Guiding Light Discussion Thread

[Mitch64]

Do you know what those were? I liked the Cabin story at first...(though it was weird that Nola of all people was sitting on the sideline during this...it should have been her story or at least Ms. Nosy would be involved to a great extent..and there was no way a woman like Susan Piper would be living in a town like Springfield but...) and thought they could have introduced Brandon's other family without resurrecting him, so it would have been interesting to see what they had intended.

[Khan]

Not really.  I spoke years ago with Pamela K. Long's co-HW, Jeff Ryder, via email.  Although he was vague about his and Long's intended plans for Brandon's second family, he did emphasize the fact that P&G was extremely nervous about how such a revelation would go over with their more "conservative" viewers.

Of course, JR might have been lying through his teeth, so to speak, but given that this was almost 20 years later and he was no longer working in the industry, I don't see what he'd have to gain by lying to someone who wasn't in any way connected to the business aside from being a fan.

Edited February 21, 2022 by Khan

[TVFAN1144]

Notice how most of the fantasy stories involve Reva?  Certain characters seem to inspire writers to do crazy things.  Louise Sorell on Days seemed to get blessed with off the wall storylines as well 

[robbwolff]

How did their daughter Victoria suffer from recasting and retconning?

[SFK]

Yeah, I didn’t know that anyone besides Kim Hamilton played Victoria. Victoria’s daughter was also named Victoria (going by Vicky Brandon when she first came to Springfield) and she was played by two actresses. I’m forgetting the first actress’ name, but she was recast with Victoria Platt.

[slick jones]

Exactly  @SFK.

 

Victoria "Tamerlaine" Spaulding   daughter of

    Sharina Tamerlaine and Brandon Spaulding

       raised in Barbados at the Spaulding 

                        compound.

          (young) Meisha Millington    1984

                   Kim Hamilton    1984

Victoria "Vicky" Spaulding  aka   Vicky Brandon; 

  granddaughter of Sharina and Brandon

      also brought up in Barbados

           Karen Williams  1998

     Victoria G. Platt    1998-2001

 

 

[robbwolff]

I only recollect Kim Hamilton portraying Victoria briefly in 1984. And then, as you pointed out, her daughter showed up in 1998. I really liked the original Vicky — Karen Williams, who would sometimes use an accent in her performances.

[Mitch64]

The things is the original Victoria was very much like her sister Alex..she was strong but subtle and seemed that she would feel the ends justify the means..so that would have been difficult to have her and BevAlex on together. However, instead of recasting Alex they could have just had her leave all her shares of Spaulding to Victoria and then we could have avoided Dear Marj schreeching all over the screen.  Or at least when Marj was written out they could have replaced her with Victoria..instead of the idiotic idea that Amanda could take Alex's place. Though I always thought that instead of bringing Amanda back in a young new vixen form...they should have made her Vicky..though I would have gotten an actress who could have at least done a credible Caribean accent...the second Vickie looked like she just got done teaching at Vassar.

 

 

I actually think that GL was perfect for "various slightly" campy stories. The cool thing I thought about GL as opposed to the earnest ATWT is that it could do it all, family, community, business, mystery, romance and camp. Though yes, the Clone story went to far as did the rest of Reva's tedious stories...but they weren't imaginative, they were just vehicles to keep Kimmer and Newman to a lesser extent constantly on the front burner instead of letting the character (and the actress) have a breather in between stories and letting them come "organically" Sadly the only time post resurrection that Reva was more earthy Reva was Wheeler/Kreizman. 

[MichaelGL]

I like the idea of Victoria taking Alexandra's spot after Bev's departure. Would've made sense. 

[vetsoapfan]

Yep. That's one of the reasons that I grew to loathe the character. To me, the show's resurgance, which took place while she was "dead" came to an end after Reva returned as a ghost.

I acknowledge that there are viewers who agree with you. Do you mind if I ask what year you started watching the series? My experience has been that viewers who believe TGL was suited for campy material became viewers in the 1980s.

My most vehement objection to the entire storyline that it was historically impossible, since we had seen Brandon die on ther show. So to trash established, witnessed history, to dip the show's toe into the water of a "controversial" plot that went nowhere, was frustrating.

[j swift]

I've heard the comment before about rejecting the Brandon "twist" because he died on screen.  So, I wonder if there is any prior generation character that could have been substituted?

[Khan]

Same.  And Douglas Marland was the best kind of head writer for GL, IMO, because he was the kind who could write different kinds of stories.

Overall, though, I think the P&G shows - not just GL, but also ATWT, AW, EON and so on - appealed most to literate fans who enjoyed variety in storytelling.

[Mitch64]

I grew up "watching" it (as it was always on in the background with my Mom having it on..) so I would say the earliest that I can remember would be the Dobson's (I remember Jackie I think climbing up on a latter to hang a Christmas star on a tree and falling off and having a miscarriage.. I remember thinking..its really not that far up..) and Phillip as an annoying brat that EVERYONE was concerned about (he was a diva even as a kid and beat both Morgan and Lily out as a young character the town obsesses over..) and Chrissy as a brat living with Ed while Holly was in prison and hating Rita. It never struck as much as ATWT which was my Mom's FAVORITE..but I always liked GL the best. But yes, it was during Marland and Nola (Go Nola...GO) that I started watching...watching.

 

It could still have been Brandon...but he didn't have to be alive for the story to be told....come to think of it, this was during Alan being off camera..instead of Victoria why not a male black Spaulding..one who totally took after the rotten to the core Brandon..to take on Alex?

 

True,,but when I think of GL..I think of  Pam Long's /Curlee's GL..warts and all. I think she just brought the right amount of heart and heat to the show (as I said before, Marland's good male characters were all wimpy and he never wrote sex well..) I loved Long/Curlee writing of guys, of friends, and how EVERYONE in town was a big gossip!

[Khan]

That might've worked.  But, again, you had the very skittish folks at P&G bristling at the idea of Brandon Spaulding as a miscegenist (sp?).

Edited February 23, 2022 by Khan

[j swift]

I would argue that somebody has to be alive in the cabin for the plot to make sense, given that Susan was keeping their existence a secret.  However, since it involved Tony why not make it a missing Reardon relative?  

My objection is the random nature of connecting the whole plot to the Spauldings, despite nobody from the family being an integral part of the story.

Edited February 23, 2022 by j swift