Guiding Light Discussion Thread

[DRW50]

I do wonder what might have been if he'd produced GL a few years earlier. When he first started he did turn things around somewhat but the show spun out of control by spring '96. 

IIRC he had to deny to a soap magazine that he was casting his mother as Meta Bauer. I always thought that was a real howler which also shows you how angry fans were by that point.

[TEdgeofNight]

Laibson was a Producer at GL during the  Alan Potter/Marland time and he went over to ATWT under Mary-Ellis Bunim. He knew GL, but wasn’t a good EP. 

[Khan]

I agree!!

[Reverend Ruthledge]

100% correct. I get so mad because he interviews a lot of people I'm interested in and couldn't see interviewed anywhere else but I have to endure him in order to see the interview. He's a horrible interviewer and strikes me as someone who believes his own PR. Someone who really cares about him needs to stage an intervention. Having good connections does not make one a good interviewer. He should be behind the scenes organizing things and let a more skilled interviewer do the interviewing. Although he's in good company with some big name interviewers. Larry King comes to mind. He was the king of missed opportunities and not listening to his guests. 

[kalbir]

From what's been posted online over the years, the P&G shows were a real mess behind the scenes from the aftermath of OJ until their end. Perhaps the issues started way earlier than that, going back to the late 1970s and early 1980s w/ ABC's huge rise and dominance shaking up both CBS and P&G.

In my life the two big shake ups in daytime were ABC's huge rise and dominance 1978-1982 and Reilly Days 1993-1997.

[Contessa Donatella]

 During this period of time, 3 P&G/NY soaps had a number of events that had negative impact & also there was an unusually high amount of upheaval in leadership. I'm speaking of ATWT, AW & GL. 

In Jan. '93 on GL Maureen Bauer died. In Mar '93 the ATWT HW Douglas Marland unexpectedly died. In Aug. '96 on AW Frankie Frame was murdered. In Sept. 2005 Mary Alice Dwyer Dobbin retired & P&G chose not to replace her, instead doing without the position Executive in Charge of Daytime Programming. At NBC (AW) Susan D. Lee was head of daytime. At CBS (ATWT & GL) Felicia Minei Behr was Head 1987-1995, followed by Barbara Bloom 2003-2011.

In 1995 P&G did a kind of executive "musical chairs" moving JFP, John Valente & Michael Laibson from one show to another. Laurence Caso was left without a chair, and so retired. 

Also in 1995 CBS made a public threat of cancelling GL, and maybe ATWT too. An article in the "LA Times" touted them asking Bill Bell to create a new soap to replace the aging GL. I call it a threat because apparently Bill Bell had no interest at all in creating a new soap for them. Many people think this was a strategy, to get P&G in a possibly more agreeable relationship with CBS. Basically they wanted P&G to say: We'll do anything you ask, just please do not cancel us. It concluded with CBS giving up the idea of a new soap but requiring certain things of P&G. Both Elana Levine ("Her Stories") and Lynn Liccardo ("As the World Stopped Turning") have written about these shows at this time. All 3 soaps had turnover in the EP position but what was possibly more egregious was the turnover in HWs. You can see this in many reference sources. 

 

 

Edited May 26, 2024 by Contessa Donatella
total change

[Soaplovers]

I think once Maeve was moved out of the Reva/Kyle orbit.. she improved as a character.  She became the head of the Springfield Journal and was a calming influence on Fletcher.

I always thought that Holly basically filled the void left by Maeve with her more sarcastic style running the tv station and later the Journal.  

[P.J.]

Is there any of Alan and Rita's affair online? I haven't found anything.

[DRW50]

I think there may be an episode near the end of that story but not much. The most I ever remember seeing was this anniversary special clip at about 4 and a half minutes.

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(I watched that special so many times back then)

[P.J.]

Thanks! Bonus: I saw the Vanessa/Ross fur coat drop. 

[DRW50]

Yeah - Ross' expression there is burned in my brain. Hard to believe neither of those episodes are anywhere to be found.

[j swift]

I was just pondering how funny it is to think of the same actress who played Angie Perrini on Another World dropping her fur coat as Vanessa on GL just a few years later.  On the face of it, Maeve Kinkead seemed to have been cast against type.  Even though, in hindsight, one cannot imagine anyone else playing the role. 

Angie was a “salt of the earth” gal from a traditional Italian family, so it took some vision to cast her as a buttoned up WASP goddess.

[P.J.]

I know. And I have looked. I've caught about three tiny snippets of them in 80/81. and that's IT. So someone has/had them at one time. The tv recaps I've found say they slept together a couple of times from Vanessa's arrival in '80 to Feb of '81. I'd also love to see her suicide attempt, but that's no where either.

[P.J.]

I actually did seek out a snippet of her AW days, but I couldn't watch more than about a minute. I don't exactly remember what was going on (but managed to catch both Geraldine Court and Kathleen Widdoes) but I sure didn't see Vanessa-isms. 

It would be interesting to see if any other notable names were considered. But I agree--I can't really see anyone else in the role. Someone like Anna Stuart had the same look, but is so distractingly different when she subbed in during the Diane Ballard murder case.

[DRW50]

Anna was a flightier actress. Maeve had more of an iron rod, even when Vanessa was more lightweight early on.

I can't imagine anyone else as Vanessa either - maybe Christine Jones.