Guiding Light Discussion Thread

[Mitch64]

I remember they were going to recast Chele...hopefully without Danny..(killed in a hit..and Chele gets protected by a hot cop...NOT Frank..) I always think that CBS was a little upset that GL started looking like it was getting its act together...though I suppose it was too little too late and they are going to do it anyway. 

[P.J.]

I guess I remember some of that. 

I think it would've been hard to recast Harley. I mean, as much as I loved McClain as Rosanna, I'd have had a hard time accepting her as a cop. KWIM?

[Khan]

I wanted Cady McClain on GL, but as a recast for Samantha Marler.

[TheyStartedOnSoaps]

Fun Fact - Cady McClain actually auditioned for the role of Harley back in 1987 - she said her nerves caused her to screw up the audition. This was her first audition for a soap, so she took the lessons she learned with her "Harley" screentest and applied them for her next soap audition - Dixie in All My Children. She made it to the screen test stage - but dropped out of the running when she landed a Prime Time Pilot. The pilot didn't sell and someone else was cast as Dixie. But TPTB at AMC were unsatisfied with the actress playing Dixie, and months later called up Cady and offered her the part of Dixie without even a screentest!

[vetsoapfan]

While I personally found the show unwatchable for much of the 1980s, I didn't believe TGL was in serious danger of cancellation until the 1990s. From decades past, I knew that various long-running soaps had experienced both plunges and surges in the ratings, but as the years went by and TGL continued to dwell in the toilet, I realized it was living on borrowed time.

It got to the point where I almost wanted cancellation to come, to put the old war horse out of its misery.

[kalbir]

So the only watchable eras encompassing the 1980s would be Potter/Dobsons/Marland (1976-1982) and Calhoun/Long/Curlee (1989-1991)?

June 1994 GL was not in a good place creatively (Nancy Curlee departed three months earlier) and from what we saw in the 1990s Ratings thread, GL was effectively over in the aftermath of OJ. Did you think that GL limped along in its final 15 years?

[DRW50]

I did like Hayley Sparks, although she probably just worked as a temp.

[P.J.]

I thought Sparks fit in seamlessly too. And I liked her as Courtney on ATWT.

[Soaplovers]

She was too bubbly as Harley...Amy Carlson was a better Harley temp.

[NothinButAttitude]

Interesting tidbit! She did eventually land on a P&G soap in the end as Roseanna. I guess it did come full circle. 

I would've been all for that. Plus, Sam was long overdue a return. They could've brought back Morgan Englund as Dylan and addressed that. Phillip would've had Sam be his moral compass. We could've seen Sam become the legal beagle in town that her uncle, Ross, once was... The endless possibilities. 

Sarah Brown or Megan Ward would've been my top choices as Harley recasts, but Sarah would've been better as Cassie as I would've loved to see her and KZ together. I think they would've tore the house down. 

[Sapounopera]

If you ask me, YES. Long turned GL into a brand new show overnight and I didn't care for it at all.
I'd say that something started changed under Long/Calhoun, but the show started becoming more flat and generic under JFP. 

[TheyStartedOnSoaps]

When Sheri Anderson was writing the show her plan was to expand the Bauer family. She introduced Johnny Bauer, then Lacey Bauer - with the plans of reviving the "Four Musketeers" with Lacey, Alan-Michael, Dinah & Cameron. Also on the drawing board was adding Todd Bauer with Frank Dicopoulos in that role.

However before any of that could be done Sheri Anderson was out and Pam Long was back in. She immediately dropped the Lacey Bauer character, and kept the reivived "Four Musketeers" storyline, but inserted her own creation - Harley Cooper. Needing a foil for that character, she changed Todd Bauer into Frank Cooperm still played by Frank Dicopoulos.

[Mitch64]

After it became apparent that the Bauers were never going to make a comeback I wanted the Marlers take their place (after Ed left I would have them move into the Bauer House as Blake spent better part of her childhood there) and bring back Sam. A Sam/Dinah jealousy would be good (Dinah not happy that Sam is Ross's idea of a "perfect" daughter) and LK worked better as an eccentric warm hearted person who screwed up then the hold Blake/Vixen mode ) But instead they put the Coopers in as core...with that horrible simpering cutesy Marina recast.

[Reverend Ruthledge]

Who would have Todd Bauer been? Part of the faux Bauer clan or someone related to the real Bauers? 

I never thought I'd be grateful to Pam Long for anything, but, wherever you are, Pam, thank you from the bottom of my heart for getting rid of Lacey Bauer. 

[NothinButAttitude]

I never understood why writers want to make their own mark. The stories made for Harley could've easily been Lacey and Todd. And the fans would've taken to them quicker as they were extensions of Ed. Yes, we occasionally need new families; however, at that time, the Bauers needed to be rebuilt more than anything. 

I would've been fine with the Marlers moving into the place of the Bauers as we'd still have a tie in to the Bauers through Blake. And Dinah v. Sam would've been fun to watch, as they could've also competed for men too. They could've competed professionally too with Dinah being the media and Sam being the law. 

All of this "what if" infuriates me b/c GL (and all the other cancelled soap) have history, ties, and bonds that should've been neverending. But recycling TPTB would never help any genre.