Guiding Light Discussion Thread

[Khan]

 

Agree.  The truth is, men have traditionally been explored more fully on soaps than they have in any other genre of storytelling.  You try writing characters as complex as Roger Thorpe or Alan Spaulding for a feature-length film or even a primetime series and see how far you get.

[Mitch]

 

 

Actually, it was McLaiby who brought  back Nola.  I do like that Nola came back on her own and I think she could have been a continuing fixture of GL to the end. I would have had Quint die off camera so when she came back she was not so bitter (and give Brown better writing and direction to drop her Ivaing of Nola.) Nola ending up back in the Boardinghouse running Company and being good with it in direct opposition to what she wanted when she was young.  Nola would have been like Marland's Lisa,  an eccentric support for the younger people in Springfield when they screw up.

 

Anyway I started watching the rest of the videos of the Engagement episode and it got better ..so much happening that even the sucky stuff went by in a flash. The build up to the shooting, the court case battle for Spaulding looming.  Alex hating on Mindy was getting old even then but Marj could do better when not screeching and popping those eyes..an interesting scene with Van and Alex in the bathroom and damn, Garret was looking SEXY. 

 

All the pieces were there for the wheels to come off though.

[Khan]

 

I can't remember whether Michael Tylo was up for returning full-time.  If he wasn't, though, then I agree that they should've killed off Quint -- or, at least, had him PRESUMED dead from one of his archaeological missions, in case he had changed his mind later.  I certainly wouldn't have suggested that Quint had cheated on Nola.  That never made any sense, lol.

 

In the end, I just think PGP (or CBS) was interfering too much and too often with Curlee's work, forcing Curlee to "retire."  PGP/CBS had an amazing thing going -- and who knows?  If they had just left things well enough alone, GL might've come very close to unseating Y&R as the ratings leader.

 

But -- oh, well -- at least it was good while it lasted.  :(

[NothinButAttitude]

 

That's why I didn't get why Dinah didn't seek vengeance on Phillip. 

 

Had they continued to have Dinah target Lizzie and that led to Phillip's return, that would've been perfection. 

 

GL in the later years had all the potential to set up great stories with the right characters but always fumbled the ball. 

[Khan]

 

If it wasn't about the Santoses or the San Cristobal crew, then TPTB didn't give a [!@#$%^&*].

[NothinButAttitude]

 

But you know I loved the Santos clan and San Cristobal. 

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Did it consume the show a lot? Yes. But some good characters emerged from that era. Why must you stab me? 

[Khan]

 

"Pics or it didn't happen"?

[KMan101]

 

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[NothinButAttitude]

 

Olivia, Danny, Tony, Edmund, Richard... C'mon, friend. You know they were good for the show! 

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[Soaplovers]

Edmund... what a joke.. played by someone that made Kim Zimmer seem subtle.  He should have been a brief stint villain and than killed off.  

[DAMfan]

Loved Edmund ❤

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[Khan]

 

Honestly...?  No.  They weren't.  In fact, I can safely say that they were among the MANY characters who drove me, along with many other, longtime fans, from the show for good.

 

And I say that as someone who hung in with GL even during the Jackson Freemont/Simon Hall years.

 

 

IA.  And I think that was the show's original intention, too: to use Edmund as the antagonist in the original San Cristobal story, then dispose of him, along with everyone else connected to the island and that storyline.  Unfortunately, TPTB soon changed their minds.

Edited December 8, 2019 by Khan

[vetsoapfan]

 

I loooooooooooooathed all things Santos and San Cristocrap.

 

UGH.

[DRW50]

For me Edmund worked well as an antihero. The problem was the material. I thought the writing for him in the big San Cristobel takeover story in 2000/2001 was especially tin-eared.

[robbwolff]

Same here. I had watched GL from 1982 to 1999 and it was the Santos clan and that island crap that drove me away for good.