Guiding Light Discussion Thread

[NothinButAttitude]

I totally forgot that Beth boinked Jeffrey. I tend to forget the Conboy years as the show was all over the place then. 

 

Was 1984 the year Hilary was killed off? If so, that explains it. I thought 85 was when fans started to hate the show b/c of Blue Orchid (or whatever it was called) mess occurred, which I know many GL fans loathed.

[vetsoapfan]

Yes, I believe Hillary died in 1984. Fans were already in revolt over the mass cast/vet purge, and by 1985, with so many of the legacy characters killed off, long-running actors fired or replaced, and the writing in the toilet, TGL had become unwatchable for longtime fans.

[Khan]

I'm probably one of the VERY few who enjoyed GL even back then.  But I was also still in grade school.  

 

For me, GL stopped being the GL I admired and respected around the time Megan McTavish began her stint as HW.  It rebounded somewhat during the early part of the Paul Rauch/Esensten & Brown regime, even though signs of trouble were already apparent, with dumbed-down stories such as Matt and Vanessa's reunion, Beth's return and OOC relationship with Carl, Annie blaming Reva for her miscarriage, etc.  Yes, I still tuned into the show -- through B&E, through Claire Labine and her kids, through Lloyd Gold and Millee Taggart and new EP John Conboy's partner-in-crime, Ellen Weston -- but not as frequently; and by 2004, or whenever David Kreizman assumed the HWing reins and turned GL into an extended, Coopers-vs.-Spauldings edition of "Family Feud," I was ready to say goodbye.

Edited May 26, 2016 by Khan

[NothinButAttitude]

Understanable. However, I am sure many of those fans probably recanted their statements if they watched the show from about 03-09. 

 

Was Megan McTavish HW when Roger was being drugged by Dinah and Hart?

[~bl~]

Yes she was in the role of HW during the lonitrat story where Dinah and Hart turned the tables on Roger after he originally tried to drug Dinah.

[NothinButAttitude]

Oh OK. Thanks for verifying that. I hated that entire arc going back from Roger using Dinah for her inheritance. Looking back, I feel like that story should've been scrapped and we should've finally gotten Holly & Roger up until MZ's exit from the show. I still get pissed over Holly and Roger never getting their happy ending. 

[DRW50]

While the show was overall in a better place in 1985, I can't really say that bizarre OTT trash like the Charlotte Wheaton storyline was that far removed from GL's last decade. 

[vetsoapfan]

Um...you thought TGL was in a good place in TGL?

 

Now you've done it. This will be my first cat-fight on the SON boards!!!

 

(I jest, I jest. Sort of, LOL!)

[NothinButAttitude]

But the show was in a better place. The stories might've sucked then but c'mon. You know you'd trade those rough years in the 80s of GL over GL from 03 to 09. At least the show still had a bit of heart then. At least the sets still looked plush and the acting was on point during that time too. The Peapack years pained me to no end.

[DRW50]

I meant compared to 2003-2009.

[vetsoapfan]

Well, that's like telling me I had to prefer rose-scented excrement to original-scent (LOL) excrement, after it had been lying out in the Peapack sun for too long.

 

The 1980s on TGL pained me more BECAUSE the show still had some external trappings of its former, glorious self, but was an empty, rotting shell. By the time the Peapack years rolled around, I felt the "real" TGL was long dead, anyway, and so what Ellen Wheeler did to the bones was almost irrelevant.

((Whew))

 

Thank you for the clarification.

 

I withdraw my battle cry.

[DRW50]

For me GL was stabbed in the gut in 1993 and the corpse was desecrated with the Ben Reade child molestation story in 2003. The former was when it really got into a place that it was starting to be too late, and the latter was the final atrocity. In some ways I'm still actually surprised the final week was as decent as it was, considering what the show had become.

[NothinButAttitude]

Was Ellen Weston the one responsible for Ben Reade's molestation? I loathed that story seeing as Ben lived a wholesome life with Fletcher. I hate how they demolished this character when he could've added so much down the road alongside Bill and Michelle had the writers had any sense. 

[DRW50]

Yes. 

 

They said he was molested in boarding school. And yes, he did go to boarding school, but the only reason they even had the abuse retcon was to say that sexual abuse victims go on to become serial killers. I was and am sickened. Sickened. And Weston thought she was so damn insightful too. They can kiss my ass. 

[Mitch]

Oh God, I had forgotten Charlotte Wheaton.. LOL...and the killer was...her sister (who we didn't know was her sister) bit part character Alicia whatever her name was who was a cliche scum raking TV reporter.  But that at least involved the hospital and the Bauers...we were just getting ready to get the Infinity Gang and those damn double rings and Billy hypnotized to kill Kyle and the bad acting of Malloy..."Brother, BROTHER!"  I never liked Malloy or Kyle but I thought they should have brought a recast Kyle back latter on to cause problems for Reva and Josh and we needed another rich baddie as Alan was getting tired and cliched.

 

Yes, McTrash was the braniac behind Lonatrat. I think the idea was good, like Roger drugging Dinah to keep her in line and then lock her up to keep her trust fund, and then Dinah turning the tables...only I would have had her thinking she turned the tables, Rog knows all along, but it does lead up to a confrontation with Hart, where Roger actually DOES think he killed him...( I would have an accident where he goes over the cliff but does survive) and then Roger has a mental breakdown for a bit..all his past crimes coming back to him, etc. Holly would be the only one to pull him out of the hole. It would have touched on the fact that everyone, really thinks that Roger is really one step from being a maniac..especially the people who kenw him during his original reign of terror.  But it was all cartoony with Dinah of all people getting one over on Roger...(when Alan, Alex, Billy, Vanessa, etc were barely able to..)

However, Holly and Roger should NEVER have had a happy ending. They could have closer and an ending, but not a happy going into the sunset ending.  I think Holly's happy ending should not have been Ed...(who was always really a friend above anything else) but for her deciding she needed no one in her life (romantically)  she liked being a journalist and business owner and she has her own money and she is fine alone. What a different thing for a soap which has to pair everyone off.