Guiding Light Discussion Thread

[DRW50]

Thanks @Paul Raven .

I never knew Marland felt daytime would move to short stories. His GL stories are a bit shorter than what came before him (the Dobsons drew out stories for years) but by the time he moved to ATWT he seemed to let that go ("the truth about Aaron" ran for two years and Carolyn's murder for over a year and a half). The part about viewers being more forgiving of younger characters is interesting. I am not sure if that was true at the time but I don't think it is now. Instead soaps have just started writing older characters as if they were younger, like Nick the perpetual frat boy on Y&R. And young characters are written as older.

"The only taboo in daytime is incest" is something I've heard him say elsewhere, IIRC, but I don't really agree. Soaps "covered" homosexuality and interracial relationships by the time of this article, but they faced visceral backlash. And I'm not sure they ever really progress significantly. But I imagine he knew this as he did try to do intelligent stories about both topics when he was at ATWT.

I imagine he would weep at how deeply conservative soaps are now.

@Mitch64 has spoken about this at times, better than I could, about the narcotized conversations, needing to redeem or clean up most characters, the emphasis on therapy, etc. 

I don't mind it as much at ATWT because I think the show is crisper, the cast is better at making these conversations seem natural, and you have Lisa and Lucinda who just couldn't ever be completely tamed (especially Lucinda). And I think it suits ATWT's core identity more than GL.

I notice it more in his GL run, which can often feel very moribund to me.

Edited January 12 by DRW50

[Khan]

Does anyone know the three dialogue writers that Marland brought with him from GH?  I guessed that the "former actress" was Nancy Franklin and the "veteran soaps writer" was Frank Salisbury, but who was the "novelist-playwright"?  Robert Dwyer?

[P.J.]

Sweet baby Jesus, I swear it took 3 years for Adam's paternity to come out completely, but IIRC, some of that was due to HBS' maternity leave coming on the heels of needing to recast Tom.

I know I have problems with the praise for the Dobson's GL, but that is mostly because I remember their ATWT tenure, which was filled with wacky adventures (sigh, I can still see Barbara hallucinating in 1800's garb FCOL).

[DRW50]

You're right. I forgot how long that story was (not counting Adam learning, which went nowhere).

I won't disagree about how bad much of their ATWT run was. ATWT was in such dire straits in the early '80s it's amazing how the show managed to turn around by the mid '80s. GL had the opposite track. GL was extremely lucky that it got so many second chances and twists of fate.

Edited January 12 by DRW50

[kalbir]

As the World Turns was coasting from when they lost #1 in 1978 until Douglas Marland arrived in September 1985. It took about a year for Douglas Marland run to show growth and once it did, As the World Turns was CBS #2 daytime drama from 1986/87 until 1991/92.

Yes, GL held its own in the Allen Potter/Douglas Marland era against massive pop culture phenomenon General Hospital but I can't help but feel that GL being CBS highest-rated daytime drama in the Potter/Marland era was helped by Y&R being in their post-expansion slump. Remember pre-expansion Y&R was challenging General Hospital and All My Children for #1 but the expansion derailed all its momentum. Y&R rebounds in the second half of 1982 and that overlaps w/ GL post-Marland fall.

Whether we liked Gail Kobe/Pamela Long era or not, it can't be denied that Spring 1983-Summer 1984 saw the ratings go up from the post-Marland slump and set in motion characters and storylines that carried GL through its final 25 years. Yes, it was too much chasing 1980s trends which wasn't sustainable and caused long-term damage. The ratings from Fall 1984 onward reflected this. 

GL avoided cancel territory in the 1980s because Capitol showed no growth and B&B wasn't a hit right away. 

Edited January 12 by kalbir

[SoapDope]

Ran across this 1978 GL photo featuring the Bauer Famlliy & Mike Bauer with Jackie Marler & Elizabeth Spaulding.

[DRW50]

Thanks. Those would go in history books and magazine spreads for a long while. I remember the second one well because it made me wonder if Jackie was going to recreate Isadora Duncan's fate.

[Reverend Ruthledge]

LOL. 

[DRW50]

Cindy Pickett with that hair in side profile looks a lot like Maeve Kinkead. A shame we never got to see her Jackie face off with Vanessa.

[SoapDope]

Yes !!!....I always said the same thing. Those two would have been awesome as rivals.

Looking at that photo of Pickett and the 1977 episode. She and Lezlie Dalton kind of traded hairstyles by 1979. Jackie had a short blonde Pixie do and Elizabeth had the long brunette layered do. Pickett with pixie look kind had a Reva/ Kim Zimmer thing going on. 

What if Zimmer had replaced Pickett after she departed in the role of Jackie ?

[P.J.]

Or Vanessa and Rita. Whew...that would've been epic.

Can someone remind me how Ed hurt his hand?

[Khan]

IIRC (from my reading), it occurred when Ken Norris shot him in a jealous rage.

[P.J.]

I don't know if I ever knew, but for some reason I thought he'd been driving drunk. Thanks!

[Khan]

That would've made sense - not to mention, it would've been more ironic.  I wonder, though, if Ed losing his ability to perform surgeries was one of the Dobsons' first stories when they joined the show, or was it one of James Lipton's last?

[Reverend Ruthledge]

I don't know but it could have been Lipton recalling the memory when he was playing Dick Grant and Dick also lost his ability to do surgery. Although his problem was mental.