Guiding Light Discussion Thread

[Mitch]

To each their own..I never thought of TP as pretty...but.  And I think he was more subtle his first few months..but maybe he wasnt on as much until Kreizman started writing him everyday.

[Soapsuds]

I never found TP as pretty or even hot for that matter. All I remember is that his character was always angry. TP shouted and yelled and he called that acting.

[All My Shadows]

I just got to where Rita learns she’s pregnant and wants to keep it to herself but Viola decides to call Eve and tell her, and even though this is such a tiny transgression, I don’t think I’ve ever felt as quick and as intense a hatred as I feel towards Viola right now. How pushy and meddlesome! Fu.ck!

[chrisml]

I managed to make it through Conboy's tenure and I even liked the Danny/Michelle/Tony triangle everyone hated. Tom Pelphrey was the last straw for me. I never understood his appeal and the hateful storylines. I don't think I ever watched another episode of GL shortly after he arrived. 

[Mitch]

Amnesia Chelle?? Remember when they wanted to turn the lighthouse into a nightclub..apparently the writers and producers have never been in a lighthouse as there is no room...and wasnt' the Beacon there with Olivia's bar?

[DeliaIrisFan]

Rewatching the 1991-92 episodes in the past few years, the main problem I had with how Alex was written wasn't so much 99.9% of what she said or did, but how most everyone reacted to her.  In a sense, Mindy was the only other character who saw the writing on the re: Nick's parentage.  Meanwhile, in a town full of otherwise smart people (at the time), most everyone else assumed Alex must be delusional for suspecting that two men who looked exactly the same and were allegedly born weeks apart were identical twins.

 

They could have at least portrayed other characters as divided on the matter—and Nick living up to his reputation as a brilliant investigative journalist by having doubts about the people he knew as his parents—prior to the switched DNA test.  At which point, the sensible people of Springfield could have deferred to science and started to distance themselves from Alex after she refused to accept the test results, but they would have still had it in the back of their minds that the whole thing was a bit weird and felt badly for her because it was understandable why she had gotten her hopes up.

 

And/or there should have been a red herring that maybe Lujack and Nick were in fact twins, but neither one was Alex's—that Brandon or Alan or even Alex herself had been the one to steal one of the twins after Alex lost her baby and passed Lujack off as hers.  Alex would have continued to insist Nick and Lujack were here sons, but it would have at least been a plausible explanation to others...especially Nick, who was predisposed to suspect rich and powerful people.  Not to mention, it would have raised the stakes for Alex, who would have risked losing her claim to the memory of her late son, not just some stranger who looked like him and wanted nothing to do with her.

 

The last month or two before BM left did go off the rails and probably did not bode well for future writing, with Alex risking her son's life by sending him to that made-up country in the middle of a war and trusting Roger to delay his evacuation in order to increase the likelihood of him and Eve rekindling their old flame.  I tend to attribute that to Curlee being on leave, and JFP and Reilly being more willing to strain credibility to try out some of the plot devices they would become known for later in their careers—like Mindy using her complete lack of medical training to waltz into the hospital and switch the DNA test in a sequence that looked like the computer opening sequence from Doogie Howser.  Up until then, the story could have been defensible as a realistic treatment of how believable characters with otherwise real-life problems would react to an overdone soap opera trope.

Edited August 2, 2020 by DeliaIrisFan

[GLATWT88]

I never thought of TP as a pretty boy. In fact, his look paired with the character he played and acting style always made me think of him as gross and creepy. 

I also liked the Danny/Michelle/Tony stuff at the time, but this is when I first started watching so I feel like there was a forced fondness but looking back I'm not sure I feel as positively about it.

[Paul Raven]

The first TV episode June 30 1952

Cast

Joe Roberts - Herb Nelson

Meta Bauer Roberts - Jone Allison

Kathy Roberts - Susan Douglas

Bert Bauer - Charita Bauer

Bill Bauer - Lyle Sudrow

Joe and Meta have separated and Meta is worried how Kathy will fare. Kathy tells Joe she wants to move out and substitute college for a career.

There were two sets and the show just picked up from Friday's radio episode with no background supplied to new TV viewers.

[Bill Bauer]

 

 

Thank you for that, Paul. Very cool. Where did you get that info from?

Edited August 3, 2020 by BillBauer

[All My Shadows]

When the show was on both radio and TV, were each day's episodes the same, just formatted differently, or was it a continuing story where you had to watch on TV and also listen on radio to fully keep up?

[Paul Raven]

 

That is from the Variety Archive (paid site)

The radio and TV eps were the same content with slight tweaks to suit the respective medium. For 4 years the cast did the radio show in the am and TV in the pm.

[victoria foxton]

This guy PE Slick is goofy af. But i love his enthusiasm. Like Alan he is an awful interviewer. Without the prissy attitude. I wonder how his getting guest? Since he wasn't the head PR person. Like Alan was. And constantly reminds us during her intro's. Bryan gives an entertaining insightful interview. 

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Edited August 4, 2020 by victoria foxton

[Asb23]

I watched this, too, and found Bryan to be a great interviewee. He’s well spoken and remembers so much and knows how to keep the conversation flowing even when the interviewer can’t.

 

I am also wondering how he’s getting these guests but however it is, I am happy to watch! I’ve watched the Mark Derwin, Grant Aleksander and Bryan interviews so far and they have compensated for his greenness.  Let’s see who he nabs next!

 

Much like Alan there’s always a technical problems in his interviews and it gets so awkward lol. The actors all handle it well though. 

Edited August 4, 2020 by Asb23

[victoria foxton]

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From empowered sexual abuse survivor to bitchy cold fish. 

Edited August 6, 2020 by victoria foxton

[Mitch]

LOL..that is PROGRESS!!!  A

 

Beth's transformation could have been one that was totally believable if they had explained it and given it time.  I could see an abuse survivor (Bradley.Dr. Blackburn,Roy and yes, psychologically Alan) turning inward and cold and perhaps even acting out sexually...but they needed the other characters, especially Phillip, Rick, Lillian and Alex, to comment on this and suggest therapy.  They were kind of going there with Loreli or whatever, but that was just stupid. A cold, calculating split who takes over when Beth feels a threat (for example, when Phillip, her knight, was with Harley..or when Phillip was dead and Gus was trying to take his place as 1st son...) could have been good, if they have to go over the top, but I would rather they explain it as post trauma and then Beth get help...She could have still been more bitchy then Judi Evans saint character but..