Guiding Light Discussion Thread

[Soaplovers]

WSPR era was awesome circa 1989 to 1993..with Holly, Roger, Nick, Gilly, Nadine, etc.  And Gilly and Hamp had a long awaited wedding 2 years in the making...didn't Roberta Flack sing at it?

[BetterForgotten]

Those interviewers were terrible, but Amelia is a class act.

[NothinButAttitude]

 

Yup. Roberta sung at their wedding. 

 

And it saddens me how WSPR became practically nothing after Gilly left. WSPR and Springfield Journal used to be the perfect catalyst to get any and everything popping in Springfield. 

 

I miss workplace drama on soaps. It is a concept that we all can relate to. Nowadays, most people on the remaining four just talk about work instead of showing us. I can't remember the last time we've seen Newman Enterprises and Jabot go head to head or the Forrestors have a line that creates real family friction. 

[BetterForgotten]

GL never got any credit for how well integrated and well written the Grants/Speaks were in the early 90’s. Sure, it was a relatively brief moment in time, but no one ever gave them the same credit that was always bestowed upon ABC and Y&R when it came to integration of black characters.

Edited May 26, 2020 by BetterForgotten

[chrisml]

They were the worst. They make the Locher guy look like a masterclass in hosting. They were so stuck to their questions that they never really listened to her, or allowed the convo to flow. She did all the work. A simple question: Why did you leave GL?. That q. was never asked.

[victoria foxton]

Those guys have terrible lisps. Plus they try too hard. It was hard to understand their questions. Still Amelia was awesome. 

[KMan101]

 

Haven't listened to it yet. I'd love to know that too. Always bummed me out and then she showed up on AMC and was kinda wasted. 

 

Phelps probably drove her away. But then I remember that's when we had a slew of soaps for actors to hope back and forth from. 

 

They should have done a better job keeping Monti Sharp and Amelia Marshall.

Edited May 26, 2020 by KMan101

[BetterForgotten]

I believe Ms. Marshall left during Michael Laibson's short but troubled time as EP. 

 

Gilly was used pretty consistently under JFP, but that may be more Curlee/Demorest than her. 

Edited May 26, 2020 by BetterForgotten

[KMan101]

 

I just like blaming Jill for everything

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 LOL. No yeah I hesitated saying that I know it was during Laibson's stint (too bad he didn't work out) ... I do have to agree it was probably more Curlee/Demorest than her that used her. To be fair to her she did add Leslie, Tyler and Mason when she joined Y&R.

Edited May 26, 2020 by KMan101

[Faulkner]

Loved Gilly. And Monti Sharp was really GL’s lead (or one of them) for much of the summer of ‘93, after David killed Vinnie (and the whole Macauley West story that brought Joe Lando on).

[chrisml]

She talked repeatedly about how GL was good at integrating Gilly and her family into the show, but they never followed up with why she left. There were so many times a follow-up question would have elicited some good info but they NEVER did that. It was so infuriating because I've always felt that Amelia Marshall was highly underrated and this chat could have really given her the chance to shine.

[GLATWT88]

Since, I started watching GL back in '03, I was always curious why my local CBS station in New York aired it at such an "off" time slot. All the other soaps on the three networks were scheduled after noon and before 4 and were pretty much tightly packed in that timeframe, except for GL which was on at 10am. I remember searching online back in 2003 and several times after and not being successful in getting a clear answer why, but the question came to mind again today and I have finally found an article that answered the question. Perhaps Variety has updated their archives, as this article is from 1995. 

 

CBS dims P& G ‘Light’ to make ‘Date’

July 12, 1995

The CBS Television Stations group has alienated the network’s largest daytime advertiser to make room for “Day & Date,” a new magazine show being jointly produced by the Eye web and Group W Prods.

 

With its ratings diminishing, Procter & Gamble’s “Guiding Light,” the oldest continuing daytime soap, is being shunted to 10 a.m. from its longtime 3 p.m. slot by WCBS New York. The web’s flagship station wants to air “Day” live at 3 p.m. beginning Sept. 11.

 

KCBS Los Angeles, meanwhile, has notified the advertiser that it intends to permanently shunt the soap to a deadly 9 a.m. slot after temporarily having moved it there from the afternoons to make room for 0 J . Simpson trial coverage.

 

Naturally, the moves have not gone over well with the advertiser. But Group W Prods, hasn’t had the easiest time, either.

 

When the Westinghouse stations renewed their affiliation pacts with CBS for 10 years, the deal involved a jointly funded effort to clear Group W syndicated shows on both its stations and the CBS O& Os.

 

Initially, “Day” – the first project to emerge from the venture – had been pitched as a live, afternoon, early fringe news lead-in series. But some fiercely independent general managers at CBS-owned stations, which are the weakest of the Big Three network O& O groups, balked at having to choose “between a low-rated soap and an unproven afternoon magazine format over which they have no creative control. Group W is allotting 51% of the budget for “Day” and calls the shots, at least until the networks are fully deregulated.

 

When it became apparent that some CBS stations would not carry “Day” directly before their afternoon newscasts, Group W broadened the parameters. It asked only that stations air it in post-3 p.m. early fringe slots. Now, however, CBS-owned WBBM Chicago has confirmed to Variety that it intends to carry “Day” at 12:37 a.m., after “The Late, Late Show With Tom Snyder.”

 

The station in the nation’s third-ranked market is committed to Multimedia’s “Phil Donahue” and “Sally Jessy Raphael,” leaving only the out-of-pattern slot. But Group W apparently is not all that upset about the move, since it’s inheriting a time period that has averaged a 4 rating.

 

KCBS, meanwhile, could end up installing “Day” at 3 p.m. after all, leading into its 4 p.m. news. The station, which could set its fall sked as early as this week, has only two hours available from 9 a.m.-4 p.m. and three hour syndie strips to fill them, the others being Tribune’s “Geraldo” and the new Carnie Wilson talkshow from Warner Bros.

 

Group W is producing “Day” as an afternoon show and offering five live feeds from 3-8 p.m. to accommodate stations.

 

So far, the syndicator has been able to license “Day” in only about 60% of the U.S. because of the early fringe restriction.

 

As Westinghouse and CBS quietly work to resolve their scheduling differences, P& G is grumbling loudly about its predicament.

 

Procter & Gamble Prods., which lenses “GL” and two other daytime dramas, wields considerable clout because of the hundreds of millions it spends each year on network TV.

 

“It’s tough enough working against talkshows and normal daytime competition,” says a dismayed Phil Dixson, senior VP-managing director of daytime program services at DMB& B, the ad agency that oversees production for P& G, adding that downgrades to morning timeslots spell disaster for soaps.

 

“We’re assuming that several other CBS O& Os are going to follow suit, if not in the fall then later in winter,” Dixson says. That would make it far easier for restless affiliates elsewhere to do the same. “Our concern is that this will have ripple effects that will backfeed across the country.”

 

Asked if P& G will use its ad leverage to prevent further station defections, Dixson says he’d “rather not comment on that,” but adds, “Things like this obviously don’t help the conversation.”

 

The company spent $270 million last year on daytime TV ads, including $53 million on network buys for CBS’ three serials, according to Competitive Media Reporting.

 

A WCBS exec said the decision to shift timeslots was made at the network level after discussions over “lots of delicate issues that needed to be addressed.” The 10 a.m. slot becomes available when talker “Marilu” ends its seasonlong run in September.

 

So far, other O& O’s have not followed N.Y. and LA.: WBBM Chicago is expected to keep “Guiding Light” at 2 p.m.

 

Still, the show can ill afford to lose any large-market clearances. For the season to date, “Guiding Light” has earned a 4.3 national rating and a 15 share, according to Nielsen, continuing a downward spiral from 5.2/18 for the same period last season. (This is a pretty shitty comparison considering that all soaps had dropped from the same period from the previous season due to pre-emptions from the O.J. trial. Also, these numbers seem to align pretty closely with the numbers posted on Wikipedia. GL's household reach in the 1993/94 season was still pretty strong and it was less than a rating point away from GH for the past three seasons - it's direct time slot competitor. In fact, in two of those three past seasons GL was less than .5 points away in household ratings. GH was also showing steady decreases in HH ratings from 1990-1994 while GL was holding strong.) 

 

In major markets, as with CBS’ entire daytime schedule, the show’s done worse: For the May sweeps, “GL” earned a meager 2.6/8 in Gotham and a 1.0/5 at 9 a.m. in LA. The New York number is expected to decline further with the morning timeslot shift, which threatens to drag down prices for national ad time.

 

“It seems, lifestyle-wise, it’s a busier time for typical soap viewers, and they find it easier to make time in the afternoon for soap operas, which require fairly attentive viewing,” says Julie Friedlander, senior VP-director of national broadcast negotiations at Ogilvy & Mather.

 

Lynn Leahey, editor-in-chief at Soap Opera Digest, expects legions of loyal viewers to be “frustrated” by the change, but suggests a morning slot is better than none at all.

 

Dixson says CBS execs have denied persistent rumors that “GL” would be axed after a record 43 years on TV and 15 on radio, dating to 1937. The network dumped “Search for Tomorrow,” another long-running P& G daytimer, in l986.

 

To prop up the serial, P& G recently hired a new exec producer, Michael Laibson, to replace Jill Farren Phelps, who was moved to P& G-owned “Another World” on NBC.

 

https://variety.com/1995/tv/features/cbs-dims-p-amp-g-light-to-make-date-99129328/

[NothinButAttitude]

 

Agreed. I always felt that GL and AW (in the 80s) should be commended for integrating better than any soap. 

 

What I loved about the Grant/Speakes were that they still interacted with the remainder of the cast while driving story as well. 

[KMan101]

 

That's disappointing. I've always loved her and would love to hear her really go in-depth. Wonder why she hasn't popped up on Locher's channel yet?

[Soapsuds]

Who is the director that accepted for GL?

 

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