WTF? CBS Pimps Daytime Lineup on Canceled Guiding Light Submitted by J Bernard Jones on August 14, 2009 - 6:00pm
For the first time in ages, and certainly since I've been blogging for Daytime Confidential, I am absolutely furious and utterly appalled over a bit of business that happened on today's episode of Guiding Light in scenes involving Buzz (Justin Deas) and Cyrus (Murray Bartlett) set on location in New York City.
While tracking down a lead to a clue that the late Jenna (Fiona Hutchinson) left in a hotel room, Buzz and Cyrus wound up at the real CBS Broadcast Center in Manhattan. Once inside the building, they spoke to a page (think 30 Rock's Kenneth) who awkwardly and painfully informed them that The Price is Right films in California and gave them the actual phone number to would be contestants in the studio audience. Things didn't stop there. The page then told them As the World Turns tapes in Brooklyn and airs at 2PM. I am not making this up.
At the risk of being kicked off Daytime Confidential, I have to state for the record that I have never seen such a pile of disrespectful real life horse**** in all my decades of watching soaps. Forget the niceties of "WTF?" Seriously, what the **** was that? In what freaking universe did Ellen Wheeler, Barbara Bloom, Brian T. Cahill, or Les Moonves think it was a good idea to pimp parts of its daytime lineup on a show they recently kicked to the curb?
I cannot recall seeing anything like this on any canceled soap — much less any show period — ever. Had the scene been played for camp or irony with Ms. Bloom herself or possibly a cameo from Moonves playing the page, it might have gone down easier; but with the exception of an awkwardly delivered line from Buzz about ATWT ("I've missed the last few episodes, how is Carly doing?"), I just stared at the screen in slack-jawed disbelief.
Can anyone who watched Santa Barbara imagine Julia Capwell saying in that show's final days, "Mason, Sunset Beach will be making its debut in our time slot about a month from now on your local NBC affiliate following Days of Our Lives!" Or how about The City's Syndey Chase uttering, "Don't miss The View, which will be filming right here in our studios some time after the Happy Now Killer knocks me off!" I really expected Wayne Brady to stroll through in a cameo and give Cyrus and Buzz the email address to sign up as contestants for Let's Make a Deal, the game show that will replace Guiding Light when the 72 year old soap goes off the air.
This is an outrage that far surpasses the firings of beloved actors, the assassinations of characters, abysmal writing choices, or even cancellations themselves. It is monumentally stupid: by name-checking ATWT as a fictional soap opera, whoever wrote that steaming pile didn't seem to know or care that that show's fictional locale of Oakdale shares the same fictional universe as GL's Springfield. Sure, other shows have namechecked each other but that was within the context of their own universes, not to obliterate decades-long connections altogether.
Even more outrageous, this is one of those proverbial slaps in the faces of many fans who are in literal mourning over the loss of Guiding Light. For all its missteps, mistakes, and the criticisms we have had of the series, GL remains a potent force in the emotional lives of its many devotees, from the few left who listened to the show on radio when it was set in fictional Selby Flats, California to those people who recently became enamored of Otalia in real life location Peapack, New Jersey.
While I have no idea how Deas or Bartlett felt about filming those scenes, I felt badly for them and, by extension, all the actors, crew and production staff at GL during what had to have been and likely still is a tough time for many of them. The entire scene not only felt demoralizing, but seriously pulled me out of an otherwise fairly strong episode of character work and poignancy highlighted by Bill (Daniel Cosgrove, who showed up to act) and Remy (a heartbreaking Lawrence St. Victor) remembering and finally making peace over the late Baby Max/Clayton Boudreaux II.
As something of a go-with-the-flow kinda of viewer, I rarely get upset with a show but this scene ostensibly set at CBS Broadcast Center ****ed me off royally. What might have been intended as gentle comedy came off as crass and disrespectful to Guiding Light's cast, crew, fans and, in many ways, its legacy. My anger is not at The Price is Right or As the World Turns, but rather the boneheaded idiocy that prevailed when someone came up with the un-brilliant idea to pimp them by name (and phone number!) during Guiding Light's final days on broadcast television.
Whoever made the decision to shoehorn that unnecessary crap into Friday's episode whether at Telenext, CBS or the GL writer's room, shame, shame, shame on you.
Posts: 5344 | Location: New York/California | Registered: September 30, 2006
I'm not as angry about the crassness of pimping CBS's lineup on a cancelled show (which doesn't help) as I am about the abject stupidity of the whole mess. The writer, J. Bernard Jones, is kinder to GL as a whole than I am. There is precious little on the show I like these days. Strapping the legendary Justin Deas to the useless Cyrus Foley character for his last weeks as Buzz Cooper is criminal. Worse is tying this stupid Jenna storyline around his neck.
Elsewhere, you have the assassination of Mallet. The stupidity of Marina, who for some reason has decided to stay with him despite the fact that he betrayed her for Dinah. The return of Jeffrey, whom I like, for little more than a dumb plot about taking down evil Edmund -- again! Then there's Olivia's endless pining for Natalia, still MIA. The nauseous whitewashing of Alan Spaulding. Phillip's phantom illness, which elicits laughs because nobody ever explains what he actually has. (Ed Bauer mentioned spores once.)
A series of dumb scenes about Shayne acting out; we get unconvincing fight scenes that look like a couple of fish flopping against each other, when a more satisfying and clever storyline would have him try to pick a fight but not find anyone he can adequately provoke. "Hey man, you're sitting in my chair!" "Sorry, dude, here you go." Cut to a frustrated and disappointed Shayne, desperate to be punched in the face.
This message has been edited. Last edited by: 742,
"A movie is not good because it arrives at conclusions you share, or bad because it does not. A movie is not about what it is about. It is about how it is about it: about the way it considers its subject matter, and about how its real subject may be quite different from the one it seems to provide." - Roger Ebert, from the introduction to "Awake in the Dark" (2006)
I stopped watching Guiding Light but was considering tuning for the returns of vets like Maureen Garrett [Holly] and Peter Simon [Ed]. It's stuff like this that has me thinking, "Catch the clips on You Tube."
Originally posted by 742: I'm not as angry about the crassness of pimping CBS's lineup on a cancelled show (which doesn't help) as I am about the abject stupidity of the whole mess. The writer, J. Bernard Jones, is kinder to GL as a whole than I am. There is precious little on the show I like these days. Strapping the legendary Justin Deas to the useless Cyrus Foley character for his last weeks as Buzz Cooper is criminal. Worse is tying this stupid Jenna storyline around his neck.
Elsewhere, you have the assassination of Mallet. The stupidity of Marina, who for some reason has decided to stay with him despite the fact that he betrayed her for Dinah. The return of Jeffrey, whom I like, for little more than a dumb plot about taking down evil Edmund -- again! Then there's Olivia's endless pining for Natalia, still MIA. The nauseous whitewashing of Alan Spaulding. Phillip's phantom illness, which elicits laughs because nobody ever explains what he actually has. (Ed Bauer mentioned spores once.)
A series of dumb scenes about Shayne acting out; we get unconvincing fight scenes that look like a couple of fish flopping against each other, when a more satisfying and clever storyline would have him try to pick a fight but not find anyone he can adequately provoke. "Hey man, you're sitting in my chair!" "Sorry, dude, here you go." Cut to a frustrated and disappointed Shayne, desperate to be punched in the face.
I can't imagine these feelings being felt while you are watching the show or do they come out when you write about it. Why would you continue to watch it? Are you just reading what is going on because that would be different. I have felt this way about shows but I stopped watching. This is just not good to read. Are you being paid to watch the show if in fact that is what you are doing? LOL. The word I think of is unhealthy.
WILLIAM PETERSEN: Well, this is a shock. The only explanation for this is that somehow in the last year, every one of you tried to act with rubber gloves and tweezers.
Posts: 6617 | Location: NY | Registered: December 01, 2002
Originally posted by 742: I'm not as angry about the crassness of pimping CBS's lineup on a cancelled show (which doesn't help) as I am about the abject stupidity of the whole mess. The writer, J. Bernard Jones, is kinder to GL as a whole than I am. There is precious little on the show I like these days. Strapping the legendary Justin Deas to the useless Cyrus Foley character for his last weeks as Buzz Cooper is criminal. Worse is tying this stupid Jenna storyline around his neck.
Elsewhere, you have the assassination of Mallet. The stupidity of Marina, who for some reason has decided to stay with him despite the fact that he betrayed her for Dinah. The return of Jeffrey, whom I like, for little more than a dumb plot about taking down evil Edmund -- again! Then there's Olivia's endless pining for Natalia, still MIA. The nauseous whitewashing of Alan Spaulding. Phillip's phantom illness, which elicits laughs because nobody ever explains what he actually has. (Ed Bauer mentioned spores once.)
A series of dumb scenes about Shayne acting out; we get unconvincing fight scenes that look like a couple of fish flopping against each other, when a more satisfying and clever storyline would have him try to pick a fight but not find anyone he can adequately provoke. "Hey man, you're sitting in my chair!" "Sorry, dude, here you go." Cut to a frustrated and disappointed Shayne, desperate to be punched in the face.
I can't imagine these feelings being felt while you are watching the show or do they come out when you write about it. Why would you continue to watch it? Are you just reading what is going on because that would be different. I have felt this way about shows but I stopped watching. This is just not good to read. Are you being paid to watch the show if in fact that is what you are doing? LOL. The word I think of is unhealthy.
For the last couple of years, I've watched GL out of habit. I've disliked most of it, but on this site I'm hardly special in my dissatisfaction with a show I watch habitually (read everyone's thoughts on Y&R for plenty more examples of "unhealthy" behavior). The show's only got about a month left, so out of respect for the industry and the show's once great legacy -- or so I hear, as I only started watching the show about six or seven years ago -- I feel compelled to see it through. I'm not sure what surprises or upsets you about my comments. I've written worse things about other shows. And I've read much, much harsher criticism than that from those here and in the press.
"A movie is not good because it arrives at conclusions you share, or bad because it does not. A movie is not about what it is about. It is about how it is about it: about the way it considers its subject matter, and about how its real subject may be quite different from the one it seems to provide." - Roger Ebert, from the introduction to "Awake in the Dark" (2006)
Goodbye Springfield: Guiding Light's Last Months From A New Viewer’s Perspective Submitted by Johnathon on August 24, 2009 - 6:30pm
Earlier this year, the moment soap fans dreaded finally happened. Guiding Light, the world’s longest-running serialized drama, was canceled by the geniuses over at CBS. By now we have all had time to contemplate this news and go through the seven steps of mourning over the loss of another of our favorite soaps. Even so, I thought I would take a moment to write about what this show has meant to me, a new viewer who had only just begun to fall in love with GL at the time of its cancellation.
After months of listening to the Daytime Confidential podcast and hearing how it was such a good soap to watch, I finally decided to check out Guiding Light in the fall of 2007. My first full episode was one of Ellen Wheeler's marvelous "Into the Light" episodes with a focus on Chrystal Chappell’s Olivia Spencer. Let’s just say that experience didn’t go so well. Olivia was in her hotel room in the first scene, then she opened the door and was suddenly halfway across town in a new outfit. I was beyond lost and, to be honest, completely turned off. But thanks to Mike, JammyLove and the best Guiding Light blogger around, Melodie, I began to watch this show more often. Slowly but surely, I fell in love with the inhabitants of Springfield.
I think it is safe to say that we all had a rough time with the switch over to the now infamous new production model in 2008, but I was one of the very few people out there who was actually happy with the new Guiding Light. For me, this new beginning was a perfect time to tune in, and outside of the whiplash it caused on a daily basis, I enjoyed some of the scenes here and there. I was also able to come up with some fun games, such as: count how many times someone is paying their bills or folding laundry, count how many musical montages there were in a single episode and my favorite, count the number of times the camera actually STAYED STILL for more than a minute (that was an extremely hard one). All joking aside, it was rough, until one itsy bitsy storyline came along and changed it all. You may guess what I am talking about, and it wasn't the return of Philip Spaulding (Grant Aleksander). I am talking about a little storyline that I call "Always".
When GL revisited the love story of Joshua Lewis (Robert Newman) and the self-proclaimed Slut of Springfield Reva Shayne (Kim Zimmer), that's what hooked me as a viewer. By giving mea glimpse of the past, and allowing me, as a new viewer to watch the saga of Josh and Reva unfold via the movie-within-a-soap, GL provided me with a purely magical experience. From the start to the climatic end with the recreation of the unforgettable Cross Creek wedding, Zimmer and Newman pulled me in, showing me why fans love this couple, but more importantly, they showed me why fans love this show.
Unfortunately, I believe that Ellen Wheeler had another one of her visions, because the moment that storyline ended, things instantly got hard to watch. Ava (Michelle Ray Smith) was on, Bill (Daniel Cosgrove) was in one of his angry, I’m going to take over the world moods and that critter Cassie (Nicole Forester) was smooching on Joshua! I just didn’t care to watch anymore. I still kept up with the show, but it was extremely hard to invest in. By the end of 2008, when Shayne Lewis (Jeff Branson) returned to town, I was falling back in love with this show. Dinah and Shayne were my couple to root for and I didn’t care that cancellation rumors were circulating because Shinah was going to SAVE THIS SHOW (or so I thought…hey I was young and naive).
Things were starting to show signs of improvement, Coop (John Driscoll) found himself a real woman and then news came out that Grant Aleksander was returning to the show as PHILLIP FREAKING SPAULDING! I didn’t really understand what this meant for the show, but I knew longtime viewers were head over the moon and planning to return to Springfield.
Like with all things, you can't have good news without bad. What felt like mere moment after news of Aleksander's return, Guiding Light was reportedly given an April 1st live or die date. They had to perform amazingly by that day or the plug was going to be pulled.
Storylines continued to move on and I was enjoying the show, but it still wasn’t Must See Soap Opera. Phillip returned home and attempted to save my crazy love struck Coop from an explosive death, but he was too late to do anything. Phillip's arrival showed me as a new viewer that Guiding Light could have depth, heart and soul.
The arrival of Zack Conroy as James Spaulding and his pairing with Daisy (Bonnie Dennison) quickly became one of my favorites on daytime. It didn’t seem real. How could an executive look at this show and think it was anywhere close to needing to be cancelled? Did they tune into The Soup and see that Ronn Moss and Kyle Lowder were on it, but the sainted rapist Jeffery O’Neill ( Bradley Cole) wasn’t, so it meant death to this show? The puzzle pieces just didn’t add up and to tell the truth they still don’t.
I understand that it was a economical decision and that keeping Guiding Light on the air didn’t seem feasible, but that still doesn’t mean that this show is not leaps and bounds more creative and enjoyable then some of the filth on my screen during the day. With that said, the decision was final, Guiding Light was set to end and there wasn’t anything the fans could do to save it, no matter how hard we tried.
The show was on fire. It became, in my opinion, the must watch soap over this past summer and it showed no signs of slowing down. As I write this post, it really hasn’t shown any signs of wrapping storylines up and that is a problem for me. I need to be able to say goodbye, to be able to mourn the loss of this show and not feel like the show will continue on without me. That is not what I want to see. I need to be able to know that Reva and Josh are going to be together ‘Always’. I need to see happiness and harmony, not sit here and wonder why Phillip isn’t going to cure his crazy Ellen Wheeler induced Monkey Flu. This show has meant more to me over the last six months than ANY other soap has meant to me in my short four years of watching soaps. To be completely honest, this show has meant more to me than any show on television has meant period. For a show to inspire me, to make me feel this way and to make me care this much in such a short time, it has to mean something.
I love this show, the cast and the crew. Even Ellen Wheeler's poor choice in theme music will continue to inspire me and shape my life, even after this show has left the air waves. I believe it will ‘always’ play a part in my life and hopefully yours as well.
Posts: 5344 | Location: New York/California | Registered: September 30, 2006
My family doesn't watch GL regularly, but because I've been watching it they catch it in the mornings and we're all baffled ...
Why isn't someone trying to hide Marcy Rylan's pregnancy!?
They're not trying at all. So when Lizzie has conversations with Bill about making a baby it makes a ridiculous clang. We're all thinking, "Somebody beat you to it, buddy!"
"A movie is not good because it arrives at conclusions you share, or bad because it does not. A movie is not about what it is about. It is about how it is about it: about the way it considers its subject matter, and about how its real subject may be quite different from the one it seems to provide." - Roger Ebert, from the introduction to "Awake in the Dark" (2006)
Originally posted by 742: Why isn't someone trying to hide Marcy Rylan's pregnancy!?
They're not trying at all. So when Lizzie has conversations with Bill about making a baby it makes a ridiculous clang. We're all thinking, "Somebody beat you to it, buddy!"
They aren't. They are just too lazy with it. I guess the producers were too depressed that the show was ending to hide her pregnancy.
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Posts: 9726 | Location: Television Land | Registered: April 02, 2003
I seem to be only the bearer of criticisms in this thread, but when the show gives me something to praise, I'll praise it.
The upshot of the Buzz-Cyrus storyline is just a bad joke. Really. Ridiculous, random, and completely useless.
Anyone else tired of seeing a powerful lioness like Reva Shayne reduced to a quivering mess surrounded by Jeffrey's pictures? The show is in its last month on the air. I don't want to see Reva dissolve into a puddle of goo while Jeffrey plays hero in secret. Reva should be kicking ass and taking names. She should be the one wiping the floor with Edmund.
Yesterday's episode was equally senseless. I don't get the Mallet-Marina-Shayne storyline anymore. So Mallet leaves Marina so she can ... raise baby Henry with Shayne? Why!? After choosing Dinah over his wife in the John Doe murder case, now he sees fit to break his wife's heart because, what, three loving parents for a child is mathematically unsound?
I have no idea what motivates these people anymore. I understand even less what motivates the writers.
"A movie is not good because it arrives at conclusions you share, or bad because it does not. A movie is not about what it is about. It is about how it is about it: about the way it considers its subject matter, and about how its real subject may be quite different from the one it seems to provide." - Roger Ebert, from the introduction to "Awake in the Dark" (2006)
i'm a 20+ yr viewer & find GL such a mess for so many years. i'll join you 742... just saw the fri 08/07 ep last nite - an airport worker is describing to remy a man he saw with dinah (as she left in a helicopter)as tall, buzz lightyear-ish, mid 30's. BOING! maybe the RB version of mallet is late 30's, but mallet should be 50-ish. edmund somehow calls jonathan on an untraceable/disposable cell phone - how the hell is that possible? how did jeffrey get from a plane crash in the caribbean or off the florida coast to wherever the hell jonathan is (which i thought was cali)? & another "only i alone can take this man/problem down" story. an edmund double? * the whitewashing of alan spaulding. UGH! * why does towers restaurant allow people out on a roof that doesn't look like an eating area? * how the hell did frank hear dinah confess to mallet? he was 50-100' away, & she wasn't screaming her confession. * totally agree about poor buzz being paired with the useless cyrus. never liked that character, do think the actor is sexy. some1 here described him as "sex on a stick". give buzz something more to do - a jenna mystery? will this lead to an unclaimed fortune for the coopers? JUSTIN DEAS deserves so much better. enuff for now
Posts: 345 | Location: boston, ma | Registered: October 12, 2001
Just watched the 60 Minutes segment—with Morley Safer doing the interviewing—and Frank Dicopoulos (Frank), Michael O'Leary (Rick), and Tina Sloan (Lillian) did a good job summing up what the show has meant.
Tina Sloan was great. It would be good to have a whoie interview just with her. I know some people are very happy that Guidling Light is ending but it's going to be a great loss to TV.
WILLIAM PETERSEN: Well, this is a shock. The only explanation for this is that somehow in the last year, every one of you tried to act with rubber gloves and tweezers.
Posts: 6617 | Location: NY | Registered: December 01, 2002
I don't even watch Guiding Light regularly, yet I'm so sad at the fact that it's going off the air. The monumental loss of such an amazing piece of history just brings tears to my eyes when I stop to think about it. I fear for the future of the soap opera genre. If they can pull the plug on GL, no soap is safe in my opinion.
I have tuned in these last few weeks because I feel it's my duty as an avid soap opera fan to see how they wrap the stories up. I hate the production model. I was hoping the 60 Minutes piece wouldn't be so fluffy and light and would delve more into the choices made by Ellen Wheeler, CBS, and P&G so the viewers would get some closure as to exactly why they felt the need to hasten this iconic show's demise so they could air a stupid game show. I expected more hard-hitting, investigative journalism from 60 Minutes instead of the puff piece we got. Oh, well.
Rest in Peace, Guiding Light. You have carved a place in broadcast history that no other show in any other medium will ever match.
Originally posted by YoungRestlessOne: I don't even watch Guiding Light regularly, yet I'm so sad at the fact that it's going off the air. The monumental loss of such an amazing piece of history just brings tears to my eyes when I stop to think about it. I fear for the future of the soap opera genre. If they can pull the plug on GL, no soap is safe in my opinion.
I have tuned in these last few weeks because I feel it's my duty as an avid soap opera fan to see how they wrap the stories up. I hate the production model. I was hoping the 60 Minutes piece wouldn't be so fluffy and light and would delve more into the choices made by Ellen Wheeler, CBS, and P&G so the viewers would get some closure as to exactly why they felt the need to hasten this iconic show's demise so they could air a stupid game show. I expected more hard-hitting, investigative journalism from 60 Minutes instead of the puff piece we got. Oh, well.
Rest in Peace, Guiding Light. You have carved a place in broadcast history that no other show in any other medium will ever match.
The Guiding Light (1937-2009)
I don't expect the kind of profile from 60 Minutes that delved into the series' demise as we'd be getting around here. (Mentioning ratings was already a part of it.) I preferred some of the actors talking about Guiding Light's value, why viewers tuned in for so many years, and its place in television history.
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