Guiding Light Discussion Thread

[j swift]

I'm reading the 1982 summaries and I have a question:

 

How surprising was Quint's revelation as Sean (Henry's son and Vanessa's brother)?  From the summaries, it seems telegraphed from the beginning.  However, Vanessa was surprised so I was wondering if the audience felt the same way?

[victoria foxton]

From the bits and pieces i've seen of Rick's amphetamine addiction it looks like it was mess. What a lame excuse. 

[Khan]

 

Let's put it this way: I don't believe Doug Marland ever intended for Quint to be tied to Chamberlains like that.  

 

It's strange that JvD gave a better on-air tribute to Charita Bauer's memory than the rest of the show a year later.

 

 

About the only thing to come out of Bert's death and funeral, I think, was Rick's decision to quit taking pills, although it might've been better had he decided to go to rehab soon thereafter.

Edited February 13, 2019 by Khan

[SoapDope]

The way they wrote Bert Bauer and Nancy Hughes deaths reminds me of the awful mess they made out of Liz Foster and Katherine Chancellor's deaths on Y&R. 

[Khan]

The last two times they brought back Liz Foster, she was on her deathbed (although, I guess the second time took) and desperate to tell Jill the truth about her origins.  The literal definition of deja vu.

[SoapDope]

 

I know. It totally destroyed Bill Bell's history of the show by taking the character of Jill out of her true family (The Fosters) and re-write history for the sake of a silly plot that went nowhere. 

[SoapDope]

I found this photo online of Elissa Leeds and Robin Mattson. They both played the role of Hope Bauer.

 

[Bill Bauer]

 

I don’t think I’ve seen a soap matriarch/patriarch death handled as well as Alice’s funeral on Days. I’m not sure which Hortons they could have brought back that they didn’t. It seemed like they brought everybody back except Tommy. I guess since he wasn’t even mentioned we are to assume he died. They even brought back Maree Cheatham who hadn’t been on the show as a regular since the early 70s and went to the bother of casting a new Bill Horton since the main actor who played him had died. I was very pleased at how many characters they brought back. Nancy and Bert’s funerals were pathetic in comparison. I thought they handled Chris Hughes’ funeral well but that was under Marland so that’s expected. Nancy’s children (besides Bob) not only didn’t come but weren’t even mentioned and it was all about Katie. I almost wish they hadn’t even addressed her death. It was almost insulting. Bert’s funeral was almost as bad with no returning family members but, as someone said, the writers seemed very eager at that time to forget the past. 

 

 

I’ve met and talked with Kim Zimmer and she is a very fun and friendly person. Someone you’d want to have as a friend. Not pretentious in the slightest. Very honest and straight-forward. Wears her heart on her sleeve and will tell you anything. Great gal. 

Edited February 16, 2019 by BillBauer

[SoapDope]

I was looking back over some early GL stuff and wonder why writers never did much with Trudy Bauer ?  Meta was on and off the show over years, but Trudy was written out by 1959. 

[Khan]

Several years ago, I heard a rumor that Claire Labine had planned to bring back Trudy, possibly as a homeless woman, before she was fired.

[BetterForgotten]

Labine ended being such an awful fit for this show, and I'm not 100% sure if it was because of Paul Rauch. 

[DRW50]

 

I feel like he sabotaged her (I remember how both Anthony Abbaddo and Patti d'Arbanville seemed to blame her for their firings and how unusual it felt to see a headwriter singled out so blatantly in exit interviews), but I don't think her writing suited GL anyway - the worst example probably being when Blake became Lucy Coe overnight. 

 

That could have worked, especially since Meta was still on the show at that time. 

[Khan]

Frankly, there were times when Claire Labine's vision for GH didn't mesh with how GH had come to be defined in decades past.  However, two things worked in her favor: the fact that she had a sympathetic EP, and the fact that GH was doing so abysmally before her arrival.

 

Labine was a much grittier and more down-to-earth HW than Agnes Nixon, say, or Bill Bell.  RH worked so well, at least in the beginning, because it was set in a real place, and featured more realistic characters than ones on other soaps.  I don't believe her approach worked as well on shows that were set in fictional towns, featured more broadly drawn characters, or required more melodramatic stories.

 

 

I think Paul Rauch had a hard time with any HW who couldn't mesh with his larger-than-life visions for his shows.  It's like what Harding Lemay said: you had to bully him to get what you wanted.

Edited February 15, 2019 by Khan

[SoapDope]

That would have been interesting to see Trudy come back homeless, especially if they could had gotten another soap veteran to play Trudy.

 

I also noticed over the years reading synopsis a lot of writers seemed to want to kill a lot of Bert's family off, which had never been seen onscreen. 

[SoapDope]

Watching some 1977-1980 GL makes you wonder why they never brought back Elizabeth Spaulding. I liked Lezlie Dalton in the role. It would have been nice to see her come back in the role for at least some guest appearances.