Guiding Light Discussion Thread

[DRW50]

I like this scene.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cdFzKkdD58g&feature=related

[shadow]

What a coincidence, I just happened to find these scenes.

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Yeah Bert's death seemed blah to me, and I dont remember the actual funeral.

Forgot about Phillip writing Zanzibar about him and Beth, it was cheesy

[DRW50]

It hobbled Phillip's character to center him around Beth again when they knew Judi Evans was leaving.

I wonder what they would have done with Phillip if GA hadn't ever returned. It doesn't seem like Bolger was ever overly popular in any of his soap roles, although he was a stunning man.

[shadow]

Considering Bolger left 4 months after JE, it made sense, as I always thought Beth and Phillip were th story in the long run, the charcter would always be haunted by her memory as Phillip was always a tragic character.

I am sure it wouldve been all about Beth if GA hadve stayed, it was basically like that after he left and through JB's run. They started reconnecting Phillip and Beth a couple of months before Lujack died (even recreated the Prom Dance with JB and JE) It was all about Beth when GA reruned, noen of his pairings before Beth returned were ever popular.

I love these Phillip and Beth scenes, correct me if I am wrong but he does accidently hit her at 23:23 right? And love the Josh and Bert scenes as well.

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And HELL YEAH John Bolger was BEAUTIFUL, and those eyes

[DRW50]

Did Bolger want to leave or was he fired because GA was coming back? I know he made Parting Glances around that time, which was pretty brave for an actor, then or now.

[shadow]

I am guessing since GA came back a month later, JB was prolly let go

What's "parting glances" mean

[DRW50]

Parting Glances was a very groundbreaking movie about AIDS, which was one of Steve Buscemi's first major roles. John Bolger played one of the cleancut lead characters - he and the guy playing his boyfriend had a fairly risque scene for then or now in a semi-major movie.

Do you think they had any idea what to do with Phillip when GA returned? What did you think of his story with Chelsea?

[shadow]

Holy Shiot just saw some scenes from Parting Glances, WOW. JB did that while still on GL?

I liked the Chelsea/Phillip pairing, even though Chelsea was a bit of a whiner, then it went downhill when she became like a corporate spy or something. HATED the Blake/Phillip pairing because ED and GA had no chemistry, but the fututre story potential was def explosive

[saynotoursoap]

John was dropped. TPTB were very unhappy when Parting Glances was released. They banked on John being their new, young leading man, and there he was on screen having steamy sex scenes with Richard Ganoung. Remember, the AIDS crisis was at a fever-pitch in 1985-86, with no cures and no long-term treatments. P&G freaked, and when Grant Alexsander was available again, they let Bolger go and brought Grant back post haste. John was miscast as Phillip anyway. He had a quality that was too nice, too All-American. Phillip was supposed to be tormented, ambivalent, and brooding. I do think John could have successfully replaced Michael O'Leary as Rick, but not as Phillip. Bolger was brave to do Parting Glances, which is probably my favourite ever of queer cinema.

[saynotoursoap]

Infuriated. TPTB chose a really bad time to do it, because Gail Kobe was exiting as EP, Pam Long had already left, and the show was going through a transition of writers. At that time, it appeared that no one behind the scenes knew what to do with GL. No relatives appeared onscreen, even though they were mentioned as being in town for the funeral. If I remember correctly, Ed or Maureen talked about Bert's family meeting at Company or something, which made it even worse. I understood why the show waited a year to address Bert's death, but given that much advance time, they had zero excuses for not arranging to have Don Stewart and Elvera Roussel appear. Jeez, even Paul Rauch (whom I revile) brought Stewart back for the anniversary in 1997.

[DRW50]

GL re-used that "they're at Company" thing with the Reardons when Maureen died. I think it's cheap.

Bolger has more exotic looks than Aleksander but it does seem like Aleksander was more suited, talent or charisma-wise, to a darker role, whereas Bolger, when JFP tried to make him seem dark (on OLTL), never worked. But I do wish he'd stayed at GL a little longer, or had more to do. I remember how good some of his scenes with India were, when he wasn't acting morally superior to her that is. The desk sex scene is very hot.

[~bl~]

I downloaded Bert's get together years ago and have the files somewhere. I won't call it a funeral as it was people in the living room of the Bauer house. Also, Charita had really died so it was supposed to honor the performer and the character, which it didn't do. The Maureen Reardon gravesite portion being shown only got a lot of people upset back then at least it seemed so in the magazines.

An excerpt of the Hinsey book was in the SOD dated July 5, 2011 and she writes about the production model, with comments from unnamed sources. Very interesting as it sounds like everyone there except EXP thought the test episode sucked.

[rcsnj]

Isn't the blonde in the scene with Rick Beth Raines, as played by Lisa Loughridge?

[teplin]

Soap Opera Digest has an excerpt from Carolyn Hinsey's new book in the current issue. It focuses on the Ellen Wheeler-Peapack debacle:

"I remember we had a special airing of the first episode in the studio," recalls an actor. "They called everybody in and brought in lunch. We all sat there and watched this horrible episode. There was no storyline, they just placed people in different sets, like Josh and Billy on a work site with Remy. Everyone politely clapped and then we all filed out going, 'Oh, my God, what garbage.' Ellen was furious; it was like hell had frozen over. We found out later she wrote the episode herself."

Another source says that, "(Ellen) loved all the technical stuff. She was more interested in that than the actual storyline and characters on the show, which of course was the problem. Her attitude was, 'How dare they not buy into my vision?"

[soapfan770]

I have a question regarding GL in 1984 vs. AW in the early 80s. GL pretty much lost all of its veteran cast and characters there 1982-1984 yet never faltered as badly as AW did. What was the significant difference? Was it because of AW's revolving door?