titan1978

Thanks for finding another lost gem @DRW50 I cannot get over how many treasures we have gotten from classic soaps this year. As someone else mentioned, we may actually see Monica and Alan’s first wedding if all these classic eps keep being found! I have to believe someone has it!

If you look at stuff that aired around 2017, it’s everywhere. They were using some kind of lighting that picked up the blue hues that almost every set was bathed in at that time, and it reflected blue on everyone’s whitened teeth! Scenes in the Metro Court bar/restaurant were especially bad. It has mostly gone away since COVID, every once in awhile it comes back. There were scenes with Finola where it appeared she had glowing blue teeth during those days.

You got me on Frons. Yes he actively destroyed ABC daytime and his ego was a big part of that, which is a form of diva. I may not have liked what Guza wrote, and the focus of too much Sonny/Carly/Jason, but I always give credit that at least it was well written darkness. The day to day writing since that team was dismantled has been cartoonish under Ron, and bland and generic under everybody else. But I stand by my assertion that JFP and FV are the divas who have done the most damage. We all spent forever blaming Guza for everything bad at GH, only to find out he wasn’t behind Stuart Damon’s firing. What else did he get the blame for? So many of the issues I had with JFP at GH were the same things she did at OLTL, GL, and AW. A detective is not needed to stitch together those clues. And yes, Guza was given a consulting producer credit. But Frons and JFP still had their hands in everything. As far as Frank’s ego- the whole show is being manufactured for his story instincts and scheduling. Someone with a healthy ego in this business would step back and look at the big picture and realize it’s not working anymore. And make changes. But he thinks his way is so much the only way that he was fine destabilizing the show for close to a year to get back to what he wanted to do. Also! Why do the women always get the negative connotation when words like diva are thrown around? JFP couldn’t work with Sarah Brown (twice), Genie Francis, Vanessa, Strasser, McKinsey, etc. but had no problem letting Maurice, Steve and Anthony Geary (amongst others) run roughshod over story, pairings, and in general just constant bitching and moaning. Maurice and Steve have actually admitted to this behavior during her tenure. Actual throwing fits at times. Nobody credible has ever said this stuff about Vanessa. She just doesn’t play the game on ABC’s terms only. Fan thinking has a real problem with talent not just taking whatever the show wants to give them.

Agreed. Sometimes, especially with soap fans, it seems like the prevailing feelings of the performer should be gratitude and a willingness to just stay there, even if the writing is bad, even if their character is maligned, sidelined, etc. It’s not ungrateful on their part, these actors do not owe anything beyond doing good work. She wanted to stay during her first return, and JFP and the network did not want to give her a schedule she wanted as a new mom. BTW, JFP also hated Genie’s first in, first out schedule Riche agreed to when she had her children. The only two divas I have seen actually cause harm to the show are JFP, and lately, Frank. He was willing to practically destroy the show to not have a head writer he didn’t completely have control over. And the show is right back to quick, bland, and regurgitating material that is easy to produce on the schedule he wants it to.

She was also smart with investments including property back in the day, and is very frugal. I know from her podcast and her social media that she has struggled with cash flow many times while fighting Brian Austin Green over custody issues with their son. He really comes across as a scumbag, and I do believe her accounting of the details. She has made it pretty clear she doesn’t want to be forced to work under crap conditions and writing just to keep herself on screens or keep Brenda onscreen and completely diminished. And Frank is not about to hire a huge star for GH that walks in the door with a significant salary (for today), and probably also wants some scheduling preferences. I will always respect the fact that she loves the show and doesn’t trash it or talk down about it being a training ground only. She still has relationships with costars and bts folks.

Thank you for posting that episode @Vee I don’t think I have watched a Labine era GH episode without feeling something, ever. She and the team they assembled were the perfect writers for the vision Wendy Riche had. When things were at their darkest during her tenure, I also felt hope. I might need to do a rewatch for the first few months of 2025. Just that simple moment with Ned looking at Monica leaving, and saying Happy New Year had depth to it, because the emotional core of the history was there. History on soaps, for me, has never meant minutia or just a name from the past. It’s the weight of Ned seeing Monica clearly unwell. It’s how Laura always desperately needed a maternal figure and family, and clearly found one again in Mary Mae and her family.

What is this about? Were they rumored to be beards for each other? Also, the last couple pages have been fascinating, I didn’t know Malloy was difficult, and yet, it doesn’t surprise me in the least!

Deep Space Nine. Kira was originally Ensign Ro, from MF time on TNG. Forbes did not want to be typecast. As far back as her tenure on Homicide, when she did do any press it always seemed to me that she wanted to be a character actress, and was very selective about her choices. I think she has had the career she has mostly by design.

Rosalind Cash was wonderful on GH. A year or so ago I rewatched a Luke & Laura playlist from the beginning of their return. The story for the Wards was so carefully laid out, starting with Laura walking into a clearing and seeing their old family home. Her imagining the family that lived there, right up to finding Bradley’s remains and the affair reveal. It felt like those characters had been there longer than they were, they fit so well. I also think what Guza did with Damian’s murder was a good idea. Edward protecting Justus, who went along partly for ego for himself and his family name, was a good story. That whole story is fun to watch, the murder, the memorial, and Laura in jail and on trial. The story with Justus just didn’t go anywhere after that. Much like Tony going psycho kidnapping Michael and Robin and no rebuilding his life after. I wish I could find that hospital scene with Mac and Stone. Stone is crying and Mac hugs him, like a spell breaking his anger at him up for good in that moment.

Bless you!

Liz, with her life experiences, her job, and kids was in line with what Bobbie became. A character that was in the grounded stories and was relatable through her mistakes and had rooting value and real audience support for her triumphs. She just never got fully elevated like Jackie did. Becky has worked her ass off in many terrible stories over the years. I think part of the issue with Liz was what happened during the Liason era, both onscreen and off. Then JJ came back and the show seemed hellbent in making his character miserable all the time. Guza wrote for Lucky like he did Laura- depressing, angry, maligned, and increasingly isolated. Just seeing them both smile at times during this run has been refreshing. I don’t think Liz has ever been treated fully as a lead. Even in her early years I would say Amber Tamblyn’s Emily was the actual lead character in their age group after JJ left. Her stories were not dependent on a pairing, which is what befell Liz. Even the next Emily was treated more like a lead to me.

This comment makes me laugh, because every named character in this quote now has been involved in a paternity storyline. Two years and we have paternity reveals for Trina, Sasha, Cody and Gio. Please stop GH.

Howarth did. But the problem was they were all bitching about Franco being gone and he should come back again as Franco and that was a non-starter.

I wonder if any of these kids watch him and think this is supposed to be the best of the best? I have said it before, but even at his worst, most bored and ready to leave, with the right scene partner Tony Geary was still capable of strong work. I haven’t seen anything from Mo in over a decade that I would consider any more than passable. One of the reasons I was team NAC before he left the show!

Exactly! Put some meat on those bones and you can make sense out of it. It’s the kind of conflict that would have been natural for Lois had she stayed during her first run. What happens when she starts to compromise her ethics, even if it is to protect someone else? That’s the kind of story I would love to see played out here. Watching Lois realize all her justifications don’t matter because she broke her own personal ethical code is good stuff, beyond just being a mom and everything being about BLQ (we know the dad if the rumors are true will barely be involved due to the show bias). Not just another paternity story where everyone is mad for a few weeks and then all good. Not didn’t want to. By every account I have seen including his own statements he couldn’t do it. It was dragging on too long for him to play that volatility and mania with his mental health issues, and it was getting worse onscreen with no end in sight. The same thing happened when they played his manic depression during the Emily affair. They had to cut it short because he had a breakdown.

By all accounts, including his own, he has little to no bts power now. He has admitted this several times since COVID on his YouTube show. He came back to the show in an incredibly fragile state mentally, and has never gotten back the level of stability he had before his COVID breakdown. When he had his latest episodes this summer, he was basically forced to return to work or there would be temp casting. He has said several times that they make him dye his hair. I only watch his show when he has a true soap veteran on, plus a handful of GH ones, maybe 10 of them, and he has been pretty honest about his mental health and how the BTS culture of the show has changed. It is also pretty clear none of the talent has much power nowadays. Genie Francis only got rehired because of the longevity of the public outcry directed at Frank specifically. Monaco would have been untouchable even five years into Frank’s tenure. Burton has come back clearly humbled and just happy to be with his lifelong colleagues again. Even FV’s power has somewhat diminished- look at Howarth and Easton. I think we all give them credit for what kind of power they used to wield. Look at DAYS with AA. They let that [!@#$%^&*] go on way beyond the talent asking for investigations. I don’t think any soap actors have any power beyond deciding to sign a new contract when they are fed up or burned out.

I am dying.

Same.

Maybe he wanted to get out of the US? If you didn’t have to be here right now would be a good time to get out.

Yikes to both to be honest lol.

This is very interesting. I love McKenna, have since he was teen Joey on OLTL. I even felt the chemistry between him and GR on Y&R (go ahead and throw the tomatoes at me). I liked Measure, and this changes the character quite a bit. I have a harder time seeing McKenna as an early career peer of Anna and (puke) Valentine. But details do not matter at this point on GH, they retcon their own retcons quite often, and just steamroll along. This does not help the show’s constant need to blow up romances. They had achieved a slow burn with Carly, and I found their most recent conversations and flirting to be much more adult for Carly, and I believed his side of things too.

It is interesting to think how much those early episodes and years were quite dour. In one of the most recently uploaded episodes I saw the slightest smile on Jessie’s face, and it had to be the first time I ever saw her close to smiling. I bet early Audrey was a breath of fresh air, because she is much lighter before they start piling on the tragedy to her too. Lee Baldwin too- he has such different energy compared to Doctors Hardy and Phil Brewer. I know amongst original fans, many felt Jessie and Steve should have been together, and never were. EM certainly played a deep affection for Steve in many scenes I have seen of them together. Those dour early years almost make the miserable JFP/Guza years seem like they were no so out of character. Almost.

What drives me crazy is everything else is slow burn. Almost every prestige TV show spotlights sparkling dialogue and a slow burn storytelling style. And FV cuts everything up so much that stuff gets lost quite often.

Even though I haven’t really met the characters fully yet, one thing stands out about all the looks I have seen so far. They are being treated with care. All the soaps used to have wardrobes that suited the characters and rarely do now. On Y&R for example, Malcolm, Neil, Drucilla, and Olivia each had their own look, and you would never expect Drucilla to look like Olivia. Even in a suit Neil and Malcolm had their own personality. On GH, another example would be Luke. He always had his own look that only suited Luke. Monica and Tracy, both wealthy Q’s would never be dressed or styled alike. Happy to see these characters seem to be fully designed from the inside out, and everything doesn’t look like H&M.

You have made a lot of us very happy these last couple of days. It’s wonderful to see so much history that many of us have only read about. Performances and characters that we all know but many did not have the context of seeing their work and how that formed the characters. I never thought I would see so much of Pinkerton’s Dorian. Thanks for sharing!