Guiding Light Discussion Thread

[Faulkner]

And I know people loved them some David Andrew McDonald, but Edmund was so obviously a big queen flouncing around devouring all scenery in a 20-mile radius. It made it that much more insulting that soaps weren’t investing in actual gay characters.

 

And then there was Carmen and the Santos family...the show had just changed so much so fast.

[j swift]

The Richard Character Profile reminded me of Alonzo and Rob; two very temporary spanners in the Richard and Cassie saga.  Alonzo, the real heir, of a democratic sovereignty, came along just when nobody cared about the story anymore.

 

While I was not a fan of the period, I enjoyed the Beth and Cassie conflict.  I preferred when Cassie and Reva had a common enemy.  While it seemed unlikely that Beth of the Four Musketeers would harden into Lady Macbeth, the casting change and acting choices kept it interesting.  Today, I would hope that we would explore more of what made Beth devolve into such manic character that she began kidnapping people, but given the times, ladies arguing in ballgowns was always fun to watch.

 

Worth repeating: the San Cristobal stuff also reminds me how unlikely it was to produce a motorcycled-jacketed, brunette-ponytalied, scruff like Jonathan.   When Marlon Brando owned an island he stopped dressing like a character in the Wild Ones, but somehow Jonathan Randall was the Stanley Kowalsky of the Carribean?!? 

Edited December 11, 2018 by j swift

[Khan]

 

Equally laughable, though, was integrating Richard and Edmund into Springfield society.  India von Halkein's presence always stretched credibility, yet Mary Kay Adams was such an asset to the show that you could overlook a baron's daughter taking up residence in the Midwest.  Could you really say the same for Bradley Cole or David Andrew Macdonald?

 

 

The "blonde people" weren't the only things tacky and poorly lit.  GL really showed how far Paul Rauch's production aesthetic had declined since his days producing AW.  Even his peak years at OLTL weren't marred by such godawful production values.

 

 

To think, though, Hogan Sheffer chose to write for ATWT over GL because, in his opinion, ATWT seemed to be the more realistic show (or something like that).

Edited December 11, 2018 by Khan

[BetterForgotten]

I think he said he found ATWT to be way more boring than GL, which is why he wanted to write for it. He probably liked Rauch's crazier elements at that time. 

 

The early 00's - what a bizarre time for soaps, and the world in general. Now that enough time has passed, I still don't know if I can begin to explain it. 

[DRW50]

 

Edmund was a bit queeny, but I never really had a problem believing him with women either. 

[Vee]

 

That also baffled me, but they tried to explain it away by him being adopted by, I guess abusive Americans??

 

I never had a problem buying DAM with women but yes, he was well known to be a huge queen even then.

[DRW50]

I get what people are saying about San Cristobel, but I didn't mind the story in the first year or two, when the focus was on Cassie and Richard falling in love contrasting with Reva's jealousy, Cassie's money woes, etc. It was after she and Richard married that the setting should have gone for good, I think. After that it just became more and more obvious there was no story left to tell, and what we did get was just variations on crap. By the time the boring fisherman turned out to be the real king I think I'd stopped watching. 

 

(then of course he was later killed off after about 3 seconds of screentime when they decided to make his son a psycho)

[Paul Raven]

Sponsor magazine 1962

....The only way I know to beat the fallacy of the Saleable Flop is the kind of chicanery Bill Ramsey and I pulled once on P&G. Bill, then P&G's radio chief, and I wanted to buy a new daytime show by Irna Phillips, most successful of serial writers. When her sample scripts came in. Bill called me. "You and I know this is great daytime radio," he said, "solid, slow-paced emotional conflicts, and real characters. But it isn't what my people think a serial ought to be. What do we do?" What we did was have Irna write a hair-raising, cliff-hanging fire and-rescue script, which we auditioned for Cincinnati. "Great stuff," said P&G management. "Great stuff," echoed the P&G brand men. "But can you keep it up?" We assured them (what barefaced liars!) that we could. With their blessing, we bought Guiding Light and watched it zoom quickly up to the top of the ratings. But we were smart. We threw that damned audition script away and never used it. It was just a lousy, saleable, program. What the P&G brass didn't know didn't hurt; it helped them! ^

[DRW50]

Thanks for sharing that. 

 

Jean Carol in the second ad. 

 

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[j swift]

Does anyone else follow Fourrures's account on YouTube with soap clips of Women in Fur Coats?  There are many clips posted each week and this week's post centered on Guiding Light.  I have enjoyed the choice of clips, but I seem to be missing the point beyond that it is an amazing amount of fur coats.  Is this account trying to communicate something about women in fur coats?  Is it a media collection that just happens to center on women in fur coats?  Any information about the intent of these posts would be appreciated, just for context.

 

Also, (just for the trolls), let's avoid any political/moral/ethical/social or perverted discussions of fur coats in this thread.  

Edited December 24, 2018 by j swift

[DRW50]

 

I think they just like seeing women in fur coats. There are a number of fetish channels on Youtube - men tied up, women tied up, women being hypnotized, women cutting their hair or having their hair cut, etc. 

[DRW50]

I miss GL and ATWT so much at Christmas. My heart just doesn't feel complete...

 

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[vetsoapfan]

 

Tell me about it. Sigh. If only we could experience a few more episodes like this. The opening is beautiful.

 

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Edited December 25, 2018 by vetsoapfan

[DRW50]

I remember how nice that was - the show trying to embrace its past for the holiday. I think they had another episode like that the next Christmas, although by then Ed was gone. 

 

I always think to myself that GL and ATWT were gone a long time before they were canceled (although I do remember watching and sort of enjoying some GL episode where Alan was alone and had dinner with his limo driver, who was I think gay...?), but I still miss the vague hope that they might someday improve, or that I could see a few familiar faces.

 

If only some of the vintage episodes could pop up...

[Mitch]

 As someone upthread posted...San Cristobel and GL at the time seemed so tacky and outdated...it was like a really bad parody of an ABC soap during the 80s..I can't believe that anyone thought that this was going to really appeal to a new generation of viewers.  I would have much rather Reva washed up on a fictional Florida Key with secluded Gothic family ..Reva would have part of her memories but not really not understand them and think she was fleeing something bad so Richard is hiding her, (  they would have had to see the news that a big, loud, blond woman went nuts and drove her care off a bridge...)

 

As for Eddie, DAM played him as such a queen sometimes....(and I have to admit, a sexy one at that...) I can't believe they didn't make him bi. I remember a scene of Carmen breaking into his condo to get the goods on Eddie, and opening up a cabinet of videos as she says, "Well, Edmund, lets just see what you like to watch,"  (even Carmen thought he was a queen) and I thought it was the start of the revelation that Eddie would do just about anything..but alas no.