Guiding Light Discussion Thread

[BetterForgotten]

Patrick Mulcahey is credited solo or with Nancy Williams Watt for a bit after Curlee left. But there were rapid changes at that time, felt like the HW-ing credits were changing week to week in 1994 - it’s no wonder that was such an awful year for the show.

[kalbir]

I stopped watching 1994 when Nancy Curlee left as HW. I know post-Curlee two big 1994 events were Alan return and Annie Dutton arrival, but the consensus here is that 1994 on the whole was not very good.

That year and a bit from the aftermath of Maureen death until Nancy Curlee left as HW was a chore to get through. At least there was MZ Emmy-winning storyline in that time.

[BetterForgotten]

After JFP flamed out and the show became overshadowed by her worst tendencies as an EP, I didn’t think it could get any worse.

But I was wrong, as Laibson and McTavish was just another kind of awfulness that almost got the show cancelled completely. 

[kalbir]

@BetterForgotten The aftermath of OJ was when GL entered cancel territory. I've pointed it out before but GL got saved from cancel territory in the 1980s because Capitol showed no growth during its run and B&B wasn't a hit right away. Once B&B started showing growth in 1989, one would think GL would be in cancel territory at that point but I don't remember any cancel rumors until the early months of 1995.

[BetterForgotten]

There was also talk and press reports about CBS wanting to expand B&B to an hour in 95/96, and that GL would be canceled to accommodate that. 

[vetsoapfan]

Yes. I could never understand how a talented, charismatic, gorgeous actress like Rebecca Hollen could be dismissed, but to be fair, we don't know what TPTB were smoking in the 1980s, LOL.

[DRW50]

I remember around September-November 1996 that talk reached fever pitch, with B&B introducing a new family. Then we heard it wasn't going to happen. Even if a lot of the show was hollowed out by that point I'm still glad it survived a bit longer. 

 

I think Rebecca faced some of the same problems of actresses like Beverly Penberthy - too classy and understated for an increasingly histrionic genre. I also wonder if it's because she was the one Lewis who was not emotionally volatile. Even Long didn't seem to do that much with her - maybe because that just wasn't her type of woman. 

[BetterForgotten]

Cynthia Watros talked about how she landed on GL during a GH fan event this weekend:

https://twitter.com/ariana_puzzo/status/1784339163493331117/mediaViewer?currentTweet=1784339163493331117&currentTweetUser=ariana_puzzo

[vetsoapfan]

Classy heroines like Penny Hughes, Jessie Brewer and Nancy Karr have been underrepresented on the soaps for many years.

Reva Shayne and Carly Corinthos as leads is like Hollywood abandoning the likes of Grace Kelly and Audrey Hepburn in favor of Roseanne Barr and Rosie O'Donnell.

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[Contessa Donatella]

I am amazed that apparently it is impossible to escape this current tsunami of GH Carly hating even when one finds oneself in a Guiding Light thread!   

[Sapounopera]

You must agree that this type of heroine ("The Outsider" Reva, GH Carly, ATWT Carly) has changed soaps and turned them into flashy one-woman-shows. Not everybody loved this change Contessa. Even All My Children was never the Erica show.  

Edited April 28, 2024 by Sapounopera

[Contessa Donatella]

Well, I would not *exactly* agree with that. AMC, OLTL, AW, etc. were definitely ensemble shows but at the same time AMC was very much the Erica show, just as AW had Vicky Windham as its star & in a sense it usually was The Rachel show. Same thing with Slezak, Viki, OLTL. And other examples could be provided. 

Now I would argue that Reva is different. Reva is an instance where one character ate their show. But, it has nothing to do with her being an outsider. It had everything to do with the various PTB & the actress herself. 

Carly has not eaten GH. 

[DRW50]

I would actually argue that Carly has taken over GH in the long term in ways even Reva did not with GL, but that would derail the thread and most people in here don't want to sit through all that.

[Contessa Donatella]

Well, I would disagree & post the episode counts 2023 & 2024 so far, but you're right, it would be absurdly OT. 

Edited April 28, 2024 by Contessa Donatella

[vetsoapfan]

Exactly. And one commenting on this trend among the soaps, which includes (but is not limited to) TGL in a Guiding Light thread, is perfectly reasonable.

I agree, in its own way, GH's infatuation with Carly (and Sonny and Jason) has hurt that soap the way the Reva tunnel vision hurt TGL. It's sad watching multiple soaps making the same sort of mistakes ad nauseum. No one wants to see another soap become extinct like TGL.