Everything makes fun of soap operas, from The Simpsons to anyone who isn't a couch potato. But in a shocking turn of events, these daytime staples of the major networks have preempted the competition and started to mock themselves. Misguiding Light, a comedic masterpiece you have to see to believe, combines all the worst stereotypes of soap operas with a level of camp that gives old school Batman a run for its money.
Best of all, the brains behind it is Lisa Baim, a Jumbo who graduated in 1996 with a degree in Psychology and Child Development. She landed the job after a two-week internship during winter break her senior year. After graduation, Proctor and Gamble Productions hired her as a temp, and eventually promoted her to a full-time position in the publicity department. She is co-writer of the 13-episode Internet based series that adds a new five-minute episode approximately every week.
Guiding Light has been running for 65 years, the first 15 of which were on the radio. This makes it the longest running television show in history, and the only show still in production to have made the switch from radio to television. As such, it is no surprise that the producers would jump at the chance to expand their multimedia horizons with a move to the Internet. With its short running time and catchy vignettes hooking potential fans, Misguiding Light is the perfect way to make this transition,
MisguidingLight stars Floyd Boyd, "Guiding Light's number one fan" and potential scriptwriter. When he presents his masterpiece to Executive Producer Paul Rauch, who plays himself, Boyd is hopelessly shot down. While wandering in despair around the studio, his favorite star's wardrobe rack hits in the head by, knocking him unconscious. When he awakens, he finds himself trapped in the fictional town of Springfield, USA, interacting with the cast of Guiding Light.
Melodrama reigns supreme in Boyd's encounters with the show's denizens. All the characters employ the worst stereotypes of daytime soaps: the doctor who takes care of Boyd after his accident doesn't know the names of the most basic medical instruments. While checking up on Boyd, an attractive assistant appears, with whom the doctor promptly begins making out midway through the exam. The characters are aware that they are in a television show, but act like real people. They think that Boyd is an actual writer for the show, and beg him to write them better parts.
Boyd's only goal is to meet the woman he worships, Reva. In the episode Boyd penned, Reva falls in love with Lloyd Boyd, a character whom Floyd Boyd obviously intended to play himself. In an interesting comment on the strangeness of long-running soaps, Lisa Baim mentioned that Reva has been married to a father, as wells as both of his sons. She went on to explain that a good part of MisguidingLight involves inside jokes of this sort, appreciated best by die-hard fans.
"There are a lot of things to poke fun at," Baim said. With such a long-running show, there is a vast pool of material from which to draw. The key to success, and something they did not overlook, was the accessibility to new viewers. The show was created to be hilarious for anyone, no matter what their involvement with Guiding Light itself.
As far as her job goes, "it's perfect," Baim raved. "They are a great bunch of people." Baim added that she has been a longtime soap opera fan, making her role that much sweeter. Normally she is a publicist, but after a writers' development program, she got the opportunity to try her hand at creating material for the actors. She explained that the idea for MisguidingLight came from a suggestion by Producer Mary Alice Dwyer-Dobbin. After much discussion and brainstorming, they settled on Misguiding Light's present form.
"Misguiding Light is a unique opportunity for Guiding Light to have a
little fun with itself," Dwyer-Dobbin said, and everyone involved seems to agree. "The actors are really enjoying themselves," Baim noted. And who wouldn't? The actors must relish the chance to give up all pretense of seriousness and have a little fun. As so many people have shown, a soap opera can be hilarious if it wants to, and Misguiding Light is in no way breaking tradition.
