Guiding Light Discussion Thread

[Contessa Donatella]

Oh, yeah, she flat out lied about Frankie. Stupid lie, too, since it was both obvious & known. Yes, it's true that at the end when her power was on the wane, she tried to convince MDP to do something soapy where they could bring Frankie back from the dead but that doesn't mean she hadn't been there at the beginning, which in fact she was.

[BetterForgotten]

I think when Jill had a great a strong HW, like Nancy Curlee, she could produce great material. But when she had weaker HWs with no vision (or with just a bad vision), her worst tendencies came into play and dominated. 

[Mitch64]

What was the quote from JFP when Curlee left..."Now we can do things MY way!" That tells you all you need to know about where the quality came from.

 

[Maxim]

Jesus Christ. That sounds ominous. 

[bboy875]

She was not credited as HW in 1990, she was an associate headwriter under Pam Long. Near the end of 1990, James E. Reilly's name appeared under Long's, and then the soap mags announced that Long was gone as HW, and Curlee, Demorest and Reilly were named HW trio. Their first credited episode should have been the beginning of 1991

Btw, when Curlee and Demorest were promoted, I believe he was script editor, which he was listed as when the team won the writing Emmy in 1990 

[P.J.]

LOL...too true. But in saying that Mo would have to have amnesia, I implied that you couldn't write Mo going along with it. OTOH, I thought it would be completely in character for Roger to allow Michelle to believe Mo had died, no matter what kind of "feeling" he had for the child.

It was hard enough for the writers to justify Reva and Vanessa allowing their families to believe they were dead. 

[Maxim]

I missed seeing this, since the topic moved to another page. Now I saw it! THANK YOU! 

[P.J.]

*Sigh*  the show should've let Vanessa keep her dignity and let her walk out on Matt for x, y or z reason. Bill could've stayed with Josh and occasionally visited Mom in Europe.

[Khan]

It's hard to remember that JFP got her start at GL (as a production secretary, I think).  So, for her, returning as EP was like coming home, or having things come full circle.

Look, I'll concede that JFP wasn't GL's worst EP, but I do agree that the show suffered once Nancy Curlee and Patrick Mulcahey left and JFP was left to her own devices.  She needed a HW who could push back and tell her to leave the writing to the writers.

[Maxim]

Thank you! 

[slick jones]

Rather than refer to anyone as the worst EP, we can easily refer to most of GL's EPs in the measure of destruction they are responsible for.

Gail Kobe drained the show of vets. Her time destroyed a lot of the continuity GL had before her.

JFP was responsble for the loss of the show's moral compass/heart.

Rauch destroyed the shows connection to Springfield by transferring story to San Christo - Hell.

Conboy pissed away the budget.

Wheeler basically was thrown in with no experience and was completely out of her depth.

They all added to the destruction, and they all went out of their way to deflect the blame.

 

Any one of them could have seen what they were doing and made some effort to right the ship, but none of them could concede they were wrong.   The cast, the crew, and the fans  all suffered for their vanity.

 

[kalbir]

@slick jones You forgot Joe Willmore and Michael Laibson in the EP list.

As far as I'm concerned the only good EPs GL had in its final 30 years were Allen Potter and Robert Calhoun.

[slick jones]

I barely remember Laibson or Willmore, but I totally agree about Potter and Calhoun. They understood the P&G ways and still were able to keep the show watchable.  The five I mentioned, though, were by far the most destructive. 

 

Edited January 8 by slick jones

[NothinButAttitude]

Agreed. 

I don't think she's a horrific EP when she stays in her lane. But she needs to be paired with a writer who will challenge her and tell her GTFO of the writer's room and focus on budgets. But I think that has become an issue across all forms of entertainment. Nowadays everyone wants to have their hand in the creative process instead of doing their assigned roles. This goes for network heads, too. 

[Contessa Donatella]

Just a bit about her background. She went to Carnegie-Mellon & got an MFA in of all things, Directing. She was a PA on several Broadway & off- plays. Then GL but a PA. Next up her first real chance to sink her teeth in, at GH & a Music Producer. 

Everyone knows the rest. 

Did you ever read the Lemay interview when he described sitting in on the pitch meeting between Jill, Holbrook, Dano & Forsythe when she talked them into the Felicia/John affair? Like a Svnegali & almost convinced them it had been their own idea. He was in awe.