Guiding Light Discussion Thread

[chrisml]

SB's first emmy win is something to behold. Bridget Dobson was not a fan of JFP but I'm sure that had more to do with the network politicking than anything else. I find it interesting she never won as EP on GL. I wonder if that had more to do with P&G or the submissions. 

 

[SoapDope]

I wish more of the Dobsons GL was available. In the late 70's the show was on fire. I'm grateful for those clusters of 1977 &  1979 episodes. Everyone praises the character of Rita, but I really love Jackie Marler played by Cindy Pickett. I loved to watch her little nuances/quirks in scenes. She also seemed to ad lib often. Lezlie Dalton was wonderful too as the long suffering Elizabeth.

I remember reading a post on youtube that stated Marland wanted the Elizabeth character gone when he came aboard ? Within a few years all those characters involved in Phillip's parental storyline were gone. Even Alan left for a few years.

[kalbir]

JFP run at GL was July 1991-May 1995, so that covers 1992-1996 Daytime Emmys. Here are GL's results in the main non-acting categories in those years.

Wins

Writing 1993

Directing 1994

Nominations

Drama series 1992, 1993, 1994

Writing 1992

Directing 1993

[chrisml]

Thanks Kalbir for the info. So odd to me that GL did so poorly in the series category. You would think she would have have identified the perfect formula during her time at SB. That's why I wondered if there was a bias against P&G soaps or just GL in general as it took from 1982 to 2007 for GL to win their next emmy. ATWT did win three times so who knows?

[kalbir]

These were the 1992-1994 drama series races

1992: All My Children (winner), As the World Turns, GL, Y&R

1993: All My Children, As the World Turns, GL, Y&R (winner)

1994: All My Children (winner), As the World Turns, GL, Y&R

As the World Turns won drama series 1987, 1991, 2001, 2003.

[Paul Raven]

Marland was lucky to inherit a strong show and smart enough not to make too many changes too quickly.

First up he had to dispose of Roger as Michael Zaslow was leaving.

He felt that there needed to be a teen love story so Morgan/Kelly arrived. He cleverly tied Morgan and her mother Jennifer into the Spaulding story with Jennifer being Amanda's mother. 

That was continuation of a story the Dobson's had already hinted at.

Still think Kelly should have been Billy Fletcher as that would have tied him into 60's/70's GL.

Sorased Tim as a new teen.

Began the Reardon clan with Bea and Nola.

Brought in Vanessa and Henry,Derk Colby,Andy Norris(a returning character) and Derek Colby.

To make room for new characters he killed off Lucille for a murder mystery and got rid of B characters like Peter, Ann,Mark, Greg and Renee,

Holly was written out but I think Maureen Garrett wanted to go as she wasn't thrilled with Marland's stories. I don't think Holly was as front burner as she's been with the Dobsons.

I may have missed one or two characters but as you can see Marland did a good job in his first year of integrating new characters and keeping everyone else around.

I don't think viewers would feel like the shw had changed too much, unlike the changes at Days or ATWT.

 

[Mitch64]

Bridget was a very difficult person, who did not suffer fools, so I can imagine how she and JFP got along (JFP prefered her difficult people to be men...) I would love to hear some of the backstage stories there.

[Reverend Ruthledge]

 

I always thought it odd that Marland didn't seem to mine the history of GL much but REALLY mined the history of ATWT when he was writing that show. 

[Mona Kane Croft]

True.  But wasn't he at GL for a much shorter time than he was at ATWT?  I think he was at ATWT for 8-years.  Perhaps he had plans to mine GL's history, but did not have the opportunity.  

[SoapDope]

It was weird that Elizabeth never returned to the canvas after she departed in 1981. Even if Lezlie Dalton had no interest to return they could have recast. Jackie could have also been brought back from the dead at some point. 

[Reverend Ruthledge]

How many years was he at GL? 

NO, NO, NO!!! I HATE back-from-the-dead storylines!

Sorry. Just gives me a knee-jerk physical reaction. LOL. 

[Khan]

 

One idea that I had had (out of many) for GL's final weeks: Phillip and Rick have a falling-out over something - can't remember what anymore - and each is visited by the spirit of their deceased mom - Leslie, for Rick; Jackie, for Phillip - in the hopes of getting the two men to patch things up.  In a perfect world, Lynne Adams would've agreed to return as Leslie, and Cindy Pickett would've returned as Jackie.  That was about as far as I was willing to go in terms of bringing back either character.

Sounds a lot like this lady I've known all my life (hi, Mom!).

[P.J.]

Two, maybe two and a half. 

I'm surprised he didn't at least do the Phillip reveal. I'm not really sure what history he could've tapped into at that point. He fleshed out Ross by giving him a past with Vanessa. It seemed like the plan was to go Mike/Jennifer.  

Marland really didn't have a Bob/Kim on the canvas when he came to GL. The Dobsons had kind of round-robin'd the characters to death by then. I still boggle at the Mike/Liz/Justin/Jackie/Alan merry go-round.

I think he definitely would've brought back Ted LePlat had he had the time. Marland loved pot-stirring bad boys.

Edited January 10 by P.J.

[wonderwoman1951]

thoughts on marland’s long term from tom casiello. 

here’s the link:

 https://casiello.blogspot.com/2009/01/great-marlands-ghost-part-one.html

“a treasure trove of long stories I've accumulated from different shows over the years. Some of them are long stories that made it to air... some of them didn't. Some of them were written by the head writers who were working for the show at the time, and others were "auditions" by people who hoped to one day hold the title.

But there is one I value more than any of the rest, and that's Douglas Marland's proposed long story from 1985. 

I discovered it when I was cleaning out the filing cabinets from the CBS Studios on 57th Street before World Turns moved to Midwood, Brooklyn in 2000. My inner fan in a state of shock, literally salivating over the gold mine I had just discovered, I quickly made a photocopy of it and packed it away with the rest of the documents. 

I plowed through all one hundred and fifty seven pages that night, and then sealed it up in an envelope and put it away on my bookshelf, my mind spinning with everything I had read. And there it sat, until last week... when I rediscovered it.“

[Mitch64]

Instead of Alex, I wanted Joan Collins to play Elizabeth..back to reclaim the son she raised and this time, more then capable of taking Alan on. I know it would be a stretch that fragile Elizabeth would be self confident Joan Collins, (can she play anything but supremely self confident?) But I remember watching as a kid and Elizabeth was OBSESSED with Phillip( actually everyone in town was, he was the forerunner of Lily Walsh) so for her to just be like, "See YA!" and never mentioned is weird.