Guiding Light Discussion Thread

[bboy875]

I don't think Fletcher/Chelsea went far. Kassie was dropped to recurring, and then Chelsea left in the beginning of 1991. I think Jackson Freemont came back and her exit involved her singing career 

[bboy875]

Curlee/Demorest/Reilly served as a headwriting trio until Curlee went on maternity leave in 92, and was replaced by Lorraine Broderick. Curlee returned later that year around the time Reilly left to headwrite DOOL. Broderick left to write for AW sometime in 93, leaving Curlee and Demorest as a duo with Patrick Mulcahey and Nancy Williams Watts writing under them. Curlee and Demorest left in early 94. Although she didn't go there in her youtube interview, she did an interview after the show's cancelation was announced and she said she left because of interference from TPTB and because she was burnt out.

Mulcahey and Williams Watt became headwriters and Demorest returned some weeks or months later. Mulcahey left and at some point Millie Taggart, Leah Laiman and possibly Peggy Sloane wrote in some of the HW tandems which is confusing because all this happened in 94 alone. I know at the end of the year SOD said that Demorest and Taggart were let go, and Douglass Anderson and Williams Watt were named interim HW's but then became official until Anderson was fired and replaced with Megan McTavish in 95. I so wish the actors/ actresses and staff writers were interviewed about this period and the constant writing upheavals in the mid to late 80's. Curlee and Demorest were there in the 80's, 1 of them brought it up in their youtube interview and of course Alan interrupted and that was the end of that. And as a viewer of both these periods, yes it showed on screen 

 

[NothinButAttitude]

I've always said that once MZ was diagnosed with ALS, they should've immediately thrown him back into Holly's orbit. Roger would start pulling away from everyone he loved once he got diagnosed with ALS. He's end his relationship with Amanda and go into hiding. Holly would be concerned about Roger becoming recluse as that isn't him. Holly would share her concerns with Blake. Blake, being dastardly and meddlesome, would do some digging (and breaking and entering) to learn that Roger has ALS. Blake shares her findings with Holly, who is immediately heartbroken about Roger's prognosis.

Meanwhile, Blake goes into a tizzy fearing that ALS could be hereditary and could be passed along to herself, her children (Kevin & Jason), or Hart. Blake start to unravel and silently become a hypochondriac trying to find the answers and cures to combat the disease in case it was hereditary. This would become an issue for Ross/Blake as Ross notices the shift in Blake's attitude, what the kids consume, etc. He would eventually stumble upon the grim truth of what is wrong with Roger and it being the cause of Blake unraveling. 

Holly would dedicate her time to wanting to spend every moment with Roger. She (like Roger) knows that this disease is incurable and time is limited. Initially, Roger would resist Holly coming around. He doesn't want Holly to view him as some invalid--a charity case! Fletcher would be peeved around this time as he doesn't understand why Holly is spending too much time with Roger and not him and Meg. Fletcher shares his concerns with Ed, who investigates and learns Roger has ALS too. Ed would confront Holly and get her to confess Roger's ailment to him and upon Roger learning the truth, he would've recoiled from Holly again. How dare Holly tell his sworn enemy his secret! 

Ed, like Holly, would start to check in on Roger and help conceal his secret. However, the remainder of Springfield is questioning what is going on with Roger. Where has he been? What is he up to? Hart and a bitter Amanda would be at the epicenter of trying to unveil the truth, constantly trying to sneak into Roger's home only to be intercepted by Holly or Ed.

Hart would eventually get the truth from Blake in one of her many breakdowns, which would cause Hart to want to make amends with Roger. Dinah, who would've been with Hart at this time, feels that Roger is faking his ailment to draw Hart back in and wants to expose him. In typical Dinah fashion, she would unveil Roger's secret to all of Springfield. This would backfire on Dinah as everyone actually feels pity for Roger. Even his enemies feel pity. It would also repulse Hart and give him legitimate reasoning to drift into Cassie's orbit. 

Roger (again) would feel embarrassed for all the pity he would receive from everyone but grown to realize that's Springfield overall--the sense of community and looking out for their own. This would also light a fire under Roger as he'd take that fighter spirit and direct it toward beating this disease.

During this time, he and Holly would've reconnected and Holly would admit that regardless their past, she has loved no other man like Roger. She wants to spend the rest of her life with Roger. Holly would propose marriage to Roger but he would initially decline. He doesn't want Holly to marry him out of pity. Eventually, Holly would show Roger that she isn't marrying him out of pity--she truly does want to be with him. Roger proposes to Holly, much to chagrin of Fletcher. Fletcher feels that Holly is setting herself up for heartbreak as there isn't a cure. Holly doesn't care and she and Roger finally marry. 

From there, the story would go on until Zaslow was no longer able, and then we would transition in Holly becoming a widow and having a breakdown herself. Roger's funeral would've been proper and grand. Peggy and Billy Fletcher would've been brought out of the moth balls along with Mike. Everyone would've aired their grievances and love for Roger. At the end of it all, everyone would've toasted to the life of Roger. To further pull on the audience's heartstrings, I would've secretly brought Ellen Parker back and shot a cute scene of Maureen (of all people) guiding Roger to the light (Heaven) a la how Dixie did with Palmer on AMC.

If the Nursery Rhyme Stalker was to continue to occur, I think tying in losing Roger (with her already dealing with losing Meg, which was the reason why she did this crime) would've played a pivotal. Not only did Holly kidnap the kids due to the loss of Meg, but Holly did it because she wanted to surround herself around youthfulness. The kids have a full life ahead of them and with Roger's recent passing, she realizes tomorrow isn't promised even for her. 

That would've been my idea of Roger's final years. 

Edited October 23, 2022 by NothinButAttitude

[RavenWhitney]

The above timeline is how I remember it all also.  Reilly's name was added as HW a few weeks before Long's disappeared. Long always had a co-head or two but she was the boss.  I think Reilly was getting offered equal power and she didn't want that. Of course, in hindsight I think she realized what a hack he was and how he'd ruin soaps.  When Long left, Curlee/Demorest were immediately added as co-heads and their three names rotated in the credits.  Curlee left for a year and she was quoted ion an interview when she returned that she had suggested Broderick to Phelps.  Broderick did leave to join AW as a breakdown writer on AW.  It was never confirmed that Broderick contributed to the head writing duties at AW under Sloane then C. Culliton. Curlee talks nice about Phelps now but I always felt it was Phelps whose interference drove Curlee away. They never worked together again even though Curlee was a consultant for ABC and was offered head writing duties later in the 90s under Riche (confirmed to me by Curlee in a letter she responded to when I wrote her on FB after GL cancellation).  She turned that gig down when she learned she was pregnant again. Demorest remained in soaps for another 10 or more years (mostly as a breakdown writer and short committee co-head on ATWT).  Curlee/Demorest were the best HW ever but Curlee admitted that she needed a lot of control.  She only could work with two breakdown writers and she and Demorest wrote more than 1 break down a week. She couldn't sustain the pace once she had kids.  (And regarding Phelps: all who followed soaps through her tenure know that she dumped Long on OLTL and was the de facto head writer with a committee. She did the same on GL with at one point supervising Demorest/Taggart/Laiman/Mulcahey/Watt as co-heads).

Edited October 23, 2022 by RavenWhitney

[soapfan770]

Yikes that’s more of mess that I remembered myself! 
 

Of course this is when we got the Pauly Hardman story along with Buzz & Nadine’s Vegas wedding but there was also Josh & Tangie, Alan’s return with that Howie/Ross impersonator guy, a Alan/Tangie/A-M triangle with Lucy in the mix, Ed & Eve, Dusay Alex vs. Crampton Mindy, and saying sayonara to Kat in favor of Gabriela with David getting married to her? The second Fifth Street fire was a ploy for ratings by that point and the show was dragging. 

[Contessa Donatella]

I gather that that was exactly the first step the Writers would have done had they been given the chance to pursue initial plans!! (That's what they said at a Locher Room, anyway.) Instead, upstairs (PTB) said no & Paul passed on NO & MADD made her offensive statement & Zas sued them & then he went to OLTL where Brynn Thayer did a lot to get him on board there, etc. P&G showed off their worst nature that week! Robt. S. Woods helped, too.

You, however, did a fine job of imagining how it could have been elsewise!!

Edited October 23, 2022 by Tonksadora

[DRW50]

The show had started moving Roger and Holly back together before Michael Zaslow's diagnosis. I imagine he would have played out the story we saw with Dennis Parlato's Roger.

[Contessa Donatella]

Could be. I don't think that was what Zas went to them & asked them for.

[robbwolff]

I thought she already a co-head writer when she quit: Nancy Curlee. I was always under the impression that one of the reasons she quit was because of either CBS or P&G rejecting her plan to do a story involving a Jewish character, Matt Weiss.

Great recollection! I believe that at one point in 1994 that GL had a stable of six head scribes: Stephen Demorest, Leah Laiman, Sheri Anderson, Millee Taggart, Peggy Sloane, and either Patrick Mulcahey or Nancy Williams Watt.

[Efulton]

You are correct!  Pamela Long spoke publicly that one of the factors of her leaving the last time was the she was not allowed to make the character of Matt Weiss Jewish.  I believe she wanted to create a family around him.  

[DRW50]

I think she was able to make him Jewish, but she wanted to make him  a major character and pair him with Harley. P&G  or whoever said no way.

[Efulton]

Possibly.  I’ll see if I can find the interview.

[NothinButAttitude]

Does Pam really think that would've been smart though? Pairing him with Harley that is. She, Frank, and Nadine were barely assimilated onto the canvas. I think the smarter choice would've been Mindy as she was the longest standing young adult female at that time. 

[DRW50]

I'd say by late 1990 Harley was one of the show's core young heroines (she was one of my favorite characters when I started watching around this time), but admittedly that's just my perspective. I could have seen him working with Mindy too, but that probably would have been even more of a no-go  for P&G.

[Sapounopera]

What was so shocking about a Jewish  character?