Guiding Light Discussion Thread

[Dan]

I may have laughed a bit too hard at that one. Thank you for that. 

[DRW50]

 

It's a lovely theme but I don't entirely disagree about the visuals. I think the lighthouse from earlier in the decade is more striking, although I guess it would have been called dated.

 

I know these weren't their best but I always have a soft spot for the poppy openings.

 

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zh5gifxkylw

[Khan]

Of all the GL opening themes, my favorite would have to be the original "My Guiding Light."

 

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Also, if I had to rank my favorite HW'ing regimes or eras of the show, Douglas Marland's definitely would come first.  After him, would be Pam Long's two stint, followed by the Lorraine Broderick/Nancy Curlee/Stephen Demorest/James E. Reilly era.

[Faulkner]

To me, the Nancy Curlee era (1991-93) was the pinnacle of my 25-30 years of soap viewing, so to see so many people saying it was bettered makes me want to take a deep dive into earlier eras. I suppose the entirety of the ‘80s is on YT.

Edited January 27, 2018 by Faulkner

[Soaplovers]

To me Pam Long's 2nd reign stands out for me because she fixed the mess the three previous headwriting teams made during her 18 month absence (and she left the show in an interesting place with Alexandra vowing war against Billy/Kyle due to her son's death and Reva's suicide attempt at the bridge.. all of which the following regimes didn't build on) and it also gave a preview of the Curlee era of the early 90s.  Both of those reigns made the show very watchable from 1987/88 through 1993...  same as what viewers probably through of the Dobson/Marland/early Pam Long era.

 

I still love the disco intro, but I loved the early 90s intro the best with the light house flashing.

[DRW50]

 

That's a beautiful opening, both the music and the images. Real care taken. I think I don't enjoy it as much as I wish I could because it feels like a lie. 

 

My favorite HW regime of what I've seen would be Curlee's work when Calhoun was there. JFP began dismantling most of the best and pushing most of the worst, which makes 1992 and especially 1993 no-go for me. 

 

I also think the chunks of summer 1966 (I think it was 1966) Agnes Nixon episodes on Youtube are just fantastic. 

 

I still miss GL so much. What it was, or could have been, or still could be. 

 

GL was that messy friend you could never let go of for the longest time, and still wish you'd kept in contact with, even though you know it's for the best you don't. 

Edited January 27, 2018 by DRW50

[Faulkner]

Yep. Y&R is the show I stuck with, simply because it took longer to fully deteriorate. But in a very short period of time, GL was the show that I fell in love with, the show that made me fall in love with soaps. Which made its sharp drop in quality seem like a betrayal. I did not stick with it because seeing it so shockingly diminished was just too painful.

Edited January 27, 2018 by Faulkner

[NothinButAttitude]

 

Perfect description. That's how I feel about ATWT, AW, and GL. Especially, ATWT.

[Juliajms]

That theme sure takes me back.  I would have been about 9, but I was watching.

[cassadine1991]

Do you think GL could've been saved or brought back to life?

[Faulkner]

Honestly, it was lucky to survive as long as it did and probably should have ended in the ‘90s even though there were very good things about the show in the new millennium. In a perfect world, “good writing” would have saved the day, but there’s a certain point when the economics don’t work (and that’s ultimately inseparable from the quality, as pressures from the bean counters lead to desperation). It’s just reality in a larger business that’s dying in all aspects apart from streaming/SVOD. The show was alive longer than most human beings. That’s a mighty good run.

Edited January 27, 2018 by Faulkner

[vetsoapfan]

 

Oh yes, with competent and talented PTB, who understand  what had made the show special to begin with and who used and respected its history, TGL might still have been with us today.

 

By 1984, the show had been dealt a series of death blow, and staggered through the next several years aimlessly without a rudder. It was hard going for  longtime fans, as we watched it slip deeper and deeper into the quagmire. Then capable individuals like Robert Calhoun, Pamela Long, and Nancy Curlee worked some serious magic on the show and it revived dramatically. By 1988/9, "our" TGL was back. We went from enduring a dreadful hot mess on-screen to enjoying a much-appreciated renaissance.

 

Unfortunately, it did not lasted forever.

 

Nancy Curlee left in 1994, I believe, and after her departure, the show generally suffered from weak-to-atrocious writing until its cancellation in 2009.  (Apart from the all-too-brief tenure of Millie Taggart and Carolyn Culliton in 2003, but they only last 10 months  and did not have the time to repair all the damage.)

 

We also had incompetence producers who did not understand the show, its history, and the audience (killing off Maureen Bauer, the matriarch, was unreal), and we had twits like MADD at P&G, who had no clue what she was doing and trumpeted that awful mob and San Cristocrap dreck.

 

A shoot-out in the Bauer kitchen, OMFG!!!

 

So if TGL had been blessed to keep folks like Robert Calhoun and Nancy Curlee around, I think the show could have been saved. But once incompetence ran from top to bottom, from MADD to the producers to the writers, AND THIS INCOMPETENCE WAS NEVER ADDRESSED AND RECTIFIED, I knew our soap was doomed. I was always amazed that it lasted for those final 15 years. And Peapack was the ultimate slap in the face to the show and the audience.

 

Yes, I loved that too. When trying to choose my one, single favorite, it was a toss-up between Ritournelle and My Guiding Light.

Edited January 27, 2018 by vetsoapfan

[robbwolff]

I was a GL fan on and off for nearly 20 years but finally bailed when the mob surfaced in Springfield and we had to put up with that San Cristobel dreck. I've lived in NJ my entire life and I still can't comprehend why Ellen Wheeler settled on Peapack for the location shoots. That setting didn't match the Springfield we all knew and loved. I remember scratching my head when Cassie had parked on a country road when she went to Towers. That made no sense. 

 

Trust me, folks. Peapack is a lovely town. A very affluent area. But that didn't come across on screen at all. I think the location filming premise at the end could have worked had there been better equipment, better sound, better lighting, and less of it. What would have made sense was to simply go 30 minutes south of Peapack to New Brunswick and film there on occasion to supplement the in-studio scenes. New Brunswick is more reminiscent of the Springfield we saw for so many years: a mid-sized city with hospitals, high rises, various socioeconomic classes, affluent areas, struggling communities, parks, mansions, and even a university (Rutgers). Had Wheeler filmed there instead -- and only on occasion -- it could have worked. The inclusion of Springfield university would have driven character and story. And filming in that area would have enhanced what we saw on screen. It was a missed opportunity.

[Mitch]

My favorite eras had to be Pam Long's first tenure up to Fall of 85? when it all went to [!@#$%^&*], and then again Long's second tenure with Sonni/Solita which ran into Roger's come back...(I think that was the essence of what a soap should be ..mystery, adventure but all grounded in a community and family...)and of course...Curlee and Company...that stuff was just so great! and Taggert and I know people disagree, but Joan/Alex.  All of these good starts went to crap so I just can't ignore the conspiracy theories that MADD and others were being paid to put GL to  its grave. I LOVE the bad disco opening...cracks me up looking at young, unbearded Josh perving on Nola...(and I am so old I remember watching that episode...) 

 

About Peapack...they used that location before after Reva's interuppted wedding to Kyle...which she hilariously ran out of the church..and wandered around the country side in her wedding dress (no one noticed this big blond dramatic woman wandering around in a wedding dress...) to be ran over by Josh's car. Peapack was beautiful in that. 

 

I do believe GL could have been saved IF the whole industry had changed their economics. They should have found studio space outside of New York and built the permanent sets where, unpopular as this might be...there would not be union regs on the production people...(if that exsisted..) and used the location sparingly. As upthread mentioned, someplace with an university and use that as SF U ..and the students as extras to crowd scenes..changed the way actors contracts are written, without the guarantee thing but a flat payout no matter how much the actor was used or not used.  I could not believe that Wheeler changed the filming.. but kept producing storylines that included spies and exploding cars that just looked ridiculous...(my fave..was Jon and Brad Cole character in what was supposed to be the jungle but was clearly the Peapack woods...) That production style cried out to the return of people in a kitchen talking....

 

But I knew we were in trouble when they started off Peapack with a voice over of Ehlers..."I am Harley Davidson Cooper and this is MY town," ..uh, no its not!!

 

 

[Soaplovers]

I  recall there were episodes before the official transition to the new filmed look that had the traditional type of film mixed with the new filmed look.. and it was jarring.  I remember my mom texted me and told me that it looked like the show was ready to commit suicide with this new film look because it was shaky, the lighting was awful, and distracted from whatever was going on with the characters.  18 months later, the show was dead even when the show improved the filming somewhat.

 

Peapack was the wrong choice because it made the show look country/hickish..when the show was never that way even when Pam Long wrote the show (she had a good mix of down home and cosmopolitan when she wrote the show both times).