titan1978

Even if he was the greatest thing to ever hit daytime- the issue with RH for me is that he is on his third character on by this show. Easton is on his 3rd as well (more if you count the vampire revisit), all in the same decade. It’s beyond ridiculous. And I like Roger. They have wasted the potential of casting choices that could reinvigorate parts of their canvas to cater to two actors that aren’t even popular from GH. It’s not like we gave Michael Sutton a new part, or had Stuart Damon return as Alan’s twin.

Carly was pretty heinous to Robin over the years, although Robin gave as good as she got in that rivalry.

I bet Ron is not very happy. Some of these category placements are head scratching, but a few are nice noms. Time will tell. Remember when you could watch the nominee clip, and get some idea of the story from what they showed? Now I’m not so sure.

I thought that was a lovely tribute episode, and so great to have Sharon there, even if only by voice. The core of GH when I was a kid was those friendships and adventures of Robert, Anna, Sean, Felicia and Frisco. He must have been quite a guy too- everyone seemed moved by real emotion here, and their various tributes to him on social media. And his daughter was great! I would welcome her back anytime.

I do agree that Doug and Julie were the more iconic duo of the pre Luke & Laura era, I’m sure she is exaggerating here a bit. Plus she is talking about GH, and Lesley was a big deal on GH, and Denise was a huge daytime star. Its hard to imagine now but back then there was daytime famous, ABC daytime famous, and General Hospital famous. Many mainstream non soap folks knew about Luke & Laura and General Hospital. And anyone that was a major character driving story on GH back then was a huge star for daytime. Denise was used twice in her daytime career to bring in star power- on GH and again on AW. I’m not saying it was successful on AW, but that’s what they wanted from her.

Everything I have read says he was there first. It might have only been a couple of months though, and with the knowledge that someone was replacing Tom Donovan.

Thanks for posting that @Paul Raven Really fascinating to see how PFS mentored Sheri, and that she had such extensive ties to DAYS from before the super couple era. I know she was also at GH with PFS. If I knew that before I had forgotten it.

Having spent the summer watching a lot of this period- it really was stellar. And the scripts! The dialogue was modern sounding and relatable and not really all that soapy- but it still wasn’t ashamed to be a soap. So many great relationships received careful consideration- families, friendships, rivalries, and lovers. I’m only sad I wasn’t watching it as it was airing. That Curlee era, especially when Sherry and Beverlee were still there has become one of my top soap eras.

I think there is an inherent disconnect between someone caring for these shows while not understanding them. And the amount of creative meddling is a hallmark of network executives that really took off at NBC in the mid 1990’s. They all do it now. It’s one of the reasons many talented writers have fled from network TV. Promotion and press is also part of his job! If he cared about the genre the network would have invested in bts talent, specifically writers. What he did was try to reinvent them into what he thought they should be. And he was often wrong. I’m not saying the guy was evil or anything, just wrong on almost every level. And Pratt is a plot driven writer. GH and it’s characters have a long history of that style of writing- it can work there. But Y&R and AMC are not those shows. It’s exciting but shallow, and then also leaves a huge mess in its wake when the constant plots wear the audience and the characters out.

The last time I could say I enjoyed Pratt was the early part of his GH run with Guza. They managed to make the show mostly entertaining without being as depressingly dark as Guza solo was. It was trashy, but it was fun trash. His tone always seemed a terrible fit for Y&R and AMC to me.

There was an early scene with Cyrus and Laura when he was being released from prison. Genie Francis did more in those scenes to make Cyrus seem like a threat, and he played off that well in those scenes. And it’s been downhill since. And he is a good actor. Incredible on China Beach, and he certainly has played many menacing characters on other shows. Soaps and their pace are not for everyone. Even soap people that have been doing it for years struggle sometimes.

One of the reasons I cherish that OLTL oral history book, and would kill for one about GH. I wish soaps were not so ignored as a major part of cultural history. You know, before 1999 lol.

I think that production model is key- produce a bock of episodes (30 to 50), and write for a seasonal arc, take a production break, then do it all again. They absolutely must have better scripts and better writers than any of the currently airing soaps have. Also people talk about Netflix and streaming like it is so different- they still have cliffhangers, they still often have long term character arcs. Soaps are still the format when done correctly that a character just showing up at someone’s door could be a cliff hanger. All it takes is the right casting and correct writing and the audience will invest. If anything, Bridgerton should have told these stupid network and soap people that there is an audience for diversity and romance, two things severely lacking on their shows.

I don’t have ratings, and articles discussing that stuff as it was happening are hard to come by due to the nature of the soap press at the time. I had never heard that it was at the height of the Lesley/Rick/Monica/Alan story that the show went to number 1 for the first time until I read it in Denise Alexander’s We Love Soaps Interview. WE LOVE SOAPS TV: Then you worked with Chris Robinson as Rick, and he would later come onto ANOTHER WORLD after you had joined that show. Denise Alexander: When it was Chris and me, Rick and Lesley were the Luke and Laura of their day. GENERAL HOSPITAL went to number one for the first time during the Rick and Lesley and Monica triangle storyline. Of course, Luke and Laura took it heights of ratings no one had ever hit before or since. Gloria [Monty] and I used to laugh about that. I remember Gloria coming down to the stage and saying, "We just made number one." https://www.welovesoaps.net/2010/11/denisealexander2.html?m=1 I wish we could see those weekly numbers like we can from the 1980’s on, to see just how fast Marland and Monty turned things around. That story with Laura killing David Hamilton, and Lesley going to jail for it must have been compelling!

Felicia had such a special relationship with Sean. I hope she was able to participate. He really had a lot of charm as Sean.

I agree so much. Glee might not have been for everyone, and it was wildly uneven, but there is an entire generation of kids that watched this show and either were gay or learned empathy towards characters and were able to be open about it. Even in troubling areas. I read somewhere that at one point during the show, might have been a GLAAD media report, that the show was responsible for an explosion of gay/straight alliance programs at public schools across the country. That kind of visibility means something. Even if it was not always the right kind of visibility.

This is so much the truth. It’s almost comical how little character there is left in daytime, as opposed to a caricature of humans.

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.