I’ve always hated that Bonnie Tyler song. Too loud and whiny for my taste. But I’ve been thinking recently about all that ails our favorite daytime drama (that’s Guiding Light, in case you’d forgotten) and one of the many things I came up with is the fact that not many of the characters we see on a day to day basis are really that likable.
Danny Santos, played by the slimy Paul Anthony Stewart, concocts convoluted plans to foil the malevolent plots of his homicidal mother, plays unnecessary games of hardball with one of the few beloved characters the show has left think Ed in the pool house and comes across all around as haughty and conceited.
Then there’s Gus Aitoro, the rugged cop with a heart of gold. All well and good, save for the fact that the former FBI agent framed one of our other good guys for matricide. Maybe orphaned Gus was justified, you say (after all, Danny did kill Carmen or so we and Claire Labine believed, in vain). I say that when you “develop” a character with a specific intention in mind (i.e. making Gus the love-child of Miguel Santos and Selena Davis, in this case) and then abandon it because even your dimmest of viewers can see the big secret coming a mile away, that character suffers. Even now the show is uncertain about Gus’s role in Springfield; “We’re making significant story changes,” outgoing executive producer Paul Rauch said in relation to the story of Nick and Eden August (or Augustino, or Adams, or Aitoro) recently. Gus’s seeming doubts about Harley’s effectiveness or perhaps even her role in general as a cop of late have also not done the character any favors.
All Josh Lewis ever does these days is react to the actions of his eccentric wife, Reva Shayne. Robert Newman’s capable of much more, yes, but that’s not the issue.
Phillip Spaulding is being tortured by a forbidden love for his stepmom. That’s a good start, especially with Grant Aleksander and Crystal Chappell at the helm, but then there’s the fact that the Spaulding heir is refusing to allow popular heroine Harley Cooper access to their son Zack, for no good reason other than that the plot point allowed for the introduction of the almost-universally despised Eden August, written with such little depth that viewers probably know more about Lynn, the waitress at Company than they do about Theresa Hill’s contract character. We can’t put all of our support behind this guy, now can we?
Shades of gray are good. We’re lucky to have such actors as Aleksander, Chappell, and Beth Ehlers doing their characters such justice. But it occurs to me that GL, and other soaps, have been much more accessible to viewers when portraying one or two really good guys, men and, to a lesser extent in my opinion, women, who struggle against all odds to do the right thing for their families, friends, and the world in general.
Many would argue that the 60s and 70s were the Light’s brightest days the days when Ed and Mike Bauer battled Roger Thorpe, Alan Spaulding, and others for the good of mankind, at least in Springfield. Legal eagle Mike Bauer put criminals to justice (a la Flip Mallone); Dr. Ed defended the honor of ingenues such as Holly Norris and Rita Stapleton against the nefarious Roger. Neither Mike nor Ed was perfect; Mike was an overbearing parent to young Hope, and Ed fought a constant struggle to stay on the wagon. But the moral standing of these man was never questionable.
The 80s saw the introduction of the Lewis boys, who had flaws of their own, but never became too “complex” to become unappetizing. I would argue that the protagonists of today just aren’t ‘good’ enough to appeal to viewers. I certainly lack sympathy for almost-rapist Tony Santos.
A new generation of do-gooders graced our screens by the early 90s. Dylan Lewis and Alan-Michael Spaulding fought fires, physical adversity, and psychopaths, and their struggles kept up watching.
We never needed boring, sanctimonious heroes. Just ones we could relate to. After all, Josh and Alan-Michael both were introduced as villains, yet became the type of guys we could all identify with.
The attractiveness of the hero archetype has not diminished today in any way. Look at what recently installed Head Writers Bob Guza, Jr. and Charles Pratt have done with General Hospital. That show is full of men and women we can sympathize with. Sonny Corinthos, Jason Morgan, Jasper Jax, Alexis Davis, Ned Ashton, Brenda Barrett, and even Skye Chandler and Carly Corinthos, suffer from no lack of depth (Sonny’s a mobster, after all), but are presented as being not much different than what we are, or aspire to be. Since Guza and Pratt have taken over, GH’s ratings and demos have improved markedly. The show is once again a big player on the daytime block.
So how do we solve this conundrum? It’s my opinion that duds such as Danny and Tony Santos need to be abandoned immediately. If I were in charge, both Stewart and Jordi Vilasuso would be shown the door at the end of their next thirteen week cycles. The question, then, concerns who the show should present as its protagonists.
Chappell and Ehlers should be pushed as the female leads on GL at this point. The actresses work, the characters work, it just works. There’s that old saying about going back to the well one-too-many times; I don’t think Josh or Ed or Ross Marler can be expected to play the roles they have before.
A good start would be Bill Lewis. Daniel Cosgrove comes off as likable, the character has a very rich history, and there’s still tons of room for growth. Another choice would be Wesley Ramsey’s Sam Spencer, but it may be too late for that option given the treatment of the character by Lloyd Gold’s regime. Ben Reade could work a few years down the line, and there are Reardons and Chamberlains out there who could do the job as well. Possible future choices include Peter Reardon, Shayne Lewis, and Ian and Henry Cooper.
There is still plenty of life to this show, but some critical
decisions must be made, and fast. With a new executive producer and
head writer taking the reigns, maybe some major casting shakeups are in
order as well.
For now, I’ll be holding out for a hero till the end of the Light.
We do, of course, need a villain as well, but that’s another kettle of fish...
