3 hours ago, DRW50 said:

That wasn't very nice. Typical of the industry. They may as well have just kept trying with Kurt considering his replacements weren't much better.

Eh....not nice...okay. But sometimes it's better to move on.

5 hours ago, Paul Raven said:

Monday/Oct. 6, 1986 Lynda Hirsch

When Mark Lewis took an eight week hiatus from “Guiding Light” to appear in regional theater, he was assured his job would be waiting. Three weeks ago, Mark, who plays Mindy's husband Kurt, was given the axe ,Seems “Guiding Light” is busy revamping

I think the changing of the EP's and head-writers was partly to blame for him getting his walking papers. I think the EP switch happened during the summer and the head-writer switch was happening in September/October 1986.

For whatever reason, Kurt/Mindy seemed more of a Pam Long vision and she left mere weeks after the huge wedding between both characters and the follow up writers and EP probably didn't know how to write for them or for Kurt as an individual character so he was an easy person to write off.

Kurt wasn't much of a character. I'm not sure Pam Long could've done much with him either, other than continually have him being disappointed by Mindy.

I miss the show so much around the holidays.

Edited Friday at 03:17 PM1 day by P.J.

7 hours ago, P.J. said:

Eh....not nice...okay. But sometimes it's better to move on.

It was no big loss, but I think since they had already gone to the trouble of giving them the big wedding they should have tried more instead of just having Mindy float around.

On 6/19/2026 at 10:22 AM, Soaplovers said:

For whatever reason, Kurt/Mindy seemed more of a Pam Long vision and she left mere weeks after the huge wedding between both characters and the follow up writers and EP probably didn't know how to write for them or for Kurt as an individual character so he was an easy person to write off.

This is what happens when you create a character who has almost no connections to anyone on the canvas and then thrust them quickly into a romance/wedding.

I don't know if they wanted to do the big wedding for sweeps, or what, but that is not enough. Of course Mindy and Kurt died to sad trombone noises. BIG weddings should be the culmination of a couple's fraught history (like Josh & Reva's first wedding), a reward for the audience for being invested in the couple, or there should be some big reveal hanging over it (like Cliff & Nina's on AMC, where Cliff married her knowing another woman was pregnant with his baby).

It wouldn't have been such a big deal if they had had a quicky wedding, then it wouldn't have stuck out so much. But they treated it like the wedding of the decade.

I feel bad for the actor; that's a pretty crummy thing to do to him. But it was obvious even back then that the character was on a clock.

On 6/19/2026 at 7:22 AM, Soaplovers said:

I think the changing of the EP's and head-writers

1986 was really bad.

January: EP change from Gail Kobe to Joe Willmore. HW change from Pamela Long to Jeff Ryder.

February: Mary Ryan Munisteri becomes co-HW.

September: Co-HW change from Jeff Ryder to Ellen Barrett.

October: HW change from Mary Ryan Munisteri and Ellen Barrett to Joseph Manetta.

November: Sheri Anderson becomes co-HW.

The ratings reflected the quality and GL was very fortunate to have not entered cancel territory in 1986.

The rest of the decade.

July 1987: HW change from Joseph Manetta and Sheri Anderson to Pamela Long

June 1989: EP change from Joe Willmore to Robert Calhoun.

Of course we know 1987 ratings were impacted by Iran-Contra and Nielsen people meters and 1988 ratings were impacted by the writer's strike.

1 hour ago, DeeVee said:

It wouldn't have been such a big deal if they had had a quicky wedding, then it wouldn't have stuck out so much. But they treated it like the wedding of the decade.

I feel bad for the actor; that's a pretty crummy thing to do to him. But it was obvious even back then that the character was on a clock.

At least if it had been Beth and Lujack's wedding, it would've been a payoff for their romance. It could've been half as opulent and still been over the top.

1 hour ago, kalbir said:

1986 was really bad.

January: EP change from Gail Kobe to Joe Willmore. HW change from Pamela Long to Jeff Ryder.

February: Mary Ryan Munisteri becomes co-HW.

September: Co-HW change from Jeff Ryder to Ellen Barrett.

October: HW change from Mary Ryan Munisteri and Ellen Barrett to Joseph Manetta.

November: Sheri Anderson becomes co-HW.

The ratings reflected the quality and GL was very fortunate to have not entered cancel territory in 1986.

The rest of the decade.

July 1987: HW change from Joseph Manetta and Sheri Anderson to Pamela Long

June 1989: EP change from Joe Willmore to Robert Calhoun.

Of course we know 1987 ratings were impacted by Iran-Contra and Nielsen people meters and 1988 ratings were impacted by the writer's strike.

This is giving me deja vu to the 94-95 writing changes.

1 hour ago, DRW50 said:

This is giving me deja vu to the 94-95 writing changes.

March 1994 Nancy Curlee departs and there's a bunch of writers until Megan McTavish arrives in July 1995. There was also the EP change from JFP to Michael Laibson in May 1995.

4 hours ago, kalbir said:

1986 was really bad.

January: EP change from Gail Kobe to Joe Willmore. HW change from Pamela Long to Jeff Ryder.

February: Mary Ryan Munisteri becomes co-HW.

September: Co-HW change from Jeff Ryder to Ellen Barrett.

October: HW change from Mary Ryan Munisteri and Ellen Barrett to Joseph Manetta.

November: Sheri Anderson becomes co-HW.

The ratings reflected the quality and GL was very fortunate to have not entered cancel territory in 1986.

The rest of the decade.

July 1987: HW change from Joseph Manetta and Sheri Anderson to Pamela Long

June 1989: EP change from Joe Willmore to Robert Calhoun.

Of course we know 1987 ratings were impacted by Iran-Contra and Nielsen people meters and 1988 ratings were impacted by the writer's strike.

Yes, it really was.

Two of their most popular actors returned that year and that couldn't redeem the show.

Really, really bad.

4 hours ago, P.J. said:

At least if it had been Beth and Lujack's wedding, it would've been a payoff for their romance. It could've been half as opulent and still been over the top.

That's what would have made sense. As said before, perhaps Long had a plan to build up Kurt and Mindy the way Lujack and Beth were built up. Though, again, without a strong connection to someone major on the canvas, I don't see how they would have managed that with Kurt. Unless he turned out to be yet another lost Spaulding heir.

WAIT. He was Canadian, right? Isn't that where Bill Bauer lived after he pretended to be dead? Maybe besides Hillary he had another love child floating around Canada.

Only problem with that is by then there weren't that many Bauers around anymore.

They could have paired him with TRACY.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Trouble_with_Tracy

18 minutes ago, DeeVee said:

Yes, it really was.

Two of their most popular actors returned that year and that couldn't redeem the show.

Really, really bad.

That's what would have made sense. As said before, perhaps Long had a plan to build up Kurt and Mindy the way Lujack and Beth were built up. Though, again, without a strong connection to someone major on the canvas, I don't see how they would have managed that with Kurt. Unless he turned out to be yet another lost Spaulding heir.

WAIT. He was Canadian, right? Isn't that where Bill Bauer lived after he pretended to be dead? Maybe besides Hillary he had another love child floating around Canada.

Only problem with that is by then there weren't that many Bauers around anymore.

Yes, Kurt was Canadian. I thought they had said Hillary had a half-brother. Or if Mike had still been in town, they could've given him a long-lost son.

Maybe they should've stuck with Kurt/Roxie a bit longer, tying him into the Shaynes for a while. Characters not tied into a family really need a strong actor, and Mark Lewis wasn't it.