I raise my glass and toast to the cast and crew of The Guiding Light for a wonderful historical show of 72 years of love and laughter!
Cheers to everyone associated with The Guiding Light over the years from beginning to The End.
I wish all the cast and crew all the best in their future acting endeavors. I am sure that all of them will find work and go forward with wonderful projects.
742, are you really surprised about the issue you reference? They have time (according to DC) to show Mel and Cyrus in bed, but can't manage to finish another coupling in the proper way???
I honestly am very surprised, because the show made a point of contriving it this way. If they had no intention of paying it off -- at all! -- then they could have scrapped the whole sub-plot and filled the time with meaningful storylines, reunions, reconnections, reminiscences, and so on. It's worse than just rushing things towards the end. It's downright incompetent.
"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 was very underwhelmed by the last episode. And I wish they would've covered up Billy Clarke. The production model used in the last year or so was the pits.
The show should've ended with Blake opening up the door and we see the back of a man's head and she calls out his name: Ross!
Farewell Guiding Light! I very rarely watched the show, so tuning in to the last weeks or final episode would have been pointless and actually probably a disservice to the show. I'll miss its presence on the daytime dial, though, and I'll drink a drink tonight to the legend that was Guiding Light.
My problem was their was no sense of the history to the show in finale. I would of loved to have seen some flashbacks as the car went down the road at the end.
I wish we got to see some of the sets one more time
It also resembled AW finale to a huge extent with that picnic at the end ( AW could afford the fireworks)
I thank GL cast and crew though. It really is sad day I fear for the medium and actors in general
Posts: 1740 | Location: Providence RI USA | Registered: November 29, 2001
I watched this show religiously ever since i was 10 years old. The show was never better than when daytime's best headwriter, Doug Marland, penned it. Nola and Quint, Kelly and Morgan.....that was GL at its best.
I stopped watching years ago, but i did catch all of this weeks eppys. CBS gave GL a nice farewell. My favorite part was seeing the original Fab4 together....Rick and Mindy and Phillip and Beth. I just wish Judi Evans would have been playing Beth...but it was still nice seeing them all together.
Goodbye GL....and thanks for being such a huge part of my life!!
Originally posted by DLD: My problem was their was no sense of the history to the show in finale. I would of loved to have seen some flashbacks as the car went down the road at the end.
I agree about that. I wanted more of the history references. 72 years, and it seemed like a season finale more than a series finale.
What I most wanted was a ghostly Maureen appearance.
Yeah, today's episode was sort of underwhelming. Actually, Tuesday and Wednesday were better eps and Aleksander should easily secure an Emmy nod if he submits either day. I agree today's ending should have included some sort of retrospective, but it's still sad to to see it go.
[QUOTE]Originally posted by Crystal: 742, are you really surprised about the issue you reference? They have time (according to DC) to show Mel and Cyrus in bed, but can't manage to finish another coupling in the proper way??? QUOTE]
It does not take much time to show Mel and Cyrus in bed. It does take far more time to wrap up a coupling. However, in the fast forward that they did on the last episode, they could have brought back Jeffrey, but either he or Josh would have been the third wheel. Unless, of course, they had Josh or Jeffrey with someone new in the fast forward.
Originally posted by syrus80: Can someone explain to me what the heck happened to Jeffrey? I only watched Monday's episode and the last one.
Jeffrey is out in the world hunting down Edmund, who has threatened to cause harm to those Jeffrey loves. Jeffry has vowed to stay after Edmund until he finds him and kills him. The implication in the last scenes between Jeffrey and Edmund was just that. So, Jeffrey is not seen in the fast forward becasue he apparently has not killed Edmund. The only thing about that wrap up regarding this is that Jeffrey has been in contact with Jonathan ever since Jonathan returned home. So, either Jeffrey knows about Reva and Josh and accepts it since Jeffrey is resumed dead but is really after Edmund for Reva's sake or the writers have disregarded it. I think they showed the last Jeffrey and Edmund scene to let the fans know that Jeffrey and Edmund are still playing the cat and mouse game while Reva has moved on, clueless that Jeffrey is still alive and after Edmund for her sake.
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By Michael Logan TVGuideMagazine.com | Sept. 18, 2009
Some consider her a saint. Some consider her a show killer. Guiding Light executive producer Ellen Wheeler’s much-hyped, much-maligned new production model (launched in February 2008) was supposed to make the struggling serial more relevant, youthful and accessible. Had her raw, radical, slice-of-life vision worked, she would have been heralded as the savior of the industry. Instead, it accelerated viewer fallout and, in time, led to the show’s cancellation. Still, there’s no question that Wheeler busted her balls for GL and is loved and revered by most of the cast. The former actress (she won Emmys for Another World and All My Children) was a veritable dynamo the day I visited the set—breathlessly dashing here, there and everywhere, directing all sequences, supervising the set décor, reworking scripts and troubleshooting like crazy. For a while, it looked like the big outdoor double wedding (Billy & Vanessa, Buzz & Lillian) would be forced inside due to a rainstorm, the kind of logistical nightmare that would make a primetime or movie director crumble. Not Wheeler. She was unfazed and ready with plan B (and probably C and D) and feverishly focused on bringing the two-episode event in on time and on budget, no excuses accepted. Understandably, she was too busy to be interviewed that day, so we talked by phone after the final episode wrapped. Does she have regrets? Would she have done things differently? Don’t bet on it.
Once you knew you were canceled and there was no hope of moving GL elsewhere, how did you go about the task of wrapping up all that history? With as much grace and dignity as possible, I hope. This show has such a long, rich history that all we can hope to achieve in these final days is a sense of resolution rather than conclusion. As difficult as it was to be cancelled, we were grateful that we had five months before we went off the air, which allowed us to look at all the characters and relationships and stories and try to find a satisfying way to bring things to a place where we and the audience could let this part of GL go. It’s satisfying but not the end, because Springfield will go on eternally.
How did you decide which former characters to bring back in the final weeks? Some of it had to do with who was available but, more important, who could fit into the stories we currently have on the show. We couldn’t bring back some people, like Reva’s sister Cassie, because their stories were too huge and there was too much that would need explaining. We had 35 current characters to wrap up, and even then we ran out of time and couldn’t bring resolution to all of them—like Remy’s parents, Clayton and Felicia.
Surely you’re aware that the “Otalia” fanbase is unhappy with the couple’s lack of physical intimacy. Any response to the complaints that you got cold feet? I am very satisfied with where Natalia and Olivia end up. Their story came into being when I was asking for [more] romance on the show. And I’m not just talking about flowers and candles and sexual romance. I mean a romance in the sense that love is this grander, broader spectrum through which we look at all things. We wanted to explore the romantic nature of all kinds of love, between parents and children, between friends. Just watching Olivia and Natalia become friends was so precious.
But why so stingy with the kisses? In developing the end of their story, I found myself wishing we had another year to watch all parts of their relationship as it bloomed and changed. But we did as much as we could on the way out.
The new production model obviously didn’t save GL but do you think other soaps will in any way benefit from what happened here? I think we achieved a level of nuance and naturalism that is to be admired. But I want to stop you: That’s a little bit of a misnomer there, because [the production model] did save GL for a year and a half.
I’ve seen you quoted elsewhere saying that same thing, and I don’t get it. When this new production model was launched I clearly remember it being promoted as a way to move GL into the future, using information culled from research groups about what today’s viewers want to see on their soaps. It was not stated that the show would be canceled if you didn’t go with this production model. I can tell you absolutely that it kept the show on the air. We could not have stayed in the [previous] model with the budget cuts that came down, so something had to change. And the change was going to have to be drastic and enormous. I’m not saying it had to be this exact model, but this was the one we came up with and we had to come up with it pretty quickly. But without taking those budget cuts we were going to be cancelled.
[Logan note: Okay, I’m not that nuts! I went back and looked at my interview with Wheeler in the February 25, 2008 issue of TV Guide Magazine, in which she told me that the switch to the new production model followed a two-year viewer research project conducted by Procter & Gamble. Here’s what she said: “Our audience has been very clear to us. They don’t like the nonreality of soaps—the fake grass, the fact that people in Springfield never seem to go to work or actually do their jobs or take care of their children. They want the stories and characters they love but with the same sense of reality they get from Grey’s Anatomy and other nighttime shows.” Wheeler then ended the interview with: “This is not a desperate survival move. This is a creative, financially efficient way to move soap operas into the future. GL has always led the way.”]
You’ve certainly set new standards for how flexible actors and crew can be. Being on the set was a total guerilla experience. I’ve never seen so many people flying by the seat of their pants. I’m so proud of everyone at GL. They each looked around and saw how many people were involved in this show and dependent on their jobs, and it’s like they all took this communal leap. They didn’t just do it for themselves, they did it for everyone’s benefit. It was a scary leap, but they did it.
Any regrets? If you could climb into a time machine and go back two years, what would you change? It’s hard to say that I would do very much differently. At the time, we thought through as many possible scenarios as we could and came up with the one we felt was best at the time. I really like where the show ended up. I like the show! I like running into fans who say “I’ve never watched soap operas before but when I was flipping through the channels and I saw GL, I didn’t know what it was, but I started watching.” They started watching when it became something new! I thought we got to a marvelous place where all the elements were starting to really come together, so I don’t know that I would change very much.
I think people were surprised that [CBS Daytime chief] Barbara Bloom didn’t seem to know the cancellation was imminent and expressed shock when it happened. Word is, she was on your set—not long before the ax came down—expressing confidence that you guys would get a pickup. There are people above in every corporate structure. I can’t talk about what happens at CBS. I know for a fact how devoted P&G Productions has been to keeping their shows on the air. I’m not involved with the network. It would be up to them to answer that.
[Logan note: Bloom was invited to take part in TV Guide’s coverage of GL’s exit from the airwaves but her press rep at CBS did not want to relay the request if I was going to revisit the topic of cancellation. The rep was only willing to put in the request to Bloom if my angle was “what people loved about the show.” So that went no further.]
Were you shocked? That the show was canceled?
No, that Bloom was so out of the loop at CBS? That the network programmer who approved—and, we can assume, instigated—the extreme makeover of GL wasn’t involved in the ultimate fate of the show? Doesn’t this suggest that the empress has no clothes? This summer, [CBS Entertainment President] Nina Tassler got up on stage at TCA [the TV critics’ press tour] and pretty much signed the death warrant for As the World Turns. Maybe I’m reading too much into this, but there seems to be an increasing disconnect between the true powers-that-be and the network’s daytime division. I am never surprised by anything that goes on in corporate America. At the same time, I do understand that there is a bottom line and [deciding where that line is] is somebody else’s job. I’m glad it’s not been my job. I’m glad my job has been about telling stories.
The end of GL has triggered much talk in the media about the death of soaps. We had a tribute to GL at the Paley Center and a lot of our actors were talking about how the ’80s were the heyday of soap operas. But here’s what’s interesting: If you had talked to actors who came from the generation before this, they’d say that the heyday of soaps was the ’70s. The truth is, the heyday of soaps—ratings-wise—was actually the ’60s. We think soaps have been on a decline since the ’90s, but that’s not true. We’ve been on a decline since the ’60s—that’s four decades!—and here it is 2009 and soap operas are still here. That doesn’t make us a fast-sinking ship! It makes us a miracle! While other genres come and go, like sitcoms and westerns and doctor shows, we have remained. I guess I’m feeling honored to be a part of something that has found its way through so much, through so many trying times, and for so long.
It’s sort of hip and flip these days to call soaps “dinosaurs” when, in fact, the dinosaurs lasted longer than anything else on this planet. We’ve offered a historic breadth, a retrospective view of America for 72 years. Since before World War II we have been reflecting American life back at America and that’s an astounding thing. It’s sad for that to come to a close. I do understand that there is an almost hysterical scramble to figure out what’s next, but it should be acknowledged how amazing it is that soap operas have made it this far! It should be heralded! It shouldn’t be about “Look how soaps are failing.” No! It should be, “Look at how soaps have succeeded!” Now that should be the big media story.
Well said. GL had been seriously on the chopping block for 12 years. Instead of living in terror every day, we enjoyed every moment we had together. We didn’t know if we had two more months or 20 more years but we were not going to spend that time being terrified. We spent it loving each other and loving telling our stories to the audience. We made the decision to do that and we stuck to it. As sad as this is, most of us feel humbled to be part of this incredible show that was started by Irna Phillips. [Long pause. She chokes up and starts to cry.] To have been given the opportunity to work with this particular, very talented and courageous group of people—who were willing to take something this big to its conclusion—was the most blessed experience of my life.
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There were parts I liked and parts I disliked, but I thought it was a good finale, but not the best of the week; I thought Monday and Tuesday were much better.
The only times I really teared up today was when Bill told Fletcher that he missed Ben and Fletcher said so did he and with Josh and Reva.
One thing I really liked though was that in the end everyone was with who they needed to be with (Beth and Phillip, Dinah and Mallet, Rick and Mindy- which was a nice surprise, Alex and Fletcher, Ed and Holly- another nice surprise!, Josh and Reva, Billy and Vanessa, Olivia and Natalia) and I was glad to see that Danny and Michelle are still together and to hear from Nola that her and Quint are still together. All of those couple endings made me happy. The only thing I wish is that they would have said Bridget and Dylan had gotten back together because they looked awfully happy to see each other at the wedding lol.
I do wish that we had heard about some other characters from the past; I thought it was strange that no one mentioned Harley and Alan Michael these last few weeks.
and Im glad that Jeffrey and Edmund weren't seen or mentioned today; TOO MUCH TIME was spent on them the past few months.
and one more thing- seeing Fletcher go off with Alex and Holly leave with Ed made me think: whatever happened to their daughter with down syndrome?
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Posts: 441 | Location: Sands Point, Long Island | Registered: June 19, 2007
You're right about no mentions of Harley and Alan-Michael. I lost track of Alan-Michael, but I thought Harley presumably found a new relationship with a man in Greece (and raising her boys there).
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The ending (of the final episode) was kind of a let down, but it brought closure. I was hoping to see "On the Epilogue of Guiding Light", Ellen Wheeler talking to the writers, "You know, I don't know if it would make a good TV spin-off, how about a low-budget motion picture" (sound familiar?), Josh and Reva in old-people makeup at the lighthouse, in their stretchers, but I can't believe it's over...one of my friends fron school commented on my status and didn't know I was a GL fan (small world, BC)...
Originally posted by syrus80: Can someone explain to me what the heck happened to Jeffrey? I only watched Monday's episode and the last one.
Jeffrey is out in the world hunting down Edmund, who has threatened to cause harm to those Jeffrey loves. Jeffry has vowed to stay after Edmund until he finds him and kills him. The implication in the last scenes between Jeffrey and Edmund was just that. So, Jeffrey is not seen in the fast forward becasue he apparently has not killed Edmund. The only thing about that wrap up regarding this is that Jeffrey has been in contact with Jonathan ever since Jonathan returned home. So, either Jeffrey knows about Reva and Josh and accepts it since Jeffrey is resumed dead but is really after Edmund for Reva's sake or the writers have disregarded it. I think they showed the last Jeffrey and Edmund scene to let the fans know that Jeffrey and Edmund are still playing the cat and mouse game while Reva has moved on, clueless that Jeffrey is still alive and after Edmund for her sake.
This is the plot detail I was angry about, and I'm pretty sure that's clear now. I now feel the need to rant in full without being vague, since the episode has long since aired everywhere.
What the hell were they thinking!? To leave this big, gaping hole in a plot they spent so much time developing. To kill off Jeffrey and then bring him back to life. To spin this yarn about a cat-and-mouse game where Jeffrey has to make Reva believe he's still dead so he could kill Edmund, and then draw Jonathan into it and have him lie to his mother about it for, now, more than a year! To give us yesterday's episode, where Jeffrey and Edmund were within shouting distance of each other and to expect me to believe that a year later he still hasn't caught the douche-bag! And then the worst thing -- to give us this lovely, touching reunion between Josh and Reva that should have been a romantic crescendo but couldn't possibly work because there's this giant turd sitting on top of it: the fact that Jeffrey's alive and Jonathan knows about it while Reva is preparing to live happily ever after with her ex ... What the hell were they thinking!?
You might say that they left Jeffrey hanging because the endgame was Josh and Reva. If that was the case, why bring Jeffrey back to life when they had conveniently killed him off!? Why not let him stay dead and allow Reva and Josh to grow closer again? You didn't need the Jeffrey thing to facilitate Jonathan's return; Jonathan has returned a dozen times and didn't need a giant plot twist to do it. And we could have used all that utterly wasted Jeffrey-Edmund time instead to give Ed and Holly, say, one scene together before she agrees out of the blue to sail around the world with him. We could have used that time to better explain what was going on with Mallet and Dinah, because now Mallet looks like a colossal a-hole for running out on his wife and kid to play fugitive with his ex. We could have used that time to let Olivia and Natalia kiss, maybe even have sex. We could have used that time to facilitate a return for Marah, or Cassie. We could have used that time to stage one of the weddings earlier, so as not to end up with a finale week where a dozen couples either get engaged or married for the sake of hasty closure. (Unresolved characters? Easy, just march them down the aisle! Who with? Doesn't matter, as long as they smile and look happy before the show's cancelled.)
What were they thinking!?
That they didn't even deign to address this continent-sized plot hole when they reunited Josh and Reva demonstrates the most incompetent storytelling I've seen in my thirteen years of watching soaps. Because even when storylines are bad (GH's Stavroscicle, AMC's unabortion, DAYS's Melaswen), at least they're consistent within their own warped, maladjusted, freakazoid contexts. In contrast, this was a pivotal storyline undertaken as the show was ending its 72-year run without an intention or a plan to finish it. So they just dropped it, ignored the whopping illogic of it, and crafted an ending that doesn't hold up to even the most superficial scrutiny.
I seem to be the rain on everybody's parade about this show when everyone's trying to be nostalgic and give the benefit of the doubt. I apologize if I come off as a buzz-kill, but it makes me angry that Ellen Wheeler and company ran roughshod over this show and ran it into the ground even to its dying day. I've only watched GL for the better part of a decade, but the show's true fans, its longtime fans for decades or even generations, deserved better than to be treated like this on the way out.
"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)
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