Guiding Light Discussion Thread

[Contessa Donatella]

Okay. I expect I give Rauch too much credit based on his statement about it being a story for DAYS or OLTL but not for a family show like GL. It is of course disturbing that MADD considered it some great success!!! As far as the pattern goes, if you strip away the trappings of scifi it is just another KZ frontburner "Jeva" storyline & we are right back where one character ATE her soap. 

[MissPalmer]

A classic GL episode from 1981 or 1982 ( Sorry, it is in German):

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[kalbir]

This appears to be from Fall 1981. Anna Stuart as Vanessa while Maeve Kinkead was on pregnancy leave.

[chrisml]

PEople tend to be scared of any kind of visual representation of illness. MADD's heartless comments confirm that. Doesn't make the attitude any better, but were soap execs known for their empathy? I think the reaction to Zaslow is emblematic of how soap execs treated the actors. I think if MADD hadn't made those public remarks that OLTL wouldn't have come to the rescue but maybe I'm being too cynical. 

[Contessa Donatella]

I've thought before that GL did so poorly that it might have made ABC to think that they could do better! Which they then proceeded to do! It handed them a win-win! So, I agree with you. 

[chrisml]

Considering JFP's track record of firing ill or pregnant performers, I do wonder if the good press was why it was done. I suppose we will never know, but I'm glad it was done. Zaslow deserved much better than he got in life and on GL.

[Contessa Donatella]

Even if someone was courting good press, that's fine, venal rather than noble, but who really cares since it got the chance for Zaslow to do what he did best a little bit more, for a really little bit longer, before he died. I am glad at the outcome for him. 

[DRW50]

Another episode that apparently was on Youtube before (the uploader said they are just uploading things that were on Youtube before) but I never did see. I think this may be the latest appearance of Rita or Stephen Jackson that I've seen on any of these uploads, but if anyone else knows of a later one, my apologies. (I am trying to remember if Stephen was at the Kelly/Morgan wedding)

Vanessa has the most hellish crinoline attire in this episode. It looks like something Katharine Hepburn wore in a 1933 film watched by five people.

There's also a good scene near the end where Ben knocks Ross on his ass mid-taunt. A last hurrah for baddie Ross before Marland reforms him for love.

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Edited October 24, 2023 by DRW50

[vetsoapfan]

No, Steve did not appear at Morgan's wedding to Kelly. The actor/character had drifted into oblivion before the wedding took place.

[Mitch64]

I love that sexy Rita knows the "back entrance by the pool so you can by pass the lobby" as you know she has been there more than once!

Despite her outfit, I love devious Van and don't know why instead of recasting Alex they didn't have Vanessa partially return to her old ways. They could definitely have done it during Rauch's time when they fired Marj...and Van returned....anything to get her away for sighing away with boring Matt!

Oh how the show screwed up by not recasting Mike and Hope at anytime. "You KNOW how intimidated Alan is by Mike Bauer"  then in later years they only had Alan go up against....Buzzard!

I love the old 4th floor nurses station and all the action...love sneaky Nola great times on the show. 

[DRW50]

I never did understand why they never brought Hope back (I know they almost did in 1986 or 1987) and never will. I guess at a certain point it just became ageism. Alan Michael never had the nuance he could have had with Hope there. 

I love to laugh at Vanessa's fashion choices in that era, but I do enjoy seeing her plot and scheme. We did get some of that harder edge in her last years, but not enough.

I had forgotten Ed/Rita were already split by this time.

Lenore Kasdorf must have been the sexiest woman ever on GL. 

I can't remember how much longer it is before they get rid of that nurse's station, but the replacement just makes the show look drabber.

Andy doesn't do anything for me as a character, but I did appreciate hearing his rantings about Trish compared to what she ended up being (he was obviously lying, but a Trish struggling with drugs and alcohol would have given Rebecca Hollen more chances).

Nola shamelessly lying to Sara, who then can barely look Kelly in the eye, was extremely entertaining.

Thanks. That's a shame. I guess this really was close to the end for him then.

Edited October 24, 2023 by DRW50

[GL Oldtimer]

Now that I'm revisiting episodes of Guiding Light that I haven't seen in over 30 years, it's interesting to see how much of an impact recasting had on certain characters. I didn't notice it much when I was a teenager, which is when I originally saw the episodes from the early 1990s.

I like both Sherry Stringfield and Elizabeth Keifer as actresses and I appreciate their approaches to the character of Blake, but their portrayals of the character couldn't be further apart from each other. I do think something was lost when Stringfield left the role. Blake lost her edge, her shrewdness, and her sexiness. However, I appreciate the softness and sweetness that Keifer bought to the role, and I really enjoy her bond with Maureen Garrett's Holly.

I think the same can be said for Beverlee McKinsey and Marj Dusay. I have respect for both actresses, but I absolutely love McKinsey's Alex. Her work during the Alex/Mindy/Roger triangle is just incredible, especially when she publicly humiliated Roger at the country club. Those scenes are soap opera gold! I recently rewatched parts of that storyline and she is just incredible.

I don't watch soaps these days. For those of you that do, is recasting still done to the degree that it was done 30 years ago?

Edited October 26, 2023 by GL Oldtimer

[Contessa Donatella]

Yes, I liked & appreciated all of those actresses. I was especially fond of the bond between Liz Keifer & Maureen Garrett. 

I'm up to my ears in Beverlee McKinsey because I've spearheaded a petition drive to get NATAS to award a Posthumous Lifetime Achievement Award to Beverlee McKinsey. To date we have gotten 1130 signatures. If any of you have not signed, please do. https://chng.it/9s22wzb7rF If you haven't seen it you would likely enjoy her most candid interview, the Canadian "City Lights" 

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The country club humiliation is one of the best Alexandra episodes. Another is shown in a watch party Alan Locher did with Nancy Curlee & Kimberly Simms. 

Soaps still do recasting. It seems to me they do it more now & less successfully. DAYS recently did a stunt with a recast so I've been collecting other stunts. DAYS one Jack to a new Jack in the shower. DAYS new Bo revealed via a masked ball. Santa Barbara where Mason was one actor at the beginning of a fist fight & then a different actor came up from the floor. AMC's Babe hugging her mother & when they came apart it was the new actress. That last one I have only heard about. Haven't found it yet. DAYS this past year has twice had an actor play one part & then turnaround in a matter of days play a totally different part. Basically as fans we hate it. You've touched on what right now for DAYS fans is a "thing". 

[chrisml]

Liz Keifer is a good actress, but I didn't find her a good Blake. So much momentum was lost with that recast. Keifer should have been brought on as another character.  Kimbeley Simms is an example of a recast done right and then they couldn't find a good replacement for her even though Barbara Cramption is a first actress (just not as Mindy). 

[Mitch64]

I think it was ageism, plus Long's issues with the Bauers...and the fact that Reva had a strangle hold on a blond heroine of that age...even though Hope and Reva were completely different.

I liked that they gave Van some of her edge back..I remember a Peacock scene with Vanessa, grey hair, glasses and..non glam clothes...threatens Mel of all people "I realize that you don't know me that well, so you don't realize I am not someone who will not retaliate.." (or something like that...)She was still ice cold in a way Marj would never be.  I just wish they had replaced Van for Alex later on..she had much more story to tell with three kids on canvas, holdings in Spaulding so she could take the Spaulding's on for control...( I would just have gotten rid of stupid Lewis Oil.) 

Marland made a really dumb choice to replace this Ed with PS..as much as I like PS and think he was a good actor, he was too cold to be a Bauer. And yes, Rita was sexy as hell, so we know why SHE never came back...Zimmer would have sh*t her pants.