titan1978

One not mentioned yet was Y&R introducing the Williams and Abbott families and shifting the center of the show around them and pretty much completely away from the Brooks and Prentis families.

The last few months it was kind of the only story. Everything else was treading water while this played out. It was incredibly sad and also full of heart. And yes, the audience did start to tune out. I think Robin’s diagnosis was a turning point- because the audience knows Stone is going to die and now the story is going to continue on in a real way, with Robin Scorpio. This was also before HIV medications had started really giving people back their lives, so it was shocking to go that far.

And this is right out of the Ron Carlivati soap writing manual!

I could swear Nikolas said something about that to Alexis in their scenes a couple of days ago. I was only half paying attention but to think it has been brought up.

From a little searching, apparently the original was the negative title screen, then the solid black background, then there was a first version of the ambulance opening with different music. That opening was updated with the iconic theme music either in 1976 or in 1978, depending on which source you check (I saw both listed). Hopefully one of the historians around here can let us know if Donovan or Monty was responsible for the theme that ran until 1993.

Sharing sets was one of the reasons Port Charles got selected. They had their own sets too, but both shows used the hospital sets and some places around town. While watching a bunch of Reilly era DAYS episodes, I really miss a set like Salem Place. It was such a great idea, made the show seem more like a prime time one. I think the hospital set on GH looks great, I just don’t think they use it effectively enough. The way JFP had it designed, it has lots of potential that nobody has quite utilized fully yet. I think it is the most fully successful hospital set since Monty added the round nurses hub, hallways, and elevators with the big numbers. I hated Riche’s late 1990’s renovation, which just looked like a big square room.

Alden never had the same level of power or control that Bill Bell did. I never felt she would have been excited about Jill/Kay, because she worked so hard at establishing that third generation and the possibility of Billy/Mac. Even with recasts that didn’t have as much chemistry, that was such a strange story turn to make. Alden was smart to refocus the show with Jill and Katherine at odds again when she started to take over.

Troubled Spencer living with his grandmother is such an interesting story turn. You know, once Genie is back. She had her reasons, but she was also a nightmare in her youth. Let’s hope Spencer doesn’t kill someone and she takes the fall for it. Or maybe we should hope for that.

I agree. It was at least there, we had doctors driving story. Now they have some promising snippets with the Hospital staff, but it gets dropped quickly and goes back to being a backdrop.

I agree that there was no way ABC was going to eliminate the mob. But it could have been way more balanced. I think part of what disrupted the whole thing so much was losing Brenda and Laura, leaving Carly as the only truly successful female lead with high stakes storylines. When Guza/Pratt arrived, Genie had a (terrible) frontburner storyline, and the six months of Brenda drove a lot of story even though it was still mob centric, it worked. Once they were both gone, we had Emily and later Lulu as the other constant focus (Liz truly became supporting then IMO, because she often was just in stories that were happening to her). When Dante arrived, he was tied to Sonny but it was a branch away from the Sonny is wonderful parade the show had been on for a long time. When you watch the classic stuff at the beginning of Luke & Laura- sure they had lots of ties to the canvas. But Lesley still had her own story and orbit away from Laura. Just like Alan and Monica had the hospital as well as the Q’s. They just got so narrow in their focus and storytelling.

It would have made so much more sense for Johnny to already be making his film (a student film, not a real movie with this cast he’s using), and all that stirs up Marlena. Maybe have her sit on that stupid bench and have flashbacks of Roman and Sami’s reactions to the affair. No Possession flashbacks, just the early emotional part, they could even just use the voiceovers so we don’t have to see fake Roman mumble his way through fake flashbacks. Then Doug starts having his issues, and her memories morph to maybe hearing Stefano’s voice as a red herring. Then we can fast forward to where we kind of are now. It’s my biggest pet peeve with the soaps since the mid 2000’s- they keep forgetting that anticipation and building story leads to the climax. The only reason Ron did this with Robin was because Kimberly wouldn’t return for longer than a few appearances here and there to keep the story going. He always skips ahead inning stories like this and then it always feels like a scramble to pull it off.

The only reason I felt they wrote about the hospital was the popularity of Grey’s Anatomy and they needed an orbit of characters for Robin, because she didn’t want to be in the Sonny/Jason orbit when she returned. The hospital had been neglected for quite some time before that. It was like later original Monty era all over again- people were there to be treated, but the stories had little to do with GH. I can’t remember if Guza even told another medical focused storyline after Lulu needed bone marrow before JFP arrived. Certainly nothing that close to what Labine had been doing before.

I think Spencer working at Kelly’s is a fantastic idea, and harkens back to some of my favorite eras of the show. If it happens. Back in the day, the terrible parenting of Nikolas mixed with Spencer’s issues would be rife for soap storytelling. It’s actually kind of complex- especially if you add in Laura not raising him. Three generations of family trauma with many angles to explore. I wish this team was up for something that psychological.

Olivia being kind of a blowhard seems in character to me though. She’s always been kind of hot tempered, especially when it comes to family. I know plenty of people who would act the way she is acting. It is super annoying either way.

What is really lacking on the show, especially with the Quartermaines, is a real classic schemer storyline. Someone like Lucy- sexy, selfish, social climber but not hardcore evil. Somebody should be after Michael’s money. The show is seriously lacking in fun plot stirring.

Especially back in the day when it just aired once, no one had VCR’s, and they wiped the tapes. Look at AMC’s early years- lots written about it, but it’s also lost, so we will never know. And memory is tricky. When you have the same characters for decades, it can get harder to place when something happened. The Y&R transition to the Abbott’s was pretty recent as far as soaps go- but it’s not like we have a daily record we can actually see if every moment. It’s not that I don’t think soap fans have fantastic recall- it’s just human nature to have lapses of actual memory that your brain fills in. Not everyone is Marilou Henner! When thinking about this topic, I also liked seeing the minor characters all the time too. When a main character lived or worked at Kelly’s we saw Ruby several times a week. Same with Dr. Hardy and Jessie if the hospital was hopping. I liked seeing those folks all the time too!

Anyone would be better as Austin than Roger. Franco/Liz stans want Franco. People still post about Todd. Nobody seems to want him as Austin., and casting him cuts the character off at the knees. It’s going to go nowhere because of Frank wanting his friend to be there.

Well when has soap law ever been close to the real thing? Only if the plot calls for it!

Doesn’t Luke bring Laura flowers after the rape? She is still in the hospital. I think it was pretty clear as early as that moment the show wanted Luke to be seen as tortured by what he had done to her. Even though he still acts awful towards her after that, I think the writing was already on the wall. I still find it disgusting that people would yell rape me to Tony at events.

I wouldn’t say he doesn’t like it. But he also is not at all reverent to it. Which under strong creative teams can bring a show to new heights- look at what Lemay accomplished with AW, Monty with GH, and even Reilly with DAYS the longer he was there. Ron is not that talented though. He grew up a fan of the Monty era GH. That fandom was present in his writing- the good and the bad. He had a lot of history at OLTL- and as outlandish as he could be, you could still see his reverence. He didn’t have any emotional connection with DAYS when he took the job. He also is writing a show where he will never get any instant gratification from the audience, even trolling them, because of how far ahead the show is.

I didn’t realize he had gotten married. When did this news come out? And JJ says he is willing to return to the show, they just haven’t brought him back. Which is a shame.

Agree, and I’m not surprised. Someone was showing an interest in his character after a long stretch of being trapped in the same cycle of stories or no story. Of course he liked what Pratt was doing. Colleen Zenk on ATWT being a prime example- when Marland made her character go after Tom, she didn’t really agree with it. Cut to a decade plus after, and she loves Hogan for making Barbara a psychopath. A decade where she was not featured as prominently as she should have been, and now she was one of his main engines of story.

The casting would make more sense if he was shooting something for school, not to be released like an actual film.

Thanks!

Such a shame GL didn’t want to let him tell a story for Roger about having ALS. I think that would have been particularly powerful for Roger, and poignant and important for the audience and Zaslow.