Guiding Light Discussion Thread

[DRW50]

Mike's only wife that lasted was Leslie, and they were only together a few years before she was killed. Other than that he was with a few women but never for very long. I think this type of character was condemned for being "boring", which is the type of attitude that killed daytime.

[EastMA2]

Thanks Carl for that WILDER than ever promo. A fun fact that I don't recall if it has been discussed before but that wedding episode where Roger was revealed after swinging in on the vine was actually taped in Another World's Brooklyn studio on one of the 2 soundstages there. Their soundstage was much bigger than GL's East 44th St soundstage so the production looked better in the bigger studio.

[DRW50]

I didn't know that.

I guess that promo wasn't long before ELizabeth Denehy was fired. To me she always looked a bit older than the role should have been - perhaps because she wasn't initially cast as Christina?

[soapfan770]

What did you guys think of Dinah in the late 80s? This was shortly before I even started watching GL and I've only seen clips and read old synopses. The traveling circus family sounds odd. Were Ross and Vanessa's histories retconned for this or had it always been known they shared a past together? Who was better, Jennifer Gatti(infamous for her later Y&R role) or Paige Turco(famous for playing April O'Neil)?

Edited September 21, 2011 by soapfan770

[DRW50]

I haven't seen much of her either - I guess some episodes of her are up I just haven't watched yet.

Ross and Vanessa always had a past. When Vanessa first came on the show she wanted him (I think it may have been said then they had a past - I'm not sure), and part of that was the infamous fur coat dropping scene Maeve had to do when she was about eight months pregnant.

[~bl~]

Ross and Vanessa always had a past from the first episode Maeve was on GL. She came to his door and dropped trou, and you wouldn't do that if it was a stranger. The retcon was that Vanessa was pregnant, because originally she ended it with him to be with another guy due to business concerns of Henry. Later it came out that Vanessa was lying about the reason for ending it, as she was pregnant.

[DRW50]

It's still pretty odd to me sometimes just how much Vanessa and Ross were both wasted for much of the '80s. In a way I'm surprised Ross even lasted through the decade.

[Mitch]

JVD always said that he was saved during the Long era as they just "forgot," he was there.

Those clips from above were so good. I LOVED early Reva and Reva and H.B. He was still a wiley "old coot," back then, before the became the grandfatherly voice of wisdom. I loved that he blackmailed Reva into marriage and that he and she came to love each other!

I do hate that they totally pussed out Vanessa after she married Billy. She totally broke off ties with her father, saying she was a"Lewis," now, and her brittle relationship with Nola was shoved aside for her to sigh over Billy and be a pill popping housefrau.

[EricMontreal22]

Two random thoughts/questions...

Does anybody know when in 1966 Agnes Nixon stopped writing for GL? (which led to one of the most ridiculous turnarounds in HWs in soap history with David Lesan, Julian Funt, Theordore Ferro, Mathilde Ferro, John Boruff,James Lipton and Gabrielle Upton all writing in under 2 years till Irna returned to try to straighten things out for a year and then Soderberg and Sommer had a sucessful run). I have the opportunity to get 30 episodes from the Summer of 66, but I admit, being the Nixon fanboy (and hearing that GL dropped hugely in quality when she left) I'd like to know if she was still writing, if there's anyway of knowing.

Also, isn't it kinda a misnomer (though not a huge one, I know this is nitpicking) to call GL the longest running scripted program in broadcasting? On radio, it took several "breaks" after being canceled until Irna could find another sponsor and/or network first between Dec 41-March 42 and then Nov 46-June 47. But also, the story wasn't truly coninuous, was it? I get the impression from Schemering's great 50th Anniversary book that the show was revamped when it moved to Selby Flats and the Bauers eventually came in--but there was no slow transition from Five Points, it just stopped and started...

[~bl~]

I think part of it with Ross was that Pam Long didn’t take the time to establish or create a new lawyer character. Since they had money, they could pay him even if he wasn’t used as much and per Zimmer’s book JVD was able to recall and do long trial scenes efficiently. The character had to have some sort of popularity pre-Pam Long, like the SOD cover and how much airtime he had during the GL tv movie from 1983. Since they got rid of Justin and Jackie, Phillip had no family to contrast the Spauldings, and Ross filled that role.

Eric, even if we omit the time on the radio, GL had a longer run on television than anything else (outside of Meet the Press and The Today Show). If there were longer running shows that were scripted they weren’t in the US. With the Nixon question, I wish I could be of help.

[EricMontreal22]

Yes, you're absolutely right. I guess I'd like to get a clearer time line on the radio version--I've heard a few late 30s episodes, and those 90 episodes from roughly 1950 (which are great).

[DRW50]

Did you hear these? They're a few from 1940 and 1941.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zb3IlLYbiBw

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=snQiTXSXx9c

[EricMontreal22]

No! thank you! It's amazing how at first archaic these radio soaps seem and then you quickly get wrapped up into them. At least the Irna ones (of which the best I'veheardhave been Guiding Light--probably as it was the only one she head wrote throughout--and Right to Happiness even though she gave the main writing job over quite early on). The Hummert Factory ones I find entertaining but pretty ridiculous--and once I got a set of Stella Dallas and after a few episodes I just couldn't take anymore (to be fair, they're not meant to be listened to back to back).

[DRW50]

I know what you mean. I was listening to a few of the Nora Drake episodes and was quickly drawn in, although the writing style is very shallow - Nora has a "friend" who basically is there to bludgeon story through, and in one episode constantly demands that Nora tell her everything and every secret and be honest with her while Nora is just trying to play the piano. I was hoping Nora would tell her to eff off.

I'd like to know that about Agnes too. I assume she left in fall 1966 or early 1967.

You may want to go through this channel as there are some GL episodes and also some interviews with big radio players like Larry Haines (best known for Search and the Odd Couple).

http://www.youtube.com/user/scifiradioguy

Here's a 1945 episode.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7jOFytHrkEU&feature=mfu_in_order&list=UL

[DRW50]

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