Friday, September 21, 2012
Randomness on a Friday Morning...
I know what most of you must be thinking. Today is Friday, and this is the time of the week when I am supposed to be talking about a television show, a television character in a television show, or just something related to the world of television.
Well, to be perfectly honest, I'm not entirely in the mood to do that this morning at all. I did have a topic selected for today, but I think what I will do is wait until next Friday to discuss it. It's my blog, and I can do that. Trust me, it will be worth the wait.
Instead, I want to take this opportunity to tell you all how grateful I am to all of you who have supported this venture (and continue to support it) over the last sixteen months. If it wasn't for your appreciation, your viewing, and your actual interest in my thoughts on pop culture and other various things, I certainly wouldn't have the motivation to keep bringing you a brand new blog topic each and every day.
Granted, there have been a couple of missteps along the way. Occasionally, I have posted information in my blog that hasn't been one hundred per cent correct. But thankfully, I have a great group of friends who tend to double as my fact checkers who assist me in keeping this blog one hundred per cent accurate.
(Well...okay...maybe 99.9% accurate. Nobody's perfect.)
I also admit that I have made a few spelling and grammatical errors. This one is a bit harder for me to admit to, as I tend to be one step away from being a full-fledged Grammar and Spelling Nazi myself. But thankfully, I have friends who will point out (albeit in a joking and sarcastic manner) when I have made a typing error, and I am very appreciative of that because the last thing that someone who is a step away from being a Grammar and Spelling Nazi wants is to have spelling and grammatical errors in the very thing that they are trying to write.
I usually get positive feedback with most of the topics that I have chosen. Some get loads of views, while others I am lucky if one person other than myself take a gander at it. But I am proud of each and every topic I choose, because you never know what sorts of discussions that might pop up. I remember getting into a very spirited conversation with someone on my Facebook page about the "Big Comfy Couch", and I was so inspired by that conversation that I turned it into a blog entry!
So, be warned...the next time you have a conversation with me, it might end up in the blog!
There are some topics that I have brought up that have generated mild controversy, and I admit that there were minor scuffles between my friends and I over the subject matter, as well as my opinion. But I think that one of the greatest things about this is the fact that whenever something happens where we end up mad at each other, we're always willing to hear the other person out and come to a compromise about where we stand. I appreciate the fact that some people have called me out on something that they might not have agreed with, and had a talk about it with me. It helped me out a lot because it helped me take constructive criticism a lot better...but I think it also helped me understand how to handle conflict resolution.
As far as I am concerned, there is no feeling more frustrating then when you have a conflict with someone, you have absolutely no idea what it is that you have done wrong, and when you try to open up a dialogue with them, they don't even so much as respond to you. It's a feeling that I wish none of you had to experience.
I know that in my life and times, I have had several friendships end because the other person wasn't willing to hear me out, and vice versa. In fact, I suppose one can say that I am currently in a situation exactly like this one, which does explain why I have decided to write about it here instead of talking about a television program. I guess maybe by writing it out and seeing it in print will help me understand what the next step is in the situation.
As much as I don't want to end any of the friendships that I have lost as a result of no communication from one of the two parties...sometimes, it might just be the only option that might bring both of us peace of mind.
But, as far as I'm concerned, if one of the parties in a friendship still has communication barriers up, then I would think that trying to re-establish a connection would be quite difficult...maybe even impossible. It sucks to have to admit that , but sometimes you also have to realize that in situations like this, it is completely out of your control.
And sometimes, that's how life is. Sometimes you can put so much effort into something, and it still doesn't work out the way you want it to. And, sometimes, you just have to make the choice as to whether something is worth saving. I'll admit that the choice for me is a hard one...and sometimes I still second guess my decisions. At the end of the day, at least I can give myself some credit for trying. It is of small comfort, but it is a start.
I'll be back next Friday with a look back on a television show. For now, enjoy the rest of your Friday, everyone.
Thursday, September 20, 2012
A Slice Of Birthday Cake
NOTE:
I am still looking for ideas for a new theme day for Thursdays, so
if you have any ideas that you want to float my way, please post them
in a comment on this blog entry.
In
this blog entry, I thought that I would talk about something that is
food-related. There was a couple of reasons why I opted to go this
route.
The
first reason is that I don't have a food themed theme day in my blog
as of yet (and actually, now that I have written it down, that
actually makes a very good theme day idea). Certainly, I've done
blog entries on certain foods (Oreos, M&M's, Popsicles, etc), so
this isn't much of a departure for me.
But
I definitely wanted to do a blog entry on this particular topic
because it certainly fits with what today is.
Today
happens to be my nephew's 12th birthday (HAPPY BIRTHDAY,
JOSH!!!), and as a result of that, I'm going to be talking about a
particular food item that is present at almost all birthday
celebrations.
Yes,
this post is all about CAKE!
Um...no...not
THAT cake.
I
mean this cake...as in BIRTHDAY cake!
In
this blog entry, we're going to take a look at the history of
birthday cakes, the symbolism that is associated with birthday cakes,
and while we're on the subject, I'll talk about some of my own
memories with birthday cakes as well. I wish I had pictures to show
you, but the cakes were already half devoured by the time the
pictures were shot. But, I'm a fairly descriptive person, so I think
I can make it work.
(Even though in all actuality, my nephew would rather have a pumpkin pie instead of a birthday cake.)
So,
how did the birthday cake come to be?
If
we take a look back at classical Roman culture, many people baked
cakes of flat rounds that were made with flour and contained nuts.
The cakes were leavened with yeast and sweetened with honey, and for
the most part were served at wedding feasts in Ancient Greece. But
sometimes the cakes were used to celebrate special birthdays as well.
In
the 15th century, many bakeries in Germany began to make
one-layer cakes for customers to be used for the dual-purpose of
weddings and birthdays, and it is this practice that many believe
inspired the modern birthday cake. It took another two hundred years
before the birthday cake took on its current look, though. The cakes
that were constructed in the 17th century featured cake
icing, multiple layers, and decorations...but back in those days,
only the incredibly wealthy could afford it.
In
other words, using the “Occupy Movement” terminology, only the 1%
could afford frosted cakes...the 99% went without icing.
In
fact, it wasn't until the Industrial Revolution that birthday cakes
became more accessible to more people. With cake making and
decorating tools becoming more advanced and easier to afford,
birthday cakes became available to a larger section of the
population. These days, a person can get a birthday cake for as low
as ten bucks! Vive le progress!
So
now that you know how birthday cakes came to be made, now comes the
next part. Do you know how the tradition of putting birthday candles
on a cake came to be? Well, I have the answer for all of you right
here.
Apparently
the tradition of placing candles on a birthday cake came from Ancient
Greece as well. They used to put candles on cakes and lit them so
that they would glow like the moon. It is also somewhat believed
that the reason that the candles were lit because the smoke carried
prayers from people to God.
Come
to think of it, I wonder if that was how the tradition of blowing out
the candles to make a wish was originated?
In
most modern countries, the tradition of singing the song “Happy
Birthday To You” is a common occurance, and is more or less the
most widely accepted custom when it comes to serving birthday cakes.
But depending on what nation you come from, these traditions can be
tweaked a little. Take the nation of New Zealand, for example.
After people in New Zealand sing “Happy Birthday”, it is
tradition in that country to clap one time for each year that the
person has lived, plus one extra clap for good luck. This would be
fine if the person celebrating the birthday was a child...but if you
were celebrating Grandma's 90th birthday, perhaps you
might want to invest in a good hand lotion before following New
Zealand's traditions!
That
is about all that I have to say about the history of birthday cakes.
I hope that you learned a little bit about how they came to be. I
know I certainly did.
In
my lifetime, I think I have managed to sample approximately 155
birthday cakes. Thirty-one of them were my own, and of course, I've
also had slices of cake from the various birthday parties of family
members and close friends. That's a lot of cakes.
And
certainly, some cakes were better than others.
I
think that my sister holds the record for having the most creative
birthday cake designs of all time. When my sister turned nine, it
was right around the time that “Star Wars: The Empire Strikes
Back” was popular, and my sister had a Star Wars themed cake. My
sister claimed that it was a Darth Vader cake that she had, but
looking at the faded snapshots from the early 1980s, I thought it
looked more like R2D2.
But
whatever cake she had back then didn't compare to a recent cake that
she ended up having.
You
see, back in July, my sister celebrated a milestone birthday. So,
naturally, we had to do something very special for her. So a party
was planned, and someone that my sister worked with arranged to have
someone bake her an Oreo cookie cake that looked like a giant pink
and black high heeled shoe!
(In
case you were wondering, my sister has been trying to achieve the
goal of having more shoes than Imelda Marcos since she was in her
early teens.)
My
cakes have been more or less perfect. There was one cake that I had
three years ago that was completely covered in purple and blue icing
(my two favourite colours) which was delicious! I also vaguely
remember having a cake that had Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle candles
on it...it was probably around the time that I had my ninth birthday
and my birthday party was Ninja Turtle themed on account that the
live-action movie had come out the month before.
(Wow...apparently
it's common for my family to have themed birthdays whenever any of us
turn nine. That's sort of freaky in a way.)
As
far as the worst cake that I ever had went...well, it seems fitting
that it would be for the worst birthday that I have ever had.
It was May 1995. I was all set to turn fourteen years old, and
everything was going well. I was about to graduate from elementary
school, and in just a few days, I would be off to my very first
overnight field trip to Toronto. My fourteenth birthday was supposed
to be a good one.
But
then my mom and my sister both got sick and both needed operations.
On one hand, they both made history, as they were a mother and
daughter who both went in for surgery for the same procedure on the
same day performed by the same doctor! It was the first time that
had happened. I suppose in that sense, it was cool.
The
problem was that the surgery date was May 16, 1995...two days before
my fourteenth birthday.
So,
needless to say, my mom and my sister were not able to celebrate my
birthday with me, which was terrible. To make things even more
worse, my mother's surgery was so complicated, she almost died. So,
if anyone I attended school with during eighth grade noticed that I
was in a horrible mood on my birthday and didn't want anyone to wish
me a happy birthday back in 1995, you now know why. It wasn't a good
time.
I
didn't even have a party for my 14th birthday because of
everything that was going on. My dad and my other sister were
determined to make sure that I at least had a cake.
They
went to the nearest supermarket, picked up a small store-bought
chocolate cake and a tube of green icing (you know, those little
tubes that you can find in the baking section of most supermarkets),
and my sister attempted to write a birthday message on it.
It
was supposed to say “Happy 14th Birthday, Matthew”.
Instead, it read “HAPPY #^&WUUIYWIH*@&XZ(ZHA.”
Yeah,
it wasn't pretty at all.
Looking
back on it though, I do appreciate the fact that they made an effort
to try to make the birthday seem normal, even though it was anything
but. And, hey, at least it's a birthday celebration that I will
never forget. How could I forget a chocolate cake with green
squiggles all over it? My family really tried, and I really am
grateful. I was just happy that my mom and sister survived their
surgical procedures, and when it came time for my 15th
birthday, they all really went out to make it up to me for the
miserable time that I had during my 14th birthday.
So,
now I open up the floor to you. What are some of your favourite
birthday cake moments?
Wednesday, September 19, 2012
You Don't Know Jack
You know, I always told myself that no matter what
happened, I would never get myself addicted to a video game application on
Facebook of all places.
To me, Facebook applications are nothing but
trouble, as far as I am concerned. A lot
of them suck you in with the promise of a good time, and at first, they are a
lot of fun. But then after a while, you
need to accomplish certain things in order to progress to the next level. Like, you need to have a particular item to
be able to complete your dream kitchen in Cafe World, and the only way to get
that item is to spam your friends list constantly with game requests asking you
to help them out by signing up for the game.
Yeah. Just
in case you weren’t sure...I don’t play games that have that annoying
feature. So, here’s a heads up. STOP SENDING ME GAME REQUESTS IN WHICH I HAVE
TO SPAM PEOPLE TO PLAY IT!
I also don’t like the idea of games forcing you to
spend actual money on tokens that can be used to “enhance” your gaming
experience. I mean, I suppose I COULD
spend $25 to buy a bunch of apple trees for my Farmville game...but why would I
do that when I can get a bag of REAL apples from the grocery store for a sixth
of the price? I mean, priorities,
people!
But, so help me.
I got addicted to a Facebook game, and have played it at least once a
day all this month of September. I got
so addicted to this game that I actually purchased a copy of the Nintendo DS
version of it from eBay last night (at a relatively low shipping cost too,
might I add). And, I am so addicted to
this game that I am going to devote a whole blog entry towards it.
I’d also like to thank my Facebook friend Sarah L for turning me onto this game. If it weren’t for her, this blog entry would
not have been written.
All right, here’s the topic of the blog.
That’s right, it’s the recent game phenomenon that
goes under the title of “You Don’t Know Jack”...or, YDKJ, if you want to deal
with abbreviations.
I got turned onto the game via a request on
Facebook, but to my surprise, the game has existed a lot longer than I
initially thought. Would you believe
that “You Don’t Know Jack” has been around for seventeen years, and that the
idea was thought up some time before that?
If
the idea for “You Don’t Know Jack” was born in the same year that Super Mario
World hit the scene, Paula Abdul’s new day had a lot of promise, and the Soviet
Union split up, what year was it?
A) 1981
B) 1986 C)
1991 D) 1996
If you said D, you obviously didn’t read the
earlier paragraph, did you?
Of course, the answer is C. Back in 1991, a multimedia company known as
“Learn Television” had released a film entitled “The Mind’s Treasure Chest” for
children. The film received a lot of
praise, and ended up winning some awards.
It was largely due to the success of this film that the company decided
to branch out into the computer software market so they could use the
technology to create a new learning experience for young children.
Teaming up with Follett Software Company, the
computer game “That’s A Fact, Jack” was born.
It was a game that came in CD-ROM format that focused primarily on young
adult fiction. The game would give a
title for a child to read, and then asked them questions based on what they had
just read. The game’s target audience
was between the ages of 8 and 16, and it became a great learning tool.
It was around the time of the release of “That’s A
Fact, Jack” that the idea that spawned “You Don’t Know Jack” was born. Right around that time, the founder of Learn
Television, Harry Gottlieb, had decided to make a couple of changes within the
company. With the company shifting focus
from television and film to computer games, Gottlieb changed the name of the
company to “Jellyvision”. The second
change came from a partnership that Jellyvision entered into with Berkeley
Systems. I could tell you what the
changes were, but I think this statement on the Jellyvision official website
does a fair enough job on its own.
“Way
back in the early ‘90s, Jellyvision decided to test the waters of mainstream
interactive entertainment by beginning a partnership with Berkeley Systems, of
‘Flying Toasters’ fame. Berkeley Systems
asked us if we could apply the concept of a game show to an adult trivia
game. Since no one at Jellyvision at the
time liked trivia games, we tried to figure out how to make trivia questions
fun and engaging to us. When we realized
that it was possible to ask about both Shakespeare and Scooby-Doo in the same
question, “You Don’t Know Jack” was born.”
Really...Shakespeare and Scooby-Doo in the same
question, eh? Let’s see if I can try
coming up with one that uses both.
If
Scooby-Doo were to eat a Scooby Snack that was flavoured with the last beverage
that Romeo drank, what would happen?
A) Scooby-Doo would end up Scooby-Refreshed
B) Scooby-Doo would end up Scooby-Dead
C) Scooby-Doo would end up Scooby-Drunk
D) Scooby-Doo would end up Scooby-Cured
Now, unlike the last question, I won’t reveal the
answer right now. Besides, you probably
already know this one already, as I am not nearly as clever at the “You Don’t
Know Jack” writers.
The first edition of “You Don’t Know Jack” was
released on September 12, 1995, and the host of the game was the never seen
Nate Shapiro.
TRIVIA: And, here’s some trivia for all of you. The voice of Nate Shapiro was provided by
Jellyvision founder Harry Gottlieb. And,
keeping the business in the family, Harry’s brother Tom provides the voice of
the most recent host, Cookie Masterson...also unseen.
Over the years, there have been a grand total of
twenty different versions of the game released, the most recent being the
Facebook application in early 2012. But
there have also been versions with only Sports trivia, versions geared towards
teens and young adults, and even versions for video game consoles and mobile
phones.
I think a part of the fun of the game is the fact
that in some cases, you never know what kind of questions you will end up
getting. There’s one question type that
pops up in more recent versions known as “Cookie’s Fortune Cookie Fortunes with
Cookie “Fortune Cookie” Masterson”.
Literally, you hear Cookie eating a fortune cookie while he reads a
fortune. Then you answer a question that
is related to the fortune inside the cookie.
Like this one.
“PRIME
REAL ESTATE IS IN YOUR FUTURE”
If
you were looking for a house that has a prime number in its address, which
house should you buy?
A) 2 Rose Street
B) 15 Violet Street
C) 77 Tulip Street
D) 1989 Willow Street
Another popular question type that can be found in
the game is the “Put The Choices Into Order Then Buzz In To See If You Are
Right Question”. I really wish I had
video clips to insert into this blog, but all I could find was a clip of
dancing fours, which makes no sense. Oh
well. I can still ask this question.
Place
the following video game characters into order beginning with the one that
debuted first: Sonic the Hedgehog, Spyro
the Dragon, Samus Aran
A) Sonic, Spyro, Samus
B) Samus, Sonic, Spyro
C) Spyro, Sonic, Samus
D) Spyro, Samus, Sonic
Don’t worry.
I’ll post the answers later on.
Trust me. I hope you’re keeping
score.
There’s also a question known as the “Flickerpiss
Nosescum”...ah, I mean “Ticklefish Western”...oh, wait, I know. The Gibberish Question! In that question, you’ll see a phrase that is
written in complete gibberish...but in reality, the words actually rhyme with
the words in the phrase. An example can
be something like “Quit cakes, you do mango”...if you really examine it, the
phrase really is “It takes two to tango.”
Confused yet?
Try this one, courtesy of this screenshot from one of the games.
(If it’s too small to read, it goes “Flask snot
butt four guntry ran two more flew.”)
Now, at the end of however many rounds you play
for (depending on the version you play, the game can be anywhere from five to
twenty-one questions), the last round will always feature a phenomenon known as
the “Jack Attack”. You’ll be given a
clue, and your job is to select the choice that fits best with the clue. For instance, if you’re given the clue of “City
Nicknames”, and your clue is New York, you’ll want to buzz in the moment you
see the words “Big Apple” flying across the screen. Here’s an example of this below, although
this example is not exactly the best one.
Now, you’ll want to be quick because you don’t want
to miss the correct answer. At the most,
they only appear for four seconds. And,
also, you don’t want to click on the wrong answer. You’ll get penalized if you do.
So, let’s do a “Jack Attack” right now, shall
we? I didn’t create this one, and the
last three questions are repeats, so just answer the first seven, okay? Good luck!
That’s about all that I have to say about the game
“You Don’t Know Jack”. Now, if you
excuse me, I have a game to play.
Now for the answers to the questions, which are blended into this blog post. Just scroll over them to see them.
2WO – Since Romeo drank a bottle of poison at the
end of Romeo & Juliet, I think it’s a safe bet to say that if Scooby-Doo
ate poisoned Scooby Snacks, he’d be as dead as the zombies in Michael Jackson's Thriller video..
3HREE – The number two is the only prime number on
that list...and the only EVEN prime number.
A prime number is one that only can be divisible by itself and one. 15 is divisible by three and five, 77 is
divisible by seven and eleven, and 1989 is a multiple of nine.
4OUR – Samus Aran from “Metroid” debuted in 1986,
Sonic the Hedgehog’s first game came out in 1991, and Spyro the Dragon first
hit PlayStation consoles in 1998. So,
the order would be Samus, Sonic, Spyro...or B.
5IVE – “Ask not what your country can do for you”.
JACK ATTACK ANSWERS:
Siegfried & Roy, Click & Clack, Frick
& Frack, Heckle & Jeckle, Goofus & Gallant, Flotsam & Jetsam,
Cheech & Chong
Tuesday, September 18, 2012
September 18, 2009
It's
time for another trip back through time as we enter the time machine
for the Tuesday Timeline. This week, the date we're going to be
focusing on is September 18. It was quite hard to choose a
particular event to focus on, because September 18 was a date in
history that had quite a lot going on. First things first, we will
talk about some of the famous people who are celebrating a September
18 birthday.
Happy
birthday to the following celebrities...June Foray, Bob Toski, Robert
Blake, Scotty Bowman, Jimmie Rodgers, Frankie Avalon, Fred Willard,
Michael Franks, P.F. Sloan, Billy Drago, Otis Sistrunk, Rodger
Beckman, Anna Deveare Smith, Chris Hedges, Tim McInnerny, Don
Geronimo, Mark Romanek, Ryne Sandberg, James Gandolfini, Mark Olson,
Joanne Catherall, Holly Robinson Peete, Ricky Bell (Bell Bev Devoe),
Aisha Tyler, Lance Armstrong, Jada Pinkett Smith, Adam Cohen, James
Marsden, Damon Jones, Travis Schuldt, Xzibit, Jason Sudeikis,
Ronaldo, Alison Lohman, and Patrick Schwarzenegger.
There
have also been a couple of celebrity deaths that took place on
September 18. Jimi Hendrix passed away on this date in 1970. In
1986, Coronation Street star Pat Phoenix lost her life. And in 2001,
Canada mourned the loss of Ernie “Mr. Dressup” Coombs.
Here
are some of the other events that took place on this date.
1502
– Christopher Columbus lands at Costa Rica on his fourth and final
voyage
1679
– New Hampshire becomes a county of the Massachusetts Bay Colony
1739
– The Treaty of Belgrade is signed
1759
– The British capture Quebec City
1793
– The first cornerstone of the Capitol building is laid by George
Washington
1809
– The Royal Opera House in London opens to the public
1812
– The 1812 Fire of Moscow begins to die out after destroying nearly
75% of the city
1837
– Tiffany & Co. is founded as a “stationery and fancy goods
emporium”
1850
– The Fugitive Slave Law of 1850 is passed by U.S. Congress
1851
– The very first publication of the New York Daily Times...later to
be renamed The New York Times
1870
– Henry D. Washburn gives the geyser in Yellowstone its official
name, “Old Faithful”
1873
– American based bank Jay Cooke & Company goes bankrupt,
resulting in the “Panic of 1873”
1885
– Riots occur in Montreal following a protest against compulsory
smallpox vaccinations
1895
– The “Atlanta Compromise” address is delivered by Booker T.
Washington
1906
– A typhoon causes a tsunami which kills ten thousand people in
Hong Kong
1911
– Russian premier Peter Stolypin is shot at the Kiev Opera House
1919
– Fritz Pollard becomes the first African-American person to play
professional football
1927
– The Columbia Broadcasting System goes on the air
1948
– Margaret Chase Smith becomes the first female elected to the U.S.
Senate without completing another senator's term
1962
– The nations of Trinidad &
Tobago, Burundi, Rwanda, and Jamaica are admitted into the United
Nations
1973
– Three more nations join the United Nations – the Bahamas, East
Germany, and West Germany
1975
– After spending a whole year on the FBI's Most Wanted List, Patty
Hearst is arrested
1977
– Voyager I takes the first photograph of the Earth and Moon
together
1982
– Christian militia begin slaughtering six hundred Palestinians in
Lebanon
1984
– Joe Kittinger completes the first solo balloon crossing of the
Atlantic Ocean
1990
– Liechtenstein joins the United Nations
2001
– One week after the September 11 terrorist attacks, letters laced
with anthrax begin appearing in the United States mail
2011
– Anti-bullying activist Jamey Rodemeyer takes his own life at the
age of fourteen
So,
what date are we going to be focusing on this week? Fear not...we
aren't going back that far in time.
In
fact, we're only going to take a look back three years in the past to
September 18, 2009.
Three
years ago, one of the world's longest running television programs
aired its final episode, and with that episode ended seventy-two
years of stories involving romance, joy, pain, and heartbreak. For
seventy-two years, millions of people tuned in to watch the trials
and tribulations of the residents of a mid-sized town as they
interacted with each other. It was a show that began on radio and
transitioned to television fifteen years after it began. And while
the later years of the show were just a shadow of what the show used
to be like (according to many fans of this program), one thing
remained the same. The show was all about family and relationships.
Although
the show has been off the air for three years, the show still remains
the longest-running soap opera of all time, and will likely hold that
record for some time (at least until the year 2033 when “Coronation
Street” surpasses that record).
Today
we are going to take a look back on the CBS soap opera “Guiding
Light”.
The
above opening that you watched was used between 1991 and 2002, but
the program actually used several opening sequences during its run.
“Guiding
Light” began as the radio program “The Guiding Light”, which
initially began on NBC Radio. Debuting on January 25, 1937, the
program was created by Irna Phillips. The show was created based on
the personal experiences of Irna Phillips, and initially began as a
way for her to cope with the grief that she carried with her as a
result of a personal tragedy. When Phillips was just nineteen, she
had given birth to a baby that was stillborn. Devastated by the
loss, Phillips began to listen to radio sermons given by Preston
Bradley, the founder of the People's Church in Chicago. The church
was one that promoted the brotherhood of man, and Phillips was so
inspired that these sermons that they formed the core of the show
that would come to be known as “The Guiding Light”. I suppose
one could say that the sermons also inspired the soap opera's
long-running tagline, which aired during the opening credits of the
television soap opera during 2007 and 2008.
Wasn't
that nice?
Initially,
“The Guiding Light” aired on NBC Radio as 15-minute programs
until November 1946. After that, the show switched networks to CBS
Radio a few months later in June 1947. By 1952, the decision was
made to begin airing the long running radio show on television. The
premiere episode of the television adaptation of “The Guiding
Light” began airing on June 30, 1952. What was interesting about
the show begin broadcast on television was the fact that the radio
program continued broadcasting as well. For the first four years
that “The Guiding Light” aired on CBS television, the radio
station aired the same program. The actors who were in the series at
the time had to act out their scenes twice...once for television,
once for radio. This continued until June 29, 1956, when the radio
program was taken off the air, and aired solely on television. And
“The Guiding Light” did incredibly well on television at first,
being the #1 ranked soap opera between 1956-1958.
TRIVIA:
In 1958, Irna Phillips left “The Guiding Light” to work on the
newer soap opera “As The World Turns”, and her protege stepped in
as head writer. That head writer? It was Agnes Nixon, who ended up
creating the soap operas “All My Children”, “Loving”, and
“One Life To Live” for ABC. She stayed on the position until
1965.
As
the program entered the 1960s, several changes occurred that made the
show stand out even more. In March 1967, the show began broadcasting
in colour, and in 1968, the show was expanded to a half hour in
length. In 1975, the show's title was slightly changed, dropping the
word 'the', becoming just “Guiding Light” and in 1977, the show
was expanded to an hour long broadcast, which remained until its
final episode aired in 2009.
The
show ended up winning its first Daytime Emmy Award in 1980 for
“Outstanding Achievement in a Daytime Drama”. The show would end
up winning a grand total of 38 Emmy Awards between 1980 and 2008.
The show also kickstarted the careers of several big-named stars.
Below is a list of the celebrities who appeared on Guiding Light, as
well as the characters that they played on the serial. How many do
you recognize?
Kevin
Bacon – Tim Werner (1980-1981)
Laura
Bell Bundy – Marah Lewis (1999-2001)
Matthew
Bomer – Ben Reade (2001-2003)
Joan
Collins – Alexandra Spaulding (2002-2003)
Ruby
Dee – Martha Frazier (1967)
Mark
Derwin – A.C. Mallet (1990-1993)
Taye
Diggs - “Sugar” Hill (1997)
Calista
Flockhart – Elise (1989)
Paula
Garces – Pilar Santos (1999-2001)
Rick
Hearst – Alan-Michael Spaulding (1990-1996)
Allison
Janney – Ginger (1993-1995)
James
Earl Jones – Dr. Jerry Turner (1966)
Melina
Kanakaredes – Eleni Andros Spaulding Cooper (1991-1995)
Harley
Jane Kozak – Annabelle Sims Reardon (1983-1985)
Bethany
Joy Lenz – Michelle Bauer Santos (1998-2000)
Nia
Long – Kat Speakes (1991-1994)
Hayden
Panettiere – Lizzie Spaulding (1996-2000)
John
Wesley Shipp – Kelly Nelson (1980-1984)
Brittany
Snow – Susan “Daisy” LeMay (1998-2001)
Sherry
Stringfield – Christina “Blake” Thorpe Marler (1988-1992)
Paige
Turco – Dinah Marler (1987-1989)
Christopher
Walken – Mike Bauer (1954-1956)
Cynthia
Watros – Annie Dutton (1994-1998)
Michael
Zaslow – Roger Thorpe (1971-1980; 1989-1997)
Ian
Ziering – Cameron Stewart (1986-1988)
Kim
Zimmer – Reva Shayne Lewis (1983-1990; 1995-2009)
That's quite a list of names,
no? A lot of them ended up being forever associated with their roles
on the show, such as the case with Kim Zimmer, who played the fiery
Reva Shayne Lewis for several stints. After all, with scenes like
the one below, it's easy to see why she made such an impression on
the show.
However, Reva was also known
for some rather “interesting” storylines throughout her time on
“Guiding Light”. Her one true love was her beloved Josh Lewis
(played by Robert Newman), but there were a whole lot of marriages in
between the seven or eight that Reva and Josh ended up having on the
show. I don't know how many to be honest...I'm too lazy to research
it. But my sister, who was a huge fan of “Guiding Light” in her
teenage years has told me that it was a lot!
Let's take a look at some other
storylines Reva's been involved in. Okay, she ended up getting
pregnant with her first child, and it was a Maury Povich type
storyline where she didn't know who the father was. Then she had
post partum depression and drove off a bridge where she was presumed
dead for five years. Then she became Amish. Then she wasn't Amish.
Then Josh's new wife tried to kill Reva in plane crash where she was
presumed dead again. Josh, for some unknown reason decides to clone
her. Reva comes back. Reva's clone commits suicide. She finds out
she was a princess while she was away from Josh the first time, and
is reunited with her son that she had with the prince of the country.
And then she went back in time, and...
...yeah, apparently the last
few years of “Guiding Light” sort of resembled an episode of
“Doctor Who”. At least Kim Zimmer made it seem more believable
than it was.
In all seriousness though,
“Guiding Light” had a lot of groundbreaking, memorable stories
that really kept audiences glued. It also had cast members that
really tied the history together, such as Charita Bauer as the
matriarch of the Bauer family, Bert Bauer.
Perhaps some of the most
interesting characters were the villains of the program. Fans of
Guiding Light must remember Roger Thorpe (Michael Zaslow), who was
the epitome of evil. In the classic scene below, he ends up
attacking his wife (or love interest? I don't know, I wasn't alive
in the 1970s), Holly.
But, Michael Zaslow was such a
great actor, and continued to be so despite being diagnosed with Lou
Gehrig's Disease in 1997. Sadly, the producers decided to let him go
shortly after (a move that angered just as many fans of the series as
it did when popular character Maureen Bauer was killed off), but
Zaslow found work on another soap, “One Life To Live”, where he
worked until his death in 1998.
And Cynthia Watros as Annie
Dutton was just scary to watch...however, her portrayal of the
damaged, crazed nurse helped her win a Daytime Emmy, so she must have
been quite convincing. Take a look and see what I mean (it starts around the 3:16 mark).
Before “Guiding Light”
ended its run in 2009, the show touched upon some real issues. Drug
addiction, racism, sexism, abortion, mental illness, alcoholism, AIDS
awareness...these were all issues that the soap tackled, and they
managed to do a brilliant job with it. In later episodes, the cast would film scenes out of character, showing them working on Habitat for Humanity houses, or going on cast tours.
TRIVIA:
Believe it or not, “Guiding Light” was even involved in a
partnership with Marvel Comics, where the character of Harley Cooper
(Beth Ehlers) was turned into a superhero called...wait for it...”The
Guiding Light”. Yeah...I know...it sounded a bit lame to me
too...but at the same time, for Marvel Comics to take interest in a
soap opera, it had to have some cultural impact.
It's
been three years since the longest running soap opera dimmed its
lights forever, but for those of us who sat down in front of the
television to catch up on what Reva, Josh, Harley, Roger, Holly, and
the other residents of Springfield, Illinois were doing, the memories
will always remain.
Always.
That's
our look back on September 18, 2009.
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