Guiding Light Discussion Thread

[danfling]

This show had already killed off its best heroine needlessly when Lesley was killed by a mad driver.  I know that Lynn Adams chose  to vacate the role, but she had been replaced once before by the marvelous Barbara Rodell.  Ms. Rodell could have once again replaced Ms. Adams.

[Paul Raven]

Well Barbara Rodell was busy on ATWT as Joyce by that stage so not available to reprise Leslie.

[vetsoapfan]

 

The writers claimed that they wanted to free up more story potential for Mike Bauer, so the show was going to eliminate Leslie in any case.

 

Kathryn Hays was another replacement for Adams, in 1971.

[Soaplovers]

It did free up Mike, but I often wonder had she lived...if the show would have made them the next generation tent couple?

[vetsoapfan]

 

That would have been a wise and emotionally satisfying idea for longtime fans, TPTB on soaps are so often short-sighted, and they do not plan ahead for the stability and longevity of their core families.

[Soaplovers]

 

Didn't the actress that play Leslie opt to leave the show?  In a way, it was probably smarter to kill her off then risk a bad recast (ala Jackie Marler a few years later).

 

Just from the episodes I watched in 1980 (on youtube, plus some friends had copies of other episodes).. it looked as if Ed/Holly was being slated by Marland as the Bauer tentpole/end game couple.

[vetsoapfan]

 

TGL had had three actresses in the role of Leslie, and fortunately for the show, they had all been pretty good. Barbara Rodell, the third actress to play the character, might have been the best of all. It's hard to say which decision would have been better for the series and its future: killing off its future matriarch or replacing her with another actress and hope for the best. 

 

When Mart Hulswit played Ed, I had wanted Ed and Holly to be the end-game too, but Ellen Parker won me over as Mo, and even after Holly was back on the canvas, Garrett and Simon lacked the chemistry shared by Garrett and Hulswit, so I was then rooting for Ed and Maureen and Holly and Roger.

Edited January 10, 2018 by vetsoapfan

[kalbir]

 

It was posted in the "They Almost Became" thread that GL offered the role of Buzz Cooper to Terry Lester but he turned it down and instead took Royce on ATWT. Perhaps Justin Deas wasn't GL's original choice but his casting was another Friend of Jill incident.

[Paul Raven]

[Sapounopera]

 

Kelly Nelson's storyline should have been given to Billy Fletcher. 

[zanereed]

It would have made sense to have Mike and Leslie be the tentpole couple as the show moved forward. I think had Barbara Rodell been allowed to stay on, that might have happened. From what I understand, the role was always open to Lynne Adams should she wish to return, which is what she did in 1973. However, from what I understand on this thread (I was way to young to remember), Rodell and Don Stewart had the better chemistry. The other point was that Mike and Leslie had yet to have a child of their own. Had that happened, it might have further cemented them as that couple. Mike was always the more stable of the Bauer brothers, and Leslie had the Bert-like wisdom in place. But, Adams returned, then left three years later, as she apparently didn't think the writers could do much more with her character. Mike was then free for more stories, the most famous being in the Justin/Jackie/Alan/Elizabeth storyline for the remainder of the 1970's. The problem was that Mike (and the show, in general) never found anyone to replace Leslie in Mike's life. In my opinion, Elizabeth was too unstable and Trish Lewis was probably too young. I was fine when they paired Mike with Jackie (Cindy Pickett, NOT Carrie Mowrey!), Jennifer, and especially Alexandra. From what I've gathered, the person who vetoed these pairings was Stewart, himself, and eventually this led to his firing by Gail Kobe.

 

I, too, was all for Ed (when played by Mart Hulswit) and Holly circa post-Roger. As vetsoapfan states above, Peter Simon's Ed and Garrett had zero chemistry, so even when the show paired Ed and Holly up again in 1989, it didn't work like it should.

 

Agreed. Or, they could have at least brought Billy and Peggy back once Roger returned from the dead. At that point, they could have given Hart's storyline to Billy.

Edited January 10, 2018 by zanereed

[BetterForgotten]

I thought Simon and Garrett worked as best friends though. They may not have had romantic sparks, but I thought they were believable as two people who loved one another (platonically at least)  and would always have some type of connection. 

[Soaplovers]

 

I couldn't get behind Holly and Roger especially when I found out he had raped her.  To me..even putting them back together as a couple in the 90s was just wrong.  So I was with Mctravish in regards to breaking them up....i just didn't like throwing Holly with Fletcher and turning Roger into a dark character when Pam long/Curlee spent years redeeming him.  It is a shame Michelle Forbes quit because roger/sonni were an interesting pairing...and her verbal spats with Blake were well done.

 

I do like that the show ended with Ed/Holly getting together...when holly had become confident without a man...and he came to her, not the other way around.  It was done quickly, but made sense to me.

[DRW50]

I finally got around to watching some of Iron Fist, mostly because I always liked Finn Jones on GoT and because the reviews were so bad I couldn't be disappointed. 

 

Anyway, I think I remember it being mentioned before, but Tom Pelphrey plays the main antagonist (sort of). Pelphrey still has some of his usual tics, as he did on GL, but the show has such a somber and slow atmosphere that his performances are much calmer, which is a good thing.

 

Murray Bartlett shows up as Danny Rand's doctor in an asylum. He's very good - quiet, understated, empathetic but unable to truly help. He also has a good American accent, as he did on Looking. 

 

I thought Murray was underrated on GL and added a lot of personality and humor to what was a cookie cutter role, so I'm glad to see him still popping up on things years later. 

[Paul Raven]

Mike and Leslie should have had a son to have more Bauers available to keep the family going.