Beth Ehlers bolts Guiding Light for All My Children

[Brian Damage]

http://www.nydailynews.com/entertain..._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.

[Jude The Obscure]

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 _____.

[JT]

Originally Posted by Jude86

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.

[80sTrivia]

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...

[catlover79]

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

[Jude The Obscure]

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.

[catlover79]

Originally Posted by Jude86

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.

[HuntingtonM15]

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.

[Jude The Obscure]

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).

[JT]

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.

[Dr. Jazz]

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.

[Dr. Jazz]

Originally Posted by JT

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.

[80sTrivia]

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...

[catlover79]

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

[Jude The Obscure]

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.