Guiding Light Discussion Thread

[Khan]

Pam Long tends not to remember a lot of her own stories (which is understandable, since soap scribes burn through so much material on a regular basis).  For instance, she said she didn't write Reva's 1990 exit, but I watched it BITD, and I can tell you, that baby had her fingerprints all over it.

[chrisml]

I think this goes for all the people who work on daytime. They either don't legitimately remember or they create a false version of what happened if their tenure was not met positively. Long also was not reliable when talking about her stints at SB and OLTL. I can imagine she might want to rewrite history about her time on SB since it was pretty much hated at the time (save for Sydney Penny's performance). 

[Mitch64]

Agreed..but it is weird..Frankie D was going to be Johnny's brother and she came back and put a stop to it...and created the Coopers..so you would think that would stick in her mind a bit. Her excuse for the Reva exit thing is that the Florida keys isn't even a place she is interested in ("Barbados yes, but not the Keys...) but that could have been chosen for production purposes, etc.

I also thought it was weird when the host said that her treatment of the Bauers was the number one question people wrote in about (even though he goes on to say, "I don't think that is fair") and she was just off hand like "Well, if I hurt your feelings (the audience) I am sorry," in a sarcastic way. I guess it's just a job for these people. 

[bboy875]

I remember SOD ran an article previewing the remote in the Keys, and Long said the Keys was chosen because it had something that would involve Reva's exit (it was most likely the bridge). I don't know if a new interview is being referenced, but the one should gave during GL's last week, she said she was gone before Reva's exit. Not only was she there for a few more months, but a lot of new stories came from it. I don't know how she could forget, but for me the show was must see tv. How do you not give yourself credit for it lol

 

[DRW50]

I remember Susan Bedsow Horgan not remembering some of her ATWT decisions when interviewed. I suppose it's inevitable, especially with material from 30, 40 years ago. Probably the only way they might is if they sit down and watch the episodes with their names on them, and how many writers are going to do that? At least Nancy Curlee did a bit for Locher Room. 

[P.J.]

I could excuse Long not remembering killing off Hillary (eh, she wasn't a favorite of mine) at the beginning of her tenure. How do you forget writing off (arguably) the face of your show? Who'd won two emmys at that point? I might not adore KZ, but lead actor/actress emmy winners don't grow on trees. 

[DRW50]

I wonder if she may also not want to talk about that period - maybe she has elsewhere, but I know Zimmer has said she and Long loathed each other by the end.

[P.J.]

Now that I'd believe. I wonder what all that was about. It's not like Long didn't keep Reva front and center from day one. Which, I assume, is exactly where Kimmy wanted to be.

[chrisml]

Long and Zimmer seemed pretty chummy at the Emmys in 1990 around the time Zimmer left (she references her goodbye party in her speech). 

[DRW50]

She might have been over the experience by then. In interviews when she came back she said that by the time she left, she and Long had such a tense relationship that a P&G executive who mediated a lunch between them left the table because they felt so sick.

[AMCOLTLLover]

Yes it was just a job for them behind the scenes and it showed even though the cast did their best. That’s why soap operas dying coz it’s just a job and they are just doing their jobs half assed 

[Contessa Donatella]

Joe Willmore was just there having a meal with them & I think it was supper not lunch. KZ & Long did what was apparently their usual which was to take totally opposing sides on some aspect of an upcoming Reva scene & verbally wage vicious war till someone won & they hugged it out & loved each other. Apparently somewhere in the middle of the process Joe excused himself & went outside & vomited. But, I could be wrong. It might've been lunch. This is not why I'm here!

Guess what showed up in my FB Memories today! 

AUGUST 7, 2020 

GL copyright strike on YouTube! ALL GL gone! Including all of Bandstand Mike! He had 2 hard drives full of episodes. 1984-1996 and 1997-2009. He used to sell them for $200 per HD. Only thing was he never delivered. People felt safe buying from him because it was known that he had all those episodes because they were up on YT. HA! What was his real name? 

A question: Who knows of any great YT clips that show off Stephanie Gaschet (Tammy Winslow)? 

[vetsoapfan]

My first Ed was Robert Gentry, who was excellent in the role, but when Mart Hulswit took over and Ed softened and became more of a protagonist/leading man, I grew to adore him. Hulswit became my Ed Bauer, too.

I don't think Simon is a terrible actor per se, judging from his work on SFT and ATWT, but after the affable Hulswit, he was a major let-down on TGL.

The show totally dropped the ball with the character of Rick Bauer, in terms of his potential to become a leading man, or a patriarch as he grew older. O'Leary's unbearable mugging made everything worse. IMHO, he's not as funny as he thinks he is, and the character fell into a grating second-banana position which ultimately rendered him impotent on the canvas. His sleeping with his "sister" made me turn against the character. With no Papa, Bert or Maureen, Springfield felt rudderless without a "guiding light" patriarch or matriarch at its helm.

I've had a beef with Long since she said in a long-ago interview that her first mission at TGL was "getting rid of all the dead wood." UGH. Even against General Hospital, which was a huge powerhouse at the time, TGL's ratings were strong and the show was in very good shape. To me, there was not a lot of dead wood to be found, yet Long and Gail Kobe swiftly slaughtered a majority of the existing cast. No one could avoid losing Bert, unfortunately, but Long killed off Bill Bauer (originally introduced in the 1940s) and Hillary Bauer, and wrote off Mike and Hope. Those losses, along with a poorly-recast Ed, basically decimated the core family.

[vetsoapfan]

That was my thought as well. Billy was a character with real, strong ties to the Bauer family which we had witnessed on-screen for many years. It would have been more effective than introducing Kelly, who had to be connected to the family through artificial, revisionist ties.

Peter Bergman will forever be "the new Jack" to me, just as Simon was always "the new (fake) Ed." Neither actor ever won me over, even though I acknowledged their talent in other roles.

Ditto. Even beloved icon Mary Stuart never truly felt like Meta to me (even though I was thrilled to have her on the show). I always thought of her as Jo Gardner from SFT. After losing Charita Bauer, I wish TPTB had approached Ellen Demming about reprising the role of Meta. It would have been so comforting, amid all the changes TGL went through in the 1980s, to see a familiar face reappear on screen.

It was clear there was no real interest in the character at the time.

Vigard had a certain something, a spark, that made her interesting to watch. Jennifer Cooke was simply non-descript and bland, and had no chemistry with anyone. I remember Jennifer Court at one point years later, opined that Cooke was a "very cynical choice for the part."

[Paul Raven]

@vetsoapfan Maybe Mary would have been better as Trudy Bauer Palmer?

Trudy was never really prominent and not associated with a particular actress.

Guess they thought Meta had at least some recognition  with some viewers in the 90's.