titan1978

Gloria Monty forgot that while she made massive changes to General Hospital when she arrived in 1978, and introduced several new characters, the established stuff didn’t disappear overnight. We still had the buildup to revealing Jeff was Steve’s son, Anne living with Audrey. Lesley’s troubled daughter ended up with Laura killing David Hamilton and Lesley taking the fall for it. Peter and Diana Taylor were still in story. Jesse was not a major player, but she still had stuff to do. Nurse Bobbie was being trained by Jessie, and they tied the Quartermaines to Monica and the hospital. She insisted on a quicker pace and more drama, but the show wasn’t unrecognizable. Had she done more of that slow integration maybe she would have found some success. One of the things that Riche also did was we still saw the wealth and influence of the Quartermaines. But we also developed the part of town that Laura’s house was located, introduced the Ward family, and the inherent class struggles between them was highlighted, especially with the incinerator project story. Felicia and Mac had jobs at The Outback. Everybody wasn’t well to do. Jagger lived above Kelly’s. It was more realistic. Guza was uncredited but very involved in setting up the show story structure in 1996, and at the end of 1997 when he came back. Especially in 1997, the shift was noticeable because the writing had been rough before it. He set everything up so that when his first credited episode aired, it wasn’t jarring even though a lot happened that week. Had Monty built the bridge between the outgoing team and her creative vision, things would have been different.

The name dropped Mike a couple of times over the years, I think he came up during that dreadful Rick Webber returns story. And Laura had at least some scenes with him and Blackie during her 1983 return story. I am not a Stamos fan at all. But when they get around to Leslie Webber’s tribute, I wouldn’t mind Blackie making an appearance. I know he bitched about just being a prop for the 50th, but maybe this would be different. Kin should be invited back for that one too. My fear is that they will not make a huge event out of that one because Laura is very much marginalized right now. I watched a bunch of Ryan Chamberlain stuff from the beginning recently, and she was so front and center in everything when the consistent fan outcry got her back on contract. Now she barely had scenes with Lucky, which didn’t help his return at all. It’s been a couple of years since they really made Laura a priority. And I don’t think Amy’s death was ever mentioned until Frank and Ron got there. I recall it being another cruelty from JFP- she fired her, then nothing when she died. Although maybe they did a total card in memorium, but no one talked about her.

It only takes me out because it seems clear they did it to make the set easier to light and film in. But at least GH looks pretty decent considering the budget limitations.

And before the Covid mandate there were talks they were going to do something for Stuart, but then Steve was smarter than the experts so they had to negotiate what to do, and he had to go. And I think that pretty much derailed anything they would do for Alan. A lot of what made Spencer and Trina popular was the little things they chose to do, NAC played flirty and almost a reverence for both Trinas. I know that leap into his arms was not scripted, they came up with it. But they also dragged them out and didn’t play it. Yes, racism played a part. But I think it’s also the stupid shooting schedule. They had Spencer in jail for months!

Those two, still as delusional as ever!

Portia is sadly a mess, and not in a fun way. Love the actress, used to like the character, but they do her no favors.

As far as all this talk about legacy kids- I would absolutely hire Cary Schroeder away from the military (IDK if she is still active or not), and bring Serena Baldwin back to town. When we had Maxie, Cooper, Lulu, Logan, Georgie, Dillon, and Spinelli, I was thrilled. While lacking majorly in diversity, they were at least all engaging and had enough going on that it felt like the show had just created its future with all those characters to build on. And they dismantled it way too quickly. It’s another of the JFP/Guza era blunders I can’t get over. I was really into Karen when she was on the show. And then when they left the rest of the show was so good that I didn’t miss them at all.

Sri Rao proved Tristan was capable of playing a more grounded Robert. But we had a break between super cop/spy Robert and older more pensive Robert. I just don’t see it being sustained by Labine. Especially with Luke and Laura back. Which brings me to Laura. I wonder if Monty had cast a different actor as Bill and had lured Tony and Genie back, would the audience have stayed while she reshaped the rest of the show? Genie has said they tried to get her back for a couple of years before she finally agreed.

Laura on GH after she was arrested for killing Damian Smith in 1996. Did Brenda have a mug shot scene when Luis Alcazar was killed? Maybe @carolinegwould remember. I assume Alexis has had at least one considering she went to jail and has had several brushes with the law.

This is the biggest gripe I have! These are grown ass people. I would have no issue with Emma calling her that, they have history and she is young. All this Leslie Charleson talk at the same time as this rough Britt re-entry just makes me think about her work as Monica. Monica was vicious to Lesley Webber. And Alan (who gave as good as he got). Awful to Jeff. But she was also portrayed as a good doctor, had steady as a rock Gail Baldwin to call her out and also support her, etc. Played by an actress who could show all facets of a complicated woman while also having vulnerability. And she was a smart ass! When the Quartermaines argued you could always count on Monica to be the sarcastic one. On paper this is exactly what they want from Britt, but she can’t do it with the writing they give her, and I’m not sure if she is a strong enough actress to pull it off. I love how much people have been hating on Lulu on other forums, and even many of them are taken aback by this Rocco story. I keep seeing “ I still hate pushy Lulu, but…”. It’s cracking me up!

Her instincts were right. Her ego got in the way- chiefly her arrogance that the audience would come along for the ride so quickly, and her inability to work with strong writers that were not her sister, who was talented but not enough to pull this off. Then we see Riche arrive, and hunt for writers to execute her ideas, finally landing on Labine. And according to Labine, she produced the hell out of whatever they wanted to do.

I think by all accounts she drank her own kool-aid by this point. What she accomplished during her first run was remarkable. I do think Riche came onto a troubled production but the tone of the show was closer to what she was going to do than it would have been before Monty’s attempts. If Monty had invested in strong writers she would have been more successful. In my opinion the two strongest periods of her GH were the ones with strong writing- Marland/PFS, and then again when PFS returned for a second run. It is beyond messy between them, held together by strong casting, umbrella action/thriller stories, and romance. I have said this before, and I know Wendy went to both of them and tried to get them to stay/come back, but I really cannot imagine Robert and Anna being a great fit with Riche’s tenure in the beginning. Robert especially. Luke and Laura works because while they went off into flights of fancy, they were both very grounded characters at their core thanks to Marland and PFS. Focusing their return as being on the run with Lucky, but it was the mob again and not some supervillain, really worked well overall.

I can’t believe this is the path they are taking with Britt. In what world would Jason want to be with her with the way she is acting currently? With Drew they at least decided he’s a bastard, let’s roll with it. They aren’t spending a lot of time trying to make the audience sympathize with him. Tracy really broke my heart today. Monica is her last tie to her own past with her family.

I think the problem was the same with her entire family. They had an idea and a basic layout of the family history as far as relationships went. But none of them were actual characters, they were just people being repositioned around the canvas to find something that worked after the ratings collapsed and the initial plans fell through. When I think of the Eckerts I remember Leslie Charleson and Stuart Damon both saying that Monty said the Q’s were basically yesterday’s news, and then they ended up needing them when the new family tanked to make the audience give a damn.

Jennifer Horton as played by Missy had a unique personality as far as the super couples of the time. That’s why pairing her with Matt’s Jack worked so well. She was spunky, played feisty and inquisitive and competitive well. She also worked in family scenes with the other Hortons. When she came back, all of that was just gone. IIRC Beth Milstein during an interim period as HW was the last time Jennifer was actually in character. Her goodbye to Alice during that exit was so lovely. I loved Carly and was really excited when she returned. Killing Lawrence and him being abusive towards her was a bonus, because I hated them reunting after he brutally sexually assaulted Jennifer. None of them came out well- Carly, Bo, or Hope during that time. The only thing I remember clearly is her stabbing herself in the leg to take drugs, like her arm was possessed and she was trying to stop it with all her will. It was wildly over the top, but not in a fun way. Where did I get the belief that Bo/Hope was Reilly’s favorite couple on DAYS? Did he say it in an interview once? I didn’t think they were sidelined. They gave them much better story than recast Jack and Jennifer got. Even when Billie came back, the writing made it clear that Bo/Hope was endgame.

Lesley Lu Spencer was created because of Genie’s first child. They didn’t write in her second pregnancy, which resulted in her very long maternity leave. Rena Sofer’s real life pregnancy was written in for BLQ, although she also ended up leaving the show after. Wasn’t there a couple of examples of actors being pregnant and having to play out things like miscarriages and babies that didn’t survive very long after birth? I seem to remember a performer talking about this but I cannot remember who it was. They there are people like Sarah Brown that had to play pregnant for a long time on the show, then became pregnant in real life, and they just had to roll with it because it would be too soon for her to be pregnant again.

Her first return was more successful, because even during Monty 2 she had more layers. That pop-up sort of established her as kind of brat, leaning much more into snob and elitist. Which is not to say those qualities didn’t exist before, because they did. Her return to usher Dillon onto the show and eventual return for Tracy herself used that persona as the basis for her character, with a huge helping of cynicism sprinkled on top. When you watch a lot of her original run, Tracy is a manipulative bitch, and much more evil than her later runs. Famously she was willing to let her beloved daddy die over the will! She’s catty, and cunning. But she also is betrayed by the men in her life and lacks agency in a way Monica doesn’t, because Monica got to use her talents in a way that enhanced her life and gave her purpose.

Like many fans, watching Tiffany have such a dark turn was rough to see. I think it could have been more successful had this happened when Labine arrived. Although there is a lot of the Riche/Levinson period I love, his writing was also very trashy and sensationalistic in many ways, and not kind towards the women. Nothing as vile and openly misogynistic as Guza and JFP, but still pretty gross. I cannot fault Sharon Wyatt. She really went there, but the show’s writing didn’t do a good enough job building her back up after.

In the story Tracy was very anti-choice, and Jane didn’t agree with that interpretation of her character and didn’t like that she wasn’t listened to. Riche even commented that sometimes the actors want their personal beliefs to be the same as their characters, and that doesn’t make for good story when exploring these topical issues. It was the height of the anti-choice movement as far as mass media attention, clinics were being bombed and protests were very heavy in the US. I can see why in that moment in time Jane felt strongly that she not present that kind of characterization. To me, Tracy was very judgmental and had good reason to dislike Jenny. She was also presented as conservative and very old money, so it didn’t stand out as being off. However serious the beef was, Riche didn’t extend any return invitations to Jane. Her brief return in 1996 was mandated by ABC to refresh the audience on Tracy and give her a set up for taking over The City.

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.