Guiding Light Discussion Thread

[cassadine1991]

Any thoughts on Lindsey McKeon's Marah, I was surprised that in 2006, Kimberly J. Brown came back in stead of Bundy or McKeon.

Anything on Billy Kay and Marty West as Shayne.

I liked both Dollar and Bruno as Marina

[amybrickwallace]

Thank you, robbwolff. I imagine a reboot would have gone over like a lead balloon.

[~bl~]

Yes the show would have started from scratch and all the character history would have been erased. (That would have gone over really well...yes that's a snark)

Aubrey was my favorite Marina, but just has bad luck in getting a show that lasts. Jeff Branson is the best Shayne just because all the rest were either kids or not trained actors. With Marah, I think they changed the character too much when they brought in Laura Bell Bundy and later Lindsey McKeon, they were nothing like child Marah and there was no story as to how she changed.

[cassadine1991]

Didn't Grant Aleksandr say that Rauch was trying to bring GL back before he died?

[Mitch]

I forgot, how for all its really, really big problems, how entertaiing McLaiby could be. The Alex/Hawk scene is funny (though Bev's Alex sniffed at him and only used him for what she wanted...) and the Lillian/Ed/Nola scene is great and a long time coming for a lot of viewers (especially Nola's "The WRONG woman died!") I think both scenes personified the show at the time, while provided character motivation, the set up (everyone has food poisioning and in Cedars) was a big WTF of stupidity. The storyline fell apart after Brent was captured and McLaiby went on to try to shock everyone again....

Loved Aubrey Dollar but Mandy Bruno's casting was bad..she came off as so cute and perky and gosh darn it "Im a Cooper!" Where Dollar made her more wistful and spirited at the same time. Didnt help that the symbalant "S" Bruno had trouble with would drive me up a wall.

I actually wouldnt have minded the "New GL" as I would have had a reason to stop watching it and it wouldnt trash the history and the show. It would be a new crap hour of cheap looking video I woudlnt bother with. Its not like she didnt change everything anyway, with the Cooper family being the bestest family in town and I knew I was in trouble with the first episode had the voice over of Harley "I am Harley Davidson Cooper and this is MY town!" Oh, how soon the monster Wheelie created with Gush would come back to bite her on the skinny ass!

Branson was all kinds of hot as Shayne, which makes me feel like a perv that I would think Shayne was hot..(I wonder what he would have done as a recast Chris Hughes instead of the unimaginative way they went...) .lol, at Marty West screamingly gay Shayne.

Edited July 22, 2014 by Mitch

[soapfan770]

Mandy Bruno was okay, acceptable enough to watch but could be severely bland as well. The mediocre writing and Marina's odd relationships (Danny, Alan-Michael etc.) didn't help matters either.

Lindsay McKeon was atrocious and was indeed brought in to replace Bundy because she was prettier and thinner. I have bad memories of McKeon's Marah infamously stripping for Tony and making out with Jeffery O'Neill in a cornfield. Brown tortured us in the 90s as the annoying preteen going on 13 Marah but I think her 2006 return was decent although it was offbeat.

I remember back in the day people use to call Marty West's Shayne "Gayne". It was pretty obvious. West's acting was lousy and the show wasted so much time writing for him to make him a young lead. At least he was good eye candy on screen.

As that reboot, I'm not surprised it was an actual idea of Wheeler's that Zimmer wrote about. I do vaguely recall someone posting details that it sounded like an odd mishmash of GL roots and elements ie Reva intertwined the Bauers, with Bert Bauer still being alive as the matriarch. Almost like Olivia is a lesbian...

Edited July 23, 2014 by soapfan770

[amybrickwallace]

How long did Marty West last on GL?

[soapfan770]

West lasted a year and a half as Shayne. His predecessor Kay had been in the role for a good four years I believe since Shayne was aged to being a teenager in '99. Shayne and Marina had a cutesy one sided crush relationship until West was in the role and Conboy/Weston decided to sacrifice Ben Reade. I believe in retrospect Matt Bomer has had the final laugh.

Edited July 23, 2014 by soapfan770

[soapfan770]

BTW, if anyone cares Jonathan's original last name was Baynes. It was Baynes until Weston screwed up during the Sandy is Jonathan tale in 2003 and changed the last name to Randall.

[cassadine1991]

They called Marty's Shayne "Gayne", interesting. Also wonder why they didn't do Lizzie/Shayne/Marina and not destroy Ben Reade I liked Billy Kay as Shayne, but they really underused him Really?? Interesting, also Sandy, oh Sandy, the way he died.

And don't get me started on how they trashed Tony Santos after Jordi left

[Mitch]

Really? That would have been kind of interesting, especially since we knew the show was going to die soon. Rather an interesting experiment then a cheap boring piece of crap. Also, I will be the first to diss Zimmer chewing up all the scenery but she was amazingly good as Charita Bauer in the anniversary special. She brought her good humor and warmness to the part.

[Vee]

[!@#$%^&*] Sandy. [!@#$%^&*] everything about the John Conboy era. That was some of the weirdest [!@#$%^&*] I have ever seen and I lived through Malone's second run at OLTL with the magic diamond and the Indiana Jones theme park ride in the basement of Llanfair.

Marty West was infamous for being outed as having performed on a gay fetish website - some sort of oil wrestling thing. There were pix all over the Net of him, under a pseudonym, in some sort of tiny thong. Very good-looking guy but he couldn't act and was incredibly gay. He was supposedly Conboy's boytoy, or at least the object of his unrequited affection.

Billy Kay, who I liked a lot in the role, went on to play gay in L.I.E. with Paul Dano and Brian Cox, but I've never seen the guy again.

Edited July 23, 2014 by Vee

[EricMontreal22]

Billy Kay pops up a lot in regional and off-Broadway theatre--his mom has had quite a bit of success on the stage so maybe that's his focus now. (On the other hand, I doubt Marty West disappearance from screens can be blamed on him doing well in theatre...)

Edited July 23, 2014 by EricMontreal22

[Matt]

I really must be odd man out because I HATED Branson as Shayne. Billy Kay was always my favorite, but I even liked West dim, not acting ass over Branson.

[Vee]

I remember hearing that a lot of people loved Shayne and Dinah. I personally never understood why the show moved away from Mallet and Dinah until the last episode. And Shayne and Marina with Branson and Mandy Bruno, well, they were great as young teens, but later on?

Mallet and Marina was just disgusting. I know, the actors were/are together IRL but still. That's when GL just started turning into some weird, quasi-religious guerilla hangout camp for Ellen Wheeler and actors who she overidentified with their characters and vice versa. Like a cult.

Edited July 23, 2014 by Vee