Guiding Light Discussion Thread

[Soapsuds]

Thanks @DRW50!! I'll be watching it this weekend!

[Franko]

Thanks to the CBS promos, we can place these episodes as airing on Thursday, April 1 and Friday, April 2, 1982.

"You're gonna say nope to your soap!" Bite your tongue, Zest!

Marcella Lowery (Grandma Jenkins from Ghostwriter) in the Bounce commercial from Episode One. And Adrian Zmed for Crisco and I believe David Garrison in the Dawn ad. Plus Charles Kimbrough in the condensed milk ad.

The Thursday night promo has the Ghost of CBS Daytime Future -- Teri Ann Linn -- as the girl in the bikini. (On Magnum, of course!)

I also forgot that this was during Capitol's first week on the air.

Edited June 25, 2022 by Franko

[victoria foxton]

@DRW50Thanks! This is a really awesome find. Helena was a hoot. And those classic commercials. Are fun to watch. Amanda serving up businesswoman realness. And taking no prisoners. It's also great to see more of Jane Elliot as Carrie and her alters. Pretty Boy Floyd. 

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 Vanessa rocking her humongous fur hat. The two episodes had a lot of great stuff going on. The only boring parts were Kelly & Morgan, Jennifer & Mark. Loved seeing a quirky band like B- 52 performing at Wired for Sound.  

 

@DRW50Clips of B-52 performing are on youtube. But the full episode has never been .

Edited June 25, 2022 by victoria foxton

[Franko]

Maybe it's because EVERYONE's jumping on her, but I'm firmly Team Amanda here.

(A couple more IDs from the commercials: Dee Wallace in the Duncan Hines muffin ad. Ilene Graff for Downey. Plus the Bold 3 ad with Judith Ivey.)

Edited June 25, 2022 by Franko

[victoria foxton]

I'm Team Amanda too. Always like seeing her tougher side.

[Franko]

Okay, more pieces of the puzzle are coming into play:

Judy Collins (Week of March 29, according to UPI; https://www.upi.com/Archives/1982/03/08/STAR-LIGHT/9031384411600/)

The B-52's (April 1-2)

Maurice Gibb (Friday, May 7; https://outlet.historicimages.com/products/rrw85691)

By April 24, Ashford & Simpson and Anne Murray had also taped their appearances, if I'm reading Billboard right.

https://books.google.com/books?id=4CMEAAAAMBAJ&pg=PT17&lpg=PT17&dq=b'52s+april+1982+guiding+light&source=bl&ots=kse-UjiwYL&sig=ACfU3U1ZO-ory5uNg7Fx-fn3cDJza6N1OQ&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwiJ1_KKxcn4AhWJBEQIHVpcAhUQ6AF6BAguEAM#v=onepage&q=b'52s april 1982 guiding light&f=false

So we can place the Wired for Sound performances as starting in spring 1982. Now I'm wondering when they petered out.

[victoria foxton]

@FrankoYou're awesome! I love how you found all this info. Thanks for sharing.

Edited June 26, 2022 by victoria foxton

[DRW50]

Bertie Higgins performed on June 8th (that video is a page or two back). Someone on the Jennifer Holliday video says she sang on May 17th.  Not sure if there are any others. 

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[Contessa Donatella]

I stick with my earlier WOW but I have to add Mucho thanks to @DRW50 and to @Franko ! It is amazing what fine play time can come out of sheer information that comes & comes!

 

[Franko]

Thanks! I'm tickled that apparently Judy Collins and The B-52's performed in the same week. I guess GL really wanted to let viewers know that musical performances were going to be a thing for the near future.

Interesting. That would place Jennifer's performance before she won the Tony for Dreamgirls. For whatever reason, I always assumed it was after.

And a little OCDish behavior on my part.

[DRW50]

I also wonder if they wanted to  have a more  soothing contrast to the B-52s to keep the conservative viewers from being more upset. 

[j swift]

Did Whitney Houston also play Springfield in 1982?

EDIT - sorry I looked it up and Ms. Houston played Oakdale not Springfield

 

Edited June 26, 2022 by j swift

[DRW50]

Yes it was a great surprise to see Helena, in what must be some of her earliest appearances. I just love watching Rose Alaio and I don't know why Kobe and Long didn't keep her on. Oh well.

I notice the material for Amanda hits a lot of the same beats Marland hit with Heather Rattray's  Lily where she becomes aggressive in business because of  heartbreak and being a little girl lost, etc. Fortunately Heather was not dressed like a child.

Marland never really wanted to write aggressive businesspeople, but women seemed to get the main psychoanalysis if they were power players in the boardroom. I don't have a lot of use for a full group hectoring her and being aghast at her taking the company from Alan (who had been a very ruthless  figure himself, not that you would know it from any of this dialogue). The most interesting parts are through Vanessa, who presumably took a break  from ordering Russian peasants to be shot. I'm sorry that Kathleen never really got to play Amanda as a tougher and unapologetic businesswoman. Again I do wonder why Long and Kobe decided why she had to go - some of the characters they kept hanging around for several years are people they really didn't do anything of value with (like Katie and Floyd). 

I felt bad for Vanessa in that she so clearly adored Mark even as he was already discarding her. Maeve adds so many layers to Vanessa even in this heavy caricature period. 

One of the more unique points of Marland's run compared to what  came before or after is his exploration of transitory relationships, like Tony going through Katie, Vanessa and Hillary in the space of 3-4 months. It's much more honest than the daytime world, or daytime viewers, tend to accept, and it's not somtehing I  remember him doing on most of his other soaps (it's not really something GL did either - even when you had characters like Rick or Philip who passed through various turnstiles in the mid/late '80s, we would usually hear they were "in love" with these women - maybe aside from Philip and India).

Edited June 26, 2022 by DRW50

[Franko]

Whitney made her TV debut in 1983, on The Merv Griffin Show. Alas, her ATWT appearance was her only time on a soap. (Between 1987-2000, she would have been too famous.)

[TVFAN1144]

When the show went off the air, who was the longest cast member?  There were a few return appearances like Peter Simon and Maureen Garrett, but that probably doesn't count.

I'm thinking Roger Newman, Maeve Kinkaid, or Billy Lewis (Jordon Clarke)  Of course they all had gaps where they left and returned.