A few of my favorite long crawls..

Fall 1989 "My Guiding Light" ver. 4

1982 Jack Urbont theme "Guiding Lightning"- credits recreation

1986 "My Guiding Light" ver. 2

1987 "My Guiding Light" ver. 3 w/ the glorious long version of the PGP animation

1983 "My Guiding Light" ver. 1

Edited 6 hours ago6 hr by Spoon

the 1976 logo, aka "that thing with the dead leaves." lol. Wasn't it Gail Kobe, who was quoted saying that?

@CrazySexyQ Bradley Cole was let go, and the rabid RASSIE fans made a stink and the next EP/writers created Jeffrey for him and shoved him down our throats. McTaggart/Culliton phased out the mob and scaled back the island stuff- really fixing the show, but they brought in ConJob and all that improvement was tanked.

29 minutes ago, Spoon said:

the 1976 logo, aka "that thing with the dead leaves." lol. Wasn't it Gail Kobe, who was quoted saying that?

Bridget Dobson.

4 hours ago, alwaysAMC said:

WHOA! Thanks for posting. I live 20 minutes from Bastrop! Checking my calendar, but I would totally go just to meet MOL.

❤️

I forgot you were from Texas too. I'd be nice to go just to meet him.

Edited 5 hours ago5 hr by Soapsuds

49 minutes ago, Spoon said:

@CrazySexyQ Bradley Cole was let go, and the rabid RASSIE fans made a stink and the next EP/writers created Jeffrey for him and shoved him down our throats. McTaggart/Culliton phased out the mob and scaled back the island stuff- really fixing the show, but they brought in ConJob and all that improvement was tanked.

Thanks for the backstory. I did like Richard initially, but the show couldn't exist in two places, and the royalty story was far-fetched (It is a soap, though).

Since I'm on a Jammy loop, YouTube recommended some videos of Jonathan's return in 2009. I don't think Tom Pelphrey could even save the scenes I saw, which involved Jonathan helping Jeffrey in the woods after he's presumed dead. I don't think Cole or his two characters were worth the effort of spreading him so thin on the canvas.

5 hours ago, alwaysAMC said:

LOL - I just hope no one has a lag and Locher is on point.

Locher is rarely on point. My bet is he loses control early.

2 hours ago, Spoon said:

January 28, 1991. As Joshua Lewis prepared to leave town, he told his brother Billy, that Vanessa Chamberlain was going to be named CEO of Lewis Oil in his absence. Here he is saying farewell to Harley.

Ugh...that scene between Josh and Billy kills me everytime.

5 hours ago, alwaysAMC said:

LOL - I just hope no one has a lag and Locher is on point.

This is Michael Fairman's channel.

1 hour ago, CrazySexyQ said:

Thanks for the backstory. I did like Richard initially, but the show couldn't exist in two places, and the royalty story was far-fetched (It is a soap, though).

That's how I'm starting to feel about the Michelle/Danny/Carmen storyline that I'm currently in. While I know it's close, or even in SF, it just feels like it's a different world. The sets and lighting are totally different, and when Rick/Meta/Abby or Drew/Jesse visit the compound, it just feels like they've come from a long trip away. It doesn't give the community vibe I loved about this show when I started watching.

So I have a feeling I'll get tired of the San Cristobal stuff too, if it's like that. From what I think I know about it, the positive is at least they tried to tie it into history/prior storylines, and it wasn't completely made up out of the blue. Trying to find a silver lining haha.

Re: Dead Leaves Opening. I think it's cool, quirky, and of its time. It grows on you. The theme music is beautiful. They made a good decision when they dropped that creepy woman moaning in the end credits. A lot of the comments on youtube have people saying as children they were freaked out by it and often ran from the room. I read somewhere that sequence was stock footage that was found (maybe a camera test) that they turned into opening credits.

1 hour ago, Soapsuds said:

I forgot you were from Texas too. I'd be nice to go just to meet him.

I am! 🤠 If I'm free that weekend, I'll totally go, even if it's just myself (I doubt I can get friends to go haha). I've met actors, musicians and even housewives, but never have I met a soap opera star! Well, I did walk by Martha Madison once at a Texas A&M basketball game years ago, but that doesn't count haha. I'd love to meet MOL - he's one of my favorites just from his personality alone.

38 minutes ago, P.J. said:

Locher is rarely on point. My bet is he loses control early.

All I can do is 🤣.

18 minutes ago, DRW50 said:

This is Michael Fairman's channel.

OH! Good, I haven't seen much of his stuff yet. I just assumed Locher... you know what they say about assuming... haha.

6 minutes ago, alwaysAMC said:

That's how I'm starting to feel about the Michelle/Danny/Carmen storyline that I'm currently in. While I know it's close, or even in SF, it just feels like it's a different world. The sets and lighting are totally different, and when Rick/Meta/Abby or Drew/Jesse visit the compound, it just feels like they've come from a long trip away. It doesn't give the community vibe I loved about this show when I started watching.

So I have a feeling I'll get tired of the San Cristobal stuff too, if it's like that. From what I think I know about it, the positive is at least they tried to tie it into history/prior storylines, and it wasn't completely made up out of the blue. Trying to find a silver lining haha.

Which version of Manny are you watching? I loved almost everything about them from the start. Until the Michelle recast. But I agree about the compound feeling like it is in its own world. But I suppose it was to make Michelle feel isolated.

I liked San Cristobal at first, but it wears thin.

The only silver lining is the introduction of Jonathan, which came long after the story wrapped. I've been reading your analysis of Kim Zimmer's book (my eternal gratitude for that), and it's incredible that she didn't want TP cast originally in the role that gave Reva and her new life as an actress.

8 hours ago, DRW50 said:

What a lovely tribute (and the videos are even better). I always enjoy your memories of the show, and like you, GL (and ATWT) was my favorite soap, a formative memory for me in all the joys, tears, connections, and betrayals of being a soap fan.

I hope Beyond the Gates will help shine more of a light on the P&G catalogue and keep those years going far beyond us. In this broken world we need the core values of GL more than ever - morality, yes, but also respecting brokenness and healing, and the wildly different people that make up daily life.

To be honest, while TGL was my favorite soap of all-time, there were other shows which tied for the top spot in my heart during their stellar years. Y&R and AW were at their peak in the early 1970s. Actually, TEON was too. OLTL and GH were excellent in the late 1970s. ATWT was wonderful in the 1960s and most of the 1970s. But in the end, Springfield just felt most like home.

I, too, hope BTG is a success, for many reasons. P&G seeing great gains in a new soap might give them an incentive to look into doing something with their still-existing archives. I know its doubtful, but hope springs eternal.

2 hours ago, SoapDope78 said:

Re: Dead Leaves Opening. I think it's cool, quirky, and of its time. It grows on you. The theme music is beautiful.

I like it, too.

People forget that not that long before this soaps had organ music, both for their themes and as background music. It makes me HOWL every time I watch a really old soap episode. It's the kind of thing Carol Burnett made fun of in her "As the Stomach Turns" sketches.

I'll take the soothing violin music any day of the week (and definitely over the disco disaster that followed it). I also like the different take on how it portrays the "guiding light." The lighthouses are nice but a little on the nose.

8 hours ago, Speed Racer said:

Yes to all of your first paragraph. And because he cannot find solace anywhere, Phillip turns to the bottle.

I agree...the idea of Roger selecting AM on his own merits is better than having Blake and AM get remarried or become a power couple. The two should be in orbit around each other of course. But AM should be in Bauer-land in the familial sense. If anything, I'd have AM and Gilly become a power couple. How would those two contend with anything Roger? Or contend with each other about anything Roger? Interesting possibilities there.

Ultimately I don’t see AM/Gilly being more than a short-term thing as she showed with Sid she’ll leave someone if they do something that goes against her principles. But there were a lot of possibilities to do something with their chemistry that woukdve been far better than AM/Tangie or having AM chase Eleni a second time. Admittedly I will always have a soft spot for AM/Lucy as I started watching right before the rape and AM realizing his feelings drew in my 15 year old self and AM was my TV boyfriend quickly. Then I got drawn in and wanted to grow up to be as poised as Holly/Maureen. Rick/Maureen were my standout memorable actors I remembered (I stopped watching 2004 when I joined the Peace Corps.)

If he’d stuck around I actually feel llike Gilly had a good chemistry with Nick and I like the thought of them as rival reporters who become a couple but compete for scoops. Nick has a solid role if you take the idea someone had (sorry forgot who!) and have Fletcher killed by Marion/Brent. Leaves that newspaper reporter hole.

I don’t think they’re an endgame couple but think giving AM/Blake a kid would have had a lot of possibilities. I’ve said it before I think, but I feel like having Blake show she’s grown by actually telling Ross the truth about her slip up with AM and Ross forgives her because he really did give her reason to believe it was over and ultimately appreciates she came clean. Then Blake finds out she’s pregnant with AM’s baby but they eventually all work out a custody agreement that works. It keeps Blake/AM/Roger tied together without Blake/AM being a couple. (Though I like the AM/Blake chemistry with Liz/Rick. It’s lighter than SS/Rick but there’s a fun affection always there that I enjoy and I wish they didn’t stop them being confidantes/friends.)