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Alan had an interview with Robert Newman a couple of weeks ago and I just got a chance to listen to it. Robert tells a story about his early years on GL in which he said that headwriter Douglas Marland was “in hiding” at his home in Connecticut for a while during his tenure due to continued interference in his stories from TPTB. Robert said they would get scripts very shortly before the tape date so there was no time for changes.
I knew that the network tried to interfere with the Kelly/Morgan story and that Marland had a falling out with EP Allen Potter (and actually resigned) over the firing of Jane Eliot. But I didn’t realize he had gone “into hiding,” lol.
ReplyCopy URLLast week, The Locher Room did a wonderful interview with Tina Sloan, who just celebrated her 80th birthday and looks terrific. She had early roles on Somerset, Search for Tomorrow, and Another World, before becoming a mainstay on Guiding Light, playing Nurse Lillian Raines for 26 years.
The entire conversation was delightful, but there was one particular tidbit about her early time on GL during one of its most famous stories that I thought fans might find interesting. When the storyline featuring Bradley Raines raping his step-daughter Beth began, the original projection called for Lillian to shoot and kill Bradley when she found out and be sent to prison. Tina says she went to the writers and producers and told them she feared that if the story played out that way, then no young woman watching who was being abused would speak up, for fear of causing similar mayhem. TPTB agreed to take another look and visited multiple rape crisis centers, before deciding to change the story to have Beth confront Bradley and see him prosecuted for his actions. Tina says she still hears from sexual abuse survivors who had the courage to come forward because of that storyline.
ReplyCopy URL^^^ That’s incredible. It just goes to show what a lasting impact an important story such as this may have if it’s told in a sensitive, realistic and responsible manner. I’m reminded of what Melissa Claire Egan said this past November when she was a guest on The Talk in light of Y&R’s difficult storyline surrounding Chelsea’s depression and contemplating suicide, how touched the actress was by the outpouring of responses she’d received from viewers who shared similar first-hand experiences or knew of relatives or friends who were struggling. There’s no doubt in my mind that, like GL, Y&R will be credited for having saved lives, or at the very least opened the door for meaningful conversations with regards to our nation’s mental health crisis.
There are so many wonderful Locher Room interviews that it’s easy to lose track, but this is one I’ll be sure to check out when I get the chance!
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