Guiding Light Discussion Thread

[DRW50]

Capitol & Guiding Light promo, 1983 - YouTube

[zanereed]

 

Around a month into Douglas Marland's era, as Marland is charged with finishing off Roger's storyline. It just kept building and building.  Rita's kidnapping and miscarriage, Holly and Christina fleeing to Santo Domingo, Renee's death, Mike and Ed trailing Roger to Santo Domingo. It was just a gradual build-up to Roger's eventual "death" I give Marland credit - he did a heck of a job in sending off Roger. I'm still not sure if he was working off of things the Dobsons were planning, or if this was all Marland. Regardless, it was "can't-miss" TV.

[j swift]

Its really a credit both to the writing and the production.  The use of contemporary music makes it even more exciting, along with Roger's creepy clown costume, and that still shot of Rita's horror.  They made what was probably a 10x10 set look like a huge maze.

 

I can't watch this and not compare it to Another World's use of a house of mirrors in 1989 with Felicia Gallant and the murder of Jason Frame.  GL's was much more engrossing because the inclusion of the music.  However, both plots required a suspension of disbelief as to why the town sophisticates were suddenly interested in attending a carnival.  You know that if it was not required by the plot, Rita would have sent Crissy off to the carnival with some extra while she had lunch at the club.

 

Edited February 23, 2021 by j swift

[Khan]

 

Like Marland himself said, in Christopher Schemering's book commemorating GL's 50 anniversary, he knew Roger's death couldn't be anything small, "like a shooting or stabbing."  Not after the years of havoc he had wreaked upon so many people's lives.  But, more than that, Marland, for all his deficiencies as a writer, knew the importance of structure in storytelling.  There was always tremendous build-ups and payoffs in his stories -- payoffs that, in turn, planted seeds for further stories -- so that the viewers were left satisfied at the end.

[Soaplovers]

1980 seemed a year of transition for the show...and it was a pretty interesting year as you saw the transition.

 

I do think Marland dropped the ball a bit with the Philip paternity story with writing off Elizabeth and killing off Jackie during his tenure. 

 

Oddly I think Pam Long's take worked because she shifted the pov from the parents to Philip.  He explaining to Mindy about those years..and his confusion over how they acted.  How Elizabeth leaving hurt, how he missed Jackie, how he didn't get along with Justin and how Alan seemed almost obsessive.

 

I do recall after that scene, Mindy and Justin had a scene..and she knew Justin was hiding something and I assume she figured it out and didn't tell Phillip.

 

And Philip realizing that everyone knew except Beth was so sad to see.  Knowing all this explained Philip's actions in the coming years.  His need for control (since he had no control in his formative years), his need to protect Beth (since no one protected him), and his cynical attitude because his identity was always in question.

[zanereed]

Yes, 1980 was definitely a transition year, but I don't really remember noticing it that much until April of 1980. That's when Roger "died", and both Jennifer and Morgan were introduced. Kelly and Nola had already been inserted into the story the prior two months - cleverly, I might add. Marland took his time, and didn't overpower current storylines by suddenly shifting focus to his new characters. He knew how to introduce those new characters by anchoring them to existing ones. Nola and her mother, Bea, were tied to Roger, Kelly was tied to Ed, and Jennifer and Morgan were initially tied to Mike (and then Amanda, Alan, etc.). From then on, the purge continued: Peter Chapman and Holly were written out, Lucille Wexler was killed off (which I hated, as Rita Lloyd was wonderful as Lucille), and Jackie was recast. 

 

Speaking of which, when Cindy Pickett left the role of Jackie in 1980, I would have rather Jackie have been killed off at that point versus being recast. Carrie Mowery just didn't have the spunk that Cindy did, and would have been better suited as a recast for Elizabeth. However, Lezlie Dalton was still under contract and I don't think had a desire to leave the show at that point.

 

In regards to the Philip paternity reveal, I think Pam Long did a fantastic job with it. It had been an "on-air secret" since 1978, so the show did an admirable job of keeping it hidden for such a long amount of time (the only thing I can recall comparable would have been Mike Horton's father reveal on DOOL). The only issue I ever had with it was as soon as the secret was revealed, Long wrote out Justin Marler! The audience never was allowed to see the new dynamic play out between Justin and Phillip. Instead, Justin left Springfield, and Phillip was more or less back in the Spaulding orbit (until Justin reappeared again in 1990). From what I understand, Tom O'Rourke wasn't planning on leaving the show, Long and Kobe decided to write the character out. I never understood that at all.

[Asb23]

https://www.soapoperadigest.com/content/guiding-light-online-reunion/?fbclid=IwAR0bBgU9Xqvb_0S2QbZLkoBSe4lSii0MuahNRPn9NzuUZA3dL58frFJhOH4

 

Bryan Buffinton and Rachel Miner will be back on The Locher Room next week! They have both grown up so nicely and I’m looking forward to hearing them reminisce.
 

Edited February 25, 2021 by Asb23

[Soapsuds]

Again? They've been on several times already. How about other GL alumni?

Edited February 25, 2021 by Soapsuds

[victoria foxton]

This is Alan so she's going to have the same people over and over. She isn't very creative. No shade meant at Rachel or Bryan.

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Edited February 25, 2021 by victoria foxton

[Soapsuds]

I like Rachel and Bryan but what else can they talk about? As for your pop up I've already requested him. I guess Alan doesn't do Days cast.

[Paul Raven]

Marland speaks about leaving GL.

Having performed on a few soaps himself, he generally was unimpressed with the quality of the scripts he had seen. He was pretty sure that he could do better. And so, after attending a soap-writing seminar sponsored by Procter & Gamble, which owns many daytime dramas, Marland was hired as a writer on "Another World." He subsequently became head writer of "The Doctors," of "General Hospital" (where he created the fabled Luke and Laura characters) and, 2and a half years ago, of "The Guiding Light."

 

It was on "The Guiding Light" that he achieved his greatest success, helping transform that video fossil into one of the liveliest, most imaginatively written programs ever to hit daytime TV. During his reign as head writer, "The Guiding Light" garnered many awards including two Emmys to Marland for his outstanding stories and jumped back near the top rank of the daytime audience ratings. An admittedly hopeless romantic, he often compared his work on "The Guiding Light" to a passionate love affair. He brought the program his own sense of style, charm and grace while reinforcing the presence of such discarded mainstays as matriarch Bert Bauer, the character played by Charita Bauer since the show switched from radio to TV in 1951.

 

But in the classic soap opera tradition that he knows so well, Marland's love affair is over. The last 'Guiding Light" Installment supervised by him was aired a month ago, and a new head writer, the estimable Pat Falken Smith, is at the helm. "Sometimes something happens and you just fall out of love with a show," he said from his Connecticut home. "That sounds corny and melodramatic maybe like what someone would expect from a soap opera writer but it's the truth. Because in daytime TV, you're working seven days a week and if you really don't love what you're doing, you can't do It; it isn't fair to the show. Some people can take the money and run, I guess. But I can't, because I don't want to work that hard unless I'm in love."  Surprisingly, Marland's falllng-out with the producers of "The Guiding Light" and with the sponsor, Procter &Gamble, had nothing to do with the usual writers' complaints about Interference with the creative aspects of the program.

Beginning in January 1980, when he started as head writer, he said he was given a free hand to mold plots and characters precisely as he saw fit. The only problem was the "creative lethargy" of executive producer Allen Potter and his lieutenants. As far as he was concerned, the last straw came with the firing of actress Jane Elliot, who played the Marland-created character of Carrie Marler. He bitterly opposed the elimination of the remarkably complex Carrie role, for which he had just completed another year's worth of storyline. What troubled him most deeply about the dumping of Elliot was that producer Potter had told him (and Elliot) that the decision had been dictated by Procter & Gamble for "budgetary reasons," and that the money problem was the sole reason that her contract wasn't being renewed. Weeks later, however, he said he learned the truth that Potter himself pulled the plug on Elliot "because he said he found her to be 'a difficult actress'. Her firing was last straw for veteran soap writer Douglas Marland. the studio."

Marland continued: "Potter lied to me, and it was one of many aborted decisions that I had to accept For awhile I thought I was crazy (for believing that Potter was so two-faced), but when I talked to other creative people in this business, I realized I wasn't." Once he reached his decision to quit "The Guiding Light," he recommended Falken Smith as his replacement. Although he isn't personally that well acquainted with her, Marland was very familiar with Falken Smith's work as head writer on "General Hospital" and, more recently, on "Days of Our Lives." In fact, Falken Smith's public feud with "General Hospital" producer Gloria Monty was even more bitter than Marland's own 1979 dismissal from "GH" by the dictatorial Monty. "I knew Pat had suffered through many of the same things I did at the hands of Gloria Monty and I wish you'd quote me on that. It makes you a cohort In this business. Even if you don't know someone, you have some idea of what they must have gone through working for that woman (Monty). We should have a club and meet at least once a year to compare scars and scar tissue."

 

Marland doesn't expect to be idle for very long. He's already created a soap opera, "New Day in Eden," that'll premiere this month on cable and pay-TV systems across the country. He also spent eight weeks during the summer touring as an actor in a road company of "Gypsy." His agent is entertaining offers from several network soaps, and he expects to announce his next writing post very soon. Until then, he'll nurse the wounds from his shattered love affair with "The Guiding Light" and prepare for his next passionate soap opera romance.

[DramatistDreamer]

It would've been nice if Alan had even tried to get Nia Long and Monty Sharp for a reunion livestream. He got Ming-Na Wen, so it might have been possible.

 

[Forever8]

I would love to see Nia and Monti together again. I know he reached out to Tamara Tunie twice but both times she turned him down. Though it can be because she is out here staying booked and busy acting in the states and New Zealand. On top of not wanting to talk about her days on ATWT. 

[DramatistDreamer]

 

Being turned down by TT probably didn't feel great but that shouldn't stop him from asking other actors.

It's a different show, different dynamic, different actors, no?

 

Sometimes it also has to do with groupings. From what I've heard, Scott Bryce was non-committal when asked the first time but said yes after Hillary Bailey Smith convinced him and he found out that both she and Gregg Marx agreed to appear.

 

Also, I am pretty sure that Andrew Kavovit became receptive when Ming-Na and Melanie Smith said yes. Perhaps had Alan asked Count Stovall, and he said yes, TT might have agreed. Then again, that discussion might have been too real for Alan, lol. Still, it could have been a real BHM, treat!

[Soaplovers]

Has Nia Long talked about her GL days much?  Only time I saw her speak of it, she said she enjoyed the work..but wondered how she was supposed to leave in the city with the lower pay she got from doing the show.