titan1978

I remember Hughes herself has said it was not her strong suit, she wanted to play Anna only once that was introduced. I think I even recall her saying it was really hard because she saw the best do it with David as Adam/Stuart, and all she felt separated her characters was the hair. I think Rauch made a couple of great decisions. The women were much more the central characters driving everything on his OLTL, nearly every big story was centered on their point of view and not the men. Refocusing the show around Victoria Lord as THE LEAD was smart for that era, as was using AE’s Tina as a foil for Viki. OLTL, with characters like Tina and Gabrielle, and an often overwrought Viki leaned into heavy melodrama, and it worked for many years. But I don’t know if his show takes flight like that without Andrea Evans. I also prefer the Malone era though.

Pretty sure that was the one! Going through that thread the comments about Labine really overshadow anything Bill Bell had to say lol! And he dropped some interesting stuff in that interview about how he does what he wants, and by virtue of staying number 1 CBS/Sony doesn’t interfere. They did with Kay Alden though. The quality of Saturday Night Live has always had its ups and downs, and yet I know the second Lorne Michaels leaves that show will essentially cease to exist. There are so many expensive, intricate parts of producing each sketch that he has always protected and nurtured, and he has a level of power that just doesn’t exist. He also knows how to engage in network politics to protect the overall show. When they hit 50 last year, a lot of the online commentary was he will finally step aside and somebody like Tina Fey will take over, or Seth. I would sometimes comment that even if it stayed successful the second he was gone the network will mess with it in ways they never did before. Y&R never dropped out of number 1, held on by a significant margin under Kay Alden, and she was not given any of the grace they gave Bell. And there were about two to three full years before they started publicly counting down to his announced retirement where the show was pretty bad. And network tv wasn’t dead yet, so it took them like 6 years to pretty much dismantle the show, and it’s never recovered. That was fascinating to revisit. So many people that still post, including myself, had similar ideas then and takes that have stayed the same. Also interesting to see names I haven’t seen in a long time. Makes you wonder what happened to some of those posters. I believe at least one of them was banned!

This has been an interesting year for ratings. We had a kind of resurgence of Nielsen viewers, especially during the snow storm. But it’s fascinating to watch GH slowly drop in households while simultaneously being back up towards the top on Hulu’s top 15 daily (I have noticed it does usually drop low or off by Sunday and Monday as people have caught up). Several times this week when I was on Hulu it was between 1st and 4th place, and even when the primetime network shows were airing, it was still consistently in the top 10. I wish the streamers were more transparent and we got to see their version of rating more clearly. But then they would have to pay people more probably, so it will never happen.

Me too, and I would let her bitch it up a bit. Even in journalist mode instead of cosmetics mogul, Lulu could fulfill some of what Maxie did, they just need to let Lulu have any semblance of a sense of fun. She’s so dour. None of Luke’s children have been allowed to be as charming as they should be, and all the actors were capable of it. Even Emme Ryan could have worked better if they didn’t saddle her with her eggs being violated repeatedly and dealing with children that were essentially taken from her. She had a plucky quality that could have been utilized but they just didn’t go there enough. The first time I actually paid full attention to GH as a very little child was when Frisco pulled that hat off Felicia, so I have a lot of fondness for her. Then Riche arrived and they used Felicia everywhere- the Ryan story, protesting Marco Dane’s sexist gym policies and in the mix with Jagger, falling in love with Mac, the Outback, and being a mom figure to Robin. I loved that era for her character. I was happy to see her brought back, and I think there is a place for her without Maxie. After her rocky start as a vixen-lite and foil for “good” sister Georgie, they really found a great niche that worked for her, the show, and the character. Screwball comedy through the Bob Guza lens, and a sarcastic presence that was absolutely needed during those years. A lot of that was KS. The problem was during that Frons era those were the only characters spared. The suits think all the Maureen Bauers of the genre are just boring and would rather have all their shows full of Todd Mannings, Maxies, Sonny, Tracy Q’s, Reva, Luke, Zach Slater, Greenlee, etc. Only the hot and young, and sarcastic, iconoclastic, and as many anti-hero’s as possible. But I need a Georgie to balance Maxie out, and I think those shows all did too.

Outside of forcing him to go to an hour instead of staying at a half hour, which was his preference, CBS didn’t force much onto him. I just think it was the times. He once said Monty put together a great show and that they had smartly capitalized on the two special performers, later clarifying that was Geary/Francis as Luke and Laura. I wish I could find that joint interview he did with Labine again, it’s fascinating for many reasons. But as you said, they were tame in comparison. Y&R does a lot of wild things in the 80’s!

I don’t think she would return. She had to deal with whatever backstage issues were happening at the time that she has alluded to, KS’s fans being awful online, and then KS adding to that personally by commenting herself. I think that well might be poisoned for her.

The example of early Palmer Cortlandt is a perfect example for AMC! I just think it either suited the nature of the show or it didn’t to tell supernatural/gothic, or action adventure stuff. I don’t think the science fiction or GH style action stories ever really fit that well at AMC. Something like the classic who killed Will storyline worked because everyone in town had a connection, and that fit the small town feel of Pine Valley society. While I enjoyed Proteus, and was a relatively new fan having started watching when Kendall arrived, even then I felt this was not a great fit for AMC, and always questioned ABC having Anna Devane but not at GH. I am not saying any story cannot be entertaining, because it can be. OLTL dabbled in the outrageous multiple times. But when Malone had his first run, the focus on Victor Lord looming over everything, Dorian and Viki’s history, and the grittiness of telling stories like Billy Douglas, or Marty/Todd, it’s like he woke up the spirit of the show back to what it was supposed to be. The gritty show Agnes Nixon created that was rooted in class, society differences, and trauma. It was never supposed to be GH-lite. I think the same thing happened at GL under Curlee. It was no longer centered around one major character, it was always supposed to be an ensemble with a special emphasis on the normality of human experiences and the safety of the idea of the Bauer home, even if the family itself was not immune to turmoil and mistakes.

Thank you @Franko

Almost perfect. It there was a way to work in always looking for a third then we have an exact match.

They don’t look alike to me either and yet, I do see the boyfriend twins thing pretty clearly. Maybe it’s the vibe they both bring to the story? Because it does seem like the same kind of guy x2 here.

I really need Chase to hit some kind of rock bottom when this all shakes out. Just one time in their relationship I want to see him on his knees begging for forgiveness. I fear with her half assed schemes and part in the accident, it’s all just laying the groundwork for any potential affair to be partly blamed on her. They already had the story, the affair was well set up and Chase has been an idiot about Willow. Now it’s feeling increasingly like a house of cards that is going to blow up and then he is going to fall into Willow’s bed because of all Brook Lynn’s lies.

It was part of his issues with Conboy as time went on and why he ended up moving his family from Chicago to be where the show was produced!

Thanks for posting. I love that stuff is still being discovered. Makes he hold out hope for more of 1978, especially Alan/Monica and David Hamilton.

That was kind of a good era for her as far as her look on the show. IIRC when they kicked off the full Laura/Stefan romance storyline she got a clothing upgrade, including some new publicity photos. She broke up with Luke, got bangs, had lost some weight, got some more expensive looking clothes and was feeling herself! I think they both suffer from similar issues, which is the show does a terrible job dressing women that are not rail thin. Honestly the wardrobe is just not great right now at all for anybody, and AS has her personal reasons for wanting modest attire. I think Laura has actually looked better in the last year or so than she did during most of the period of time Spencer was played by NAC.

I bet Slezak made sure to quick rehearse her changes with scene partners too. The whole thing reminds me of Dorothy Michaels in Tootsie throwing everyone off balance when she just does what she wants.