Guiding Light Discussion Thread

[Contessa Donatella]

So what do you think about his being acting coach?!

[P.J.]

I really expect someone to reassure me that LM had long runs on EON and AMC for good reasons, and that sometimes even good actors can't overcome bad writing.

As for his coaching, someone would have to remind me who or when he coached. If he's behind Todd Rotondi/Jen Onsach on ATWT in the early 00's, I wouldn't be impressed. 

[Vee]

People are allowed to have opinions about actors regardless of their resumes. We weren't all born yesterday on this forum that is what, almost 20 years old and are not only just now having these facts magically dropped upon us. This is not all news to us.

[Mitch64]

He was good on Edge...at first.....but then he did fall into the Shatner acting syndrome (LOL) I couldn't stand Kyle and Malloy's nostril flaring acting  but they were somehow popular.  The only thing I could think of is that they were trying to fill in the CB Alan void with a kind of Gothic type guy. The trouble was that he came on at a time of radical change, he was tied to the Lewis and Reva and no one else, and his   intro was stupid and creepy (not in a good way) with talking to pictures and the worst part...Mindy thinking she was in love with him, only to rejected and then out of characte shooting him. After his first year on Edge I found Malloy to just come off so unlikeable .  Tho I do think he really nailed the crazy Doctor with the aging serum on ATWT!

[dmelvinwalker4]

Bryan Buffinton & John Driscoll are my Favorite Young actors on the show

[P.J.]

Yeah, I just don't get the point of the character, other than throwing another man at Reva. I wonder if Kyle/Reva would've been as popular if Josh had been on the show.  The only positive aspect was sinking the farcical HB/Reva marriage.

[j swift]

It is another example of illogical soap casting that both Sharon Gabet and Larkin Malloy were immediately hired by another show after EON was cancelled.  They were both very good on EON, and had a charming rapport.  However, it eludes me why producers would hire actors from a cancelled soap, because it is so rare that fans from one soap will become loyal to another (on another network). 

Of course, there are those who will cite Jake moving from Bay City to Oakdale, but that experiment did not last, nor did it have a significant impact on ratings.  So, it is a stunt that rarely pays off, despite being tried repeatedly over the years.  And grafting Larkin Malloy onto the Lewis clan was predictably an awful move; at least make him a Chamberlain.

Edited May 21, 2024 by j swift

[P.J.]

I was trying to think of a character they could've brought back from the past for LM to play, but couldn't. I can't really see him as a Chamberlain. 

Moving Jake to ATWT was a debacle. I resented the way this dude was suddenly eating air time like funnel cakes at the fair.  

[Khan]

That's funny, because if anyone ever looked like they ate too much at the fair, it was Tom Eplin circa ATWT, lol.

I'll be honest: I loved watching Larkin Malloy as a kid, from EON (with Mama Khan), to GL (again, with Mama Khan), to AMC.  (Our local ABC affiliate had dropped LOVING long before he joined as Clay).  And I loved Keva more than I did Jeva.  But it seems like both GL and AMC went out of their ways to ruin the characters LM was playing and the relationships his characters were part of, which makes me wonder if he was very unpopular BTS at both shows.

Edited May 21, 2024 by Khan

[P.J.]

Well...yeah....lol

I do wonder why the quick exit from GL. It's just two years. If LM got a better offer, or GL decided it wasn't working.

[Khan]

In the past, I've wondered if LM was just working off whatever his last contract was with EON, since both were P&G shows.

[DRW50]

I think the idea of Kyle had potential (much more than what AW did with Sharon Gabet), and I think he worked well with Kim Zimmer and most of the other people in the cast. His acting was theatrical, but this was a very theatrical era for the show. 

I just don't believe the stories were compelling - they were unpleasant (everything with Roxy), convoluted, and gave you no real reason to care. The Maeve material was like something out of a '30s movie, and in order to avoid having her get into it with Reva, Miss Sally had to run around doing everything.

Leslie Denniston was also extremely dull as Maeve. 

If P&G were going to try to find a role for Sharon Gabet, bringing her in as Maeve might have been more interesting. I can already see the print ads - "The one woman who could come between Kyle and Reva." 

Edited May 21, 2024 by DRW50

[P.J.]

And from what I gathered, EON wrapped it up just two months after the announcement of the cancelation. 

LOL...Leslie Denniston--bless her heart, she tried. 

[Reverend Ruthledge]

To Leslie Denniston's defense, I think the character of Maeve was supposed to be boring. I don't know why but I remember Reva, upon meeting her, cattily remarked, "She's kind of quiet, isn't she?" It may have been good acting instead of bad acting on  Leslie's part. I think Maeve was supposed to be the anti-Reva. The opposite of loud and over the top. 

Edited May 21, 2024 by Reverend Ruthledge

[j swift]

Can someone jog my memory?  Who was the actor, young guy part of the teen/early 20s set, that played on GL and then changed his last name when he became more popular?  Was it Paul Wesley?  I know the name was Eastern European.  But, I was recently making a list in my head of actors who changed their names after appearing in daytime.  Also, let me know if you think of any more examples.