Guiding Light Discussion Thread

[chrisml]

Wyndham probably relished playing Justine because it at least gave her something to do rather than being a talk-to for other characters. She had a hard time getting back to Rachel. It reminded me of when Dustin Hoffman played Rainman and then bits of that character showed up in other performances. 

I know some people said the same thing happened to Zimmer after the clone storyline, but I was not a consistent enough viewer to know.

[Mitch64]

Working from home today and at lunch flipping through the channels and Blue Bloods was on (hey, I'm an old man who watches old man shows...I draw the line at Matlock..) and Yvonna Wright...Mel is on the show as a detective and she is really good.  Another GL miss(would have been interesting to have a strong black Bauer matriarch) as she is beautiful but forgettable there. 

[P.J.]

I was reflecting on how much I love Josh and Billy as brothers, and was amazed to realize I couldn't even think of a pair of sisters from the last two decades of the show that I liked. I must be forgetting someone, right? (I didn't like Reva/Cassie)

Harley and Lucy were sisters, but didn't really interact much. The last sisters I remember are Mo and Chelsea, and saying I liked Chelsea is a bit of a stretch. It seems like the show had plenty of bro/sis combos (Alan/Alex, Frank/Harley, Rick/Michelle, Bill/Dinah, Gilly/David) featured over the years.

[DRW50]

I can't think of any others either. Weird. It shows how unimportant female relationships became, although now that I think of it this was not new (Holly, for instance, had two brothers). 

Other than Reva I'm trying to remember how many women we saw on the show with active sister relationships. 

Amanda and Morgan did interact, but it doesn't seem like they had a very memorable or important relationship.

I guess there was Nola and Maureen.

(I know you were talking about last two decades - I was just trying to remember further back)

Edited September 6, 2024 by DRW50

[SoapDope]

There was Rita & Eve.

[P.J.]

I went all the way back to Evie/Rita, who I kinda/sorta remember liking. And even with Mo/Nola or Mo/Chelsea, it's hard to come up with something significant. Certainly not the way Josh/Billy or even Phillip/A-M had. 

I don't think female relationships became less important, it's just that they weren't sisters. Mindy/Beth, Bridget/Kat, Harley/Jenna, Vanessa/Mo, Reva/Abby, and mother/daughter combos Beth/Lillian, Holly/Blake, Vanessa/Dinah.

BTW, JimMuneco has some new episodes up. A Jan 88 episode that's MK's last appearance until she returns in '89 (her and Ross: "you can't stay away from me for long"....which is just so damn cute I want to cry...) and a Dec 84 episode where Vanessa and Billy are gushing over little Bill. 

I think there was Rick and Meredith's wedding and something with Rose from '88 as well, but I didn't care enough to check them out. Meredith's wedding dress looks hideous.

Edited September 6, 2024 by P.J.

[DRW50]

That's right. Thanks. A relationship that does have good value - I like that they stay close even after they are both involved with the same man. Then again, I think I like Eve more than just about anyone else out there.

[TheyStartedOnSoaps]

behind the scenes at Guiding Light & As The World Turns in 1981

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[P.J.]

That's a great find! It's odd, I never think of Nikki Goulet having had worked on soaps before GL. It includes snippets of GL from late July/August 81. MK is pregnant, and at the end is a snippet where Mike finds Joe Bradley picking up blackmail money. (I think Mike talked Vanessa into helping catch the blackmailer, aka Andy Norris)

[Reverend Ruthledge]

That was great. Really reaffirmed my love of the genre. A lot of these people interviewed "got" the genre. Unfortunately, they've gone the way of the dodo. Thanks for sharing!

Can any of you classic soap fans identify the soap at 31:05?  Was that Martha Frazier and Guiding Light?

Edited September 7, 2024 by Reverend Ruthledge

[P.J.]

If we can trust the closed captioning, the lady calls the nurse Mrs Matson. I did find a character by that name played by Fran Bennett from 65-66 on GL. I have no idea who the patient is.

[DRW50]

Thanks! Beyond the wonderful interviews, there are also three clips from '60s GL I have NEVER seen before. I don't even know if they are around anymore (I don't want to rehash the "is the whole archive destroyed" stuff yet again), but I hope they are.

I laughed at them misspelling her name and Marland's name too.

The part with the original SOD editor was worth watching, especially her admitting she'd never watched soaps, but her insistence that viewers would always want to see young and beautiful people over real life is a great example of why the genre ended up being so hurt as the decades went along. 

The comment from the guy who played Joe saying people would still keep watching as long as they needed background noise also annoyed me. There were some people who only watched as background noise, but many were genuinely hooked on the shows until they were pushed away. 

I also enjoyed seeing the Harley Vinton interview, wearing a Derek T-shirt no less. GL just threw him away.

[Reverend Ruthledge]

Interesting. Martha and Jim Frazier were credited as the first African-American soap characters but it looks like Mrs. Matson preceded them. 

[P.J.]

I didn't even catch that! 

I was more amazed with the wardrobe guy's interview. I'm not sure how long he'd been there by that time, but I generally find GL's wardrobe atrocious for it's young leading ladies. Amanda and Hope look like matrons at 30-ish(?). Nola's is unique, but then again, so was she. And Vanessa's hat collection certainly lent to her dramatic persona.

[DRW50]

He seemed to start in 1980 per IMDB. I'd agree the wardrobe is very drab. He stays through 1987 - there is an improvement after a while (maybe down to Gail Kobe) but still nothing fantastic.