Why Guiding Light is Worth Saving: Psycho Chipmunks need not apply

When I wrote about all that I see wrong in Springfield, I did not intend to be the voice of gloom and doom. I was just being honest. All the rah-rah-rahing in the world for what's right won't fix anything that's desperately wrong.  And some things are wrong. But, make no mistake, I think Guiding Light is not only fixable, but well worth the time and effort it will take.  Here are some reasons why:

1. History - GL is a piece of broadcast and social history. We grant buildings landmark status, all the time. In Brooklyn, there's a chunk of limestone on Atlantic avenue that has landmark status, just because it's been there since the 1800s. GL deserves as much. It's meant a hell of a lot more than to a hell of a lot more people, than

 that hunk of limestone. It's also the last remnant of the radio serial we have left. We need to acknowledge soap opera as a significant medium, celebrate it, and not just preserve it, but nurture it. 

2. Track record - When it's bad, it's really, really bad...but when it's good, I challenge you to find anything better on television. Great things are often hit-or-miss, and you have to miss a lot before you get a hit. When GL gets a hit, it's right out of the ball park. Other shows are as bad as GL when it's not working, but when it works?  Not even close.  At their best, ATWT, AMC, OLTL, Y&R, etc have never been as good as GL. To get even close, one would have to take the Way-Back machine and visit DOOL circa 1974, during the days of Bill and Mickey and Laura/ Susan, David and Julie. No daytime drama is ever as good. Period.

3. Changes in the new production model - Yes, I hated what that awful, cold, sterile filming looked like a year ago. I challenge anyone to look at a series of year -old GL clips on Youtube and tell me that it worked. Half the time the screen is taken up by a vase or the edge of a tree, while Bill or Reva are just a blurry, shaky blob in the distance. Awful. 

However, the good folks who handle the cameras have made huge strides over a short period of time.  They're more steady, now, and the shots are more intimate, as opposed to voyeuristic. The lighting is starting to warm up, too. For a while, there, one could see every pore on Frank's face. This has clearly been tweaked, and it's starting to really work. It looks like nothing else on television.  What these guys are doing on a shoestring budget is nothing short of remarkable. And, have you read Crystal Chappell's comment that they have to get scenes down in one take? Astounding. 

4. The actors - There has always been some great talent associated with GL. Remember when Allison Janney, just on the cusp of fame,  played Jenna's loopy maid? Or the vastly under-rated Nia Long, who was so good as Kat, and stayed with GL long after her film career took off? But it's not all about people who are household names. Justin Deas is fantastic. Tina Sloane, a veteran soap actor who, like Deas, is under-used. Crystal Chappell. Maeve Kinkead. I think Gina Tognoni shows great promise, as does Jeff Branson. Jessica Leccia is more like a seasoned pro, than a rookie. If you trim this show down to its bare bones, down to the seven or eight meatiest actors,  it's got the strongest ensemble on daytime, and maybe on television, full stop. As good an ensemble as Mad Men or Big Love or Weeds. 

5. Innovation - GL has always been the best of all daytime dramas at pushing the envelope. Rape. Alcoholism. Corrupt politics. Medical ethics. Even menstruation. GL has tackled all the big issues head on, often leading the way, and daring to go where other television shows  have been reluctant to explore. While the ratings leader, The Young and the Restless, is featuring a front-burner story line about an imaginary, six foot tall, psycho chipmunk (I kid you not) , Guiding Light's big front burner story is the universally-praised blossoming same-sex love affair of Olivia and Natalia.  Seriously, people? Team Otalia. 

6. Good business - Keeping GL on the air is, plain and simple, a good business move. The Neilsen ratings system has always been greatly flawed, but it's never been more useless than it is today, when so many of us watch television shows on the internet or DVR. The fact is, this show has a huge, built-in following. If you watch a soap, you're bound to watch just about every day. The same isn't necessarily so of a game show or talk show. People become vested in soap opera. It becomes a ritual, one that viewers will not pass up. GL is already in full production. There's no inventing to be done, only some changes to be made. The audience is here. The sponsor is here. It's solid. Keeping GL on the air is like the little pig who builds his house out of bricks, while his brothers take short cuts and use sub-standard materials. We all know how that story ends. 

 © 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

So...I was saying

Yeah, I know. I started this thing last year, deleted most of what I'd written, and then just let it sit.

I've reconsidered. I have too much noise in my head, too much to say, and my loved one never signed on to hear me ramble for hours on end about stuff she doesn't give a damn about. Stuff like the awesomeness of Guiding Light's Otalia, or the hilarity of The Young and the Resteless' psycho chipmunk story (which is awesome in its own, special way.)

So, yeah...Otalia. Best, most touching, closest-to-real-life portrayal of same sex love I've so far. I don't mean best I've seen on daytime, or best I've seen on television. I mean best I've seen anywhere, outside of my own apartment.

Let me put this out there before I go on: I love soap opera. Love it. I see it as this beautiful, under-valued bit of Americana that has helped shape the world we live in. I remember reading an interview with the late, great Joel Crothers who said that, yes, acting on a soap often meant being involved in ridiculous, implausible plots, and delivering lines that were just cringe-worthy. He went on to say that, for every really crappy, dumb thing he'd had to do as a soap actor, there'd always been some really gorgeous, well-written, meaningful story to tell or bit of dialogue to deliver. He said that being part of something that was sometimes so damned good made the less-than-stellar parts of his job well worth it for an actor. He said that he knew of few actors who had been lucky enough to be involved in as much great drama as he'd been during a lifetime of acting on soaps. I loved that. The Otalia story line is one of those gorgeous, well-written, meaningful bits of soap opera that Crothers was talking about. It's not just entertaining. It's not just eye candy.

When it's good, soap opera mirrors real life, even as it magnifies it. When soap writers keep in mind the things that are important to people: family, relationships, history, faith, human struggle, etc, they can go a long way towards reaching millions of viewers with important stories. The friendship and blossoming love between GL's Natalia and Olivia is one of the most important stories I've encountered in over 35 years of soap opera viewing.

It's a rare thing to find anyone even trying to tell my story. Popular media is still overwhelmingly straight. Families on television and in film are still overwhelmingly traditional: married mom and dad + children. This is not a true mirror of the real world, only a partial one. The fandom that has developed for Otalia is about people such as myself: hungry for our own stories - stories about people like us. People whose life choices don't fit a cookie cutter mold, but are no less valid than the choices of people who lead more "traditional" lives or have more “traditional” families. We are hungry for stories that portray same-sex love as it most often is in real life. It is clumsy and awkward, sweet and touching, not always easy, sometimes disastrous. It is funny and tender. It is about mutual respect and affection. It is hard work. Sometimes, it’s just funny. Or stupid. Or annoying. And scary. It is just like any other type of romantic love.

My partner - a smart, beautiful woman who, sadly, does not share my love for soap opera- and I are not out to take over the world. We do not sit around at night figuring out ways to recruit your children or ruin the social fabric of this country. We're too busy watching Mad Men or folding laundry. Maybe for the first time in television history, Guiding Light has successfully captured this in the form of Otalia - a love story that revolves around friendship, humor, mutual respect, the healing power of human kindness, and the importance of family. This is why the support for this pairing is so staggering. Otalia tells a real story. Our story. It tells this story with kindness, dignity and respect. It tells this story without compromise. It is the piece of the mirror that has been missing for such a long time. It's important.