Guiding Light Discussion Thread

[j swift]

Can I nominate L. Virginia Browne for the person I most want to see interviewed?  These back to back stories from @will81's Tumblr are, in her own words, stunning.

 

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Edited February 11, 2021 by j swift

[DramatistDreamer]

Shocking!! They did storyboards on the soaps??!! They must have done away with them by the 90s.

[Mitch]

They kind of really treated people like crap didnt they???

[Soapsuds]

What years were they HW? And what was their material?

[Soaplovers]

Both of them were short lived @Soapsuds

 

Fall 1982 for pat F Smith

 

Early 1983 for Browne.

 

And I think after both of them was another short term writing team before Pam Long.

 

I'm sure P & G also drove off Long in late 1990

[j swift]

From my recent reading of the Tumblr, PFS's writing period was concurrent with a huge turnover in the cast.  Morgan Richards, and most of the cast that supported her storylines either left or were let go.  Carrie Marler, Hope Bauer, and those associated with Alan Spaulding were written out when he went to jail.   Dr. Kelly Nelson almost left for a musical version of The Three Musketeers, a poor out of town try-out doomed the show, and John Wesley Shipp re-signed for a few more years.  So, the focus of the plots were being shifted, and critics were concerned that GL became unrecognizable.  Also, The Reardons had taken over many of the plots, but once their creator left, many of the family members were backburnered. 

 

Browne was there to continue the shift to a new generation.  She wrote the marriage of Quint and Nola.  Then, Lisa Brown's maternity leave required a lot of unpopular plot devices including a silly kidnapping plot on their honeymoon.  Fans had waited so long for Nola and Quint to get together, but once they wed their stories were sidelined to accommodate real life circumstances. 

 

So, like all soaps, the failures that were attributed to writing are hindsight reductive.  Real life circumstances, contracts, and failed musicals all contributed to a fallow period.  It is also important to note that the success of Y&R had an impact on the rest of the CBS lineup.  P&G was rightly concerned that the success of Y&R was not being felt throughout the entire lineup and they wanted a taste of the same ratings that Y&R was achieving. 

Edited February 11, 2021 by j swift

[robbwolff]

 

This is not accurate. Pat Falken Smith was there for only about 2 months in the fall of 1982. There wasn’t much turnover at all during her brief tenure.

 

Pat was replaced by L. Virginia Browne and Gene Palumbo around December 1982. They were gone by late March or early April. This is the period when a few characters were jettisoned: Sara, Tim, Jennifer, Gracie, and perhaps some others. Browne/Palumbo kept Morgan and moved her into Phillip and Rick’s orbit until the character was abruptly phased out in May 1983.

 

Next came interim writers Carolyn Culliton, Richard Culliton, and Gary Tomlin, who were there around April/May. I think they introduced Annabelle Sims. Pam Long and Richard Culliton arrived in May; this is when the massive cast changes happened. Hope was gone by November/December 1983. Alan departed around April 1984. Long/Culliton wrote Quint and Nola’s wedding. I don’t remember a kidnapping story during their honeymoon. Their honeymoon involved an inn and the tale of star-crossed lovers, John and Nora, who had died a century earlier. Lisa Brown gave birth the following year. Quint and Nola then had that very unpopular story with the child Jonathan Brooks.

 

As for Browne, I always take what she said with a grain of salt. In one article, she claimed that Guiding Light continued to use her bible for another 9 or so months after she was fired as head writer. I’m not sure how true that is, but she also claimed that she was credited on screen during those 9 months. Not true at all. Her name was gone from the credits by early spring 1983.

[j swift]

Thank you for this well researched clarification.  It is a helpful reminder that you can't believe everything you read in these soap publications, especially when the journalist never takes the time to include quotes from other sources in the production.  

[will81]

Yeah they announced PFS in mid Sep 1982 and her firing in early November 1982. So she was barely there two full months by the sounds of it. 

[robbwolff]

I first started watching GL in April 1982 and remember a lot of the details during that period.

[Forever8]

 

 

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[Soaplovers]

 

Mallet/Mindy...shame never went anywhere.  I still think they were a Pam Long idea.

 

Chelsea/Frank/Fletcher....filler and the show realizing all 3 don't quite fit so let's create a non starter triangle.  

 

The Alex/Holly/Ross/Roger stuff was strong.

 

Shows the show could go on without Reva

[NothinButAttitude]

 

I've been touting for the longest that Mindy/Mallet was the money couple, not Mallet/Harley. I never saw it for Mallet and Harley. 

 

And with Chelsea, from what I've seen of her, it seems like no regime really tried with her even though she had potential. Dare I say it, but I would've loved to have seen Chelsea return in later years and how she would've meshed with the canvas. Especially with KDP having become a big star within the genre at that point. 

[FrenchBug82]

Chelsea is one example I think about when I am tempted to say an actor or actress sucks because their character is subpar and I bite my tongue. Because it really shows how the magic for a performer sometimes comes from finding the right role and often the writing is to blame (which is true for recasts as well when recast actors get blamed for the writing changing the character rather than their portrayal).

KdP is a superb actress but Chelsea was a huge dud. Casting good actors *in the right role* is as important as casting good actors.
It is also true, dare I say it, for Kim Zimmer. Reva was hers. I am not sure I was ever impressed by anything else I saw her do.

[DRW50]

 

Kassie said after leaving that Blake took all her story and role on the canvas.