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Guiding Light discussion thread


Paul Raven

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It was perfectly obvious to me that P&G made a concerted effort to kill AW so it's not a stretch to think they did the same for GL. MY GL viewing is spotty at best when it comes to post-Ellen Parker's firing. It always felt that when the show would get back on track that the EP or the hw would then be fired. I have said this before, but on an episode by episode basis, Conboy and Weston's GL could be extremely compelling. They could create fantastic episodes. In context to the show's history, the stories just didn't make sense and could be insulting (Ben Reade for ex.). I'm not going to deny that the Ben Reade episodes were not fantastic and that Bomer was robbed of an Emmy nomination. 

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The only time I think that was the case for GL in the years I've seen was, possibly, Millee Taggart at the end of 2002/early 2003, although I'm not a big fan of her spring or summer work with the show. I think P&G veered between letting people go too early because they weren't getting ratings up enough or letting people stay too long - JFP stayed at least two years too long, Rauch stayed two years too long.  

I think P&G slowly strangled their shows rather than actively killing them. They still felt some use for them but they no longer tried to step in the way they did up to the mid '90s. It was only by the late '00s that they moved out of the daytime market, so when CBS also wanted rid of GL and ATWT, they didn't care. 

 

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Let's put it this way: if GL were a person, then John Conboy (and Ellen Weston) was the drunk driver who struck GL down as it crossed the street, and Ellen Wheeler was the overly stressed nurse who (accidentally) pulled the plug on its' life support machine.  No one is letting either party off the hook, or downplaying/exaggerating their role in GL's ultimate fate, because they BOTH played a role in pushing GL off the air for good.

(...although, even John Conboy would've done a better job in Peapack, I'm just saying.)

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This is more like a Murder on the Orient Express. You could go all the way back to 1983 for the decisions that ended GL - or maybe even a few years earlier if you count P&G's ageism. 

At least Conboy could have found the baseball diamond in Peapack.

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Take it from someone who never really stopped watching GL until they had to for the sake of their own sanity: after Nancy Curlee's decision to step down as HW, the ONLY TWO times that GL showed any hope of recovery were during the first half of Barbara Esensten and James Harmon Brown's run, and the latter part of Millee Taggart's run, with Carolyn Culliton as her co-head.

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You could, although, I'd argue, not all the decisions made after 1983/84 were bad. 

I think GL remained watchable throughout the '80's, even as the Bauers and others were phased out, because the quality of the day-to-day writing remained very high (kind of like much of Bob Guza's last run on GH).  It's only when Nancy Curlee exits and JFP exerts more influence that you realize that the chickens have come home to roost.

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A joke. Sorry.

I think B&E were watchable the whole way through (even if San Cristobel and the Santos both stayed too long), but their first half was definitely better than the second half.

I don't think all the decisions were bad, and some didn't have to be bad but were never rectified later on, but some of the characters who were killed off and the huge shift the show made in 1984 took it to places they had a hard time shaking off. When I watch 84-86 GL it sometimes doesn't even seem like the show I knew, it's just some of the cast who keep things going. Then around 1987 they do start pivoting back in a better direction.

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Thank u for answering. Your opinion is worth a lot. I really like hearing other Peoples opinions and different takes.

I Can See why Long time viewers struggled with the last decade and I won’t repeat m love for that decade again Right now but I do get it.

I was too Young for the 80‘s and 90‘s but I Loved 83 Where I started when I got my First GL Dvd‘s. I’m surprised Some Say This Is the Starting Point of the decline. I mean the Four Musketeers, The Lewis Clan, Kelly +  Claire Ramsey, Early Reva, Eli Simms and Tony Reardon+Annabelle Adventures, Bradley Raines, Alan-Phillip‘s Story. There was so much going on and everyone was involved and it really had a strong Community feel and a lot of those cast changes helped that show in my opinion. But it started to Change drastically Late 84. 

I wish there was more available from 1937-1952. I Can Only assume It was a Great time coz Irma was into her Show with her whole Heart. The 100 Radio episodes that are available are so amazing and I listened to all of them. I’m just surprised that nothing more from GL‘s Radio episodes are available especially after 1950. Every other Radio Show from Late 40‘s Til 60‘s are available. 
I was able to get my Hands on the GL Books that were released like that Reverend Ruthledge book or the Novel about Paul Fletcher from 67. Those made me so fascinated by those Old Years from GL

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