Guiding Light Discussion Thread

[Bill Bauer]

 

 

I was recently watching some GL from 1997 and I forgot how great the show was at that time. Did it lose steam shortly after that? I don't recall. I watched very infrequently back then. Ironically, I watched daily in one of it's worst times (the mid to late 80s). I should have watched it daily more in the 90s. 

[VanessaReardon]

Thank you for posting that. I feel vindicated in that Nancy Curlee didn’t say that she left GL because of JFP. I recall reading posts on here stating that Nancy left because of JFP. Nancy never said that. Thanks for the confirmation. 

[juppiter]

I've been watching 1988 clips on YouTube. The Sonni/Solita storyline is often called one of the best GL storylines ever. And it totally holds up. The character is just so fascinating and Michelle Forbes' performance is a tour de force. You cannot tell where the con artist and her plethora of lies end and where the honest, real person begins. It's really just such a unique character and performance. And I love how fleshed out her backstory and motivations are and that's she's not just some cartoon villain. This is like a daytime psychological thriller. We've never seen anything quite like it on daytime since.

[Soaplovers]

 

Wait till you get to 1989..and see where Sonni would have end up before the actress quit (it was promising and interesting...and where I wish the show took Annie dutton).

[Aback]

 

I never really took the time to watch the story from start to finish but I think I read multiple times over here that it got really messy and it was apparent that the writers did not know where to go with the storyline. That they were making things up as they were going along.

Was Pam Long the head-writer at the time? Wonder what inspired that story.

[BetterForgotten]

It was also hugely impacted by the '88 writers strike, I believe. Or it may have started during the strike, something like that. 

[Mitch]

Yes, it was..it dragged on all through the summer as the scab writers wisely knew to hold off...you could tell they were stalling for time.  So weird that back in the day I could tell when Long and the writers were back. Sonni had "killed" Will and dumped his body in the lake, and he was torturing her by turning on her facets and her hearing water dripping all the time..sound dumb but it was creepy and good!

 

[DRW50]

 

If I remember correctly (I may be wrong), there was some strike stuff that Long had not ever planned for regarding the origins of Sonni/Solita, which is another reason the whole thing was so confusing for people. Years later Robert Newman said people still asked him to explain the story to them. 

 

Was it the strike people who made Alexandra befriend her, or was that always planned? I don't remember how long it lasted after Long returned. 

 

I think I read that if Forbes had stayed, they would have paired her with Roger. 

[Soaplovers]

I think Alex and Sonni stayed friends up till at least when Sonni was accused of kidnapping Mariah..which was months after Long's return.  Was it the strike people..or Long that paired up Mindy and Will? 

[victoria foxton]

Sonni and Roger were live in lovers. 

[DRW50]

 

Oh that's right. I guess they would have been paired longer if she'd stayed.

 

[vetsoapfan]

 

I'd give the show even more credit. The earliest storyline I followed, myself, was Meta's murder trial in 1950. With master writers like Irna Phillips and then Agnes Nixon (among other scribes) at the helm, I feel that TGL was strong from 1950 until 1982. Cracks began in 1983, and then the bottom started to fall out in 1984.

 

While I did not experience the series first hand from 1937 until 1949, I would bet that those years were solid as well, with Phillips in charge.

 

Of any soap, I'd say that this one had the longest, uninterrupted run of quality storytelling; literally decades.

[Forever8]

The interview with Lenore Kasdorf (ex, Rita). The audio quality isn't the best but it is still good to listen to!!!

https://open.spotify.com/episode/0bSVVokyF2EejGs6Cfy035?si=HI_fAG_qTGCn-mZrXledjw

 

[Aback]

 

Thanks! That was really sweet. 

[Forever8]

You're Welcome!!!