Guiding Light Discussion Thread

[BetterForgotten]

I wish Sherry Stringfield had gotten to play these scenes.

 

I get that they were trying to say the love of Ross matured/tamed Blake, but because Keifer couldn't play the character with edge, it made it feel like they were whitewashing how awful Blake had been to Holly and almost as if everything was Holly's fault.

 

Please register in order to view this content

 

Edited November 24, 2016 by BetterForgotten

[cassadine1991]

I wonder why they never brought Marah back for the finale. They had 3-4 actresses to choose from. (They brought back Kimberly J. Brown in 2006). 

[NothinButAttitude]

 

 

Bogue as Rick? I just don't see it. 

 

I think MOL's issue was that the writers marginalized him in anything post-Abby. He would be tossed a bone every blue moon, but it wasn't much. I fret over all the missed story opportunities they could've had with Rick. 

 

In the last few years after Rick left Mel for Beth, they should've had Leah be a terror to Beth for breaking up her family and for Rick keeping the secret from Mel about his part in Ross' death/helping Phillip escape. 

 

 

 

I hate how Blake's sins were whitewashed away too. I enjoyed Holly giving Ross/Blake much deserved hell, but hated how everyone tried to peg her as bitter for doing so. 

 

 

Marah and Shayne should've returned permanently around 2006 when Reva got breast cancer. I know people hated Martha Madison, but I so wanted her to be recast as Marah. 

[kalbir]

 

BetterForgotten, I hope you're enjoying the summer 1990 episodes that have surfaced on YT. I'm hoping that poster uploads the next two years, so much more good stuff awaits.

 

Do you think the Blake recast took away the scheming homewrecker aspect of the character? I wonder who else GL considered when the role was recast. That character needed a Michelle Stafford/Kimberlin Brown type of actress I'd say.

[BetterForgotten]

I did see some of the 1990 stuff, and I hope more gets posted. Ah, the good old days...

 

Nothing against Keifer, but I do think she was too homely for the part, and it as just jarring to go from Stringfiled to her. Stringfield will always be my Blake (and Kimberly Simms will always be my Mindy). They needed an actress who could still play the vampy aspects of the character, but also someone who could progress the character and transition her to the more respectable position. With Keifer, she just couldn't play the darker parts of the character, so they had to make the character softer to match her sensibility. 

 

I think it's fitting that the affair revelation was Stringfield's last episode. There are just some scenes I will never forget, and I will never forget Holly dropping that damn tray - it still cuts me deep as it did the first time I saw it. Gosh, Maureen Garrett is so underrated...

 

Please register in order to view this content

 

Edited November 24, 2016 by BetterForgotten

[cassadine1991]

We almost had her as Marah in 2002 and in 2008/2009

[NothinButAttitude]

 

I am in the minority where I wanted her as Marah. 

[Soaplovers]

I loved the irony of Blake setting up situations for Holly to catch her with Ross...but nothing panned out.  I still recall when Blake just decided she did like Ross and was enjoying being with him is when Holly walked in with the tray.

 

I do think the timing of the recast affected the story.  I liked Keifer as Blake..but I think the recast either should have happened before the Ross/blake story...or perhaps convinced Stingfield to stay a little longer to play out the Holly vs blake arc of it.

 

With that said, I think Keifer played up the comedic aspects of the Blake character...and was somewhat warmer then Stingfield was as Blake.  i do think Keifer played Blake in a more tragic/own worst enemy sort of way...which is a dark aspect in itself...  She just didnt have the sardonic edge that stingfield did....in fact, Keifer's take up till the late 90s was a little closer to Elizabrth dennehy's take...imho.  

[NothinButAttitude]

Please register in order to view this content

 

[DRW50]

Please register in order to view this content

 

[DRW50]

Please register in order to view this content

 

[zanereed]

I'm very glad another rare snippet (even if audio only) surfaces again from Danny Hill re: TGL.

 

I wonder how Mart Hulswit is doing? I really wish someone could interview him about his experience on GL.

[DRW50]

The uploader says you can hear a bit at the end where Jennifer gave birth to Frannie on ATWT but I couldn't.

 

Please register in order to view this content

 

[vetsoapfan]

 

He was the best Ed Bauer and firing him, supposedly to make the character younger and sexier, was a huge mistake. The show could have used a familiar, comforting, beloved face as a tentpole character throughout the turbulent 1980s and '90s. Peter Simon is a good actor, but his version of Ed was often morose, aloof, and humorless; a stark contrast to Hulswit's warm, approachable and emotional portrayal. How much more effective Bert Bauer's death would have been if familiar actors (Don Stewart, Ellen Demming, Mart Hulswit, even Elvera Roussel) had appeared on-screen! Watching Richard Van Fleet's "fake Ed" mourn Bert was simply not the same.

[zanereed]

Exactly. Bert's funeral should have been a major event in order to properly celebrate Charita's long-standing relationship with TGL. The fact that they only mentioned Mike IN PASSING having sung at Bert's service was, frankly, pathetic. Consider how well they did HB's funeral over a decade later (Trish even showed up, for goodness' sake!), and one can see that Bert's death and funeral was just an afterthought TPTB finally chose to address. I remember deciding to watch the show again in 1986 (after having given up in 1985 and restarting just for Chris Bernau's return). When they finally had Bert pass away, I was hoping and expecting familiar faces to be present for her funeral, but no. No Mike. No Hope. No Meta, That was at the very least. What about the people who were close to Bert throughout the years. Trudy would have been pushing it because she was barely on the show show in the early 1950's. But, no Peggy Fletcher?