Guiding Light Discussion Thread

[DRW50]

I haven't seen enough of the full story to completely weigh in, but I don't think the Carrie story was worth Diane's murder, especially as Carrie was boxed into a corner early on.

Admittedly, Diane would have just been dumped in 1982, 1983, or 1984 if she had lived...

[j swift]

Carrie is just the twist, it also ties in Roger and Alan's stories as well...

And my point was not about the longevity of Diane, but about the expert crafting of a mystery specially for daytime that serves as a transition from one creative team to another.

Edited January 2, 2024 by j swift

[DRW50]

I got your point, I just don't think it was worth it long-term. I appreciate that Marland wanted to end the stories he inherited, but I think what replaced them was, in most cases, not really up to the same standards (like what he did with Amanda).

[Contessa Donatella]

I'm interested in this from a totally different perspective. 

Bridget & Jerome Dobson were very happy HWing GL. 

They created Alan & Amanda Spaulding, Justin & Jackie Marler, Phillip Spaulding & Ross Marler.

They studied the Rideout rape story & crafted the marital rape of Holly by Roger. 

But, P&G asked them to switch with Doug Marland who had been HWing ATWT. They did not want to but felt they had to. I'm not sure but Marland may have been equally dissatisfied. I do know that he indicated that he had to have a vacation before beginning a different show. So for a month the Dobsons continued to HW GL but also began HWing ATWT. 

My interest is this question. Why did P&G do this? Do we have any clues? 

And, this is an odd one but do you think that P&G paid them twice for that month where they actually doubled?

Edited January 2, 2024 by Donna L. Bridges
typos are always with us

[DRW50]

ATWT was struggling, as GL had been before the Dobsons were hired. On paper, it made sense to move the Dobsons over. 

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@slick jones Not sure it will have anything you don't already know, but there's a full cast crawl.

[Contessa Donatella]

Okay, so this would show up, correspondingly, in a ratings thread! Gotcha. That was all I could think of, but I was curious if anything strange was going on, especially because of the way Marland was a Renaissance later albeit but for ATWT. 

[SamandWillowFan]

How old was Holly supposed to be when she got pregnant by Fletcher 

[Soaplovers]

I don't know...I think Pam Long would have found a character like Diane interesting to write...but I suspect Gail Kobe would have found a way to drive her off the show.

Carrie was a poorly written and developed character...she would be known as a propped character.  Jane Elliot was not made to play a nice character.

 

Edited January 2, 2024 by Soaplovers

[Contessa Donatella]

I've only heard of people speak of Carrie in 2 ways - the brilliance of the writing added to the superb acting & then that Allen Potter fired Jane & foreshortened the story causing Marland to quit. 

[DRW50]

Oh I think Pam would have found some juicy material for Diane, but as you said, there's Gail Kobe, and also some huge cast culls on the way for three successive years. 

[j swift]

I feel like regardless of backstage drama, Carrie was not long for Springfield.  I mean, Ross couldn't settle down that early, she didn't have many professional or personal attachments, and we already knew her backstory.  There weren't many other places to go with her that weren't redundant to those already on canvas.

[Paul Raven]

This has been discussed before but with 800 pages to wade through...

Marland at ATWT seems to be a short term caretaking position. There was no big official announcement, unlike when he joined GL and in his stint there he kept everything in place. There were no major changes in story direction or new characters. 

Jane and Doug wanted another year, Carrie would have had treatment but (according to Marland) would her new integrated persona still be in love with Ross? Looks like at the end of year 2 Carrie would leave Springfield unable to fully commit to Ross.

[DRW50]

Marland's ATWT 1.0 material is stronger than most of what I've seen from the Dobsons' tenure, although there is so much missing of the latter.

Anyway, I'd be curious to know if Marland ever had more plans for Buck (Nola's boyfriend here) - if he was in the role Floyd ended up playing. 

The third episode has some good character-based and everyday material with Lainie/Ross/Eve, Katie/Mark, and Diane/Greg - lots of details here I never knew about (like the Diane/Greg relationship). It's funny because Eve is the type of character and actress that I often find tedious on soaps (indeed, there were a slew of women like this on ATWT in the early '80s that make me want to nod off), but there's something I just like about Janet Grey.

This era of GL is very rare for me as I don't think there is anyone I dislike watching, and no stories that I find completely worthless. Everything has a sense of inner life to it.

One moment from Marland here that is very him (clunky and clever all at once) is that you already have Nola confusing movies with real life as we have Kelly telling Hillary that he doesn't like movies because they are a waste of time compared to real life - telling us even before they meet that Kelly and Nola will never work.

(that's a very weird point of view, but honestly watching these years Kelly seems like a kind of weird/stunted guy anyway, just in the body of a god)

[j swift]

Was Dr. Sarah McIntyre still around to treat Carrie?

[Khan]

It breaks my heart to know you are not a fan of Douglas Marland's work on GL, @DRW50.