Guiding Light Discussion Thread

[Contessa Donatella]

LOL! Yes, I have written a blog on Kim's book, a review, and I would not put much stock in this particular paragraph. She doesn't do a very good job describing actors being moved from contract to recurring nor does she explain the pay cut or why these things had to happen. I have to laugh. Wheeler, like anyone, wanted to do the best she could with what she had to work with &  in the circumstances she inherited. White knight? Getting rid of vets? Presumed preference for younger actors? GMAB. Not what was going on. Where is the word budget or Procter & Gamble too cheap to pay an experienced EP? Or dissolving MADD's exec position? Wonder why Kim doesn't mention any of these things. 

I never knew that. Of course, that was GH sending a message.

[Contessa Donatella]

GH wanted Laura a whole 6 months before she could get free. The 3rd of 4 Carlys was hired & worked for that 6 months. LW was first "The role of Carly (whatever her last name was then) is now being played by Laura Wright" in early Nov. 2005. Was that when the show got rid of Danny & Michelle because they were sick of the fanbase wars over which Michelle?

And KZ was the only person to refuse that pay cut.

I never knew Cole had one of those pay or play contracts. Jim Reilly had one. RKK had one. 

[NothinButAttitude]

As someone who liked the Santos clan (and can admit they did eat the show), the stories for Tony/Danny were repetitive. Theresa and Catalina were literally the same character. Same with Carmen and Maria. 

[dc11786]

I don't know if it was ever said why the show wanted to get rid of Danny and Michelle, but I imagine part of it was that they were creatively stifling. The Manny crew wouldn't let anyone or anything come between them. I remember SOD reporting, or maybe it was just gossip on another board like GLBuzz or Spaulding Mansion (maybe those were the same forum, I cannot recall) that they were extending Nancy St. Alban's maternity leave. I think Alban's first episode back (or one of the first) was Michelle's September, 2005, car crash where Edmund stole Michelle's baby and gave it to Cassie. This also was the first episode of the GL podcast that they were posting online. Does anyone remember how long they did the podcast episodes for? 

During Wheeler's time, I believe Danny and Michelle were mostly apart. Wheeler arrived around March Madness and the mayor story was about to climax in April, which shifted Danny back into the mob circle for "one last time." In May, Danny was involved in setting up the warehouse bombing that was going to "kill" Eden so that she could go into Witness Protection, but Michelle trailed Danny and was caught up on the explosion. As a result, Michelle had amnesia and embraced a wilder side, which mostly meant she would say what she wanted and acted like she was a teenager. ScrambledMichelle ended up with Tony until Tony died on the cliff in February or March, 2005. Then, Michelle was pregnant and something must have happened that caused her to go on the run in August (Bill helped her, as I recall) and then there was the baby kidnapping. 

I tend to not hate Conboy as much as others do, but the Bradley Cole situation showed he was out of touch with the modern soap audience. I remember Conboy stating in an interview how he didn't know why Cole had been fired when he was getting tons of mail asking for him back. He seemed unaware of the modern internet soap fanbased who mobilized to mislead production into thinking their couple was the key to the show's success. The fact that none of the NYC soaps picked him up afterwards should have been a hint. AMC gave him a dayplayer role as someone involved in the cosmetics storyline and I think the Rassies even tried to get him hired permanently over there and possibly paired with Erica Kane. 

[Contessa Donatella]

Wait ... Carmen, Sandra Santiago, right? And, Maria was their abuela? If so, I respectfully disagree. To me their abuela was very different from the character Santiago played. That said, I  was not at all a fan of the Santos family & their show eating. Also Tony & Marah were a very different couple than Michelle & Danny. 

[NothinButAttitude]

To me, Carmen and Maria were literally the same character. Both of them were dastardly and only served as spoilers to Tony/Marah and Danny/Michelle. The only difference is that Maria grew to loathe her puppet (Catalina). 

[Contessa Donatella]

Okay, well, it definitely was known in some quarters at least that the show did take Michelle & Danny off canvas specifically because of idiotic fanbase wars. No, the notorious Buzz Board was pervasively warlike. Arrive there, express any opinion & immediately someone called you out for warfare. Civil posters avoided it. Spaulding Mansion was neutral. Sure, some fought. Most did not. I detested ConWest. Yes, he was obtuse & out of touch while she was inept. Don't even get me started on Marty West, baseball diamond, running off Aubrey Dollar or the dreaded sock puppet!!! LOL Oh, and CCulliton & whoever else did a year's tenure as co-HW were saints! Podcast I think was 4-6 months, maybe. 

[DRW50]

Thanks for the extra details. I definitely remember Holly vanishing long before Wheeler. Looking at this list, other than Jerry, I don't really disagree with most of the cuts...but yes, not using Jerry more was a big mistake, both for her and Conboy.

I still wonder if it was some P&G mandate about Bradley Cole, but who knows, maybe Wheeler adored him. I'm not sure if it was his choice to leave partway through GL's last year or not.

Smart move to not let Crystal go.

I can see Beth doing OK in that OLTL part, even if that role was a bottomless pit. I wouldn't have missed Beth Raines. And then as Paige was going nowhere fast, they could have always brought Beth C back anyway.

I thought Maria was more interesting because she started out as softer until the Labines made her so wicked, and frankly, the actress was just better. But they didn't do anything interesting with this shift, and the Santos overstayed their welcome by much too long. Danny was the main one worth keeping, but as mentioned, him constantly needing to go back to Michelle suffocated him, even as PAS was one of the show's best.

[P.J.]

It amazes me how TIIC keep running into the same problem with stannish fanbases that they can't risk pissing off over the last 15 years (or so) of the show. Whether it's Matt/Vanessa, Danny/Michelle, Richard/Cassie or Gus/Harley.

If you can't create friction, of course you're creatively stifled. Even with Josh/Reva, they ended back up together, but at least they hadn't always been afraid of breaking them up.

[Contessa Donatella]

No, he was not special to EW. 

Agree!

Maria had warmth. Carmen was cold as ice. Both women coveted power. Agree long overstayed. But, personally I had no trouble with Danny & Michelle. Agree PAS strong player. In my personal reboot he is discovered to be a long lost Bauer. 

 

INDEED!

[dc11786]

The brief period where Wheeler was EPing from the material credited to Weston had some very nice material for ver Dorn. I remember Joey Lupo commenting directly to Ross during the election story (probably late March/early April, 2004) how well he was handling or had handled Marah's murder charges when she was accused of killing Maryanne Carrouthers. Ver Dorn had Ross reflect on the power of his role in the community and the potential loss that would come if he were mayor. In the end, Ross won (after losing, of course, because it was rigged). When Kriezman came on, I felt the Ross / Blake tension felt forced even though the nature of the conflict was natural (Dinah's return after being on the run for years after killing Blake's half-brother Hart). At times, Kriezman's work felt so stripped down that even character moments felt like they were pure plot. 

I loved Olivia, but by this point in time, early 2006, the best days of Olivia were over. Cosgrove was gone. Alexander was gone and had no interest in returning. If it could have spared viewers the Olivia / Frank / Buzz triangle and the Olivia / Jeffrey and was there also Olivia / Gus, I would have been ok. 

From when I started watching, I felt Chamberlain did her best work in those non-contract years where she could focus on how optimistic Beth struggled to be after being harmed for many years by the harsh realities of living. I didn't miss the Paul Raunch Beth Raines years, that's for sure. 

Wow. I had completely forgot about Gloria Irizarry's warmer Maria. She definitely provided an interesting dynamic. Based on the Soap Central summaries, Maria became harder under Irizarry, but I can't remember if her Maria was cold and calculating or was it just Miriam Colon's.

I think the setup for late 2004 / early 2005 for Danny / Michelle was interesting when it looked like that they might go with Danny / Blake on the eve of Ed's return while Beth and Rick were also growing closer and Michelle was still running around with Sebastian. I thought having Ed's son involved with Lillian's daughter in an extra marital affair, while his son-in-law was involved with Holly's daughter who he believed to be his at one time, while his daughter was growing closer to Roger's son could have produced a lot of powerful material. 

[Contessa Donatella]

I actually enjoyed Olivia/Buzz. They were fun & sexy. But, with Jeffrey. oh no. 

Here, agree. Also when she got serious about working out.

I tried to tell y'all. 

This is too convoluted. 

 

[P.J.]

I'm consistently amazed when I get reminded that GL stuck with the bland St Alban for as long as they did. I had checked out of GL by this time, and have zero recollection of any of this.

[alwaysAMC]

Not my sweet Lucy!!!  

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  Welcome - and great ideas! 

[Mitch64]

It was pretty much confirmed in the Locher room episode on Mo's death, when Parker said, "I think Jill had to free up money for Justin,".  The focus group we know was just an excuse for JfP to dump Parker to bring in her beloved scenery chewer..(of course viewers who didn't even watch GL thought her character was boring, there was no context...) 

I do love whomever came up with the idea up thread of having Buzz PTS come back and shoot Lucy in the head (would it matter, the bullet would pass through air) That is one hell of a dark way to go!!! I just thought that they should have used Jenna to write Buzz off..they reunite they fight Jefferey then they leave town happy. Simple.