Guiding Light Discussion Thread

[Mitch]

They look great, even O'leary looks kind of normal there.  Regrading Sniveling Lily..there are just some characters you hate, and there are some characters you love to hate, and there are some characters that you still have a sentimental attachment too through that hate. Lily was one of those especially when they let people dis her finally, (I actually liked it when Rose didn't like her.) When they recast her it was just pure boredom hate. No one could be as annoying as MB as Lily.

 

I don't understand the diss on MH's looks. Sure he is not soap opera..he looks like a normal cute guy who could keep you warm all through the winter. I was working out at the gym and they had GH on one of the TV"S  and I just thought..."There is no one who looks "Real" on that show anymore...and all the middle aged people..as there are no old people anymore...they all had horrible plastic surgery...that guy with the big nostrils...looked almost as terrifying as poor Jackie Zeman!

 

Regrading Lemay and Marland...Marland gave an interview about his time working on AW and the execs proposed a murder mystery. Lemay in his queeny snobby outrage got up and said..."WE don't do murder mysteries...."  and walked off to the elevator making his staff follow. Marland said he wanted to run back and say..."I DO murder mysteries...I DO!"

[vetsoapfan]

 

And the fact of the matter is, murder mysteries are not necessarily low-brow or worthless. Henry Slesar gave us many years of brilliant entertainment, dishing out murder on TEON.

 

And I would take a Mart Hulswit over a Maurice Bernard or Steve Burton any day.

[Soaplovers]

Murder mysteries require a different skill set imho.  You have to have a build up to the murder, you need strong suspects, great red herrings, and the killer needs to be someone surprising yet plausible.

 

Perhaps Lemay figured he couldn't do one and just acted superior to mask an insecurity.  Also, it sounds like he was more concerned with twisting characters to fit his purposes/whims...then writing how they were established (i.e. Alice).

 

Diane Ballard murder mystery was awesome..it was built up for weeks, lots of suspects, and a good reveal of the killer...someone left field yet made sense.  Only downside was losing a fun villianess to accomplish this though.

[NothinButAttitude]

Lord. Y'all are tarnishing Harding Lemay on this forum as of late.

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 He is truly a man of great talent but many insecurities. 

[Paul Raven]

A  murder mystery once in a while is fine as long as ,like previously stated, there is sufficient motive and fallout.

 

It was only when soaps started doing them every year on the flimsiest of motives that they lost impact.

[vetsoapfan]

 

I do believe that writing intricate mysteries would not have been Lemay's forte, but the tempermental, prissy reaction to the very suggestion was childish. He could have just admitted that such stories were not his strong suit, and offered Marland the chance to create one, if the suits insisted. Less work for Lemay!

 

It's true that he twisted established characters' personalities to better fit what he could write (Alice, Mary Matthews, Steven), but I could usually justify it in my mind, based on what the characters were experiencing in their lives.

 

It was a shame to lose Diane Ballard (and even the smarmy-but-interesting Joe Bradley), but that murder mystery was quite well handled on TGL.

[zanereed]

While the murder mystery on TGL with Diane Ballard was very good, it was a shame to lose such a rich character like Diane. Joe Bradley I didn't care either way, but I wish it would have been someone other than Diane.

[Soaplovers]

 

Would you say Diane was a Dobson creation that Marland wrote well?  I know he had trouble with a lot of the Dobson characters.

 

And do you think Diane could have worked well beyond summer 1981?  If so, in what way?

[NothinButAttitude]

 

But you have to appreciate the fact that writers during that time punished evil characters whether it was jail time or even worse ... death. Nowadays, Diane would still be on the canvas eating up airtime and going unpunished.

 

That's what I loved about Bill Bell. He was a firm advocate that evil characters had to pay for their crimes. I think he was once quoted saying that Sheila was an exception thanks to Kimberlin Brown's performance; however, he was one who all for punishing characters. 

[zanereed]

 

That's a great question. This is just my opinion, but I think Diane (a Dobson creation) was ultimately killed off so that Vanessa (a Marland creation), had the canvas. Marland didn't seem to write well for some of the stronger female characters (which Diane was, without question). What I loved about Diane was that she was aware of most of Alan's schemes over the years, and I really wanted to see her get a push to eventually take over Spaulding, even for a brief time. I wish they had let her continue to date Mike Bauer, as well. As Hope had done with making Alan want to be a good person, Mike could have had the same influence on Diane - again, even if only for a brief time. I loved how manipulative Diane could be. 

 

 

I would have had no problem with Diane going to jail for her crimes. It would have allowed Sofia Geier to leave the canvas if she wanted to for a time, then return whenever she wanted, with an even more vindictive Diane out to get the Spauldings.

Edited June 28, 2017 by zanereed

[NothinButAttitude]

 

That could've been a more reasonable, but which era of the show do you think Diane would've later fit into? The mid to late 80s? The mid 90s and onwards when Alan returned with Ron Raines?

[victoria foxton]

 The episode where Diane is murdered.

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Edited June 28, 2017 by victoria foxton

[Soaplovers]

 

The late 80s when Roger/Holly came back....diane vs alexandra...diane vs blake...and it would have been interesting to see Diane' s reaction to Vanessa being married to billy...

[victoria foxton]

It would've been great to have seen fierce diva's Diana and Alex out smarting each other.

[NothinButAttitude]

 

Yes! I forgot from watching that arc on YT that Diane has a tumultuous history with Vanessa too. It would've been interesting to see how Diane interacted with Alan Michael. Wasn't Alan courting or married to Hope around the time he was messing with Diane?