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The Guiding Light's Dark Corners

© Sarah Lee

When I decided to devote an entire column to everything that was wrong with Guiding Light, I stalled, realizing I had way too much to say, and no way to make it not sound like just another rant. See the problem is, the show has improved vastly since two years ago when ATWT was just about to soar and GL was just about to sputter. The problem is, that improvement, is touch and go. There are things that GL has captured in the last year that so many other soaps have lost like family, history, and flavor. Unfortunately, it was also missing many crucial elements like proper storytelling, effective producing, balance, and the most important, direction. I read TV Guide's article celebrating the anniversary of a show that could have missed this event by two years if we judged by the dwindling ratings and poor quality. And while the show has pulled itself out of the quicksand, it isn't clear of it. So let's start with the very things that the TV Guide touched on.

This may be my only chance to really tear apart Paul Rauch, so I'm going to take it. The man is deluded! He is just one wrung below Tom Langan in the world of absolutely clueless soap producers. Not every single problem with GL since his tenure has been of his doing, but I sincerely believe he's at the heart of the show's soul being ripped out in the last five years. His quotes in the TV Guide all but confirm this for me. While Kim Zimmer and Michael O'Leary are both quoted in the article, making it clear what they like, the character-related stories, history, heart, hearth, home, and simplicity, Rauch's response? A defense of the now infamous clone story and time travel story. The man then follows saying he loves the show, he's invested in it, but apparently not enough to listen to the people who have been on this show twice as long as he has and have a lot more invested in it, like time.

The man is simply clueless and like James Reilly, he copies his own so-so work. San Cristobel is not much different than Mendorra, the remote island Bo Buchanan and Sarah Gordon were on while he was producing OLTL. Oh and what about OLTL's Clint and Viki time travel story? Sound familiar? Really, what is the difference? And why does Rauch make Zimmer handle all the stupid stories, for habit's sake? She is the show's venerable actress, she is part of the show's most recognized supercouple and yet the silly stories never get spread around, she gets them all. She gets cloned, she gets resurrected on a fantasy island, she goes through time, and she gets caught in an earthquake only months after she regained her eyesight. You're kidding me right? I know soap heroines have a time of it, but seriously.

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