Guiding Light discussion thread

[slick jones]

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[Maxim]

The next time you attack me... I will still don't remember who you are sweetheart. I'm sure it's a common theme in your life.

[P.J.]

I grew up on CBS soaps. I can remember when the line up included Love of Life, SFT, Y&R with the Brooks' sisters, ATWT and GL. They were always on. My GL memories go back vaguely to Adam and Barbara, Sara, and when Alan, Jackie, Justin, Rita and Evie were new in town. The first story that really hooked me was Nola/Kelly/Morgan. So '80 to '83 really feels like the start of "my" GL because so much of the acting core remains intact to (mostly) the end of the show. Ross, Vanessa/Henry, and Josh weave in and out of the show without being recast (aside from the occasional sickness or maternity leave). Phillip/Rick/Beth/Mindy drive story for years. Alan and Roger are presences even if not on-screen. 

I didn't really think about it critically then (only getting to watch consistently during the summer break) and now I don't feel qualified to when a lot of what's available is chopped up or missing large chunks of time. I have been amazed that the location shoots have such long tracking scenes. It feels like Nola spends forever underwater in St Croix, and really does nearly drown before Quint hauls her up on the beach.

I know the '84 changes are sweeping, and in general, I wasn't impressed with the Calla/Jessie/Simon and invasion of the Shaynes era. (There's no denying Kim Zimmer's acting chops, but the obsession with Reva the human wrecking ball seems even more ridiculous now.)

I enjoy '83 more than '82 for a couple of reasons. There's the fabulous payoff to the Quint/Nola romance, the beginning of Billy/Vanessa, the Eli Simms mystery and Phillip/Beth/Rick/Mindy, the four musketeers. 

 

 

Edited April 26 by P.J.

[Soapsuds]

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[Sapounopera]

I live in Greece and I got to watch 1980-82 episodes via satelite tv and German network RTL. I was obsessed. After a while a Greek network bought 1985-1987 and I was horrified. The show was unrecognizable. Bad recasts, tacky, trashy characters and a completely different vibe. I still believe that GL lost something valuable when TPTB decided to erase the Allen Potter years and tranform it into something different.
After that I only enjoyed the Robert Calhoun era but I never stop keeping up with GL until Wheeler went insane with the new production model. 

[Maxim]

Oh My God. Why do I start getting scared again? 1982 really is blowing my mind. So good. I watch every free minute I get. I have it on all the time.

[Contessa Donatella]

Calhoun was a Director first. AW was one show he directed. Then EP at ATWT & then EP at GL. You are correct that he didn't show any work after GL. His partner was Farley Granger who was a very famed actor in 7 different decades beginning with the studio system, going through the Playhouse 90 era, doing Broadway & finally ending up on a soap, ATWT. Calhoun & Granger wrote a book together about Granger's life, called Include Me Out: My Life from Goldwyn to Broadway © March 2007. They were notable because they were living openly as a gay couple before most anyone else was out of the closet. Granger claimed he had never been in the closet. He was open about being bisexual decades before most people had even heard of being bisexual. Before meeting Calhoun he had relationships with very famous people, going from Leonard Bernstein to Barbara Stanwyck, etc. at one point. The book is available in kindle, HB & PB editions.

 

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These are the credits I have for Calhoun but going by what you've posted here these dates are wrong. As you might know about me, this annoys me no end! I'm going to try to correct these dates. Any information you can provide will be appreciated. 

He won an Emmy for Best Show for ATWT. He got 3 more nods for ATWT. He got 2 nods for AW. And, he got another 2 nods for GL. He was a very serious & celebrated part of P&G NY soap history. 

IMDb: ATWT P, SP, EP 1984-1990; GL Assoc. D 1984, P, EP 1983-1991; AW D 1979, P 1980-1981; TEX D 1981, P 1981-1982

Edited April 26 by Contessa Donatella

[vetsoapfan]

Thanks for the reply.

I love reading other fans' perspectives on  their favorite/least favorite eras, and how they felt about controversial decisions and changes made by TPTB. (I don't always agree, of course, but differences in perception from fan to fan is always interesting.)

Historically, the earliest storyline on TGL which I followed regularly was from 1950, when Meta Bauer went on trial for killing her husband, Ted White. It was mesmerizing. There were so many stellar storylines in the 1960s and 1970s too. With writers like Irna Phillips, Agnes Nixon, Jane and Ira Avery, Robert Soderberg and Edith Sommer, the Dobsons, Douglas Marland, and even (for a very short time) Pat Falken Smith, I depended on the show to give me quality entertainment.

If your introduction to Springfield came in the 1980s, you are lucky that so many of your favorite characters lasted until the end days. Soap fans love the consistency of having familiar faces on screen. My problem was that almost all of "my" characters from earlier decades were gutted in 1983-84, so Springfield felt like a cold, unfamiliar landscape to me.

I couldn't stand the Calla/Jessie/Simon stuff and the invasion of the Shaynes either. Thank God for Jerry ver Dorn and then (years later), the return of Holly and Roger. They helped Springfield feel slightly like home again.

Regardless about how disillusioned I was with TGL's final decades, at least I was fortunate to have, watch and enjoy the soap during what I consider its halcyon days. It will always be at the top of my favorite-soap list, thanks to all the great years.

 

I do think 1985-1987 were the nadir years of the 1980s. Like you, however, I kept up with the series long after the quality had collapsed, but the Wheeler/new production era did me in. Trudging through that dreck was a nightmare.

Edited April 26 by vetsoapfan

[P.J.]

I do agree---'85-87 is a low point, and not surprisingly, most of the new hires were disposable and forgotten. And the '88 writers strike that brought us the interminable Sonni/Solita saga didn't help. Thank God Zimmer left in 90 and allowed the show to breathe again.

I wish there was more '75-80 online. I'd love to see more Jackie/Justin and the Andy Norris blackmailing scandal. That seems like good soapy times. 

[vetsoapfan]

LOL! That's so true: there were an overabundance of irrelevant, disposable, and ultimately forgettable newbies in the mid-1980s.

If the entire series were magically available to stream somewhere, I could see myself watching up through 1984, while my old favorites were still featured, but I'd pass right over the "forgettable newbie" period, and pick up again when Holly and then Roger came back.

Being able to take a break from Reva for a few years was such a relief. At the beginning, I probably could have taken her in small doses, but when she ate the show, I grew to loathe her. The painfully stupid stories foisted upon her (Reva the Ghost! Reva the Amish Amnesiac! Reva the San Cristobelian Queen! Reva the Clone!) did the character no favors!

[TEdgeofNight]

Thanks Slick! No lies told. You know the truth. I know the truth. Jane is a phenomenal actress, but first hand knowledge, she was no saint at GL. 

[P.J.]

LOL...I kinda fell down the utube rabbit hole. It seems '86-'88 isn't anyone's real favorite, it's harder finding shows from that time. On one hand it's hard, I'd like to see more of the Vanessa/Dinah story. But obnoxious Chelsea? No thanks!! 

One thing I have notice re:Reva---everyone puts up with her sh*t. Everyone has to be made to understand that Reva's not a bitch, she's just "full of life". OTOH Nola and Vanessa start out the same way, manipulating their way through people's lives, but *surprise* no one lets them get away with it. They evolve. Reva's the same human wrecking ball she was when she first came to town. A little less gold-digger, but barely any wiser.

And re: the discussion a few pages back about Vanessa/Quint---Vanessa's never attracted to Quint. She may have vamped at him, but no more than she did anyone else at the time. She spends 1982 chasing Mark and especially Tony---she's jealous almost to the point of obsession trying to get back in his bed right up until Wired for Sound closes. She quickly puts it together that Quint is her half brother. (Henry was looking for someone, and she found a note of Carrie's referencing an illegitimate son) She does threaten Quint with going and telling Henry that he seduced her knowing she was his sister. And Vanessa misleads Helena about why she's pumping her for info on Quint. But there's no hint of romance going on. 

[DRW50]

I can't really speak as I have only seen scattered episodes, but based on how moribund most of 1982 feels to me in those episodes (and frankly, a good portion of the Marland era I've seen in the scattered episodes), I can see how early Long/Kobe would have felt like a burst of energy. 

I'm reminded of what happened when JFP took over OLTL in early 1998 after years of the show feeling lethargic. That also ended up being a disaster in the long run, probably even more than Kobe/Long.

Edited April 26 by DRW50

[Sapounopera]

I think I have asked you before. Do you think that Kim Zimmer could have worked as a recast Hope in 1983? Josh was still a bad boy in 1983, right? Alan/Hope/Josh/Alex could be a little like Jason/Nola/Billy/Mona from THE DOCTORS.

[chrisml]

I have to put a word in for the Sonni/Solita. I adored it, and Michelle Forbes was robbed of a Best Actress emmy for her work. She was phenomenal. Like Cynthia Watros, she came in and took the focus away from Zimmer's Reva through her acting.