titan1978

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.

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.