titan1978

Jane is just so good. This is the type of character defining dialogue we got all the time in the Riche era, especially the earlier years when she was figuring things out. I know this was Levinson, but the Labine team also wrote these long, detailed scenes that really let each character have a voice and a point of view. When I watch Tracy in this time period, what strikes me the most is that if Edward had believed in her when it came to business and ELQ, or even loved her without conditions, she wouldn’t have been so destructive. Jane played a lot of this period with Tracy as kind of a walking wound, and that pain was used to lash out at everyone. I actually liked Jenny Eckert, and even I wasn’t upset she ran her down. I think soap writing ultimately has two lanes- writers and producers that look at how much they have to produce and they either think how lucky to have all this time with episodes every day to really explore each character. Or the other side is how in the hell are we going to fill up all this time? The second lane uses things like excessive flashbacks, gimmicks, and purely plot driven story dragged out without any character development around it.

Thanks for pulling her quote. She was right in every way. We loved Alan. But they also all loved Stuart, he was described as a pro and a joy to work with. Even when he got cuddly with the arrival of Emily, his Alan still had that pulsating anger there, mostly used against AJ and later, Sonny by then. I also never got over it. I can enjoy the show but to me, Alan was the Maureen Bauer of GH. It was a piece that once removed just left the show unbalanced and lacking something that never was captured fully again.

I agree, Geary got what he wanted in order to keep playing Luke. But I also think this was self aware too- he knew if he wasn’t Luke Spencer, which was still a big enough deal to ABC and the genre, he knew he would be shuffled off too. He allegedly used some pull to save Jackie Zeman’s job when JFP wanted to get rid of her earlier than she did. One of the things I love about Kimberly McCullough was that she was very committed to making things work. She and Jason worked hard to develop Patrick/Robin. She clearly loved the show and her co-workers. But she was not in awe or beholden to the business side and wasn’t afraid to speak her mind. Much like Geary, and Tristan, but with a little more tact. As much as I love flashbacks, just once I wish they would add an actual scene too, so you could see the whole context, not just a clipped couple of lines. Modern fans should get to see the scene with her and Alan when she confronts him post surgery, and asks him if he still wants to go to bed with her. When I think of Monica, I think of many things from the breast cancer story. I also think about Leslie Webber slapping her over Rick!

When soap mags were still real, and Stuart Damon was fired, I remember how publicly pissed Kimberly McCullough was, and she spoke out. I always thought she was a real one for that. I also remember around that time Geary talked about how they were on the set and someone else noted they were not valued anymore. IIRC it was Leslie. And Tony said none of them were young and important anymore to TPTB. I remember at the time reading that and thinking if Tony Geary feels this way then none of the vets are safe.

He’s such a block of wood that I don’t even enjoy looking at him. I know I am not in the majority for the most part but even the most bland soap hunks have to have something going on to make me want to see them at all. He’a worse than Bolt in The Sun Also Sets! Cue the music and the giant wave outside!

To me this is indicative of the differences between Dallas and Knots. The women were always of equal or more importance to the story than the men on Knots Landing. Adult Lucy could have been the thorn in both Bobby and JR’s sides, as she had the nasty streak of JR mixed with a need for revenge for what JR did to Valene. A perfect and connected enemy to both of them, easily pitting them against each other to get control.

Speaking of Ron Carlivati nonsense, Frank Smith still being alive only to be killed again after like a four week story was just plain stupid. Tony Geary said something along the lines of Frank was old in the 70’s when talking about how ridiculous it was. And I know it was a recast, but still a bust as a return. I feel like the Labine era Frank was better than the original, Commandant Lassard from Police Academy. Andrea Evans had to be the most requested and looked forward to return from ABC. And it was very hit and miss. Although her last return was better. Carlo Hesser also came back to diminished returns. I think had Andrea been there during the first Malone era, she would have had stronger writing and investment, which would have made Tina more vital than what Krista did. But maybe not, because Witter was an excellent Tina and they kind of squandered her. So many villain returns just don’t hold up. After the peak of Hello Barbara, James Stenbeck becomes a cartoon. And while watching Carlo Hesser lust after captive Christian Vega was perverse fun, it never really goes anywhere, and he really got cartoony. Olivia Jerome was originally calculating and psychotic, so she could be unpredictable, but she had so much intensity. Her return was not thrilling. Faison used to be quite scary, and while I didn’t hate the Faison in a Duke mask reveal because of Finola selling her repulsion so well, that should have been it for him. Because he became eccentric and silly. I will give DAYS credit for Stefano though. His return in the early 90’s really drove a lot of story, cemented Peter, Kristin, Celeste and Lexie with great stuff to do. And while he went campy with the underground city and beyond, they wisely walked him back from the camp ledge in the 2000’s. One of the things Tomlin did well was establish another family around him and gave him back a more grounded persona.

It was a little fuzzy when she left- was she let go or did she choose to not renew her contract, or wanted out?

As time has passed and we have more accounts of bts stuff, I have a much more nuanced take on this than I used to. I think he influenced pairings Jason was in. I know he fought against taking his shirt off anymore. We know he didn’t want to return to the mostly nothing role Jason Quartermaine was, and was plenty vocal about it. But he clearly loved Stuart and Leslie, and always talks highly of John Ingle. I don’t think he is the reason why the Quartermaine family was decimated. Was Guza and that writing team (who was still mostly intact when he was gone at the end of Riche and beginning of JFP) propping Jason as the most noble Quartermaine/hitman for over a decade? Yes. There are times when everyone acts like it is saint Jason who would never betray anyone he was loyal to starting all the way back to Guza’s 1998 return. But we also now know Guza didn’t want to kill Alan off. I think they suffered from the mindset of the soap executives of the time, especially at ABC. Get rid of expensive older people, focus on tough, morally complex male leads, and make the women always at each other’s throats and sexy. And everything was permeated with a feeling of this is all going to end in a few years, so wiping out legacy characters the audience loved or could build the future around didn’t really matter anymore, and because of that short term gains were valued over longevity.

Jason was never really my problem when Sonny/Carly/Jason dominated the show. When the show paired him with Sam, KM’s choices in acting and Steve’s Jason growing increasingly more stoic did not work for me. It’s why Burton was great in scenes with Brenda, Sarah’s Carly, Spinelli, Maxie, etc, because the Stone Cold nickname works there. Even Guza was starting to show how much total loyalty to Sonny had cost everybody in his circle when Michael killed Claudia and went to jail for it. In the past, they would have written Dante as the heavy against the family. And while there were scenes of that, Dante was Guza’s new favorite, so the criticism of Sonny actually landed and Dante wasn’t vilified. Burton did himself no favors by being clearly checked out at times. But I don’t recall him ever phoning it in when the scenes called for emotion. Jason more in the Q orbit has been good for the character.

My hometown has the same, a town police chief and police force, and the county Sheriffs. They overlap on some things.

It reminded me of when I used to love Jason, he didn’t used to be emotionless all the time. But I am sure it was difficult in a real way and would be hard to play Stone Cold with this passing. It’s going to be a rough few days to watch.

I think it was a stylistic choice to put them as kind of bookends. Edward with his hands on Sonny’s shoulders doesn’t make any in-character sense. At the time they were firmly back in full Luke and Laura mode, reunited and against a common enemy with Damian Smith. Just in time for a few months later for Nikolas to arrive and blow it all up again. Well structured when you think about it, reminding the audience of them as a team just before fracturing it pretty much forever. Love that OLTL cover too. I really was into Jake and Megan as a couple.

How awful!

Another one of my favorites, though not from AMC. I also love these kinds of stories on soaps!

Enlighten me? Was it something to do with James Kiberd?

I don’t know. Guza would absolutely kill that baby. Especially back then, I remember feeling in that return that they really wanted us to believe Sonny/Brenda still had a connection, but Carly was who Sonny was obsessed with. It felt kind of heavy handed to me at times, but the writing team was so in love with Carly by then.

It’s also their ages. I don’t think Jason bickering with Brenda would be as fun now either. It’s kind of how I feel watching Y&R with Nick and Sharon. They refuse to grow them up and it isn’t fun to watch. For me at least. But I would love to see a new dynamic with Brenda and Jason if she ever does come back! One of the great all time what ifs though. They had real sparks in that first return, and I think she would have played out what became Sam/Jason really well.

That was when I first realized there was never going to be a payoff to the return of the Cassadines. Because all Guza wanted to do was keep them on the show and keep the wheels spinning. Once Luke and Laura had Lucky back there was no good reason why they didn’t destroy Helena and Stefan. Laura slapping him was pretty epic, and it broke them up for good, but that was all really. It would have made more sense for me at the time for Faison to be obsessed with Robin because of Anna, and Laura because of holding her son. He did have history with Felicia, but not like that. And forgetting that entire period with Luke and Felicia is one of the best examples of utilizing selective amnesia.

I saw it differently at the time. What I saw was Britt had finally lowered the walls, and felt like a man was actually there for her enough to share her deepest fears, and didn’t have the history to know that until recently it was still Carly first for Jason. She’s not Liz or Sam, she wasn’t there for the actual Carly/Jason days. She didn’t fight because she didn’t think she would win, and it’s better to run away than deal with vulnerability. I just wish KT had the chops to play that out to its conclusion now.

Saw this photo posted recently on another site. And I know Kate Collins left and wasn’t fired. But seeing her as Natalie and OG Janet in the photo really reminded me how much the show lost when she left. I didn’t even see most of her run at the time, but she was just such a fantastic actor with a great, layered character.

And the writers are not doing Britt or KT and favors. Instead on the glimmer of vulnerability and professionalism they worked really hard to instill in her the last year she was on the show, she is coming across as a huge brat. Sarcastic/jaded characteristics on soaps usually have stronger actors to play them. KT is no 1990’s Roger Howarth. It doesn’t help that the Rocco story with Britt is very offensive. A surrogate, even one with stolen material is not his mother. I actually feel bad for the actor playing Rocco because they are wasting him too with this trash.

I hope they do not intend to keep Jacinda and actually try to pair her with hot Michael. She was perfectly fine for the Drew bodyshots moment, and as a light blackmail schemer with Portia and Nina. But let’s not waste Michael on her please (never thought I would say that about Michael!). Or time we could invest in a better match. I see online chatter on other sites where people are already shipping them, and seem to live for her. And after being perplexed, I did think about it and I have a theory. I think the characters on GH have been so genial and bland for a long time. Even the vets. It’s not often that anyone has scripting that lets them stand out, or for the vets has any specificity of their character in the words. I think that’s why people seem to like Britt, Obrect, and now Jacinda. They write them with snark or kooky (or both), and apparently lots of people want them to stay because of it. How about we also write the layers back into the characters already there? Mulcahey did it with Maxie. Went from somewhat snarky but mostly bland heroine back to her old quick witted self. Gave Nina a personality other than pathetic.

And yet, I also applaud the energy. Because it was really stale on GH for a long time. And the show has energy again, even if it is wobbly AF. I have said this several times but Patrick Mulcahey in such a short period of time made Nina a real character for me, and her scenes with Willow were really great. Willow also was placed into a trajectory that led us here, and she has finally become entertaining to watch. I think Nina is better written and used than Carly has been in a year or longer. And it shocks me because I wanted them both gone for years. The problem with the show is the same thing that has been there for years. They just keep the train running, and nobody has time or the power to say we need to slow down and check in with characters like Olivia and Ned, because this stuff matters to the overall Gio story and would make it feel less like it was dropped. Dante questioning Drew should have involved at least a few lines about Scout, and what this is doing to Sam’s family. The details matter! And while Joss in the WSB does not bother me, they have spent way more time with her as usual than with Trina, Gio, and Emma, who all deserve better. They spent the time to get Gio into a better performer, it paid off, use them better! Emma turned out to be a good hire as well!

Always thankful for the ratings information and analysis. But increasingly I do not understand why Nielsen is still the primary source for these shows. Or any shows. It’s such a small sample and such an outdated model. The only reason I can reconcile a more modern system is obviously streamers don’t always share their information (although clear reporting of those numbers was part of the SAG/AFTRA strike), and possibly the companies don’t want to pay out more money to the people/talent making the shows due to higher viewer counts. But wouldn’t the revenue be higher too with more accurate ratings information to use for advertising? I haven’t watched linear television in over a decade, and GH has really made an impact on the Hulu counts this year. It used to be routinely no higher than 8, and now even when Alien:Earth and other big releases are in the top 3, GH during the week is still quite often in the top 5, if not the top 3.