Guiding Light discussion thread

[72Hearts]

I feel like it went off the rails in the mid 90s. Not all at once, it wasn't a swan dive into asphalt, but imo the show never hit another writing high again. 

[Mitch]

Oh...God....my ears still hurt from that. And yes, it was shameless Emmy bait..JFP was not stupid..she rode the show on Buzz, and the ratings fell with the aforementioned firings and people leaving, so she had to prove that she made the right choice and if your audience turned you off you need an Emmy for you leading man to say, "See, it was worth it and they will come back."

 

It was just depressing seeing these beautiful women chasing after that looser. I think JFP and the writers watched the "Witches of Eastwick" too much with all those hot women chasing after gross, fat Jack Nicholson's character. They may have pulled it off if they had hired a sexy guy to play Buzz but it still would have been depressing.  Deas won those Emmys as for some reason the industry thought he WAS the JN of daytime and the rest of the actors all seem to gush on how great he is...the only lone voice was Marcy Walker who alluded to him being "self indulgent." in his choices.

 

I always thought Nadine and Ed might have been interesting..he had money and respect, and maybe she could light a fire under dour PS.

[DRW50]

 

That would have caused some conflict with Holly (from WSPR) and Vanessa (given their feud) too.

 

JFP got a lot of praise for her expertise in bloc voting for nominations and wins. An example of the industry, and the press, being unable to see the forest for the trees. In the long run, did any of those Emmys help anybody with anything? The only soap that might have benefited, in not immediately being canceled, was Santa Barbara, but even that is generous.

[KMan101]

 

I've always wondered the same. You've brought up the points I go back to and think about.

 

Many feel it was moving in the 'Reilly' direction (but without plotting out actual story and just doing crazy wacky things to get attention) and desperation after the OJ Simpson trial that caused the decline.

 

For me it seems like a lot of poor management decisions. You had the swapping of the P&G producers which didn't work, causing all of their soaps to suffer. Disney bought ABC. NBC was getting on their 'TODAY' high ...  

 

And then you had soaps like Sunset Beach and Passions drawing small attention for outlandish plots.

 

Problem is, all the soaps started to look the same LOL

 

I'm sure there's been threads on where exactly the decline began but it's a great discussion to have.

 

EDIT: I forgot about the stupid "Focus Groups" that producers and networks relied on in the 90s. What a disaster. 

 

 

STOP IT!

 

I'm so excited!

Edited May 7, 2021 by KMan101

[zanereed]

 

Agreed - I have waited for someone to interview Hulswit for YEARS! I am very much looking forward to this one.

[vetsoapfan]

 

I just hope Alan does not muzzle Mart Hulswit, and actually lets him speak frankly.

 

Now if we could only get a no-holds-barred interview with Eileen Fulton, in which she just let it rip. 

 

But I won't quibble and be greedy. Hulswit and Myers on the agenda truly has me giddy!

 

Yes, while they are still with us, and ready and willing to be interviewed, we need to see the legendary veteran actors as much as possible! How about a session with Bill and Susan Hayes, Denise Alexander and Maree Cheatam?

[~bl~]

I want to hear from Mart about the union stuff I recall years ago reading about he was in the group of actors who was involved in the contract changes as before then every actor could be fired at will without warning. Of course I wonder if this was something that annoyed TPTB.  
 

 

[Bill Bauer]

 

I think there was one with Maree Cheatam but it was audio only (something was wrong with her video) and she didn't stay for long. I'd like to see her together with the others you mentioned but especially Maree since Marie Horton was my favourite Days character. 

[Forever8]

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[vetsoapfan]

 

Really? Marie Horton was your favorite DAYS character? I never knew that. 

 

Did you have any particular favorite(s) on TGL?

[RavenWhitney]

Audrey Peters was a lovely actress but was so wrong for the role of Sarah Shayne.  Never worked.  And there was zero chemistry between her and Kim Zimmer. The writing was a problem too, but Audrey couldn't pull off the Oklahoma accent.

[Bill Bauer]

 

Bill Bauer, as you can tell by my name, was probably my favourite. Although with such a long run, there were lots of favourites. I would have to really sit and think about it. 

[zanereed]

 

Just curious - any preference as to Lyle Sudrow or Ed Bryce for Bill Bauer? I always preferred Bryce, but I just thought Ed Bryce had better chemistry with Charita. Although Sudrow seemed to give some great performances in 1950 as Bill Bauer became more and more addicted to alcohol.

[Bill Bauer]

 

I prefer Sudrow but I liked Bryce a lot. 

[Soapsuds]

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