Guiding Light discussion thread

[vetsoapfan]

JvD was the LAST person who should have ever been dropped from TGL. For the majority of its final 25 years, there were idiots in charge who had no understanding of the show, its legacy, or the importance of consistency and history to the audience. Getting stuck with irrelevant, minor characters while beloved vets got the axe was infuriating.

I didn't mind Frank Dicopoulus, but Frank Cooper was not a character who should have lasted longer than Ross Marler. Lillian Raines never should have outlasted Maureen Bauer or Holly Norris. Billy Lewis over Mike Bauer? Nope. Cassie Layne over Hope Bauer? Nope. The Santos mob and the San Cristobelians over legacy families? Never.

To be honest, speaking of Emmys, I can't honestly say that the show was worthy of much acclaim in the end.

[Soapsuds]

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[Mitch64]

I didn't mind Alex outing Mindy...(Alex admired loyalty above all else) it was the constant grind of Alex going after Mindy that got too much.   I can see Alex not loving the idea of Mindy getting together with her son, and subtly working against it, but Alex became the boring "rich bitch" that she never was. I also thought they set up Mindy's affair with Roger well, she was feeling left out of her friends life (they were covering up Phillip being alive) and a disconnect with her family, and she DID have a daddy complex...so.

Curlee being toxic..hmm, I didn't see that..she was very respectful of the actresses and really wrote to Alex's feeling of having a longer hottie blond unsurp her,  without belittling the character...compare that to the way the writers wrote Van/Matt/Beth and how they wrote Alex during the insipid "triangle " she had with what's his face the jewell thief and Marian...Alex on her death bed would not be intimidated by "Marina Cooper"!!!

[Soaplovers]

I bought Alex continuing to dislike Mindy only because of the fact that Mindy switched the paternity test results.. thus robbing Alex of her son.  

If it had been just the affair, I think eventually Alex would have eventually moved and just traded shady remarks anytime they interacted (like she did with Blake).. but depriving her of her son... unforgivable.   We have to remember she had Lujack taken from her, reunited with him, then lost him tragically so for her to have a second chance with Nick was almost a godsend.

So I always thought the writing in the early 90s was slanted toward Mindy with Alex painted as the bad guy.. when she wasn't.  

[chrisml]

The writing for Mindy when JFP took over was horrible. She became desperate and pathetic. Alex's only goal was her son and it was just way too much. This didn't feel Alexandra at all. Mindy and Alexandra had to lose brain cells for the story to work.  JFP loved pitting clueless and pathetic women against each other over a man. She pulled the same story with Nora/Lindsay on One Life to Live. 

[DRW50]

The writing was degrading beyond belief, and I felt like Kimberley and Beverlee both lost some luster with the one-note material. Making it worse was that Nick had all the personality of a dead fish - a very sanctimonious dead fish. I kept hoping someone, anyone, would put a foot up his ass. 

[Soaplovers]

I kind of understood the Alex motivation because she never properly grieved losing Lujack..so having Nick come into her life was a 2nd chance at becoming a mom.  A chance she never was allowed to have.

I think having both Curlee and JFP helming from mid 1991 to mid 1992 without Long there is partly why both Mindy and Alex suffered as characters.

Had Long not quit in late 1990, she might have fought to maintain the layers for both characters and their story..imho

[Mitch64]

I thought it was historically in character and Long set this up for Alex after Lujack died with the horrible Simon storyline. Simon comes to town and claims to be Brandon's son, no evidence nothing and Alex begins to believe him and obsess over him.  Then suddenly Ross has evidence he wasn't (to mercifully end the storyline.) Alex had to loose a lot of brain cells for that. But of course, I never thought Alex would let Roger near her but she was a hard character to write for, a smart tough cookie.

 

Oh yes to this! And its weird, when you see VI interviewed he seems charming and nice...I know it's a character but could they have let him infused his character with a little of that.  No one was going to put a foot up his ass, especially annoying Fletcher who when not nagging Alex was totally supportive of Nick and not telling him he was an being an a** to both women. 

[DRW50]

A reminder that Maeve Kinkead's Locher Room appearance is today at 3 EST.

[DRW50]

 

[DRW50]

Early in this there's a report (complete with Jeff Ryder, Pam Long and Gail Kobe interviews) about GL beating GH in the ratings for 3 weeks. 

I do have to laugh at how unapologetically boastful Kobe is. I guess you may as well flaunt it while you have it.

Entertainment Tonight (June 26, 1984) : Free Download, Borrow, and Streaming : Internet Archive

[DRW50]

If the link above doesn't work, I made a clip:

 

[NothinButAttitude]

Oop! Not John Beradino pinpointing that the issue was GH not surrounding the show around the hospital. 

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 But he is speaking the truth. That aside, was GL beating GH at the time because of the Four Musketeers in NYC? Wasn't that the story that took GL to #1? 

[DRW50]

A reminder of how long people, including cast, have been saying GH needs more hospital material.

Four Musketeers was the end of 1983. I'm not sure what would have been hitting with viewers at this time - beyond the Beth and Lujack clip we saw, I guess this was around the time the Susan Piper story was starting (the cottage Tony and Annabelle bought), and Josh being paralyzed as Reva baptized herself.

[NothinButAttitude]

Could be. I am shocked though if it is the Susan Piper story because wasn't it not well-received? I can see the stuff with Josh/Reva being well-received naturally.