Guiding Light Discussion Thread

[P.J.]

And other than Liz Hubbard (who could chew scenery when the material was subpar) I can't think of anyone who could even come close. Maybe Susan Flannery, but she projected a coldness that was more bitter and innate than Alex's.

[Contessa Donatella]

This is the state of my current "Never Got an Emmy" file.

Victoria Wyndham AW

Beverlee McKinsey AW, GL

Joel Crothers many

Denise Alexander AW, DOOL, GH

Anna Stuart AW, GL, GH, DOC, AMC

Forrest Compton

Sharon Rose Gabet AW, EON

Joe Gallison AW, DOOL

Fiona Hutchson OLTL, GL

Brynn Thayer OLTL

Andrea Evans OLTL, Y&R

Leslie Charleson GH, LIAMST

Brad Maule GH

Maureen Garrett GL, RH

Mary Stuart GL, SFT

Constance Ford AW & older 

Eileen Fulton ATWT

Barbara Rodell AW 

[P.J.]

There's always too many to mention, but on the top of my list right now is Lisa Brown. 

[Contessa Donatella]

I was wondering yesterday if she was one, too. 

[VelekaCarruthers]

I'm rewatching end of Paul Rauch era and first few Conboy episodes where the writers finally break up Beth and Bill Jr. Wow, I had forgotten that monumentally icky and stupid coupling. Was that a Millee Taggart/Lloyd Gold pairing or a Gold/Dunn?

[Contessa Donatella]

Oh, no, poor you, are you really going to suffer through ConWest?!!! At other shows John Conboy wasn't awful but at GL he certainly was & Ellen Weston is & was one of the worst HWs ever anywhere, anytime!  Of course, she was only HW once, and wasn't GL lucky that they got to have that "honor"?!!! 

I forgot to say one thing: sock puppet. 

Edited May 12, 2024 by Contessa Donatella
forgot something

[dc11786]

IIRC, Raunch is out for about a month before Conboy arrives with Mary-Alice Dwyer Dobbins actings as de-facto or interim executive producer. I want to say Raunch left in mid-November, but I could be wrong. 

Bill and Beth started when Daniel Cosgrove arrived as Bill for Reva and Josh's wedding in June, 2002. I'm pretty sure that was when Millee Taggart and Lucky Gold were writing. I agree with you on Bill/Beth. I wasn't watching much in early 2002 and tuned back in for the wedding/anniversary episodes with the returns of Ed, Vanessa, Bill, and Trish. I remember seeing Bill talk about his mysterious love/wife and then the quick reveal that it had been Lorlei/Beth and I turned it off. 

We discussed late 2002/early 2003 within the last year or so. December 2002-February 2003 has a lot of very strong material. 

[Contessa Donatella]

Things that Ellen Weston supposedly wrote: 

1. Maryanne Carruthers where an old story was retold but this time calling into question the history of 5 different male veterans of the show when they were in fact innocent. But, it was said that numerous people at the studio enjoyed Weston's friend, Carrie Nye.

2. young adults going tunneling & somehow crash through the ceiling of Danny & Michelle's apartment

3. sock puppet, enough said about that

4. Who was Reva's long lost son? Sandy or Jonathan?

5. Anything else poor Scott Bailey had to play

6. Was there a 6?

 

[DRW50]

I didn't really care about their pairing, but I didn't object to Bill and Beth, probably because I never saw Cosgrove as the Bill I cared about anyway. That's also why the attempt at pairing up Bill and dullard Nancy St. Alban did not mean anything to me - that wasn't the Bill or Michelle anyone needed to see together.

Edited May 12, 2024 by DRW50

[Contessa Donatella]

There is a meme that says that the Bennifer wedding changed the timeline & asks what you would reset in any of your fandoms. Well, my #1 is that Danny Santos was discovered to be a grandnephew of Mike Bauer but my #2 is that Rachel Miner & Bryan Buffington are together in all ways & the promise of the youthful Bill & Michelle is realized. I won't go on to any more numbers. 

[DRW50]

That's nice. I know that you can't go home again, but Miner and Buffington were the ones with the history. You can't fake that. 

Danny as a Bauer and this being discovered early enough to put the kibosh on his relationship with Michelle would have been a relief.

[Contessa Donatella]

Isn't it lovely to find two things we are in lock-step agreement about?!!! 

[soapfan770]

I completely forgot about Beth/Bill til now, yuck.

I was fine with Cosgrove during his 1st run, and I remember SOD named him as Best Recast (while that putrid Marah actress was named as Worst Recast lol). That said the biggest issue I believe Cosgrove and St. Alban (subpar acting aside until her final year) had was they were both wayyy too old to be playing Bill and Michelle by at almost a decade and they looked it too. Yikes. What was the casting director thinking at the time. 
 

I also never understood how the rabid Manny fan base withstood St. Alban’s tenure either lol. Thank god there wasn’t social media back then besides message boards.

[Contessa Donatella]

Oh, but the Manny fanbase wars have actually been invoked recently in the GH fandom especially where Trina fans are threatening the show that if they do not remake Sprina they are all going to stop watching. We have tried to tell them about PAS with JBL versus NSA realizing the firing of both PAS & NSA in 2005 & not bringing Manny back to the show until the last Bauer BBQ when they moved back to town in a huge truck & with precious Robby in tow for those last few months!

And, about Cosgrove, loved him but not with either Beth or Michelle instead with Olivia. 

 

[Dan]

So speaking for just myself, there are a couple of reasons.

 

1) I could never get past the rape. Jon concealed his identity and effectively raped Tammy and then we were all just supposed to forget about it. And let's not forget the cousin angle. 

2) Honestly the acting and the almost zealous over praising of the coupling (that ignored point #1) . Between SG being kind of just there and TP chewing every piece of scenary he could, I could not get over it. 

And BTW yes Otalia was generally awful. I'm kind of glad Olivia/Holly never happened. I'm pretty certain the sexual tension and chemistry would have melted all of our TV sets.