Guiding Light Discussion Thread

[MichaelGL]

True Simon sucked as a character. I will say I would've accepted him as a totally different character, probably a character connected to GL's rich history. But yes, Simon, and Jesse were duds. 

[Fevuh]

One favorite year - me and my sisters were watching - the Annie unraveling year.  I remember her showing up and "Hey MARAH!  HEY SHAYNE!"  And my sister saying - oh lord, here she comes.  hahahahahahaha!

[DRW50]

I watched the Shawn Thompson Locher Room, mostly as background noise. I'm glad I did as there were a few interesting surprises. Nothing fantastic, but if I missed anything maybe someone else remembers. Most of the interview was about his other career avenues. 

He got the GL job because he had been asked to go to New York to audition for Saturday Night Live. Someone at P&G heard of this and asked him to audition for Simon.

Originally Simon was meant to be more of a rugged, Canadian figure, similar to a lumberjack. They'd auditioned hundreds of people. They changed plans for Simon after he was cast. The decision to make him related to Alex also happened later on.

He got to do his own magic tricks because the show didn't know anything about how that worked.

Simon was originally intended to be paired with India (he tested with Mary Kay Adams) and Shawn had no real memory of interacting with Jessie/Rebecca until one day he was taken into the office and told they would be paired up. He asked why and they said because he was a somewhat dark or mysterious character.

He did a talent show with other P&G actors, and a P&G bigwig told him that they needed black or white characters on their soaps, while Simon was too gray. Shawn told the executive that he preferred playing a gray character. Simon did become more of a good character, but Shawn continued to play him in a gray way. 

MKA slapped him so hard in the face in an argument scene that he was stunned.

When he was a little boy, he got to come home from school for lunch. His mother loved Another World, and every day he'd watch with her. He was scared of Iris. He couldn't believe it when he met Beverlee and was going to be acting with her (he kept saying he played her son - not sure if he just misremembered or if plans changed). His mother couldn't believe it either. And his grandmother listened to Guiding Light on the radio after moving from Ireland. 

Several times after very serious scenes, Beverlee came up to Shawn and told him she thought he did a good job.

[Soapsuds]

I had forgotten it was today.

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  Thanks for the summary @DRW50. Simon was forgettable. I don't remember much of his story except for his awful pairing.

Edited July 15, 2023 by Soapsuds

[Franko]

I think it was Al Franken that said you could never do a sketch about a Senate committee with SNL's 1985-86 cast. Shawn certainly wouldn't have helped in that regard. On the other hand, he couldn't have been any worse of a live TV performer than Anthony Michael Hall.

Also, it says something that Simon got a full-blown montage on his last episode. Simon. With Alex remembering the twists and turns of his storyline (including the clip where Beverlee makes a sound I can't properly describe).

[DRW50]

No problem. I just happened to be on at that time today so figured why not. Simon, and that whole era, is a big snooze for me, but I was hoping he'd have something to say about Beverlee. You so often just hear stories that frame her in a negative light, I was glad to hear some positive memories. 

Shawn probably would have been better than over half of that cast, but they went for names for most of the male side, so he really never was going to get anywhere.

I can't even remember who was at the show when Simon left. Was Pam Long back by that point? I guess she came up with the original plans for Simon?

(never mind - must have been Sheri Anderson)

Edited July 15, 2023 by DRW50

[Soaplovers]

It appears as though Simon and Jessie were both introduced at the very end of Pam Long's 1st stint as headwriter... so it makes sense her original intent wasn't to pair either character together.  

It seemed as though Simon was always going to be in the India/Alex orbit... though I wonder what the original intent was for Jessie... who I think should have been more of a wild girl pretending to be a good girl (since the actress who played Jessie played gray characters much better in other works).

[DRW50]

I wonder how much plan was in place for Jessie beyond, "New Beth." Unfortunately for them, as they soon found out with Jessie and Dinah, it was Judi Evans who made Beth stand out, not the writing. They would not find another successful ingenue again until Harley.

[DRW50]

The Infinity story was such hokum and so unsuited to GL, just a blatant knockoff of the types of stories GH kept running with, but the conclusion here has a very powerful performance from Jordan Clarke. GL had some actors who still managed to find some layers or humanity wherever they could. 

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[Mitch64]

India was going to be Beth's cousin...kind of slutty and trashy but when MKA read for it Long, a smart cookie when picking talent...created India.  She then created Roxie (or she was in the works) to take care of the slut factor and poor Jesse just became Beth's boring bland cousin, a watered down Beth. 

[DRW50]

Thanks. Didn't know that. Thank goodness they gave MKA a new part. That sounds like a lousy character. 

[Soaplovers]

India was supposed to be Beth's cousin... and both MKA and Kristi Farrell auditioned for the part... but Pam Long loved both actresses and couldn't see either fitting the role the way it was written so she created the wild, but sweet Roxie for Kristi .. and the posh and vixenish India for MKA.   

And the thing was that Jessie wasn't even a watered down Beth.. because Beth had an edge and wasn't some naive simp (thanks to Judi Evans).   I think Jessie seemed more like an Eve Stapleton than a Beth Raines..imho

[Sapounopera]

Were the Spaulding offices located in the same building as Towers? 

I am always confused with GL sets. Ross's house was supposed to be the same place Ben and Amanda stayed?

Alan and Hope got a new house while they were married. Was it the old Wexler house?

Were the Cooper supposed to be living in the Reardon house in the later years?

[DRW50]

For some reason I think I remember this question being asked over the years and the response was they weren't the same place, just a similar looking set. But I don't know.

[Spoon]

Yes, Nola sold them Company after the final time that Meals and Wheels burned down.