Guiding Light Discussion Thread

[Contessa Donatella]

Has anyone seen a quote by Jerry verDorn where he questions just who was in charge when they put him on recurring status? I know I've see it. It may have been in an interview with Hinsey.

[Contessa Donatella]

 

From an Otalia Wiki ...

As Olivia and Natalia's relationship grew deeper, the storyline garnered critical praise from the soap press for being a well-crafted and "superbly performed" storyline that is addressing lesbian relationships and internalized homophobia.[15] Additionally, viewers invested in the Olivia and Natalia storyline and the couple became popular.[16]

In October 2008, controversy in the media arose over the future development of Olivia and Natalia's relationship. Rumors surfaced that the two would develop into a lesbian relationship.[17] Later that month, a CBS publicist stated that "this is not going to be a gay story line", but would be a "deep, rich, emotional relationship that will be very unusual for soaps."[18] In her BuzzWorthy Radio interview conducted on February 27, 2009, Chappell provided insight into the "gay" controversy when she stated, "our intention from the very beginning was not to throw labels out there. It narrows the scope of what we could do. We just wanted to tell a love story."[7] Since October 2008, the controversy has subsided because Olivia and Natalia's story has progressed enough toward romance that members of the media have considered them to be a budding lesbian couple.and SheWired.com,[19][20] Nelson Branco of the Internet website TV Guide Canada refers to their relationship as "romantic love".[6]

[Contessa Donatella]

 

Personally I cannot understand why they put Jerry on recurring. If it had been me, I would have put Bradley Cole on recurring, or David Andrew Macdonald on recurring, or even Frank DiCopoulous on recurring. The only thing I can guess is that they wanted Bradley Cole for romance for Reva, and if that was it, then,  it's just one-more-time when Reva's trough was fed at the expense of other cast members! Enough already. They had to have known that Jerry had two young adults in college!

[Mitch]

Actually, Mille Taggert really "created" the idea of Jonathon as the angry forgotten son. He was originally going to be Reva's stalker but then Conwest did the dumb Alex stalking Reva thing.

 

Putting the longest running cast member/patriarch of the show on recurring shows Wheeler bad judgement. Period.

[Contessa Donatella]

 

Well, now, that is interesting.

 

Of the people I listed, who would you have put on recurring instead? I'm just curious what you think of any I listed. I think anyone can make a mistake & I think putting Jerry on recurring was a mistake. Earlier, for example I also think it was a mistake that they put Maureen on recurring (or offered her a paycut, whichever it was.) Maureen is one of GL's finest.

[Mitch]

I would have put both Frank D and Justin on recurring.  I would have simply gotten rid of Brad Cole..nothing against the actor..the character of Jefferey was a mess.. I would have also gotten rid of Edmund...again, the character was too convoluted by that time. 

[Contessa Donatella]

 

I hear ya. I could've gone that way with Frank D recurring & I think he would have accepted it, to boot. I could've gotten rid of both Bradley Cole and David, also. But, me, I would have always kept Justin Deas on permanent. He is too valuable, if you ask me. But, we're almost at 100% there!

[Contessa Donatella]

Well, apparently I did not need to ask permission to post from datalounge. Apparently people are already posting from there. I used to be on datalounge daily back in the late 90s & early 2000s.

[Mitch]

I would have wiped any traces of San Crap out...with Wright leaving that would have been a good time. Olivia was firmly in the Spaulding sphere so she woudln't count. I would have used Coles' money to bring back Phillip and play that out over the months. After 6 months of Phillip back then I would have killed off Alan for real and bring back AM and Amanda to start a new generation of siblings fighting for power and have Alex recurring to come in and intervene occasionally.

 

[Contessa Donatella]

Oh, Lordy, yes, getting rid of the Island Nation was long overdue! San Cristobal with an A or San Cristobel with an E (AW or GL). High time!

Is Laurence Lau, who used to play Greg on "All My Children," gay? Met him once at a play here in NYC and he certainly was nice.

—Anonymous

 

He was with a girlfriend at an AW fan 'do & they were very friendly.

[Contessa Donatella]

from datalounge ...

After a really long and drawn out day on AW she supposedly put her arm around Linda Dano and as they walked off the set she said, "That was a kick in the c**t".

—Anonymous

 

 

reply 24

01/28/2013

[slick jones]

II would've sent Olivia with all the "San Crap" crew.  Jeffrey, Edmund and Olivia were just reminders of that awful period.

[DAMfan]

I wish Edmund and Olivia had never been from that island place cause I did like them and give them a good story line.

[NothinButAttitude]

Y'all are gonna stop coming for my San Cristobal crew and story! 

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Minus the Reva overkill, I actually liked that period of the show. 

 

Do you all think that if Richard/Edmund (with Olivia as their assistant) were simply corporate tycoons from San Cristobal that were coming for Spaulding Enterprises & Lewis Construction that there wouldn't've been much heat on the arc? 

 

Now Jeffrey, I agree on. I felt that they should've never brought Bradley Cole post-Richard. There were plenty of men on the canvas at the time that Cassie could've been paired with after Richard's death. I always felt that they should've tried testing Cassie with Frank. 

[Dan]

I think it depends. The main issue with San Cristobal was that juggling two locations fractured the show. If the focus of the show wasn't on that damn island, it was on Danny and his merry band of mobsters. If the characters were from the island but we didn't spend alot of time there, I don't know if it would have been as frowned upon. And of course you have the lunacy of Reva washing up on the island with a second consecutive case of amnesia in 5 years that cemented that reputation. 

 

 

As for wheeler, I do blame her for the hubris of trying to reinvent GL in Peapack and then basically canning most of the people who had actually been through Filmmaking 101, leaving people who thought it would be a good idea to film from the top of a tree. Can you imagine Bruce Barry freed from the typical soap set? I think everyone would have benefitted from that experiment with better people in the roles and the ability to have something of a control room where they could have checked the lighting and such. Instead the colors were washed out. The worst part was the elevator muzak  they had scoring every scene. 

Edited September 22, 2019 by Dan