Guiding Light Discussion Thread

[DRW50]

I really liked Jeff Phillips at the time because I liked the idealism of his Hart and his love story with Julie. When I saw him on AW I got his limitations more (although at that point Matt was just a cardboard cutout anyway).

I was still so mad with GL about Maureen's death and the flood of exits that I didn't pay a lot of attention during the time Leonard Stabb was there. Looking back I can see his charisma and what might have been, although I tend to wonder how long Hart would have lasted.

I thought Marshall was OK, but the character was so ill-defined and the story with Dinah and Roger was, at that time, one of the worst I'd ever seen on GL.

Frank Grillo was mostly a generic, amiable piece of ass. I accepted him in that role, but he never was Hart. I guess it didn't matter as most of his time on the show was disconnected from Roger, Bridget, etc. anyway. 

[Soapsuds]

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Marshall

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. 

 

[soapfan770]

Fair assessments Carl I like this.

I had really enjoyed the whole Bridget/Dylan/Julie/Hart quad story especially as it came to a head there in the summer of ‘93 myself so that’s my fondest memories of Stabb plus I liked the edge he brought with his Hart, especially knowing about Roger swindling the Jessup farm. 

I admit at the time I like Grillo and Wright together but his Hart  that point definitely was so disconnected from Phillips and Staab’s Hart that when Hart went to town on Ross for shooting Blake and asked Ross “What did you to my sister?!” I literally had to stop for a moment and think “oh yeah that’s right”. 

[P.J.]

The odd thing is, if you had not told me these were GL sets, I wouldn't have recognized a one of them. It's bizarre. But I clearly remember Ross' Carriage House, Reva Bend, the Bauer kitchen, the Spaulding mansion, Company and The Towers. Even the Springfield Country Club. The third one on the top might be gothic enough to be Quentin's Thornway Rd house, but that's the only real guess I could make.

[Mitch64]

LOL...why does he not have a shirt on when on the field???Oh, cause there is a camera there!

 

I never thought they had chemistry, despite the show pushing them...(she always seemed to tower over him for some reason...) But again, I think Wright would have been fun as a trashy ex stripper using her Lewis connections and willing to push anyone out of the way, but her pretty princess routine didn't work. When Dinah came back during Wheeler and Reva, Cassie and Blake took turns berating her about Hart, when they had her in that weird jail cell that seemed to be the center of the room (and I loved the Dinah actress just acting as if the was bored with their ranting) I also forgot why Blake would be there..oh, yea, that is her brother.

[Soaplovers]

Cassie was propped by the writers and Paul Rauch.  I likes her better when she was the hard ridden stripper determined to get her kid back.

I liked that she was bought onto the show and Springfield in the same way Reva was.  Alan found both Reva and Cassie and used them both to serve a selfish need of his.. and in both cases, both did evetually turn against him.

She was a good contrast to Reva at first and I wish they had been antagonistic with one another much longer..

 

Edited January 14, 2024 by Soaplovers

[Chris 2]

Every time I see a 1990s-era Guiding Light clip, I’m struck by what a one-note actor Mark Derwin is, with his clenched-mouth, constipated portrayal of Mallet.

[DRW50]

I liked Mallet early on, in the Francesca romantic melodrama and his FWB relationship with Mindy, but he was not compelling as a leading man, as he would go on to prove in daytime and primetime.

[dc11786]

I'm struggling to figure out the time period of the sets. Two of my guesses are pretty obscure. The lower purple set I believe was the base of operations for Garden of Eden, Eden's escort business. I'm also thinking that the more gothic looking set might have been Danny and Michelle's place from the same era, the Orchid Manor. My guesses, though, may be wildly off. 

[soapfan770]

All of those sets were early mid-00’s as were as follows:

1. Springfield court house

2. Cedars Hospital 

3. Ross & Blake’s Carriage House

4. Jessup Farm

5. Ellen Wheeler’s Main St set

6. Towers

7. Conboy era Country Club Set

8&9: Springfield PD & jail

10. Spaulding Enterprises Labs

Edited January 14, 2024 by soapfan770

[Vee]

That's a country club?? It really does look like a bordello from Moulin Rouge.

The Main Street set looks like a kids TV soundstage.

Edited January 14, 2024 by Vee

[Khan]

It's very depressing to be reminded of how cheap GL's production values had become in its' final years.

[dc11786]

That isn't the country club. It is Eden's apartment where she initially ran her escort business and then appeared until Deborah Zoe was let go in May, 2004. After Zoe departed, the set underwent reconstruction on air and became much smaller. 

I know the younger set (Ben, Remy, Marah, Bill?) moved into the carriage house at some point. Did the carriage house become Orchid Manor? Because Orchid Manor looks just like the set...

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[Keri]

Man this is exactly how I feel about him. I feel slightly the same about Vincent I, maybe not as harsh. I'm not sure if it's the actor or the characters he plays, but it's always this angry, miserable character- I was just watching a scene where he and AM are talking about whether Brandon did frame Jenna's father in 1993. 

Just always the angry holier than thou attitude, his character was like that on SB as well. Just doesn't seem like he brings any nuance. I probably liked him best as Lujack. 

[P.J.]

I was going to say---that's not Blake and Ross' carriage house. It may be some carriage house, but not Ross and Blake's. Their set had been used since the early 80's in various forms.