Guiding Light Discussion Thread

[vetsoapfan]

Carl, you find some of the most amazing (and obscure) videos.

 

Good job!

[DRW50]

 

Thanks. I was looking for AMC videos and found that channel via some Season Hubley interview - just a reminder of how many soap names were also on Broadway, and what NYC has lost with the death of daytime soaps. 

 

It's weird seeing Lisa Brown in that context - although she's good (she plays it more serious than I had expected though). The guy annoys me a bit.

 

This was around the time JvD was likely an extra on Ryan's Hope. He wouldn't have made a bad Pat recast - I wonder if they regretted losing him. 

 

If any of you want to see more from Lee Philip Bell's talk show, there are a few clips on that channel.

[Mitch]

They actually did make Quint a professor at the college...and they had that dumb storyline (or sorts) with a student chasing after him...but it really wasnt much of a storyline.

 

I just think Quint is one of those characters who was created for a specific reason and ran on too long. Maybe a writer could have brought more depth to him but he was just a kind of stiff, intelligent guy who loved Nola and ...that was that. It would have been interesting to see him develop a shade of grey like his sister...( I think he had more of an edge during Marland...) maybe Henry could have one of his innumerable heart attacks and while he is recovering leaves his Spaulding stock to him instead of Van, etc. I do think the Haunted Cabin storyline should have gone to Nola and Quint, with him first skeptical but then bringing in some tech to see what is going on etc. I also think they "de-sexed" the two of them as soon as they got married and she had kids, etc.

 

They just should have gotten rid of those damn ascots!!!

 

[DRW50]

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[Mitch]

LOL..I remember that little snippet with Brown. This was the last time Nola had any story..it was weird. Did Brown piss someone off, was it the Reva effect starting or did Brown want more time off?

[DRW50]

 

I get the feeling the show just didn't know what to do with her. 

[Mitch]

Nosy Nola was like Buttinsky Lisa on ATWT, she could have fit in with anyone even if she wasnt the lead in the story.  As mentioned above this was just before the Haunted Cottage story and it was weird to give that to boring Annabelle...and Hot Tony. Its weird that she and Reva werent friends , you would think that the Clothes Horse Wild Woman would be friends with the Eccentricly dressed former bad girl who still gets into trouble Nola.  Even better would have been Nola and stuck up India as weird friends. Ah well, if we could have written the show at that time.

[soapfan770]

I so meant to share this back on New Year's but here was the daily synopsis from Usenet for 12-30-93: 

 

[DRW50]

Thanks. At the time the Eve and Ed stuff was just about all I had interest in. It's interesting looking back - it reminds me of how complicated the show often was at this point, more than I remembered. 

[Darn]

This scene is just...exquisitely written

 

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Maureen: Living in that house, sleeping in that bed with him, it has all become such a habit to me. That the first thing I thought was that somehow it would resume. That it would go on. That I would forgive him. That I would listen to him the way that I have for all these years. To that list of his sadnesses and his hurts about how wild and crazy he is on the inside. And that it makes him do selfish things instead of being good. And that I would finally agree that heaven disappointed him and drove him to it. 

 

Ellen Parker is just astounding in all of these scenes. I can't get over it.

 

And Maureen was an angel of a soap character. This is on her list of "crimes committed" from soap central: Nearly burned down the Bauer house on Skyline Drive, when she forgets about a roast in the oven. 

[BetterForgotten]

The confrontation with Lilian will always be severely implanted in my brain. It's that perfect moment when great acting, writing, and directing combine.

 

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[Vee]

Just a masterful run by Curlee, Demorest, etc

[DRW50]

It's unfortunate, but typical JFP, that she got lip service scenes (brilliantly written and acted as they were) when the story was really about Ed's pain and suffering. 

[kalbir]

Not sure if it's been asked/posted here before, but when was Robert Calhoun replaced by Jill Farren Phelps? I'm pretty sure it was sometime during the first half of 1991, but I don't recall the exact month. Also, did Robert Calhoun leave on his own choice or did P&G terminate him?

[JaneDigby]

Hi all. Long time lurker and occasional poster here. I've been making up for the lack of decent soap on tv by scouring for for classic soap videos and lately I've been on a GL binge. Some of it is amazingly good, some is shockingly bad and some is so creakily obvious.

 

On the obvious front, Philip and Harley probably seemed like a good idea on paper. I remember when Grant Aleksander returned in 96 and it looked like they were going to pair him with Annie. I was glad to be spared another Rick/Philip pass-around. Trying to get the Philip and Harley working without resolving his relationship with Beth was a dumb move. Looking at the episodes now it is painfully obvious the writers were trying to turn Harley into the shows marquee heroine by making her "perfect" and her relationship with Philip oh-so fated. Then they turned to that old standby of "trash the ex the audience won't let go of" because, you know, that always works. Two scenes I just watched epitomize this mess for me. The first is Annie's wedding to Alan and Harley tells a total stranger who has just said that Beth looks great, "Yes, and now that she's on new medicine she doesn't drool anymore." This was someone's idea of entertainment? Having Harley making nasty remarks about the mental health issues someone they audience watched have a nervous breakdown after her stepfather violently raped her? In another episode Frank tells Harley to think of herself for once in her life. Laugh out loud material, there. I can't believe this couple ate the show for two years.

 

The San Cristobel stuff is train-wreck compelling. I hope they all drank between scenes because no one should have been forced to say that crap sober. Laura Wright had some great scenes telling Reva where to get off but then I always did enjoy someone reading Reva for filth. Other than that, the Stripper Pole Princess story was nuts.