Guiding Light Discussion Thread

[amybrickwallace]

Got it.

[DRW50]

In that first year or so they did play up some of what you are talking about with Marj, like when she would play basketball with Buzzj. This then faded entirely. 

I thought there was enough history between Alex and Mindy - played up even more in the months before the affair reveal - to make Alex's anger understandable. The problem came when this moved from Roger to Nick. Both women became defined by Nick, and lost any personality or purpose outside of him. Beverlee played the Nick obsession in a visceral, ugly way, raw pain and rage and sickness - likely due to her dislike of the material. Marj just camped it up and felt very hollow. I can't judge her as much I would have at the time because I had forgotten just how awful the writing was even before Beverlee left and I also did not know at the time that Marj's son had just died...but she still feels miscast to me, and I think that was always going to be the case. I resent that Alex was brought back solely to keep the Mindy/Nick "love" going, which by that point no one gave a tinker's damn about. The character should have stayed away until a more capable regime came in.

Edited September 27, 2021 by DRW50

[FrenchBug82]

I am in the minority on this but I actually didn't mind the story under Bev.

First because there was enough trauma happening all at once for her - being had by Roger, being rejected by Nick - that it would make sense she would become a lot more emotional. And being able to tie back both issues to Mindy made her a logical target.
I mean she did rage at Roger but pursuing this further would be a constant reminder that she had been conned - not something someone proud like Alex would want to belabor. And she couldn't be mad at Nick since he was her son.
Mindy was the proxy for her hurt.
They wrote Alex as a lot meaner and obsessed than I think she should have been but I didn't think it was entirely absurd that she would overreact in this way.

Especially because of the subtext. Sadly they didn't explore it explicity except for that one insult from Billy when she told him about Mindy and Roger but I do think even the most secure older woman, humiliated and rejected by the two men in her life within a short period of time, would feel threatened in her feminity and self-worth.
Being "replaced" by a younger woman, especially someone who should be beneath her like j swift says and only became a viable "rival" because she is younger and more "obviously" beautiful, can shake anyone's self-confidence and it would make sense to react with resentment towards the symbol of her inability to stop time from passing, her body from aging, and so on. 
I don't know if there really was an non-insulting way to be more explicit about this but I built up this theory of the psychology behind the story which is why I took to it more than, well, most everyone else it seems.
And yes I know. I overthink things but sometimes it helps make potential bad stories a bit better

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Now once a recast Alex came back it became a lame trope of the shrewish mother-in-law instead and it was tedious. 

[amybrickwallace]

Especially so since Marj had already played the shrewish mother-in-law on SB. Granted, Pamela Capwell was a much broader character than Alex,but still...

[MichaelGL]

It's interesting how I can actually sympathize with both Mindy and Alex (Bev and KS) in their rivalry. 

[Mitch]

And since now EVERYONE in town treated Alex as an annoying joke..(when Alex stops Josh and Annie's wedding...shreicking the whole time, Vanessa practically pushes her out the door..."You've done quite enough damage for one day" as if she was a kid.) even Alan quite regarding her as a rival and more of an annoying pain in the butt..especially since they had her all over his love life...(as if Alex would care one bit about Tangie Hill) and they wrote, and Marj gave off, rather incestuous vibes for Alan.

Concerning Alex/Mindy..I get that she felt betrayed by someone she trusted...(even if they had to retro write the relationship as Mindy practically growing up in her house...Alex always treated the Lewises as inferior...) but I would have gone even farther..I could not see BevAlex marrying Roger unless he held something over her. That didn't make sense from the start.

 

[Soapsuds]

Don't miss the 17th Annual Daytime Stars and Strikes Virtual Charity event for Autism live in The Locher Room on Sunday, October 10th from 2:00 p.m. EST to 6:00 p.m. EST (11:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. PST). Joining me to host the show will be Guiding Light’s Liz Keifer (Blake Marler), Jerry verDorn (Ross Marler), and Michael O’Leary (Rick Bauer). We have an incredible line-up of guests to help us raise funds for The Autism Society of America including: Grant Aleksander (Phillip Spaulding), John Bolger (Phillip Spaulding), Jeff Branson (Shayne Lewis), Bryan Buffinton (Bill Lewis), Jean Carol (Nadine Cooper), Beth Chamberlin (Beth Raines), Crystal Chappell (Olivia Spencer), Jan Conklin (Producer), Ritchie Coster (Alfred), Kassie DePaiva (Chelsea Reardon), Mark Derwin (A.C. Mallet), Frank Dicopoulos (Frank Cooper), Aubrey Dollar (Marina Cooper), Beth Ehlers (Harley Cooper), Nicole Forester (Cassie Layne), Stephanie Gatschet (Tammy Winslow), Ricky Paull Goldin (Gus Aitoro), Melissa Hayden (Bridget Reardon), Rick Hearst (Alan-Michael Spaulding), Rebecca Hollen (Trish Lewis), Mart Hulswit (Ed Bauer), Crystal Hunt (Lizzie Spaulding), Maeve Kinkead (Vanessa Chamberlin), Jessica Leccia (Natalia Rivera), Fran Myers (Peggy Fletcher), Robert Newman (Josh Lewis), Sonia Satra (Lucy Cooper), Tina Sloan (Littlian Raines), Rebecca Staab (Jessie Matthews), Nancy St. Alban (Michelle Bauer Santos), Paul Anthony Stewart (Danny Santos), Kimberley Simms (Mindy Lewis), Michelle Ray Smith (Ava Peralta), Krista Tesreau (Mindy Lewis), Gina Tognoni (Dinah Marler), Jordi Vilasuso (Tony Santos), Michael Woods (Dr. Jim Reardon) and Kim Zimmer (Reva Shayne Lewis).

 

Rebecca Hollen (Trish Lewis) is someone who hasn't appeared in any reunions.

[amybrickwallace]

I know I rag on Alan sometimes (mainly due to his dubious interviewing), but kudos to him for bringing together such a large group of GL actors for such a worthy cause. Autism is an issue close to my heart. Thanks to all of them for doing this.

[Joseph]

A question when Alex had Lujack and Nick she was a teenager or what I don't know the backstory of her initial revenge very well

[Forever8]

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[danfling]

I have been wondering why Augusta Dabney (Barbara Norris #1) left the show.    The show placed in the role Barbara Berjer (From These Roots, As the World Turns).

I also think that The Guiding Light and Procter and Gamble missed a golden opportunity for tie-ins.   Barbara was a cookbook writer, and Procter and Gamble, at the time, owned Crisco, Duncan Hines, Jiff, and Folgers (and later Pringles).  The company could have offered recipe booklets by Barbara Norris obtained by request or even a full cookbook to be sold in the bookstores.

Sometimes one of the character of NBC's Hidden Faces would cook dishes, and viewers could write to NBC for the recipe as a promotion for the show.

[Nicholas Blair]

Absolutely! It's weird, but I can remember a scene where Barbara told one of the other women that she didn't understand why more people didn't make grape pies, something I have never heard of. I'm pretty sure there was a pie as a prop in the scene. Surely a lot of people would have written in for Barbara Norris' Grape Pie recipe.

[Paul Raven]

The timeline here has always confused me.

When did Claire die on ATWT? Did Barbara Berjer immediately go to GL as she was popular and they felt she would be an asset as Barbara and decided to drop Augusta?

Augusta then went to A World Apart replacing Elizabeth Lawrence. What was the reason for that move?

 

[Bill Bauer]

 

Claire died in January 1971 and Barbara Berjer started as Barbara Norris the same month. 

Edited October 2, 2021 by Bill Bauer

[danfling]

Augusta Dabney, whose first soap opera roles were on NBC in Young Doctor Malone and Another World, played three different characters on As the World Turns.   She then (which I don't exactly remember) played the mother of Dr. John Hale and Larry Hale on Love Is a Many Splendored Thing.    She then created the role of Barbara Norris on The Guiding Light.

I remember the Hale family from Love Is a Many Splendored Thing so well, but I really do not remember Ms. Dabney as the mother.