Guiding Light Discussion Thread

[KMan101]

 

A *real* documentary would be AMAZING.

 

Goutman and Phelps are defensive because they know deep down they're show killers

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Very very true on JFP having a great writing team on Guiding Light. She still ultimately gutted it's heart and soul, personally. She does it at every soap. She just got lucky in a few of her gigs. I've also always thought she made the shows darker. I know some laud her production skills but meh ... But great writers help and that was a very good time, too bad it all went to campy hell with McTavish (sadly? I'd take it over the last 10 years of GL). I would love to get a behind the scenes of ABC during the Frons era and all the hacks he had running the soaps. Lord.

 

Interesting about Caso. Is he more revered than he should be? But regardless it sounds like ATWT floundered a bit. I'd still take it over the last 5-10 years of ATWT ... lol. But it's also an era I'm still trying to get to in terms of watching old stuff. Familiar with a lot of it but haven't exactly taken the time to watch yet (I'm trying ... downloading takes a while ...)

Edited October 9, 2019 by KMan101

[Vee]

Chris Goutman had a good run at AW for maybe a year and a half or less - taking the show off the air with dignity. He then had a few good but controversial years at ATWT. That was a long, long time ago.

 

The minute he pushed Sheffer out ATWT became unwatchable and stayed that way til it ended its run, a long slow death he regularly seemed to treat with utter contempt in public behavior. He was allegedly responsible for inadvertently truncating Julianne Moore's appearance as well. Goutman is a talented actor and director with a long, long history in daytime. He also should've been dumped from ATWT long before the end.

Edited October 9, 2019 by Vee

[DramatistDreamer]

 

I've never gotten the sense that Caso was all that much revered, tbh. During about half of his tenure, the talk focused on Marland as HW, which really does say that no matter how much skill an individual may possess as an EP, you can't have a good show without good writing.  The remainder of Caso's tenure, unfortunately was marked by stories that were either dull, depressing, or just didn't really work, and for better or for worse, it is that part of his tenure that stays in the minds of many ATWT fans.

 

I mentioned Caso as being a likely good interview based on some things I've heard him say in the past.  He seems to at least have a sense of self-awareness and he seems frank, without vanity and knowledgeable about the limitations of the job and the industry.  It's not perfection that makes someone a great interview, it's honesty, awareness and the ability to provide insight free of arrogance or defensive posture.

[NothinButAttitude]

 

Wait--what?!

 

So Julianne allegedly would've did a mini-arc had it not been for Goutman? 

[Contessa Donatella]

 

"We all felt that we had truly turned the show around." - Donna Bridges, all the fan activists thought that Chris Goutman had turned the show around! "In daytime it takes a long time to lose loyal fans and it also takes a while to get them back. We all felt that in the last six months in particular that the show had improved dramatically."

 

It really made no sense that NBC's Susan D. Lee gave Sunset Beach a 6 month extension when AW had better ratings. And, MADD had put AW on a deadline & then came back in the country just to cancel it before that deadline was up! Chris, like everyone at AW, openly wept at the end of the show.

 

Quoting Vee: He then had a few good but controversial years at ATWT. That was a long, long time ago. The minute he pushed Sheffer out ATWT became unwatchable and stayed that way til it ended its run, a long slow death he regularly seemed to treat with utter contempt in public behavior. He was allegedly responsible for inadvertently truncating Julianne Moore's appearance as well. Goutman is a talented actor and director with a long, long history in daytime. He also should've been dumped from ATWT long before the end.

 

Me: In 2005 Chris gave a Q&A to Jen Lenhart, ATWT Editor for "Soap Opera Digest", in which he said that he knew what his show needed & he didn't want any fan mail or calls to the studio. Besides that & burning Martha, he was very arrogant at the end. I asked someone who worked for him at both AW & ATWT what in the heck happened & he said that in 2004 Chris went over to the darkside. That's just the way he said it. And, sometime in there, he & Marcia McCabe got a divorce, so you know the man lived with tension all the time.

 

 

 

Edited October 11, 2019 by Donna B
tuck up.

[BetterForgotten]

I didn't feel AW ended on any type of creative high - Leah Laiman and Jean Passanante's writing was boring as sh!t. But AW was generally a very neglected show, by both NBC and P&G. 

[Contessa Donatella]

 

Charlotte Savitz was a very bad EP & she competed to see how many people she could fire. JFP was a very bad EP & she fired 2 more people than Savitz had & brutally murdered Frankie Frame by a serial killer. Michael Malone was a terrible HW & never understood the show or the characters & tried to turn it into a show bible called 13 Bourbon Street. Margaret Depriest was a terrible HW who wrote two serial killers while she was HWing. Leah Laiman and Jean Passanante were terrible HWs & Chris didn't even want them & had them pushed on him. P&G wanted the best for AW. NBC wanted to either own AW itself or push it out the back door.

[BetterForgotten]

It seemed like neither Ed Trach or MADD gave AW the same attention they gave the P&G soaps on CBS. At then end, P&G seemed to give up on the show as well and they sure as hell stopped employing quality writing/producing talent there. 

[Mitch]

Long did get burned by the Matt Weiss storyline..(like..what was so controversial about having a jewish character???? Though I don't think he and BE really had any sparks, and at that time BE had chem with everyone...) She wanted to bring Reva back as a "ghost" or figment of Marah's imagination for Christmas and the brass said no...no doubt waiting for Zimmer to come back as a live Reva. But of course, JFP under pressure from the brass to bring Zimmer back, dug her hands in the old "bad idea," well and created "Ghost Reva." I think Ghost Reva is a bad idea no matter who executes it so I can see CBS thinking that idea was crap by why green light it a couple years later?

 

And I loved MOL as Rick in his younger days but they badly needed to do a recast. I remember when JFP was thinking on bringing him back they were going to recast but MOL had his fans write in...Good ole JFP, right after she killed off Ed's fiance she said, "Well, we lost an Almost Bauer, but got back a REAL Bauer." That broad could spin anything!

 

Edited October 9, 2019 by Mitch

[Vee]

'Creative high' is not what I would describe anything aired on ATWT after perhaps some of 2003.

 

 

No, nothing like that, but she allegedly would've been on a bit longer than she was that day and Goutman was a bit heavy-handed, which led to that appearance being cut down.

Edited October 9, 2019 by Vee

[NothinButAttitude]

 

*sighs*

 

I truly, utterly f-cking hate him. 

 

 

[Contessa Donatella]

Thanks, vf. Preciate it!

[VanessaReardon]

Donna - can you PLEASE stick to facts! Goutman & McCabe divorced in 2016 - LONG after ATWT went off the air. Stop spreading misinformation. God you’re annoying!! 

[Contessa Donatella]

 

If Goutman & McCabe divorced in 2016, I'm fine with that. I still would imagine from everything we've all heard about Chris Goutman from 2004 on that he was living a miserable life. If that's an issue of fact to you, okay. It's not to me.

[VanessaReardon]

I’m in contact with Marcia and you are quite wrong, Donna.