DRW50

If NBC had wanted to cancel them they could have. At the time I did think they were moving them to Peacock to cancel the show more easily but it's run on there a few years longer than I had expected. I like Chris McKenna and Cosgrove is OK, but I wish they'd tried a soap newcomer in the part.

I did. Yes. Thanks. I forgot Brian played the part too.

Sorry to hear this. I don't care for what I've seen of his work as Greg, but he was in a very moving arc in China Beach's last season. And yes, it's unsettling to lose two Gregs in such a short time. (I can't remember if the other Greg is still alive)

Benard is the top of the list for me. Burton has improved but he still does little for me compared to others on the show. And there is just a big slew of "OK...I guess," like Wally Kurth. Even with Garin Wolf it was a break from established patterns. I think for most of Laura's tenure she's been written this way, for various reasons.

DAYS still hasn't been canceled, on the network or not. I have no real use for Cosgrove, but he initially joined AMC 15 years before it was canceled, and GL almost a decade before it was canceled. He's the Ted McGinley of daytime in that any show he joined that was canceled was already on its last legs (and several, like Married with Children or Dynasty, still went on for a while). This does feel like another case of Frank trying to hire any daytime vet who is willing to show up, because this either reminds him of happier years or he is so stuck in the past he actually believes this will get someone new to tune in. I actually think Cosgrove would be more suited to Beyond the Gates as one of their supporting white characters. He's a competent but not very interesting actor who won't steal the spotlight. I wonder if he does stay around if he's intended as a new love interest for Carly, as I doubt Brennan is going to stay around long.

I would say it's down to more than just having a lot of daytime veterans - some of the daytime veterans are among the worst actors on the show, while some of the new hires of the last few years are real bright spots. We're still getting some moments, but I think the Carly favoritism has been much worse in some years than now - admittedly that is because Carly is about as boxed in as we have seen the character, so it could change, but it's not on the level of even a few years ago where everyone kept dragging Nina through the mud for daring to report Carly to the cops. How you describe GH is how I'd say it has been for a long time, including in Mulcahey's run (which I don't put all on him as he was clearly being sabotaged, but few things bore me more with this show than "We're all mad at Sonny...but psst...it's not actually his fault!"), but I think there are still some surprisingly good moments at times. Part of that is down to them taking what Mulcahey gave them and running with it (albeit in a very clunky, one-note manner), like the Drew darkness, and part is finally smoothing over some stories that had rougher starts (like the whole Brook Lynn/Dante/Gio story). I think it's just disappointing to watch the show because you know it probably won't ever be allowed to improve, that any small improvements are cut off and any improvements are probably network mandates (like firing Easton and Howarth), which isn't how things should be. And you can see the spite from Frank and co in how some of those mandates are executed (the returns of Lucky and Lulu). As the quality writers who kept the show watchable on a day-to-day basis are long gone, there's even less reason to ever hope for improvement, which can make things too demoralizing to even want to sit through. BtG is the great new hope, even though some of the writers (outside of Michele Val Jean) are the same group who did severe damage to GH, so GH is always going to be harder to watch. I can't really compare them as shows because both are in the same boat - they will be lucky to survive year to year, given the state of TV and of the genre. I hope they make it. Hell, I hope any of us make it year to year, let alone the soaps. But I also know that the GH which makes it is never going to be the show you or many others mourn.

Oh I knew they were still close - I think it was talked about on Locher Room (Melanie popping up on there repeatedly is why I'll always be glad for its existence - one of the reasons, anyway). Glad to see them though. She has repeatedly spoken about how horrible the show was for her. I think she outright said it was scarring or traumatic. That was her first acting job, IIRC. She said she knew she wasn't good but she did not think she was treated with kindness. Not exactly atypical of the industry, so I shouldn't put all the blame on Goutman, but it does exhibit a callousness and ugliness that also bled through onscreen at the time - one of the reasons I could barely stomach those years. I haven't seen a lot of her early early material as Tess but if they kept this in I wonder if it matches what we soon got of Tess - she was a liar and schemer who played up the "hills" persona. ATWT is where I first saw Parker and I just adored watching her, especially given how unbearably earnest all the other young characters were, aside from Evan Walsh. I'm glad she speaks well of the show.

Thanks. That's lovely. Back in the day I always enjoyed watching them but never would have known they were such good friends.

Thanks. Never thought I'd see either of those segments. I can't remember if I've ever seen that maid before. Soaps used to love to have lifelong servants who would vanish without a trace. It's odd to see her treating Ava like she's brand new as Ava had lived there with Curtis and had been living there with Clay for many months. Lisa seems greener and younger than she soon would as Ava, but not bad at all for her first day. I'm not sure if Roya and Randolph were friends, but there's some real emotion in her last scene, emotion which wouldn't have been on the same page. Roya was just special. Lisa was the first Ava I ever saw, and I loved her almost immediately, but Roya is one of a kind. I wonder if Roya was always leaving at the time she left or if she agreed to stay until the end of the strike. I notice her final date was in October 1988. Was the plan always for Randolph's Clay to be an impostor and to bring Egypt and Minnie in? I can't remember.

The fondness TPTB have for JPS and "Vanna" seem to cloud anything they write for Valentin. That's why I do wonder if we will get a turnaround on Drew soon enough. I'm surprised they haven't yet, as they have been fine with killing other stories which could have had ready-made drama. They're so lucky Jane was willing to come back. I'm glad they are least allowing Tracy to have some layers and not just be the shrill figure the 'good' characters jeer at.

She's been saying this for several years now. I'm not sure why it's getting headlines again. Maybe because of her recent podcast skirmish. A lot of people say positive things about porn while they are in it and say something very different after they leave, but I genuinely hope she does feel fulfilled.

I have never really watched full episodes anyway, in recent...um...decades, and am just glad people are still putting up clips. If it's Q-adjacent or some of the moments with other characters like Lucas, Ric, Alexis, Trina, I am more likely to watch, and they do still manage some good scenes here and there. I wonder if I am luckier than if I was watching in full because in full these scenes would be about 5 minutes spread out between more of Sonny shouting robotically, Kristina's dead baby tour, and Joss playing Honey West.

Most of Tracy's backstory has its logic with David Lewis' Edward as even when he was "loving," he seemed distant. In contrast, John Ingle was outwardly ruder but more of a cuddly figure, so it doesn't register as much for why Tracy became who she was.

RIP Mark Dobies. Mark Dobies Dead, Guiding Light, One Life to Live Obituary

He must have watched a lot of Police Academy. I mainly remember him from his ultimately pointless GL run but he was a handsome guy, and he played whatever he was given as best he could. His OLTL work in particular was unplayable, but he got through. And the story will always be talked about, for worse or worse.

I agree it was in character for Tracy. What never worked for me was Geary going to the press claiming that Luke loved Tracy. I don't believe he was ever capable of love, especially by that point. That's part of it, and I felt like Genie lost a great deal of her passion and focus when she had to return to the show in 1998, before she was comfortable returning. Her work has never really seemed the same to me.

I suppose I would too, but I do think things are different now, and they are just going to get worse. I'm not going to act like the story would have happened if this was ten years ago or fifteen years ago - my guess is anything that did just got through because of the strike - but we're heading into a period where I won't be surprised if within a year or two none of the remaining soaps have lgbt characters. That is probably not for this thread anymore, I admit.

I will say I don't really blame Frank in this instance. Having lgbt teens has always been dicey for soaps, and we are in an increasingly anti-gay period of our country's history. There are laws being proposed that would make us like Russia. The UK, which is often painted as more tolerant than the US, had Emmerdale (like GH, on a mainstream television channel) telling a gay story with a boy who was played by an age-appropriate actor. When he was given a love interest, the show was accused of grooming, even though the other boy was the same age and it was nothing more than the usual tale of one of the boys not being sure of his feelings. They quickly wrote the other boy out and the main boy barely appears now. The mistake was in ever telling the story in this climate. I do not believe it was ever going to get through. And truth be told I do not believe GH was ever the show that was going to tell this story, as the Labine era many rightfully revere was only about 2-3 years out of 60+. Lucas' story in the '00s was, somehow, a high water mark.

I'm talking about two of Liz's children being written out and no plans for them to return beyond Cameron's brief visit.

I have a feeling Aiden will be sent away anyway, as all of Liz's kids seem to be.

Thanks! That's very kind of you.

Thanks so much @VelekaCarruthers . What a gift. Can't wait to read this later.

Thanks. I remember some fans saying they thought Tyler Christopher kind of checked out after the awful treatment of Stefan/Stephen. I have vague memories of Luke in the late '90s suggesting he'd been with other women (and maybe Tammy [not counting the sex they had when he and Laura were separated]), but maybe I am mixing that up with later rewrites.

Thanks. I wasn't watching very much at the time of the second wedding but I think it only really works if that was the last time we ever saw Laura.