titan1978

Mulcahey also spent years working at B&B. And even though I don’t watch that show, I follow the major goings on here. So he also has experience working in nonsense.

On 4/20/2024 at 3:32 PM, Khan said:

Whoever said MW's 'do reminds them of Linda Evans was bang-on, lol.

Watching the last two days and I noticed it’s almost the same color too, especially in the back. Lots of icy and ash blonde in Maura’s color.

4 hours ago, Khan said:

I'm a big Douglas Marland fan, as most everyone here knows, so I should be used to a storytelling style on a soap that involves a large number of characters.  Yet, there are so many characters and storylines right now on GH that I'm struggling to keep up with. 

That’s because from what I have read and the limited ATWT I have seen, Marland was also recapping the stories constantly by having new characters find out what was happening. It added to the small town feel that soaps do so well and kept all the stories alive each week.

What we have here so far is better day to day writing and lots of character work, coupled with the starts and stops of Frank’s production style on the show the last few years. For me it leaves things disjointed, and so I am sometimes not sure what characters know what, and often things are either cut or skipped over to keep a story alive after not really visiting it for days or even weeks. Cody being a prime example- we know the real world reasons why it has stalled. We don’t know the in universe reasons because all the old team cared about was the start and climax, and always a meandering middle.

If I was watching just this week, I would think the A story is Sonny’s crimes and mental instability. I’m not sure what the B and C stories are. Dex trying out for police? Jason and Carly? Maybe Nina/Drew was B and Dex C? The problem is the momentum and movement was in Jason’s return and Valentin is the head of Pikeman. And that’s barely been addressed since. But we are seeing nearly every step of Dex trying to win Joss back and become a cop.

5 hours ago, carolineg said:

He wanted to inherit a necklace and I actually don't know how that ended.  I think Holly/Robert did something with said necklace, so I don't think there is any inheritance. 

IIRC the diamonds on the necklace were the Ice Princess cut up. And Victor ended up with it for his new weather machine? It was very convoluted. Cody just wanted the diamonds, I don’t think he was connected to the 60th anniversary story with Holly trying to get it and also Victor.

I don’t know what happened to it after they saved the day and Victor was killed. And Britt was also involved?

5 minutes ago, titan1978 said:

That’s because from what I have read and the limited ATWT I have seen, Marland was also recapping the stories constantly by having new characters find out what was happening. It added to the small town feel that soaps do so well and kept all the stories alive each week.

What we have here so far is better day to day writing and lots of character work, coupled with the starts and stops of Frank’s production style on the show the last few years. For me it leaves things disjointed, and so I am sometimes not sure what characters know what, and often things are either cut or skipped over to keep a story alive after not really visiting it for days or even weeks. Cody being a prime example- we know the real world reasons why it has stalled. We don’t know the in universe reasons because all the old team cared about was the start and climax, and always a meandering middle.

If I was watching just this week, I would think the A story is Sonny’s crimes and mental instability. I’m not sure what the B and C stories are. Dex trying out for police? Jason and Carly? Maybe Nina/Drew was B and Dex C? The problem is the momentum and movement was in Jason’s return and Valentin is the head of Pikeman. And that’s barely been addressed since. But we are seeing nearly every step of Dex trying to win Joss back and become a cop.

IIRC the diamonds on the necklace were the Ice Princess cut up. And Victor ended up with it for his new weather machine? It was very convoluted. Cody just wanted the diamonds, I don’t think he was connected to the 60th anniversary story with Holly trying to get it and also Victor.

I don’t know what happened to it after they saved the day and Victor was killed. And Britt was also involved? 

A great actress and really talented writer. GH with Guza, Karen Harris, and Meg driving story was one of my favorite periods ever on the show.

As others have stated, anyone that doctors his scripts and won over Bill Bell was incredibly talented.

I know people think the Sonny stuff came out of nowhere and Laura and Anna have shaky justifications for their change of heart. I think I would have gone with the Cyrus beating and also beat Dex nearly to death.

But I am okay with the turn because the show seeded this when Guza was still there with Jason/Carly and the beloved end of relationship convo between Sonny and Brenda. He told her he would always choose power.

Then it was lightly seeded again when Sonny came back from Nixon Falls and his two besties were married.

To me this is a thread finally being picked up and I am thrilled, even if the current show wasn’t completely ready for it. 

They missed such a great opportunity to have an intact Quartermaine family for Michael to have his teenage rebellion and run to them instead of Sonny/Carly/Jason. Even better if they had done it after his prison stint when Carly and Jason were admitting their decision to put him in Sonny/Jason’s world had cost everyone dearly. Imagine if we got to see him bonding with Alan and how upset that would make Sonny at that time.

51 minutes ago, carolineg said:

Again, thank you for your thoughtful reply.  I just find that whole era so strange.  Watching in in real time it didn't feel that bad, but when I try to figure out how a hospital story became about the mob way before that was GH's style I am always confused.  Add Jax get arrested for drug smuggling, Alexis wanting Stefan to think he was in love with his sister, Laura's fake death, and Aztec dolls it's just a very hard time to analyze.

It was very strange. Not to mention this is all in such a short amount of time, a little over a year. It’s wild how messy the show was onscreen and off from end of summer 1996 to December 1997 (Guza officially credited again). The rough writing contributed to Maurice leaving, Vanessa almost leaving, and Genie refusing to return to the show (she was really happy at home with her two children, why leave that for the aggravation happening at the show).

 NLG was hired without an actual part to play, so Alexis wasn’t a well crafted character and they made it work on the fly. She has said that poor foundation is why she felt like they just did whatever with her for years.

Nobody was happy, even Guza was upset with the timing and he was leaving for a show he was going to have a created by credit on. Because the show was on fire and they had barely started.

8 minutes ago, carolineg said:

Thank you so much for all that information.  This probably belongs in the Classic thread, but it's the weekend, so was it Guza's bible to do the whole Pierce Dorman murder story or did Culliton change it?

I have always known RC was responsible for Carly/AJ, but I have always wondered where the Dorman/Tin Man/Rivera story went wrong.  Laura's "death" was a bit before this, so I was assuming RC just messed with it too much.

The affair was, and how the affair began at first was going to repeat when the affair stopped and he became more of a stalker, the gifts were going to become creepy. I don’t know beyond that what was going to happen/what Culliton changed. But the affair and a certain unhinged behavior by Dorman was all Guza/Harris. I tend to believe the trial for sexual harassment was Guza because he loved trials. All his tenures involved major court cases.

Tin Man stuff was way after Guza’s projections, although I can’t remember if it was Culliton or the next writers that also started the Aztec doll nonsense.

Apologies for dropping all this in this thread but that’s where the discussion about SN was happening!

Guza left in 1996, and he had a very detailed six month bible that the writers had developed that was used, including Miranda and her backstory. Culliton was credited as HW while they were using that bible. The network made them use Tracy before she took over as lead on The City, so Culliton and the team reworked that storyline/came up with most of it to justify her short stint. Stefan/Bobbie was supposed to last way longer.

Things start to get iffy around the Laura faking her death storyline to cover Tony and Genie taking some time off, as well as was Lesley part of that plan? I tend to think she was, because Culliton barely used her.
 When they came back in 1997, it was pretty much Culliton from that point on until he was fired. He came up with Carly/AJ conceiving Michael.

Guza came back and was in the building but not credited for about 5 weeks before his relaunch week. That’s when Luke tells Alexis her backstory (which was ported from Miranda), the two Mac’s and Guza loved the Carly story, but wanted it moved from Tony to Jason to create renewed conflict with the Quartermaines and Jason.

And I believe Shelly Curtis had more to do with the idea of pairing up MBE and SN again due to her history with them and that they had made magic before. Riche had no background there. They had to stall Stefan/Laura because Genie was going to return from her vacation and work for a couple of months before her second maternity leave which she kept extending somewhat because she didn’t want to return to crappy writing.

3 hours ago, Khan said:

TBH, I had difficulty accepting that Laura had had a child that she told no one about, because I knew of the pain she herself had endured when she met Lesley - plus, you can't tell me that the same Laura who pulled a rifle or machine gun on Mikkos Cassadine and his henchmen BITD is suddenly so afraid of his idiot son and wife - but I think Bob Guza did an okay job justifying Laura's actions

I wondered about that fear too, until I saw the 1983 story play out. She was terrified of Stavros, and now that I have gotten to see so much of 1979-her return, she was very different when the character came back from the Cassadines.

Also Genie has said she played Laura as if she had a mental off switch. She deals with trauma by disassociating, which can explain how she dealt with Luke raping her as well as all the other things that happened to her. So it made sense to me.

However, I felt back then and now that they kept Luke and Laura apart too long, that Stefan outlived his usefulness, and Laura especially should have been allowed to kill Helena permanently by 2000 at the latest. Lucky’s return storyline should have ended the Cassadines. Nikolas and Alexis could easily have stayed without the baggage of the rest of the family.

JMB does still act, and has apparently declined a return at least once.

The realities of Hollywood right now are that there will be less jobs for at least the next two years, if not longer due to the streamer bubble implosion. Pilot seasons no longer exist like they once did. By the fall we may have actors available that would return to soaps or talented people that haven’t been on a soap before.

If I can’t have JMB, I am going to keep manifesting for Marci Miller.

What a strange list of acting nominees.

I haven’t been this happy about a firing since Frons fired Guza, then Frons was fired, then ABC canned JFP all in a pretty quick succession.

I hope his good buddy Josh is out soon, but who do they replace him with?

I would recast Cameron before Spencer. With Liz you have an active parent on the show who can be in her own stories and her kids. I harp enough here about the need to bring back Lulu, Lucky, or both. I am also perfectly fine with Liz taking a tumble with Cody. Bring back the Spencer side of Laura’s family, not the Cassadines.

Agreed! Really strong work @janea4old!

1 hour ago, Vee said:

There is no chance I believe ABC or Disney have any interest in this size of a massive cast.

Yeah that’s Frank, it’s been his style on this show since nearly the beginning when the show was on the chopping block still. He cut his teeth on GH with Ron telling heavy recurring character stories, and kept it up after RC left. That’s how they told the 50th, it’s just way too much now.

The scripts are not stellar yet, but there is so much more detail and care in the words people are saying that it makes it easy to watch even mundane scenes.

The way Brook Lynn and Chase discussed money and their upcoming new life was refreshing for a couple that was kept apart for one stupid misunderstanding after another.

Laura and Anna had an adult conversation about why they have a fondness for Sonny and also why that doesn’t matter with him being a violent criminal.

Cyrus and Laura also had an adult conversation that was watchable, something I rarely feel about Cyrus. All this poor old victim Cyrus is getting ridiculous though. Yes he went to jail, but he was also a murdering criminal.

I don’t really see Maurice leaving as much as he bitches about it. Anyone that listens to his YouTube show knows he doesn’t do well with his mental health and not working somewhere he is well respected.

And the drama with Vanessa is the will she won’t she. She isn’t on my radar for co-worker complaints. She’s a lot like Rena in that she demands Brenda has a certain look in order to help her play the character.
 

I know she was promised one thing and the show tried to do something else with her last return (I will forever thank her for not letting them create a romantic backstory where she slept with Dante).

Riche still socializes with her, as does MVJ. She and Guza got along. Her co-stars like her. I think the issue is the tried and true show wants all the eggs in their basket, and she wants a level of control or freedom or both that they have no problem giving to MB and TG in his day. But they balk at listening to a woman.

RC was never going to be a good fit writing Brenda. Of all the Valentini writing teams, the current one has the best shot.

It really cost ABC nothing to give Tony and Genie favored nations contracts- which means what one gets the other gets. They should have the same money and as proved to be the sticking point when she quit in 2002- equal time off. I know she came and went more, but some of that was because of crappy treatment next to Tony. They had almost equal pay in the 90’s through her quitting, and all both of them negotiated for was more time off repeatedly/favorable schedules.
 

They also both had clauses that they could quit every 13 weeks without penalty too with enough notice. I bet nobody has that anymore. And they got a payout if the network got rid of them before their whole contract. But that was back in the days before the budgets got involved in contract negotiations.

So did the inserts include Laura/Jordan and the scenes with TJ?  Because his scenes with Hat Dad also felt very tacked on to me, which makes me wonder if they are acutely aware of their lack of using the Black cast and all of a sudden decided to drop some scenes in? We had all that conversation and then no follow through with Molly and TJ themselves.

They didn’t drop any plot movement stuff that I could see unless it is Cyrus vs Sonny, which does not make sense because Finola teased those scenes with Laura a few weeks ago so we knew that was coming. Unless the idea of Cyrus pressing charges is new and they dropped that in with Jordan to help set it up?

What is up with these spoilers?

Laura and Anna come to a mutual realization.
Trina questions Josslyn and Dex about their relationship.
Alexis and Finn support each other.
Brook Lynn and Chase have an honest discussion about money.
Elizabeth opens up to Gregory.

I just watched Tuesday 4/16 on Hulu and the only thing in the daily spoiler I have seen that was actually used was the Trina, Joss, Dex stuff.

No Anna and Laura, instead it was Jordan and Laura. No Gregory and Liz- Gregory and TJ. No Alexis and Finn at all, or Brook Lynn and Chase.

Reading through comments and actually watching the show, and one major issue that I hope is finally addressed is the focal point. This show is dominated by performers not on contract. I know this is a hallmark of the Valentini era, but it has to change.

Blaze has a story about her. Kristin is in stories that she is not the focus of- I can’t remember if this Molly is recurring or not. That also includes TJ, who is on even less than Kristina. Laura is stuck trying to keep Heather on the show with her recurring husband Kevin.

Don't get me wrong- I think there is room for the recurring players. I don’t want Lucy to disappear again. But it’s way over the line with them we look at the focus of the show.

1 minute ago, Antoyne said:

When I first got into GH TB was Carly and Jason was purely in best friend territory. I personally never saw anything romantic between them chemistry wise back then but maybe someone that remembers better can tell.

Didn’t they kiss during the PC Hotel fire sweeps stunt? They thought they were dying and decided to be honest about their feelings. And it was promptly moved away from.

15 minutes ago, carolineg said:

I have defended Sasha for years, but I am over her and don't think she's in any way right to be a brand spokesmodel.

Me too! But a year of terrible stories and the last two days in overalls have left me beyond numb to poor Sasha. Time to cut that character. Let her get an amazing job offer from Home and Heart that takes her out of Port Charles and we wish her the best!

There is no doubt in my mind that the new writers did not have to submit a story bible beyond fix the Jason return. My feelings from the start were that May/ Summer was going to be a better indication of new story directions. March was the Jason umbrella and setting that story up on its feet, while exploring the rest of the canvas. I think some of the starts and stops have been that way under Valentini anyway, dictated by how he manages the budget.

I can imagine Korte being asked what she would do with the story as the Jason expert, and using that opportunity to pitch a return to the GH that she loved. I still hope we get an interview from EK/PM at some point to hype their vision. 

The network was clearly game for a change- look at the exits of Howarth, the rumored exit of another, Burton’s return, luring Patrick Mulcahey out of retirement. Sometime during the strike somebody at ABC started paying real attention to the show again above Frank. Be that Varni or someone else. All of a sudden we had that ABC special that they rushed into production too.

I have no doubt Frank Valentini is still very much the EP here. But his show is starting to look and feel like GH did before his time, including stronger day to day writing and way less focus on his friends from OLTL.