Guiding Light discussion thread

[Mona Kane Croft]

Her son also played Dracula in the final season of the series Penny Dreadful.  

[SoapDope]

Thanks for sharing.

[Contessa Donatella]

You're very welcome. My channel for these soaps, ATWT & GL from 1953 to 1979, now has more than 50 episodes & I'm still uploading. 

https://rumble.com/c/c-6713140

[Mitch64]

They still post about the "Marvelous Midwestern Towns," and someone inevitably talks about VW's interview when she pompously said that the president of NBC told her that the only reason they keep AW on is because of her....ooohhhhkaay Vicky!!!!

[Contessa Donatella]

Ah, yes, of course that was one specific NBC Prez. Later, whomever at NBC tried their dead level best to get rid of her!!! She seemed to provoke rather extreme reactions!! 

[Contessa Donatella]

My vintage soaps channel, ATWT & GL, 1952-1979, 77 videos 

https://rumble.com/c/c-6713140/about

[Khan]

Honestly, I think the only reason NBC kept AW on for so long was because they were afraid to lose that hour to the affiliates, which ended up happening anyway.

[Contessa Donatella]

Well it was the NBC affiliates who were the first to go renegade.

[Mitch64]

I just thought it was funny that a 40-50 something with an acting style, which is to say the least, an acquired taste, would boast that, thereby putting down the rest of the cast, the wrtiters, production staff, etc. Geez..if our own Kimmer never said that!

 

[Mona Kane Croft]

Yes, that pseudo-British accent VW started using in the last few years of the show was one of the strangest acting choices I have ever seen anywhere.  Until then, I had always liked her acting, but I believe she more and more began to play herself, as the years went by.  Why in the world would working-class Rachel Davis ever ever ever use a British accent?  Connie Ford would have slapped that accent right out of her mouth.  

Edited September 3, 2024 by Mona Kane Croft

[Contessa Donatella]

I don't know why we are talking about a primarily AW actress here in GL. But, I suspect that in the last years of the show when Victoria & Charles were regularly performing COUPLETS  and LOVE LETTERS live at various cities that she was influenced overmuch by Charles Keating, who regularly had a kind of a "posh" speaking style.

[Mona Kane Croft]

Discussion of VW got started here because we were discussing her role as Charlotte Bauer.  It's only natural that the conversation might evolve to her work on AW.  There is really no way to avoid that, especially if people engage.  I'm sure it won't go on forever. It doesn't bother me at all, since she did play an important role on GL early in her career.  

I will agree with you, VW may have picked up that accent through working so closely with Charles Keating.  But that's really not a good excuse.  She is an actress who played a character for whom that accent was completely out of character.  Just my opinion.  

Edited September 3, 2024 by Mona Kane Croft

[Mitch64]

To bring it back around..I think that Rachel and Carl (who I remember as trying to kill her and her family) appealed to the same "demo" that was into Matt and Vanessa...women of a certain age who liked the fantasy..damn if it makes sense or not.

 

[Contessa Donatella]

When they wrote the Reformation of Carl & the Romancing of Rachel they took their time, wrote very carefully, over about 18 months & while it is true some fans still contend that Rachel would never have forgiven Carl & was incapable of loving him, others of us were convinced. 

It began with Carl, learning late in his life that Ryan was his son. Wanting to gain some level of respect from Ryan, he offered Rachel his 10% of Cory Publishing shares if she'd have dinner with him one night, in public. 

The only comparisons I've ever seen made of GL's "Mattessa" was to AW's Donna Love in a romantic relationship with Matt Cory. It was very popular but JFP ended it because she thought it was a waste of Matt, who she immediately paired with Josie, a young woman, someone his own age.

[SoapDope]

It's weird how an actor will play a role for decades and then decide to tweak it and play it totally different. VW is a prime example of that. Brenda on Y&R started camping up Jill in the 80's and came across as a hybrid of Joan Collins and Bette Davis. She also kind of picked up a eurotrash accent at the end of her run.