GL Tribute

[DRW50]

Beth must know, even if it hasn't been mentioned, because when Nick first came to Springfield, didn't he have scenes with Lillian where she talked to him about Lujack and Lujack's relationship with Beth?

Beth Chamberlin has had so much crazy material on her second run. I'm not sure how I feel about her return. I think the best material she had was the Lorelei story.

[titan1978]

I love this thread. I was a diehard GH/ABC fan during the glory years of Guiding Light. Thanks to Youtube I have finally seen what was so special. The clip I am posting is not one of the greats, but it has many of the greats in it. Alexandra, Henry, Blake (Sherry!!, Alan-Michael, Nick, Mindy. I love the music, the set design, but most of all I really love the little exchange between Alexandra and Blake at about the 2 Min mark.

Please register in order to view this content

[bellcurve]

Obviously, everyone here is gonna talk about the good ole glory days of GL, and I've been thinking about Wheeler/Kreizman before everything went completely crazy.

Watching the beautifully scripted, acted, and directed "Me, Myself, and Him" stunt from 2006 makes me realize that GL, at that time, had so much potential to bounce back. The Wednesday shows kind of killed alot of the suspense that they were building during the middle of the week, and I felt like they went in alot of less than stellar story directions, but I think, above everything else, I remembered how hard they TRIED during that time to put out a quality product.

I was worried about what would happen when they cut the vets(i.e. Jerry VerDorn) and recast some of their more popular actors, but for most of 2006 and part of 2007, I felt like they achieved low-rated, low budget soap zenith. Nicole Forester, who was initially dreadful as Cassie, really made the role her own and completely proved that when they killed off Tammy. She absolutely deserved her Emmy nom. Unlike Laura Wright, who screams and sasses her way through every scene, Forester never lost that whole "self-righteous" aspect of her character, but she also made her incredibly warm and down to earth as well.

I think where Ellen Wheeler ultimately failed was probably assuming that her low-rated soap could survive another deep budget cut and, instead of mixing real studio shots with professional handheld camera stuff, she opted to try something different, which ended up killing her show.

If it wasn't for the terrible writing and the switch to non-studio stuff, GL wouldn't be facing cancellation. They may have even bested ATWT in the ratings. I remember being so excited during those weeks where GL would tie or even beat AMC in the households. They deserved that push.

I make fun of Ellen Wheeler, because she's lost her damn mind, but she really kept GL together post-2005 budget cut. She earned that Best Show Emmy that GL won in 2007(for 2006 work), even if the show was a hot mess in 2007.

[MichaelGL]

You actually make a great point there, the show did reach a certain zenith under Wheeler, one where it hadn't for so many years. I think there were more factors and screw ups that prevented GL from reviving itself in the ratings completely, such as DK's inability to carry out a story and play out all the beats (Like the Holly SL) or DK and Wheeler's overkill with certain couples and characters viewers didn't like. I agree though, the Wednesday episodes were definitely one of those factors.

[MichaelGL]

ere are a few clips showing Liz Keifer and what a phenominal actress she is. It's amazing how LK stepped into the role of Blake and hit the ground running after she debuted. She never had to grow into the role, she simply fit right into it.

Roger confronts Blake and Ross on their affair:

Please register in order to view this content

[Y&RWorldTurner]

I love Keifer, but for some reason, Sherry Stringfield is my favourite Blake. Maybe because she was the first Blake I saw, and her Blake was truly Roger's daughter.

Keifer was right to say that she took over at the right time, because Blake was in the midst of a personality transition and maturity when she took over from Stringfield.

[DRW50]

Sherry was my favorite too. Liz is a great actress who brought new shadings to Blake and helped her transition through many, many different regimes, and she had such warm chemistry with her co-stars, especially JvD. She is the reason Blake is still on GL, and I can't appreciate her work enough, especially when given trashy stories which many could not have played (like the Ben Warren saga, or the weak, demeaning crud given to her by Wheeler/Kriezman). But what I consider Blake, the self-destructiveness, the dark humor, the hate for her mother and longing for her father, the scared little girl under the tough businesswoman, I see that as Sherry. And she had truly insane sexual chemistry with JvD.

[Dan]

Who would really have thought that in 1992 stuffed shirt Ross Marler (and by extension Jerry) would become the year's biggest sex icon? Hell, those two did it everywhere. This may be somewhat controversial, but it could be that Ross' senatorial run might just have been GL's last great story from beginning to end. There were many others that had even greater plotting, but this one was the most consistently intelligent and well plotted story GL has had.

[Dan]

I've decided to absolve Kreizman from at least not continuing with the corporate intrigue storyline with Blake/Alan/Holly, considering that we have recently found out that Maureen Garrett was so sick of the Sebastian abuse story that she was the one who bolted. Now it IS Kreizman's fault for letting the story get so horrible.

See this is the problem with Kreizman. He has great ideas that, on paper, look pretty good. A tribute to Roger. Even the Cassie/Reva/Josh idea could have been fascinating. But where he goes wrong is that is his execution is s-h-i-t-t-y with a capital S. I don't think I've ever seen another writer with execution this bad.

[MichaelGL]

^Agreed.

Some random thoughts while on my GL binge on YouTube...

-I'm looking at some videos from 1994, and I wouldn't say the show was bad per se, it had a few good ideas storywise, a few good scenes, but the continuation of these stories were horrible. You could really tell that the show was a meandering ship at the time, and JFP seemed to want to throw anything and everything in order to save the show.

-I found this gem of Blake apologizing to Frank, with SS in the role of Blake. The two seemed to have loads of chemistry at the time. I also love how complex Blake and A-M's relationship is and has always been. Getting back to Blake and Frank, if the two hooked up before the final episode, could one say their lives have come full circle perhaps? The two having lost the loves of their lives, and yet remaining good friends.

Please register in order to view this content

-With the exception of Y&R and perhaps AMC, I've got to say that GL was indeed the best produced soap of the early 90s. The lighting, the scores, even the sets were fantastic. I've been watching some scenes involving the set of the Blue Moon, and I notice (but can't remember) the one with the patio overlooking the lake. The set seemed to really define Springfield as a city that resides by a lake. (Starting at 0:47)

-I'm kind of relieved that Nadine was killed off before hacks such as B&E, Gold, or DK got to her. Under Curlee she was truly a three dimensional character with flaws but could provide some comic relief at times as well. Today I don't think such a character can't exists in soaps. Today, writers simply ignore in adding depth to characters who provide a sense of comic relief.

[DRW50]

I loved the Frank/Blake relationship. I can't remember if it was Sherry or Liz, I think it was Sherry, but Frank and Blake had comfort sex and were curled up in a booth at the diner. One of the reasons I had a difficult time adjusting to Liz is Sherry brought such a sexuality or longing to many of her scenes with men, whereas Liz wasn't that type of actress. I initially had a hard time caring about Blake's relationships with most of the people in her life once Liz took over, aside from her relationship with Ross, and I wonder if that's one of the reasons they slowly moved Blake away from having relationships with most characters besides Ross and her parents. Looking back, I think Blake was the only character successfully recast when JFP was producer. Her Mindy recasts were dreadful, the Alan recast was generally charmless and asexual, I'm not even going to comment on that Billy recast, and as entertaining as Marj Dusay is, I have never seen her as Alexandra.

If I watched 1994 over again I might have a different opinion, but at the time I was still upset over all the turnover in 92-93 and spent most of the year basically, "Why should I care about Buzz and Jenna or their face cream? When will this annoying Nick and Mindy go away? Why can't Nadine do anything but moon over Buzz? Why is Alex obsessed with her son? Why is Tangie so boring? Who is this annoying twit Lucy and why is she all up on Alan-Michael? Didn't Alan-Michael used to have a personality? Why can't Gilly or Hamp have a story?"

The only stories I enjoyed at the time were Julie turning into a scheming bitch, and the Vanessa/Bridget custody battle. And Ed/Eve.

As for the last great GL story from beginning to end, you're probably right Dan. I know the last story I really enjoyed from start to finish was Annie pretending to be Reva's sister and then making it look like Reva had caused her to have a miscarriage. But that story was just entertaining campy trash, not quality. There were other stories I liked but became disappointed in along the way, like when Lorelei turned out to be Beth. Never did I want to see a dual role more, as I found BC's Beth to be insufferable and enjoyed her work as Lorelei and her love for Edmund. I did grow to like her Beth more over time.

[Chris B]

I have a question about Maureen's funeral. I was reading on SoapCentral that all her siblings returning and my understanding is that there were a lot of them...did Kassie DePaiva also return? I ask because she was on OLTL and I know now ABC isn't allowing actors to do crossovers for the finale. Did everyone truly return or did they do it off screen and say they were there?

[Y&RWorldTurner]

They returned off-screen, since some actors were on others shows like Lisa Brown and Kassie DePaiva, they couldn't bring all of them back on-screen.

[Mitch]

Actually, Maureen's death was not the beggining of the end of GL, it was the general change in "tone," of 93 and you explained it all perfectly. It was ALL about Buzz and Jenna and that stupid face cream, and Nadine mooning over Buzz no matter how much of an !@#$%^&*] he was and the most annoying Cooper of them all "Lucy,! I have no idea why we are revisiting Jenna again today when that was one of the worst periods of GL (besides now.) JFP missed the boat by not pairing Gilly and AM...and this was the first time the Bauers took a backseat to the Coopers (and the insufferable IMO "Acting," of Justin Deas arm flailing, yelling, scenery chewing Buzz.)

[MichaelGL]

26 years ago today, this opening theme debuted on Guiding Light...and it was the start of a new era for the show.

Please register in order to view this content