Guiding Light Discussion Thread

[Contessa Donatella]

Any chance you could repeat what she said?

[chrisml]

Her comments were all about "consent" and the storyline. There was controversy at the time about making a strong black male character a rapist and I don't think she got that. 

[Vee]

Unspeakably (her OLTL character was somehow even worse). And both their stories with Gus just prior to his death were uncomfortable and skeevy to me, first from a weird Mormon fundie POV (the whole Natalia mess with her kid) and then Olivia's weird obsession with him. And I was someone with very little time for Gus to begin with.

[P.J.]

Count me in as loathing Olivia, almost from minute one. There is something about CC's acting choices that is just unlikeable. Olivia wasn't a "love to hate" bitch either. I never understood why they kept her past the initial San Cristobal crap. To cycle through families of men? They should've sent her on a train out of town when she knocked Billy off the wagon. 

And the Olivia/Natalia relationship was more about trying to latch on to the Luke/Noah buzz than anything else. Ugh...don't get me started on that. The only reason to go over that story dialogue line by line is to make sure you're not offending anyone...but you just wrote two cousins getting it on? HUGE EYEROLL.

[Vee]

Putting aside the ugly preamble with Gus between them, it was a very weird religious/Mormon take on lesbians to me. Their entire relationship was centered around this cloistered life where they each orbited first Gus, then the alleged suburban dad ideal of Frank Cooper(!!). In the end Natalia(?) had another child by him, once again venerating heterosexual parenthood and homemaking above all else while the two women remained weirdly chaste and retiring onscreen.

[Contessa Donatella]

Thank you. Sounds very ugh to me, too.

[TEdgeofNight]

Re:Wheeler and Hurst. A 70 year old legacy show is crumbling down around you and (allegedly - you can NEVER trust what that person says) and they are going over word for word the disastrous Olivia and Natalia scenes???? Really? That’s your focus while GL dies around you? It can never be said enough that thank God Wheeler and Hurst never worked again in daytime. It’s criminal what they did to kill GL. 

[DRW50]

I think it was more than just Luke/Noah. This was a whole period of time, which still goes on today to a degree (the British soaps keep trying to force straight women into lesbian relationships over and over) where the soaps were trying to tap into an lgbt audience.

I think it may have been less about offending anyone and more about censors. I don't have a problem believing censors would object more to a lesbian relationship than straight cousin incest. 

The oddest part for me was when they had a big chunk of an episode revolving around the women going vibrator shopping...all while making sure to never say vibrator.

That character was so slimy to begin with, so to me the issue was more the story seemed to go into "cry rape" territory until someone at the network got squeamish and he was killed off.

[Contessa Donatella]

No, Otalia had zero to do with Nuke. I'm chuckling that anyone had this thought, which is total news to me. 

Nuke, BTW, was Bianca with guys - literally. ATWT went to someone who wrote on the Bianca coming out storyline & asked her if she could do it again, only with guys!!! Obviously she could - and did. 

Anyway, for 2 women, adults, of an age, who had been with men their whole lives to turn to each other was WAY MORE THREATENING than any other story they could've come up with. But, Wheeler made a mistake thinking they could do it so chaste. 

And why not chase the lgbtq+ audience?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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[chrisml]

I have accepted ridiculous storylines if the chemistry is right and the acting works so the idea of Olivia and Natalia getting together didn't bother me. It was the execution of it that was weird to me. It now makes sense that they were going over ever single line as it felt very safe and devoid of any real human feelings. It reminded me a bit of of Nick and Ann Hamilton's NuMindy where it was two actors who felt as if they were on two different shows.

[Dan]

I know it's been so many years already, but I'm still heartbroken by the promise of the early months of the Conboy tenure with Taggart/Culliton. The writing was crisper, took some actual risk with more character driven scenes. The drab brightness and pastel colors were gone and Conboy had the show looking so much nicer already. If Taggart had been allowed to stay and do her thing, it may not have led to a glory period, but maybe a more longterm period of respectability was possible. 

 

Instead, Taggart was fired, Weston was hired, Holly immediately moved to recurring and the bottom fell out. I still wonder what could have been. 

Maybe this sounds picky, but I felt like I could have accepted more of the Peapack years and it's growing pains if only they would have never fired their music department and hired Gabrielle Solarino to basically provide elevator muzak for the show and ill-timed licensed music. Pointing to 2 examples off the top of my head.

 

I remember really being engaged with Justin Deas' performance when Coop died. It was the first not phoned in performance I had seen from him in years and it was completely interrupted by "Downtown" coming on and pulling me out of the scene. It really called for a great somber cue, and they botched it. 

 

And last was the finale. I made it through almost the entire episode not shedding a tear. But when Josh and Reva's last music cue came on? That's what did it. Not the love can save the world crap. None of the Dawson's Creek-lite nonsense they had going on. An actual classic soap cue that pulled back the years on me and reminded me how long I had been invested in this show. (Not nearly as long as some of the posters here, but still). 

 

I really think I could have tolerated more if they had just fixed that one element. 

[Contessa Donatella]

I have had an epiphany. I have FINALLY realized why it is that I cannot discuss the end of GL with y'all without getting into a massive bad mood. Most of you have so much blame for one Person & overlook 2 other persons - Conboy & Weston - who should be getting a heaping helping of blame. But then I come to what I think has the ultimate responsibility and blame & who might that be? P&G you fools! They were the ones who did not provide the needed budget and the ones who chose to put a totally inexperienced EP into a position where she was going to be in over her head from the first week, on. Now, I feel so much better. Rant over, BTW. It's safe to come out again. 

[AMCOLTLLover]

True. P&G wanted out of the soap Business and that’s why 1 year later Atwt followed. I mean If that Big House ain’t behind your Show and providing Budget, Vision etc. How are they to make it. Writting is one Thing and the cast another but they tried. They had to work with like nothing lol I will always give them Credit for making the show til the last Episode even under those circumstances. 

i mean what were the actual glory days. Coz i hear nothing but complaining about the 80‘s/90‘s/00‘s. Even some 70‘s got criticized. To me it Looks Like The Last 30 Years were garbage to the majority of GL fans

[Reverend Ruthledge]

I can only offer my opinion (for what it's worth) but I think the 30s-60s were the glory days for GL. However, I would say that the 70s were great and I found a lot to like in the 80s and 90s. While it wasn't GL at its best, I wouldn't classify the whole decades of the 80s and 90s to be garbage, although a lot that went on during those decades I WOULD classify as garbage. The 00s, however, is a different story. I struggle to find any redeeming qualities of that last decade. 

[Contessa Donatella]

Wow! When you decide to say a thing, you don't mess around. You really say it. I tip my hat to you, especially liking your Big House analogy. Roger Newcomb said something about GL's end that I have long been fond of,

Roger Newcomb: Crystal Chappell proved on GUIDING LIGHT in its last two years that it doesn't have to matter what sized set you're using, what type of camera you're using, how good the lighting is, how much time you have to prepare or any of that stuff. She made every single scene work. She gave some individual performances that rank right up with the very best daytime has ever seen.

I happen to agree about SOME that we all know was garbage. San Crapoblah, I am looking at you. 

However on the end times, I can only say I respect you & your opinion, even as I disagree. For just one example, I firmly believe that GL deserved the Emmy for Tammy's death.