Guiding Light Discussion Thread

[Khan]

To me, Claire Labine was far too gritty (for lack of a better word) for a relatively conservative show like GL, or for any P&G show for that matter.

[anthonymolchan]

It made as much sense as Holly flirting with Alan, who was both ally and enemy to Roger over the decades. 
 

Or Sebastian. Ick. 
 

Pushing Holly at the “age-appropriate” men, then another psycho, was just desperately trying to undo all the Nursery Rhyme Stalker nonsense that undid Holly for good on the show. 
 

But they tried. Remember Tom Wiggin as Sam, the farmer/con man?  Was he really going to be in a triangle with Holly and Cassie?  (And Wiggin came back in the final year as a businessman in an Olivia story. He needed to come back to ATWT!)

 

The improbable Ed/Holly reunion barely saves the day in two short scenes. And I would’ve brought Matt Hulswit back, not Simon. 

[P.J.]

A) I adore Tom Wiggin. I was literally obsessed with Kirk/Iva back in the day, and actually learned how to hook up our two VCRs together to make myself edits, back before I knew what edits were. I was less enthused about either of his GL stints.

B ) while I understand the impulse to throw three treasured vets into a story and let them run with it, I can't think of two men less likely to interest Holly. I love and adore Billy, but he had an explosive temper I don't think she could've dealt with, not to mention the way her former obsession with Roger would've rubbed him the wrong way. And I think selling the idea of Buzz falling for the woman who'd kidnapped his two children and two grandchildren is ridiculous. From the interview, it seems like Labine liked Justin and Maureen and decided they'd be great together. (Jordan is apparently an afterthought "the guy who played the brother"...indeed. RME)

Honestly, the Billy/Buzz "friendship" always kind of rubbed me the wrong way anyway. 

 

[Khan]

That's probably because she had written for them both at RH; and while I do think JD and MG played well together, I would agree that the history between Buzz and Holly precluded them from pursuing a romantic relationship.

[P.J.]

I honestly didn't know before I read that interview that they'd both been on Ryan's Hope. I know plenty of actors hopped between the P&G soaps, but once out of the circle of shows I watch, my knowledge is spotty.

it still slays me that Kathleen Widdoes played mom to both Lisa and Maeve's characters on different shows. 

[MichaelGL]

This is a rare opinion that I don't see online enough, but it's one I agree with. I think Lloyd Gold's tenure wasn't so bad and was a vast improvement from the tail end of B&E and the Labine's. He got rid of San Cristobal, wrote for Claire (I think she partnered up with Alan), was the one who had Meta in charge of the Lighthouse Gala (which never happened). I do think his one misfire was the time travel storyline, but with Rauch in charge there's plenty of blame to go around lol.  His predecessor Millee Taggart tenure didn't start to really run on all 4 cylinders until Carolyn Culliton joined the show.

[P.J.]

When did shows really start to acknowledge their anniversaries? I found myself wishing this morning that Guiding LIght had done a celebratory montage like ATWT did for their 40th. I know GL did the week with fan favorite moments, and I think they started doing big celebrations for the last week of June (the Blackout episodes, the Josh/Reva '02 wedding that replaced the Lighthouse renovation when Mary Stuart got sick, Billy and Vanessa's second wedding) but I don't really recall them being touted as marking the anniversary.

Forgive my rambling, but I started down this question because a) I can never remember GL's anniversary like I do ATWT's and b) listening to Frankie Goes to Hollywood's "Relax" on the radio this morning (which is used in the ATWT montage). And it taking me weeks to figure out that Billy and Vanessa got a montage over the closing credits after their second wedding (which I've only seen GL do after Maureen's death) because it was the anniversary show.

[Mona Kane Croft]

The first soap opera I remember acknowledging an anniversary was Another World for the show's tenth anniversary. I believe this was in May 1974, when AW was still a 30-minute show.  On the anniversary day, AW broadcast a 60-minute episode featuring the wedding of super-couple Alice and Steve.  Although the show's anniversary was not mentioned in the dialogue, it  was mentioned by the show's announcer during the opening credits, and the episode had been advertised and promoted as a "special 10th anniversary episode."  

I do not remember another soap opera acknowledging an anniversary until the 35th anniversary of As the World Turns in 1986, which featured Chris and Nancy's 50th wedding anniversary.   

[Mitch64]

Oddly enough RR and MG had chemistry in that short little scene. It was nice to see Alan have an age appropriate woman who wasn't a pscyho or in love with Josh..and it was nice to see Holly without Fletcher, Billy or Buzz. An Alan/Holly/Ed triangle would be nice, and while I was sick of Alex's obsession with Alan's romantic life, seeing her seethe having her former bestie, nemesis, one who could match her with cutting sarcasm would have been fun. That scene was also going to be the start of Seb vs. Alan in a takeover, which included Josh (who could forget the flirting Seb did with Josh in their scene) Blake, but, it was stopped, which sucked as it could have been good.

 

ATWT's 25th anniversary was Kim and Nick's wedding and the announcer made a comment  "Thank you for 25 great years!" But the show was such a mess at that time, Wagner just quit, DM was used as a walk on, there was no sense of community or family, so it just happened (and now I realize that they were trying to make Kim and Nick the new Nancy and Chris...)

[Liberty City]

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[Mitch64]

Love this Dinah..she is so much better and believable as a former carny then Moniz was (and I really like Moniz, I didn't like the writing.) Her chemistry with the actor playing Bill is totally brother and sister  (which I don't remember Moniz having with young Bill) and the writing is actually good here. Things could have been turned around at this late date if they focused on the Marler family as the center of things...Ross is the patriarch of town, and I think LK is good as a grown up, licked her wounds, warm and loving but still have an edge Blake.  Instead of recasting Marina and having yet ANOTHER Cooper to stink up the joint, bring back Sam, have more of Holly involved..again, I have never understood several regimes love for the Coopers, except for the fact they were shoving GUSH down our throats 24/7 here.

Matt is still boring and the actor lethargic, and what the hell was with that set?

[Liberty City]

To think, Gina Tognoni had only been airing as Dinah for nine or so months by this point, and she was fully immersed both into the cast and the role itself. The writing of these scenes was quite well-done. David Kreizman & Donna M. Swajeski did a fine job together when given the chance. Good use of history in these scenes.

[Soapsuds]

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[Mitch64]

Agreed...the writers had Dinah spill a whole lot of exposition and history disquised as a rant, and Gina did great with it.  If you were new you caught up that Blake is Roger's daughter and Roger is shady, that Blake stole Ross from her own mother, that Dinah's mom is married to a younger man, Vanessa and Ross had a relationship and produced Dinah, who she gave up for adoption without telling Ross, Van has a new "start over" daughter....that was a whole lot of history to get across without loosing the energy of the scene. Oh, and I agree with Dinah, Cassie is an annoying biotch but disagree with her, steroid Hart was not worth either of their time.

[MichaelGL]

 

If there's one reason, on top of many, that I wish GL could've gone on longer, is to see how Vanessa's daughter Maureen would've turned out and how her relationships would've been with Bill and Dinah. Ugh, I could write a whole fan fic on Van and Billy's little family and the Marlers. The material writes itself. 

Edited October 4, 2024 by MichaelGL