Guiding Light Discussion Thread

[vetsoapfan]

Before the internet became a major presence in everyday life, a guy whom I "met" via trading circles (I had seen his classified WANT/HAVE ads in the back of TV magazines) told me that he had a plethora of TGL eps from 1976-77 on videotape, which he had recorded and saved for his late mom. 

I was very interested until he said he wanted a huge sum of money for them. I don't recall exactly the price, since it's been 47-ish years, but it was an outrageous demand that almost made me choke. I want to say $2000.00.

I asked him to make me a short "sample" tape, with brief clips of some different episodes, so I could judge the quality (I was dubious these tapes even existed, and wanted proof). He gave me a flat NO, even though I offered to pay him in advance for the sample cassette. He then disappeared, which confirmed my suspicion that his story was BS and he was a con artist.

But I really wanted to see those episodes again!

[kalbir]

@vetsoapfan AFAIK, no 1976 episodes have surfaced but two 1977 episodes and a partial 1978 episode are online. 

[vetsoapfan]

Yes, and all things considered, it's such a shame that so few episodes of those years are available, while a huge number of the nadir years of TGL are floating around.

We are lucky to have a lot of classic radio material and videos from the 1950s and 1960s, however.

[Mitch64]

Agreed. But I always thought of the Reardons of the extensions to the Bauers, via Mo, and they had plenty to bulld on there. Bea should have been brought back on contract when Bert died...(instead we got Ms. Sally and Sarah who was cut off from the rest of the cast and fixated on Reva.   JFP put a knife in it by killing Mo, but they still had Bridget and Matt referring to "Uncle Ed." But then McLaiby came on and cut all ties with Bridget never interacting with Ed or Michelle who she loved, and even having Chelle call Nola "Mrs Chamberline"...uh, that;s your aunt you big dummie.  I would have liked to have Rick and Bridget have a kind of friendly sibling thing that slowly turns into something more (MOL never gave off passion vibes so its okay for them to have a companionable thing) which freaks them both out (maybe Peter is sick and Rick takes care of him and things devlope..with Roger not liking that at all.."I guess Bauers like to take everyone else's kids as their own."

[vetsoapfan]

My first choice of a family to be represented on TGL would be the Bauers, for sure, but I'd have no problem with the Reardons and other clans being featured as well. I'd bet my retirement savings that more viewers would have preferred to see Bea return following Bert's death (or Meta, which did happen a decade later) than to be force-fed Miss Sally and Sarah, even more characters who orbited around the show-eater Reva.

[kalbir]

Oh, you mean the final 15 years?

1979-1982 are spotty, as are 1983-1988. A good portion of 1989-1993 is online.

[j swift]

But, that final week

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Between Lillian's scenes, and Philip finding Alan, it was well sewn up.

[Contessa Donatella]

I think you do Wheeler an injustice when you don't hold Conboy & Weston to account. Surely their tenure was as damaging if not moreso than anyone before them. As far as I can tell literally everything they did was wrong, including spending money the show could ill afford. I can't think of even one storyline that was good. From that sock puppet to the baseball diamond to Maryanne Carruthers & the rewriting of 5 male veterans' history. And, not rewriting in a complimentary way, not at all. If you ask me, they were responsible for at a minimum 5 nails in the coffin. That is, if we begin counting nails with JFP. And, continue, of course, till the bitter end. I'm not saying that there weren't problems with Ellen Wheeler's tenure, not at all, but I am saying she didn't begin it. 

[Reverend Ruthledge]

I agree. I didn't say she began it either. Nails had been nailed into the coffin for years. She just nailed the last one in. It officially died under her watch. 

[vetsoapfan]

Yes, there are a lot more videos of the final years online, than the glory years, although that's perfectly understandable. Not everyone had VCRs way back when. Plus, blank tapes were expensive, so archiving episodes from the 1970s and early 1980s was not affordable for all viewers.

In any case, I am so grateful for all the treasures that are in circulation: the massive number of radio broadcasts from 1950 dealing with Meta's murder trial, the string of kinescopes from 1966 dealing with Bert's troubled marriage to Bill, Holly's marital rape, Rita in the funhouse, Maureen's death, etc.

As a die-hard fan, I always more more, of course, but I know we are lucky to have what we do have. This goes for the surviving material from all our favorite shows.

[Contessa Donatella]

Excellent, I actually thought that might be your reply. 

[vetsoapfan]

Yep. The nails began being driven into the show during the 1980s, and continued being being driven in by many subsequent PTB for the rest of the show's life (with brief respites under Calhoun, Curlee and even Taggart to a degree).

There were many culprits, alas.

Wheeler would not have been responsible for forcing Peapack onto the show (I'm sure that that mandate came from the higher ups), but didn't Ross Marler get killed off under her watch? That decision alone inspires significant ire. There were so many other weak and/or pointless characters on the canvas at that point, who could have been let go first. Jerry ver Dorn should have been held onto at all cost.

[Alan]

The discussion of the Rice Lake Bauers prompted me to look up some scenes with Jack and Lanie Bauer embedded below. They would have been the right age for Trudy and Clyde. Even if their surname would have been Palmer rather than Bauer, Trudy and her family would have made more sense to re-introduce than these very distant cousins. I would have cast one of P&G's classic soap queens, like Ann Flood or Beverly Penberthy as Trudy. This would be on par with Mary Stuart taking up the role of Meta.

The Bauers also could have been replenished with Rita's possible child with Ed. I also like Mitch64's idea of having Mike remarry during his time away from Springfield, maybe fathering a new set of children with a slightly younger woman.

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[Contessa Donatella]

Yes, it was Wheeler who moved Jerry from contract to recurring. At that time they did that with several veterans. But, it was a huge mistake! She could've done it with Frank, or Bradley, just to name two.

[Contessa Donatella]

I had another thought. Several days after they put that group of vets on recurring, they called Jerry to book him for several upcoming dates & they were shocked that he was unavailable because Mark Derwin had recommended him to OLTL & they wisely snapped him up.