Guiding Light discussion thread

[Contessa Donatella]

Why thanks! Count me in. 

[Contessa Donatella]

Who was responsible for that hideous Pied Piper story that Maureen had to play? Between Holly stealing children & Phillip stealing children, there was real family endangerment! Okay, that's not a word. 

[Dan]

That scene with the obvious doll going over the ledge might have been one of the most unintentionally-funny scenes I've seen. I am not ashamed to admit I cackled. 

That was still Esensten and Brown in late 1998-early 1999.

[Contessa Donatella]

Well, I was taught not to speak ill of the dead & I think Barbara Esensten died in 2012. 

But, I thought James Harmon Brown wrote an AWFUL MEAN-SPIRITED story. I didn't like what he wrote on some ABC soap either! 

[Dan]

BTW since the Nursery Rhyme stalker mess got mentioned. Someone correct me if I'm wrong, but wasn't Jenna killed off because Fiona spoke out about the MZ firing or is that just scuttle butt that got speculated? 

[China Jones]

Don't leave me hanging, spill! If you don't want to get into it, please give a brief clue and I can probably research it or figure it out for myself. I didn't watch GL that much the last ten years. Thanx!

[Dan]

That's @Soapsuds. I don't often get here since I have no interest whatsoever of the current soaps, but I always try to stop by when I can. I still love going into the archives and I'm thrilled that alot of the bandstandmike archive got reposted to YouTube to enjoy. I will still go down that rabbit hole at times

[China Jones]

I couldn't agree more!!

[Dan]

I don't think there is any real juicy gossip about it. Donna just mentioned the Nursery Rhyme stalker mystery from 1998/1999 that completely trashed Holly's character but fit in with the archetype that Rauch/E&B/MADD followed that women could only be saints or one-note, conniving psychopaths. 

[Contessa Donatella]

You're kidding!!! REALLY. What good tidings you have brought me! And, hey! I didn't recognize you with no last name!

[BetterForgotten]

Always great to see you chiming in @Dan!

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[Contessa Donatella]

Oh, you know it! The Nursery Rhyme Stalker? Holly kidnapped all of the kids. MG had two totally hateful things to do at GL in the last decade. This was one & Sebastian kidnapping her & kissing her, was the other. I just always call it that dreadful Pied Piper story & then I try to blank it out of my mind! 

[Dan]

I found it posted under username Blake Marler, but it seems like a whole lot of the bandstandmike archive seems to be there.

As far as the no last name, that's just a remnant I haven't changed from my days wayyyyyyyyyy back when I was on the SON staff as a mod/GL columnist. We all had our first name. It's been a long time.

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Appreciate you all! Wish life was a bit less hectic that I could get here more often! 

Edited December 29, 2023 by Dan

[Contessa Donatella]

I will look for it! 

I chgd too. When you last saw me I was Tonksadora. 

I just get more behind. Isn't that what life is all about?!! 

[dc11786]

This is kinda where I ended up. I started watching in fall 1998 when Essensten and Harmon Brown so my standards weren´t that high. I didn´t think the Maryanne Carrouthers story was any worse than what I had seen of the Annabelle/Eli Simms story which had, at that time, a more mixed reaction than it has now. I thought Carrie Nye was deliciousy campy as Carolyn Carrouthers (I was seventeen, sue me).

I remember learning to appreciate some actors I hadn´t under Conboy. Beth Chamberlain, no longer a lead but a supporting role, gave some very emotional performances as Beth that I hadn´t seen in her previous stories where she was donning a wig and an accent and writing romance novels. I feel like David Andrew Macdonald´s Edmund also seemed to find some humanity in a character who shouldn´t have had any. 

Also, the Conboy produced Culliton/Taggart episodes were the perfect mix of style and substance and I don´t regret that very short period at all. 

Conboy´s biggest issue to me was he hadn´t worked in daytime in over 15 years. The Internet had changed the way viewers interacted with the show. When he was quoted as saying  he couldn´t understand why Bradley Cole had been fired given all the outcry, I knew that he was too far gone to really make an impact. No one wanted to lead ¨Guiding Light¨ in terms of headwriters or producers. 

Seeing what happened a few years later, I would have liked to have seen how a Gary Tomlin produced show embracing more of his ¨Days of our Lives¨ style rather than his ¨One Life to Live¨ work would have done.

In regards to the nudity, Conboy´s love scenes were steamy. I seem to recall he came in right off the bat and had a very intense encounter with Grant Alexander and Crystal Chappell where Chappell´s chest was heavily featured. The mentioned Shayne and Marina scene was noteable because Shayne was paralyzed at the time. I´m surprised the Shayne scene got them fined because, if I recall correctly, that was a December/January scene and it was Daniel Cosgrove´s butt on display in February in a shower scene with Deborah Zoe´s Eden. Mark Collier had a similar scene at ¨As the World Turns¨ around the same time. 

The Nursery Rhyme Stalker showed the ultimate flaw of the Loving Murders, the story that it was clearly being cribbed from, once the reveal comes out, what do you do with the perpetrator? Be thankful we didn´t have to watch Michelle Bauer put Holly out with a syringe of cleaning fluid. 

Edited December 29, 2023 by dc11786