Guiding Light Discussion Thread

[Khan]

Actually, @Soapsuds, I think Kavovit was fired pre-MADD.  And in both cases, I don't think it was P&G who fired them so much as it was CBSD, and Lucy Johnson, in particular, putting pressure on whoever was in charge to fire them.

Once you got past the accent, Joan Collins was not bad as Alexandra.  In fact, I think she was much more suited to the role than Marj Dusay, who I was keen on initially, but who really disappointed me over time.

Edited December 6, 2023 by Khan

[China Jones]

This is what confused me at first, Liberty City. I thought show taping was moved to Peapack because, obviously, it was less expensive than New York. I believed it was going to be business as usual with traditional camera work and the construction of permanent sets. It wasn't until I recently viewed the finished product that I realized the show must have been flat broke and needed to film in the cheapest possible places i.e. outdoors because the park was public, and air is free.

[Khan]

Even a move to Stamford, CT, where Prospect Park later taped AMC and OLTL, would have been more beneficial to GL than forcing unpaid interns to tape and edit everything on their iPhones.

[Mitch64]

Ha..not to mention...de-aged Susan (such a vanity cast for Ehlers) and her boyfriend, the hit guy Grady (?) looked like they should be on the street corner dealing meth.

 

Totally agree. I LOVED Collins as Alex...she brought back the humor, the determination, the sly put downs, the coolness of Bev..and also the warmth Bev had..(her Alex was gentle with her friends and younger people..well, younger people who didn't cross her...) The thing I noticed about Marj is that her Alex is totally and completely unpleasant..(oddly enough she reminds me of recast  Dick Sargent on Bewitched..who seemed to determined to make the character unlikeable at all times.) It seems odd to see Ed, Ross, Rick, Lillian or anyone just talk to her as "Alex" when you would run the other way if you saw her shrieking, huffing  self coming. I thought Joan gave Alex her power back (though that was also the writing) while sprinkling in sultriness that Bev did not have.  

MADD was happy with her, what she was not happy with is her paycheck and that the ratings didn't jump...hence they brought back Marj who was cheap. Also Rauchie left and he knew how to handle an old style diva (by all accounts the cast loved Joan, but she is a STAR!) It wasn't her fault that Alex had so much airtime at a time that Rauch was fighting Taggert and changing scripts right before filming..no one but a seasoned soap pro would be able to handle that.

Yes, the budget was bad enough with Rauch, but Conboy totally f*cked it up...if they had done the move a few years earlier, and moved the sets to some other place and filmed as usual all would have been good. Again, blame MADD for not being a strategic thinker and biding time before she could grab her golden parachute. 

[China Jones]

By the time of the Peapack era, I didn't really buy Ron Raines as being old enough either. Alan was a wealthy businessman with the resources to arrange a baby switch when Phillip was born. Yet, when I recently watched the show's last months, I couldn't detect much more than 15 years difference in age when father and son stood side-by-side.

 

LOL, I forgot the accent! Yes, it did take some suspension of disbelief to accept that.

[Vee]

GL couldn't have afforded it. (But in hindsight, neither could Prospect Park whose coked-up venture capitalist owners paid almost no one in full after splashing out on the shows and their amenities like the locations, leaving Erika Slezak to stare down the payroll attendee on site for her last paycheck - and they still owe her money today.)

[China Jones]

Wait, what? You're saying that Daisy/Susan was reverse SORASed because Ehlers didn't want to be portrayed as old enough to have a 24-year-old daughter? Why bring back Daisy/Susan at all only to have her sleep with her almost-a-brother (on a blanket, in a field, with the whole Hee Haw gang looking on.)

Was Jim Lemay ever mentioned again or did this erase his existence?

[DramatistDreamer]

My apologies if this has already been posted, but I just came across this while reading a completely different article and thought it might be of some interest in this thread. I haven’t even had the chance to read it yet. This is a gift link.

I Survived Guiding Light

[Soapsuds]

A great read! Thanks for posting it.

[Khan]

IOW, she had to get Jean Randolph on their ass.

 

[zanereed]

I think that George Reinholt could have come on TGL in 1994 and performed the role of Alan Spaulding very well.

[Khan]

Reinholt would have been gone, though, the minute Paul Rauch became EP in 1996.

[zanereed]

True, unless Reinholt's attitude had adjusted by that point. Speaking of which, I'm guessing that's why he was never considered for roles, even after making that guest appearance on AW in 1989.

[DramatistDreamer]

You’re welcome.

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 Do we have any ideas on the identity of the actress who dove for the purse with the Jaguar clasp?

[Khan]

My head says "Kim Zimmer," but my heart says "Beth Chamberlin."