As a procrastinator, I never got around to voting for my favorite Guiding Light cover. Soap Opera Weekly posted twenty different covers and asked us to choose our favorite. According to their website there would be an additional round of voting, which is why I visited the site to see if I could do that, but no such luck. Looking at the covers, caused a mental stroll down memory lane, which I decided to post for the June 30th anniversary. I'm mainly going to discuss the issues that came out prior to 2000.
I'm one of those people who could not decide what the best way to vote would be either, which is even worse than the procrastination. Should I have gone with the most aesthetically pleasing, the one that I think best represents GL, the one that features favored performers, or the one I like the best of those that has the best chance of getting to the next round. That's why I wouldn't do a write in as it would be like voting for a third party candidate as it is more of a protest vote than anything else. Realizing I was thinking too hard, was yet another reason I avoided voting. It really shouldn't be that difficult to click and vote on a magazine cover.
That said just the idea of voting and looking at old covers made me flash to the past. I miss the days where magazines had cover photos and unique photo shoots. We didn't see the same two or three shows monopolizing the cover, and variations of composite photos. It is sad that economics makes this no longer possible, and to sell magazines the cover art isn't as appealing. Soap opera publications aren't like Rolling Stone or other mainstream magazines where the people on the cover are well known. Having a bold photo or being provocative whether with your words or images may not do anything for sales as if someone has no idea on who is being portrayed, while they may look it is doubtful they will purchase it at the supermarket.
Of course, I also miss the excitement of going into a store, seeing a cover and breaking into a huge smile or conversely a look of distain. Now I'll usually see what a magazine looks like on-line beforehand. Ironically as I finish this post up SOW had two covers with GL on it in a row, which is very surprising.
In a shelf, next to my computer I have a binder with scanned copies of many of the Guiding Light covers from 1990-1999 from SOW. Unfortunately my list is incomplete. For the sake of brevity, I'm not going to write about every cover and/or partial one that I do have in my book especially since I don't have the full magazines easily available. Some of the issues, I own others I found the photos used as part of advertisements to buy the magazine. I scanned these way back in 1999 if not earlier. One of the shots that has a price, which is from 1990 was only 99 cents and now the cover price is $2.99. Though back in those days, the magazine was not full color.
The first issue I have a photo of in my list is of a Johnny and Chelsea cover (with a Phillip and Beth insert) which was volume 1, issue 11--February 20, 1990 which is more than a year before the first cover they used in the voting. While I'm not surprised that issue was not included, I am amazed they didn't put the 1991 cover celebrating Beth and Phillip's marriage due to Grant Aleksander's return to GL.
Looking at the photos, the first being of Mindy, Nick and Alex, the first thing that comes to mind is missed opportunities as that story was truncated due to a contract issue with Kim Simms. They wanted her to stay for two years, and she would only agree to one. Mindy was written out, and while the character was recast in 1993, the popularity of Nick and Mindy was never the same.
The next is from the Blackout of 1992. The same week that issue came out Soap Opera Magazine also had a Guiding Light related cover, which featured Holly, Ross and Blake. Two magazines covering an anniversary of a show, wow. That week also had a soap opera related week on the CBS Daytime Family Feud broadcast. Soap heaven or is it insanity which I doubt we will ever see again. Cross promoting shows throughout your daytime line up was a wonderful thing.
Then they jump to 1993 and Frank/Eleni plus baby Marina cover. My book has two additional 1992 covers. One of Frank and Eleni where she is wearing a dotted dress, where they have the main picture surrounded by couples from other shows, with the headline falling in love, daytime couples get a second chance at romance and the other called sweet revenge which was a photo of Roger, Ross, Holly and Blake with Holly holding the scandalous photos of Ross and Blake in bed. The cover banner announces the cancellation of Santa Barbara.
The next issue I have in 1993 matches up with SOW, as it is the Roger/Holly I surrender photo. Whether one loved Roger and Holly, the cover was provocative and evocative of the story in the Oh my Gawdness of the situation, as even with spoilers GL going there with Roger and Holly was a very big deal. I have an edited video of those scenes that I treasure, though it makes me too sullen to view it unfortunately.
After that in my book, I have a shot of a cover also from the summer of 1993 about the Macauley West story line aka Joe Lando best known to soap fans as Jake Harrison on One Life to Live becomes popular on the CBS show Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman and spends a few weeks in New York City taping Guiding Light as a cross promotion to increase the show's ratings. Macauley West was a cop who was a spoiler in the Nick and Mindy relationship, and we were supposed to wonder if he was going to end their pairing for good.
The next issue they feature is with Josh and Tangie, which was one of those couples that just didn't work for a lot of Guiding Light viewers. People at the show mistakenly thought that Robert Newman and Marcy Walker would just have chemistry due to their shared short past on Santa Barbara, the fact that Kim Zimmer and A Martinez their former love interests having been paired on SB. I'm really not sure why they thought it would work, as the two characters got involved off camera, which tends to be a big no no in couple creation.
Jumping to 1994, and the cover about Peter's custody. If one would be able to go back in the web archives, they could see how beloved baby Peter was to much of the audience. The custody story tied into a lot of different characters as Vanessa battled with Bridget over the child, after Billy went to prison for shooting Roger. Peter was cared about by most of the canvas, which made it a good angle for an umbrella story.
Then SOW features Matt and Vanessa's wedding cover from 1995. I won't lie, that I found that wedding disappointing, but perhaps it goes back to Nola becoming a brunt of a joke having poisoned nearly everyone at the reception. The next thing I have in my book is from 1996, and surprisingly it is a cover about Reva marrying Buzz and Josh being left out in the cold. The photo has Buzz, Reva and Josh, that I had forgotten about even if it is so rare to see Justin Deas on a magazine cover.
In 1997, GL celebrated its 60th anniversary and Soap Opera Weekly gave the show a full cover as pictured on their website. What was great about this cover is it didn't only feature people currently on the show, but had shots of past characters in the background who were important to the show's history, like Maureen Reardon, Harley and Mallet, Quint and Nola, Bert, Alan, Mike and Ed. What was cool was that year at the GLFC Luncheon, SOW brought extra copies in October to give away to the attendees, so I have three copies in my possession.
Then we jump to the end of the 1997 with a composite cover for November sweeps. I don't actually have this issue, but since it came out around Thanksgiving I missed it on the stands. Reva and Cassie teaming up to get Annie, Beth coming between Harley and Phillip and Abby killing Ray.
SOW features three covers from 1998 on their list. The first with Annie's downfall as she was already married to Eddie Banks. And the only reason I can pull that name out of my head was due to Annie detoxing at the Bauer cabin in the fall of 1996. She uttered the name Eddie Banks and on camera, the way it was remembered was due to Ernie Banks the baseball player. The next is about Reva being cloned with Josh and the younger Revas except for Joie Lenz, who later played Michelle. Dolly was an appropriate name for the clone who many online called Cleva, due to the sheep of the same name. The next was for the Ben, Blake, Ross story, where Ross shot Blake while aiming for Ben. My initial thoughts were Blake never wore that lingerie on screen and wow Liz looks great isn't her daughter less than six months old--wow. Considering less than a year later, Dinah tried to shoot Cassie and hit Hart causing his death, I wonder if bad aim is genetic, though at the time of the plot I just thought if Blake could aim for Gary and hit Alan-Michael--and Ross hit her while going for Ben that their kids should avoid firearms.
In 1999, SOW mentions three covers. Holly kidnapping the children, San Cristobel, and the suspects in Ben's murder. I've seen more than one person remark that the best part about Holly kidnapping the kids was her awesome outfits, and in some ways I do agree. It was also nice to see her interact with her older brother Ken, who lived most of his life in an institution. He left Springfield, before Blake was born and prior to Maureen Garrett playing the part, so it was interesting to see them interact. The second cover about San Cristobel was when Edmund went over the cliff IIRC. The third was when Ben was murdered, and inadvertently Vanessa fired the fatal shot after he grabbed her. Ben had already been shot by Carmen Santos. Okay, so Vanessa's aim is good, but she didn't want to shoot him and she finished off the job that Ross wanted to do a year earlier. So perhaps Dinah inherited her shooting skill from her mother, and not her father.
SOW features one from 2000, 2001, 2003, 2005 and 2006. Danny kills Carmen, though at the time we didn't know that Carmen wasn't dead as she left Springfield. Once she returned, she tried again unsuccessfully to get Michelle out of the way. This action ultimately caused her to be in a long term coma. and then returned. 2001: Michelle and Danny's child lives, and he ends up being little Robbie. Cassie and Richard's child dies due to Edmund's roadblock. Richard thought he was infertile, but he wasn't, though it was too little too late. 2003: Brad Cole comes back to the show and not as Richard, a return some loved and others loathed. 2005: Phillip isn't dead, and we saw the back of his head, and a pre-taped scene of him acting crazy. 2006: Josh finds out about Reva's illness. She ends up not dying and he chooses Cassie.
Out of all of the magazines through the years Soap Opera Weekly tends to be the one that gave Guiding Light the most cover focus. With features spanning many of the different popular and sometimes controversial plots and characters.
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