titan1978

According to her Bell had kind of decided to focus on other characters for a bit, which is why her contract lapsing wasn’t such a big deal to any of them when ABC swooped in with an offer she couldn’t refuse. They were focused on launching Y&R and he was giving other characters play after having used Susan so heavily for years. Doesn’t mean it didn’t piss him off though. Obviously she was the character because after Alexander leaves she is no longer as major a character.

It sounds riveting. I really wish we could see this. I would also love to see her early work on GH. I’ve seen a lot of her once Monty arrived, but not nearly enough from before. It’s pretty clear from the synopsis I have read that Bell loved writing for her. I wonder why she never ended up on another one of his shows?

It’s a real shame they didn’t give Serena a real chance and Carly Schroeder a contract. She’s a solid actress and as Vee said, beautiful. It was a chance to have a younger lead female with history and a personality, something severely lacking in the recast Kiki, Willow, and Sasha.

She was pretty neglected after Rex died until Alden reinvested in Jill/Kay.

I loved Wendy, but something needed to change. Guza had been fired, and the show was not in great shape by that point due to his stories and treatment of the characters, some poor casting decisions, and star power having left the show. I think had she been able to lure a great HW to the show she might have been able to recharge and get the show back on track. Running PC and GH at the same time was a mistake, and both shows suffered for it. The same thing had happened with Labine, after Stone became the only story and then died, it took the wind out of the show’s sails. But I do feel she had recovered quite a bit when she left, introducing Carly, Jax, and Jason’s accident. The show had a focus again and a clear sense that story was moving forward again. She really set Guza up well, and he reinvigorated Luke and Laura pretty quickly upon arrival.

Loved seeing those Susan clips!

I remember thinking it did get better when she got there, but then I stopped watching it again. I absolutely loved the period written by Karen Harris and Barbara Bloom.

A lot of the points raised in this post are why actual representation matters. If you had several LGBTQ characters you are not as locked into one type of person being the only kind presented. If OLTL had done the serial killer storyline while Kyle and Fish were a couple, it would not have been nearly as egregious as it was. Greg Rikaart’s character on DAYS was a fun change of pace from Will, Sonny, and Paul because he got to be awful. Fear is what has been killing soaps for decades- the audience is both leading and being ignored by tptb, which has created a strange paradigm where nothing of import happens and they all share a generic tone.

I have my doubts. DAYS absolutely chose the right character in Will Horton. Sami was the lead character. He was tied to important history on the show and to the major families. Marlena was used exactly as she should have been, his supporting grandmother. It all really fit well and wasn’t easy to just wipe away. On GH, we have Kristina, also tied to a major family but a character they don’t really invest in all that much. I think Morgan being both gay and bipolar like his father and interested in the family business would have given a gay male character tons of potential, especially on GH. Lucas should have been on contract before the recast. And while prime time is better- shows like Grey’s Anatomy, 9-1-1 are highly rated and have LGBTQ representation, it’s still has room to grow. I think these shows will be long gone before they have true representation.

During the JFP/Guza era, I considered Alexis a lead. She has been on and off with Valentini at the helm. To Nancy’s credit, she has been given a lot of clunker stories in the last 25 years, and managed to bring a character to life that was barely a sketch and was mostly defined by her, not the writing. And when she is allowed to be Alexis- witty, deadpan, smart, exasperated and playing off good scene partners she is still fun to watch. But morose for years on end is just a waste of what she brings to the show.

I would not mind him as Lucky! And this would be the perfect time to bring that character back to the show.

Well, I did like Ryan at first. Maybe he won’t be shoved down my throat again. isn’t this cast kind of bloated already though, especially in his age range?

This entire exchange just illustrates how badly these shows needed new blood behind the scenes, modern storytelling and sensibilities long ago. Because redeeming a man that participated in a gang rape, and also then tries to kill people seems incredibly ridiculous now. Even before MeToo, it’s just laughably bad. And I watched this as it was airing, and liked Todd as an antagonist. Him becoming a Lord was crazy, and by the time Trevor was there he was a full romantic lead which was not great. At least Roger used to annoy tptb by fighting romantic storylines and scenes. When you compare Todd’s storylines to Luke and Roger Thorpe from GL- Todd’s past was much more downplayed over the years. Luke had both of his children have a reckoning about his rape of Laura and he was forced to confront his actions more than once, and Roger was always an antagonist on GL. Franco has not worked as a character from day one. They have spent years trying to tie him to history, major families, brain tumors, romances...who knows why ABC has officially had enough. But if deciding to not play Todd has anything to do with his past as a rapist- well I’m more than okay with that. And if Nina does have sex with Sonny, they absolutely should treat it as a violation. If Nina is going to go full Annie then she’s not going to be here more than another year or two at best. And there is a huge difference between a nothing character like Nina and Luke Spencer or Todd Manning.

It’s pretty telling of the genre and although it occurred to me when I made earlier posts, it’s just so rare they are crafted with care at all. For me, the instances of Black characters being given material at all, let alone good material is pretty sparse. Even people like Bell and Nixon (although she didn’t HW all the stories Angie, Jessie, Livia, Derek, Terrance, Taylor, Noah, etc were in) who did have integral Black characters struggled at times and or played into stereotypes. It seemed like every writer who at least got that diversity was important and wrote decently for these characters was replaced by someone that didn’t get them. Labine’s community oriented Ward family was decimated by Guza. Characters like Gilly, Hamp and David were treated awfully after Curlee/Demorest left. For all the love Reilly and DAYS showed Lexie, they neglected the rest of their Black cast. And Y&R just should be ashamed of themselves. Because characters like Neil, Olivia, and Dru were important and should have always had a prominent place on the show. For all her faults, Latham knew Drucilla was a lead.

Damn 😆😆😆

Yeah, I don’t know anyone here that cares for Michael Easton’s constant employment and multiple characters. If I had a choice, they would both be gone. Because we are too far gone for McBain (his strongest character), same for Todd (not taking into account his problematic past), and their current roles are not worth the constant struggle to make them relevant and part of the canvas. Franco has been tied to every corner of the canvas except the Spencer’s , and it’s been a huge waste of airtime. I watched OLTL- I thought Todd’s initial storylines were quite harrowing. And I did enjoy the character. I have always felt uncomfortable with him as a romantic leading man. And Franco was a mistake from jump. These choices are just not going to fly as audiences and their networks have a reckoning with questionable material, casting, and choices for storyline.

After all the years of misogynist writing during Guza and JFP, the show moving away from men behaving badly towards women and being the leads is long overdue. Plus Ron has written some questionable stories about violating women. And Luke has had at least two storylines where his past as a rapist was addressed, and the late 90’s storyline is what really broke Luke and Laura as a couple for me. After that year, there really wasn’t any going back. I don’t remember anything like that or with that depth happening to Todd after he was “redeemed”.

The prudes that watch whatever these shows are now never cease to amaze me. Lots of women online demanding Roger return as Franco, or now Todd. Yet we can’t have LGBTQ characters, Black characters, any diversity...just these rehashed and half assed redeemed rapist characters or serial killers like Ben on DAYS without holding them accountable in story. Ugh!

I think they are both terribly cast, so no story is going to make them watchable as leads in their age range. Add to that the starts and stops with them as characters, premature aging with their kids, and it’s like a lost generation on the show. Chloe and Phillip suffer from the same starts and stops, even if their performers are better.

All true. Except back then they had half hour shows and smaller casts to deal with too. It’s still pretty remarkable that he continued to work this way. Also demonstrates how much power he had and network respect, that was sadly not extended to people like PFS or Alden, two of his protégés. They also didn’t burn story like they do now. Even Y&R by the time he retired moved much faster than it used to.

When I read that interview with Bill Bell and Claire Labine, where he said he doesn’t write storyline bibles or do story projections, I thought it was both incredible how much his stories did work and flow, and it also explained some of those strange dropped characters, story directions, and the sometimes treading water feeling I got watching Y&R. But mostly pretty impressive!

She did, and I felt it suited her. And the show is so full of criminals she would be busy if she was still being used!

He was part of a gay couple on the show, so there are plenty of scenes from just his storyline on YouTube if you are interested. It’s Spartacus, so expect some trashiness!

My nightmares are your nightmares! Another character nobody can seem to get- Carrie Brady. The original Sami stories need her to work, it’s that balance between Sami’s trauma and selfishness with Carrie’s stability and family ties that helped get Sami to the place she was at. With Roman as her dad, I could see Carrie as a lawyer or a cop easily, and she and Sami could have had issues for decades. She could also have worked in business stories, and really should have had a place on the show and a family of her own.

He’s attractive, and I remember him being decent on Spartacus. You know, DAYS casting has been pretty good overall in the last few years, especially with younger actors. Valentini at GH should take some notes, because they keep finding the exact kind of actors that would make many of GH’s dud new characters actually have some life. Certainly the several attempts at hot guy casting, DAYS is crushing Frank.