Guiding Light Discussion Thread

[katie_9918]

Since we've had some conversation around Hope lately, can anyone tell me how she managed to disappear so quickly with Alan-Michael without a huge custody fight with Alan?

There's virtually nothing I can find regarding Hope's quick exit that justified Alan not fighting for him, considering everything he did to keep Phillip.

[zanereed]

Correct. Dr. Mark Hamilton (Burton Cooper is the actor, I think?) made his first appearance in 1978. The scene in particular definitely looks to be from 1979, when Katie started dating Mark.

[zanereed]

That's a good question. What I remember from around this time period (other than some of the vets being written off quickly in the last few months of 1983) was that Alan was busy dealing with Bradley Raines, who was blackmailing Alan for money when Bradley had discovered that Phillip was not Alan's biological son.

[DRW50]

Thanks. I thought I'd seen that clip from 1979 material. The comments are closed so I assume she just wants to talk at people, more than communicate, which is her choice and I respect that, so I guess I won't send her a message.

[Dan]

I'm coming into the Labine conversation a few weeks too late, but wanted to add some thoughts. I know it is hard to figure out who to blame for any given storytelling decision, especially considering how involved Rauch and MADD were in the direction of the show, but I still think that the Labines wrote THE worst moment ever on the show. Worse than ANYTHING set in Peapack (was that it? I can't remember.) Worse than anything Weston ever wrote. Several months after the "death" of Carmen, the grandmother and Tony were running the "family business" and put out a hit on Danny that just happened to take place at the Bauer house. I don't know how everyone feels about this, but seeing bullets fly in the same sets that Bert and Maureen walked through was heartbreaking. It was such an insult that, besides Jim Lemay's death, I really see nothing good that was done during the Labine tenure. As I said, it could very possibly have been Rauch or MADD, but it felt that Labine was just writing a mid-90s GH during that year, but without the quality.

[DRW50]

Dan! I didn't know you still posted here.

I felt like moments like that, along with Tony beating up Selena, were so tone deaf and so un-GL, and i do think they were more Labine type moments. It's why I don't think they fit the show.

I liked their use of Meta, and I liked their writing for Olivia. Otherwise it's tough to remember enjoying their material.

[Soaplovers]

I think the Labine's were bought in to write up the mob stuff since they wrote it heavily into RH and GH. The problem was that both of those shows took place in NYC or the NY area where you could see mob activity happen. Had GL taken place in Chicago, it would have made sense to show mob action.

[Khan]

As they say these days on GH, Dan, "you are not alone". (Sorry, Carl, lol.)

[Aback]

I agree with Dan. I never got people's fascination with the Labines. To me they destroyed the show. It was probably the darkest era along with Conboy & Weston. And I know P&G is partly to blame but I am positive the Labines had the lion's share. I mean just read the interview where Claire states how sparkling Holly's chemistry was with Billy and Buzz. WTF? Are you serious? Talk about delusional.

[katie_9918]

I loved Holly's chemistry with Billy. I really wish they had gone somewhere with them for a while.

[DRW50]

It was tough for me to invest in those pairings because they sort of felt default. I do think that the idea of Holly and Billy could have been interesting, it just needed conflict. I would have liked to have seen Vanessa clash with her a little (Vanessa was gone at this point).

[EastMA2]

I was lucky enough to be on set of GL twice during the early 80's with Doug writing. I saw alot of good stuff. Jane Elliott was on the show then. I watched Jane and Jerry verDorn block a scene and then tape it. Very interesting stuff. I saw Geraldine Court and Mark Pinter tape a scene. The memories of West 26th Street.

[KMan101]

I agree about Holly and Billy. I saw a lot of potential but something just always felt a bit off. Like they were never totally invested and I really never enjoyed Buzz paired with anyone.

GL had a lot of missed opportunities throughout the years. I hated the way they wrote Ben Reade, and also depised Jammy and the touting of Michelle and Danny as this amazing supercouple. They were BORING when that boring Nancy St. Alban took over as Michelle. It aged Michelle way too much.

I actually never minded Nicole Forrester as Cassie. It was Cassie and Josh I disliked. Laura Wright was always so annoying to me on GL. She fits Carly on GH much better. I also always felt they should have brought back Roxie instead of inventing Cassie, so that's probably why I was never 100% behind Cassie as a character. I also never really liked Hart and Cassie and didn't like how they killed off Hart, although casting Frank Grillo to me instantly made Hart a throwaway character, which is clearly how they saw him.

Hope, Alan-Michael and Mike were other missed opportunities.

I never realized Mae would have turned out to be Nola's daughter. Why did Lisa Brown refuse to return? Because of the piss-poor writing for Nola in the past? I think Claire would have written well for her.

Claire Labine had some good things on GL but also some misses. A very mixed bag, IMO. I really wish Millee Taggart stuck around. I really liked what she was doing.

And losing so many familiar faces over the years really hurt the show. Fletcher, Vanessa, Holly, Ross, Phillip, Ed, the poor writing for Blake, Rick and Beth ... and they spent waaaaaay too much time trying to make Bradley Cole happen and I never ever warmed up to Gus Aitoro, sorry Ricky Paull.

I also always thought they should have brought on Trudy Bauer. Also thought getting rid of Selena was a mistake. Patti D'Arbanville was great.

Edited June 2, 2014 by KMan101

[Soaplovers]

I thought the writing for Beth improved in the last year or so of the show. I think I understood what they show was going for with Beth and Coop, but the execution was all wrong.

I did think Lillian and Buzz was interesting choice as a couple, but I always thought that the coupling was due to the fact that both characters were single. Though I did enjoy Hawk being jealous of Lillian and Buzz with a few scenes mentioning their former relationship and the graveside visit by Lillian to Maureen was long over-due and needed. Wasn't there a scene where Buzz's temper got out of hand and he accidently hit Lillian? I often wonder if more was suppose to come out of that given Lillian's past marriage to Bradley, but then they were cancelled so it was forgotten?

I do think Billy and Holly were an interesting mix especially with the opposites attract possibility. However, it would have seemed like Vanessa/Billy part deux. I thought Vanessa was on the show during that brief attempt at a pairing, but married to Matt? That would have been an interesting foursome given that Holly helped saved Matt and Vanessa's daughter's life, plus Vanessa/Billy were formerly married.

I do think the Nursery Rhyme Stalker story was a little too over the top especially when rumours originally had Holly becoming attached to baby Maureen and kidnapping her. That would have seemed more character-driven, and not so over the top plot heavy.. imho.

[robbwolff]

Re: Holly and baby Maureen, they weren't rumors. Esensten and Brown said in a 1998 interview that Holly would become attached to Maureen and eventually "take" her or something like that. But then they changed course and went with "something that had never been done on daytime before" (aka the mass kidnapping of kids).