Guiding Light discussion thread

[Bill Bauer]

 

Probably because she only had one storyline and that was fighting over Ross Boling with Meta and feeling inferior to Meta. Once Trudy married Clyde, that was all in the past and Trudy found contentment (no more drama). Plus she moved off to New York. She sort of rode off into the sunset. Not that she couldn’t come back to Springfield, perhaps as a divorced woman, but there was probably not much need for that once the focus was on the next generation and new heroine (Kathy). 

Edited February 16, 2019 by BillBauer

[vetsoapfan]

 

I don't have any sympathy for Goutman. In an interview once, he said that when the actress' health was waning, he could have pre-taped some scenes with Helen Wagner, to insure that ATWT had some Nancy Hughes material "in the bank" for the end of the series, but he never did. Idiotic, careless decision. Viewers would have LOVED to see new clips with Wagner on the show's last broadcast, particularly with Nancy Hughes saying, "Good night, dear."

 

I never personally cared for Lily Walsh, but Martha Byrne owned that role. Knowing that Noelle Beck generously offered to step aside at the end, and let Byrne reprise the part, but that Goutman did not make/allow that to happen, was also egregious. Viewers who were invested in Lily and Holden deserved an emotionally-gratifying conclusion to their journey, with MB and JH reunited.

 

Plus, Goutman literally had YEARS to reverse the blatant marginalization, underuse, and disgusting disrespect shown to Eileen Fulton, but never did.

 

Phucque Goutman. He gets nooooooooooo sympathy from me.

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Killing off Liz Foster was a short-sighted, stupid, incompetent, infuriating move. There's NO justification for it.

 

Y&R could really use an original cast member and beloved matriarch figure in Genoa City today. As long as Julianna McCarthy is healthy enough and willing to work, Liz Foster should be on that show. In fact, I don't even care how absurd and unrealistic a storyline was,  to resurrect Liz from the dead and make her Jill's mother again. I would accept it, and then hope the writers NEVER referred to the crap about Jill's never-ending-but-ever-changing family switcheroos again. Liz would be alive and Jill would be her daughter. Period.

[vetsoapfan]

 

I agree that there was a time when Trudy was not really "needed" on the canvas, as over the decades, the show had the likes of Bert, Meta, Kathy, Robin, Leslie, Hope, etc., to provide the Bauers with storyline fodder, but after TIIC decimated the family in the mid-1980s, the show desperately needed some stability and continuity, and bringing back an original character like Trudy or Meta would have been comforting to longtime fans. Even newbie viewers could have fallen in love with them, if the roles had been well cast and well written. Trudy was pretty much a blank slate by that time, and could have shown up in Springfield with children and grandchildren, adding fresh new blood to the Bauer family line.

[j swift]

 

Can you (or anyone else) expound on this?

[SoapDope]

Discussing the show Family in another thread, I wonder what Sada Thompson would have been like in the role of Trudy or maybe a sister of Bert's ?

Edited February 19, 2019 by SoapDope

[vetsoapfan]

 

I'm sure she would have been wonderful. She always was. :)

[SoapDope]

She also could have played a sister of Bert's.

[Mitch]

That's funny, in an interview at the time Marland said that Charita was the Sada Thompson of daytime. I think she had more zest and humor then anything I have seen Thompson do but..

 

I think bringing back Meta was one of the best ideas on GL since the 90s and it was oddly enough McTavish who initiated it. I think that all of the younger actors seemed to really work much better with MS..(who I heard could be a pill) even the horrible Jesse actor. They should have used her more..she was a great combo of loving Bert with a bit more of a hard ass in there.

[victoria foxton]

Never liked Pilar.  This mini bio makes her look interesting. Which she never was.  

 

[NothinButAttitude]

I like Pilar. 

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But then again, I liked all of the Santos clan. 

[SoapDope]

That's interesting. I think Charita and Sada looked like they could be sisters. I wonder if they knew each other or ever met ? I have read that about MS being a pill. When she was on Search she complained a lot in interviews about the writing, the other actors etc... I read that Don Stewart (Mike Bauer) could be difficult to work with as well, but he had chemistry with most of his pairings. I have been going back and watching 1979 GL and he and Lezlie Dalton (Elizabeth) were great together. He also had chemistry with Cindy Picket (Jackie) even though the Mike/Jackie pairing was brief. 

[Mitch]

The Santos as written were ridiculous, and annoying and ate up the show...and its too bad, some of the actors were good but typical MADD/Rauch...the writing was crap and they werent integrated with the show. As I said before..having the Santos being a murky family with ties to organized crime, which Carmen was desperate to rid herself of and be seen as "legitimate" (while still being underhanded) would have been interesting. Carmen using Michelle and the Bauers (even while hating them) and using Pilar with Bill Lewis...running head to head with Vanessa on one hand, and trying to seduce Alan on the other, while running head to head with Alex..would have been good.  I think the Pilar actress would have been good as a mini Carmen wanting to climb her way into legit society..and using poor Bill Lewis as her pawn.

 

"I have been going back and watching 1979 GL and he and Lezlie Dalton (Elizabeth) were great together."

 

When Joan Collins came on it should have been as Eilzabeth not Alex..and I would have loved her to be married to Mike Bauer...(for a long term storyline I would have not cast Joan in the role but...)

 

 

Edited February 21, 2019 by Mitch

[BetterForgotten]

I hadn't seen Maeve Kinkead's Emmy win before, so this was nice:

 

 

[WhiteDressGhost]

Born in 1979. Spent my childhood watching Guiding Light with my grandmother. I've been watching 1979 Guiding Light and now I'm up to 1980. Right now I'm watching Mike and Ed chase Roger in Santo Domingo. 

 

I remembered that I loved Christopher Bernau as a child, and my 10 year old self shipped Reva/Alan hard. As an adult, I've only seen him in old episodes of Dark Shadows until recently. No wonder I never warmed to Ron Raines' Alan. Bernau is sexy, conflicted, charismatic, charming, and dangerous. Hope never stood a chance. Watching these episodes has also made me really appreciate Grant Aleksander's casting even more. He physically looks like Justin and Jackie, but he holds his mouth and face like Christopher Bernau and has a similar sort of reserve, and there's something of Lezlie Dalton's Elizabeth about him as well. It's amazing.

 

Charita Bauer is so wonderfully alive and vital in all of her scenes and stories-she's especially good with the actress who plays Hope-and its so hard to believe she's going to be gone in just a few years. Mike Bauer is SO compelling. What a waste to let him wither off canvas for decades. 

 

The Dobsons have a great point about the trees, though. One moment I'm watching intense, well-written drama that has barely aged, and the next moment a 70s commercial for a funeral home is playing. It's jarring. The disco open is dated, but it fits the show's vibe so much better (Hope and Alan snuggling! Ross's hand blocking the camera while Bert glares! Mike and the gun!). 

 

ETA-Also, these episodes have changed my opinion on Roger Thorpe. I only remember him from his 1989- run, but DAMN he's so awful it's hard to imagine redemption. Zaslow is great, of course, (there's one scene between Bernau and Zaslow that's like watching two Shakespearean actors at work), but Roger has so few gray layers and is doing such horrid things. Alan at least seems conflicted in all of his scenes. 

 

Adam Thorpe, however, is a fantastic character and the actor does such a good job of playing a good man who sired a monster, a monster he loves. The scenes with he, Barbara and Christina in the hotel room as Mike, Ed, Holly, and Roger battle for their lives are excellent. 

 

Also, Alan was on the phone with a Josh Chamberlin in a March episodes. I wonder if that character was divided to make the Lewis and Chamberlin families?

 

 

Edited February 27, 2019 by WhiteDressGhost

[DRW50]

Welcome.