Guiding Light Discussion Thread

[vetsoapfan]

After Alan-Michael was suddenly SORASED to his late teens, I thought that Courtney would have made a good Hope Bauer. IRL, she was the age that Hope would have been with a young-adult son, and she had had her greatest success as the leading heroine on AW. Courtney's star appeal would have been an asset to TGL (if TIIC had used her correctly), but I do think her strength lay in portraying "good" characters rather than darker, more manipulative roles. She did not fare well as Maggie Ashley on OLTL or Diane (was that her name?) on Loving. Still, if JC had been cast as Alexandra, I would have cheered her on!

[heffos]

Yea, I think Courtney's acting lacked the "cattiness" that Bev had as Alexandra. It would be hard to imagine her doing that famous take down  of Roger at Towers.

I would think it would have been cool to see JC as Hope, George Reinholt as Alan (as suggested here), and Robin Strasser as Alex (as once rumored). A total deconstruction of their roles on AW.

[SFK]

Thank G-d Robin kept her promise to check in with OLTL before she accepted another role in daytime. We would have missed a lot of great material on OLTL if she had been wasted as Alex. I’m not hard on Marj as others are, but the material was certainly nowhere near what Robin got to play as Dorian at that time.

[Soapsuds]

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[Paul Raven]

That makes sense but it seems she was thrown in at the deep end.

It would take months to get a feel for GL old and new, research and familiarize yourself with the history of the show, form positive working relationships with cast and crew etc.

At least a few weeks notice would have helped in any or all of these areas.

i recall one of Wheeler's first moves was to fire a long time director (Bruce Barry?) Didn't he then leave a memo in staff lockers which was subsequently removed. Obviously the contents were not flattering to TPTB.

[Vee]

That's news to me, but I'd love to hear more.

[Sapounopera]

Thank you for answering my question. I find Courtney fascinating and she deserved another long-lasting soap role.

[Khan]

I don't think it was Bruce S. Barry who left the notes.  I think it was longtime senior producer Robert Kochman.

Barry's departure/firing could not have happened at a worse time, though.  He was GL's best director by far.

[vetsoapfan]

During her heyday, Courtney was hugely popular, so it's always annoyed me that ABC suddenly dropped her from OLTL in 1983, claiming "lack of story for the actress" (regardless of the fact that she was already being groomed for a new frontburner storyline with Michael Zaslow and probably Robin Strasser). It was also inexplicable how AW brought her back in 1984 and then barely used her and kept the actress on the backburner until dropping her again in 1985.

It's been theorized that she was eliminated from OLTL in preparation for Paul Rauch's arrival, and that her returned to AW failed because Gary Tomlin and TPTB failed to research her character enough to understand her history and significance to the show, but who knows for sure?

Even the most popular superstars need good material to thrive, and savvy PTB to use them effectively.

[zanereed]

She would have made a great Hope Bauer, but I always wished they brought Courtney on as Elizabeth Spaulding, Alan's first wife, but with a bit more strength and resolve versus how Lezlie Dalton originally played the role. Then I could really imagine George Reinholt as Alan Spaulding opposite Courtney as Elizabeth!

[vetsoapfan]

My principle quest would have been to re-establish the Bauer family and give it all the support and opportunity possible to become the core, central family it was supposed to be. Hence my desire to see Courtney as Hope. That being said, it was frustrating how TPTB simply discarded Elizabeth so easily, when there was still a great deal of story for her to play, and then left the character's fate totally up in the air. For years, we had no idea where she was; if she was alive or dead. I would have been fine with Courtney in the role of Elizabeth, particularly if TGL cast Reinholt as Alan. This on-screen coupling would have made my loyalties shift from Alan and Hope reconciling, to Alan and Elizabth being paired long term. Maybe Robin Mattson, who had been tepid when she originally portrayed Hope, but who had grown tremendously as an actress since then, could have returned to that part.

[Mitch64]

That would be good.  I never understood why they got rid of Elizabeth with no mention

Instead of Marj as Alex I always thought Elizabeth would have been a great antagonist of Alan (I had thought Collins could have been cast instead of as Alex)  maybe Alan has been blackmaiing her for years to stay away from Phillip. My fan fiction would have been that Elizabeth took Phillip out of Springfield when he was "killed" and got him better and then she returns to make Alan pay...) Maybe she comes back with Mike, and its a Mike/Elizabeth/Alan/Hope storyline.

[DRW50]

Watching one of the Marland-era GL episodes I don't think I watched at the time they were originally uploaded (although most of his run blurs for me as it goes along), and I stumbled on this weird scene at about 10 minutes where Kelly is marveling over Morgan's headshots and how "sexy" one is. Beyond finding that to be...an unfortunate reminder of just how ill-cast Jennifer Cook was as a model (even if she was very pretty in a TV actress way), I am also half-convinced that this is an old publicity shot of Kristen Vigard and they just stuck Jennifer's head on. This is the type of outfit she was more likely to wear. 

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[TVFAN1144]

I was never a fan of the Kelly Morgan storyline. I thought it was shoved down our throats. And I’m sorry but I thought Morgan was the homeliest thing. 
 

I love Anne Murray but if I heard “You Needed Me” one more time I would not be responsible for my actions 

[RavenWhitney]

Like all the soaps at that time, Marland's GL was a reaction to whatever Monty was doing on GH.  Marland quit GH and went over to GL and did his Laura/Scotty story with Kelly and Morgan.  Marland would have never paired rapist Luke with Laura if he had stayed.  That debacle was Pat Falken Smith.  RIP Lisa Brown but I swear in every 80s GL clip of her she constantly stumbled over her lines.  Robert Newman, what a doll.