Guiding Light Discussion Thread

[Paul Raven]

I would most surprised if KZ didn't take a pay cut on her next contract.

It seems absurd that she would be asked to take one and then later re-sign w/o lower pay. It would just vindicate her original stance.

An actor might,to save face, agree to the same rate per episode but cut down on their guarantee. That way they can say they are still being paid the same.

[TVFAN1144]

Most of the actors knew the handwriting was on the wall.  GL was under the cancellation ax for years.   The ATWT people really knew that they were not far behind after the announcement of GLs demise 

Zimmer probably was trying to get all she could when available.  There would never be another chance to have her be the center of another show in the youth dominated industry.   And she may have had the attitude that her work made the show 

[antmunoz]

They all took pay cuts. Everyone on daytime. Slezak took a pay cut. Lucci took a pay cut. 
 

But being asked to take one mid-contract is not ethical. 

[Contessa Donatella]

MADD set it up that two directors shadowed Chris Goutman to learn how to be a P&G EP. Besides training it was a competition & the winner got to be EP of GL. If Scott McKinsey had won instead of Ellen Wheeler, Vee would say I was partial because his mother was on AW. Just thought this & laughed. 

[antmunoz]

It wasn’t Zimmer’s job to save the show.  Her job was to provide for her family. 
 

Trying to save a show ultimately makes one intensely bitter.  Vicky Wyndham, are you listening?

Too bad Noelle wasn’t on AW, Donna. You would’ve LOVED her as Nicole #4. 

[Vee]

I have made many complaints about the Reva Show era in the late 90s-early 2000s over the years. I even think some of the truly bad changes to the show were ironically to Kim's advantage as a performer, stripped of a lot of the Rauch-era artifice. But there's also no doubt that without Kim, Robert Newman and several others the show would've both off the air that much sooner.

[Contessa Donatella]

It's not about Zimmer's job. Anytime one character takes over their show it is to the detriment of that show & of the genre. This is true of many characters on many shows. And it's neither news nor brain surgery. Everyone who knows soaps, knows it. But of course, it is certainly not just the actor responsible when it happens. There are exec & creative types running shows who let things like that happen. Pam Long created the monster. Paul Rauch grew it into a bigger monster. Ellen Wheeler didn't get rid of it when she could have. Common opinion was that KZ would quit before taking a pay cut. CBS and P&G let her become too important to them. Hey, if Carla Borelli had taken the part in the first place as Pam Long wanted, who is to say what would have happened differently. 

As far as Noelle Beck goes, I very much enjoyed her on a primetime show, THE CASHMERE MAFIA, so AW is not needed although you have a great idea there as a 4th Nicole Love might have rehabbed the character after #3.

Even though it was a failure in that it did not save the show, the GL "new production model" is noteworthy in soap history. It may be the last attempt to reinvent a soap. Lynn Liccardo's book is mostly about ATWT at the end but has some about GL. Patrick Erwin, Sara Bibel & Roger Newcomb were invited to a set visit & were given a lot of info abut it. Patrick wrote an essay for the book THE SURVIVAL OF SOAP OPERA: TRANSFORMATIONS FOR A NEW MEDIA ERA. & with permission I did a blog about it. (shallotpeelblog on WordPress.net) Sara's would be on deepsoap & Roger's would be on WeLoveSoaps.net

One thing of interest is all criticism of it: Maureen Garrett returned to the show and was overwhelmingly negative: "You do not see the other actors. There are no rehearsals, no monitors on which to watch the action, Actors are led from hair to make up to a kind of holding pen. Then they're guided through the maze of pieces of sets to their spot (…) There's no director, no time, no spontaneity. If this is what has to be done to save the form, I think there's room for debate about trying to preserve the process, too. You can't really create connections or foster " 'chemistry' without the work." (Torchin 2009) I suspect that much of that is just like what happens today on DAYS & on GH. So, I theorize that the worst of it, if you will, got adopted into today's production methods which are 1. faster and 2. Cheaper.

As a general rule I simply do not discuss GL. I made an exception here & did. Now I'll just put it back in the shelf in my mind. Enjoyed it, folks. And, as the acknowledged #1 EW apologist, I hope you all noticed how many times I said she was wrong! 

Edited August 9, 2023 by Donna L. Bridges
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[Contessa Donatella]

@antmunoz You mentioned people being bitter, recently I got to pick someone's brain about them spending time with Pete Lemay near the end of his life & found out that there was one thing he was still bitter about & that was his planned story for Michael Randolph to come out to his twin as gay & P&G being a cheat about it. Now this is off-topic, so, the end. 

[Mitch64]

It's odd, but I hadn't enjoyed Reva (since her Pam Long hey day) as much as I did after the new production. Agreed, his artifice (I never got why the industry thought overly lit beige sets and pastels made great production choices.) In a way, with more money and talent, the production changes could have really benefited GL, a show about families that didn't need masked balls, secret agents or jewell thieves, and Reva, who even when in her 80s big hair, padded shoulders era was a down to earth character. I think Zimmer really stepped up too without the reliance on her acting ticks she had been doing for years. Also it didn't hurt that Zimmer just was "f*ck it" and didn't worry about the weight, which was also a Reva thing to do "There's more to love boys!" 

[Contessa Donatella]

Now, see, I think she was really just crazy about the weight. And then in her book she did an awful thing & threw Costume Designer Shawn Reeves under the bus saying something like it was beneath him to shop in the chubby girls section. 

[TEdgeofNight]

Just because someone writes a book and it gets published, it doesn't mean that everything in the book is true. Some people need to learn that. There are many soap opera books out there with incorrect information. Agnes Nixon's bio had many errors. Christopher Schemering's book had many errors, including the misconception that GL was #1 in the ratings in 1984. That will finally and once and for all proven untrue soon. 

[TEdgeofNight]

So Richard VanVleet (the worst Ed Bauer ever) thinks he was nominated for Emmys in his Locher Room interview. Fact check. Richard VanVleet was never nominated for an Emmy. But he thinks he was. It must be true because he said it. 

Edited August 9, 2023 by TEdgeofNight

[Beetle Bailey]

Wasn't he nominated for an acting Emmy for All My Children in the early 80's?

[DRW50]

On his website he says he was nominated twice for AMC. 

[Beetle Bailey]

Never mind, he wasn't.