Guiding Light - MESSAGE BOARDS

If GL gets picked up by Lifetime I would hope that Wheeler/Kreizman gets the boot! If you didnt get the job done on CBS you wont get it done on Lifetime! Seriously! Enough is enough.... I even heard somewhere that Wheeler had broke down on set. I imagine so....She just killed OUR 72 year old friend. Well.... she didnt do it by herself...Kreizman helped.
Here's hoping that the New Credits will read something like this:
Guiding Light
LIFETIME TELEVISION


Executive Producer: Ed Scott
Head writers: Pamela K. Long, Kay Alden, Jill Lori Hurst

What would your EP/Headwriter Credits look like ONCE gl premier's on the new network... LOL! oK TO INCLUDE CAST. HAVE FUN!

I hope Ellen Wheeler stays in place. I'd explain why but I don't want to be stoned this late at night when I haven't had my Wheaties.

Personally, I think CBS has been looking for an excuse to get outta the soap opera racket. I don't care who was in charge and what the ratings were. If you're an ATWT fan, don't feel complacent with your network home. I don't care if it races up to #1 in the next year.

Unlike so many people in the business right now, Ellen Wheeler actually cares about telling good, emotional relationship stories. Budget cut after budget cut have changed the shape of GL, but Ellen Wheeler has taken lemons and made lemonade. There's a reason why people who tune in for the first time -- like me in January -- get hooked on the whole darn show. That's because this is how soaps are SUPPOSED to be written -- where it matters if we the audience watch every day, if we invest in the story and characters, if we spend the time and attention. It's been a generation since the audience mattered to soaps. Finally we matter again.

Dipsh!t Dave has GOT to go!!! No doubt!

Ellen and Jill has GOT to stay!!

Gotta disagree, respectfully. Ellen Wheeler and Jill Lorie Hurst are amazing.

Love Jill's writing. ELLEN WHEELER MUST STAY. She has done what she had to do to save the show. At first, I was not thrilled with the new production model, but I think they worked through the kinks and it REALLY works well for me now. I love the sets, the intimacy of the camerawork, etc.

ELLEN WHEELER is nothing short of AMAZING. She actually sits down with JLH and they read through the O/N scenes together to tweak them - what kind of Exec Prod is THAT COMMITTED.

Seriously, there are 3 names that will go down in soap history as the all time greats:

Agnes Nixon
Irma Phillips
and ELLEN WHEELER

[quote]Quote Dimlights: [quote]Quote D28IF: I hope Ellen Wheeler stays in place.

Im sorry! Ellen would have to go as well as David Kreizman. They have been at GL for over 4 years and have accomplished nothing. You can thank Jill Hurst for Otalia, and Phillip's return and Shinah as well as Bizzie madness! I pray that when OR if Guiding Light gets another shot in the arm its under the leadership of a new team. I wont go if Ellen goes.... then it will be the end of GL..... FOR ME. I just havent been entertained the last year or so.[/quote]


I completely respect that this hasn't been your cup of tea. If you haven't enjoyed this past year, then maybe EW's methods aren't for you.

For me, who returned to GL after many years, I've found my enjoyment of GL has only grown to the point that I can't stay away. Every other time I checked in with GL over the years I was gone within a few months. As AShiraz said, Ellen actually sits with Jill and reads through the Otalia scripts before passing them on to Crystal & Jessica, so they know they have them right. Who takes that much interest, that much care in a storyline? It shows both of their dedication in getting this one right for their audience.

Also, Ellen's been handed slashed budgets after bad news, hand over first, by CBS for the longest time. And to borrow Blithedale's phrase (reworded), has made lemonade out of lemons. The new production model was jarring at first and took awhile not only for the audience to get used to but the show itself to learn how to properly work. For me, the shaky camerawork is few and far between. The new way of filming only helps add to the intimacy of the scenes, so the impact is that much greater. That could never be achieved with the standard 3-camera shoot.

This is down to EW.

I was actually re-reading an interview with EW from about a year or so ago. GL has had one foot in the grave for a long time now. The network has done NOTHING to promote it. EW made some tough choices re cutting the budget and changing the production model. At first, I was just as much on the anti-EW wagon as anyone, because the cameras made me dizzy.

NOW, however, they have it down! There was a period of adjustment, to be sure, but I actually prefer this new production model. GL has survived so much in its history. It was one of the few soaps to make the transition from radio to TV. It made it through a move from NBC to CBS. If there is a soap that can survive in reality-tv world, it will be GL.

If GL fails, then expect other soaps to go. They are all looking at GL now to see what happens. I for one, think the Light will stay on. It will be because fans such as us demand that it do so.

Really, changing producers or writers at this stage in the game would be completely futile. EW is in it until the end, and if all goes as planned, that will not be for a very long while.

Dim, I hear what you're saying. I too was on the Get rid of EW bandwagon for a long time....and in the last 6-8 months I've come to an understanding on as to what really went down. Alot of blame was placed at her door step, that didn't necessarily belong to her.

She is an employee, and did what she could with what they gave her. I have a lot of respect for her now. She has made lemonade out of lemons, no doubt about it.

And Jill Lorie Hurst...she is first and foremost a fan of GL - and that comes across in her writing technique which btw I love!

David Kreizman should have been GONE a long time ago and JLH should've been bumped up on the writing team a long time ago!!

I have to agree on getting rid of David Kreizman. That man needs to be run off quickly.

I used to think that Ellen Wheeler needed to go too, but she has really done an amazing job at pulling up herself by her bootstraps and bringing GL up.

I also love Jill Lorie Hurst. She is an amazing writer and she should have been on the writing team a long time ago. She is amazing.

My understanding -- from an interview with Kim Zimmer herself -- is that they literally can not afford to use her more than they are right now. She gets paid a lot of money -- and apparently the more they use her the more she costs. Pretty much everyone else who's there (maybe literally everyone) has taken a pay cut. Kim Zimmer hasn't. I think that's her right -- to refuse. Just as it's Beth Elhers' and Rick Goldin's to take better paying jobs at another show. But you know, if you only have X amount of dollars, and it has to pay for 5 hours of programming a week -- you have to make really hard decisions, and sometimes that means saying "no, I can't pay you what you want -- or what you could get elsewhere."

I admit I know nothing about Grant's previous exit, but it must be saying something about his faith in Ellen Wheeler and the show as it is now, if he was willing to come back to the show -- given the hardships, and the production model and all.

Kim wanted a change in her contract, I understand. The change would have allowed her to take off for extended periods of time, then return and work a big chunk of time for a big story.

Kim doesn't want to just be in the background - she wants Reva front and center or not on at all, and I think she knows that is what works best for the character. Reva is larger than life, and if you aren't going to use her correctly, don't use her at all.

Likely it is not just EW's decision to allow for that sort of a contract. Right now, with things being so tentative, I am betting they want KZ where they know they can use her as they see fit.