Guiding Light discussion thread

[Contessa Donatella]

Jill only became an EP at Santa Barbara because of the Dobsons being locked out. 

It was 1995 when P&G shuffled all of their EPs, over one show. AW, ATWT & GL. Laurie Caso got left out.  (Started a 2nd career.) 

 

[P.J.]

I should clarify---I was thinking about Chris Bernau's Alan caring for Reva....I forgot about Alan and Amish Reva. RME. But yeah, Alan should've been more scheming when it came to using Annie, instead of being Annie's enabler. 

Ditto about Alan and Beth. Actually, you can add Olivia and his creepy fascination with Natalia as well.

[P.J.]

Yes, Reva was popular. They really retooled the show around her. 

I can't remember how big a surprise her death was to fans. I have just watched her '90 emmy acceptance speech, and she mentions they just sent out some kind of announcement (I'm not sure if it was invites to a farewell party or what). But I don't remember if that was when the news broke or if it had been circulating before that.

She called him "Bud" less than she called him "Joshua", but yeah that's a nickname for him. I'm not sure they ever exactly explained where that came from.

I loved Harley. LOVED. (you want an unpopular opinion---I loved Lucy and Alan-Michael...) I loved Harley with Phillip. It broke my heart when I found out Grant "didn't get" them, and considered Beth his best pairing.

[Contessa Donatella]

I also loved Philip & Harley together!!! Grant was smart about many things but, d'uh stupid there.  

[P.J.]

I think part of the reason I LOVE '89-'93 so much is because it's Reva-lite, between her maternity leave and her exit.

I'm sure some fans missed her---I recall some kind of SOD poll about who should come back, and I think Phillip was more missed at the time.

If it'd been Judi Evans, I could've accepted that. But Beth Chamberlain? NOPE.

[kalbir]

If there was any character that defined the final 25 years of GL, it was Reva.

With the 1990-1991 departures of Kim Zimmer, Robert Newman, Michael O'Leary, Grant Aleksander from the cast and Pamela Long from the writing team, many thought GL was going to be in for a rough stretch but I thought the show got better. Sadly it didn't last though.

Edited Wednesday at 02:44 AM by kalbir

[Contessa Donatella]

In the modern era 2 actors took up more than anyone else on the frontburner - KZ & Grant.

Love Judi. Admire Beth C.  But I feel the same as you when it comes to pairings.

[P.J.]

Shows have suffered from one star departure, and four would usually call for a massive retooling. They had a good mixture of vets, characters ready to grow and newbies to keep the show cookin'.

[chrisml]

I think GL worked better without Kim Zimmer because there was not the need to make it the Reva Shayne hour. Even when Kim Zimmer was there, someone like Michelle Forbes was more interesting and pulled focus away from Zimmer and Reva. I think that's why the Watros/Zimmer relationship could be rocky because Watros's performance was so much more compelling and Zimmer knew it. I am not attacking Zimmer's talent as I think she's exceptionally talented. I just think GL worked better when it was not centred on one person. when Long tried to make SB into the Jodie hour, it failed miserably as Zimmer (to her credit) acknowledges.

 

[kalbir]

In 1997 Kim Zimmer was 42 and Cynthia Watros was 29 so an aging veteran being out-performed by a rookie more than a decade younger, yeah no surprise there was alleged beef there.

[BetterForgotten]

Kim didn’t have the career she wanted when she left GL, and I think that insecurity still weighted on her when she returned. It didn’t help that Paul Rauch thought Reva should be the sex goddess center of everything. To her credit, though, she admitted to the tension with Watros. She also publicly said Watros deserved to win the Daytime Emmy in 1998 (which she did) over her. Even though there was some jealousy, Kim could still admit Watros was a talent to be reckoned with. Same with Michelle Forbes a decade earlier. 

[alwaysAMC]

What!!!  Annie in real life is 27 years old (in 1995 where I'm watching)?!? Robert Newman is 37... my mind is blown.  I need to go find how old the actresses that play Lucy and Bridgett are, because they seem more like 27 to me and Annie feels like 37-40.  I know this is a mind game with age, and people in the 90s looked older than they really are given the hair styles back then (like Vanessa seems much older to me than she probably is at the time - I need to go Google it).  I just can't believe the actress playing Annie was 27 at that time, and I'm seeing characters like Lucy, Bridget, Dinah who seem more like that age.  I'm 100% shocked.

My mind is blown - the actresses playing Lucy and Bridget are a year old than Watros. (Soni and Melissa were born in 1967 and Watros in 1968). Both storyline and look (hairstyle and dress) of these characters do NOT put Lucy/Bridget as older than Annie. My mind is totally blown here.

[Mitch64]

Yea, I never got this as there WERE big stories planned for Walker...she returned with Josh, she was supposed to be "wild" (she jumped in the Trevi fountain naked, don't you know..first of all the ripped of "The Birds" and I cant believe GL would do another fountain routine with one of Josh's screws..) Sarah didn't like her, she was Roger's "step daughter, " the made a BIG deal of her being on GL, it was just that the character didn't work out and for some reason, Walker didn't fit. So they break her and Jarsh up and try to have her in a triangle with AM and eveyone's fave middle aged perve Alan, (which incited MarjAlex weird incest vibe she gave with RR...) and THAT didnt work out.

Funny thing in the Locker Room interview JFP said the Buzz episode was supposed to just feature Deas and his monoloque and CBS said, "Uh, no." thank God, it was painful enough to see Deas unfettered and them whoring for an Emmy with him. What was the thing with 5th Street anyway, Buzz ran as far as he could from it and then he was the "King of 5th Street"..

All actors are insecure, and Kimmer knew how the game was played, and she played it for all it was worth, but its more TPTB's fault that they let her and they believed Jeva was THE couple to build the show around (even Long's GL wasnt as lopsided as Rauch's GL was.) Rauch was a ageist pig so I can never understand why he went so in for Reva...but that had to play into Kim's issues also.

[Contessa Donatella]

In terms of KZ on other shows: Great on Designing Women, also great on Babylon 5, fine on OLTL, horrible on Santa Barbara. Frankly on SB her whole family was a wash. And, yes, they added a whole 'nother family just for her. 

Edited Wednesday at 03:05 PM by Contessa Donatella

[Vee]

This seems like Robin Strasser is discussing JFP per Nia Long and an EP they shared.