Guiding Light Discussion Thread

[~bl~]

GL was taken off by a top ten tv market in the early 90s That is why they did the Remote in Northern California, with Nick and Mindy mainly to try to promote the show to keep it on that station but they still pulled the show in 1993.. People in that area with one cable company could see it, but they lost many viewers of course. The morning outlet thing with the show airing behind started fall of 1995.

[Spoon]

I need to vent. This time of year I get sad thinking of this show that I grew up with.  My mom would have it on when I came home from school. It grew on me as time went by.  My mom would explain who was related to who and this fascinated me greatly and core families lasting generations are my favorite aspects of soaps in general.  I wouldget excited during long credit days and the cast list and the "full" closing music.

Oh, why couldn't GL get more respect in the late 80s and 90s?  Seemed like Santa Barbara was getting more buzz (pun?) than GL.  Everything seemed to be clicking in 1984.  The revamping seemed to work although I would've kept more of a "core" or "foundation" to the show connecting it more with pre-1984 GL.

I'd hear about past characters or characters I was too young to remember like Mike.  The earliest stuff I remember was quint and Nora's exploits.  Mom would refer to her movie fantasies.  Quint/Nola and Another World's Cass/Kathleen were favorite couples of mine.  

They had a good thing going with the Reardons.  Tony, Jim, Annabelle were all written out too soon.  During the 90s GL was decent in bringing people back but it would've been interesting to see Tony or Jim return.  Especially Tony who was with the show for a decent amount of time (5 years?).

Reva was okay but they should've built her family up better, like give her another brother or sister (in the 80s).  Especially with The Reardons and Bauers being de-emphasized.  

India was another memorable character I remember when I was young along with the Musketeers and lujack.  It's a shame they didn't have VI on a longer contract.  Lujack and Beth sparked the ratings during 84 where it was beating general hospital for four weeks as "Almost Paradise" played as they rode that motorcycle along the beach.  

They should've brought back Lujack somehow, Nick was a bore.  The Beth recast was bad.  BC's Beth was better when she returned in '97(?).  We were supposed to root against her in favor as Harley?  I couldn't do that after seeing their romance in the 80s.  They were soulmates. Actually Lujack could've also been her soul mate but he died.

India was another memorable character, thought she was good with Ross.  This was during a period where I thought bloss was stale but blake/Ross were absolutely my second favorite gl couple.  I was devastated when jvd/ross left the show after 25 or 26 years as he quickly became the shows elder statesman after only being on the show four or five years.  GL really gutted too much of the cast during the early 80s.

Loved the Anabelle story, one of my favorite umbrella stories which linked all the families together.  I know their was continuity issues, but I sppreviated.  Nola and Tony learning that their father didn't abandon them but met another fate.

Hot take: the 1989 Alan Spaulding recast was a decent recast.  I could see him as Alan and he still gave off some of the gravitas that CB had.  Ron Raines was a joke.  MD as Alex started off okay but really went off the rails as time went by, especially after Alan returned from prison.  

They should've given Rick Bauer children sooner.  Him and Abigail were together for a decent amount of time, they should've had a child together.

[Joseph]

So I was having A "Columbo" Marathon This Weekend, But despite seeing 5 movies and several familiar faces one didn't Leave my Mind: Katherine Justice who appeared in the first Columbo movie Ever "Prescription For Murder" i knew I've seen her before, She subbed as Faith Coleridge in Ryan's Hope 1979, but looking Around she also did Falcon Crest and PLAYED HOPE BAUER ON GL BACK IN 1977!

I thought she was a Temp Considering She was Far older than the character was supposed to be but according to my research she was There for a While, So Does Anyone Remember Her???????? Was She Any Good? Why She was There??? @vetsoapfan?

[vetsoapfan]

As far as I recall, Katherine Justice only played Hope for a few months in 1977. She replaced Robin Mattson. To be honest, I found both Mattson and Justice to be rather bland in the role, as was Tisch Ray, who had played Hope for a bit before Mattson. TGL didn't have luck casting the character effectively until Elvera Roussel took over in 1979. Hope was written as a bland, colorless "baby girl" heroine who was, IMHO, pretty tedious. Thank heavens for Roussel and much improved writing in the early 1980s.

[Sapounopera]

They were crazy to write out Hope.  There was so much story to tell. But she didn't fit in the loud and trashy GUIDING TEXAS era of the show. 

[Joseph]

I would Love a few More details, But i knew Katherine was Some kind of "Clean House REcast' they probably only brought her in to finish Hope's Storyline and Write her out, Funny You praised Elvera Roussel, I read so many comments saying she was a Dull as watching paint dry, but i never had anything against her, not to mention find her beautiful

[Paul Raven]

It's puzzling that GL had trouble casting the role of Hope as she was an important part of continuing the Bauer legacy and at that time GL needed younger characters to keep with the times, so Hope was a natural to take center stage.

ATWT aged up Dee and Annie Stewart and quite successfully and SFT scored with Meg Bennett as Liza.

Here's a shot of Robin as Hope

 

[vetsoapfan]

Gail Kobe and Pamela Long did not understand TGL, and had no interest in preserving its long, rich legacy. Long's announcing that she worked very hard, when she took over the writing reigns, to "eliminate all the dead wood" from the cast of characters has always made me cringe. (To be fair, if P&G had wanted to, they could have stepped in and put a stop to the mass slaughter.)

I firmly believe that those who criticized Roussel's version of Hope had never had to endure the previous actresses' take on the role, LOL. I don't really know much more about Justice. The fan mags at the time didn't reveal much (that I ever saw, anyway) about her departure.

I found the other actresses' interpretation of Hope hard to deal with, but mainly because they were all so bland and colorless. Tepid writing of Hope as "the good girl" admittedly had a lot to do with it. I would acknowledge that the actresses were not horrendously bad, per se, just non-descript. That's perhaps why I view Roussel so favorably. I thought she had nice chemistry with Charita Bauer, Don Stewart and Chris Bernau.

Meg Bennett was excellent as Liza on SFT!

[DRW50]

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[antmunoz]

It’s funny how random wanted Mattson back as Hope in the 90’s and beyond.  However, I think they really wanted an out-for -revenge Hope (against Alan) as played by Robin (Heather Webber/Gina Caswell) Mattson. I seriously doubt her Hope would’ve been anything like her previous version, or Roussel’s. 
 

That said, if Don Stewart and Mart Hulswit had accompanied her back on the show, I would’ve bought it. 
 

BTW, does anyone know whatever happened to Stephen Yates after AW?  I loved Ben McFarren and would’ve enjoyed a Ben/nuAmanda/Hope/Evie storyline in the 90’s. 

[Paul Raven]

Stephen Yates went on to play Jamie on AW for 2 years and his last IMDB entry is 1992.

After that???

[Faulkner]

I’m not big on trying to catch lightning in a bottle twice, but it would have made too much sense to bring Mattson on as Hope and pair her with Justin Deas again, especially since Buzz was going up against Alan. Would have preferred that to Buzz/Reva/Alan.

[vetsoapfan]

Robin Mattson grew a lot as an actress after her first stint on TGL, and was popular paying characters with an edge, some bite. If she returned as Hope and the character was no longer the passive, bland good girl Mattson had originally portrayed, Mattson might have been effective in the part. Still, my first choice would have been for Roussel (and Stewart and Hulswit!) to return.

I loathed Buzz with every ounce of my being and (personally) would never have wanted to see him involved with the Bauer family in any way. I couldn't stand Reva, either, and kind of figured they deserved each other, LOL.

[Soapsuds]

I just love the theme music and closing. Always been one of my favorites.

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[BetterForgotten]

How long did that iteration of that theme last again? A little over a year? Calhoun would scrap it for 'Hold On To Love' entirely by January 1991.