DRW50

Thanks. I'm glad to hear it. I see on her Wiki that it was just last year. So maybe she is not doing much.

They know they won't get away with it if they protest right wingers. I saw that there's a NYT article going around that is trying to shame or put a spotlight on HBCUs not being more involved in protests. They really are desperate to paint a narrative in the press of all students wanting to travel back to 1968.

I don't think Maeve has happy memories of her time at AW, but I'm not sure about the others. Wasn't Susan sick a few years ago? I hope she is doing better.

He has looked better everywhere than he did when he was on AW. I am not sure if he was just struggling then, or what happened.

I definitely think he would have made the show more compelling than what we got - I just don't think he would have been given much of a chance.

There were highlights in those final years, but ATWT lost its identity after 1995 and never found it again (GL had lost its identity in the early '80s). 1994 is bad and I don't really connect a ton with 1993 either but I do appreciate more now that those were still moments when the show remembered what it was and there was a chance of still being that show. One of the reasons I felt so betrayed by FMB is because she talked a good talk and I genuinely believed the show could improve again. Then Alyson Rice Taylor's firing in favor of an ABC pal, plus just how awful the material of that period was, reminded me you could never go home. I do wonder what might have been if Lemay had had more involvement. Probably nothing much...I mostly just remember the interview where he complained (this was after he'd moved on to consulting at AW again) that when he was at ATWT too many characters had their own jets.

The Daytime Emmys often just thought it was a smarter idea to drop in primetime cameos or have endless jokes about how stupid and sleazy soaps are. I remember their main "tribute" to GL being Betty White. I loved Betty White and she was extremely gracious, but beyond a promotional campaign for AW, she had no ties to P&G and it was obviously just trading in GL's name one last time for clout.

That's lovely news for JJY.

Thanks. I should have made that clearer. I was not talking about any head writer at GH - I was mainly talking about DAYS, which has a headwriter who is obsessed with "soapy" moments. I don't feel like going through all the rest of that post but it was my mistake for being vague.

The show has been in such a lengthy malaise, to the point where I'm not sure anyone could help, but it does feel like there was a lack of basics that could have been there for their early moments. They are clearly setting up plans for Jason and his kids, and probably Jason and Sam, but I do wonder how many of the fans they were courting with his return that they lost by not having more of Jason and the harem, or Jason and Spinelli (have they shared scenes?), as more of a priority on his return. It's unfortunate that the current soap headwriter who focuses on soap staples is a bitter and delusional hack who sees the genre as a big joke.

Kathryn always underplayed her material, which probably hurt. Liz was likely seen as difficult, so that probably hurt her.

I think Trina had the potential to be a necessary character, but I don't think the show ever saw her as one. Many of her fans only seem to watch for her as well, so the show would have less reason to care about keeping them rather than just continuing to push "important" characters like Joss and waiting for them to click. I have a feeling Tabyana will not renew and they'll let her save face because the optics are bad otherwise.

That's a good point, and of course you can't base decisions on Twitter rage, I just don't know what direction they plan to take Trina. I have a feeling she may just quietly be in support until the actress leaves.

I don't think either of those relationships would have audience support these days due to how much focus goes on age gap discourse.

I thought Greg Vaughan did a decent job at balancing out the softer side of Lucky along with the Spencer temper and the generic hunk duties. Guza just never gave him a chance. JJ Lucky was a mirage, something that never could have been sustained if he hadn't left in 1999. The flop that was his return cemented that for me. Beyond rape fetishists or people who just really love making tumblr gifs of men crying, I have no idea who that was meant to appeal to.

The main thing I remember about Logan was all the rumors about just why he was written out. When Sarah Brown was in the part, any sense of hypocrisy from Carly over a power position was muted by how many characters in Port Charles loathed her as well as by just how much disdain Steve Burton had for playing scenes with Brown. That era is one of the reasons it's impossible for me to ever believe the whole BFF/true love/ride-or-die mentality. Back then, it was clear Jason was only interested in "saving" Michael, and Carly was a part of the package. As others have said, Berman does remind me of EM's Joss as both come across as so entitled and unbearable. This is a reminder of how much worse it could be with Joss, as I imagine Guza would have had Spencer chasing after her along with Dex, Cam (Cam probably would have tried to rape her and Dex and Spencer would have covered up Carly killing him). Given how much Luke despised Carly and how much of an outsider she was for a number of years, it's strange sometimes to remember that she and her children are now the only real Spencer family left. There's Aidan, of course, but he's never going to be a major character, and will be lucky to live to his 20th birthday. I guess Lulu has kids too, I don't know, but they don't seem to have much purpose. If Geary, Francis, etc. had not been so allegedly precious about JJ as the only Lucky, I wonder how different things might have been. Geary in particular was awful on that front. And now it's pretty much too late for Lucky or Lulu to ever be whatever they may have been intended to be - they would likely meet the fate of perpetual dead space like Belle and Shawn on DAYS.

Thanks @slick jones . Heartbreaking to hear, but he did what he could. I will avoid the site from now on.

I think if you are a Delia fan you will see those characters differently. It's a credit to NAA that I was still a fan of Jill's in spite of how much the show played one-sided games with the ladies in the early years. I was never much of a fan of the other characters the show used Delia to prop.

I was talking about location shooting. The rest is off topic to the thread so I will stop.

It's a mixed bag for me because I don't think most of that was framed as being about Tony in the end. I think Labine was the last writer who cared about him. If he had had a different fate after Guza's return I would probably rank him higher on their scale of importance.

The main difference for me between AJ and Mac in that period was that while AJ wasn't a lead, he also had distinct traits that did set up story for him and those around him. His feelings for Keesha, his inept business activities, how he impacted Jason, Ned and his parents, etc. Mac was mostly just there, often to react to others or to be a boyfriend. I was torn on where to put Tony, but I feel like the show mostly stopped writing for him after Labine left and then his story mostly became about what drove plot for other characters. I feel like Jax was at heart a B character and Ingo a B actor, but the show wanted him to be an A (for a while, anyway - not after Vanessa's '03 departure).

He was the perfect fit for Guza and JFP as like them (especially Guza) he saw himself as being above soaps and his delusions were much higher than his actual talent level. I wonder if they actually thought he was going to bring a ratings boost. They even hired his mother. Just a horrible man for a horrible era.