Guiding Light Discussion Thread

[Mona Kane Croft]

Ahh, okay.  I realize some people are picky about anything they consider off-topic. So I just thought you were expressing concern about that.  No problem.  Didn't realize you were being rhetorical.  

Frankly, I find that most threads that stray off topic don't go on for very long. So they don't bother me personally.  And in my experience, trying to move a thread to the "appropriate" place never works -- the thread just dies.  If I notice an off-topic thread that doesn't interest me, I just ignore it and don't engage.  But all that is just my opinion on the issue. Others feel differently, which is alright.  

[Vee]

Not sure Donna has any room to complain about any thread, anywhere on this forum, going off-topic considering how many she has happily derailed for her personal whims. But it's entirely on-topic since Mike Bauer, a GL core character, did a stint on AW. If anyone has a problem with it they're welcome to go complain to the admin.

Edited February 21 by Vee

[Mona Kane Croft]

Well, I think Donna was not really complaining, she was cracking a joke about it.  And I was a bit too dense to get the joke.  LOL.   

[Contessa Donatella]

No way of knowing. 

My feelings are so similar.

If it's Vee & he's making any statement about me I am sure it comes from a place of zero insight. But, you are correct that I was just joking. Although I was very serious about Penberthy's appeal & Lee Randolph being a problem as daughters go. And, Mike Bauer & his daughter Hope & Mitchell Dru & Cass Winthrop are bonafide GL/ATWT/AW crossovers. 

If Don Stewart had played Mike Bauer on AW who knows what kind of soapy goodness might have come out of crossovers!!! I like that as a what if.

[P.J.]

LOL...Marland hated coincidence...unless he wrote it. Iva gave Lily (and the retconned Rose) up for adoption in Los Angeles, and wound up living in the same town as Lucinda 15years (or so) later. And Rose ended up in New Joisey, FCOL. (although this was not his fault)

I don't think Marland would've just killed off Jackie as some moral karma. I think he knew the recast wasn't working. Jackie's death was a tragedy directly tied to Carrie, and I would speculate, would've been a turning point in Phillip's growing up had Marland still been around to write it.

Leslie Ann's death was to make Warren sympathetic? Eh....I don't think so. Leslie Ann was a dead end character. They simply freed Warren up to go back to his smarmy ways.

 

[DRW50]

I think any writer tends to deplore cliches in others but uses them in their own work. On GL, wasn't Carrie and Diane meeting up again in Springfield meant to be a coincidence? 

Unfortunately, thanks to miscasting Jackie and then all of those characters becoming so defined by Carrie for Marland's run (and Alan on redeeming himself, although I think that would have regressed even if Marland had stayed) the layers and power of the story were completely taken away. 

Edited February 21 by DRW50

[Soaplovers]

Jackie was an unlikable and selfish character.  Anyone giving up a baby out of spite to the man that cheated on you will never get my sympathy.  Pickett being a likable actress is why Jackie thrived because you saw the regret and torture she infused into the character.  Once Jackie was recast, the character became non descript.

Marland struggled to write characters like Jackie.  He tended to write some characters in more simplistic ways.  Jackie, Amanda, Holly, Rita, and Diane lost layers when he wrote them.

Diane in 1979 was worlds different then Diane of 1980/1981 in terms of layers and complexity.

[P.J.]

I would assume Diane and Carrie was meant to be a coincidence. I don't think anything was ever intimated otherwise.

I do wonder if Alan/Phillip/Justin would've played out along the same lines as Lucinda/Lily/Iva. (Minus Justin playing the doormat ala Iva.)

 

[DRW50]

I still think Diane dying by the hands of Carrie rather than the people viewers had seen her battling for years was a bit of a copout, but I also know I've only seen some scattered episodes so shouldn't assume.

Likely so. I wonder if Long/Kobe always planned the story of Philip going bad (the first version, in 1984, not the second version in 1988). Unfortunately, between firing Tom O'Rourke and Chris Bernau quitting, there were no ramifications, beyond some brief angst for Beth. Then Grant quit so viewers had even less reason to care, attractive as John Bolger may have been.

 

[P.J.]

Yeah, I find it a cop-out too. I think it's only the fact that Carrie was played by Jane that keeps it out of the WTF? annals of soap history. 

 

 

 

[SoapDope]

As wonderful as Marland was for ATWT, I think his GL stunk for the most part. I love that late 70's Dobson's era. P&G/CBS had to go and screw that all up.

Most fans of that era are always praising the character of Rita, but I find Jackie a fascinating character. Cindy Pickett was wonderful in the role and I stay focused when she is onscreen.  I would love to see more of her run including her early rich bitch mode and to see her evolve into the character we see by 1979. 

I also love Lezlie Dalton as the soft spoke Elizabeth pining for Mike who she can't have because of Alan poisoning Philips mind against him. 

 

[Mona Kane Croft]

The Dobsons' era of Guiding Light was probably the show's creative zenith. So I do understand what you are saying. But Marland did attract a huge younger audience to GL.  And he helped GL to successfully compete with Luke and Laura on General Hospital. As much as I loved the Dobsons on GL, I doubt their version of the show would have had much ratings success against  the juggernaut of GH in the early 1980s. Just my opinion.   

[Mitch64]

Warren Andrews was one of those Kobe/Long characters (like Jackson Fremont) who stuck around forever but never provided much of a purpose.  I know he was supposed to be Alex's henchman and listen to her schemes to get rid of India, etc, but he should have been recurring and free up contract money for someone else.

I love soap coincidences...it just is one of those things that make soaps, soaps. Also every mystery writer on earth make liberal use of coincidences and other soap elements like eavesdropping just as someone drops a truth bomb...even Christie did. It's all part of the genre. 

[P.J.]

Pretty much. I think they tried making him a Roger-like character initially, but it just never worked. Every show has that mid-level inept villain who mostly just antagonizes people but gets nowhere.

[kalbir]

 

Yes, the Potter/Marland era held its own against massive pop culture phenomenon General Hospital but it was also helped by Y&R being in their post-expansion slump. Remember pre-expansion Y&R was challenging General Hospital and All My Children for #1 but the expansion derailed all its momentum. Y&R rebounds in the second half of 1982 and that overlaps w/ the post-Marland fall.

How the CBS soaps ranked ratings-wise in the 1980s.

1979/80: 3. Y&R, 5. Guiding Light, 6. As the World Turns, 7. Search for Tomorrow, 13. Love of Love (series finale February 1, 1980)

1980/81: 4. Guiding Light, 5. As the World Turns, 6. Y&R, 8. Search for Tomorrow

1981/82: 4. Guiding Light, 5. Y&R, 5. As the World Turns, 8. Search for Tomorrow (CBS finale March 26, 1982), 9. Capitol (debut March 29, 1982)

1982/83: 4. Y&R, 5. As the World Turns, 6. Guiding Light, 7. Capitol

1983/84: 3. Y&R, 5. Guiding Light, 6. As the World Turns, 8. Capitol

1984/85: 3. Y&R, 4. Guiding Light, 6. As the World Turns (tied w/ Days), 8. Capitol

1985/86: 2. Y&R, 6. Guiding Light, 7. As the World Turns, 8. Capitol (tied w/ Another World)

1986/87: 2. Y&R, 4. As the World Turns (tied w/ All My Children and Days), 7. Guiding Light, 8. B&B (debut March 23, 1987), 9. Capitol (series finale March 20, 1987)

1987/88: 1. Y&R (tied w/ General Hospital), 6. As the World Turns, 7. Guiding Light, 8. B&B

1988/89: 1. Y&R, 6. As the World Turns, 7. Guiding Light, 8. B&B

1989/90: 1. Y&R, 5. As the World Turns, 6. B&B, 7. Guiding Light (tied w/ Days)