Guiding Light Discussion Thread

[lucaslesann23]

I wasn't a guiding light watcher. But, on youtube I found some 2003/04 episodes and decided to give it a shot. Than at the end of it... I noticed the fade to black and the EPs name. Was Jon Conboy trying to copy YR? Did GL do this first?  **I know John was on YR for while too, so maybe he just brought it over.

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Edited May 10, 2023 by lucaslesann23

[Khan]

Y&R did it first; Conboy was just copying.

[Sapounopera]

 

Conboy had done it on Santa Barbara before Bill Bell.  

[DramatistDreamer]

You’re welcome. I thought you might find that interesting.

[DRW50]

Didn't see this one on Youtube.

Guiding Light - April 10, 1986 : Free Download, Borrow, and Streaming : Internet Archive

[robbwolff]

Thanks for sharing that!! I’ve never heard this variation of the closing theme before. I really like this version.

[Khan]

Jessie's improv with that hand puppet during the closing credits is...something.

[DRW50]

Neither had I. I didn't know they had a disco-type close for that theme too. It's a nice way to end a day.

Another reminder of how much "beauty shots" can add to an episode...or in this case, seemingly give us the only time Rebecca Staab gave a lively performance on GL.

(insert joke about being a better love interest than Simon)

[Paul Raven]

It says something about the state of the show at that point that Dr Sedgwick is the longest running character in that episode.

If you'd stopped watching a few years before and tuned back in there would not have seen one familiar character.

And a few years later most of those characters were gone also.

Not the way to build viewer loyalty.

[BoldRestless]

A rare Frank Beaty interview with the Italian fan channel:

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[DRW50]

Thanks @BoldRestless that's wonderful.

I was looking at some old movie reviews and saw one for some movie called Polycarp, with Justin Deas. It is apparently just terrible. If he was doing this at the same time as he was on GL he really was taking anything for the cash (to support his family).

 

[BoldRestless]

Some highlights:

He originally auditoned for the role of Matt Reardon, but they called him back in, no audition, to play a young businessman. They didn't tell him he would be playing a rapist and he thinks that's because they didn't want him to play it a certain way. He had seen a clip of Rick Hearst and wanted to work with him so he was excited that Brent was involved in Alan-Michael's story. They remained friendly for years. He watched Rick and Sonia's interviews with Locher and enjoyed reliving those memories.

It took 3 hours to do the Marian makeup. At first, he also wore a corset/girdle, but that was done away with quickly.

 

The Italian voice actor joins the chat and they play Frank a clip of his work. Frank thinks he did a better job with the female voice than he (Frank) did.

 

He is asked why he was replaced by another actor. He calls it a nervous breakdown but it's not exactly as it has been explained. He was working really hard and could no longer function on set. He was having difficulty in his personal relationships, and having a crisis of faith. It was a deeply spitual thing for him. 

 

The producers were good about it, and actually asked him to sign on for another year. The storyline would have followed him to the mental hospital where he would have worked with the actress who plays Abigail Blume (Amy Ecklund but I think he refers to her by a maiden name). I'm not sure if he means the character, or the actress in a different role. This would have led to a friendship and possibly a relationship. He just felt the he couldn't take on the work at that time but that's a big regret because he was friends with the actress and would have loved to work with her. He doesn't see how Brent could have been rehabilitated, though.

 

They asked if he was ever asked back again after that... he was not. He never had any additional contact with production, and there were times when he would have considered it, but basically he was off, in his words, being a hippie and practicing Buddhism.

 

 

 

Edited May 21, 2023 by BoldRestless

[Khan]

I don't see how he could've been rehabilitated either.  Granted, this was still the era when the soaps were into rehabilitating rapists, but Megan McTavish took Brent REALLY over the edge with the Marion deception and with Cutter and Nadine's murders, too.  Perhaps, if Beaty had been in better psychological shape, he could've come back instead as Brent's lookalike brother or cousin, but not as Brent again.

Edited May 21, 2023 by Khan

[DRW50]

And changing Lucy's HIV test results. 

I remember at the time I wondered if they were laying the groundwork for him to stay when they brought his sister in and brought up his childhood abuse. 

He did make the right decision, although I'm sorry he never really got any strong roles after GL.

Thanks for the recap @BoldRestless with so many extra details I'd never heard about.

[Khan]

Ugh, I totally forgot about that, lol!

Megan McTavish seemed to think that the more repugnant she made a particular character, the more fun she'd have in redeeming him (or her).