http://www.nydailynews.com/entertainment/tv/2008/05/16/2008-05-16_soapdish_reva_pops_the_question_on_guidi.html

Guiding Light star Beth Ehlers is bolting the CBS soap for ABC's All My Children. She'll be assuming the role of Liza Colby Chandler, the part most recently played by Marcy Walker (who played Tangie back on Guiding Light in 1993).

This is the second major exit from GL, and it seems that the bottom line reason for the departures is the bottom line. Cost cutting across the board at the P&G soaps -- GL and As the World Turns -- have squeezed the actors salaries. Martha Byrne and Scott Bryce left ATWT in recent months, reportedly in contract disputes, and Ricky Paull Goldin departed GL last month and was quickly snatched up by All My Children. Just like Ehlers.

I'm about to bolt from GL myself. The show is just falling apart and I have never been so bored with the storylines. The writers are just ruining the characters left and right. Gus was turned into a spineless wimp and Harley became this sex-crazed man stealing _____.

I'm about to bolt from GL myself. The show is just falling apart and I have never been so bored with the storylines. The writers are just ruining the characters left and right. Gus was turned into a spineless wimp and Harley became this sex-crazed man stealing _____.
ITA!

GL is quite possibly the worst soap on the air right now. ATWT isn't too far behind, either.

It's very funny, actually. As CBS falls lower and lower in quality, ABC starts to rise from the ashes that many thought would consume it forever.

This is so sad... I fear the future of the daytime drama is in serious jeopardy because of erroding viewership and the networks are making serious budget cuts, and asking cherished and critically acclaimed actors, many whom have been with their respective shows for many decades, to take drastic pay cuts. I really see a future where the daytime serial as we know it might be a dinosaur of the past...

Soap Opera Digest predicted this a couple of weeks ago - she'll most likely be paired up with Ricky Paull Goldin again.

Sad totally--I've been a GL watcher since 1970. My mother remembers the radio version!

Look at how Soapnet is moving further and further away from its original purpose.

Sad totally--I've been a GL watcher since 1970. My mother remembers the radio version!

Look at how Soapnet is moving further and further away from its orignal purpose.
...just like TV Land. ohno:

I'm glad she took this job, because I also heard she was in talks with Y&R. Y&R has WAY too many new characters lately! Though, they probably wouldn't have been able to afford her, anyway.

At this rate, I'm surprised that Kim Zimmer reupped her contract! I expect to see more vets walk away from this show (or be driven away).

The day they lose Zimmer is the day the rest of the cast can start cleaning out their dressing rooms and the affiliates can start thinking about how they'll replace the show. GL absolutely can not stand to lose anymore long-running cast members. They just can't. It's a complete and utter shame that *the* longest-running program in the history of all of broadcasting has few ties to its past beyond the last 25 years. Looking back, the show's history hasn't preserved well at all. Shows like "As the World Turns" and "All My Children" and even "Days of our Lives" still have a chance to be great, awesome shows again because there are still major ties to the past. With GL, the actor who started the earliest is Robert Newman, who joined in 1981. But you look at ATWT which not only has several cast members from the 1960s and 1970s, but also still has an original cast member. Same thing with AMC. Of course, neither show is using its older characters very well, but the simple fact that they are still there and able to be used puts them both miles ahead of GL. GL could bring people back, but the show's core has been mangled for so long that it's almost worthless.

Beth Ehlers is a great actress whom I enjoyed when she first came on GL in the late 80's, but I think most long-time AMC fans agree that there is only ONE Liza Colby and that's Marcy Walker - who I understand is retired from acting and has joined some ministry in North Carolina.

The day they lose Zimmer is the day the rest of the cast can start cleaning out their dressing rooms and the affiliates can start thinking about how they'll replace the show. GL absolutely can not stand to lose anymore long-running cast members. They just can't. It's a complete and utter shame that *the* longest-running program in the history of all of broadcasting has few ties to its past beyond the last 25 years. Looking back, the show's history hasn't preserved well at all. Shows like "As the World Turns" and "All My Children" and even "Days of our Lives" still have a chance to be great, awesome shows again because there are still major ties to the past. With GL, the actor who started the earliest is Robert Newman, who joined in 1981. But you look at ATWT which not only has several cast members from the 1960s and 1970s, but also still has an original cast member. Same thing with AMC. Of course, neither show is using its older characters very well, but the simple fact that they are still there and able to be used puts them both miles ahead of GL. GL could bring people back, but the show's core has been mangled for so long that it's almost worthless.

I agree to an extent - no soap is too mangled up to be turned around because I've seen it happen with a couple of soaps in the past. It's ALL about the writing and to salvage a show that's spiraled out of control writing-wise, they not only need to bring some veteran actors/characters back to the canvas but they also need to have a mix of fresh, new writers and bring back some veteran writers who's familiar with the show's history and it's characters. That not only goes for GL, but all the soaps who have lost there way due to shabby writing.

I agree that losing Kim Zimmer would probably be the final nail in the coffin for Guiding Light. I pray this doesn't happen, as it is the longest running television program anywhere in the world and should be treated with the respect and dignity it deserves. Soaps are the only medium where an actor can portray a character of many years, or many decades in some cases! These shows are comforting to their viewers because of continuity, the fact we can tune in any time we have the opportunity and reconnect with characters we feel like we actually know and have become a part of our daily lives. During troubled times, I like to tune into my favorite soap and just forget about my own problems and concentrate on what is going on in the lives of the show's denizens. This is why keeping a show's core characters and actors is so very important in keeping viewers tuned in. Once you've lost all the characters who made you connect with the show in the first place, you lose interest and start not watching the program anymore... I'm truly praying GL can turn things around and save itself from cancellation...

Why did Ricky Paull Goldin leave GL? Was he let go or did he choose to leave?

Ricky chose to leave. From the grapevine, he was not happy with the direction the show was moving in regards to his character. AMC seem to pose a new creative challenge for him, so he went for it.

I haven't watched GL in a decade or so...ever since Michael Zaslow was fired for being sick. I'm sorry to here that it's having so many problems though. Are any of the Bauers still on? It was always a great show and I have a lot of great memories watching with my Mom. I hope the show goes on for another 50 years.

There is really only one main Bauer left--Rick.

Yep, Rick's the only real Bauer left and he's been reduced to scenery pretty much.

How do you like that? The show's core family, the driving force of the storylines for a good 45-50 years...reduced to absolutely nothing. How in the hell can they run around praising themselves for being the longest-running program in the entire world, yet it's nearly impossible to celebrate its history without that history seeming irrelevent to what the show is today.

Just damn. Damn, damn, damn, CBS. I still get pissed off when I think about how absolutely ruined the show is.

GL's jump the shark moment ultimately began with the death of Maureen Bauer in the '90s......many other things since have helped the downward spiral--the mob family Santos, San Cristobal, The Reva Clone, The Time Travel Painting, etc.

This is so sad... I fear the future of the daytime drama is in serious jeopardy because of erroding viewership and the networks are making serious budget cuts, and asking cherished and critically acclaimed actors, many whom have been with their respective shows for many decades, to take drastic pay cuts. I really see a future where the daytime serial as we know it might be a dinosaur of the past...
Erroding viewership due to bad writing! Maybe, maybe not, but today I was watching DOOL for the first time in years, and damn...everyone just kept talking about the same thing repeatedly for the whole hour. The said in 7 scenes what should have taken 1 or 2. I wanted to scream. If they're all like that, holy crap.



Anyhow, I think AMC is laughing all the way, putting a GL supercouple back together. I liked Harley and Gus, so I'm sure they'll be good as whoever on AMC.

I agree that losing Kim Zimmer would probably be the final nail in the coffin for Guiding Light. I pray this doesn't happen, as it is the longest running television program anywhere in the world and should be treated with the respect and dignity it deserves. Soaps are the only medium where an actor can portray a character of many years, or many decades in some cases! These shows are comforting to their viewers because of continuity, the fact we can tune in any time we have the opportunity and reconnect with characters we feel like we actually know and have become a part of our daily lives. During troubled times, I like to tune into my favorite soap and just forget about my own problems and concentrate on what is going on in the lives of the show's denizens. This is why keeping a show's core characters and actors is so very important in keeping viewers tuned in. Once you've lost all the characters who made you connect with the show in the first place, you lose interest and start not watching the program anymore... I'm truly praying GL can turn things around and save itself from cancellation...
That's the reason I could watch old eps of DOOL on YouTube from the early 80s, and still feel interested like when I was watching it in the mid-90s. There were many characters who were there in those early days that were there in the 90s, and are still there today. Same families, same actors, etc.

I haven't watched GL in a decade or so...ever since Michael Zaslow was fired for being sick. I'm sorry to here that it's having so many problems though. Are any of the Bauers still on? It was always a great show and I have a lot of great memories watching with my Mom. I hope the show goes on for another 50 years.
I have fond memories of watching it in the 90s too. Last time I saw it though, it didn't even look like GL. This was after they started shooting it with home video cameras or whatever they did.

Don Stewart getting canned upset me, but that was made up for with the addition of Larkin Malloy. But as Clint Eastwood Fan noted, the release of Michael Zaslow was a deplorable act. The final straw was when Jerry Ver Dorn left. The only reason that show still breathes life on CBS is because it's been on for 71 years. GL oughtta get yanked and now so Days Of Our Lives can move there if NBC cancels it next year to make way for a 5th hour of the Today show.