Guiding Light Discussion Thread

[DRW50]

 

I think she did, yes.

 

Lisa Brown was getting a lot of focus around this time, both for GL and Broadway - maybe it was her?

 

Or maybe one of the Morgans.

[victoria foxton]

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[zanereed]

 

You are right - it could very well have been Kirsten Vigard (Morgan #1). I can't recall Lisa Brown getting bad press during this time period, so the odds are probably on Kirsten.

[Vee]

I feel the need to mention this outside my status feed. Don Stewart is featured in Netflix's new season of Mystery Science Theater 3000 - he stars in an absolutely terrible '70s flick called Carnival Magic opposite a talking chimp as a kind of Zen animal trainer. It is hilarious.

[vetsoapfan]

 

Oh yes, Vigard is a good candidate here. The discussions of her alleged unprofessional and flaky behavior were not flattering.

[DRW50]

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[victoria foxton]

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[NothinButAttitude]

 

Glad to see Matt Bomer light up with joy and speak highly of his time on Guiding Light. Sadly, most of us viewers hated Ben's descent into madness. 

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[Khan]

Especially when the motivation for his descent was insulting to REAL victims of childhood sexual abuse.

[NothinButAttitude]

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Very much so. 

 

Just shows how writers the past 20 years worry more about shock value instead of telling impactful TV. 

[Khan]

 

DEFINITELY agree.  It feels like the days of examining carefully a difficult subject such as child molestation have passed even on primetime TV.  Now, it's just another Shocking Twist You Never Saw Coming.

[NothinButAttitude]

 

So true. 

 

I feel like the the streaming platform is the one place you're gonna get well thought out storytelling. 

[DRW50]

 

This was when that woman working with Conboy (I don't remember her name) was desperate for what she seemed to think was hard-hitting material. This was also when Lizzie was supposed to be psycho and mutilating dolls, wasn't it? Everything about her "writing" came off like someone transplanted from bad "relevant" '60s primetime drama. 

 

The Bomer interview reminded me of why I shouldn't put my feelings onto actors. I'd always wondered if he might have been as disgusted as I was, but of course he wouldn't be (and given his years working with slimy Ryan Murphy, I shouldn't be surprised). I watched Ben grow up and I was very attached to the character. It was just a 2-year gig for Bomer.

 

Sometimes, although that suicide idealization show on Netflix shows the limits. 

 

Oh. Ellen Weston. I remember now.

 

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Edited October 9, 2017 by DRW50

[NothinButAttitude]

Ben's descent into madness was Ellen Weston too? Geez. Her was a mess her entire stint. She should've stuck with acting or writing dialogue because she never had the chops to be head writer. All of her stories were stupid. Primarily, the Carrie Nye story. 

[Khan]

 

Frankly, I don't believe Ellen Weston was responsible for the Maryanne Caruthers mess.   I KNOW she was HW then, but I just don't believe she wrote that particular story.  Because, even though it contradicted everything we knew about Alan, Ed, Billy, Buzz and Josh's collective and individual histories -- something a newbie HW with no knowledge of a show's history is liable to do -- every, single bit of the MAC story was a blatant rip-off of other, past GL stories.  Right down to the casting of Nye (in a role that was, essentially, Miss Piper with a new name) and the "Hall of Mirrors" climax.  

 

So, if the MAC story WAS Weston's, then either it was a big, honking coincidence how it seemed to pay homage to GL's history (while simultaneously contradicting and retconning it), or EW knowingly pilfered from the show's history to "write" the "new" story and she thought she would get away with it.

 

Yep.  Unfortunately, James Harmon Brown and Barbara Esensten set THAT precedent when they had Lizzie, then played by Hayden Panettiere, kill Carl.  That might've given Ellen Weston all the motivation she needed to try and turn Crystal Hunt's Lizzie into a psychotic teenager out of some warmed-over Lifetime movie.  Again, though, I'd argue that Weston knew nothing about GL or its history (aside from when she worked on the show as an actor) before taking the gig.

 

Honestly, I think GL all but died under the watch of Weston and John Conboy.  Everything that happened afterward -- Ellen Wheeler, David Kreizman, Peapack -- was merely P&G putting off pulling the plug.

Edited October 9, 2017 by Khan