Guiding Light Discussion Thread

[Mitch]

This is great...I LOVED original recipe Reva but even then she could be annoying..and as much as Long loved Reva..she understood it and had people who were not evil but snippy, like Alex and India give her hell once in a while but also other "good" people would sometime get annoyed...(my favorite was Billy, until he became "Reva Cheerleader" who always gave Reva hell in the begginning...)  Rauch made Reva the cartoon Vicki Lord of Springfield (with a dash of sex goddess thrown in...) whom everyone loved and she was always right...even Zimmer would make comments at that time that they were "Trying to turn me into Bert Bauer," and she is right..she has a scene with Dinah where she assures her that Vanessa knew all along that she would never do anything to intentionally hurt her, because "As a mother I know,"  (which is funny as she never had a chance to spend time with her kids being dead, then returned from the dead then fighting Josh, then mooning for Josh, then on trial for an assault on Annie.

 

I don't mind Annie going out BIG, and I know that they wanted to make hay while the sun shines in ratings...but the ridiculous way..on a jet ski, hijacking a plane and then forciing the pilot to parachute out as she did to kill Reva...that's a lot of work for what a gun would do!  At least have her have some screen time with say, Lillian, or Rick to try to talk her down and to remember her real self..and she is just resigned.."Its too late," to give us some empathy and something for Watros to work with.

[vetsoapfan]

I'm not sure where this post should go, but I chose the TGL thread because of the first reply.

 

I respect Patrick Mulcahey enormously, but his most-missed soap opera character is 

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, IMHO.

 

 

 

[allmc2008]

Who was that?

[robbwolff]

Who is his most missed character? I scanned the thread, but don't see his response.

[vetsoapfan]

 

 

 

The loud-mouthed irritant of Springfield himself, Buzz Cooper.

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Other notable mentions: Roger Howarth as Todd Manning on OLTL and Franco on GH, Luke Spencer on GH, and...wait for it, Jean P's writing "talents."

 

Hold back my hair, I'm gonna hurl. LOL!

 

Thank God someone mentioned Roger Thorpe and Holly Norris!

 

I'm almost tempted to open my own Twitter account, to comment, but just reading the flame wars that ignite on that site are more than enough for me. 

Edited June 7, 2021 by vetsoapfan

[soapfan770]

Buzz Cooper lol. Not the absolute worst but personally it took some time for myself to learn to tolerate Buzz, coming with Jenna’s return. 

Edited June 7, 2021 by soapfan770

[robbwolff]

 

I'm confused by two things. First, why did Twitter hide one person's answer and mark it as "potentially sensitive content"? It featured shots of Charita Bauer, Don Stewart, Mart Hulswit, Jerry ver Dorn, Mary Stuart, Michael Zaslow, and Maureen Garrett. Second, what was up with Mulchaey's tweet questioning Mary Stuart's inclusion in the collage of photos? He also commented that it should be Peter Simon's Ed as opposed to Hulswit's Ed.

[DRW50]

I suppose a great deal of this is down to Mulcahey's own soap work. He wrote for Justin Deas for years, on two soaps, and it was obvious that those at GL absolutely adored Deas (including his co-stars). He also wrote for Peter Simon for years, which is the only way I can see someone saying Mart Hulswit does not even deserve to be used as a photo for Ed. 

[vetsoapfan]

 

I also notice that Twitter sometimes hides supposedly "sensitive content," although I am hard pressed to imagine what could be objectionable in a series of replies about most-missed soap opera stars. Are all replies visible to people who have Twitter accounts? I can't be bothered actually joining Twitter to find out, LOL. 

 

Maybe Patrick Mulcahey did not know (or simply forgot) that Mary Stuart was on The Guiding Light for many years. Didn't she joined after he left the show? I guess he preferred Peter Simon over Mart Hulswit, which sort of makes sense since Simon was the actor playing Ed when Mulcahey wrote for TGL.

 

As for other replies in that long thread, I am suspicious of all the votes for Roger Howarth's characters. I think the stan-bots are out in full force, LOL.

 

 

 

I thought Deas was great as Bucky Carter on RH and Tom Hughes on ATWT, so I do not despise the actor, himself, but I simply could not tolerate Buzz Cooper. I guess if Peter Simon was the only/principle  actor certain viewers saw as Ed Bauer, it makes sense that they would prefer him, but I have yet to encounter a fan who witnessed both Hulswit's and Simon's interpretations of the role express a preference for Simon over Hulswit.

Edited June 7, 2021 by vetsoapfan

[DRW50]

 

Yes, Mary joined in fall 1996, two years after Patrick left. She may not have been a heavy presence, but she was there off and on for the last five years of her life (and toward the end was probably more active as Meta than she'd ever been). 

 

It's sad to think people are still trying to play those games over a ham who hasn't bothered to give a good performance in over 20 years, but that's the death of daytime for you. The most active I am in any soap Twitter realm is probably AW, which doesn't seem to be as toxic. 

 

I grew up watching Peter Simon and I still think highly of his work but even I'd say Mart Hulswit was more suited to the role. 

[vetsoapfan]

 

I was bitterly disappointed in Claire Labine's tenure as headwriter on The Guiding Light; I had been expecting great things from her, but alas that was not to be. She did, however, craft some wonderful scenes for Mary Stuart.  I enjoyed Aunt Meta's battles with Claire Ramsey, and when Meta recited Rev. Ruthledge's Destiny poem at Christmas, it made me feel like I was actually watching...The Guiding Light. I was pleased. 

 

 

I generally only check out the soap Twitter realm when someone alerts me to a specific thread or content. Twitter is often too bitter for my tastes. The obvious stans and bots are divisive. But it's great to see people like Patrick Mulcahey interacting with fans. His scripts on soaps were a delight.

 

 

I thought highly of his work on SFT and ATWT too. He was just not well suited for the role of Ed Bauer, IMHO.

[Liberty City]

 

His response was the first:

 

[Mitch]

Ha..I almost dug up my old Twitter account log in to reply...but why bother. Unfortunately the writers own daddy issues and his love for the actor almost tanked GL during that horrible year or two that it was all Buzz, all the time.  Of course, good old Candace had to chime in and agree with him...(its weird how you get to know these people from the message boards over the years...)

[Soapsuds]

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[vetsoapfan]

 

I guess because Mulcahey did not have the same investment in the core of the show that veteran, longtime viewers had, it makes sense for him to gravitate towards newer characters whom he created and/or wrote, himself. That's fine, to each his own. At least I believe his attachment to the character is genuine. All the mewling stans who bleat on about Roger Howarth's roles strike me as designing their responses in the thread to fit a transparent agenda. 

 

I'm not on Twitter enough to know who this Candace is, but now I want to go investigate her other posts, LOL!