Guiding Light Discussion Thread

[Contessa Donatella]

Apparently he was a guest. I guess I was thinking of a different time.

[dc11786]

No. Conboy was out the door by mid-March on screen let go at the end of February. He let go of Lindsey McKeon and then was let go himself hours (or maybe a day) later. Aubrey Dollar didn't resign and Kit Paquin was hired to assume the part of Marina. Everyone else was let go by Ellen Wheeler. Wheeler quickly dumped a bunch of people and the mass exodus started in May though Kit Paquin was dumped a little earlier (late April after only premiering in early March) and Lindsey McKeon's previously scheduled exit was earlier in March.

Peter Simon refused to resign and was out in May. Troy Kurtis' Nico was fired and shipped off to New York to explore his music with Jesse and Drew (probably the last mentions of the characters). Deborah Zoe's Eden got caught up in the mob drama and had to turn evidence so the FBI faked her death in mid-to-late May. Everyone believed her dead including her fiance, Bill Lewis. Eden's death in the bombing was a big sweeps event that coincided with JER revealing everyone was alive on "Days of our Lives" after the serial killer plot. 

There were also a ton of minor recurring parts that had first appeared under Conboy that were dropped. Sophia Hayden's Lucia quietly stopped appearing in February. Carrie Nye's Caroline reached her natural conclusion in March, but returned for a one shot in either late March or April to resolve the story that had left Marah on the hook for Caroline's murder. Russ Anderson's Dr. Christopher Langham stopped appearing once the Caroline stuff had ended as Reva's second sight faded in April. The actress playing Darcy Matthews, the escort friend of Eden's who was dating (engaged?) to Frank, skipped town when the news of her past was about to come out. Vinnie Salerno, the mobster, was around through May, but I think came back for a one off in June or July, but I might be thinking of his return a year or two later. Mark Pinter's Brad Green, the shady Spaulding executive, was killed off in June during the climax of the Spaulding drug storyline. Tonja Walker, playing Brad's wife Marie, also stopped appearing in June. There was a brief run by Lauren B. Martin as Sheryl, a nurse at Cedars in a triangle with Bill and Tony for a couple days, who first appeared under Wheeler that was quickly dumped when Kriezman came in. 

Wheeler and Kriezman dumped Joey Lupo in September in set up fo the Jonathan's revenge and Phillip's death storylines. Then, Phillip was killed off to spark November sweeps. 

To clarify, Ramsey was briefly recurring in 2004. I want to say March-April 2004. Chappell returned from maternity leave in January with Olivia claiming her baby had died. Eventually, it was revealled Sam was watching Emma for Olivia while Olivia was trying to secure Emma's future and safety. When Emma's existence was revealed, Olivia went to live at the Spaulding mansion and Sam stopped appearing. I don't remember if he got an exit scene to be honest.  

I think Ramsey had started doing some independent work. In addition, he appeared on "Days of our Lives" in 2009 in a contract role, Owen Kent, who was the Kiriakis gardener on the Dimera payroll during the early stages of the Kiriakis / Dimera feud. Owen was quickly killed off after kidnapping and falling for Stephanie, who was engaged to Phillip at the time. Despite the quick exit, Ramsey was on contract. Gordon Thompson appeared as his mortician father. There were onscreen mentions of a twin brother. I assume the plan was to continue on with Ramsey as the twin brother, but instead they brought on Mark Hapka as Nathan. 

Phillip died in 2004. There was a pre-filmed scene of Alan and Phillip that was used in June, 2005, to resolve the murder mystery and reveal that Phillip was alive. This wasn't a return on Alexander's part, but Phillip did appear onscreen in his office at Spaulding. I believe it was revealed that Alan had setup a duplicate office set like he had for Annie. 

2005 was the year that the show insisted on the paycut that Kim Zimmer fought them on. A bunch of people were dumped, or reduced to non-contract, in this period. Tony was killed off in March. Danny and Michelle left town in the fall after the brief Hope baby switch. Daniel Cosgrove also jumped ship. Laura Wright took an offer to go work at "General Hospital." Jerry ver Dorn was reduced to non-contract and immediately scooped to play Clint on "One Life to Live." I think Edmund was also written out at this point. Richie Costner I believe was contract as Jonathan's stepfather Nate/Alfred and I believe he also was given the boot by the fall. Doug Hutchison's Sebastian fled Springfield in July after trying to kidnap Lizzie, I think. Not a contract part, but Maureen Garrett, who had been appearing regularly again, was dropped in May when the show nixed a Spaulding / Lewis war which involved Alan selling Holly interest in Spaulding in exchange for interest for the Herald. Holly disappeared almost immediately after Blake learned of the business transaction. 

[Contessa Donatella]

You seem like a good person to ask is it true that Ellen Weston had a deal giving her 3 years, one more than Conboy?

 

[dc11786]

I don't know about that. I know Conboy's removal was quick. Briefly, Wheeler was executive producer at "Guiding Light" and directing episodes of "As the World Turns." Maybe only for a week or maybe two. The show's numbers didn't collapse until Conboy was already out the door. I think there was a bit of a dip after the Maryanne Carrouthers hall of mirrors climax that the show didn't really recover from until maybe when Kriezman took over. 

Conboy probably was let go at the end of the first contract cycle of his second year having first worked in December, 2002, and his last episode being in mid-March, 2004. Weston's departure was announced in May, three months after Conboy was booted with Kreizman's work starting in early July. 

I thought the Weston/Wheeler period was decent as Wheeler took the material and shaped it into something more grounded. Some say Donna Swajeski was doctoring the scripts, but I found that to be a hard sell given the fact that the show lost much of its energy in the first few months of Kriezman before launching the big stories: Roger's death, Jonathan's seduction of Tammy, and some of the Dinah material started to spark. 

[Contessa Donatella]

I know that Wheeler headed to ATWT A

 

I know that Wheeler went to ATWT for the entire time that Conboy was EP at GL. Also at some  point she & Scott McKinsey "shadowed" Chris Goutman to learn how to be an EP at a P&G show.

 

 

 

 

 

Edited February 10 by Contessa Donatella

[Contessa Donatella]

And, then later they went nuts trying to get him back. Even holding up story waiting. Even Courtney pled their case.

And, most everyone went along with the cuts, said to be 15%.

About Swajeski as a script doctor, I don't know but it was common to have one. I do know she wrote my favorite Otalia scenes - graveyard & gazebo. Also know Wheeler & Hurst daily went over Otalia dialogue, line by line.

[TEdgeofNight]

Wheeler was a total disaster as EP. She killed GL. Peapack??? Worst idea ever. Thank God she never worked in daytime again. An EP should not be crying everyday, as described in Kim Zimmer's book. Wheeler obviously knew that she was in way over her head and had no idea what she was doing, other than killing the show. Firing Jerry verDorn? Unforgiveable. 

[Mitch64]

Absolutely agree on this! Such a stupid move..let's get rid of the patriarch while we are on our last leg...(but let's keep Brad Cole....) 

I love that Wheeler and the writer went over Otalia scenes word for word,,,,if only they had done it for ALL of their scenes

[DRW50]

GL was lucky to last as long as it did. By all rights, after the disastrous runs of JFP and Laibson, it should have ended in 1995 or 1996. I think Ellen Wheeler made a lot of mistakes, but I don't blame her for the show's death - some might even say it would have gone off around 2004 or 2005 without her.

Edited February 10 by DRW50

[TEdgeofNight]

I HATED that Olivia became gay. Hated Otalia. It didn’t make sense. And inept Ellen Wheeler is going word for word with those scenes while the entire show Guiding Light is crashing around her and that is her focus??? I have a new profound dislike for Wheeler. She truly killed GL. Add Hurst in there too. She didn’t help save the show. 

[kalbir]

GL avoided cancel territory in the 1980s because Capitol showed no growth and B&B wasn't a hit right away.

GL became CBS's lowest-rated daytime soap in 1989 but didn't enter cancel territory until 1995. We know GL was not in a good place creatively by June 1994 (the start of OJ) and I'd say GL was effectively over in the aftermath of OJ.

[Contessa Donatella]

Technically NOT FIRED. Jerry who I think was the first to get a contract BITD, was moved off contract to recurring. They literally called him the following week to book 4-5 dates since their intent was totally to continue to use him, weekly. Was he a wrong choice to move to recurring? YES!!!!!! [cough] Bradley Cole! or even Frank! or more choices ... It is very annoying for folks who should know better to keep saying Jerry was fired when all it is, is perpetuating an error & no, not you, Mitch. 

I, too, love the attention to detail, etc. for Otalia but they'd have needed more time in every day to give that kind of TLC to all the writing! 

 

This is something you say over & over & when you do every single time I think, nope, it literally was not "effectively" over until its actual cancellation many years later. As of the end of the OJ period, AW had not been canceled yet, even. 

[kalbir]

The P&G shows were not in in a good place creatively June 1994: As the World Turns Douglas Marland material had run out, GL Nancy Curlee left the writing team three months earlier, Another World had been limping along for 15 years. We saw in the 1990s Ratings thread that by the end of 1995 the P&G shows were the bottom tier, thus I feel they were effectively over in the aftermath of OJ.

[Contessa Donatella]

And I think this is a narrow way of looking at things. Ratings are not the only factor. As long as the numbers worked out, we have no reason to think P&G was dissatisfied. For just one example, as late as 2007, GL was profitable. And, as we all know, the bottom line is always the almighty dollar.

 

[chrisml]

Several GL thoughts:

I was interested in Larkin Malloy's Kyle, but it felt like he was sacrificed at the altar of Robin Newman's Josh when Newman returned. 

I like Liz Keifer, but I don't think she worked as Blake and that her recast harmed the story's momentum. They should have just cast Keifer as a different character.

I know Wheeler and Conboy get a lot of flack for their firings, but JFP's documented workplace mistreatment of some of her female actors was appalling. Was AW the only place where this didn't happen or am I not remembering something that happened there? JFP's tenure at GL pretty much gutted GL of its heart and most interesting characters at the time. The Mindy Fiascos alone should have had her fired.

Wheeler was a mess on ATWT. The Jessica/Marshall rape storyline was unnecessary and she was heavily involved in that. I knew GL was in trouble when she was hired.