GL Tribute

[Dan]

Clip Set #1: February 1980

Thought I'd start the tribute here in 1980. A new headwriter, Douglas Marland, was brought in and was charged with wrapping up a big story: Roger Thorpe was about to leave. And he was damned determined to run off with his and Holly's daughter Christina. He even went so far as dressing up as a clown to steal her away from the Cedars Charity Bazaar. However, he failed and in the attempt got the attention of Ed's wife Rita Bauer. Rita panicked and ran into the Hall of Mirrors with Roger right behind her. This sequence, directed by Harry Eggart and set to the Barbara Streisand/Donna Summer duet "Enough is Enough," won GL its first Emmy for Outstanding Drama Series.

Part 1

Part 2

[All My Shadows]

Lovely idea for a thread, Dan. I hope it flourishes.

I want to make a suggestion, though. I think that this thread should be strictly for celebrating the GL that we each enjoyed/loved. No bashing of any period of the show, just talk about what we enjoyed. I remember when the UK soap "Brookside" was canceled, I went around to some boards, and there were folks reminiscing about their favorites storylines and characters, and others would tell them that they weren't "real fans," that they didn't watch the "real Brookside," and all that garbage. Just let people reminisce about what they want to reminisce about, even if they were over the moon for Clone Reva.

That said, I floved Coop and Lizzie's non-wedding from '06. I was watching everyday that summer.

[DeliaIrisFan]

That is the GL I will remember as well. I grew up watching this stuff. So many memories. Now it's sad seeing Beverlee McKinsey, Michael Zaslow, and Vince Williams in that order in the credits, but also beautiful to see them in their glory together...and of course there are so many others who graced us with their talents on this show whose memories live on in the wonderful scenes that millions of us will never forget.

I never for minute bought the idea that GL's time had come. If it could reinvent itself after Reverend Ruthledge in the '40s and after Reva in the '90s; after moving from radio to TV to color; from 15 minutes to 30 minutes to an hour; there is no reason it could not have reinvented itself after Peapack, NJ and some of the lackluster characters who have been too central in recent years. This is a huge loss, personally for me and a lot of other people and practically for the entire genre. In a genre, in an entire medium that is bleeding viewers, every last bit of personal resonance a show can have for viewers is unbeatable, and GL has 72 years of personal resonance. When I've been checking it out lately to see Phillip's return and the Olivia/Natalia story, it has crossed my mind from time to time that, in these dark times, I'm watching a show that existed the last time we had a Depression and two horrible wars happening at once, and that continued to exist and thrive in better times. I think a lot of people could have taken comfort in that while watching GL, through whatever is going to happen in the country/the world in the months/years to come.

I want to see GL live on in some form. I know it's incredibly unlikely and if, ten years ago when we were losing another soap I'd grown up watching, someone had asked me to put my faith in P&G to save it I wouldn't have been able to do it. But GL has made so many transitions, I want it to be the soap that breaks through to some medium that is actually as relevant today as radio and TV were once. What's the deal with that online sitcom Eden Riegel from AMC was/is appearing in? She and that actress who played Maggie are obviously union actors, but somehow this endeavor was able to get them on-board and bring in enough money to produce it. In this economy especially, as sad as it is to say, a lot of these actors are not going to find work at the same pay level they have been getting immediately. Couldn't someone find some way to bring a core group of them together regularly to do some kind of mini-update on what's happening in Springfield? Bring in some veterans who they were already foolish enough to let go who still do not have regular gigs while they're at it. Even if it's just 15 minutes a week to start, even if it's just an audio podcast (which they've already been doing, right?)...just keep it going in some form, tinker with it, and see what happens. Ongoing, detail-oriented storytelling will never go completely out of style, it's just that people have been ignoring the fact that there has been less and less reason for network TV in the daytime to be the place for it for several decades. Now that the chickens are coming home to roost there is such a state of panic that practically any creativity is suffocated. GL was just the first one to the slaughter this time around, IMO.

[Soapsuds]

Here is a classic GL eppy without Grant Aleksander as Phillip. John Bolger is in the role. But the show is classic GL from 85. It has some of my favorites from Mindy to Kurt to India to Rick to Roxie

[alphanguy74]

This always reminds me of visiting my Grandma's house. I never watched Guiding Light, but whenever I visited, she always turned on her "Stories", it was Search For Tomorrow, then Another World, then Guiding Light. I always watched my Y&R while she would tell me I shouldn't, cause it was too "filthy", her stories were "clean"..... LOL!! She listened to GL while it was still on the radio, and when it went to TV, she watched it until she passed away in 1997. Although I never liked her "stories" this opening I always thought was SO soothing and SO pretty... and it reminds me of Grandma's house when I was a little boy:

[quartermainefan]

[Soapsuds]

[Y&RWorldTurner]

I miss early 90's GL, I'd give up everything on television today to watch GL from that era over again...

[kalbir]

Interesting you picked clips from February 1980, as that was the same month Y&R expanded to 1 hour and Eric Braeden joined the cast as Victor Newman. I remember a friend's grandma telling me about Victor's first year and a bit (before he met Nikki) and she said that Victor coming on the show was like "Y&R getting their own Roger". Did anyone else think that Victor circa 1980-1981 was alot like Roger?

LOL. Its interesting to me how Y&R was considered so scandalous and shocking in the 1970s, because when I became a fan of it in the 1980s, it was seen as a mom and grandma show (this was a time when everyone I knew was into Days and all their supercouple/action/adventure plots).

So do I. CBS Daytime on the whole was awesome in the early 1990s.

[EricMontreal22]

The Daily Beast had this tribute showing a number of the stars who got their start on GL.

http://www.thedailybeast.com/blogs-and-sto...ey-were-stars/#

[Dan]

Clip Set #2: 1996

After William Roerick passed away in a car accident, GL had beloved Henry Chamberlin die peacefully in his sleep. His daughter Vanessa bottled up her grief and made the arrangments for the funeral. However, after the service, Vanessa returned home to find that a letter from Henry had arrived in the day's mail. As she reads it, the once stoic Vanessa begins to crack. When she reads "You are my pride and my joy," the dam bursts and she wails "Daddy!" This is a wonderful, gut-renching performance by Maeve Kinkead.

[southsidegirl]

Me too!! I've loved GL through so many decades, but the early 90's was my very favorite.

[MichaelGL]

Has MK ever won an Emmy? That performance from that one particular scene from 1996 was deserving of one IMHO.

[Rakesh]

March 04, 1953

http://www.megaupload.com/?d=IZKOHYPC

[Y&RWorldTurner]

She won an Emmy in 1992 for Best Supporting Actress.