually get back to see character's motivations. We already are in some of the stories. It's one of those things though where they have to tie up the loose "bad" ends first. I think we are seeing that with Grady going over the cliff and less airtime for Cyrus, along with ending the kidnapping story. There's a lot of big things coming up for the show.

GL has always consistently had the best cast in all of daytime. They have powerhouses who can rock any and all scenes. It's just that the writing wasn't there. Now it's catching up and I think GL is on the upswing! I guess what I'm trying to say is don't give up on loving it again too just yet.

[DRW50]

I don't know if we're supposed to be that upset about what she did to Lizzie. They've emphasized how little she had to do with the actual kidnapping and her remorse.

This seems like Dinah to me, she's always been very neurotic and self-destructive. I hope we can see her move on from what's happened, GT is too strong an actress to be limited to retreads of the WM Dinah.