DRW50

I tend to agree about Val. The book made sense for her exit story, I guess, but also reminds you of how irrelevant Valene's own journey had become. I liked the little story early that season where she taught a waitress to read (?) because that at least felt like a story for her. The main time you could tell Devane was bored was when he'd just do a lot of scenes behind sunglasses. The material could become dreary at times, but if he did fight against Greg being a villain, I'm glad. This wasn't Falcon Crest, Dallas or Dynasty. The attempts in the later seasons of the show to try to pit him against the "good" people, like the custody battle for Meg, did not work for me, partly because they tried to pin it on Abby, partly because I never wanted Karen and Mack to have custody of Meg anyway. That whole story never stopped annoying me - they had run out of story for Karen and Mack, and they didn't want to saddle Greg with a baby. They should have just had Laura send Meg away somewhere if they were that reluctant to try something new with Greg. I think initially Mack helped balance Karen, but he became such a sour, sanctimonious character, and beyond the various "Mack sort of cheats" stories, there was little left for them as a couple. They should have brought her brother back, as they had a good dynamic in his brief run. If Stephen Macht didn't want to return, then recast him. You're right about Sheehan, and why the last stories for him were so wrong in so many ways. Val was never the same after that pairing ended.

I would guess one reason is the interracial aspect, although that probably would have hurt him with the show more than her. Amanda's spoken about her ATWT experience many times but here's one clip. It wasn't just that she was fired, it was the unpleasant atmosphere. Amanda Seyfried Discusses the Toxic Environment on 'As the World Turns' | SiriusXM

I thought Micah Alberti was OK. Bruening was better, if not anything that great (which about matches his career), but not noticeably so. I always assumed McCartney left by choice because of his music career.

That's a great idea.

The only thing I know about it is down to Sydney Sweeney being in it, the likely third or fourth mega-flop in a row finally leading her to do a way too late PR response.

They were, yes. Laurie was meant to be stuck up (contrasting with Reggie) while Laurie was the latest AMC version of lower class. I was mostly interested because Robert Clohessy played her father and I enjoyed him on Oz at the time. He was teased with Liza but he soon vanished, Laurie not far behind. Joni had a lot of potential though - Seyfried was still very green but she had clear star quality.

Exactly. I have said this too many times now but they make so much sense in today's world. We now have those vertical movies or whatever they are called which are just short snippets people can watch a few minutes at a time in their phones. The budgets would be very cheap, a small cast. Just get decent writing and casting and that's all you need. Much of the available footage of 15 minute soaps is better than anything on daytime in recent years, to me.

I agree - I'd love 15 minute soaps coming back.

No problem. I saved some on VHS from when they ran on the Africa Channel although they are probably just rotting away as I'm not likely to get them put anywhere else. They ran maybe a year or a year and half and would then loop back. One story after that period which sounds like something I might want to see (just because it sounds strange and random) was Len dressing as "Lenita" and thinking of becoming trans. Len was such an interesting character - maybe the first guy I saw on a soap who was a sarcastic and unapologetic bisexual. A shame he didn't seem to have much of an ending.

Thanks for remembering me and sharing all these details. I think I saved the first 100 (some were taken down or missing by then) but didn't know there were more. If I ever get the chance I will try to see the others. This is such a fascinating show, and the early days are a world away from what I watched (that was around 2008 and by then there was a JR Ewing type figure and many more corporate plots). The early episodes having the father with his mousy daughter and her dumb but sweet fiance. By the time I had to take a break I think there was a very dark secret with that family. I am especially hoping that some of the Steve story pops up sometime as I'm curious as to how they handled his being gay (and didn't they briefly almost pair him with Dusty before changing course).

It could happen, and I think in some ways that would be enhanced by Nathan being so blank, but I think the momentum is lost. There aren't enough people really close to Nathan who will be there to feel hurt and angry when the truth comes out. Not that I'm complaining but I'm surprised Obrecht hasn't been on more.

I don't think it helped that her return was once again causing problems for Bo and Hope, as JER never wanted to let that story go. The Chelsea story seemed to be despised by the audience. Once that was done, did she have a story beyond bedding various men she shouldn't have? And wasn't she a third wheel to Patch and Kayla? Or am I mixing her up with someone else?

Is it that insane for soaps? If the story was told properly that would be a neat twist on format, with everyone just assuming he's just fine because they are used to people returning from the dead, only to learn too late that he's a wolf in sheep's clothing.

They'd bring in stepkids for Jessie and then write them out without doing anything with them (or just have them be wicked and die). Diana was treated as Jessie Jr, but she was given a poor recast and dead by the early '80s. And now Liz, probably the closest in modern GH to those characters, has also had all her kids written out and minimized, suggesting little future for any of them on the canvas. Given that Monty seemed to have issues with many of those characters the same way TPTB over the last 15 or more years have with Liz, I guess you can't say the show is completely removed from its past...

Yes, other than my mother I never knew much of anyone who cared about the show. GL was also a redheaded stepchild in soap magazines by the time I started reading them (mid '90s). You could talk about the show online, but you also had to deal with factions and also with trying not to think about one moment or another that betrayed us or how close GL always seemed to going off. We're in something of a sweet spot now where most of those heavier elements are gone and we can just think of in the past, what was, what might have been. (I'd still be happy if GL was, miraculously, revived)

What a uniquely lackluster promo. It reminds me of one of those videos where various songs are muted for copyright.

@Vee You may be interested in this sometime.

It does. There was no other show like it and there never will be.

Phew. I thought they'd come back for real rather than as hallucinations. I do think they will bring Esme back for real once they recast Spencer though.

As we're near the end of the year I'm trying to cobble together the things I'm still grateful for in this world. One of the things I appreciate about this thread is how we can rag on the show, many different eras of the show no less, but it's clear we all still loved GL. That's a nuance which can be difficult to understand about soap fans.

It's a reminder of how complicated the dynamics at a show can be when Erika seemed very fond of a producer who enabled Clint Ritchie accidentally hitting her with a chair but had little use for a producer who helped make her workplace easier. I can see why Erika never wanted to be paired with him again, if that was her decision. I just wish she'd had better love interests. She didn't get a decent one again until Charlie, and you see how the show treated that relationship.

The public voted for people who are determined to shatter any anti-trust regulations (unless they involved people Trump hates), so this isn't going to get any better. It's just going to get worse. The best to hope for is "good" billionaires win, if there are any...

That and her eulogy were beautifully done, so much so I can only assume they were a blip and we'll be back to the usual. I also don't think Frank has it out for Lucy, I think it's just easy to write her as an idiot and a town joke, so they do.

I think it was said they were very generous in letting Michael Woods leave when he wanted...more generous than they were with, say, Vincent Irizarry. I guess some producers always have favorites. Backstage at that time sounds horrible. Woods was a good-looking man but I never thought much of him as an actor.

I think Tony would have always been too much of a rebel. He would have made more sense to me as involved in some spy ring, recruited. If not that, a PI. Instead of having Jim be a doctor I would have had him be a cop who clashed with Tony.