Today was the last first-run episode of Guiding Light to air on television. For the first time in 72 years, the lighthouse has gone dark.
Thank you for the longest running drama on television. Thank you for stories that were timeless and characters that were much beloved. Thank you for crossing boundaries (and paintings), for giving us love stories, cat fights, gun fights, laughter, tears, joy, sorrow, hope and faith.
I have no words to adequately express the loss of this true piece of American television history other than to say “Thank You” for giving us seven decades of entertainment, friendship and family. We are richer for having known you and poorer for seeing you go.
Thank you for the Bauers, the Spauldings, the Coopers, the Lewis’, the Marlers and all the other families we’ve met. Thank you for Josh and Reva, Josh and Olivia, Olivia and (fill in the blank), Reva and the fountain, the inimitable Bert Bauer and the last supercouple in GL’s long storied history, Olivia Spencer and Natalia Rivera (Otalia).
Thank you for sharing them with us and handling them all with care and love.
Only one thing recently has been able to say what the end of this show will truly mean to me, a song by Green Day, which I know seems rather unusual, titled Good Riddance (Time of Your Life). This is for the cast and the crew, past and present, and the viewers, whether you watched for decades or merely months.
Good Riddance (Time of Your Life)
Another turning point;
a fork stuck in the road.
Time grabs you by the wrist;
directs you where to go.
So make the best of this test
and don’t ask why.
It’s not a question
but a lesson learned in time.
It’s something unpredictable
but in the end it’s right.
I hope you had the time of your life.
So take the photographs
and still frames in your mind.
Hang it on a shelf
In good health and good time.
Tattoos of memories
and dead skin on trial.
For what it’s worth,
it was worth all the while.
It’s something unpredictable
but in the end it’s right.
I hope you had the time of your life.
It’s something unpredictable
but in the end it’s right.
I hope you had the time of your life.
It’s something unpredictable
but in the end it’s right.
I hope you had the time of your life.
Good bye, Guiding Light. Long may your light shine on…
Congratulations to Andrew for winning the Best Writing Award at the 4th Annual Independent Television Festival in Los Angeles, CA, for his inspired work on the Award Winning web series. The Festival ran from the 31st of July through the 6th of August.
Via Jamey Giddens at Daytime Confidential:
Imaginary Bitches creator Andrew Miller is over the moon this morning. Eden Riegel’s real life hubby took home the Best Writing Award at the 4th Annual Independent Television Festival.
“This award is so amazing. And I’m especially honored given the incredible amount of talent at this year’s ITV Festival,” says Miller. “Hopefully the recognition will finally shut Catherine up and prove that she and Heather DID NOT improvise every good line in the script like she keeps saying.”
Catherine was not amused by Andrew’s statement, surprisingly enough. She raced to Twitter and tweeted her anger later yesterday morning:
Daytime Confidential has sunk to a new low in journalism inyegrity. Expect a lawsuit.
Poor Catherine… She still hasn’t realized that you can’t fight the truth…
P.S. The misspelling of “integrity” is all on Catherine… Which surely strengthens her case…
So, in Springfield Township, what’s a woman to do when she’s desperately in love and the object of her affection is her best friend who’s in love with her, too, but is deeply religious and hasn’t found the strength to tell her ungrateful, recently home from prison, rude snot of a son that she’s in love right back at her? So they can get down to business and maybe actually kiss each other?
First, the obvious: Olivia loves Natalia. Natalia loves Olivia. It’s just that simple… and that complex. But that’s another story… Right now, we’re discussing vexations. Of the physical variety… like… sex… or, rather, not having it…
So how do you resolve your sexual frustrations in the wake of being, basically, the only established couple in town who hasn’t gotten it on…? Like ever…?
Well, you’ve already done the food as sex metaphor. First there was the Great Peanut Butter Incident just before the spa trip-that-settled-some-things-but-really-didn’t… Then we had 50 Dozen Cookie Baking Day, in which first raisins, then cookies were casually fed from Olivia fingers to Natalia‘s lips… The very next morning, while clad in a shimmering magenta robe, Olivia called Nat and left an incredibly suggestive voice mail message about cookies and baking that I honestly believe had absolutely nothing to do with cookies or how a convection oven turns them into warm, edible treats.
And, honestly, did anyone really see any peanut butter on Natalia’s face? No? Yeah, I didn’t think so. Good for Liv, making that move. I hope everyone was taking notes.
(and really, let’s not forget Liv practically making love to that muffin while talking to Josh at Company. You can’t forget it? Yeah, didn’t think so…)
Anyway, here you have Olivia Freakin’ Spencer, the walking, talking embodiment of sex on a stick. She knows she’s a sexual being. Natalia knows she’s a sexual being. Josh knows (boy, does Josh know!), everyone knows Olivia is a very sexual being. The characters on Another World know Olivia’s a very sexual being, and that show’s been off the air since 1999…
So poor Liv tried everything. First she kissed Josh, which, okay, we can forgive her for because, seriously, have you seen Josh? Of course, she’s giving off waves of sex pheromones that all the men in Springfield can apparently smell because suddenly even Matt is hitting on her…
So after “the kiss” poor Liv was even MORE frustrated. She knew it wasn’t Josh she wanted to be kissing, but she also knew she wouldn’t be kissing Natalia anytime soon. What’s a girl to do?
Well, she tried a little yoga. And that was a mistake… First you have the calming female voice rather suggestively telling Olivia to relax, which she desperately tried to do, then what positions to contort her body into. Something about pressing downward… which… guh…
Poor Liv. Unable to take it any longer, she stumbles to her feet (literally), jams on a pair of Adidas Superstars and exits her suite with all the dignity she can muster… which is amazing considering she didn’t completely get one appendage all the way into a shoe.
She ends up shopping because… hey, are you frustrated? Nothing eases that sexual tension like giving the old credit card a workout. And apparently the local Springfield Township lingerie shop features more than just lingerie…
Like, apparently, they sell aids. And by aids I mean… “Aids” *winkwinknudgenudge*. I’m guessing the idea is, if the lingerie doesn’t get you what you need, there’s your back-up plan.
Drawn like a moth to a flame… or a frustrated woman to a table filled with gift-wrapped sexual toys… Olivia wanders over and, with the a sort of morbid curiosity, begins to look through them.
Of course, who should magically appear at just this moment? Blake. Blake, who apparently not only shops there but is quite familiar with the products and the store layout. (“This stuff is great. They actually have more in the back.”) Blake, who’s been on a dry spell longer than poor Liv.
Blake, who obviously has the Olivia version of the Nat-tracker…
And she’s encouraging Olivia to buy a little friend. Yes, okay, I’ll say it. A vibrator. Blake is encouraging Olivia Freakin’ Spencer, who has slept with more men than Springfield actually has in its population, to buy a vibrator.
Yes, everyone, Guiding Light went there.
Not only did they go there, they STAYED there for a good long while as Blake expounded on their usefulness, their tact and discretion. And she even told Liv that she should have gotten the red one because “red looks good on you”. I can assure you that words immediately jumped into my mind and nearly out my mouth to correct Blakey but I managed to hold them in. Barely…
Without ever actually using the word “vibrator” or “dildo” or anything even remotely suggestive, the wonderful writing staff of Guiding Light made it incredibly clear exactly what was in those long slender boxes, what they were for, that Blake not only had one but used it and that there’s absolutely nothing wrong with that.
That. Is. Priceless. No other soap opera has taken on such a titillating topic and handled it quite so deftly with humor and, quite honestly, poignancy.
Olivia did make a purchase then spent quite a while agonizing over the decision, alternately freaked out and in deep denial that she would even use it. But I can believe that because Olivia doesn’t strike me as the type of woman who ever needed artificial…um… partners… (air quote, end air quote)
Eventually, she did chuck it in the trash, which, honestly, will be quite a tip for the housekeeper, before stumbling into yet another pair of shoes and hightailing it out to Natalia and the Farmhouse of Love. (Liv, hun, it really shouldn’t be that hard to slip into a pair of shoes)
I’m not sure if Olivia’s crisis was averted or if it just got worse with the trip to see Natalia, considering they spent the next several minutes caressing, touching and basically chastely canoodling right there on the steps to the farmhouse.
Liv may want to hurry back to the hotel before housekeeping empties her trash…
To be fair, Nat’s not immune from the frustrations, either, you know. In a fit of pique at her son, she wound up at Farley’s with Rage- er, I mean, Rafe and Frank, “knocking a few back” and following it up with a shot of something that looked suspiciously like whiskey before challenging them to a game of pool. Not being as comfortable with her sexual awareness as Olivia is, this was Nat’s coping mechanism. Slugging down a couple brewski’s was Natalia’s way of working past the fact that her son is a major obstacle in keeping her from ripping Liv’s clothes off right there in the front yard of the Farmhouse of Love…
Er, I mean… Natalia said it herself. She’s not that naïve…
**Thanks to Otaliafan and Donna Pool for the clips pulled from their YouTube account
On Monday, June 6th, Andrew Miller, Eden Riegel, Catherine and Heather were in New York City for the 13th Annual Webby Awards presentation. They walked the red carpet, shot a vlog whereby C&H harass Eden while on the red carpet, and then kept fans informed with constant tweets about the happenings (Eden was apparently nervous, drinking and felt up by Sarah Silverman, Catherine was her usual snarky self and Heather was trolling).
(vlogs have sadly been removed from YouTube and the IB website…)
From all indications, it was a party of the highest order. Except, of course, when Eden fretted she might puke at the podium while attempting to give her 5-word speech she may or may not be able to remember (Um, Eden, it was 5 WORDS! You’re an Emmy winner, five words shouldn’t shake you that badly), when she was in the bathroom and missed seeing Martha Stewart and when she began to channel Catherine in feeling a little bitchy over Cameron Diaz’s pants…
Now, I will admit that not only am I writing this blog because I love Imaginary Bitches, Andrew Miller and Eden Riegel, but in a contest held by the Brain-trust at IB, my 5-word speech was chosen by fans to be delivered by Eden when accepting her Webby…
Kudos to the Webby Awards for their innovative approach to awards banquets and instead of letting winners ramble on until the orchestra plays them off with a weird rendition of Shaft or something… (I’m looking at you Nighttime Emmy’s and the Oscars).
The bigger kudos go to the IB gang for allowing fans to offer, then vote on, Eden’s acceptance speech. The level of accessibility to fans shown by Andrew Miller, Eden Riegel and all those involved with the show is amazing. Plus, to hear an Emmy winner deliver your line to a crowd that includes the likes of Sarah Silverman, Jimmy Fallon, Martha Stewart, Molly Sims, Seth Meyers, Lisa Kudrow and The Muppet Show’s Beaker is incredible…
So congratulations of the highest order to Andrew Miller, Eden Riegel, Imaginary Bitches and the cast and crew of the show, for receiving an award given to honor the best of Internet content. Here is proof that this show is a phenomenal success and will only get better.
And thank you for being so in touch with your fans.
The nominees for the Daytime Emmy’s were announced on May 14th and true soap fans must be shaking their heads in wonder. Or are speechless… Or dumbfounded… Or all of the above…
Somehow, beyond all the laws of nature, All My Children leads the way with 19 nominations. Let me repeat, ALL MY CHILDREN GOT 19 NOMINATIONS!!!! One year removed from one (one, singular, individual, solitary, ONE) nomination (David Canary as Adam Chandler – currently being forced out by TIIC), they managed to rake in 19 nominations!!!
WTF?!?! NINETEEN NOMINATIONS?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?
Are you serious?!?! You cannot be serious!! That’s… that’s mind-boggling!! The show that was made fun of, turned into a punch-line, became an utter laughingstock to a huge cross-section of viewers, got 19 nominations?!?!? I’d like to know what compromising photos Charles Pratt has of the judging committee to sway the vote like this.
Now, granted there were acting noms that were much deserved. Thorsten Kaye (again), Debbie Morgan (YAY!), Melissa Claire Egan (first time), Alicia Minshew (finally!) all transcended the material they were given to earn their nominations. Angie’s return and her discovering Jesse alive after 20 years was fantastic work. And Alicia, finally recognized after many deserving years, snagged her first ever nomination. Melissa Egan’s CrazyAnnie was worth the price of admission (except, of course, the day she leapt off Ryan’s penthouse balcony and landed without a scratch several floors below, but… that was the writing, not the acting).
However, I seriously take exception to All My Children and The Bold and the Beautiful receiving nominations as Best Daytime Drama. AMC, if nothing else, deserves an award for Best Example of How to Destroy a Once Incredibly Popular Soap with Nothing More Than Amazingly Bad Writing. (I bet that wouldn’t fit on the trophy, but, you never know, it has a pretty big base). The Bold and the Beautiful is good soap, but no where near on par with The Young and the Restless or even One Life to Live’s level this year.
All My Children, once one of the strongest shows on daytime, has been reduced to mindless hackery. Charles Pratt has taken the show to the very depths of ghoulishness with his unbelievably high body count in a relatively short time-span: Zach shooting Josh in the head in order to harvest his heart, Annie clubbing brother Richie like a baby seal to save her marriage (oops), Babe getting impaled during a tornado, Greenlee flying off a cliff on a motorcycle, Di Henry being shot and killed by CrazyAnnie during her plot to save her marriage (again, oops). (have I missed anyone? They came fast and furious at one point) There was the waste of veteran/returning characters (and big names with big-time talent) to pimp new characters that utterly failed (*coughRebecca-Jesse’s-long-lost-wife-when-everyone-thought-he-was-dead-and-her-daughter-and-the-one-hooker-we-couldn’t-care-less-about-Randicough*), the force-feeding of the re-pairing of Ryan and Greenlee, which effectively ended Rebecca Budig’s return, which, oh, yeah, was botched by ABC/AMC. Toss in some cool effects, some plots with holes the size of the one in the ozone layer, plot-driven, soulless storytelling, and that was All My Children in 2008.
And yet, somehow, THEY GOT A WRITING NOMINATION!!!!!!! Charles Pratt got an Emmy nomination for the ridiculously HORRIBLE writing he cranked in 2008. REALLY? REALLY?!?!?!
The man who actually blamed an Emmy Award winning actress for HIS inadequacies was nominated for Best Writing. This is the man who so completely decimated what should have been the most intriguing storyline on television, daytime or nighttime, was nominated for a writing award… Again, was it the headshot to Josh? Annie’s leap of faith and tire-ironing? Ryan and Greenlee rutting like pigs at every turn? I am utterly mystified how this drivel is worthy even consideration, let alone an actual nomination.
If anything, Esensten and Brown deserve the nomination without Pratt’s name being tacked on to cheapen it. They did the work that resonated last year with Angie and Jesse’s return, among other things. They had started turning the show around when Brian Frons inexplicably fired them and brought on his buddy, Charles Pratt. And the impact was felt immediately in declining quality. Attaching Pratt’s name to this makes the category irrelevant and a farce.
Like toddlers with no sense of actual value, it’s obvious the judges are swayed by a shiny trinket from a gumball machine. The fancy effects of CGI outweigh the quality of the writing, pacing and continuity.
And don’t get me wrong, I absolutely LOVE Alicia Minshew, and she is incredibly deserving of her nomination, but there was an indescribably better heart transplant story on daytime last year, involving Crystal Chappell’s fantastic Olivia Spencer on Guiding Light. Like Minshew’s Kendall, Olivia also received the heart of a loved one. Yet Olivia’s story ripped out viewers hearts with her despondency upon learning of Gus Aitoro’s death and the fact that his heart beat now in her chest. How she woke asking for Gus, how Reva broke the news of his death and the gift of his heart from his widow Natalia Rivera. How she gave up her will to live, crying out that she didn’t want to live if Gus was dead. On a daily basis, you watched Crystal Chappell with a lump in your throat, unable to swallow it down with every scene that played out. In this instance, Guiding Light outshone AMC and Crystal Chappell again acted circles around the best daytime has to offer.
(Let me add that I seriously doubt Alicia Minshew’s Emmy submission material was the heart transplant storyline, since she was lying in a bed during that time, pretending to be in a coma. She was, however, an incredibly realistic coma patient)
There is one, possibly two, names on the list for Best Supporting Actress that should have been switched out with Crystal’s. She is undoubtedly one of the best actresses working in daytime television and her name absent from this list is really a travesty. She’ll get hers in 2009 for the work she’s done in recent months. If not, then there’s something seriously rotten in Denmark.
I’ll give AMC the technical award nominations, though. Well deserved, I’m sure.
Here’s hoping OLTL sweeps every category they’re nominated in with AMC…
Deserving Nominees include Susan Haskell, who transcended the repugnant rape-mance storyline on OLTL. She always does top-notch work. Daniel C0sgrove, as GL’s Bill Lewis, also delivers quality work on a daily basis and Jeanne Cooper, the Grande Dame of Daytime, still impresses and had a fantastically meaty storyline last year.
I would replace Anthony Geary with Darnell Williams. Darnell’s turn as newly-back-from-the-dead Jesse Hubbard was tortured as he still fought to keep his family safe. Plus the respect to the history of the character by the writers made his portrayal even better.
Gina Tognoni, Kim Zimmer, Crystall Chappell, all names that could, and probably should, be on this list. I like Bree Williamson, I just don’t think her turn as crazy Tessica is Emmy-worthy, even with the work she did during Nash’s death.
I think Tamara Braun’s Ava from DOOL was a loony-tune… which means of the 5 nominees in the Best Supporting Actress Category, 3 characters were mentally unbalanced last year… Lack of originality much, Academy voters?
Congratulations, however, are in order for the brilliant minds behind Imaginary Bitches, which snagged a nomination in the New Approaches in Daytime Entertainment category opposite fellow You Tube series I Met The Walrus.TAC. TV, The New York Times Magazine Screen Tests and All My Children are also nominated. (Um, AMC? WTF?!?!) Of course, if they walk off with the trophy, it will be all Eden Riegel’s fault. (And watching Eden win an Emmy over AMC would be sweet vindication)
The Daytime Emmy’s will air on August 30, 2009 on the CW.
Best of luck to the many deserving nominees… Charles Pratt, on the other hand, can suck it.
The April 24th episode of Guiding Light picked up right where we pleasantly left off, with Liv and Nat sitting quietly in a pew at the church… holding hands. Emma had wandered off, as kids are wont to do, giving Nat and Liv some quality time alone. Natalia tells Olivia that she knows everything will be alright. Having come to some measure of peace with herself, her beliefs and her faith, Natalia knows that God will continue to love them, no matter who they love, or possibly because of it.
Olivia tells Nat she’s so sorry that Rafe had to go away. Natalia replies that at least she has the rest of her family with her, Olivia and Emma, until he comes home. Liv wants to know where they go from there and Natalia suggests taking some time apart to think about things. Knowing that is a positive step for them, Olivia agrees.
Emma has other ideas, though. Bounding back in from wherever she had disappeared to (it’s okay, everyone, she disappeared in a church, I imagine she was rather safe) stating clearly she is hungry and her mother had promised her spaghetti after her play. When Olivia agrees and tells Emma to say good-buy to Natalia, the littlest Spencer replies guilelessly “I want both my mommies to come.” (UPS just delivered an anvil, did you get it?)
With Natalia unable to resist the Jelly Bean, an endearing family moment occurs complete with teasing and laughter and they rise from their seats. Olivia reaches for Natalia’s hand, which she easily takes, and they walk out of the church with their hands clasped. Let me repeat, they walk out of the church holding hands, people. With that simple gesture, they’ve taken yet another step forward.
They arrive at Towers where Natalia makes the first awkward mis-step when she tries so sweetly to show she’s accepting of her feelings when she blurts to the waiter that she and Olivia are “Friends… good friends” when he asks if they were together. Olivia smiles understandingly as she explains he only wanted to know if they were together for dinner.
Awkwaaaard…
The waiter seats them, hands them menus and walks away. Suddenly, it becomes a date. Stilted conversation, uncomfortable silences, glances that dove away when eyes were met… They were like 16-year olds going out for the first time… EVAR…
After eventually stumbling over the menu, they each blurted out “Banana Pancakes”, something Emma apparently does when she doesn’t know what to say next. Bursting into laughter, they realize they were making dinner a little harder than it was supposed to be and finally fall into a comfortable togetherness. (And watching Jessica Leccia say “cuckoo!” in explanation to the waiter was truly a funny moment… Nat was trying just a little too hard)
And I must say that Emma, whether intentional or not, is becoming quite the little schemer. Once again she managed to toss out a double entendre, wondering why Nat and Olivia weren’t holding hands, which made Liv and Nat glance at each other with a “What does the little goober know? Is it that obvious?” expression. It all had to do with saying Grace; however, and with matching looks of relief, they clasped hands and said a pre-meal prayer.
At this point, they fell into a companionable state of comfort. Conversation turned to work (how innocuous) and Emma’s Harriet the Spy book then took on a teasing tone as they nagged each other about money and dry cleaning.
At one point, Olivia snagged a meatball that looked to be about as big as Emma’s head off the Jelly Bean’s plate. (Can I say how true to life it was to actually see people eating on a soap opera? And what appeared to be real food, not caviar and tea cakes? Gratifying, I tell you, at how those in charge at GL have made a show that is much more real than other soaps, while still having very real soapy moments…) It was such an honest moment, what parent doesn’t take some food off their child’s plate, either because there’s just too much food for the kid to handle or they really just want that bite?
Dinner finished with Emma heading off to spend the night at her friends house and Natalia insisting on driving Olivia back to her room at the Beacon. Much like any one of a million dates that go on in the world, Natalia walked Olivia to her room to say good-night (now you know it was a date. Friends usually just drop each other off at the door, dates walk you to your door).
So they stood awkwardly at the door like two young lovers on a first date. Do they kiss? Do they shake hands? Maybe a hug? Olivia makes the first move (so to speak) and asks Natalia if she’d like to come in. Knowing better, Nat declines. So far, things have been rather normal and if she enters that room, all of that changes. Knowing Natalia isn’t quite ready for that change, Olivia graciously agrees.
The looks; however, that pass between the two during this exchange very clearly shows that they know they’ve already taken that next step. There were nerves and some excitement and desire and quite obviously want. It was awkward once more, but not like at the dinner they had just shared, but as if they knew the next step in the dance they were now engaged in yet still weren’t sure, or ready, to act on it.
They still need to be themselves around each other as they get used to this new phase of their relationship. Slowly, ever slowly, they’ll be able to take this to the next level. And the level beyond.
Still unsure, Nat asks what they do now, what happens next. Olivia steps close and takes Natalia’s hand. We say good night, she says. Natalia responds with a ‘good night’ and Olivia steps into her room, closing the door behind her. She leans against the door and a smile unlike anything we’ve seen in recent months (possibly the better part of a year) lights up Olivia’s face. It is so very obvious that Olivia Spencer is in love like she has never experienced before in her life.
It is now that we get to see the courtship. What happens as they slowly learn to deal with these feelings with each other, no longer internalizing them and drowning in their agony or running from their sorrow. From this moment on, we get to see the friendship become a romance…
And the truly nice thing about this episode is that Frankencooper was no where near the pair at all throughout the show. So either his tracking skills have been blunted by catching Natalia and Liv standing thisclose together at Emma’s school (seriously, wouldn’t you begin to wonder about your relationship if every time you stumbled upon your fiancé and her roommate, they were a) holding hands, b) hugging, or c) invading each others personal space?) or Nat made a quick trip to Cedars and had the microchip extracted…
However, he did continue being the most obtuse man alive when he straight-facedly told his father Buzz, that he knows he and Natalia will make it down the aisle and be married.
Oh, rly?
Mr. Oblivious, you’re table is ready. You will be dining alone.
One of the many things I love about this story is the little moments. The looks, the smiles, the gestures. There are wonderful eye-rolls, half-smiles, grins, little minutia that give the entire story its textured and realistic layers. For instance, watch the clip above and check out at 1:12 the fantastic look Jacqueline Tsirkin gives Jessica Leccia in the church after Emma says she wants “both her mommies” to go to dinner. It is priceless…
Thanks again to Yodaluver28 for the clip pulled from their YouTube page
New Hi-Def heights, that is! Enjoy the brilliant premiere episode of the award winning webseries Imaginary Bitches in Hi-Def on Strike.TV.
And don’t forget to head over to the Webby Awards and Vote for Eden for her portrayal as… er… Eden in Imaginary Bitches!
And check out the updated Imaginary Bitches website for good, bitchy fun! (especially check out the Interact section where you can follow Eden on Twitter (and Catherine, too!) and watch some fan-made video clips).
