Guiding Light: Beth Happens Here
By Jamey Giddens on February 14, 2009
I owe Beth Chamberlin an apology. A few weeks back in my Top 10 Last Ditch Stunts to Save Guiding Light post, I recommended the show toss the actress in favor of bringing back Beth Raines' originator Judi Evans. While I never saw Evans in the role, I heard from my aunts and mother who watched the show during the heyday of The Four Musketeers, that Evans was even more fantastic as Beth than she was as Days of Our Lives' Adrienne or Another World's Paulina, two of my favorite soap heroines, so for me it seemed like a no brainer to bring back Evans with the show in such a precarious state. Then this past week happened.
I owe Beth Chamberlin an apology. A few weeks back in my Top 10 Last Ditch Stunts to Save Guiding Light post, I recommended the show toss the actress in favor of bringing back Beth Raines' originator Judi Evans. While I never saw Evans in the role, I heard from my aunts and mother who watched the show during the heyday of The Four Musketeers, that Evans was even more fantastic as Beth than she was as Days of Our Lives' Adrienne or Another World's Paulina, two of my favorite soap heroines, so for me it seemed like a no brainer to bring back Evans with the show in such a precarious state. Then this past week happened.
Grant Aleksander may have been marketed as The Second Coming to Peapack, but it was truly Chamberlin who walked on water. In each and every scene, Chamberlin managed to convey how dangerously close to coming undone Beth was, with every heightened emotion. It takes a good actress to make scenes work with four, count 'em four leading men (Alan, Coop, Rick and Phillip) in one week, while some how figuring out a way to show the audience what the character's respective and sometimes intertwined relationships with each man means to the character and to the story, and Chamberlin proved to be that kind of actress last week. Anyone who can recite with a straight face how Beth went from Alan-to-Rick-to-Coop deserves her props.
Now of course, you know I have more to say about this past week on Guiding Light, some good (the amazing Aleksander's return seems to have given the show its storyline heart back and the breakout Mandy Bruno finally made me forget all about Aubrey Dollar when she learned it was Coop (John Driscoll) in the car accident); some bad (Whoever shot Buzz and Jenna's scenes need to be beaten with a Cat-of-Nine Tails and why is Phillip running around in that red hoodie like somebody's broke Tom Welling? This is Peapack, not Smallville) and some ugly (Bonnie Dennison and Caitlin Van Zandt are almost undoing all the good this show is trying to accomplish every time they disgrace a scene opposite the likes of poor Justin Deas) but I will save that for the Special Phillip Returns: Guiding Light podcast we're taping tomorrow night.
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Comments
14 February 2009
25 weeks 2 days
You finally got a longtime lurker to register. I love Beth Chamberlin, and this week she has knocked it out of the park.
I really didn't see how the show could go back to a Phillip and Beth pairing after all that has happened, but their scenes together (especially where he helps her out of her bloodstained dress), were incredible.
26 November 2008
10 hours 12 min
I am glad you are giving Beth Chamberlain props! She is the only Beth I've ever known, so I couldn't imagine anyone replacing her. She was absolutely brilliant this week!
And yes get Daisy and Ashlee off my screen ASAP!
2 January 2008
9 hours 12 min
Jamey im sorry but beth chamberlin is beth to me.I know i keep saying it but look what tamara did as carly corinthos in my opinion to this day the best carly.
15 October 2008
1 day 11 hours
ITA w/the Beth praises. She's a frontrunner for a Supporting Actress Emmy next yr. if I have anything to say about it. She has been so heartbreaking to watch and she has really been impressing me.
You go Beth!
5 November 2007
5 hours 52 min
Whenever I think of the 4 Musketeers, Judi Evans will always be pictured in my mind.
I'm one of the long time viewers who watched Phillip and Beth from day one. Judi Evans will always be Beth Raines to me and I would love for her to come back, but after all this time I don't think it would work. Beth Chamberlin has pretty much made the part hers.
She has shined this week more than ever with the return of Phillip. Everybody has for that matter. Everyone's reactions to Phillip's return has been spot on.
I will forever be grateful for Grant's return. He feels like he has come home and so have I. The Light is back on in this house!
31 October 2008
1 year 3 days
Beth Chamberlin's Beth is Beth in my book, she is one of the best recasts ever because she kept Beth the same at the root, but was able to make Beth her own in a way Evans made Beth her own.
23 July 2008
12 weeks 4 days
I've been saying it ever since I began watching Guiding Light. Beth Chamberlain is a GREAT actress! I think after the work she'd been doing, she deserves an EMMY!
20 December 2008
12 weeks 3 days
I think her performance was Emmmy worthy for sure!!! What a GREAT week of soap Opera and thanks Jamey for talking about the Light!!!!!
25 December 2008
7 hours 59 min
I agree with the other posts BC is Beth to me.
I also think she is a highly underrated actress.
BTW, Jamey did you see her smoking bod when Phillip undressed her ? damn she is in nice shape
28 November 2008
7 hours 59 min
Not to take anything from Judi Evans, who is a superb actress and an emmy winner, but I agree with those fans who believe Beth Chamberlain IS Beth Raines. She has been sensational the last couple of weeks and I cannot wait to see where the story goes! Perhaps GL could bring Evans back to the show in a new role. It worked for Evans on DOOL.
22 January 2008
2 hours 54 min
BTW, Jamey did you see her smoking bod when Phillip undressed her ? damn she is in nice shape
***
Her body is INSANE!
12 February 2008
7 hours 41 min
I have always loved Beth Chamberlin. She's the tragic heroine that this show desperately needs.
20 December 2008
12 weeks 3 days
Beth Chamberlain is the only Beth in my eyes...I really liked Judi Evans,but she only played that part for 3 years...and Beth Chamberlain has been Beth 15 of the past 20 years!!!!!
27 December 2007
3 weeks 2 days
She has been phenominal. I didn't fast forward any of her scenes! I agree with those who think she's underrated.She's one of my faves on the show.
19 December 2008
1 week 6 days
Thank you giving this to Beth! She's been amazing lately. I watched GL when Judi Evans was on but Chamberlain is Beth to me now. Her scenes with Coop were heartbreaking.