titan1978

I’ve been watching this playlist covering Luke & Laura and Lucky’s return in 1993. So many great little moments surrounding all the big events, like Laura finding the old Ward house and her feeling the memories of them while she and Luke hide out. Just the image of her seeing the house is special. This clip reminded me of the easy chemistry Laura and Tony had as friends, and the ending with Scotty is just good soap opera writing. Play those beats!

That first two years of Ron at OLTL and GH were so much better than what we had been getting, but the messy times were there too. The issue is that he starts to climax the stuff that was his “A” material, the stuff he gets accolades and ratings growth with. And then he runs out of places to go, or chooses the easy way out of a storyline (shocks, killing off characters, etc). No one writer should have told so many DID, doppelgänger, and forgotten children storylines on the same shows. Anyone that is a comic book fan can see Ron’s problematic style. Strip-mining history for moments to build his plots around. Any chance for someone to have been off screen is a chance for Ron to have given them a child, past as a spy, twin, etc. He does it so much though that it is a trope in his writing, and often the telling gets worse with each copy.

Thanks for posting this. I really miss Nina. There was a lot of great stuff on the show during this period, but I truly enjoyed all her storylines until pretty near the end. I think Nina is my favorite character from this era. From her early baby story to Phillip, fighting with Kay and Jill, the money, David. Really until Ryan I loved her.

I think Susan was killed too soon. Just imagine 5 or 6 years of her making Alan miserable. Using Scotty to get herself some ELQ shares on behalf of Jason or even of her own through lawsuits or the threat of public humiliation. Fighting with Monica. I used to love Lucy holding her shares over everyone’s head. Imagine if we had Susan and Lucy?

Great clips. I grew up in the Anna, Frisco and Felicia era of the show. But I absolutely loved Dr Hardy, Lee and Gail and Lesley (it was on around me when I was a kid, I just didn’t make a choice to follow the show for myself until that mid 1980’s time period). Clips like these make me miss those characters, and what might have been had they not all been so sidelined and many of them now sadly passed away.

Thanks for the info. It’s kind of like the Spencer’s. I do not remember them being such long-standing Port Charles residents. When Luke and Laura came back in the 90’s, the feeling was Laura was home. Not Luke. Not that Luke was a character to spend much time in reflection. But I don’t remember Bobbie talking about a childhood there either. Just with Ruby and that was in Florida if I remember correctly.

When did the show decide the Q’s had been in Port Charles all along? I know the house wasn’t just invented for Alan to give to Monica, there seems to be some history there for the family. I just get confused. Alan arrived on the show first, but was the rest of the family there and just not seen? There was a real chance when they brought AJ back, and Tracy was still there that Celia could have been brought back with kids that could have integrated well. Now, with just Monica, it would be a harder sell for me. Another waste of Jane before she retired.

I hear a lot about the hurricane that Monty sent through the town to wipe out the cast memebers she didn’t like. I assume this was written by Marland? Kin Shriner jokes about it all the time. Who got the ax then?

Or busy hospital/restaurant scenes. Monty’s GH has lots of background actors.

Nothing on this show has ever been as all consuming as Guza and Phelps Sonny/Carly/Jason. At the height of Luke and Laura we had actual stories for the Quartermaines, Rick/Lesley, Diana’s murder and Jeff/Heather, etc that had nothing to do with Luke and Laura. Sure there were times they dominated and were the topic of the town, but not to the extent of Sonny. I do think the era of Anna/Robert/Frisco/Felicia came close. But even then there was still Lucy marrying Tony, Bobbie and Jake, Sean and Monica stealing the Q’s money, Tiffany and Sean falling in love, etc. Nothing revolving around the actual hospital of note, but still better than Sonny Hospital.

I always thought Courtney was Pratt, not Frons. Once Pratt was gone a lot of the show got better. The stories and characters made sense again, even if Guza couldn’t stop the Sonny propping, which got worse from that point on. I also remember when it seemed like the focus shifted from Sonny to Jason. There were a couple of years there (Sonny/Emily) where it seemed like they might actually make them enemies. All of a sudden Jason was the name every character said all the time, not Sonny.

You know, I have always been team Laura and Genie. But the article posted above reminds me that although I think the network and producers let Tony get away with murder and did not value her, she also left more than he did. I remember her maternity leave that did not end. And on Steve Burton’s podcast, she commented on how Riche gave her a first in first out type of deal once her kids were born, and how there was resentment for that that. It might be the only time she was given favored status over Geary once he became popular. Monty and JFP certainly treated him with more respect. She has also stated that at times she would let him do the battles for both of them, although she also fought bts for better stories with him. It just seems in hindsight that Riche did see her as important. I wonder if that plays into how much Tony disliked Wendy?

I loved Wayne. I only saw his last storyline as a kid when Stefano killed Roman. But I loved him. Drake was always pleasant to me as Roman, and for those that find him sexy he gave them plenty to look at. I was way more into Bo, so Drake wasn’t on my radar as far as attraction. People I knew that also watched DAYS absolutely preferred Drake to Wayne. I didn’t get it back then, and I still do not. The story written by JER and Sheri (she was there when it started) put the tortured aspect directly at John and Marlena’s feet. Roman was not written well at that time, and John was given the type of writing that romance fans respond to. Tortured and sexy. JER absolutely ran with that as a solo HW writer and made Marlena/John the couple. Truthfully, Drake’s Roman (even before they thought he was him) was always written from a romance story angle first, whereas Wayne was a more complete character as created and acted out. I also remember reading in the soap mags that people wanted her with John. I don’t want anyone with Josh’s Roman. Never have cared for him.

The only things I remember is that she had to leave everything behind, because she was terrified of Helena. The one time she went to get Nikolas, the Cassadines killed her mother (retcon), and she decided to move on for not only her and Luke’s safety, but also Nikolas. Also was that marriage even valid since she was obviously still married to Luke? He did not died in the snow accident the Cassadines used to convince her to stop fighting and give in to Stavros. Adding Stefan to that Cassadine kidnapping story really helps make it more palatable, because without that relationship it’s really a very tragic story for Laura. We did learn that Luke somehow had some or all of the Ice Princess diamond and was selling it off by piece to fund his adventures.

At the time, it was a fun story on a show filled with a lot of sad, emotional tales. Ned sneaking around as Eddie, married to both Katherine and Lois, and her ultimately acclimating to the Quartermaines was being told alongside Sonny/Luke vs the mob, BJ’s death, Monica’s cancer, and Stone dying of AIDS. They were playing romantic comedy while everyone else was playing heavy drama or action. I loved Lois but I have little use for Wally as Ned. He’s fine, just never my favorite on GH or DAYS. I will take Kurt McKinney any day over Wally. The fact that she was presented as smart, fun, loud and a happy person played out well against her bff Brenda who was so needy and kind of pathetic at times. But I can see how she is also grating and annoying. That wedding cake episode is a classic as far as I am concerned! I also liked that she had a history with Sonny, but saw and commented on the person he was becoming as he was gaining power. Guza did not get her at all.

Wow. That’s right. I did used to think Jason and Sonny were hot af, and I enjoyed them as characters. It has been a long time since I felt that way.

Not sure if this has been talked about here or not. On the ABC website and app they have 20 classic episodes of GH about Sonny & Carly. Not a great couple for me, but it’s whole episodes with characters that I do love. Plus Sarah as Carly. And the Faces of the Heart open. First episode has Felicia being held by Faison, Hannah, and Roy. None of which I enjoyed back then. Funny what you can tolerate after over a decade of Guza, JFP, and Valentini. I long for the likes of Hannah on GH today lol.

The only thing I can say is that the lessons they learned from Gloria Monty were all the bad ones. Gritty is fine, but on a show that airs five days a week all year long you need balance. They are not good with balance. Pair that with the misogyny found in both of their work and the lack of respect for history and it’s pretty rough. They also both seems to revel in being unlikeable- her in reputation and him in not writing a single likeable character for very long without trying to deconstruct them.

Anyone watching the show could see the considerable difference between Guza’s first round as HW, and his second after Sunset Beach. Every major story was focused on a man, except for Brenda, who was just stuck between two men. Even Elizabeth’s rape seemed to really be more about Lucky and Luke than Liz or Laura. Also- his entire point of view as an writer was to deconstruct every relationship and character except Sonny, Carly, and Jason. Alan on drugs. Luke loses Lucky and Laura and is mired in misery. Laura loses Luke and Lucky and is mired in misery. Lucky hates his formerly beloved parents. Tony is a kidnapper (including Robin). Justus is a murderer. The list goes on. Riche let all this happen. There have been rumors for years they had tension and did not get along. But still, she produced all of this. I still think Riche’s run from her arrival to the first six months of Culliton as HW was just about perfect. Lots of highs after that too, but that first part was just so good.

Without a doubt. I think she is the single most destructive person to have the EP position on a soap. Which sucks, because her shows usually look great (except Y&R), and she knows how to produce heartbreaking material giving actors wonderful scenes. But the cost is the show is weaker or destroyed when she exits the building.

Phelps/Guza had stronger scripts, better plots and stories, infinently better acting and characters and production values than we are seeing today. However, the characters featured to the detriment of everybody else drove me away as a viewer. But I have enough distance from the product to see that while not for me, it was better written and acted and produced. Their events and stunts were amazing. The train crash, panic room, Metro Court crisis, contagion, all exciting stories and excellent episodes. The problem was their orbit was Sonny, Jason, Carly, and to a lesser extent, Luke, Scrubs, and a female character of the moment (Courtney, Brenda, Lulu). If you weren’t tied to those people, none of the stories had a point of view away from them. And by the end of their time together, it was really Jason that everything revolved around. He pushed Sonny from the central spot. It was awfully hard to watch a soap daily when those are the only stories featured.

Watching the classic New Year’s Eve episode on Hulu. A couple of things stand out- Tony. This was when I had pretty much decided I hated Tony. He had never been my favorite, but he was sliding into his insufferable breakdown that dragged on for years. By the time he was written out I wasn’t upset at all. The playing of all the beats. Seeing Monica explain the surgery to Jason, make a phone call looking for Alan, Jason talking to an unconscious Carly, Tony and Bobbie speaking about BJ. It’s the one thing soaps have going for them all of them don’t do anymore, the daily interactions and small moments around the stories. I forgot about Brenda’s breakdown. A low point for the character. It wasn’t Vanessa’s high point as an actress on the show either. Billy Warlock is maybe one of the all time miscasts on this show. Of course, neither Labine or Guza write with a point of view or strong pairing in mind for him.

They had some heat. The flashbacks when she arrived showing their relationship were really well done, and they really sold that first wedding, considering we didn’t really know Anna at all. As a viewer I just felt they waited too long to pair them. Instead of Duke 2 (which I actually enjoyed when it was airing), that was when they should have been paired. But again, I was not a fan of Katherine, so I feel like Robert was kind of floundering relationship wise then too. One of my favorite scenes on GH of all time is Robert calling Anna boring, and she pays him back by tying him up and leaving him all hot and bothered.

I also preferred Robert with Holly. And back in the day, Duke and Anna were one of my favorite couples. I think Robert/Anna had chemistry, and I didn’t hate them together. It just seemed to me that the time had kind of passed to move them into a couple. I loved Cheryl. Never could stand Katherine.

How did I not remember that Terry Brock was on the show all the way to 1990? She was there for 6 years! I remembered her of course, but not that she was there that long. Some classic Bobbie and Lucy fights. They really do not like each other. Watch when Lucy shows up. Amy follows the drama from the Nurses Station and that smile on her face in the background is so great!