titan1978

It must feel incredible to be a fan of this genre and have this show right now. Especially right now.

I have felt the opposite all week. I think she has been desperate to get everything about him back- the status and power in their community, she doesn’t want to be alone with their kids all grown, and actually has feelings for him, no matter how toxic they are. Her family has the status, but I have a feeling that Dani as the wild one didn’t start to get respect both inside and outside the family until her marriage and family. Daddy’s favorite is not the same as respect. Karla did good work today in the scenes about coming back to life sexually and later pouring her heart out to Bill. These people do not seem like stunted twenty year olds like so many other soap couples their age have for the last 20 years.

Didn’t one of the early character bios say she enjoyed cocaine here and there or something along those lines?

These other soaps are on notice! We want actual openings again!

Finally had uninterrupted time to watch the premiere. Like others have said, I left wanting more, and being interested in more, so that is a win! I loved that the show started with Nicole. The calm in the storm, the “stable” soap character. I also thought she was so well styled for our first meeting! I love the divas and the shady soap characters, but soaps have truly kind of left behind the normal, decent person going through struggles, either heightened or natural. I already know I am going to root for her, and Daphnee. Karla Mosley was exactly like the previews and I hope she eventually finds a groove that gives the edge Dani needs with a little nuance. Although I do think she showed she can get there in the scenes with her father. Also as others have said, Tamara Tunie had to carry a lot of exposition, and I can’t wait to see more of her when she isn’t being used to set the show in motion, in her own story groove. Those two white people really need something to bring life to their scenes. Both were close to Hallmark bland. I have hopes they will be fleshed out though. My only real complaints are technical ones- the lighting is incredibly bright and very flat. It is a subtle thing but it’s noticeable when you go from different locations and they all featured almost the same lighting, clearly from above. That poor white guy was looking up at his nurse girlfriend in his lap and blinking so rapidly. Their tiny apartment shouldn’t resemble the lighting of the country club. I also think there is still mileage in the long soap look when transitioning scenes, and there was very little of that, if any. Doesn’t have to be every scene or that dramatic all the time, but this show feels like it would work well here. I cannot wait to see them dig in and flesh these people out more, and to see more stories form besides the Dani marriage collapse and the beginning of her daughter’s brand, which felt like the only actual stories we saw highlighted in the first ep. As far as pilots go, it felt pretty good to me. And I have only seen a handful of pilots I consider pretty near perfect ever- Twin Peaks, Gilmore Girls, Arrested Development, and maybe Mad Men. This was in line with most of the decent ones- lots of promise, a couple of characters I am already vested in, and some kinks that need ironed out, including maybe 1 or 2 recasts down the road depending on how things develop. I hope the audience embraces this project! I loved that whole family scene too! It felt really special for soaps today considering how budgets have all but eliminated just normal family gatherings with lots of characters. I hope they are able to continue them.

I cannot wait to watch in this on Paramount+ tonight!!!

Bummer. I will wait a bit then before buying. Thanks for the update!!

Do we know if the Prime episodes for purchase are remastered?

There is also subscriber base to consider. It took some digging to find US numbers, but according to what I saw on two media tracking sites Hulu and Paramount+ have significantly more monthly subs than Peacock. That could be a benefit to BtG. Hulu lets us know GH has a loyal following on their platform, and I also don’t remember seeing Y&R in the P+ rankings, so time will tell there. GH is going to be competition, but folks here are discounting the loyalty of the CBS daytime viewers when it comes to Nielsen houselholds. They dominate from The Price is Right on through.

I didn’t just stumble across General Hospital. I feel I inherited it from my family, and it has been my favorite soap since I was little. But how many chances can the same creatives get when they are driving audience away?

I feel for the talented performers that all these shows still employ, that are clearly trying to make crap work. Especially vets. I don’t know if people around here remember the tone for daytime after OLTL and AMC were cancelled at the same time. It seemed inevitable that GH would be gone soon too. At that time, the feeling was very real that people that wanted to leave, like Geary and MB, were just hanging on for the end. To me, some of that feeling is back now. And both times, ABC let an Executive Producer stay that should be gone. JFP outlasted Guza and got a HW she could absolutely control- Garin Wolf. And Valentini has installed writers that he has total control over. In both instances, the stories were weak and the overall issues with the show remained, largely due to the storytelling tastes of their EP’s. FV and RC saved GH, I will never forget that. When GH was firing again, all the soaps were seeing numbers that they had not seen in many years. There was some hope there. They just didn’t have the creative juice in all those tired EP’s and writers they kept recycling to keep it going. Shelly Altman and Jean Passanante were at both GH and Y&R in the same decade and just as awful as they were before. Ron at DAYS. Josh back at Y&R. None of these people are visionary at this point. My hope is that the same thing does happen again, only this time the lessons need to be learned. Invest in creative voices, and make necessary changes bts to do it. If BTG’s even comes close to strong ratings for today, then other soaps have to evolve, or start planning for their last episodes.

Taken for granted, especially by Y&R since Drucilla was killed off, if not before. I have a feeling the show will have broad support from the people that Nielsen daytime actually counts. I would love for it to cause enough ratings disruptions that everybody steps up their game. I have high hopes that this new show stirs things up!

As I watch the specials, it’s really clear that MVJ focused on specificity with these characters. I watched the first months of the last three new soaps- Port Charles, Sunset Beach, and Passions. Only Passions felt like it had this kind of story structure and character foundation from day one. Passions was going for a very different tone of course. I hope that helps the show find an audience. I hope the show is so successful it causes the other soaps to re-evaluate their current structures. The wrong lesson is to just put a bunch of Black people onscreen thinking that is all it will take to be competitive. They do need the diversity of course, but not just another group of pretty people standing around without a story. The right lesson is rich characters and actual stories. Not stunts, not multiple paternity stories playing out at the same time, and not generic characters/dialogue.

IIRC, she was booked on FAMILY before she landed GH, and according to IMDB her two episodes aired in November of 1976. So if she did start airing in 1976 it was the end of the year.

I think Rocco is currently the best of their young teen scene. Wish they knew what to do with… well anybody right now.

I would not be shocked to see them end up on MAX, like other former WB properties. It took ER (another long running WB program) forever to show up on streaming, and it was on HULU first, then showed up on what is now MAX as well. It will eventually land somewhere again.

Love this confirmation. I have nothing against the actress, just not interested in overzealous fan-think online being reported as news. I truly hope she finds a great gig or something new that she feels a passion about.

The candy part def made me laugh. IIRC, Susan was back on contract after Bill passed away. No idea if she remained on contract though. Which Jane answered! Thanks for the confirmation! Jon has often credited her with giving both characters their definition and making Kevin work. MVJ responded to the actors and the Ryan story, and Labine let her keep it going with Kevin. MVJ even came up with the Lucy angle. She must have really liked those actors because I have seen lots of effusive posts between her and JL, and several photos of her out to dinner and spending time with Kristina Wagner in recent years. And I understand they both like the pairing. I think stuff like this also makes it easier to get rid of Laura, or any character in the same spot. At that time she was with a recurring character (Kevin) and only had Nikolas (who came and went), and a recurring kid in Spencer. At least now her kids are on contract and somewhat being featured.

And everyone else! Laura deserves a pairing that is on contract and treated seriously. I am happy for both of them though- they want to work, it’s a wonderful opportunity to do something new within a soap framework. I cannot wait to see actual characters again.

Hopefully eventually! The Cagney & Lacey TV movies all eventually ended up available. with BTG coming and Knots being such a success from its debut on PLEX- the audience is right there for classic soaps. I would pay the premium to have access to the Salem Stalker, early Y&R, Guiding Light from the Curlee/Calhoun era, etc. I wish Sony/Corday would test the waters with the Possession- from Desecrator to exorcism. It’s not even my favorite DAYS story, but I have a feeling it would go over well.

Lovely news! I hope they fix the couple of episodes that have the same name and were missing from Prime and mistakes early on PLEX. Legit so happy about this!

Until the Jeff is Steve’s son story, which also ends as soon as Jeff is gone in 1981. Then they languish until they decide to age up Tom and pair him with Simone. IMO one of the places where Wes Kenney did right by the show was bringing that focus back. Audrey had a couple of years in the mid 80’s where she barely appeared. IIRC, Ames was taken off contract or didn’t renew and complained publicly about Steve and Audrey having nothing. Lee actually fares better with a return of his alcoholism story, and his handwringing over messy Scotty post 1981. He even has to lose to Luke for Mayor. Lesley seems to take off once they start the Laura story, before we get to the Vinnings. A testament to Denise Alexander and her fans I am sure.

Steve and Audrey’s reunion may have even taken longer. Denise Alexander said GH hired her to play a doctor, and the only other thing they really had locked down was she was going to be with Steve. Once they cast her they decided it didn’t work the way they planned so they moved away from that. One of her only issues at that time was they didn’t really have a character for her and it took them months of Lesley airing to figure it out. They really kept people apart back then. I think the assertion that married couples are boring is really a flaw in their writing. I don’t care how great Bill Bell and other giants of the genre were- married couples are capable of being written well for. It’s kind of sad that the prevailing thought is that they are so boring, stabile, and stale. Did they all think this about their own marriages?

For me, he was. And it was due to the fact that they hung all this story around him. We had a perfectly serviceable teen group, and if anyone should have been the epicenter it should have been Cameron, with ties to Liz and show history. Instead it revolved around an insufferable Joss and Oscar, who was a walking retcon surrounded by other nonsense. To give this kid a story about young loss was truly tragic because he was terrible. And it killed off another Quartermaine. Even if I didn’t like him a recast might have made him serviceable as a Q. The whole thing is why he gets so much hate IMO.

They stopped moving the cameras around as much as they used to. Those shots of people coming down the main stairs inside GH near the lobby/nurses desk with a camera following them have stopped. It’s much more static. The lighting is also more flat and has a sameness when it used to vary by scenes. I have noticed less day to evening shots too. But everyone’s teeth are not blue like they used to be all the time, just some of the time, so that’s good.