Guiding Light Discussion Thread

[soapfan770]

So I have a question about GL's ratings in 1984 when it hit #1. I remember on the old WOST boards there was a great, furious debate on whether or not GL did hit #1 in 1984, the length of time(1 week? 3 weeks?), what caused it(Reva? Summer Olympics pre-empting ABC soaps? Susan Piper and Barbados?) etc. But I do remember SOD doing a profile on GL in 1998 or so mentioning that GL had briefly hit #1 in 1984. So, does anyone when and how/why GL hit #1 in 1984?

[DRW50]

I thought it was the Four Musketeers stuff.

[DRW50]

9/25/81 SOD. Introducing the hugely underrated Rebecca Hollen, as Trish Lewis. Network Publishing Co

Edited November 22, 2010 by CarlD2

[EastMA2]

I don't believe that GL actually hit #1 in 1984. From what I remember, GL beat GH for 3 weeks in July, but Y&R was #1 during that time. Entertainment Tonight did a segment on GL beating GH and they interviewed Gail Kobe. The very next day were that year's Daytime Emmy awards and I went and stood outside the hotel to see the stars arrive. I recognized Gail Kobe and Pam Long and I shook Gail's hand and said congratualtions on being #1, and she said that GL is not #1, but it will be. I think the confusion about whether or not GL hit #1 was because GH had been #1 and during those weeks GL beat GH. But I do believe that Y&R was actually #1 during the weeks that GL beat GH that summer.

[DRW50]

That's a great story!

Amazing how the soaps were such big news then.

Still wonder sometimes why Gail Kobe lost such focus as producer.

[soapfan770]

Thanks for that GLisNo1. I guess until the hard data from the weekly ratings resurfaces, we'll never know for sure. I do know that while GH was usually the lead soap of the time, it wasn't always a consistent/stable #1 on a week to week basis, especially towards the late 80s when Days hit #1 for Steve and Kayla's wedding. Even in 1983 GH lost out to ATWT with Steve and Betsy's wedding garnering twenty million viewers.

Gail Kobe strikes me funny because early she sounds like a strong producer in the same vain as Phelps or Rauch but yeah I think it was Lujack's death that she dropped the ball on. I haven't heard too many good things about her successor Joe Willmore either. Even though GL got back on its feet again under him with Long's return as HW, I've heard he was extremely temperamental and not too many tears shed when Calhoun came over from ATWT.

[DRW50]

9/13/94 K-III Magazine Co behind the scenes at Vanessa's boat problem and meeting Matt.

Edited November 22, 2010 by CarlD2

[heffer]

The Lujack death (and the departure of Judi Evans soon afterward) is (and I know I'm probably in the minority) where I pinpoint the true beginning of the very slow downward spiral of the show. To have your top popular supercouple end rather abruptly as it did took out a lot of the air in the sails which IMO it never truly got back.

[DRW50]

Did they know Judi was leaving when Vincent left? If so they should have had them leave town together.

I can understand, on some level, why Lujack had to die, and this did give Alex some story, and brought in Simon, who seems kind of odd to me but did work well with Beverlee McKinsey (I don't really care much about the Jessie/Simon stuff and Jessie/Simon/India would have to be one of the more bizarre triangles). What I don't understand is why Beth was killed. They wasted her in Judi's last months didn't they? Wasn't she just a model or beauty pageant winner or something? Then she just was blown up or something. Why not just have her leave town to use the Lujack foundation money to help those in need? It's not like she and Phillip were together at this time. Then they could have recast in time. Why kill her off?

The whole show seems so odd at this time. They had so many great characters yet didn't know what to do with them, so you would have someone like India playing second fiddle to Jessie or a lot of characters playing second fiddle to that dull Christine Valere.

So Irizarry quit because of tension with Gail Kobe (because he'd wanted to do a movie), right? What a waste. He might have stayed with GL if they'd been more supportive. Lujack seems like a great character. Right place right time. By the time he returned as Nick the show had changed and the character was just awful and seriously damaged Mindy and Alex to the point where both characters were basically destroyed.

From the little I've seen of Jeff Ryder's time as headwriter I'm not all that impressed but I do LOVE these scenes with Alex and Simon. This is the Alex who was so special. And they even had an extra scene over the credits! I never knew GL did that.

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[heffer]

The writing for Beth did totally suck after Lujack's death. They paired her up with Phillip just WEEKS after the death of her supposed love of her life soulmate. What a slap in the nuts of Beth/Lujack fans. I understand the writers wanted them together due to their previous history, but they could have recast and gradually built back the relationship slowly or have Beth go out of town and come back later. It would have saved us from the ridiculous "Beth's missing" storyline.

I was never a fan of the Simon character. He was too much "Lujack-lite" for me.

[shadow]

IMO Phillip and Beth were always the "couple" even during the Beth/Lujack pairing.

[DRW50]

A day at GL, from 11/75 TV Dawn to Dusk (Ideal Publishing Corp.). Some of the pages were missing, but I hope some is better than none.

Edited November 22, 2010 by CarlD2

[saynotoursoap]

I agree. I never cared for the Lujack character, at least not with Beth. From the moment Phillip and Beth danced to Lionel Richie's "Still" at the prom, they were THE couple and always would be. Another poster mentioned the mis-steps of Lujack's death. Personally, I thought the writers goofed when they created Lujack and used him to undermine Phillip's character. I have never cared for gang stories on soaps either. The only thing daytime does worse than a mob story is a gang story. Lujack and The Gallahads were like something out of West Side Story. Do not even get me started on the ridiculous "gang member with a heart of gold who becomes a rock and roll singer". Anyone remember that hilariously awful song/music video that was supposed to catapult Lujack to superstardom?

"Put on your best dress, baby/ And darling fix your hair up right/Cause it's a party, honey/Down be-neath the neon lights/"

To answer Carl's question, no, GL did not know that Judi Evans would decline to renew her contract the following summer. I disagree about the manner in which Beth was written out. I thought Beth's presumed death was the only logical choice because of Phillip's obsession with her. Phillip could not move on as a character with Beth being alive offscreen, and at a time when the Spaulding family was more integral to the plot than ever, Phillip had to be on the canvas. Also, Judi Evans' popularity could not be ignored. Her portrayal of Beth resonated with the audience. I do not think she could have been replaced and accepted so easily by the audience quickly. The endless succession of writers in 1986 (Jeff Ryder, Mary Ryan Munisteri, Joseph D. Manetta, and Sheri Anderson) did not get much right, except for Beth's disappearance. Beth was kidnapped by Professor Blackburn, and their boat capsized in a storm. Beth was missing for weeks. Finally the police found a body in the lake. The body was not Beth's, but Alan, correctly assuming that Phillip would never face reality and receive closure with Beth missing, paid off the coroner to declare Beth dead. The audience knew all along that Beth's body was never found, and that she might return one day, but it allowed Phillip to carry on with other stories. Without Beth's "death", we never would have gotten Blake, who was one of the most interesting, fun, and enduring characters created by Pam Long.

[DRW50]

<gap>

"been doing quite a job on Broadway as well as in his new role on the serial, and fans are becoming extremely tuned-in to Everett's beautiful voice and handsome good looks.

One of the fairest young faces on Guiding Light is Fran Myers (Peggy Fletcher. We were happy to tell you a couple months ago that Fran married Roger Newman (ex-Ken Norris on the same show) in a quiet ceremony in Las Vegas this May. But it was this June that Fran and Roger took a trip of a lifetime abroad the oceanliner Queen Elizabeth 2 to London. Even if the honeymoon was a little delayed, it was well worth it because they had a fantastic time. "The food on that boat was incredible!" Franny said with a beaming smile. Unfortunately, they were at the tail end of a hurricane, so the one-deck activities were probably a bit limited. But the food made up for it all.

In London, the new Mrs. and Mrs. Newman went to visit most of Roger's family who reside there. The only show they had time to see was Harvey, with Jimmy Stewart. And then it was on to Paris - and you guessed it - more food! Franny did an admirable job of remaining thin as a reed through all that deliciousness.

But Fran was not the only Guiding Lighter who married this year. Michael Zaslow (Roger Thorpe) took the same happy, giant step this past June 7th.

Michael married a lovely writer named Susan Hufford. She is a tremendously talented woman who writes Gothic novels. One of her books (she is working on her fourth one at the moment) is called Midnight Sailing) and is on the bookshelves right now.

Mike told us that it was an absolutely lovely wedding, with many of his fellow cast members in attendance. He and Susan were married on the property of their new home in Connecticut, and now this self same house is taking a good deal of Michael's spare time. He's working on a new addition and is loving every minute of it. Another great love that Michael Zaslow has is for writing music, and he gives a good deal of himself to that as well.

Two very nice people who are a little young to get married but are having a lot of fun anyway - are T.J. Hargrave (T.J.) and Shane Nickerson (Billy Fletcher). T.J. has been very busy with baseball and television commercials and Shane has been busily "moonlighting" in the Broadway show Pippin.

Several folks in the cast had their fun outside New York City this summer. Wonderful Stefan Schnabel (Dr. Steve Jackson) once again went to his beautiful home in Lake Como. Mart Hulswit (Dr. Ed Bauer) took his delightful family to New England and Jordan Clarke (Dr. Tim Ryan) made many an excursion to his private little place in New Hampshire. Well, it seems that that takes care of the travel plans of most of "Cedars Hospital"! Actually, there are two more doctors who had things close to home to keep them busy.

Dr. Joe Werner, who in real life is Tony Call, doubtlessly hit the links many times. Tony is a very avid golfer, and recently he and his lovely and talented wife, Elizabeth, joined Franny and Roger Newman in Shawnee, Pennsylvania, for a golfing weekend.

Dr. Sarah McIntyre, who in real life is lovely Millette Alexander, was very happy to be staying close to her farm in upstate New York. "I love to be right where I am in spring and summer and fall. It's the winter when I like to get away." Millete confessed. Her beautiful farm is getting bigger now that they are adding lots of new animals.

Millette has three of the most terrific children who are actively involved with things all the time. Her daughter Jenny is active in the Little League, her son Will went on a Y.M.C.A trip to Mexico with a friend, and Adam is developing a rock group that is having its first "gig" soon.

It was very difficult to get any clue to the drama showcase that Lynne Adams (Leslie Bauer) is doing at the moment. It seems that Lynne is a little shy about her friends coming to see her, but it would be our guess that she is doing a super job.

All the rain that we have been having this summer has been doing terrible things to Barbara Berjer's (Barbara Norris Thorpe) garden, but on a day when the sun actually did shine recently, you might have spotted Robert Milli (Adam Thorpe) at Great Adventure Amusement Park in New Jersey. Bob says that he and his wife Mary Jane took their two children, Brian, 6, and Liza, 3 and a half, to this fabulous park and had a ball. The kids were just in heaven. In his spare time, Bob, like Tony Call, can be found on the golf course, or doing a lot of photography.

There is a member of the cast of The Guiding Light who has completed all three of the major activities that her co-stars have individually done. This year, Lynn Deerfield (Holly Norris Bauer) took a terrific trip to the South of France, co-hosted a daytime talk show, and got married.

On Valentine's Day, Lynn Deerfield became the wife of ABC newsman Bill Beutel and recently they took a smashing trip to France. Not too long ago, she got to join her husband as the co-host of A.M. America and had a terrific time. Now this is one very active woman! Oh, yes - Lynn was also happy to announce that her mother has remarried. She is now Mrs. "Duke" Moskowitz. Congratulations, Lynn Deerfield and Mrs. Moskowitz!

A very happy way to end an article is with the introduction of a new and very handsome young member of The Guiding Light team. He is Barney McFadden, who is playing the role of Andy Norris. Barney is a very talented young guy who hails from New York City. Prior to his role of Andy, he had been doing regional theatre and understudied the role in the Broadway show Abelard and Heloise.

Barney is tremendously interested in biology and related subjects and has studied horticulture in Napa Vally California. One of his great loves is wood carving, and unlike just about everyone on The Guiding Light, he is single!

- Ronni Warren Ashcroft

Edited September 5, 2010 by CarlD2

[DRW50]

saynotoursoap, do you think they built Lujack up because they knew Grant Aleksander was leaving? What did you think of John Bolger?

I don't think the tough guy and music stuff worked that well but I think his relationships with Beth and Alexandra worked well.

I see what you mean about not recasting Beth but I think she might have been able to have left town and then been recast in a few years. But I did love Blake, so perhaps it was for the best.

Didn't the show kind of flounder for material with Phillip when GA returned.

Someone in The Doctors thread was asking about opinions on the writing of Cherrill and Levin, if you had any answers for their question.