Guiding Light Discussion Thread

[KMan101]

Jill Phelps takes well written shows with HEART and demolishes them. She gets a pass for big stunts and "production values" but the show looked great before her ass got there

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[slick jones]

Exactly.

 

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Anyone with doubts can ask Stuart Damon Alice Barrett, and Ellen Parker fans....

[KMan101]

 

Yep! Wrecking Ball. SOOOOO accurate. LOL

[BetterForgotten]

Jill has her talents, and while she's made her fair share of stupid decisions, so have her male counterparts who don't seem to get nearly as much vitriol as she does (Rauch, Conboy, Valentini, etc). Then again, I guess she's had a consistently longer run in daytime than most others, only finally coming to a end once she was fired from Y&R a few years back. 

Edited March 24, 2020 by BetterForgotten

[KMan101]

 

All three have had their fair share of vitriol, at least on here so I don't think that's fair. In general? Overall? I guess I can agree with that.

 

I think Jill's is often far more deserved, personally, and it's not because she's a woman, though some may; people seem to expect 'better' of women and hold them to a higher standard so she gets more vitriol maybe? 

 

I don't do that. Valentini didn't come in and kill Laura Spencer (though I've never been a fan and still think he needs to be fired; and he did fire her like twice and fired Kanan and Buchanan and is just as bad about hiring his 'friends' as Jill was). I'd call Valentini inept and stupid, not destructive but I guess he is, just in different ways. Jill was destructive. Personally I think too many give her a pass. 

 

Rauch and Conboy have a long history of alienating writers and female stars. I don't dislike them any more or any less than Jill.

 

Rauch was trash and an awful fit for GL. He did just as much damage if not more

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 in different ways.

 

She started the destruction of GL, Rauch and Conboy came after her and kept twisting the knife and killing the show. Though I guess some could argue Kobe and Long might have. And even before them ...

Edited March 24, 2020 by KMan101

[Dan]

Agreed. All three have GL's metaphorical blood on their hands. Along with a host of others. 

[RavenWhitney]

Phelps had some high moments until Nancy Curlee quit due to difficult pregnancy. Nancy's writing talent was unrivaled and Jill didn't dare interfere too much; but once Nancy was gone, Jill decided she was a better head writer and destroyed the show with committee of writers then hired a college professor (Doug Anderson) who knew nothing about writing soaps.  Rauch made the show look amazing and hired some great actors.  Remember CBS interfered with Brown/Estensen's stories and forced their own stories written by Wendy Fishman (including clone Reva which was not a story by Estensen and Brown.).  Rauch also didn't want them fired but P&G overruled him. Rauch didn't want Labine and she was a disaster for the show.  CBS and Proctor & Gamble biz execs destroyed these shows as much as Phelps et. al. 

[kalbir]

 

From watching 1993 to March 1994 online, it was definitely the Buzz hour. In all honesty, it was quite a chore to get through the episodes from Maureen's death to Nancy Curlee's departure.

 

JFP did bring the ratings up in 1991/1992, but I agree, all the momentum was lost after Beverlee McKinsey's departure.

 

So the only good producer GL had in it's last 25 years was Robert Calhoun?

 

[VanessaReardon]

Thanks for the respect. Folks have issue with the truth. People like to say random statements like ‘Jill drove Nancy away’, which couldn’t be further from the truth. I’m not going to share correspondences that I have had with the folks in question. There’s a trust factor involved. Show me the receipts that Nancy left because of Jill. There aren’t any.

[VanessaReardon]

Jill takes responsibility for her decisions. She fully accepts that killing Maureen Bauer was a mistake. She absolutely denies being responsible for the Frankie Frame killing. She puts that responsibility on others. Jill has balls (which is why some hate her) and she would not lie about whether or not she was responsible for killing Frankie Frame. As for Stuart Damon, I don’t know what happened there. Frons was mandating getting rid of older actors. That could have been his decision. I don’t know if Jill has ever addressed that decision. 

[KMan101]

 

She typically does raise the ratings. To be fair that also falls on the writers as well.

 

Your devotion to her is ... interesting. 

[slick jones]

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very ....interesting

 

[VanessaReardon]

Maybe you should talk to her sometime. There’s always 2 sides to a story (and sometimes even more when execs get involved). 

[KMan101]

 

Reminds me of other posters who had strange devotions to people we all don't care for ... just sayin' ... though not nearly as bad ... lol

 

I've read interviews. I've heard her take on things. Of course there's always numerous sides to a story. I often do give benefit of the doubt but she has never had my trust running a soap, sorry VanessaReardon  you think she's great and that's fine. The rest of us don't. You talk about everyone having opinions and sometimes that's all it is. It's not that serious, really. You don't have to jump to her defense anytime someone has a criticism.

 

Not being snarky: do you have her contact info? I would love nothing more than to talk to her. lol. I would love an honest to god interview with her about all of her decisions. You also have to know she's been in the business a very very long time and she knows how to spin things. She's not stupid. I just think she can be destructive. I mean, it's a pretty common opinion about her and other male executives.

 

You enjoyed her I suppose. Not all of us did. She should have been in primetime, personally.

Edited March 25, 2020 by KMan101

[VanessaReardon]

So you speak for the rest of you all? That says alot. 
It’s not that difficult to find contact info on anyone. Figure it out. And I truly, truly don’t care what anyone here thinks of my opinions. I know that I have unpopular opinions. I don’t care! This is a soap opera message board.