Guiding Light Discussion Group -- I am sad, and I am not trying to be negative...

Guiding Light Discussion Group

Topic: I am sad, and I am not trying to be negative...

Topic Posted by: Danni97
Date Posted: Tue Apr 29 23:21:25 2008
Additional Comments:

Honestly, I just feel like expressing myself to other long time fans of GL. I have posted now and then on this bulletin board for over 5 years...I have lost track of time, it could be more/less.

I have been watching this show since the early 80's - religiously! I will say that for the last 15 years or so, I have been taping it - EVERY day. I have ALWAYS kept up with the show. For the first time since junior high (and I will be 40 next year) I have missed episodes, and I have not cared that I have missed them! I find myself fast forwarding through 90% of the episodes that I do tape.

It's not the new sets, or the hand held cameras (sometimes this type of filming feels more "real"). I have a problem with the overall stories, and the fact that soooo many characters have been ruined.

Of course, like any soap fan, over the years, I have (at times) been irritated with story lines, etc. However, this is the first time that I am "apathetic" to most of the characters and almost ALL of the story lines.

To tell you the truth - it makes me sad. I feel like that I have lost a reliable friend. Does that make sense? I work a ton of hours (I am a CPA/accountant), I have what I call a full life - with family and friends, but through the years, I have also found it comforting to catch up with GL every week (whenever I could sneak it in). It's been a constant in life - cheesy, I know - but it's the truth.

Anyway, I feel like a part of what I have enjoyed so much over the years if fading away. It's just a bummer.

I just felt like sharing in a way that is not meant to be "negative", just "heart-felt" - I know that many others feel the same way.

Posted by: L.A.
Date posted: Thu May 1 0:30:12 2008
Message:
I think all the sadness is overrated. The show seems to be giving it a better go lately. The camera seems to have found a softer lens look(not so many zits or nosehairs appearing)and the writing seems to have followed, slightly. I think they may have sneeked some female writers in the room while the boys weren't looking. Fingers crossed..

Replies: (list all replies)

Disagree. Even yesterday, I felt so sorry for KZ as the camera showed every wringle, etc. on her face and around her eyes. Who would want that. Its terrible. The camera shots are not flattering to certain actors. I don't see things getting better, I think more people are just getting to use to this terrible, terrible idea. And it has nothing to do with the emergence of HD or digital TV as someone suggested. Its just bad and lazy camera work.

Tweety: It DOES have to do w/the format change. They can't be taping the show the way they were, because that wasn't in the HD/Digital format. The pores & wrinkles is part of the HD issue. That has to do w/the new makeup techniques that are needed because of the detail that HD has. Having been on a set where someone had to change wardrobe every few minutes because of the increased detail of HD--picking up EVERY detail & flaw in incredible detail & amplifying it--HD does have a lot to do w/the issues. Not so much about the blocking & shaky cameras, or the lousy storytelling though. eom

Posted by: fee
Date posted: Wed Apr 30 22:28:57 2008
Message:

Danni, I've gone through times when the show doesn't interest me much. And I'll quit watching. But within a couple weeks, I can't stand it; I just have to go back. Not because of the stories, but because I actually MISS the people! Beth, Alan, Lillian, Lizzie, Dinah, Vanessa, Billy, Reva, Josh, Rick, Alex, Phillip (I miss him SO much), Alan-Michael, (I miss him so much, too!), Mallett, Buzz. Not nearly as many as it used to be, but it's like they get under your skin, and you just really want to see them. I think through the years the most important thing GL has had going for it is character development. That is the one thing that has remained stable through all the regimes. They make the characters real, and like you know them and they're your friends. So I know just what you're talking about!

I even finally started liking Gus and Natalia. I really could even start liking Harlot and could like this Cassie, if they'd make them likeable more often. I've watched this show (off and on) since Peggy Fletcher was a kid, and Bert and Meta sat around having coffee together, with Papa Bauer and Dr. Jackson. I was tiny then, but I remember them! Sara McIntyre, Paul Fletcher, all those people. It's hard to give up something you've been with that long. There are still characters to this day that I'm really attached too, just like there were when I was a child.

You are not alone!

Posted by: the Ricker
Date posted: Wed Apr 30 15:54:10 2008
Message:
We are roughly the same age and began watching the same time. There have been "off" years for the show, esp. with a single storyline here and there, but I always watched because of the characters. I DO NOT like or care about ANY of these characters any more. That makes me sooo sad. I've stopped posting too much here, also, for fear of being too negative.

Posted by: Rosebud1
Date posted: Wed Apr 30 13:35:00 2008
Message:
ICAM! It stopped being a challenge to decide on whether to tape GH or GL long ago. In fact, there was a time when Passions was even a more interesting candidate for taping!

I remember when I was sitting on the edge of my seat during entire episodes, not just on the odd occasion. I also remember when, even when I taped the show, I couldn't wait to get home to watch. That hasn't been the case for a very long time, unfortunately.

I would LOVE to have a 'difficult' choice to make--whether to tape GH, Martha Stewart or GL. But I don't see that happening anytime soon.

Posted by: Leprechaun
Date posted: Wed Apr 30 8:14:15 2008
Message:

I agree with you 100%, danni. GUIDING LIGHT has been a mental vacation from "real life" in my life for 25 years now and I'm definitely going through a grieving period now that they seem determined to let it die a painful and unnatural death.

Everything they've done wrong in the past few years can be "fixed". We saw a glimpse of that when Jonathan returned a couple of months ago and they actually filmed a scene in the beautiful Bauer kitchen set and they actually had a cliffhanger when Alan came bursting into the church with a gun. For a split second there, it was as if the LIGHT we loved was back on.

But with the new format, they seem to have given up all hope of consistent characterization and coherent storytelling and it's a real shame.

Posted by: louisa
Date posted: Wed Apr 30 7:58:22 2008
Message:
Danni07, I feel the same way, but because I had to stop watching this past June when my job hours changed. Too lazy to tape & right now from the 2 shows I've watched with the new format, I would not care to tape. It is just plain SAD!!