titan1978

Chase has always been a hothead to me, and fixed on damsels in distress I liked Skye with the Q family, but I can’t really compare those situations. Skye as a Q was born from a deception or misunderstanding onscreen, and was well into adulthood, her thirties, when this was revealed and then undone. Emily was adopted as a pre-teen and raised from that point as Alan and Monica’s daughter. Had the show not killed off Alan, and perpetuated that familial tie with them, maybe I could see it. But that didn’t really happen, and Monica and Tracy sure didn’t act that way. Maybe somewhat with Edward, but the real love and warmth came from Alan.

Nobody can deny that what went on with Loni Anderson and Delta Burke at that time was more than just issues at work or solely their faults. The media eviscerated Delta for gaining weight, and she herself was struggling with so much emotional damage that the show didn’t understand or care to at the time. The fact that all those women were able to reunite and talk about it publicly and privately, including Linda Bloodworth makes me think it was legitimate mental illness and they have all said they could have handled it better. The tabloid media was at the peak of their powers in the early 90’s as far as influence. If Loni Anderson had to fight back because of the stuff Burt Reynolds was saying then so be it. He is a terrible arbiter of the truth, and has an incredible ego that never got checked. All the way up to being a pain in the ass making Boogie Nights, fighting the whole way and hating the material to end up Oscar nominated and be pissed he didn’t win. As others have said Loni was great as Jennifer because the whole point was she was not a bimbo. She walked that line with just the right amount of warmth and sarcasm. Nothing else really got how to use her correctly, and I am sure she made poor decisions too. It was truly gross during those days with women celebs (not that it’s all that great now either, just different). Look at any Barbara Walters interviews with almost any famous woman.

I saw him once talking about helping her with her lines, and at the point he was talking about he said the story was good, and watching her memorize was kind of astonishing because it takes him longer to get his stuff down, and she’s word perfect with a stack of scripts.

They have such an interesting overlap in fandoms. Not just the soap fans that like Trek. It’s also the type of fans- generational, very loyal and lasting decades really for two roles, Laura and Riker. And they have both played those roles off and on for decades. It’s kind of a unique situation for a Hollywood couple. Frakes has done a few podcasts over the years and in most of them he talks about Genie’s work and the workload soaps are under. He has always come across as a fun, decent guy to me in Trek retrospectives and interviews.

She absolutely took a fall from the tabloids. I actually enjoyed Nurses when I was a kid, and Empty Nest. I don’t think Nurses is available anywhere so I have doubts that adult me would enjoy it. Farrah was a great actress. Truthfully, the entire show Charlie’s Angels was maligned in a way that was nothing more than sexism. It was never going to be highbrow, but the three original leads had something special together. The first season and some of the second has many decent light mystery episodes that do not require any bikinis. Back to Burt Reynolds. I remember when he started making the rounds saying Sally Field was the one that got away. And all these reporters kept asking her about it like they all thought it was so sweet, especially women. And after a few times where she said we broke up for a reason, but he was an important relationship blah blah, she stared to really shut it down by bringing up his ego, cheating, him being threatened by her career after first championing it, sexist pressure to be a good little wifey type for him at home. I really loved her for having enough of his revisionist history and shutting it down.

Finally got all caught up. My admiration of Genie Francis is no secret around here. I thought there were a couple of moments on Friday that didn’t ring true, but truthfully, part of that is the reaction to finding him and Sonny cleaning it up should have been at least a two episode situation, so there was more of a build up to her having a near breakdown. It feels like she was required to go from zero to 100 to sell everything that happened in one episode. But for the most part, it also pointed out how little actual emotion there is on a daily basis on GH. Maybe it seemed out of place to some viewers because nobody has anything remotely deep or soapy happening that plays out. At least this is something deeply rooted in Laura’s psyche. When she told Sonny she froze, I saw Genie playing the internal part of Laura’s fear that has nothing to do with Dalton. Yes Anna and Willow and Britt also cry a lot lately. But it’s not the same kind of deep emotion on display. The Gio and Brook Lynn scene actually had an impact on me too. I am glad that while adding all this heartache to Gio’s story, the actors innate charm still pokes through. I didn’t really expect to like him so much when he started. Who knows what the story is with Nathan West, but he’s just about the worst cop ever. If I found the mayor on the side of the road looking like that and near hysterical, then the local mob boss arrives and she seems both relieved and more frightened, I think I would have a hard time answering another call.

Loved reading how supportive Genie and Laura Wright were for Mansi’s episode. It interesting that she looked at old school soap scenes to get a feel for something she thinks might be missing. It reminded me a little bit of some of the stuff Shelley Curtis has said fairly recently about finding the story to spend a little more time on per episode, some fire and passion being important to the shows.

How much of Loni Anderson’s struggles were related to Burt Reynolds too? He was such a chauvinist, and like Lee Majors with Farrah Fawcett didn’t like being outshined by the women he was involved with.

I think it counts!

I knew I didn’t pull that out of nowhere! Thank you!

There was a way that Sonny used to look at Laura that had some heat in it in the 1990’s. I’m taking when Claire Labine was still there, early Sonny. They did have chemistry. I thought Genie had wonderful chemistry with Tony then too, but not romantic. I wouldn’t want them paired up now, or even then really. In the first part of their State of Mind interview she said there are all kinds of love stories. Friendships, family, etc. I have accepted GH is never going to truly deal with the problem of Sonny, especially after that Mulcahey tease. Laura and Sonny have had a friendship for years, it doesn’t bother me. I have posted this plenty of times before- if a person with Laura’s past with no political experience and her criminal history and many legal issues can be elected mayor, then I guess Sonny being her friend is the least of their problems. At least Maurice has to up his game a little bit.

He would have been perfect on a soap. He did have actual acting talent, and was attractive. They never quite found the right vehicle to allow his charm and rough around the edges sides work cohesively together. He was either in fluff or something with more of an edge between Vegas and Spencer, and it just didn’t land fully. For the times, Richard Dean Anderson was incredibly lucky to hit the right tone of show that worked for him and was an actual mainstream hit for part of its run.

And yet, all of her deepest psychological damage has revolved around this. Blocking out David Hamilton, the retcon story with blocking killing the nurse Rick was having an affair with, and Rick in a catatonic state. You could argue she is at her most fragile when this type of stuff happens, and it’s both the shock of finding the body, and also the panic of possibly losing everything again. Remember, ultimately the horrible Rick story revealed she only thought she killed Rick, and that was enough to put her in catatonic state.

Willow going MAHA would be amazing. Frank could even use his home shopping channel obsession to hawk her wares! Have her attack Deception for their products not being natural enough! Laura has always been volatile. We can all agree that the origin of Luke and Laura’s love is vile. But even in the 90’s you can see episodes where they fight and she just hauls off and slaps Luke. I know it was the times, but they were toxic. On to other topics, Laura Wright and Sarah Brown are playing two different people. Tamara Braun softened Carly’s edges but was still recognizable as Carly, then JB played her mental breakdown. So Laura arrived playing a very different Carly already. And then the show wrote to her strengths.

Exactly.

Being able to set the page to my phone home screen is pretty cool. I don’t know if this was possible before, but it’s a feature I will enjoy!

I still remember the gloriously outspoken HBS letting that info out in an interview. IIRC Nora was at a funeral and she didn’t know who it was that died or why Nora was there. I know it has gotten even harder. This is kind of a hybrid version of the way that most films work. But the problem is the volume of material and so many stories that they clearly often just cut out the little character bits and details to keep it pumping. And as I said, sometimes it’s more noticeable than others. And it’s a talent schedule thing. Which is also why sometimes they give the lines to a performer tangentially connected to a story because of a schedule issue and they go with who they have. Mostly supporting, not the lead part of the story. As far as the directing credits go, I have no idea. I know that many of us speculated that several scriptwriters listed per day showed they had to credit from the several scripts they used, not sure what’s up with directing. On to the actual show. I see a lot of complaints about Dante. He is very hard on Gio. But the son he raised just got charged with felonies and locked up, there was vital information they did not know, and he has the last trauma with his part in Michael going to prison. I also think this is pretty typical soap conflict behavior. Do people watching now really want all these characters to be perfect and never have conflict? For GH this part of the story is mostly about actual human feelings, although heightened for soaps. It’s how I feel about Drew too. We need conflict in this show! There was a several year period recently where everything was generic and genial and boring- I don’t want to go back to that. And people can miss me with Britt defending. She’s up to her eyeballs in something shady and she isn’t capable of playing any layers that make it seem like her hand is truly forced. Yes her medication. But that scene with Emma was ridiculous because poor Britt. Also- all those extras for a debate and voting booths, and the hospital is practically abandoned. There was more staff in the Haddonfield Clinic in Halloween 2 than GH these days.

That’s awesome, because we know Slesar was very detailed in crafting his mysteries. I still think Edge of Night would be an excellent reboot. Right down to that early 80’s theme. Geraldine was a great soap grande dame. Did she play a hooker? For some reason I remember an article bringing that up. I really should read more of that unpublished book.

The show is assembled from taped scenes out of order and the episodes recreated like a puzzle. So B and C stories, and ones not featuring pets or Frank’s personal favorites at that time, get dropped for weeks sometimes, or get shoehorned in as an afterthought. It did not used to be so obvious, and it is slightly better at times now. But it’s been a pattern for awhile now. As has a bored Valentini interrupting the flow of stories and changing almost everything quickly, dropping months of plots/couples and often never returning to them. The fast pace they were running on when Rory arrived as the recast really covered the seams a lot too, but something changed with the Ronnie story and Britt return as far as momentum, so we are seeing more of the cracks in the way they assemble the show.

For the purposes of this thread I think this is cool information to have compiled, but not quite the same as actors that fully transitioned or wrote for other characters while also still acting in the show. Although I know Rowell was instrumental in stories too, and Bill Bell had a lot of respect for her ideas. I mean Finola/Tristan/Kimberly improvised whole scenes, rewrote dialogue, etc. Tony Geary was famous for this too. And as I said earlier, Geary and his writing partner wrote two story treatments that GH accepted and used with the writing team to develop them. The Luke & Laura returns story, and the horrible Cassadine Endgame, which Geary said had virtually zero in common with what they presented and sold to ABC. Genie Francis came up with the idea of a baby Laura left behind that Wendy Riche and Guza used later on. Wasn’t Megan McTavish a performer on soaps before she wrote as well? And I just recalled that Pam Long wrote and acted on Texas when the show was winding down.

I didn’t know Gail Kobe was an actor. But that reminded me that Jane Elliot was a producer at Loving, although not an EP.

I am impressed with the new format for the board! It looks so good!

I was not a fan of her EP work for the most part, but she has to be one of the few to go from actor to EP. Francesca James being another one on AMC, but her stints were less problematic to me. She was pretty integral as a producer for Wendy Riche at GH before she got that AMC promotion too.

If I knew this I forgot so thanks! My GL knowledge is really limited to a couple of eras, so I remember his name in the writing credits and never saw him as Ken that I can recall. Interesting I might go look for one of her episodes at GH.

He has struggled with his mental health quite a lot since COVID, and has spoken on his YouTube show about his issues in the last year-ish. So yes, I think he does look a little more defeated on the show, but recently I noticed he was more engaged again and had a little spark back so maybe he is on an upward trajectory again.