Guiding Light Discussion Thread

[kalbir]

Michelle Forbes got nominated for Supporting Actress in 1990. It's been nearly 35 years since her GL run ended, and she's been working steadily for the better part of those years.

[vetsoapfan]

What killed me was that for so many years, the show treated Reva as The Irresistible Sex Goddess of Every Man's Desire. Um...no. 

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I found 1982 to be fascinating, with Pat Falken Smith's short tenure a breath of fresh air. She hit the ground running. It was clear she had studied the history of the series and had an understanding of the characters. I was relieved to see that the show would be in capable ands after Marland's departure, just as General Hospital had been when PFS assumed the writing reigns after DM left.

Personally, I think Zimmer's own personality was too "big" and too "sassy" to be an effective Hope Bauer. If TPTB wanted to age the character (whom Don Stewart once said was supposed to be about 24 when Alan-Michael was born), they still needed to cast someone who could project the essence of who Hope was. I liked Elvera Roussel, but in 1983, if TGL didn't want to continue with her, I might have considered Jacquie Courtney for the part. Courtney was 36 that year (which was in sync with the SORASing Alan Michael), and Courtney had a solid reputation of playing kind-hearted, loving heroines.

[DRW50]

Sadly, I don't know if any of her episodes are available to watch, aside from Quint and Nola clips.

[vetsoapfan]

I know, and I consider that to be a major shame. With the glaring exception of Ryan's Hope, I found Pat Falken Smith's material upon assuming the writing duties to be exceptionally good.

God only knows why her RH stint was so...tepid. I wonder if it came down to tepid production values and network interference at the time.

[BetterForgotten]

Slightly off topic -  but when PFS came back to DAYS in 1981, NBC ran a commercial promo about “having the writer from GH now!” I wish that was still up, and why did no one bother to tell NBC PFS started at DAYS? 

Oh, here it is. How tacky:

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[DRW50]

If they were going for that approach you'd think it would make more sense to say, "We had her first."

Still, it was probably a more successful ad campaign than those "I made the switch" ads in 1986.

It's a shame she didn't last long at GL, for whatever reason. 

[vetsoapfan]

PFS returning to DAYS was such a welcome event for me. IMHO, she and WJB had been the show's very best writers of all time. TPTB at NBC, however, probably just wanted to capitalize of the GH angle since under Douglas Marland and then PFS, GH had been such a hugely-popular cultural phenomenon.

It was so weird that P&G signed a renowned writer of her caliber, who had already proven she could succeed Douglas Marland to great effect, and then dumped her so quickly. At the time, Smith acknowledged she was mystified. I wonder if cost-cutting played a role. Pamela Long was a novice scribe, with no proven successes under her belt, and very little experience. It's not like her run on Texas was a ratings winner, so I wonder if TPTB went with her because she was significantly cheaper than PFS. Or maybe Gail Kobe had a mandate from the suits to dismantle and gut TGL the way ATWT had been gutted a few years earlier under Mary Ellis Bunim, to pander to the youth market. Kobe might have wanted to work with a writer she already knew.

Anyway, this is just speculation. The facts are lost to history at this point. But it's so disheartening that the show had continued success in the palm of its hand (heck, TGL had even done surprisingly well in the ratings during General Hospital's explosive heyday), and then threw it away. Pamela Long did improve over time, and some of her work was effective (Phillip and Rick's friendship, Bert's short story with Martin Brunner, for example), but she was no Pat Falken Smith.

PFS was one of the few writers whom I followed around the dial, from show to show. I knew I'd always enjoy her work (again, with the notable exception of Ryan's Hope).

Isn't it curious that some writers do brilliantly on some shows, yet just don't gel and/or fail at others?

Edited April 27, 2024 by vetsoapfan

[P.J.]

Michelle and Joe Breen were great. The story was a quagmire.

Ugh...right? and none of them are really allowed to get over her. Even Billy. RME. She slept his way through his family

[kalbir]

Of all soaps during the 1980s, I think GL had the most turnover among EPs and HWs. I might be wrong on some of the dates.

EP changes

February 1983: Allen Potter to Gail Kobe

January 1986: Gail Kobe to Joe Willmore

June 1989: Joe Willmore to Robert Calhoun

HW changes

October 1982: Douglas Marland to Pat Falken Smith

November 1982: Pat Falken Smith to L. Virginia Browne

February 1983: L. Virginia Browne to Richard Culliton and Pamela Long

September 1983: Pamela Long becomes sole HW

January 1986:  Pamela Long to Jeff Ryder

February 1986: Mary Ryan Munisteri becomes co-HW

September 1986: Co-HW change from Jeff Ryder to Ellen Barrett

October 1986: Mary Ryan Munisteri and Ellen Barrett to Joseph Manetta

November 1986: Sheri Anderson becomes co-HW

July 1987: Joseph Manetta and Sheri Anderson to Pamela Long

Yes, the Potter/Marland era held its own vs. General Hospital but I can't help but feel that the ratings success was helped by Y&R being in their post-expansion slump. Remember prior to the 1 hour expansion, Y&R was CBS highest-rated soap and was challenging General Hospital and All My Children for #1, but then all their momentum was lost post-expansion. Y&R rebound during the second half of 1982 overlaps w/ GL dropping post-Marland and by 1983 Y&R was back to being CBS highest-rated soap.

Pamela Long set in motion characters and storylines that would carry GL through its final 25 years: Lewis family expanded and elevated to a main family, Phillip/Beth, Reva, Alexandra.

[Contessa Donatella]

What I was told by a soap journo who covered it at the time is that old story. There were things she wanted to write but they did not want her to write them. In similar fashion they named things they wanted her to write but she told them that they were impossible & no one could write them. At which point they said that was why they hired her because they thought she could write these stories that no one else could. So they were stuck. The elusive green light. 

Edited April 27, 2024 by Contessa Donatella
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[vetsoapfan]

Whether that ended up being an asset or a detriment depends on each viewer's point of view.

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Aside from Trish, whom I liked a lot, I never grew to care about any of the Lewises.

I disliked Beth, under both actresses.

Reva's eating of the show became unbearable to me.

Alexandra was marvelous while BM was there, but once Marj Dusay took over, I felt the character became an abrasive and one-dimensional irritant.

Not to be a Negative Nellie (I know, I know: too late, LOL!), but IMHO, of the show's final 27 years, I only found about about five of them to be worthwhile.

 

[Reverend Ruthledge]

 

That commercial is cringe-worthy. Everybody has different perspectives but that would make me NOT want to watch Days. 

[P.J.]

Of all the actresses that got shoved aside for Reva, I think Rebecca Holland is the one that surprises me the most. She's talented, gorgeous, and the most practical Lewis...and yet fades into the background. Trish and Vanessa should've been teaming up to keep Reva in check from day one.

[Contessa Donatella]

Similar to this, another period of network upheaval in the late 90s 

P&G/NY soaps

AW EP 1995-1996 Jill Farren Phelps

AW EP 1996-1998 Charlotte Savitz

AW EP 1998-1999 Chris Goutman

AW HW Aug 1995-May 1996 Tom King & Craig Carlson

AW HW May 1996-Jan 1997 Margaret DePriest

AW HW Jan 1997-Mar 1997 Elizabeth Page, Tom King & Craig Carlson

AW HW Mar 1997-Apr 1997 Tom King & Craig Carlson

AW HW Apr 1997-Dec 1997 Michael Malone

AW HW Dec 1997-May 1998 Richard Culliton

AW HW May 1998-July 1998 Richard Culliton & Jean Passanante

AW HW July 1998 Jean Passanante

AW HW Jul 1998-June 1999 Leah Laiman & Jean Passanante

ATWT EP Laurence Caso Oct. 1988-1995

ATWT EP John Valente May 1995-Nov. 8, 1996

ATWT EP Felicia Minei Behr Nov. 11, 1996-June 1999

ATWT EP Christopher Goutman July 1999-Sept. 17, 2010

ATWT HW Richard Culliton 1995-Jan. 31, 1996

ATWT HW Stephen Black & Henry Stern Feb. 2, 1996-1996

ATWT HW Stephen Demorest, Mel Brez, Addie Walsh* 1996-1997

ATWT HW Jessica Klein May 1997-late Oct. 1997

ATWT HW Stephen Demorest, Mel Brez, Addie Walsh* late Oct. 1997-Jan. 1998

GL EP 1996-2002 Paul Rauch

GL EP 2002-2004 John Conboy

GL EP 2004-2009 Ellen Wheeler

GL HW 1995-1996 Megan McTavish

GL HW 1996-1997 Victor Miller, Michael Conforti, Nancy Williams Watt

GL HW 1997-1998 James Harmon Brown & Barbara Esensten (RIP)

*Interim co-HWs

[kalbir]

There's a gap in the 1990s changes I haven't filled yet.

EP changes

July 1991: Robert Calhoun to JFP

May 1995: JFP to Michael Laibson

1996: Michael Laibson to Paul Rauch

HW changes

January 1991: Pamela Long to Nancy Curlee

March 1994: Nancy Curlee to ?

1995: ? to Megan McTavish

The rest of the 1990s were posted above.

I think it was posted here that March 1994-May 1995 there was a writing committee and no designated HW.

Edited April 27, 2024 by kalbir