Dion

On 7/30/2022 at 5:59 PM, Paul Raven said:

Liz should have stayed on with 2 kids on the canvas, her ties to Kay and possible friendship with Mary Williams. Julianna was too good not to be there.

I could definitely see Liz friends with Mary - with Mary always getting carried away concerning Paul, and Liz trying to be her voice of reason.

Liz also would have made a good ally for Nina.

On 8/3/2022 at 3:29 PM, carolineg said:

Unless I am mistaken.  I absolutely could be.  But on Monday's episode (or possibly Friday's) Dex, Michael, Brando all were in that horribly white stairwell at GH talking, but Brando caught Michael and Dex talking while entering from the side door saying GH Level 1 and he was previously at the gym like a minute before.  Then Dex was immediately back at the gym after that nonsense was over so I assumed it's on GH's first level/basement.  Otherwise it's very, very close to GH and Brando and Dex like to use a creepy entrance to get into GH instead of walking in the front doors.  Idk, maybe that's what some of the money that Sonny donated to Stone's AIDS wing went to.

Well if Helena can have a secret lab (which is still there btw - it's where Finn and Liz hid Peter) built under GH without anyone noticing, I suppose at the very least Sonny can get either a gym or a secret entrance for his minions lol

2 hours ago, carolineg said:

I know they've changed it a lot since then and that wasn't the actual point you were making, but I was just thinking about an Emmy award for kids after your comment.  Then imagining multi-year victories for Dylan Cash as Michael on GH or Kristen Alderson as Starr if there was a kids category only lol

Don't forget Camryn Grimes as Cassie on Y&R at that time too lol

29 minutes ago, DRW50 said:

I have watched the show the last few years and mostly  enjoyed it  but I can definitely see where they have moved away  from  their history in a way Neighbours never really did so I can't imagine the ending packing as much of a nostalgic punch, beyond Sally returning.

20 years ago it was Neighbours that was completely ignoring their history with no Robinsons left (I think it was the Perfect Blend website who sometime in either 2003 or 04 bemoaned that Helen Daniels hadn't been mentioned in years) and Harold Bishop being the last "Ramsay". Whereas Home and Away was still having visits from Pippa or her original foster children every 1 - 2 years.

Of course this began to change in 2003 when they brought Teenage Sky Mangel on and Harold's son David, followed of course by Paul Robinson's return at the end of 2004 and the exceptional 20th anniversary celebrations. Meanwhile Home and Away seems to have pretty much cut ties after Sally left, except for Marilyn and Roo returning and the use of Alf's long lost daughter Quinn (originally a brief storyline from 1995) to provide him with another grandson - Ryder.

20 hours ago, Paul Raven said:

i remember seeing their names for years whether they appeared or not. Later Rachel Ames, Peter Hansen,Denise Alexander and Craig Huebing were credited everyday I think.

I think Patricia Breslin had that too, since she had a bit of star power from her TV work

10 hours ago, victoria foxton said:

I wonder who Esme mother is? But i bet the writers don't know either.

I'm just grateful that her mother does not appear to be Felicia.

On 7/1/2022 at 6:01 PM, Paul Raven said:

That AWHP article debunks some myths about the creation of AW but ironically at the end states

Fred Silverman, now ABC's president, hired Gloria Monty and gave her 13 weeks to turn things around or he would cancel GH. Monty came on board, hired Anthony Geary as Luke Spencer, and paired him with Genie Francis's Laura.

Reading that you would think that Luke arrived  in that 13 week period in early 78 and caused a rise in the ratings, when in fact it was Scotty/Laura and other stories that revived GH. Luke didn't arrive until 79.

Luke actually arrived in November 1978 but other than that your point still stands. He arrived nearly a year after Monty and didn't become a lead until the fall of 79.

Yeah, I think most of us would agree that Scott and Liz becoming family was the best thing to come out of Liz and Franco.

15 hours ago, AMCOLTLLover said:

I realized that Imran never learned the truth about Gary being responsible for Ranas death.

I know right. I feel a lot of Imran's potential that was evident back in 2019 was basically squandered.

On 6/6/2022 at 7:17 AM, Toups said:

 

What's the reason for keeping the last 2 episodes until July? 

 I have heard that

6 hours ago, tiofmso said:

Last day of filming today, it’s really the end of an era.

My only hope now is that the “finale” is more of a week long celebration rather than a let’s try to cram everything into the final episode. Let the returnees have a chance to breathe rather than a small 2 minute segment.

Apparently it's going to be a month long celebration

2 hours ago, AMCOLTLLover said:

General Hospital: Ice Princess…. As fun as the story was but even if the story wasn’t moving they still mentioned the ice Princess! That was way too much..

And 40 years later they still passing that ugly rock around lol

47 minutes ago, DRW50 said:

Ranking of 30 years of Shortland Street.

https://thespinoff.co.nz/tv/27-05-2022/all-30-years-of-shortland-street-ranked

Not surprised that 2000 is ranked as the lowest, although the blurb gets it a little wrong here as both the 14 characters exiting and the hospital becoming public happened in 2001 (I think the clinic becoming a public hospital is often conflated with the clinic shifting premises after the liquefaction of the old clinic which did happen in 2000).

Not surprised 2007 is ranked the highest, that set off a ratings renaissance that lasted for about 5 - 6 years.

I thought 1994 was better than 95 or 96 so surprised to see them ranked so highly

11 hours ago, DRW50 said:

I was going to ask if there'd been any complaints but I'm not sure if Shortland Street has as much impact in NZ now compared to past years?

Not this time around I don't think, but there were a couple of complaints during Te Rongopai's first stint on the show back in 2018

https://thespinoff.co.nz/tv/24-05-2022/rude-well-show-you-rude-30-years-of-shortland-street-viewer-complaints (scroll down)

20 hours ago, DRW50 said:

With that said, I do think the choice to have this become about a Maori woman wanting to cast out all the white devils is in very poor taste, and feels oddly  tone deaf for the show. 

Yeah, particularly since the Maori Health Authority is actually a real thing due to become live on July 1 and Te Rongopai seems to embody all the fears and negative stereotypes about it.

5 hours ago, Darn said:

Oh. I didn't realize Rebecca Budig was on long enough to have a whole ass child.

Hayden was pregnant when she left in 2017 and brought her daughter back with her in her 2019 stint.

Happy 30th anniversary Shortland Street!

https://www.instagram.com/tv/Cd-QMiDhUnB/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link

https://www.stuff.co.nz/entertainment/tv-radio/128741914/shortland-street-the-good-the-bad-and-the-ugly-from-the-last-30-years

https://www.nzherald.co.nz/entertainment/shortland-street-turns-30-30-things-you-didnt-know-about-the-show/QLTTN4Y2Q3O45ZHZQE5MWZ7BFM/

1 hour ago, Tonksadora said:

What were Wendy Riche lows? And, were they Claire or Guza?

 

I think mostly post Twist of Fate in December 96 up until Guza returned in late 97.

Much of that was Culliton's writing and then he got replaced by some others before Guza returned. And I think Riche stretched herself too thinly with setting up Port Charles.

During that period Miranda fizzled out as a character and was quickly jettisoned; The Spencer/Cassadine feud lost all momentum as GF went on maternity leave; Stefan and Bobbie were split up in favour of Stefan and Katherine; KMC was at college which affected Jason's storyline; Sonny and Brenda went on the run from the Tin Man; Kevin and Lucy were spun off to Port Charles; Ned had nothing to do post Lois except chat to Alexis and deal with Q squabbles; Felicia and Tom fizzled out, as did Mac and Katherine so they were both left adrift for a while before it was decided to pair them up again; and Maxie had a mysterious doll.

There were a few highlights too like AJ and Carly's ONS but the resulting Michael storyline didn't fully take off until Carly named Jason as the father.

2 hours ago, janea4old said:

The "John Black FAQ" as of May 30, 1999, by Dustin Cushman

Page 1
https://web.archive.org/web/20160407025253/http://www.soapoperafan.com/days/misc/johnfaq.html

Page 2
https://web.archive.org/web/20150905232611/http://www.soapoperafan.com/days/misc/johnfaq2.html

Page 3
https://web.archive.org/web/20150908090152/http://www.soapoperafan.com/days/misc/johnfaq3.html

Cheers!

This has actually made me realise that I mixed up a bit of Rachel Blake's story with Princess Gina's story in my earlier post.

So to clarify: The 1996 explanation was that Stefano had brainwashed John because Rachel had told him about the Blakes, 1999 was that Stefano had gotten to Forrest very early and turned him into his Pawn and Forrest/John was never a priest.

1 hour ago, carolineg said:

I don't recall John having much to do with Lawrence either, but I remember Lawrence creeping on Carrie and John was involved in that.  I can't remember if this was before or after John became an Alamain though.

It was literally during. John found Carrie and Lawrence in bed together about to do the deed and in the ensuing confrontation John pulled a gun on Lawrence and Lawrence was like "You wouldn't kill your own brother!"

6 hours ago, AbcNbc247 said:

So, in this timeline, how did John (Forrest) find his way to Stefano's organization after he "drowned" in the swimming pool?

1 hour ago, carolineg said:

@Diongave me this excellent description on this thread a few months back:

John actually is the real Forrest, it's just that he was adopted by the Alamains rather than being their biological child. Who they adopted him from keeps changing though lol.

I think currently we are meant to believe that John's father Yo Ling, formerly Timothy Robicheaux, who escaped to China during the Korean War formed some sort of communist alliance with Petrov, found out John had been adopted by the Alamains and reclaimed him so the Alamains (or maybe just Philomena) let him take John and faked his death in the pool. And John was brainwashed at some private school before Petrov betrayed Yo Ling and took John to Stefano.

Yeah that's the current explanation but I think AbcNbc247 is asking how they explained it in the 90s?

During the Princess Gina storyline I think they just said that after Philomena faked his death in the pool and John ended up a priest, Princess Gina would confess her sins (the art thefts and forgeries with Stefano) to him and they also became lovers. Stefano was so incensed that he took John away and brainwashed him to become Roman. And Gina was so heartbroken that she eventually had a mental breakdown necessitating Stefano to use Hope to take her place. 

5 minutes ago, AlexElizabeth said:

What's up with this Mac/Felicia baby talk? Do the writers know these characters are 60 years old? It's weird and I have no idea where they're going with this. 

Maybe they needed something to use up some of Kristina's episode guarantee.

21 hours ago, carolineg said:

I am sure Tony did things but between his Carly/Michael shenanigans and his death-I couldn't tell you.

The only thing I can remember is Helena poisoning Lucas during Endgame in order to get Tony to do her bidding.

Tony's arc during the Carly/Michael story just goes to show that while deconstruction was a good idea in theory, and drove a lot of story for years, without the required reconstruction it ultimately failed and left the show in a much darker place.

7 hours ago, will81 said:

Oh yeah I meant more that I doubt much of Lesley's back story was brought out during those months. Could have been, but possibly not.

I think it was the September 1973 summary where they had Lesley and Augusta discussing their mutual past (Augusta had been having an affair with Lesley's husband Bruce at the time Lesley and Bruce's child died; Bruce killed himself) so I think it is likely that a bit more was revealed during those months. However later writers focused more on the affair with Gordon Gray and the resulting child from that (Laura, obviously) and Lesley's past with Bruce seems to have been pretty much forgotten (perhaps because it was a strike storyline?).

41 minutes ago, Bright Eyes said:

So we've never known Lesley's maiden name then? Always a pet peeve of mine.

33 minutes ago, victoria foxton said:

Always assumed it was Williams. I wonder if Lesley's maiden name has ever been revealed? 

Apparently it is Sullivan according to https://general-hospital.fandom.com/wiki/Lesley_Webber_(Denise_Alexander) (As always with these Wikis, take with a grain of salt)

Would have likely to have been revealed during either the original Florence storyline or in the lead up to Laura's arrival.