A Model of Production - Part Two

One of the most significant changes that came with Ellen Wheeler's new production model was the introduction of more frequent outdoor scenes. Using Peapack, New Jersey as a backdrop, Wheeler gave the people of Springfield more freedom than they'd ever had to do something most of us take for granted: go outside. It was, for the most part, a welcome change.

Where the new sets were extremely limiting and, by and large, ugly, the fact that Wheeler expanded Springfield to include a park with a lake, land around the Bauer house, the Spaulding mansion, and the farmhouse, a church exterior and a cemetery brought some realism to Guiding Light. We got to see Olivia getting into a real car and driving. We got used to the idea that the bench by the lake was a place many residents of Springfield went to when they had things to work out in solitude. Instead of playing out on a soundstage with astroturf, potted plants and fans blowing to create an illusion of wind, the annual Bauer BBQ actually took place in a very real back yard, with real grass and trees. For the most part, the exterior scenes have worked well, even though the video lacks the warmth of film. The exterior scenes of the farm house, with it's big porch, lush lawn, and stand of trees in the background, are especially nice.

Most notable of the outdoor scenes under the new production model, in my opinion, would be Olivia's big reveal at the cemetery. This scene is teeming with raw emotion stemming, in part, from the fact that Olivia spends the first half of it by herself, talking to Gus' grave. She doesn't realize that Natalia has approached and is just 15 feet away. The scene wouldn't and couldn't work on a set or soundstage. Even the weather was on Guiding Light's side on the day of filming - the overcast sky helps set the bittersweet mood of the scene. Sunshine would have looked ridiculous. Filming outdoors also allowed for the physical proximity of the two characters - imagine how silly this scene would have played out if filmed in even the best of the new GL sets - Natalia three feet away from Olivia, instead of 10 or 15 feet away. It's about as perfect a dramatic scene as you're likely to see on television.

Sadly, the change in production model was, as I've written, all about a need to drastically cut the production costs of Guiding Light. During the show's heyday, when revenue from soaps were subsidizing network news programming, there was money to burn. In those days, actors and crew would pack their bags and head out for elaborate location shoots. These were usually a lot of fun, and they weren't wasteful: location shoots were driven by plot, and not the other way around.

Matt and Vanessa didn't meet in Springfield. The story line called for Vanessa to be out of her element in every way possible: away from Springfield, away from the board room, away from the designer business suits and power lunches. In order for Vanessa to be open this new chapter in her life, she needed to get outside, in the sun, away from her comfort zone. In order for the viewers to accept Vanessa doing something so uncharacteristic - having a passionate fling with a much younger man who she barely knew - we needed to see her far away from the trappings of her real life. From a practical point of view, there was no logical way for Matt and Vanessa to cross paths unless she went off for a week in the country: he wasn't likely to be found hanging around the offices of Spaulding Enterprises or Lewis oil. He wasn't the sort of guy you'd expect to meet by the pool at the Springfield Country Club. Matt and Vanessa's initial encounter only worked because it was a location shoot.

The Roger/Holly Santo Domingo location shoot is, by now, the stuff of soap opera legend. Again, the story line called for the characters to be far away from familiar Springfield. Holly certainly couldn't be within reach of a multitude of friends and neighbors willing to help her. If anything, the story called for her to be far, far away, enjoying a false sense of security in a foreign land. The rainforest of Santo Domingo provided a perfect backdrop for a series of hot, sweaty, edge-of-your seat chase scenes, culminating if Roger's deadly drop off a cliff. Or so it seemed.

The Verdict

I call this a tie.

In terms of including realistic outdoor scenes on a regular basis, thus expanding the world of

Guiding Light to include more of the natural world, the new production model scores well. Without it, we

never would have had a gazebo scene, or that wonderful shot of Natalia, Emma and Olivia entering the

church hand-in-hand.

In terms of beautifully filmed location shots that support and enrich a story line, the old model scores, big

time. We're not likely to see stories that are this well-written, supported by such lush, gorgeous location

shots on daytime television again.

A Model of Production - Part One

Much has been said about Guiding Light's "new production model", a lot of it by people who have no idea what the old production model was like. As a long-time viewer, I remember well what the old model was like - the sprawling sets, the warmth of film, the tight editing, the flexibility, the sound quality, the lighting, the musical score. For me, the old way of doing things wins this competition, hands down.

Before I go any further, I need to make one thing clear: Guiding Light was not cancelled due to the new production model. The new production model came about in an attempt to prevent the show's demise. Ellen Wheeler and others have stated, in no uncertain terms, that the changes made were made for financial reasons. The "new" model was, in fact, the "cheap" model, and it looks it. That said, having spoken at length with several people who were at the coal face for these changes, I have nothing but respect for every actor, every camera operator, every single crew member who stuck with the show and made the best of a lousy situation. In many ways, I feel it was a labor of love for them to continue producing a show under conditions that others might have found impossible to work under. 

Springfield, Circa 1994 - The Sets

In 1994, Springfield, USA (that's right, Springfield was always Anywhere, USA...not Illinois as has been implied during the last couple of years - there was never any intention to try and pass off this sleepy, little town to television viewers as Springfield, Illinois) had some grand buildings: 

• The Spaulding mansion - so stately, with big rooms and rich-looking furniture. 
  
• Vanessa's house - warm and inviting, with that great stairway off to the side of the living room, by the front door: the perfect place to stand and eavesdrop on what was going on in the rest of the house or even the front garden. Vanessa's house had an upstairs, with large bedrooms, and even a bathroom, that we saw - a rarity on daytime television. 
  
• Towers restaurant - a huge rooftop eatery with two levels, big tables, wide aisles, fine linens, elegant waitstaff,  a grand piano, and live entertainment. Oh, and a panoramic view of Springfield.
  
• The Springfield Country Club - the hub of activity for the town's movers and shakers, the country club boasted a large cocktail room with a long bar, a dining room flooded with natural light coming through grand, French doors that led to the stone patio and outdoor area, where a fountain flowed. The country club also had a huge, elegant ballroom - big enough for every member of the community to comfortably attend a wedding or awards ceremony - which one entered dramatically via curving stairway. 
• The lighthouse - a nod to the show's name and history, and home to anyone lucky enough to rent this quirky home from Ed Bauer 
• Spaulding Industries and Lewis Oil had offices, the former austere, the latter less formal, but still business-like. And windows - the offices had windows.
• On 5th street, there was the Diner - a traditional, all-American spot with chrome-and-formica tables, counter service, and a juke box. And a pay phone that played a key role in so many dramas.
• Holly's house - an open plan living/dining area and kitchen, a fireplace, lots of windows, two bedrooms, a basement - was just a short walk from the diner. 
• A drive out of town led to the Jessup farm - pretty much abandoned since the death of Hart's grandfather, its screened-in porch the only room Hart could bring himself to inhabit. 

Other Springfield sites included WSPR offices and studios, the Bauer house, the Boarding House, the Springfield Banner offices, Blake and Ross' house, and Mindy's studio, where the women of Springfield went to be fitted for formal dresses. And, of course, Cedars Hospital, with its full E.R., O.R. and waiting room. 

These were sets - not actual rooms. They allowed for multiple stationary cameras shooting from different angles. They allowed for large group scenes to be shot. The lighting didn't come from a switch on the wall, but from a lighting crew who specialized in lighting for television. There was flexibility. The open nature of the country club and Towers sets, for instance, made it possible to film large-scale events such as weddings, and have characters move around from inside to outside, from room to room. Under this production model and with these sets, an entire episode might revolve around one setting. Picture it: Towers. Roger and Holly sit at one table, Roger pretending to listen to Holly's concerns about Blake's newest scrape, while actually planning in his head to crash the upcoming Spaulding board meeting and stage a coup. Alan-Michael is at another table trying to talk Vanessa into voting his way at the next meeting of the Spaulding board. By the grand piano is Gilly at the mike, singing a jazz number. Hampton stands at the mezzanine level, where he confides in Billy his suspicions about Gilly and Alan-Michael. At the bar, Nick and Fletcher are getting slightly tipsy, scanning the room, talking about women, and trying to figure out how someone as smart and sensible as Holly can stand to be with Roger. Enter Ed and Eve who are out for a civilized dinner date with no drama - highly unlikley, given the fact that Ed can't help noticing Holly and Eve can't help noticing Nick. There's even more tension when Vanessa notices that Ed is with Eve, who she doesn't like or trust, given Eve's history of stalking and threatening Mindy. How can Ed have this crazy woman in his life, in his home, in Maureen's home, where Maureen's little girl lives?

That'd be a whole episode, right there, and a full one. It would have everything a good soap episode should have: character interaction, relationship issues, family dynamics, friendship,  politics, business dealings, cross-over/overlapping story lines, tension, secrets, and numerous nods to history and continuity. An episode such as this could easily have been filmed during the 1990s - the vast, flexible, well-built sets made it possible. In fact, there were lots of episodes of Guiding Light such as this mock-up during the 90s: mini-movies that made the most of just one or two sets, involved a large number of characters weaving in and out of, and interacting within three or four or five plot lines. There were party episodes where the only set used was Towers or the Country Club. New Year's Eve episodes where the action switched back and forth between Towers and the 5th Street Diner, illustrating the contrast between Springfield's haves and have-nots. Episodes focusing on medical emergencies where all of the action took place at Cedars.

Try doing this with Guiding Light's final sets. It's impossible. As GL winds down, Towers is a claustrophobic mess where even a high roller such as Olivia sits at a tiny table by the front door - because it isn't an old-school set, but an actual room with four walls, and a few crappy pieces of furniture. No room for multiple stationary cameras. No room for those long shots of Hampton walking from table to table to bar, checking in on the dozens of diners and touching base with the goings on of Springfield's elite. No room for the grand piano, let alone live entertainment. The "new" Towers is a rooftop restaurant with no sweeping view. 

In my opinion, of the new Guiding Light sets - all small, closed rooms with four walls and very little space for actors to move around - the only one that really works is the farmhouse. It looks and feels like the real thing. People who have visited the set remark on how tiny the farmhouse living room really is, but it doesn't look or feel small on television. There's an organic flow between kitchen and living room that actually does make possible, with a little help from a video editor,  shots of characters moving about from room to room/upstairs to downstairs. Of course, Natalia and Frank's engagement party had to be limited to a very small group of people, attending in shifts, because five actors and a couple of camera operators using hand-held cameras is about all that room can hold. It worked, though, and the lighting looks fine - especially in the kitchen.

Most of the other new sets sit on the other end of the spectrum. Affluent, successful people such as Josh Lewis and Olivia Spencer work out of tiny, bleak offices without windows, and have furniture that looks as if it's from Ikea. WSPR seems to have downsized and moved to a dusty abandoned building. Cedars is made up of several phone booth-sized areas covered in faux wood grain wallpaper. So small are the hospital sets that Alan and Phillip looked like a father/son traveling company of Gulliver's Travels as they tried their best to make a couple of small gurneys look like actual hospital beds. And don't get me started on the lighting that magnifies every pore, every blemish on an actor's face. Grotesque. Springfield's stately homes of yore? All but completely gone. The Spaulding mansion basically consists of a cheap-looking mock-up of Monticello - the quality of which would be acceptable for a school play. Alan Spaulding's living room looks smaller than Natalia's living room! Marina and Mallet's home looks like a shrine to Howard Johnson's. The other Springfield homes? With the exception of Reva, just about everyone else in town seems to live and get their business done at The Beacon. What the fuck???? Phillip doesn't even get a room - he conducts business via cell phone from a bench outside of Olivia and Emma's "suite." Huh? 

Overall, the sets are a failure. 

I chose these clips because they provide a decent cross-section of GL sets during the 1990s - they're not related in terms of content, which isn't what I was focusing on when I chose them.

The Country Club's Banquet Room

Cedars

The 5th Street Diner/Holly's house (not the best example of this) /Executive office at Spaulding Enterprises

In Part 2: Outside? - Shooting outdoors and on location

Real Life (Sometimes) Happens Like This - Episode Breakdown

9/10/09

Otalia

A pretty damned sweet day for Otalia, but with a few bumps in the road for me. Having been forced to accept the unacceptable (Natalia basically getting away with putting my Olivia through hell) I'm pleased with the way these two characters are interacting with one another and exuding as much love and sensuality as is humanly possible for two people who are basically handcuffed and kept at arm's length.  Yeah, this isn't a picture of Otalia. It's a picture of Olivia. But she's wearing that jogging suit and her hair is pulled back, and she's so freaking pretty. Is there a law against loving beautiful things?

Telling Emma

There's something about this scene that captures the true spirit of Otalia (prior to July 4th) - it's a little domestic gem. Not a big drama, but one of the little scenes that make up our lives. Early Otalia was all about this - about how women who love other women aren't other people living other kinds of lives. They - we - are just like everyone else. We stumble. We laugh. We play Scrabble. We watch TV. We argue over how to decorate the house. We love our kids. We get hangovers.  The big "telling Emma" scene was great because it was kept simple. We've always known that Emma was pretty damned on top of things, and that she wouldn't be traumatized. There was no need for drama, so it was wise of the writers to leave the drama out of it. Like so many real-life children I've known, Emma took the truth at face value, and moved on. She's moving back to the her beloved farm, she gets to see Natalia every day, she'll have a baby sister, and her mother is happy and in love. What's not to be happy about? Why would she be phased? I mean, look at her character's history: every year or so she finds out a parent is dead or dying, or she's introduced to a new relative she never knew existed. Mom is in love with Natalia? Yeah? So what? I could have told you that, months ago. Do I get my old room back? A shout out to little Jackie Tsirkin, who has such great screen presence and who has been great ever since she took on the role of Emma in 2007. 

Moving In and Rafe

The moving in really was like the old-fashioned barn-raising that I described in another blog post, when I talked about what GL should have done re the Bill/Lizzie house. The whole thing was pretty sweet, even if it does drive home the whole "it takes a village" thing that bugs me so much. What isn't ok, in my opinion, is the fact that it seems as if Rafe is going to get a free pass for the crap he's been handing out to Olivia and Natalia. He shows up and moves a few boxes and all is forgiven? Not in my book. He hasn't even apologized, and it doesn't look as if he has any intention to do so. This is not a message I'm happy about GL putting out there as it shuts down - that being shitty and abusive and bigoted to/intolerant of fags is ok, because it takes "normal" people a while to get adjusted to new things. Bullshit. And, yes, I picked the worst picture of E.J. Bonilla I could find because I hate Rafe that much. Sorry, E.J. - I actually think you're cute and talented. 

There was some goofy editing that played a part in this section of the show: where the hell did Daisy suddenly come from? How did Josh hear about Olivia's move, and where the hell did he leave the two babies he was supposed to be watching? How did Billy start out with Buzz to check on Alan's status, and end up sitting at a table with Lillian and Frank in Natalia's back yard? Ehhhh...who cares?

Frank's Reactions

Again, I'm happy with the way Frank has been portrayed in all of this. He doesn't exactly look comfortable about Olivia and Natalia moving in together or telling Emma that they're a couple, but he doesn't verbally object to it. This is realistic. No one can force a person to approve or agree with their life choices - but we all have the right to expect our loved ones to show tolerance. In real life, it does often take heterosexual people a while to get over their discomfort re homosexuality - I think this is where Frank is. Unlike Rafe, though, he's civilized enough to look at the situation and recognize that what exists between Natalia and Olivia isn't really about him and that, at the end of the day, they don't need his approval. They need his help moving. They also want his friendship, and he's clearly moving towards a place where he can be a friend who is comfortable with them being a couple. My own mother never, ever said anything negative about my choosing as a life partner another woman. She never once suggested I try to date men. She never asked me why I identified as a lesbian. I told her the truth and she accepted it.  I never for moment doubted my mother's love. I did, however, know that she wasn't initially 100% comfortable about my being a lesbian - even as she accepted it. She accepted it because she loved me. She became comfortable with it because enough time passed that it started to feel just like anything else about me: I'm left-handed, I'm a writer, I love soap operas, I'm a lesbian. Today, my mother is not only comfortable with my homosexuality,but she loves my partner, considers her a family member, always gets her the best gifts, and is disappointed when she can't accompany me on visits. Real life sometimes happens like this. 

Yes, I've run out of good pics of Frank D., and this one made me happy. 

Doris and Ashlee 

The Gazebo

Ashlee is good for Rafe. He can learn a lot from her. Unfortunately, he hasn't learned that saying "I'm sorry" is the traditional first step towards making amends when one has been a complete and utter asshole. I really liked Ashlee's take on Olivia and Natalia as a couple. Simple and logical - two things I wouldn't expect from Ashlee, but she delivered. For heaven's sake, they've been joined at the hip for about a year. Natalia is the only one on earth who seems able to handle Olivia. Olivia has been the only one to believe in Natalia's abilities. They're able to work and live together and still get along. They do a great job of sharing domestic and parental responsibilities. How could anyone NOT think they make a pretty good couple? Of course, Ashlee has only so much room for logic. Thank God Daisy has become the Albert Einstein of Springfield's young set - without her, would Ashlee ever have thought to make clear to Doris that the gay thing was no big deal?? Jeez.

And, because it needs to be said again and again: Rafe is a fucking asshole who should be on his knees, begging Olivia and Natalia for forgiveness. 

The Mother/Daughter Moment

Lovely. Enough said. Oh, yeah - yay for letting Orlagh Cassidy look pretty!

The Spauldings

Again, I'm loving this story line. There wasn't a lot of meat, today, but I loved the scene between James and Alan. For someone like me, who remembers Alan and Phillip's many years of struggle, the James/Alan dynamic is a redemption of sorts. Honorable mention to Marj Dusay and Ron Raines: thank God they thought to give Alexandra a word or two to say, and that they 

were so true to history. Alan and Alex have always had a fierce and passionate sibling bond. I know some newbies have mentioned feeling weird about a brother and sister being so close but, again, real life is sometimes like this. Alex and Alan remind me of a late aunt and uncle of mine who were especially close - the were best friends who relied on one another, supported one another, and always seemed to share secrets. One of them was always bailing the other one out of trouble. They also argued like cats and dogs.  It wasn't sick or dysfunctional: they were close in age, had very similar personalities, and related to one another almost as if they were twins. When my aunt died, her little brother became despondent. I don't think he ever recovered from losing his best friend. 

Billy/Buzz/Frank/Lillian

It's fitting that four of GL's veteran characters should be the ones to take stock of what richness they have before them. This is all a bit of nothing, but it's a sweet, touching, moving sort of nothing. The scene with Billy and Frank at the table was evidently the last scene filmed. The last GL scene, ever. Knowing this made me choke up a bit as I watched it. Billy Lewis, I've watched you go through how many struggles with your demons? You somehow kept me liking you, even when you put my Vanessa through hell, married Nadine, and shot Roger. You've got a heart the size of Texas (or Oklahoma.) I'm going to miss you, you big lug. 

I preferred this awesome picture of Buzz and Lillian to any I found of Jordan Clarke. Sorry, mate.

Jonathan, Reva, Josh 

Who? Whatever. 

Tiny, Little, Almost Negligible Moment of Awesomeness

Olivia and Jonathan running into one another. "Auntie O"!!! IMO, Crystal Chappell is basically the Alec Baldwin of chicks. By that, I mean she's so fucking playful and fun and awesome and I want to go out and get drunk and raise hell with her. I think Tom Pelphrey feels the same way, because they bring out the brat in one another. Jonathan's reaction to his Aunt having a girlfriend? Spot on. (Olivia was like this with her brother, Sam, too - why didn't they bring Sam back? I loved him.) 

And, yeah, this picture has bugger all to do with Olivia and Jonathan, but it's a great picture of the Olivia I want to hang with. Plus, you can never have too many pictures of Olivia.

A Day of Nines - episode breakdown

With only eight episodes to go (including today's), I've decided to write a little bit about each episode that airs. Bear with me, some of these folks have been my friends for decades. I expect this to be a little bit of a catharsis.

9/9/09

Otalia's Reunion

I'm warming up to Olivia's decision to give in and get on with the business of being officially "with" Natalia for two reasons: 1) we're running out of time, and I'll be happier to see these two end up together than apart, as the lights dim on Springfield and 2) Crystal Chappell is really good at projecting joy and wonder and, when Liv is happy, I'm happy. 

A couple of people I talked to were less than thrilled with Natalia's reaction to Olivia's "I love you" and felt she should have returned the sentiment. I'm not Nat's biggest fan right now, but I was fine with the way she handled it. First of all, I'm not in favor of saying "I love you" just because someone else has said it. Second, I thought it showed us something we hadn't really seen, lately: Natalia actually listening to Olivia, instead of just waiting for her turn to talk. It worked for me. I thought it was sweet, and I thought it was significant. 

As an old friend of mine used to say, "If you like it, I fucking love it." If it makes you happy, Olivia Spencer, I'm there. You got your girl - that's what matters. And I no longer have any expectations, except that I'll need Kleenex on September 18th.

Naming the Baby: Cut a Guy Some Slack

So, we have Liv and Nat together as head-butting, face-touching, hand-holding more-than-friends and co-moms. This does not and should not eliminate Frank Cooper from the equation. He is, after all, father of the unborn baby. A lot of fans seem to be pretty pissed at Frank for being less than thrilled about Olivia being in on the baby-naming. Frankly, the Frank-hate/man-hate is getting really old. Frank is the baby's father, period. He didn't abandon Natalia. He didn't rape Natalia. He never forced her to do anything. As soon as he found out she was carrying their baby, he made it clear he intended to be a stand-up guy. 

This is not a pregnancy story about a lesbian couple who hired a sperm donor. It's a pregnancy story about a man and woman who had sex and a relationship that didn't pan out, and who are now expecting a baby that they both intend to parent, even though they are not a couple. It's really not all that unusual a situation. The fact that the mother-to-be's new partner is a woman is the only element that's not what we usually see. Pretend Olivia isn't the hottest woman you've ever seen but, instead, a guy. Some guy Natalia is in love with and wants to marry. Because that's the role that Olivia has in this equation. Do you think it would be a given that Natalia's husband-to-be would have a part in the naming of the baby she was carrying, even though the baby's father was 100% in the picture? No, he wouldn't. It seems clear from the way the baby-naming scene played out that Natalia hadn't mentioned to Frank that she expected and had invited Olivia to have an equal role in naming the baby. Frank's reaction, then? Completely reasonable and logical. 

Also, Frank gets points with me for suggesting they wait and see what the baby is like before naming her. Blake and Natalia's theory that a kid who isn't named before birth will end up with a complex is, simply put, retarded. Naming a baby before she's born is fine. So is waiting to see what a baby is like. A complex? Just stupid.

Edmund/Jefferey

This story is stupid. Who cares? How did Jefferey get a job in law enforcement when he can't shoot a man standing five feet away? I don't give a damn.

The Spaulding and Raines Families

Sweet Jesus, are they trying to kill me? I've become weepy so many times this past week due to Phillip's fake disease, that I've lost count. I don't care that it's a made-up disease that they never even bothered to create a name for. I don't care that Grant Aleksander is way too robust and healthy looking to play a guy who has just days to live. I don't care that Zack Conroy has one of the stiffest bodies I've ever seen on a teenager (is his spinal column fused at the neck?) I don't care that it's ridiculous the way Lizzie is not pregnant, even though the actress playing the part so obviously is. All I know is, Phillip and Alan and Alex and Beth and Lillian have poured their hearts out, time and again, and I love it. Today was awesome. Beth and Phillip! Beth and Lillian! (side note: are they the best-looking mother/daughter team this side of Holly and Blake, or what?) James and Phillip! Alex and Alan! 

Reva, Josh, Jonathan

I don't give a good goddamn.

History

Kudos to whoever had the good sense to have Olivia and Alex's encounter end in a an air hug that was as uncomfortable as Natalia's fake baby bump. That scene is exactly as it should be. 

A Pebble In My Shoe

Have you ever put on a pair of shoes and gone off for a walk only to discover, a few steps into your walk, that there's something inside the shoe that's irritating the hell out of you? Of course you have - everyone has experienced this at one time or another. What drives me nuts about this is, most times I'll find a reasonable place to stop, lean, and take off my shoe, give it a good shake, put the shoe back on, and proceed with my walk - only to find, three or four steps later, that whatever was irritating me before is still there. I almost always end up having to find a place where I can actually sit down, pull my shoe off, and stick my hand inside to feel around for the elusive irritant. When I find it, it's usually something tiny. A tiny pebble, not much bigger than a grain of rice. Amazing that something that small could cause so much discomfort.

I feel this way about Otalia. As sweet as the idea is of the two characters coming together, at last, and building a life together, something is just so irritating. And it's not just the lack of on-screen intimacy (something which bugs me, and which is stupid, but which I pretty much figured, months ago, we would never see.) It's more than that, and I think I've finally put a finger on it. 

Anyone who reads this blog is fully aware of the how I feel about Natalia's return to Springfield, and how weak the explanation of her absence has been. On Friday, we witnessed Olivia making the decision to attend Natalia's sonogram, and take her rightful place beside the woman she loves as they embark on the adventure of building a somewhat unconventional family. The head butt-instead-of a kiss bugged me, but I'm used to that - we're all used to it, by now - so what was it that diminished the potential sweetness of that scene and irritated me the way a tiny pebble would irritate my foot and ruin a nice walk down 5th Avenue on Saturday afternoon? It's Natalia. She's that little pebble in my shoe, and here's why.

When Natalia and Frank have their little heart-to-heart about having this baby, and why Natalia wants Olivia in the baby's life, she doesn't talk about the fact that she's in love with Olivia, or that Olivia is the only person she can conceive of raising this baby with. She talks about how she wants the baby to be surrounded by as much family as possible. That's a lovely sentiment. It's also the exact same sentiment that one could use for wanting Harley or Daisy to have a role in the baby's life. It speaks nothing of the nature of Natalia's love for Olivia, or of what we know is true: Natalia wants to raise her baby in a two-parent household, but she doesn't want to marry Frank to do this. Because she isn't in love with Frank. She's in love with Olivia. The very fact that the writers have had Natalia gloss over the nature of her feelings for Olivia is a watering down of the relationship we know they both hope to share. I mean, they've had the sex talk, with Natalia being the one to say that she definitely wanted and expected to have sex with Olivia. Now? Now what we're hearing is the Reader's Digest condensed version of It Takes A Village to Raise A Child: Olivia should be with Natalia because this baby needs all the people around to nurture it as possible. That's awfully sweet, but it's not terribly hot, or sexy. And, in fact, on the basis of what Natalia says to Frank about why she wants Olivia to be part of the baby's life, it's totally within the realm of possibility that what she's talking about is what Olivia described months ago: two best friends who love each other more than anything else in the world. And, um, isn't this what we've already seen in how they've unofficially been co-parenting Emma for a year or so? 

Sure, a baby needs love and nurturing and a sense of security. All good things. But I highly doubt any of us has tuned in to this particular story line for the past year to hear about wholesome child-rearing. If I'm mistaken, I'm sure I'll hear from people. Because what I think we've all tuned in for is the portrayal of a lesbian relationship, and all the talk of babies needing family pretty much erases the lesbian out of the relationship, and places the emphasis squarely on parenthood. I don't want to hear about how Natalia wants her baby to be surrounded by good people. I want to hear about how Natalia wants to share the experience of having a baby with the woman she is in love with, the woman she wants to grow old with, the woman she wants to have sex with. These are two very different propositions. The former is a Goddamned pebble in my shoe that feels like a boulder. The latter would be a partial satisfaction of all we were promised. 

Making The Grade?

With just 10 episodes to go, it seems like a good time to rate how Guiding Light's winding down is going, thus far, on a storyline-by-storyline basis. Normally, the Snapper Academy would operate on a Pass/Fail basis, but there's just too much grey area here, so the grading system will allow for some elbow room:

A= Excellent

B= Good

C=Satisfactory

D= Poor, but just passing

F= Failing Grade: Unsatisfactory

The Coopers - F

The business with Cyrus is pointless and boring. Besides that, it's insulting to anyone who has

 watched the show for any length of time and knows the family's history: for Frank to refer - however snidely - to Cyrus as a "long lost brother" is just stupid. Frank wasn't raised by his dad. He didn't really meet him until he was about 30. He didn't meet Jenna until about the same time. He didn't much care for Jenna, and she was in no way a mother figure to him. A child Jenna had 25 years before she even met Buzz, and who she didn't acknowledge as her own? That child is a long lost nothing to Frank, Marina and Daisy. No one cares about this development, and GL would have done better to leave Cyrus out in Australia and never bring him back to Springfield.

Coop's Book - D

The only reason this doesn't get an F is that I love Liz Keifer and thank God for any screen time they give her before the light goes out for good. The story is lame. On a show that has actually been pretty cool about addressing the real economic crunch this country is feeling (Blake talking about real estate not being a good business to be in these days, Olivia pointing out how difficult it can be to find work in this economy, Marina and Mallet struggling to make ends meet, etc) it's completely ridiculous to have Blake get an advance on book, sight-unseen. And not just an advance, but such a huge advance that Buzz reckons they can pay off both mortgages, buy a new stove, repair the roof AND send Daisy to college. Yeah, right....publishing is such a booming business that Simon and Schuster is wiring out million dollar checks to an author whose book they haven't even read, yet. Oh, wait...Coop had a great "reputation." STFU. Maybe Stephen King gets an advance like that. Otherwise, seriously? Shut up. 

The Mallets - F

Can I give an F-minus? The business of Mallet leaving town to let Henry be close to his "real"

 father is an insult to any parent raising an adopted child. What's more, the implication that this is somehow a brave and courageous move on Mallet's part is preposterous. Abandoning one's child isn't brave. It's cowardly. Mallet turns out to be even more of a douchebag than we all thought he was, and every character who thinks that his leaving was "brave" needs to kiss my ass. I'm fairly sure he'll be back before September 18th, but who cares? The fact is, this sort of plot twist can do a lot of damage, and the damage has already been done. Whoever wrote this is an asshole.

The Spauldings - A

When Phillip and Beth and Lillian cry, I cry. And, boy, has there been some crying going on. I love the whole "Phillip is dying" plot, even if he's got some disease no one dares give a name to. Grant Aleksander is as great as ever, and I'm loving it that Phillip's condition is turning out to be a catalyst for action from several members of the Springfield community. It's bringing Lillian and Buzz closer together. It's making Olivia and Frank take stock of what truly bad news looks like, and how good they really have it, in the grand scheme of things. It's forced James to acknowledge how much his father means to him. It will, we all know by now, provide Alan with an opportunity to do the right thing for once in his life. 

Billy and Vanessa - B

Billy and Vanessa's storyline isn't compelling, but it's sweet as hell, any opportunity to see the lovely, talented Maeve Kinkead on screen before the show ends is welcome, and long-time fans will be satisfied that these two are giving marriage to one another a third chance. Also, we all know by now that this wedding will be the event of the year, one that will being all of Springfield together as Guiding Light says goodbye. 

The Wolfes - A+

I've never been a huge fan of Doris. In my opinion, Doris has never really done enough to convince me that she's likable or trustworthy. Simply being a lesbian is not enough. I mean, so what if she's a dyke? She's a ruthless, mean-spirited dyke. Her whole involvement in the My Two Mommies debacle makes me think she's sort of the Ted Haggard of dykes. 

Slowly, though, the fact that Doris is gay has proven useful to Olivia - not by example, but as a cautionary tale. Doris' shameful silence about her sexual identity has cost her any closeness she may have shared with her own child - a child she obvious wanted badly...badly enough to go to a sperm bank as a single woman, and raise Ashlee on her own. Every time we hear Doris talk about her regrets, about how much time she's wasted, about how trapped she feels, it's like a beautifully crafted instruction manual on how NOT to do it. This instruction manual is for Olivia and Natalia. (If only they'd flipped through it some time in May!) As the show winds down, we've finally witnessed the confrontation Doris has waited over 20 years for, and the pay-off is spectacular. I love it that Ashlee isn't angry about her mother being gay, but about being kept out in the cold. I love it that Ashlee sees clearly and articulates the simple truth: Doris hasn't hated her all these years, she's hated herself. I love it that, in her interaction with Rafe, Ashlee uses the "H" word: "I can't believe my mother thought I'd be homophobic." If Doris' life story is an instruction manual for Olivia and Natalia, Ashlee's reaction to the news that her mother is gay is an instruction manual for Rafe. Read it, Rafe....it will tell you that being angry at your mother for not being honest is fine, but being angry because the things she needs in her life to make her happy are not the things you'd choose for her is not only childish, but hateful. 

Otalia - D+

I wish I'd done some grading back in April, because I would have had the pleasure of granting Otalia an A+. Grading the storyline based on how it's playing out as the show winds down, though, is a whole different kettle of fish. The fact is, it's a sad, depressing mess. I'm not satisfied with the fact that Natalia has failed to show a reasonable level of self-awareness and remorse. I'm not satisfied with the fact that it seems clear Rafe will never get his comeuppance. And, unlike many Otalia fans, I'm not satisfied with Olivia and Natalia sharing a head butt in place of a long, slow, kiss. We've been ripped off. If not for the incredible amount of talent and charisma that Crystal Chappell and Jessica Leccia bring to the storyline, I'd seriously consider giving Otalia's last chapter a big, fat F. 

What Could Have Been

So much for where the writers of Guiding Light have dropped the ball and left us scratching our heads as they've wasted precious time on nonsense. What else could the writers have done? What other paths could the good people of Springfield have taken as the show slowly came to a halt? 

First off, let me just put it out there - on April 1, when the news came down that GL had been cancelled, the best story line, the most compelling story line, the story line that had bloggers, fans, journalists and even actors who weren't involved in it the most excited was Otalia. This is indisputable.  It stands to reason, then, that Otalia should have been the centerpiece of the last 5+ months of the show. I'm not talking about Otalia as we see it today. The writers could have easily taken Otalia on a trajectory that would have involved every major member of the Springfield community, on some level, provided drama and angst, allowed for loose ends to be tied up. There are two magic words that could have made this a reality, and given the writers a realistic reason to have Natalia leave Springfield for a time as Jessica Leccia went on maternity leave. Those words? CUSTODY BATTLE.

Mid-May: Olivia and Natalia return from their spa weekend (where, in my version, they kissed after taking that hike...because, for heaven's sake, the timing was right, the setting was perfect and, by that time, it actually looked un-natural for them not to just lean in and shyly kiss one another. I'm true to soap convention and, if ever there was a classic setting for a first soap kiss for a couple, that was it.) Instead of returning to some bullshit murder mystery that ends up going nowhere, they return to Phillip Spaulding who has chosen to share with Olivia the news he's just learned: he's dying.  Why does he tell Olivia when there's been such bad blood between them? He tells her because he knows, full well that, once he's gone, he won't be able to protect Emma from winding up in Alan's clutches. He also knows that Olivia is in love with Natalia - a piece of information Alan would happily use against Olivia in a bid to gain custody of Emma - he's made no secret of this. If anything, a disclosure like this about his own impending death would make the emerging friendship between Phillip and Olivia even more believable than it now is. What Phillip and Olivia need is a couple of good lawyers to help them set it up in such a way that Alan can never get his hands on Emma....lawyers they can trust with the information about Phillip, and with the truth about Olivia and Natalia, which is still kept on the DL until there's a legal assurance that Olivia is in no danger of losing custody of Emma. Who are the good, trustworthy lawyers in Springfield? Mel Boudreax and Jeffery O'Neill - both people who Olivia has already blabbed to about her love for Natalia.  Are you starting to get the idea that Olivia and Natalia are no longer adrift at sea on their own private island, but interacting with other characters, forming alliances, and acting a little bit more like part of a community? Good. That's the idea. And, you know that there's no way Reva doesn't find out that Jefferey is up to something involving Olivia, and no way is she going to stay uninvolved. The simplest of tweaks to the story line that the writers of Guiding Light already had set up would have allowed for an Otalia kiss and a partial coming out to the community, engaged Olivia and Natalia with Phillip, Jefferey, Mel and Reva, and set up a killer summer story line way back in May. 

The whole Phillip-is-dying story line is a good one, and I wouldn't change anything about it except his disclosure to Olivia and the timing. If we place his road trip with Alan in mid-June, it opens up a whole can of worms and gives Alan time to find out, somehow (from Emma?), about Olivia and Natalia, and make a move to get legal custody of Emma - even before Phillip is dead. I know some people will say that Alan would never do such a thing. He would. It's exactly what he would do. And especially if he were in pain over the idea of losing his son. Who does Alan call on to take up his case? Doris Woolf, who he considers to be in his back pocket. This strategy backfires on him, though, as Doris refuses to help him and, instead, is moved to finally come out to Ashley. 

By July, Alan has found a lawyer to take up his cause and has filed for custody of Emma, stating that Phillip is mentally unstable and Olivia is a lesbian degenerate. (Remember, Phillip's medical tragedy is a secret from most people - a secret Alan keeps in an effort to avoid facing it, himself. Totally believable for Alan.) Just as the custody case is about to get underway, Natalia leaves town in the hopes that her no longer being in Olivia's life will keep Olivia from losing Emma. And, guess what? She actually leaves Olivia a note explaining why she's gone and telling her where she'll be. Even though Olivia is broken-hearted over Natalia leaving, we don't spend July and most of August with a weepy, crazy, drunken Olivia. We spend it with a kick-ass, keep-your-hands-off-my-kid Olivia as the summer revolves around a super soapy courtroom custody battle where Alan exposes Otalia, and which involves just about everyone in town on some level. 

Think about the line-up of character witnesses Olivia would have on her behalf: from the Lewis family: Josh and Bill, both ex-husbands who she gets along with, and who know she's a good mother....from within the Spaulding/Raines families: Phillip, Beth, Lillian. Hell - even Lizzie knows that Alan shouldn't have Emma. Rick Bauer would champion her cause, especially in support of Phillip. Dinah. Blake. Reva. Buzz. This would have been a perfect reason to have Jonathan come back to town - to support his aunt and to rub Alan's face in it. Same for Ava. And the clincher? Frank Cooper. What better way to prove all the "good man" stuff than to have Frank stand up in court and say that, even though he's been hurt by Olivia and Natalia, he knows Olivia is a good parent and that she and Natalia together have only been a good influence on Emma? 

With other things happening in Springfield (Fallout from Doris' coming out, Bill and Lizzie's wedding, the Vanessa/Billy, James/Daisy, Shayne/Dinah and Lillian/Buzz romances, Phillip's drama), this courtroom drama would be front-and-center, but not be the only story line as the show nears its end. 

Some time in August, as both sides of the custody battle are about to rest their cases, who should show up in court, in typical dramatic soap style? Natalia, who realizes that she can't run away and hope things will take of themselves - she has to fight for what she wants: a life with Olivia and Emma. You want a grand gesture? How about Natalia taking the witness stand and telling all of Springfield that she loves Olivia, and that they want to keep raising Emma together? There is, of course, a happy ending, as Olivia retains custody of Emma and is publicly reunited with Natalia...Alan's evil deeds are finally exposed....Phillip goes into remission...and it's all in time for the show to wrap up with a soap opera double wedding: Billy and Vanessa/ Lillian and Buzz. And non-asshole Rafe being released from jail on Sept 18th. 

Every loose end tied up. No Cyrus. No Edmund. No Remy. No insulting crap about adoptive fathers not being real fathers. No baby stroller murders. No bat-crazy Reva. No flat-leaving Natalia. No boozy, irresponsible Olivia. Just a classic soap story. 

 © 2009 Lana M. Nieves

Limited Licensing: I, the copyright holder of this work, hereby publish it under the Creative Commons Attribution license, granting distribution of my copyrighted work without making changes, with mandatory attribution to Lana M. Nieves and for non-commercial purposes only. - Lana M. Nieves

Dropping the Ball

The news that CBS had cancelled Guiding Light hit us on April 1. It was not completely unexpected, even if the timing wasn't perfect. Why, then, do the last two months of GL look as if they were written, filmed and edited in a mad rush? Instead of tying up loose threads, complicated and useless story lines were developed and placed front and center, detracting from the story lines viewers care about and want to see resolved. Old characters were brought back for no good reason, and with nothing to do, except suck up valuable air time. Conflicts and plot developments were propped up, and then allowed to just fall flat. I hate to say it, but they've dropped the ball.

Stunt Casting

It was nice to see some familiar faces, but why not involve them? Michelle, Danny and Mindy sucked up time and did nothing but eat hot dogs and talk about how great it was to be back. Really? Seriously? That's what Guiding Light calls "a return?" Likewise, it was nice to see that Fiona Hutchison is still gorgeous, but, um, who cares? (see "Cyrus..." below) No one loves Holly more than I do, and it was great to see Maureen Garrett and Liz Keifer on screen together but the whole thing fell flat. They never really had that mother/daughter talk that was implied.

Cyrus, Buzz, Coop, Company

Why bring back Cyrus? Who cares? Did anyone miss him? Did anyone give a damn about that whole diamond nonsense? Was anyone just NEEDING to see Remy in a front-burner story line that was connected to nothing and no one for two weeks? It kills me when I think about the hours wasted on Cyrus - hours that could have been used to properly wrap up things with Phillip, Otalia, Dinah, etc.

The same holds true for the financial troubles at Company, Cyrus' parentage, and Coop's book. Who gives a shit?

Alan

Are we ever going to see Alan get his comeuppance? We know he's responsible for all manner of mayhem that he's walked away from. Most significantly, he spent almost a year gas-lighting Olivia by posing as an insane Phillip. Is the truth about this ever going to come to light? It would be nice for everyone to know that Phillip did not, in fact, terrorize the mother of his child for a year.

Edmund

Where do I start? The murder mystery. It was set up beautifully and promised to be an umbrella story line that would involve every member of Springfield. That flavor lasted all of three or four episodes, and then it became clear that the mystery of Edmund's murder would involve mostly Reva, and go nowhere. We were set up to think Olivia would have some involvement in the whole business - she was the one witness who could place Reva with Edmund moments before his death. But, um...no one seems to care. In fact, Olivia never even reported this to the police. Furthermore, it turns out that the man Reva was arguing with wasn't even Edmund, at all. This means that someone was so good at looking and sounding like Edmund that Olivia and Reva (who have known Edmund for decades) were both fooled into believing this person really was Edmund. It also means that Dinah, who was married to Edmund, was fooled by an impostor. Even in Springfield, this is difficult to believe. Beyond that, now that Dinah has confessed and fled the law, the good people of Springfield seem to be A-OK with the fact that some John Doe was murdered right in their local park. No one seems to give a damn who he was. Even the Springfield PD have dropped the ball.

And, now? Edmund is alive and after Jefferey/Reva/Jonathan? Does anyone give a good goddamn? It's a tiresome story. In fact, it looks less like an actual scripted story line than a Theatersports imrpov skit, with Reva and Jonathan providing comic relief.

Why have a murder occur, at all, if the story is only going to be a jumbled mess that sucks up time from more important matters at hand?

Bill and Lizzie

I'm not a Bizzie fan. That's a fact. I do think this couple got an insane amount of coverage that was pure fluff. The whole Universal Studios thing was one, long commerical for Orlando tourism. Still and all, they deserve better than two months of This Old House outtakes. They have a crappy, old house that needs work. We get it. Do we need to see scene after scene of them shopping for paint and tiles? There was ample time to show a bit of this, while also showing us some meaty, old-fashioned domestic scenes. Life as a new couple. Or, if the house rennovation was something the writers were married to, why not make it a proper barn-raising, involving all of Springfield, and not just one or two people at a time? Isn't that the way a Lewis boy would do it? It would have been a nice nod to the Guiding Light cast's work in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina. Two or three solid days of everyone in Springfield pulling together to get Bill and Lizzie's house in shape would have been awesome, and allowed for mini-dramas to play out.

Otalia

I was one of the first to say that people who were in a rush for a sex scene between these two needed to slow the fuck down and learn about the medium. I also said that it was highly unlikely we'd see Olivia and Natalia going at it a la The L Word, on the kitchen table. I've been accused of being a part of the overall Otalia problem for having held this opinion, but I stand by it. Back in May, it would have been ridiculous and not at all in keeping with the pacing of the story line or the characters for Olivia and Natalia to have jumped each others bones, as the "just do it, already!" contingency was calling for. That isn't homophobia on my part, it's respect for this type of story-telling and character development. The fact is, I never thought we'd see an actual sex scene between these two, at all. The most I ever thought we'd see was kissing, and I certainly think the pacing established should have made this a reality some time in mid-May. Hate me if you will, send me nasty emails, but I don't believe Natalia would have "gone all the way" with Olivia by May or June. I said it back then, and I stand by it. This does not mean they shouldn't have or wouldn't have kissed by the time they returned from their spa weekend. Certainly by July 4th they should have done more than hold hands and caress one another's backs. While the writers may not have had much control over what the network would allow, I'm sure they weren't forced into writing in a pregnancy that no one really believes, assassinating Natalia's character, and making a mess of a story line that was really great just a few short months ago.

The fact is, this was a good, solid story line that people cared about. A story line that involved at least one major GL character, and could have included lots of other characters, but the writers dropped the ball.

Next: What could have been