Guiding Light Discussion Thread

[DRW50]

I did see some. Lovely to watch them watching the old clips. 

[kalbir]

I agree. Kimberley Simms may not have been the original Mindy, but she was the best Mindy. It's too bad she didn't get another soap or a primetime series after GL. Her name was thrown around by the soap press for some big recasts in the 1990s but as we know nothing came of it.

[~bl~]

When Kim Simms left the reason given was the show wanted her for 2 years and she would only agree to one. So I think they actually liked her but didn’t want to have to renegotiate a contract again after a year if she had decided to stay. This was in a Logan article in tvguide I think but it has been over 30 years.

[P.J.]

Yep. Mallet and Mindy race to NYC to stop it, but were too late. But that's where Mindy found Nick. I zipped through most of it, but the little I did see was not good. After 1990 seeming to hit on all cylinders (with the exception of the stupid Chelsea stalker story), '91 seems to stumble through almost half the year.

Considering how bad the subsequent recasts were, they should've signed Simms for the year and hoped for the best.

Question---is there a better example of a show bringing back a character(s) and getting them right than Roger and Holly? I just kind of marvel at how seemlessly they fit back on the canvas after 10 years (more or less). Roger is just the perfect antagonist to the entire town. And I don't think it would have worked nearly as well without Holly there to be his Achilles heel. Especially considering the was only actor still on canvas that they both worked with was Jerry verDorn. 

So many times the canvas had changed so much in just a few years that the returning character seems out of place. The only instance I can think that even comes close is Marie Masters' Susan Stewart--and in her case, she had a core of actors still there that she'd worked with. 

re: Alex. I think she was content to let Phillip run Spaulding knowing she held the controlling interest. It was Alan's return in 86 that propelled her to be more hands on. But the power struggles at Spaulding are hard to keep track of.

Edited June 14, 2024 by P.J.

[kalbir]

Agree. Roger/Holly return and Robert Calhoun becoming EP ushered in GL's last golden era. GL's previous golden era (in my life anyway) was Potter/Dobsons/Marland and Roger/Holly were quite prominent then. I always point out that any 1979 and 1980 episodes featuring Roger/Holly are a treat because the storylines of those episodes set in motion so much of what we saw a decade later.

[Khan]

And to think that the Soderbergs (or whoever actually created Roger Thorpe) envisioned him as a blonde, Ivy League type.

[P.J.]

Was that a case where the casting influenced the character?

 

It's too bad Vanessa and Maureen weren't friends for longer. It's weird they barely even interact before '90. And actually, I can't see Ellen Dolan's Maureen being friendly with Vanessa. 

[Mitch64]

Original recipe Alex was motivated by an almost feminist idea of power. She had a horrible father who (while heaping more mental and physical abuse) favored a weaker brother , just because he was male. Alex was smart enough to get out, while choosing a sub par partner to run with, while her weaker brother chose to stay to somehow get his father's approval. The original story had Alan helping Brandon hide Lujack and that is where her anger came from...she always protected her brother, but he in the end betrayed her. That was the dynamic which haunted their relationship..she loved her brother but could not trust him, or really any man, who represented her subjection. Alex was always going to try to trust Alan, and he was always going to fail her.

That is why I agree with Bev, that Alex would never have trusted Roger, but it could have worked but they skipped a few beats...(accepting that a man who was actually as abused by a patriarchal father..and retro written that he knew Brandon and Henry who didn't accept him..she finally trusts a man who was an equal..even though he wasn't and destined to betray her like every other man) and fed into Alex/Nick...(yet again a blood relative who would turn his back on her) and again Alex always admired loyalty above all else, so being betrayed by Mindy, retro written as growing up in Alex house, doubled with then going with her own son, really made sense for the first two years, but after that it made Alex look like a nut (and bored the audience.) 

MarjAlex..is anyone's guess what she wanted..besides hating Mindy and having an almost incestous relationship with Nick. Her Alex favored Alan over AM, which would have never happened, (as much as AM failed, he was always TeamAlex) and she really almost had a weird fascination with Alan which was less Gothic then Bev/Alex and more..weird.. Under JFP and Curlee and Bev leaving, Alex became a plot point, a shriveled up older woman desperate for love and power..taking all the complexities out of Alex.

Well, Van during that time was the rich bitch antogonist...( a great Nola wedding scene, they are getting ready in the church basement and there is a volley ball net, and Van or course turning her nose up at it all, eventually comes around to the group and in her bridesmaid dress, punts the volleyball over the net) and after that Van became a sniveling wife and the Reardon's were broken up and Mo was more concerned with her husband's ridiculouss trauma baby. So Van was a villain then vanilla.

Agreed, but damn, if Long's first years were great..she wrote the Bauer/Spaulding/Reardons great, and individual scenes and characters were top notch...she just lacked a exec who knew the show and her her in. 

 

[P.J.]

I completely understand why Ellen Dolan's Maureen shouldn't have been friends with Vanessa. Van had issues with Tony, Bea and Nola, and of course, had been involved with Ed. (Vanessa at Quint/Nola's wedding and reception is hilarious. She's a reluctant bridesmaid to say the least. Everyone's looking for Nola, and Van's down in the basement filing her nails without a care in the world. She disparages marriage while talking to Billy, and Billy later keeps her from jabbing Nola with a hatpin.) By the 90's the rest of Mo's family is gone, and Ed and Vanessa is long buried and only obliquely referenced.

What I meant was that I don't really see ED's Maureen as the "pal around with a girlfriend" type. Even on ATWT Dolan seemed to have stronger friend chemistry with male actors. 

[Contessa Donatella]

Does anyone know of a YouTube video where Josh is shown learning that Marah is his daughter. I'm asking for a friend. 

[Liberty City]

I agree; in watching clips, I've loved her take on Mindy and think so much more could have been done with her in the role had she stayed!

[Mitch64]

I got what you meant...(and I loved that hat pin scene...Van was so much fun and then she married Billy and was a bore...I just watched Nola's return in 95 and she and Van going at it, and it must have seemed like Nola was a crazy bitch to talk to St. Van that way but it made perfect sense as she left just as Van was transitioning to bore) That was the only thing that made sense about ED being Margo, I think both previous Margos were kind of "guy friend" types.  

Which reminds me why I missed about Post Resurrection Reva...original Reva had a lot of guy friends...(Fletcher, Phillip, Rick, Johnny) and was great with them...it made sense that Reva would feel easier with guys..the weirdos thing is when they tried to make it that she and Holly (who also wasn't big on women friends) were friends.

[Soaplovers]

I think Maureen was working at Cedars as a hospital Admin during the mid to late 80s ( till at least 1987).. so there wasn't any time for her and Vanessa to become pals since both were working a lot at jobs that didn't require a lot of interaction with one another.  Once little Billy and Michelle became school aged.. and Maureen was a stay at home mom was there organic ways for the two to interact and become friends.  

Reva and Holly becoming friends actually made more sense then either one of them being a part of the girl clique with Blake/Cassie/Abby.   Both Reva and Holly were more comfortable being friends with men instead of other women... and from personal observation.. women that aren't friends with other women tend to become friends with other women that aren't usually friends with other women.

Alex falling for Roger was actually kind of in character despite Bev not thinking so.  Alex met Roger while stranded post plane crask and after Fletcher ended up being rescued.  Plus Alan didn't like Roger... so Alex went for Roger because of a combination of stockholm syndrome and to stick it to Alan.

[Mitch64]

I also thought it was that BevAlex was not a "business woman" but more of a business manipulator and picking people who can run things for her (first Ross, etc, ) and that is why she drifted towards Roger, who was more cut throat because of his hunger and she could blame him for being the bad guy. Then things went south with the Towers project and that was the beginning of the end.  

They made Marj when she first came on more biz like, until she just became Alan's busy body sister..which was not Alex. 

[j swift]

Are we to assume that Alex married the Baron to gain freedom and independence from Brandon?

Maybe all of her romantic liaisons prior to Fletcher transactional.  I mean, Mike, Ross, Warren and HB were not end-game-type relationships.  So, perhaps, the attraction to Roger was that he made her feel romantic in a way that she had not experienced with other men.  Which is why when she found out that he manipulated her, she felt so betrayed.

Edited June 15, 2024 by j swift