Guiding Light Discussion Thread

[Faulkner]

I know that Kinkead, Parker, and Hayden all won, and Garrett, Edson, Carol, Ehlers, Miner, Hutchison, and Kanakaredes got nominated either during that era or shortly after due to JFP's infamous block voting tactics. Of course, it's an embarrassment that Bev was not once nominated as Alex (and Marj Dusay somehow was). And all of the other women were just as deserving.

[victoria foxton]

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[zanereed]

 

That's the second actress to play Meta on television, Ellen Demming. The first TV actress to play Meta on TV was Joan Allison. There were a couple of other actresses who played the part on the radio.

 

The character pictured with Meta in the ad is Mark Holden (Whitfield Connor), who Meta began seeing after her second husband, Joe Roberts, died on Christmas Eve in 1955 from cancer. There would eventually be a love triangle between Meta, Mark, and Kathy Roberts (Meta's step-daughter). So I would place that ad from either 1956 or 1957 at the latest.

 

[NothinButAttitude]

 

Much like Bev, Amelia Marshall was never nominated either, which is horrendous as Marshall stayed delivering strong performances. It always pissed me off how she was overlooked when Gilly was one of the most compelling characters on the canvas. 

[Faulkner]

I loved Gilly too. Her relationships with Roger and Alan-Michael were so complex and compelling. I still get pissed about Lucy Cooper and that obnoxious pipsqueak-voiced Sonia Satra. I never really had the same love for the show after that, and I started watching GH more and more at the time.

 

Amelia Marshall never got a role worthy of her again really, including Belinda. And the less said about Passions the better.

 

 

[NothinButAttitude]

 

Don't forget her complex relationship with Holly too. I loved how she would be wedged in-between the two and their antics at WSPR. Gilly/Holly/Roger were the perfect trio. I enjoyed that era when they were all at WSPR. Especially, when Roger tried getting Gilly to take photos of Ross to blackmail him (when he was running for Senate), she denied Roger, YET she still found herself wedged in the matter. Good times. 

 

And Belinda was a dud on AMC. It was obvious AMC pulled a "snatch and grab" b/c they had no real story for Belinda/Amelia Marshall. While AM loved playing Liz on Passions, I couldn't fathom watching that mess a lot. 

 

I (too) get p*ssed GL cast AM/Gilly aside for Alan Michael/Lucy pairing b/c they were fearful of fans going into an uproar over an interracial pairing. 

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[Soaplovers]

 

AM/Gilly would have been interesting.. and I thought that the show was heading in that direction.  It would have also bought up history since didn't AM's grandfather also been involved in an interracial relationship... it could have also ushered in that branch of the tree sooner then the late 90s.

[Faulkner]

GL was really destroyed around 1994-95. It just never really recovered for me, even though I enjoyed the Reva/Annie/Josh, Phillip/Harley, and Abby/Rick stuff around '97. I even liked the Drew/Selena story. But what I loved about the show, the feeling of Springfield as a community, was gone.

[soapfan770]

 

I loved Gilly too she was a great character who was on for so many years yet was ultimately destroyed for no apparent reason there in 1996 with a ridiculous and bizarre story. Before that I just loved she was a sassy, ambitious and classy businesswoman who could hold her own. I really liked Gilly with both Hamp and later on Sid as well with Alan-Michael.  As for Passions yes, the less said the better because Marshall was downright awful even for Passions standards I could at the time only cling to my better memories of Marshall and Gilly at GL. 

[vetsoapfan]

 

ITA. The series was seriously crippled by 1984, and limped through the 1980s on life support. It rebounded with the return of Roger and Holly, and much better writing, in 1989, and then had its last hurrah for the next few years. After they stupidly killed the heart of the show (Maureen Bauer) and Nancy Curlee left, TGL 's fate was sealed. Still, TGL was TGL from 1937 to 1983, and then again from about 1989 to 1994, so we had a good, long ride.

 

How the show staggered along for its final 15 years, I'll never understand.

Edited January 4, 2018 by vetsoapfan

[Mitch]

 

Agreed...everyone like to take a crap on E & B/Rauch but I thought the show in 97 was very good..not the same mind you, but in the new MADD era it could have been much worse. I thought it was entertaining and Reva while front and center always, wasnt on overload and everyone had things to do, even Aunt Meta..I liked how she was a confidant of Blake sorry,  I never thought "Bloss" ( UGH) should have been an unbreakable couple.

 

Now as soon as we got the Clone, The Mob and San Crud forget about it...but that seemed mandated from above and not just E & B.

[DRW50]

I had Jane Austen's Book Club on, mostly just in the background, and at about 12 minutes into the movie, when Kathy Baker is talking to some woman boo-hooing in front of a marquee, I could swear Jean Carol (Nadine Cooper) is one of the women standing behind Baker. She sort of has this bored extra look on her face, but is very eye-catching. I even said, "Nadine!"

 

Does anyone have this movie and can they watch so I won't feel like a nut?

 

She isn't credited for it in IMDB. 

 

It's around 9 minutes on this but it's one of those crappy copies so you may not be able to see it well.

 

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[vetsoapfan]

 

I originally thought that was Joe Roberts. I'm glad you were here to clarify.

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Edited January 4, 2018 by vetsoapfan

[Soaplovers]

 

Agree to disagree with the period between 1984 and 1989 being destroyed....damaged...yes...but Nadine, Harley, and Blake were created during that time.  Late 1988, you could see Pam Long and Nancy curlee getting the ball rolling to make the show go from passable to must see.

 

And I think by 1996/7...the show had sort of rebounded...you had rick/Abby as the next generation Bauer couple, Michelle being the rebellious teen that rick used to be, and Annie Dutton was a tour de force (she was the reason for the rating increase..imho).  1998 was the start of the show freefalling..imho.

[Faulkner]

The mid-1990s were, of course, trash, and the show had so many departures of pivotal players in short succession (Bev, Sherry, Ellen Parker, Rick Hearst, Leonard Stabb, Melina, Nia Long, Monti Sharp, Morgan Englund, Vince Williams, Kimberly Simms, Jean Carol, Beth Ehlers and Mark Derwin, the deaths of William Roerick and Larry Gates). So that left the show reeling, and so many recasts of big roles were meh (Marj, Ron Raines, Michael Dietz, Jennifer Roszell, Liz Keifer, Frank Grillo, Barbara Crampton, Rebecca Budig, et al). 

 

For me, 1997 was sort of a strange outlier. You had Annie's awesome reign of terror, which almost by necessity couldn't be maintained. (They tried disastrously with Signy Coleman.) You had the accidental chemistry of Beth Ehlers and Grant Aleksander (before Beth Chamberlin came in and ate the show and Harley became the humorless harpy she was from then on). Abby and Rick could have re-ignited the Bauers, but again, they couldn't figure out how to build on it or simply didn't want to. For a moment, they presented us with shiny objects that masked deeper problems in the show in hindsight. And then shortly thereafter was Ben Warren, all Cassie all the time, the San Cristobal crew, the mob, Clone Reva, the list goes on, and everything went to hell.

Edited January 5, 2018 by Faulkner