Guiding Light Discussion Thread

[GLATWT88]

I have a question for longtime viewers. It seems like every soap by the 90s had established some sort of leading lady type or face of the show that you would easily recognize or associate with said soap...Erica -AMC, Marlena - DAYS, Vicky - OLTL, etc.

While these ladies are usually beloved, Reva seems to be the most controversial. What is it about the character that makes this so? I know that Reva came on as GL was going through a massive change especially in characters. She's probably the newest of said leading ladies as most were part of their soaps for a lot longer. 

[Mitch64]

They never knew how to dress her, and that includes in Rauch's time, but it got worse the older she got.  I remember them dressing her up as a Queen doing that dumb ass storyline and she looked like someone's mom getting ready to embarrass her kids at Halloween.  Rauch just stuffed her into things (and Reva would NEVER wear a beige pantsuit!)

[Contessa Donatella]

Overall loved the book but 2 things: awful errors & so much stuff she didn't even mention.

@Mitch64  I think I've already trashed Rauch on sets, lights & women's clothing!!

Edited August 9, 2023 by Donna L. Bridges
more

[chrisml]

PG wanted out of the soap opera business. Nothing would have changed if Zimmer had taken a pay cut. I don't think Ellen Wheeler intentionally killed the show, but I think she had to work within certain mandates (which is not to say I was a huge fan of her work on the show). No producer could have made Peapack work or GL during some of the dumb decisions. We all know Peapack was idiotic and a waste of time because I'm sure the decision had been made to kill the show before they did it. Wheeler did know how to give actors good Emmy material, and I still think Nicole Forester should have won the Emmy the year Jeanne Cooper did. I'm glad Cooper got her competitive Emmy, but I found her winning reels mediocre at best.

[GLATWT88]

Please register in order to view this content

When these outdoor scenes look better than anything Peapack did a decade later, it was bound to fail.

Even when it got better, the Peapack stuff still looked like college kids that filmed something for their TV production class. 

[Paul Raven]

Not only was GL's new production model something to get used to, everything looked so drab and unappealing. 

In 1983 Gloria Monty produced The Hamptons for ABC primetime on location on alow budget.

Although it was only once a week for 6 weeks, it looked a hell of a lot better than GL. And that was over 20 years earlier. There must have been big advancements in production techniques over that time. Yet GL looked dismal.

[Contessa Donatella]

AMC: Erica was there from the beginning, a native & presented from the start as a handful. Erica always had one story per year that she was the star of but the rest of the time she was in on everyone else's stuff just as a regular person, sorta. 

AW: Rachel was there from early days not the beginning & she regularly had starring roles in s/ls but also functioned as part of groups & had friendships, etc. She was a native. 

DAYS: Marlena came along pretty early but was not a native. She moved there. Her first identity was just as a doc & Mickey Horton was her first patient. BITD I don't think anyone would have predicted she'd become queen of the show. But Pat Falken Smith created another iconic romantic couple out of Roman & Marlena. Then when Stefano became obsessed with her, her status was sealed. 

GL: Reva was not a native & not there from early days either. Brought into town, paid, to do a dirty deed. Reva was never just a part of the gang. She always had her own stories. She did participate in stories of people in her sphere of influence, like family. She was with every Lewis man but Bill. They retconned her past so she was a child in the Lewis household but the Lewises weren't native themselves.

3 of 4 probably had guarantees of 4. Deidre doesn't. 

Carly at GH is probably the most like Reva. Hmm, Carly at ATWT maybe too. 

[Contessa Donatella]

I am unlike most GL fans because I did not dislike the end years or Peapack. Instead I thought that this might be the new way soaps looked. There were only 2 things that bothered me & they bothered me to an extreme. When EW repurposed offices to double as sets, most worked but the courtroom was an exception. The second floor was so steep to the first that it was ridiculous. It never should have been used. And the other was audio. They took way too long solving  horrible problems with audio. And if you can't hear a soap, you can just forget it. 

Other things GL that I hated: Maureen's death including the fact that Lillian paid a price & Ed was just untouched; the clone; traveling through time via portrait; Holly kidnapping the children; Roger's son imprisoning Holly in an actual cell & then trying to romance her; sock puppet; Maryanne Carruthers; teens tunneling & falling down, somehow, into Danny & Michelle's apartment; Ben Reade sex storyline & suicide; Marty West & that baseball diamond; Eden the whole character; Natalia until Otalia. 

Random things I loved: Laura Bell Bundy; Gina Tognoni; "Doris Wolfe" mayor in gay bar with a hat on; Aubrey Dollar; Matt Bomer; Lisa Brown & Michael Tylo; "Mattessa"; Melissa Hayden & all things Bridget; "Nadine Cooper" loved Jean; "Jenna" earlyish; all the Lewis men; Hawk & Sarah; Buzz; Emma always but especially "My 2 Moms". Otalia, the graveyard & gazebo, written by Swajeski; Jami, Tammy's death & Jonathan's reaction; Richard's funeral where Cassie read "Wild Geese" by Mary Oliver, Pullitzer winning poet; GusH, a love scene where Harley's arm was broken so Gus obliged her & it was clear it was oral sex. Many years later on DAYS oral sex happened again & many pearls were grasped, so GL was that far ahead of the game; another love scene directed by Bruce Barry with Philip & Olivia where Grant's bicep covered so much of Crystal's body it looked like they were both naked. 

[Mona Kane Croft]

Actually, Rachel was not a native.  She and Ada moved to Bay City from somewhere in the South, and they discussed their move briefly on camera.  Ada even spoke with a Southern accent for a few weeks when the characters premiered. I assume Connie Ford got sick of the accent and just dropped it.   

[Contessa Donatella]

Okay. Duly noted.

[SamandWillowFan]

It’s a bit jarring how often men would slap women in the 80s and 90s. Roger slapped Holly and Alex back and slapped his daughter. Billy slapped Reva back and slapped his daughter.

OLTL did an implied oral sex scene with Dorian and David, but it was played comedically. 

[Contessa Donatella]

Was Ron the HW then? 

[SamandWillowFan]

Yes, this is the scene https://youtu.be/H7xWxoYNUVI

[Contessa Donatella]

Thanks. Clever. 

[wonderwoman1951]

while there were a lot of errors and omissions — especially re oltl — i have to give her a pass. she finished the book just before she died at 93, from parkinson's. her children were helping her, but i’m sure there was a lot they didn’t know,

when i saw her in 2011, her memory was already shaky.  

Edited August 11, 2023 by wonderwoman1951