Guiding Light Discussion Thread

[chrisml]

I honestly have very little memory of him as an actor which pretty much goes to what you're saying. I have more memory of the set than I do of him. I do wonder what was going on bts at GL with Conboy (And by extension, West) that caused all the drama.

[DRW50]

I was barely hanging on around that time but I mostly just remember him as very wooden and...not overly believable with the ladies. 

[Contessa Donatella]

His buttocks being exposed definitely seemed like wardrobe malfunction to me, not planned titillation. It makes more sense if it was a straw breaking the camel's back kind of thing, I think. In that scene Audrey looked HORRIFIED! If it had been intentional & a ploy surely they would have warned her, don't you think? And, frankly, Marty West was not much of an actor, if you ask me anyway. I always thought he was hired strictly because Conboy was attracted to him, even though I thought he had too many years on him to be a twink. 

I know he got flack for selling videos of himself as a wrestler out of the trunk of his car, at work. 

[DRW50]

I remember all the talk about the wrestling videos...

He seems to have an Instagram where he still does casting. If it's true, good for him.

[BetterForgotten]

On the topic of Shayne, I did really like Billy Kay in the role and I was sad he was let go by Conboy. Sure, maybe he wasn’t soap “pretty” but he had a very endearing presence and it felt like he could be Zimmer and Newman’s son. His New York/Long Island accent was pretty apparent, lol, but the NYC-based soaps couldn’t ever escape that with kid/teen actors. 

[DRW50]

He had a lot of potential and felt very natural. 

Failing with Marah and Shayne recasts around that period is one of the reasons it was so easy for Jonathan to just devour the show. 

I can't even remember if either of them had any real interaction with him.

[InLoveWithSoaps]

I know some people didn’t like the return of too much Reva and her family but whenever I watch a late 90’s/early 00’s episode I think the Lewis family unit of Reva/Josh/Marah/Shayne is one of the most appealing things they had going on and they should have gotten some of the recasts right (although I’m fine with Lindsey McKeon as Marah) and nurture that little part of the canvas that felt like a natural place to drive some of the show's stories for years.

One of Wheeler’s first mistakes IMO was her ditching both Marah & Shayne like two months into her tenure and not taking that opportunity to recast them, while she ditched the Marina recast that wasn’t working and brought a new actress for that character and it didn’t seem as though they had urgent plans for her either. I used to think instead of casting Coop he should have been a Shayne recast. And indeed then the real Jonathan arrived on the scene and both his siblings were already long gone, which was a puzzling choice.

But then again I think they should have just left well enough alone and leave Sandy as Reva’s actual son and not an imposter. I never knew if that was the original plan, or if not why Kreizman/Wheeler just insisted on doing their own retcon of that.

Conboy giving Richard of all people a look-alike just a year after BC’s exit is something that I’ve never understood either, again of all people to bring back? I know there was some campaign to get him back on the show, but I’m still not convinced the BC fanbase was an actual thing and not just some scam. And now do these very few people manage to catch him on that really really bad French weekly soap in which he sometimes appears, which makes Peapack look like high budget and gives Passions a run for its money on the most unhealthy showrunner ever front…

[Vee]

Pretty sure Wheeler and Kreizman undid the Sandy thing when they came aboard. It always felt slapped together by Conboy's team to me, cobbled from spare parts and I never once bought him as Jonathan, so I wasn't at all surprised.

It basically was and they did con Conboy (haha) and/or CBS into thinking they were much bigger than they were, IIRC.

I had no idea Bradley Cole was on some French soap? Yikes.

[Contessa Donatella]

Loved Billy Kay! So very talented. Now Sandy, no way! He & his stupid sock puppet had to go! Agree hiring Bradley once, okay, so maybe it was a choice someone would have made but killing off Richard & then creating Jeffrey O'Neill, GMAB! What were they smoking!

[Paul Raven]

The Soap Central article announcing Conboy's appointment states that both Ed Scott and Gary Tomlin were in the running.

I wonder whether Ed Scott would have been prepared to leave LA for GL?

I doubt it- maybe his name was just on somebody' wish list. 

[P.J.]

I didn't like either of the adult Marahs, and the Shaynes made zero impact on me. The fact that Reva was absent for a good deal of their childhood should've set up a natural conflict for years. But instead they were rather bland and boring. 

I don't think Marah and Shayne did have interactions with Jon. I think the show aged him when Marah and Shayne left town. 

[Contessa Donatella]

I really liked Billy Kay. Also liked Jeff Branson, at GL, not at AMC. 

As for adult Marahs, I was quite fond of Laura Bell Bundy. She really did seem a lot like Reva to me. Crystal Hunt, I don't know, just not really, I guess. Lindsay McKeon to me was the absolute worst. Am I leaving someone out? Ashley Peldon, of course, as a young child was just amazing.

[P.J.]

I don't think BC had a fanbase as much as Laura Wright had a loud, vocal fanbase who thought Richard/Cassie was the best thing since sliced bread and that the show would put them back in each other's orbits. 

I found Jeff Branson too dour. I honestly do not remember Kay or West.

Crystal Hunt was the obnoxious Lizzie. The main Marah you forgot was Kimberly J Brown, who came on when Josh returned from Italy. There was another one around the '99 Josh/Reva wedding with long curly hair who didn't last long. 

[Contessa Donatella]

I was never a fan of Richard's or of Bradley, for that matter. But, when I look at that wedding, LW as Cassie, the fairy tale princess, in that gown, oh my, it is practically a religious experience, so very fine. But, it is true that I am a sucker for Costumes!! And, my good friend Shawn Reeves is an absolute Master Costume Designer. He showed that at AW, GL & now at GH!!! It's funny, when Shawn needs a job he doesn't get just one offer, he gets two. After AW, choose between AMC & GL. After GL, choose between GH & Y&R.

Oh, snap! A Lizzie in my mix. Darn. But, Kimberly J. Brown was fine, a good journeyman actress. 

Billy Kay was from Long Island, on the short side, very good looking, believable & a terribly good actor. He did this interesting indie film, I think it was called LIE for Long Island Expressway.

[robbwolff]

Lauren Mayhew was the other actress to portray Marah. I recall seeing her name in the credits of a 9-1-1 episode.