Guiding Light
July 19, 2009
- Since 1992, fans of Guiding Light have enjoyed Elizabeth Keifer in the role of Blake Thorpe Marler. With the shooting schedule on GL incredibly tight as the show winds down its run on CBS, Liz was generous enough to set aside time to talk to me me on a Sunday afternoon. We talked about the unique perspective she brings to GL as both a long-time viewer and a key cast member, taking on an ...
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July 15, 2009
- it was a lovely wedding. yes, there was a lot if silliness in the runup. a wedding cake of twinkies held together with canned whipped cream? the wrong date on the invitations? unless i missed something, the spauldings are still rich, aren't they? it's easy to lose track. i've never been a huge fan of bill and lizzie as a couple, but what made this wedding work for me was the inclusion of so ...
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July 9, 2009
- Long time viewers of Guiding Light know Tina Sloan as the actress who has played the role of Lillian Raines for 26 years. While many of the old school GL characters have long gone by the wayside, Lillian has remained and, even when she hasn't been involved in front burner story lines, she's been an integral part of Springfield. To many, Lillian Raines, R.N. is the conscience of Springfield. She ...
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June 28, 2009
- then soap opera is like hollandaise sauce. Making hollandaise is tricky business. It's an emulsion, and you have to keep whisking; add the butter to the eggs too quickly, the whole thing separates and falls apart. And so it is with how soap opera viewers suspend disbelief. The very nature of soaps demands more of viewers than other dramatic media when it comes to suspending disbelief. It's a ...
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June 24, 2009
- waylaid by another project this week, so i won't get to a proper post until the weekend. but i just want to say "welcome back" to peter simon's ed bauer on guiding light. watching his scenes today with grant aleksander's phillip reminded me of everything this show used to be. and they were real scenes, with real conversation, and moments that resonated with subtext and history. even ...
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June 19, 2009
- My friend, Robert, and I have been soap fans for many years and, as such, I consider us to be sort of experts on the subject. We don't just know a lot about the characters, the plot lines, the family histories in Springfield, Genoa City, Oakdale, etc....but we know about how soap opera works, as a genre. We know the shape and structure of daily soap. We know how it differs from, say, the ...
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June 15, 2009
- Last week's news that Crystal Chappell will be returning to Days of Our Lives pretty much assures that Guiding Light's 72-year run will end on September 18th. I say "pretty much" because to quote Yogi Berra, "it ain't over ‘til it's over." But, all things being equal... Anyway. I got to thinking about something I wrote in late March, as rumors of Guiding Light's imminent ...
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June 14, 2009
- Jumping the Shark:a term used by TV Critics and fans to denote the point in a TV show or movie series' history where the plot veers off into absurd story lines or out-of-the-ordinary characterizations. Many fans of Guiding Light point to the death of Maureen Bauer in 1993 as the moment their favorite soap jumped the shark. I respectfully disagree. I was a fan of Ellen Parker's portrayal of ...
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June 12, 2009
- If you watched Guiding Light on June 10, 2009, you didn't just watch Olivia Spencer walk into a store and shop for a vibrator. You watched a television milestone.Think about it - when was the last time you turned on the television at 3pm, and watched the better part of an hour devoted to a female character's sexual frustration? When was the last time you saw an attractive female character opt out ...
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June 9, 2009
- If your browser has trouble with the formatting of this piece, it is also available for viewing at a my other blog site, which is compatible with most browsers. Sometimes we parents have to make very difficult decisions to protect our children. - Alan SpauldingIn creating the Otalia story line, the writers of Guiding Light have been careful to craft parallels between traditional and ...
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