Guiding Light Discussion Thread

[JAYJAY]

Anyone following the whole Mindy/GL/Twitter stuff? I just read the recaps.

[DAMfan]

I have been watching GL classics on my new iPod, they look good and they are the good GL shows, Edmund really looks good - it is really great to carry in my hands and can watch GL when ever I want to watch or which show I want to watch - I miss new Light, but GL classics are the next best thing and I can listen to anything I want to - can find anything Beatles I want ttito hear. I am not really boycoting CBS, I am just not interested in most of their shows now and after upgrading my cable with more channels, upgrading my internet and new ipod - tacky LMAD would be a waste of my money - I was 3rd GL gen - watched GL all my life and to watch the show that replaced GL would be an insult to my family.

[DAMfan]

If I am home at 2 PM and I have to look at the TV listings on DVR guide to find something to watch - when I use to not even give a second thought that I would be watching GL on CBS and the thing about DVR - you can see what is on 4 channels at a time without even have to look at any channel [like CBS].

[Eric83]

Was anyone here a fan of Joan Collins as Alexandra? I loved her stint, I heard she left/got fired because she couldn't remember her lines. Is that true?

Edited January 2, 2010 by ga68153

[DRW50]

I liked Joan as Alex. I thought she gave the role a panache it had lost with Beverlee McKinsey's departure, although to be fair to Marj, they gave her awful writing as Alex for most of her run.

I don't remember anything about her not remembering her lines. It seemed like they just cast her short term then looked for a reason to fire her. I believe one reason was they refused to give her time to promote her book.

[SFK]

Yeah, I think that was the problem, the schedule didn't allow her days/weeks at a time to promote her book, but, why wasn't this worked out before hand? I believe her s/l was only to be a three-six (?) month arc to begin with, and once Rauch got Dusay back, Alex lingered until GL's demise. I remember Michael Logan being upset with Rauch for propping Joan as "perhaps the best Alexandra yet," an insult to fans' memories of the inimitable Beverlee McKinsey (not to mention Marj, but Beverlee was Logan's main point of contention).

Does anyone remember Marj's first scene back? It was pretty great, pure Marj. The announcer said something to the effect of, "Returning to the role of Alexandra Spaulding is Marj Dusay", and Marj kinda-sorta broke the fourth wall and looked up as if she was listening to the announcer and made one of her little "huh" sounds that (to me) said, "Well well, would you believe... hired, fired, brought back, left on my own accord, and now my ass is back again" all in one monosyllable.

[DRW50]

Her first scene back was walking into the Beacon, right? I remember that Marj had finished with AMC and had gotten some needed surgery, and was still recovering from that when she got the call from GL. I guess the past relationship with Conboy might have made him be more supportive of her, although that story where Alex was drugging Alan was awful. Joan was better off not having to stay around for that.

I initially had a very hard time with Marj as Alex. I started to warm to her eventually, I guess around 1995; although I think a lot of people hated her scenes with Hawk (I thought they were sort of entertaining). Over time I just felt sorry for Marj, because I really don't think she ever had one well-written storyline in her entire tenure. She was good in the "Who Shot Roger?" story, but that was more of Alex the gorgon (which is one of the reasons Beverlee left the show), not Alex the person. Probably some of the strongest material I remember her having was when she met Fletcher again and grieved for Alan and left town. Sad that after 16 years, off and on, it took cancellation for her to have a few minutes to shine.

[SFK]

Indeed. You know, it was Marj's charm/humor/charisma/VOICE that drew me to GL after flipping from GH one day in the early '90s, I actually came to know Beverlee's Alex AFTER Marj through tape trade. Marj and Beverlee just have this quality, they don't have to do much to draw you in, and I enjoyed Marj's stuff with Alan, Tangie, and yes, the Hawk stuff that came later ("Don't call me Queenie!") was funny too, I have a little of that on tape (gotta get that YouTube page up!). But I think she was pretty "fabulous", though I hate to use such a cliched word, when she first replaced Beverlee from what I've seen. She had a very fun energy, and though there's no question that a LOT of fans missed Beverlee, she injected B12 into the character, there's a certain joie de vivre Marj brought that Beverlee's Alex did not have.

[DRW50]

Beverlee's Alex was more ice and Marj's was more fire.

I think if I'd never seen Bev I would have enjoyed Marj more from the start, that and if they'd never had the obsession with Nick and Mindy.

I have some 90s soaps on tape too but I never really know what to do with them; I usually hope most of it will go up on Youtube because I assume others also have that stuff, but who knows. I've been saving some to DVD, although I had heard that putting it on DVD doesn't really save it as they only last a few years, if that. Is that true?

[SFK]

Good question, not sure about that. But like you, I tend to hope (and hold out) that someone else will put up the stuff I've got, and in some cases, that has already proven to happen. And most folks would probably be frustrated with my clips as I hardly ever have full episodes, just bits and pieces (inexplicably recording while flipping channels ).

[DRW50]

I usually did keep full episodes, mostly because I wasn't able to watch them when they were on, but some is just blips and clips. Oddly enough most of what I have on tape is probably B&E era; I thought that era of the show was generally entertaining on a daily basis (minus stuff I skipped -- usually anything with Michelle/Jesse), although the stories themselves were often not very good. At the time I was satisfied because the show wasn't making me furious the way it had for much of 1994-1996.

[DAMfan]

GL/P&G are still getting a lot of calls - so please call and tell them your GL ideas - such cable, DVDs, online, emmys and etc.

866 - 695 - 1859

[DAMfan]

When you are snowed in we should have GL to watch - we need the Light to make us warm. I now have to look at DVR menu to find something to watch - instead of watching GL.

[DAMfan]

I think to hear GL radio show or watch GL 15 & 30 min shows would be great for the fans [who may have not been born when they were first on] and it would be a nice way to honor so many actors who work so hard for years to bring back GL classics is a good idea for the Light to live on in some form or another - love watching GL clips on my iPod I would rather watch GL then to see the temp. is 0 on my iPod.

GL HOTLINE: 866 - 695 - 1859

[DAMfan]

had wonder what kind of viewers CBS was going for with LMAD - think the example of a dumb couple dressed as a shepard and a sheep explains it - the Light is gone and now a stupid game show is in it's place - however I will not watch clam or sheep people.