By 
Yes, it’s true. My Guiding Light Editorial Column is back after a very long four year hiatus and I will wholeheartedly agree that it’s wonderful to have it back again here at TVSource Magazine. Many of you have known me for years over at Guiding Light City as “Hey! It’s Just My Point Of View!” was first originated, but who could ever forget my co-recapper days of Guiding Light over at ‘The Buzz’ back in 2005 when I lived in Chicago and I gave you the early recap scoop in the morning?
Hey! It’s Just My Point Of View!
BY: NOEL D.
TVS TV COLUMNIST
Tuesday, July 29, 2008, 12:31 AM
Yes, it’s true. My Guiding Light Editorial Column is back after a very long four year hiatus and I will wholeheartedly agree that it’s wonderful to have it back again here at TVSource Magazine. Many of you have known me for years over at Guiding Light City as “Hey! It’s Just My Point Of View!” was first originated, but who could ever forget my co-recapper days of Guiding Light over at ‘The Buzz’ back in 2005 when I lived in Chicago and I gave you the early recap scoop in the morning? I had a lot of fun back then as I remember the Guiding Light recaps were such a delicious treat. Because I actually saw Guiding Light viewers who were so eager to know what happened on that very day, but now, you don’t find so much of that anymore. Being here at Soap Opera Source is truly unique as the Administration staff are nothing but very genuine people, so it is my distinct privilege not to mention an honorable pleasure to call them my friends. So without further adieu, I would like to be able to thank them for providing us with a new and refreshing soap-opera web site that thousands and thousands of soap fanatics can be able to frequent on a regular basis.
For this weeks Guiding Light Editorial Column, it thought that it would be a great idea to introduce myself or re-introduce myself if that makes any sense. Some of you have known me for such a long time, but then again, some of you are probably wondering who I am. I have probably watched Guiding Light for nearly 28 years. Some of those years have been loyal and passionate while other years, it’s been not so loyal and passionate. And I have to let this out and say it because I like being an honest person, but there have also been years where I stopped watching Guiding Light altogether for a long period of time.
I remember back when I was five years old, my mother watched her CBS Daytime line-up and after As The World Turns, I was ready to watch some cartoons because I had enough of the drama that my mother always wanted to cling onto. I wanted to watch He-Man: Masters Of The Universe and Scooby Doo Mysteries, but my mother always had to have her way- you know? But when you’re five years old, you barely remember things. I hardly remember some of the Guiding Light story lines like the Dreaming Death Virus or Ed/Maureen/Fletcher/Claire stuck in Beirut and Ed sleeping with Claire. I kind of remember the days of Tony and Annabelle and Annabelle being on a boat in the middle of a pond or a lake and she’s whacking her paddle at something or somebody. I sort of remember when Alan Spaulding told his son Phillip that he was not his biological father. Lets see … what else? There were the Four Musketeers and I vaguely remember the love story of Beth and Lujack. But these were the stories that never captured my interest because I was too young to be able to understand them.
So, when did I start becoming addicted to Guiding Light? I believe it all started back in 1988 or 1989 when Fletcher Reade and Alexandra Spaulding were involved in a plane crash and were stuck on a deserted island and the return of Roger Thorpe. And Sonni Carrera having a split personality named Solita conspiring with Will Jeffries to kill Josh Lewis and take off with his fortune. Meredith Reade cheating on Rick Bauer with his best friend Phillip Spaulding. Alan Spaulding’s subsequent rise from his wheelchair. Those were the days where I would read Soap Opera Digest and I would pay attention to the Nielsen ratings because I wanted Guiding Light to get out of that #7 slot and rise to the top! And it did. Well … you know what I mean.
The early 90’s for Guiding Light were some of the best years for any Guiding Light viewer. I will admit and tell you that when the show decided to kill off Maureen Bauer, I was one of those enraged viewers who boycotted the show and decided to watch General Hospital. I tried watching General Hospital for about a week, but I couldn’t because it wasn’t my ‘Light’. It wasn’t my ‘Light’ to guide me in my deep darkest hour and it certainly wasn’t a refuge that I wanted to come to because it didn’t feel like home. So, without any form of hesitation, I went straight back to Guiding Light and I accepted the fact that my Maureen Bauer was gone for good.
After former Executive Producer Jill Farren Phelps had left in 1994 I believe (which is funny now because she’s General Hospital’s present Executive Producer), Guiding Light was the pits. I watched very little of the Matt and Vanessa falling in love rubbish and then you had a psycho named Brent Lawrence who drugged and date-raped Lucy Cooper and he dressed around as a woman named Marion and switched blood tests to make it look like Lucy Cooper was HIV positive. Then, there was Eve Guthrie who died of cancer and I didn’t even care. Those were the days that I never really cared to tune in.
Then came along Annie Dutton who made me want to watch the show again. I’ll save my love for Annie Dutton in another Editorial Column down the road, but Guiding Light was fantastic with Annie and her machinations and Dinah Marler and her destructive schemes. And nobody played Dinah Marler better than Wendy Moniz! I don’t care what you Gina Tognoni fans have to say about that LOL!
Gah! I’m trying to keep this column sweet and simple, but I have literally been on an emotional roller-coaster ride with this show because its been through so many trials and tribulations. It’s comical how you reflect on the past and you wish that Guiding Light could have just stayed that way. But this is the present and we have to live in the present. Even if it means now that we have to see some cartoonish character like Alan Spaulding killing another bumblebee. And the camera zooming in on that freaking dead bumblebee. Believe me, I miss the days where I was so eager to watch the show because I loved it and I couldn’t get enough of it. I miss the days where I would watch the Daytime Emmy Awards and scream to the rooftop when Guiding Light would win for Outstanding Lead Actress, Outstanding Supporting Actor, or Best Writing. I just miss my Guiding Light and I want it back.
Don’t get me wrong as I’m trying not to sound too pessimistic. I’m still a viewer of the show, but instead of watching it ‘Live’ or on Tivo, I watch it on the Internet. That’s how bad my loyalties and devotions have changed with an old dear beloved friend of mine. Right now, Guiding Light has become one of those irritating chores that you feel like procrastinating and you put it aside for the next day or the next instead of just watching it simply for the sweet escape. The show is like visiting someone near and dear to you at a retirement home. As someone so eloquently put it … “It’s always nice to see them, but it’s not always necessarily a pleasant visit.”
I’ll try to be optimistic as much as I can because we need some good commentary on Guiding Light. And that’s something that seems to be fading these days regardless of the fact that it’s the longest running show in television history. Until then, I’ll see you next week!
Coming up next on “Hey! It’s Just My Point Of View!”
Guiding Light’s new filming format: Which filming formats have hitched and which filming formats need to be ditched?
Comments