Guiding Light discussion thread

[DramatistDreamer]

1 hour ago, BoldRestless said:

I would watch a show with these ladies today... they all look great and they took their work so seriously.

 

Same. I was really impressed with how much Rachel seemed to know about the inner workings of soap production and what made them so popular and how some seemingly lost their way. I wish the people running soaps today actually demonstrated this type of knowledge. 

Also, I kept thinking how appalled she'd be with how Y&R handled their MS "story"--particularly insulting, especially since, from what I saw growing up, Y&R used to handle disability with much more depth.

[Soapsuds]

 

[BetterForgotten]

I was kinda surprised Alan let them get a little candid here - like when Tina asked Ellen Parker if JFP gave her a reason why they were going to kill off Maureen. Ellen of course said it was because of some focus group sh!t, the excuse we've heard over and over again. 

[John]

Joy Lenz quit in 2000 but was Rebecca Budig fired?

[chrisml]

It was so thrilling to see Ellen Parker again. Her story made me dislike JFP even more if that's possible. I was amused that Tina Sloan kept calling her Maureen. It was also touching to her Sloan talk about having to write the letter. MY only quibble is I think Miner tended to talk over the other women especially Sloan.

[Soapsuds]

 

3 minutes ago, chrisml said:

It was so thrilling to see Ellen Parker again. Her story made me dislike JFP even more if that's possible. I was amused that Tina Sloan kept calling her Maureen. It was also touching to her Sloan talk about having to write the letter. MY only quibble is I think Miner tended to talk over the other women especially Sloan.

Ellen to Tina: Just write the fcking letter

Edited August 13 by Soapsuds

[Soaplovers]

30 minutes ago, BetterForgotten said:

I was kinda surprised Alan let them get a little candid here - like when Tina asked Ellen Parker if JFP gave her a reason why they were going to kill off Maureen. Ellen of course said it was because of some focus group sh!t, the excuse we've heard over and over again. 

 

I think anything pre Alan working at P & G might be ok to talk about..imho

[Asb23]

Great interview. Interesting that at the beginning Alan had to ask fans to be nice in the comments. I don’t think any fans would have anything bad to say about any on the ladies. It was the leadership and the storyline most took issue with.

 

So nice to see Rachel after all these years . Pretty sh$tty that she found out she was being replaced in a magazine. It never made sense to me since they kept Bryan Buffinton. They had a gold mine with those two kids/actors and much like losing Maureen, replacing Rachel took me out of the story. I no longer cafes about Michelle at that point.

 

Too bad Maeve lost her connection. 
 

As always I appreciate Alan’s efforts and the actors agreeing to appear!

[BoldRestless]

1 hour ago, BetterForgotten said:

I was kinda surprised Alan let them get a little candid here - like when Tina asked Ellen Parker if JFP gave her a reason why they were going to kill off Maureen. Ellen of course said it was because of some focus group sh!t, the excuse we've heard over and over again. 

 

And it wasn't that the focus group didn't like her, it was that no one mentioned in her as part of a couple they want to get together - because she was happily married! Like they can't even see a character as something other than part of a hot pairing. Ugh.

 

I really loved when Tina was talking about a woman who didn't cry over her own breast cancer but did over Lillian's, and Ellen said the shows were that kind of catharsis for so many women who didn't let themselves stop and feel for themselves. She GETS what the shows meant to so many people.

[John]

27 minutes ago, Asb23 said:

Great interview. Interesting that at the beginning Alan had to ask fans to be nice in the comments. I don’t think any fans would have anything bad to say about any on the ladies. It was the leadership and the storyline most took issue with.

 

So nice to see Rachel after all these years . Pretty sh$tty that she found out she was being replaced in a magazine. It never made sense to me since they kept Bryan Buffinton. They had a gold mine with those two kids/actors and much like losing Maureen, replacing Rachel took me out of the story. I no longer cafes about Michelle at that point.

 

Too bad Maeve lost her connection. 
 

As always I appreciate Alan’s efforts and the actors agreeing to appear!

Bryan grew into a good looking Teen. I think he was surprised he lasted til 1998 given that RB was older than him

[Bill Bauer]

49 minutes ago, Asb23 said:

Great interview. Interesting that at the beginning Alan had to ask fans to be nice in the comments. I don’t think any fans would have anything bad to say about any on the ladies. It was the leadership and the storyline most took issue with.

 

 

 

I think that may have been a leftover from the writers chat. Apparently there was a lot of negative comments in that chat. For good reason. 

[DRW50]

3 hours ago, John said:

Joy Lenz quit in 2000 but was Rebecca Budig fired?

 

Rebecca chose to leave, I think. She had been there 3 and a half years. 

[Faulkner]

11 hours ago, chrisml said:

I was amused that Tina Sloan kept calling her Maureen.

I was laughing about that. At a certain point, I think Ellen got a little peeved, but it was all love. 
 

Rachel Miner is incredibly well-spoken. Glad to see her doing ok. It’s a shame that they didn’t allow her to grow up in the role as Kimberly McCullough did on GH. But given what happened to Michelle and GL overall, she dodged a bullet. Can you imagine Miner’s Michelle with Danny?

[Soapsuds]

 

 

[Mitch]

12 hours ago, BoldRestless said:

And it wasn't that the focus group didn't like her, it was that no one mentioned in her as part of a couple they want to get together - because she was happily married! Like they can't even see a character as something other than part of a hot pairing. Ugh

This is what killed the soaps and created those weird couple fans like the Jevas, Mattessa's and Manny and why the storylines grew stagnant. Can you imagine back in the day a poll on getting Bert Bauer in a hot romance...(they were going to pair her with H.B. which would have been cool as hell but...) No character could be an individual..I would say Reva, pre death was her own character no matter what romance she was in,, but that wasnt the case post resurrection and ruined her character.

 

2 hours ago, Faulkner said:

Rachel Miner is incredibly well-spoken. Glad to see her doing ok. It’s a shame that they didn’t allow her to grow up in the role as Kimberly McCullough did on GH. But given what happened to Michelle and GL overall, she dodged a bullet. Can you imagine Miner’s Michelle with Danny?

I didn't have the attachment to Miner and BB others did, but I can see that at that time in the shows history, it was important to keep them..at least until both of them wanted to move on. Especially since the Chelle story could have been handled by another character, like one of Bridget's sisters, named Maureen too comes to town and gets involved with Jesse while Chele and Bill were looking for the recipient of Mo's heart..Chele developes a little sister relationship with Jesse and supports him and her cousin and Ed doesnt like it,etc. Especially with Nola in town to try to take over mothering Chele..and encouraging her to be a free spirit..

Edited August 13 by Mitch