Jump to content

Guiding Light Discussion Thread


Paul Raven

Recommended Posts

  • Members

 

Agree.  The truth is, men have traditionally been explored more fully on soaps than they have in any other genre of storytelling.  You try writing characters as complex as Roger Thorpe or Alan Spaulding for a feature-length film or even a primetime series and see how far you get.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Replies 17.8k
  • Created
  • Last Reply

Top Posters In This Topic

Top Posters In This Topic

Posted Images

  • Members

 

 

Actually, it was McLaiby who brought  back Nola.  I do like that Nola came back on her own and I think she could have been a continuing fixture of GL to the end. I would have had Quint die off camera so when she came back she was not so bitter (and give Brown better writing and direction to drop her Ivaing of Nola.) Nola ending up back in the Boardinghouse running Company and being good with it in direct opposition to what she wanted when she was young.  Nola would have been like Marland's Lisa,  an eccentric support for the younger people in Springfield when they screw up.

 

Anyway I started watching the rest of the videos of the Engagement episode and it got better ..so much happening that even the sucky stuff went by in a flash. The build up to the shooting, the court case battle for Spaulding looming.  Alex hating on Mindy was getting old even then but Marj could do better when not screeching and popping those eyes..an interesting scene with Van and Alex in the bathroom and damn, Garret was looking SEXY. 

 

All the pieces were there for the wheels to come off though.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Members

 

I can't remember whether Michael Tylo was up for returning full-time.  If he wasn't, though, then I agree that they should've killed off Quint -- or, at least, had him PRESUMED dead from one of his archaeological missions, in case he had changed his mind later.  I certainly wouldn't have suggested that Quint had cheated on Nola.  That never made any sense, lol.

 

In the end, I just think PGP (or CBS) was interfering too much and too often with Curlee's work, forcing Curlee to "retire."  PGP/CBS had an amazing thing going -- and who knows?  If they had just left things well enough alone, GL might've come very close to unseating Y&R as the ratings leader.

 

But -- oh, well -- at least it was good while it lasted.  :(

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Members

 

That's why I didn't get why Dinah didn't seek vengeance on Phillip. 

 

Had they continued to have Dinah target Lizzie and that led to Phillip's return, that would've been perfection. 

 

GL in the later years had all the potential to set up great stories with the right characters but always fumbled the ball. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Members

 

Honestly...?  No.  They weren't.  In fact, I can safely say that they were among the MANY characters who drove me, along with many other, longtime fans, from the show for good.

 

And I say that as someone who hung in with GL even during the Jackson Freemont/Simon Hall years.

 

 

IA.  And I think that was the show's original intention, too: to use Edmund as the antagonist in the original San Cristobal story, then dispose of him, along with everyone else connected to the island and that storyline.  Unfortunately, TPTB soon changed their minds.

Edited by Khan
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Unfortunately, your content contains terms that we do not allow. Please edit your content to remove the highlighted words below.
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.




  • Recent Posts

    • Beverlee was on a whole other level from Kim. It's not like they were in competition with each other. I get the feeling that Kim had a slight problem with the super-professional, serious cast members who just wanted everyone to be prepared and do the work, as she seems to like having fun on set. (She's made a few cracks about Chris Bernau being like that). Bev was definitely one of those. But they didn't work together that much. Yeah, they made her manic and also much weaker. She always had a vulnerability, but wanting to kill herself over that guy? No way. Not only that, he didn't leave her! She insisted he marry Maeve. When they did the tribute to Bert/Charita, the compilation of scenes with her showed how much the cast had been almost totally turned over in a relatively short period of time. Nearly every shot was of her by herself because most people she had worked with had been fired, left or been replaced. I assume they couldn't show her with people who hadn't been replaced, like Don Stewart, Elvera Roussel, or Robert Newman because they would have had to pay them for using their clips. It's dreadful to watch. Like she had no connection to the current show.
    • Please register in order to view this content

       
    • A little too much focus on Chad and Cat today but I enjoyed the episode. I have a feeling that Jennifer’s gonna get dumped on though, even though I think that her anger is completely understandable and justified. And honestly, Ron is finally gone; Abigail can come back now.  But, welcome back, Anna! It was nice seeing Carrie have scenes with her mother. Christie Clark and Leann Hunley have never really had that many scenes together and to see them have them now is really nice. I’m glad that both of them were there to comfort Marlena too. Their words were definitely the thing that Marlena needed to hear. Btw, with all this talk of Noah, does it mean that he’s gonna be introduced soon? Amy, revealing that John changed her flat tire many years ago seemed a little random though. I would rather she have said something about how everybody in Salem knows of John Black because of how he was always such a hero. But at the same time, her story also showed what a great guy John was.  I liked Kate’s scenes with Philip too, and her promise to get back at Xander for what he did. And since we didn’t see JPL in the bed, did he need some time off or something? And yeah, everything involving ‘One Stormy Night’ still seems very Ron-like to me.
    • The second photo featuring the late John Spencer is from the Law & Order episode, "Prescription For Death", which was the (second) pilot/first episode all the way back in 1990! He played the father of a daughter that had gone to the ER for a mere sore throat but ended up dead because the doctor on call was drunk and had given her medication that she had an adverse reaction to, after receiving some other medication. So, he will always have that great distinction in addition to The West Wing. (The first pilot, "Everybody's Favorite Bagman", was filmed in 1988! The show was offered to CBS, but they passed. In syndication, it is oddly placed as the sixth episode of Season 1. And Roy Thinnes played DA Alfred Wentworth there. When NBC picked up the show two years later, Thinnes declined to return, and that's how we got Steven Hill's DA Adam Schiff.)
    • exactly. I can understand schadenfreude if it were real, but a lot of this is just an engineered distraction.
    • Days of our Lives S60E204 – Thursday, June 5, 2025 Okay, today’s episode was kind of boring. It was nice seeing Jack and Jen back, but they wasted an entire episode on Jen chatting with Julie - one scene would’ve been enough. Also, why didn’t Jack and Jen go comfort Marlena? And wouldn’t a flashback with Jack, Jen, and John have been great? Maybe something from the Cruise of Deception era? Bottom line - it feels like once John’s memorial is over and the returning fan favorites leave Salem… the show’s going to be dull again.
    • Everything with Elon and Trump is a stunt. If people, and the sycophantic press, are talking about their "feud," they are not talking about Republican plans to gut Medicare, Medicaid, and the ACA. 
    • I can't fully remember, but I don't think they tried to get Beth Chamberlin back. I think Laibson/McTavish likely saw Beth as old news and wanted to move Philip on; either that or have her return only when Philip was closely tied to a new woman. Thanks as always for these recaps. I think I had stopped watching around this time and mostly kept up by reading in the soap magazines. Bridget's degradation was horrible to watch, as the character had grown so much over the years and was clearly regressed just to be a foil for a "hot" couple viewers had zero investment in. 
    • Having the majority of the cast on those low numbers is no way to tell story. And just 2 dayplayers for the month. So sad for the #1 soap.  
×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

By using this site, you agree to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy