Guiding Light discussion thread

[Vee]

As a late viewer I never understood how Blake got from the original character to Keifer's glorified housewife. She's a decent actress but I've always been uncomfortable envisioning major story with her in the role (like the truly bizarre one I once dreamed up for the family and her twin sons).

 

I loved Marj as Vanessa on AMC, but that was a very specific, campy character. I had no real experience with McKinsey's Alex on GL until the advent of online videos, but once they came into the picture and you could see and hear her - she was indomitable. Then you turn on CBS and poor Marj is up there doing a blowsy, campy old loon and I'm like, 'are you fúcking kidding me?' Marj is very good at certain things but it was night and day. And her stories in the 2000s didn't help. Like the one where she doses Alan with hallucinogens and she starts popping up in his visions in ridiculous costumes!

 

Don't get me started on Alan either. I like Ron Raines as a performer but he was wildly miscast as Alan - watching in the 90s he was so campily nefarious and bombastic he just made me laugh. It was even more embarrassing after I got acquainted with Chris Bernau's work (I'd only seen him on Dark Shadows until the 2000s). When RR turned up on OLTL 2.0 on Hulu as the big bad guy behind a global conspiracy that was fine, because he was suited to that sort of Snidely Whiplash figure - but Alan wasn't that.

Edited August 31, 2018 by Vee

[Khan]

 

ICAM.

 

[Soaplovers]

 

I will say the first couple of episodes that Marj played Alex in late 2002 were decent, she was more understated. but I think that was because the writing was being tailored to JC as opposed to Marj... but after a short time, the writing changed and Marj became super OTT.  What's funny is that Myrna on Capitol was closer to Beverly's Alex so it confuses me how Marj didn't play that as Alex.

 

And I love Beverly as Alex, she was just perfect.  Her voice and delivery were like butter to me.  With that said, I did like Joan Collins in the part because she was closer to how Beverly played Alex, but still put her own spin on it.  During the ex wives club episodes, I could have envisioned Beverly playing Alex in a fairly similar way.. but no way could I have bought Marj playing that whatsoever.  And I agree that Keifer's Blake stuck out like a sore thumb in those scenes... her Blake was too emotional and intense, when the DNA of Blake had always been cool, guarded, and controlled.

 

And I think one of the reasons India's return didn't work in the late 90s was because Marj and Mary K Adams didn't have that same chemistry/history/intensity in their interactions.. never mind hardly interacting India with Philip/Harley during that time.

[j swift]

The one choice that both Alexandra's played to my confusion was their slight southern drawl.  It was most pronounced when they talked to HB or Billy, but both actresses would go a little country.  It was especially odd because her brother and son(s) did not share the same affectation.

[John]

wonder if GL asked Lydia Bruce to play Alex after Beverlee left? She did sub in the 80s for her and wasnt a bad Alex

[JarrodMFiresofLove]

 

Conboy and Weston seemed to want Marj to camp-up Alex, which didn't work for me. If you look at Marj's credits on the IMDb you can see how many different series she did over the years. You don't get cast that often if you're not good. In old episodes of Barnaby Jones and the original Hawaii Five O, she's very subtle, very good. And she was fantastic on Capitol. In fact I thought she was better than Carolyn Jones and Marla Adams who both played Myrna before she was hired.

 

But her stint on Santa Barbara was over the top, just like her stint on All My Children. Somewhere along the way she lost that subtle approach to the characters she played. And she became more difficult to enjoy watching on screen.

[DAMfan]

Marg is in the most hated Star Trek …Spock's Brain.

[Darn]

 

What a weird scene. I wonder why they did this. 

 

And the contacts on Joy Lenz are super weird.

[vetsoapfan]

 

Painfully stupid writing, not funny or amusing at all. This was at the height of TGL's killing itself.

 

BUT! Look at that great, huge, gorgeous set and how well it's lit!

[BetterForgotten]

The poor quality of the video just masked Paul Rauch's shitty/abrasive bright lighting. 

[j swift]

Now that we've debated the Marj issue (ad nauseam) where does the crowd fall now on the Maureen's - Ellen Dolan ('82-'86) vs. Ellen Parker ('86-'93) debate?

 

Do we know why the recast occurred? Did Dolan quit or was she fired?

 

I'm in the Dolan camp.  Her Maureen was vivacious and she had a bit of the Nola-side of the Reardon gene pool.  Dolan was a capable foil to Susan Pratt's Claire.  They seemed around the age and both were Ed's type of woman. 

 

Parker has the obvious issue of seeming more matronly that Dolan.  I guess it became a disadvantage in writing for Maureen.  This seems never more obvious than when she is a triangle with Lillian.   Nurse Lillian was "soap dowdy", written as an eternal victim, but portrayed by the stunning Tina Slone.  Maureen, who was once too young for Ed, now seems like a school marm next to sexy nurse Lillian.  So, while I liked Parker/Maureen's legendary scenes with Roger and Vanessa, I also get the argument that this was no longer the Maureen to whom we were first introduced.

 

I don't know if a younger, sexier, Maureen would have lasted through Michelle's struggles with the Santos clan?  I may be conflating Maureen with Margo, because of the Dolan-ness of it all, but Dolan/Maureen may have been more of a threat to Carmen.  Does anyone think that the character may have lasted longer if the recast had never occurred?

 

Last thought of the day:  I wish the Reardons had just been a family of women, Bea, Nola, Maureen, and the cousin/nieces; like the McQueens on Hollyoaks.  The introductions of Tony and Jim made that clan too macho.  

[Vee]

Tina Sloan never exactly struck me as sexy.

[j swift]

I would encourage you to go back and look at the footage.  She played most of her cancer story with a full face of makeup and beautifully blown out blonde hair.  Lillian wasn't sexy, but Tina Slone had played more sophisticated, upper crust blondes in the past.  You could put her in a nurse uniform, but she still looked dewier than Parker's Maureen, at the time.

[Vee]

I think Sloan was very good in the role and sure, attractive physically, but Lillian as a person always just seemed off and strange to me, very affected. Including in that storyline. I think the energy she and Parker radiated was very different and I just find her colder. YMMV.

[JarrodMFiresofLove]

 

I'm not a fan of Ellen Parker's, and I agree Ellen Dolan was much more spirited in the role. I also think fans overrate the Parker version, which is quite matronly, because they probably saw her as the heir apparent to Bert as the lead matriach of the Bauer clan. But as we know, she was originally a Reardon and not even Marland, who had created her, saw her as a mini-Bert.

 

I know some people don't like her but I am actually a fan of Jill Phelps. I love how she would make key decisions she felt had to be made without letting the fans dictate how to do her job. I was glad she axed Parker and I agree with the decision to kill Maureen off. The character had become incredibly boring and ironically did not get interesting until those last two or three months leading to her exit. Parker was over the top in some of her final episodes and I was surprised her yelling in the episode where Mo rails at Lillian actually won her an Emmy.

 

As we know Phelps would move Ed into a relationship with Eve Guthrie (Hilary Edson) and since she was a bit younger, it was a different sort of coupling. As for whether or not Maureen was needed when Michelle married into the Santos clan, we have to remember Esensten & Harmon Brown brought Claire Ramsey back during that period. And I think having feisty Claire and Carmen as the two strong-willed mothers-in-law was just perfect. Maureen was not needed. Besides, they had Meta (Mary Stuart) in there dispensing advice which is what Bert or Maureen would have done.

Edited September 2, 2018 by JarrodMFiresofLove