Guiding Light Discussion Thread

[Soaplovers]

Buzz coming on (thus leading to Maureen death since money was needed to hire Justin Deas) was the start of the demise of the show.  He basically isolated Nadine and later Jenna from the rest of the canvas in so many ways.

 

Pre buzz...Nadine had connections such as an odd couple friendship with Holly, rival in Vanessa...dated Ross, Alan, and was married to Billy...so she had connections to not only the Coopers...but to the Spauldings and Lewis clans...so I was confused why the show had trouble finding story for Nadine (the reason she left).

 

Jenna had ties to the Spauldings, Thorpe, and to the Chamberlains...but once she married Buzz...she was isolated in a lot of ways...

[NothinButAttitude]

 

 

I totally agree with all of this. Buzz was a vortex of suck and anyone paired with him didn't bode well in the end. 

 

It didn't make sense to me why Jenna didn't get help from the Chamberlains (mostly Vanessa) when it came to Jeffery. Seeing as Vanessa had not too long ago fought off Roger from getting Peter, she could've easily helped Jenna do the same. Or she could've helped Jenna go into hiding again until it was safe for her to return. I just think that killing Jenna off was pure stupidity. At times, I wish that they would've killed Buzz's ass off in that car crash. 

 

Poor Fiona Hutchinson. She did not have the best of luck when it came to her characters. 

[DRW50]

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I knew Frank Beaty did some stuff after his breakdown/GL but I'd never seen any of it. 

 

(apparently he tweeted once in early 2015 - his profile picture suggested he'd aged pretty well...no idea whether it was real of course)

[Soapsuds]

The PR department for CBS did a great job in those promos in 1994 for ATWT and GL. Each had its own identity promo and so different yet both were so good.

Edited April 22, 2017 by Soapsuds

[Dan]

Wasn't it rumored that Jenna was killed off because Fiona Hutchinson spoke out about the poor handling of Michael Zaslow? I remember hearing about that.

[Khan]

I've heard that rumor as well.

[DRW50]

@Vee here is the Everett McGill photo. Daytime TV December 1975. My editing tools have gone haywire so I couldn't crop more. 

 

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[vetsoapfan]

DW50, thank you for posting these ancient articles and photos.

 

For some reason, I have had a MASSIVE urge lately to read vintage movie and TV magazines from the 1950s-70s, which is a weird urge to get in the first place, and it's made worse by the fact that they are so hard to find. I've been asking around to see if any friends have any in their attics or basements. I've even been toying with the idea of shopping on eBay, but magazines from that era are sooooo expensive on-line. I'd kill to get all the Daily TV Serials, Afternoon TV, and Daytime TV issues still in existence...not to mention the Rona Barrett trio: Daytimers, Gossip, and Hollywood!

 

Yes, I realize that I have no life.

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[DRW50]

 

These days I mostly have a lot of scans, but I'd be happy to start uploading more of the scans I have from that era, if you want to see them.

[~bl~]

I enjoy the little bits we get online from various people. That being said the vintage stuff can be fun, but due to not being around for most of it sometimes it makes me want to bang my head in frustration reading about things that sound so interesting that there is no possibility of ever seeing.

[vetsoapfan]

 

 

I would love that a lot, and I'll bet other posters would appreciate seeing more vintage material as well.

 

Thanks!

 

For me, because I DID watch soaps during their vintage years, seeing these older articles is like going through a long-forgotten family album. Great fun!

[dc11786]

 

The Marlers definitely had untapped potential, but the Marler children were still young and Holly and Blake were both off contract for a good part of the final years. If they could have gotten to a point with the Marler kids as teens in stories and they used Holly and Blake in more functional roles, I'd agree. Prior to Phillip's death, I felt the Spauldings were in fairly good shape up until the early days of Wheeler and Kriezman. The loss of Phillip really hurt the Spaulding family. Neither Gus nor Alan-Michael seemed to be able to fill the hole that Phillip left, IMO.

 

Jenna had caught Holly in the act doing one of her Nursery Rhyme Stalker crimes. At some point, Jeffrey shows up. Jenna pleads with Holly; she (Jenna) says she doesn't care what Holly has done, but she needs Holly to stay with her. Jeffrey throws Holly out and then kidnaps Jenna. I don't recall Holly telling anyone about Jeffrey and Jenna. It seemed in bad taste to have Holly allow Jenna to go off with Jeffrey when she saw how scared Jenna was of the man.

 

 

[Paul Raven]

Definitely would love more old magazine material.

 

I had a bunch of Afternoon TVs from the late 70s that i threw out!! 

[GH_Girl]

 

The twins were around the age they usually SORAS them into teens. They were born in 96 right? Jumping from 10 years old in 2006 to 15 or 16 wouldn't have been too crazy. By the end even Clarissa could have been aged to a young teenager.

[InLoveWithSoaps]

They actually lightly SORASed them for Ross's funeral in 2006 and who else but Mick Hazen (ATWT) and Eric Nelsen (AJ on AMC 2.0) to play them. They had no lines whatsoever. Clarissa stuck around until the end I believe but they didn't do anything with her. I know it's unpopular but I'd have said Kevin (I believe) was Rick's after all so that would have given him a kid legitimately old enough to be a teen. (2 year old Leah suddenly being one, ugh!)
I'll always be mad they didn't do a Blake/Alan-Michael redux after Ross's death. That was one of the best outcomes possible, although I know many wanted him with Dinah which could have worked too. Firing the last A-M who must have been as cheap as a Mandy Bruno was one of the pre-Peapack signs of how increasingly out of touch they were becoming. I'll never understand why they did that. You can't tell me it was because it was a failed recast given there was a lot more uproar about a certain recast around at the time, but they ignored it, and people didn't seem to dislike him too much, it was the stories they gave him first with Marina then with Ava that people didn't care for.
Re: Nadine, I'd have kept her over Buzz anyday. She was iconic! Not too fussed about Jenna's second run, she was isolated from everything that made her stand out in the first place. Her death scenes were cringe-worthy too thanks to Buzz.