Guiding Light Discussion Thread

[chrisml]

I'm glad Beverlee McKinsey didn't return to AW as Iris as I grew up with Carmen Duncan and I think she was a phenomenal actress. She should have won the Emmy for the chief and Mac's death storylines. Beverlee MCKinsey was so good as Alexandra and also should have won an Emmy for her work there (even if her last months were a mess for Alexandra and Simms's Mindy).

[DeliaIrisFan]

Oh yeah, that was the other part that I wonder if Nancy Curlee wanted to forget when she got back: the fact that there had been a Kristen DiMera prototype running around town in such an outlandish story.  Not only is there very little Nadine/Bridget interaction for the rest of 1993 that I've seen, but there is also very exposition about how it is that almost nobody in town knows that Bridget had a baby when he and the father live in town.

Oh, I know she was in college, but I could swear there was some reference to Bridget still being 17 when the story started (I mean, the teens were still in high school when she slept with Hart and got pregnant).  Then she was stuck in that dark attic with no human contact except Nadine herself, who was constantly trying to shoo her back up there anytime she wandered downstairs.  And Nadine manipulated Bridget's exposure to news of the outside world to keep her compliant, including most egregiously the news of Maureen's death as you mentioned.  I know it was not kidnapping in a legal sense, but it was exploiting a very young person, who I still believe was a minor to begin with.

 

Actually, in hindsight both Jenna and Nadine were "punished" in that exact same way, in the same year (still not sure what exactly Jenna was being punished for, though).  It did make Nadine more sympathetic, but upon recent viewing it seemed more about making them each dependent on Buzz than any kind of character development.

It also didn't make any sense.  Beyond the sheer odds that they would each go from being that wealthy to completely broke back-to-back, they both seemed to accept their fates way too easily.  Nadine had no reason to agree to a quick divorce from Billy without a settlement when she knowing how eager he was to remarry Vanessa and keep things quiet about Peter; she could have just held out for something and/or threatened to make trouble.  And I can't believe one of Spauldings' competitors wouldn't have offered Jenna some kind of consulting gig, if only to pick her brain after she'd run the company for the better part of a year and it was still in business.

Given all that's been written about FOJs, it's hard not to think in hindsight that there was a mandate to have multiple established female characters become beholden to Buzz.  God bless Curlee and the others who were still writing and made most of the related stories coherent and often compelling, but both characters should have had more promising options than the Coopers' largess at that point in their lives.

[j swift]

I was thinking about Alexandra based on the recent discussion.  Now, I would watch Beverlee McKinsey read the proverbial phone book, but the character lacked consistency and a defining characteristic.  For example, Reva was always Reva regardless of who wrote her (a southern belle whose relationships were always doomed by her sense of inadequacy), and except when he became inexplicably European, Alan was always Alan regardless of who played him (an obsessive conniver who could never trust that a woman would truly love him for who he was).

But what consistently motivated Alex? 

She seemed protective of young men like Phillip, Lujack, and Alan-MIchael.  But, she wasn't a traditional matriarch.  She came on as an antagonist for Alan, but I'm still unsure of their family dynamic, or the source of the animosity.  Did Brandon treat them differently?  It seems like he was equally a jerk to both kids.  As Beverlee played her, she wasn't that interested in business, but later she became a tyrannical boss.  She either obsessed over men like Cyrus, or she could take 'em or leave 'em, so she never had one true love.  She also never seemed to be a snob about the Spaulding name or legacy.

To me, it seems like they didn't want an Alexis Colby-clone, and so she maintained these warm relationships with her sons and pseudo-sons.  But, her traits were fluid based on the plot.

Obviously, all of this is over simplified for brevity.  But, if I were to make a list of my favorite GL characters, I don't think Alexandra would crack the top 10.

Edited June 13, 2024 by j swift

[P.J.]

The animosity between Alex and Alan was that he hadn't helped her when Brandon disowned her. Brandon somehow engineered taking Lujack from her when he was about three. Alex later accused Alan of helping Brandon kidnap Lujack. Alan denied it, telling her Brandon let her believe that to drive a wedge between them. (that came out when Alan asks Alex to keep Marah's paternity a secret from Josh.)

I thought what motivated Alex was her need for control and inability to trust. It dooms her romantic relationships, it complicates her family relationships. The year or so, she did lie low about Spaulding, but that was because she was scheming to claim her share to give to her son. She goes as far as to blackmail Henry and Quint out of their shares (or out of the controlling interest they had) by reminding them about the kickback Henry and Vanessa took from the Jocelyn Electronics deal when Spaulding and Chamberlain merged, and "worrying" that an SEC investigation could see Vanessa face charges. (long story short, Vanessa had paid it back, and when Alex brought it back up Vanessa was pregnant with Bill and had left town over Billy's obsession with Reva and the Slut of Springfield debacle)

She had a matriarchal streak, but I don't think Marj got to play that as much. By the time she was cast, Phillip and Alan-Michael were rotating in and out of the show.

 

Sigh...1991 spends way too much time on Mallet's mob ex-girlfriend. WAY too much time.

Edited June 13, 2024 by P.J.

[kalbir]

Those with a better knowledge of GL can correct me, but these are my impressions.

Alexandra in the Kobe/Long era was introduced as a jet setting socialite divorced from wealthy European Baron von Halkein. I haven't seen enough of Kobe/Long era to know if Alexandra had much interest in Spaulding Enterprises. Calhoun era Alexandra was business-minded and JFP era had Alexandra become a messy matriarch attempting to control her son's love life.

[DRW50]

That's pretty much the only Mallet story I ever cared about, although I haven't watched it in a very, very long time.

[P.J.]

lol...I think GL figured out quickly that it sucked and wrapped it up sooner than they intended.

[DRW50]

If only they had been so thoughtful with many other stories in that timeframe.

[j swift]

That's the way I remember her, and why I consider her to be all over the place in terms of character and motive.  For example, the whole Chamberlain blackmail episode in 1984 was much more about getting revenge on Alan, and putting Phillip in charge, than actually wanting to run Spaulding.  But, years later, she suited up for the job on a daily basis. 

Edited June 13, 2024 by j swift

[Khan]

I don't remember much about the Mallet/Francesca storyline - didn't she marry some mobster in order to protect him or something? - but I do remember wondering why the show was asking us to care so deeply about two characters who didn't have any real ties to the rest of the canvas.

[DRW50]

I do think Mallet worked better in that format than the tedious pairing with Harley. I wish they had paired him with Mindy instead. The moment with the two of them together after Francesca left was one I still remember.

[Contessa Donatella]

 

Tom Lisanti's next book is going to be "An Oral History of Texas Starring Beverlee McKinsey." He says that there are many Another World stories and a few Ryan's Hope, Guiding Light, and For Richer, For Poorer stories included.

[Khan]

I must admit that I, too, thought Mark Derwin and Kimberley Simms had a certain appeal as a couple.  More so than Derwin and Beth Ehlers.

[DRW50]

Kim worked well with everybody. She was a real find. What a surprise that ever-misogynistic JFP did not appreciate that.

[Contessa Donatella]

Have you seen the Locher Room Watch Party where she & Nancy Curlee Demorest joined Alan in being our hosts watching one of those incredible episodes with her & Beverlee & Zas & Jordan Clarke? If you haven't. you oughta!!! 

At times JFP was really an as*, you know.