Guiding Light discussion thread

[RavenWhitney]

Gail Kobe installed the Cullitons and Tomlin as interim writers to clean up the show for Long who was already working on the bible and under contract.  

[dc11786]

Tomlin was credited as headwriter on “Search for Tomorrow” the last week of May 1983. That may help with the timeline. 

[DRW50]

1 hour ago, Soaplovers said:

I think the 1988 writer strike is what KDP meant when she said Blake took her spot with Philip, etc.

 

Up till the April 1988 episodes, Chelsea and Phillip were a couple..but you could see the cracks in their relationship.  During the strike (with no outlines provided by Long)...they broke up..Blake was paired with Philip (after she was tested with Johnny) while Chelsea ended up with Johnny.

 

I do think Beth's back from the dead story would have been different if Philip was with Chelsea instead of Blake.  There was one brief scene when Chelsea met Beth...and it was a brief scene..but how Kassie played it was effective.  Sometimes non verbal ques are more powerful.

 

With that said, when she left in early 1991..she was excited about her music dreams coming true.  I could have seen her come back years later hardened by her dreams not coming true.

 

But I do think Pam Long provided Chelsea with some good scenes and one strong story ( The Rae story).  

 

Did Kassie opt to leave or was she let go?  I could have seen Chelsea fitting into the Curlee era as much as she did in the Long era

 

I don't remember if it was ever really said - I think she may have chosen to leave because she was barely used by the end, which would be more mutual.

 

That is what Kassie meant, yes. She probably felt she had a more firm place on the canvas with Philip rather than with Johnny. 

 

Edited February 13 by DRW50

[titan1978]

I liked the storyline I watched (before it was all pulled from YouTube) with Chelsea’s stalker.  She really is stuck in soap ingenue role on GL from what I saw.  Blair really gave her the chance to show what she was capable of as an actress.

[Mitch]

On 2/13/2021 at 1:17 PM, DRW50 said:

 

I don't remember if it was ever really said - I think she may have chosen to leave because she was barely used by the end, which would be more mutual.

 

That is what Kassie meant, yes. She probably felt she had a more firm place on the canvas with Philip rather than with Johnny. 

 

I think she decided to leave during the Rae story and told them so. They said..."Oh we will give your story to someone else then." and she was like..."Uh, she's already stalking ME!"

 

Interesting to see her return later as more of a bitter hellfire woman. When she was first introduced..Chelsea was said to be..believe it or not.."The crazy Reardon.." and Rick was like.."Oh, Nola is coming home." and they were like..."Oh no...Chelsea is even more wild then Nola!!!" and it was like..uh no.

 

How the hell did Fletcher and boring Frank last so long???Imagine a really strong leading man (besides Roger) for Alex.

Edited February 15 by Mitch

[FrenchBug82]

11 hours ago, Mitch said:

How the hell did Fletcher and boring Frank last so long???Imagine a really strong leading man (besides Roger) for Alex.

I don't know. I have to be honest that while Beverley Mc was one of the best actresses on daytime I never managed to buy her too much in romances, even in Another World and Texas. That wasn't her strength and even the romance with Roger always looked like an arrangement to me more than love.

She and Fletcher were kinda cute in that he wasn't taking her s**t. But I am not sure Alex ever worked as a romantic lead with either actresses anyway.

[Mitch]

4 hours ago, FrenchBug82 said:

I don't know. I have to be honest that while Beverley Mc was one of the best actresses on daytime I never managed to buy her too much in romances, even in Another World and Texas. That wasn't her strength and even the romance with Roger always looked like an arrangement to me more than love.

She and Fletcher were kinda cute in that he wasn't taking her s**t. But I am not sure Alex ever worked as a romantic lead with either actresses anyway.

Very true. I never bought Rog and Alex...great drama came from it, but I never thought Alex was dumb enough or lonely enough to buy into Roger's b.s. (though the writers tried hard to make it so her power isolated her..) An arranged marriage from the start (Roger has a business Spaulding desperately needs and Alex gives Roger legitimacy..) and then Alex slowly coming to enjoy their partnership because of Roger's more mercenary biz smarts..would have worked better. Alex was all family and business not romantic love.  And or course, I could have done without MarjAlex practically acting like she wanted Rog to screw her on the spot all the time.  The only Alex I could see being sexual was of course...VixenAlex Joan Collins..but even she played her like it was just a bit of fun for Alex not overheated LOVE in the soap way.

[slick jones]

Article about Guiding Light's Renauld White,   who appeared as William Reynolds the maitre'd from 1985-91.

[Paul Raven]

Thanks for posting that. I had never heard of him so did some research.

A pioneer in the modelling field.

He also appeared on OLTL.

[Mitch]

On 2/13/2021 at 12:08 PM, Forever8 said:

 

Loved this time on GL.  Ellen Parker just looks and acts like someone's mom..not Nancy Hughes type, but a real Mom...dumbest move they ever made to kill her and not keep her around as support, but God knows what Rauch and the rest would have done for her. GA and MOL think they are way more funny then they are in that ad lib singing, but I think MOL always thought he was funnier then he was..(and I like him.) AM and Harley, why do they marry younger characters off like that...they could have the same storyline as 20 somethings dating.

[victoria foxton]

 February 4, 1980- A pregnant Rita's terrorized. In the Hall of Mirrors by Roger. As Donna Summer and Barbara Streisand's Enough, Enough plays.

Edited February 20 by victoria foxton

[DRW50]

Capitol & Guiding Light promo, 1983 - YouTube

[zanereed]

On 2/20/2021 at 1:25 PM, victoria foxton said:

 February 4, 1980- A pregnant Rita's terrorized. In the Hall of Mirrors by Roger. As Donna Summer and Barbara Streisand's Enough, Enough plays.

 

Around a month into Douglas Marland's era, as Marland is charged with finishing off Roger's storyline. It just kept building and building.  Rita's kidnapping and miscarriage, Holly and Christina fleeing to Santo Domingo, Renee's death, Mike and Ed trailing Roger to Santo Domingo. It was just a gradual build-up to Roger's eventual "death" I give Marland credit - he did a heck of a job in sending off Roger. I'm still not sure if he was working off of things the Dobsons were planning, or if this was all Marland. Regardless, it was "can't-miss" TV.

[j swift]

4 hours ago, zanereed said:

I give Marland credit - he did a heck of a job in sending off Roger.

Its really a credit both to the writing and the production.  The use of contemporary music makes it even more exciting, along with Roger's creepy clown costume, and that still shot of Rita's horror.  They made what was probably a 10x10 set look like a huge maze.

 

I can't watch this and not compare it to Another World's use of a house of mirrors in 1989 with Felicia Gallant and the murder of Jason Frame.  GL's was much more engrossing because the inclusion of the music.  However, both plots required a suspension of disbelief as to why the town sophisticates were suddenly interested in attending a carnival.  You know that if it was not required by the plot, Rita would have sent Crissy off to the carnival with some extra while she had lunch at the club.

 

Edited February 23 by j swift

[Khan]

17 hours ago, zanereed said:

Around a month into Douglas Marland's era, as Marland is charged with finishing off Roger's storyline. It just kept building and building.  Rita's kidnapping and miscarriage, Holly and Christina fleeing to Santo Domingo, Renee's death, Mike and Ed trailing Roger to Santo Domingo. It was just a gradual build-up to Roger's eventual "death" I give Marland credit - he did a heck of a job in sending off Roger. I'm still not sure if he was working off of things the Dobsons were planning, or if this was all Marland. Regardless, it was "can't-miss" TV.

 

Like Marland himself said, in Christopher Schemering's book commemorating GL's 50 anniversary, he knew Roger's death couldn't be anything small, "like a shooting or stabbing."  Not after the years of havoc he had wreaked upon so many people's lives.  But, more than that, Marland, for all his deficiencies as a writer, knew the importance of structure in storytelling.  There was always tremendous build-ups and payoffs in his stories -- payoffs that, in turn, planted seeds for further stories -- so that the viewers were left satisfied at the end.