titan1978

It has that feel right now that the last days of JFP were giving. ABC cancelled AMC and OLTL, and Frank was moved over with no guarantee that the show would last. It looked bleak. From all accounts, the show barely survived. I feel a little of that same dread for the show. Not as acute, but GH is hardly stable. And as you point out, several people with 10 years or more service have been let go in the last year. We know they were all devastated by several losses. I know behind the scenes Nneka Garland was a real blow to the show.

Yeah, the Quartermaines were so hard up for cash they started renting rooms above their garage. And that rent also includes full access to the grounds somehow. You know, like people with mansions do. They had Kelly’s/Bobbies right there. The upstairs units have housed many a young character on this show.

Yeah but even she, while well paid, wanted more of what Geary got. Which was time off. So even her contract is not as $ fat as it used to be. But I agree, I think even MO had to play with this round of paycuts. They threw money at Tony for like 10 years trying to get him to cut down his contracted time off and he kept turning them down and adding vacation instead of dollars. Easy for him though, he was probably the highest paid male when he came back to about 2002-ish when MB probably got up to him or close, before surpassing. I don’t even know if HALLMARK would have him- he’s not hot enough to be broody all the time and he isn’t a happy go lucky type, like Josh Swickard is smiling from ear to ear in his films. Chad is just gloomy, and not used to having to hustle.

I will tel you one thing. No child has ever been so annoyingly important on GH ever, from the jump. Not even Robin in her worst moments. From the second SJB’s Carly got pregnant Michael truly ate the show. So if they wanted to have him leave for a couple of months after what happened with Willow- go! And give us all a break from his face and name.

I hope if they recast it is with someone that has an actual edge but can still play normal person, and we finally get a new generation Alan Quartermaine out of it. Cast Michael correctly and it allows so much story potential to happen. I wonder why he has decided to leave. I can’t imagine he was forced out.

It tracked with me as the show had spent like 15 years or more laying clues they could build from. The secret room, Irene and Tina, and especially the Niki Smith story when Tina’s paternity was revealed. Go back and watch those scenes with the letter. Viki is unhinged by facing her father’s secrets. It isn’t that large a leap to go with DID from childhood sexual abuse in-story. For people watching when he actually aired, probably a difficult story turn to reconcile.

It’s just so sloppy. Austin was shot dead and they barely even acknowledged it when it happened, it lead nowhere, and nobody seemed to notice or care on the show then or now. I don’t really care either. But they killed him in such a way that it should have mattered, and set up a mystery. A couple of weeks of Sonny/Carly pretending they slept together and nobody also seems to notice that didn’t go anywhere either, or continue.

Sometimes it really works. Nancy Curlee and Reilly seem like a bad idea. But they worked well together. They had completely different styles and sensibilities, but they also complimented each other and with Demorest and Calhoun made a fantastic show.

It’s very noticeable and also jarring. There is no flow to any story because it’s being put together like a puzzle by people that don’t care anymore about any details, just getting it to air. It's pretty clear FV and the show have spent more than a year scrambling. I wish someone with any power would sit him down and tell him flat out what he felt was working as far as his production model is broken beyond repair. He needs to take a step back, look critically at the big picture again and make changes or lose his job. Because some of the right decisions being made are being undone by bad scheduling and the stop and start stories. I thought Monty hated working with strong writers but Valentini is worse than she ever was. And she repeatedly hired her own sister! They will stay in their ratings gutter because no momentum is allowed to build anywhere. Anticipation is the bread and butter of this genre.

I just don’t pay attention to ages and dates with years anymore on soaps. I am of the opinion they should never include the year on headstones, etc. It’s just never going to line up with what happens onscreen with these couples. They want to drag out characters behavior long past reality, and then age up their late in life kids. Or give them kids young and try to stop time with aging them to keep the parents viable. It seems to me that for like 25+ years the ideal mental age range of a soap character is 25-35, even if they are pushing 50.

Yes, she was hired and forced on GH by Frons. They decided to ignore PC and make her a new character because Guza was not going to deal with the supernatural stuff, even with Pratt there. Neither was JFP. And Frons agreed with leaving PC behind. The network also wanted to keep Easton. Each soap got one of them- KM on GH, Easton on OLTL, and Thorsten Kaye at AMC after PC was cancelled. Of the Brenda bots, KM was the best. Still thought she was better as Livvie then and now. I was actually excited when she was going to GH. Those clips were very interesting, because they showed she did used to try. And a strong reminder of how misogynistic that era of GH was, with women just always at each other’s throats, often over the same man- Jason.

JFP- I know she regretted this aspect of the story, but nobody can ignore killing Maureen on GL, and the two weeks after as far as depth and acting. She produced the hell out of it. I will give her the Metro Court too, even though both Alan and Maureen should not have been killed. The shows themselves around the death were excellent television. Tom Langan at DAYS- I pretty much hated his tenure as head writer. But he did create a new generation of characters that propelled the show forwards and still come into play today. They also had good casting of those teens.

The biggest mistake of the Valentini era for me was resurrecting AJ, with the right actor, and then killing him off again. There have been plenty of others, but that one had potential to bring the actual Q family back and have natural issues with Carly, Michael, and Sonny. Add in the original Drew/Jason story and actual Jason returns. AJ should have stayed. I also liked him with Liz.

Or just actually push her out the window this time.

Yes, and the show shoved two of them out the door too fast/should have recast. They need something external for future conflict, otherwise they have no story or they keep breaking them up. It was uncommon restraint by this creative team.

Seeing JJ sitting next to RH at the funeral just looked right to me. I would go full old school Webber with them- have Aiden there and add a couple of foster kids like Mike, Amy, and Blackie down the road and make them a stabile couple deeply in love once they do reunite. Make one of the new kids very troubled like Laura was and start the whole cycle off again.

Guza had already moved Jax to Brenda. I don’t think there was a full story planned with Jax/Lois due to the transition happpening bts, just some ideas. And Culliton was in place when she actually left, during the Tracy pop-in story that was forced on the show by ABC for Tracy going to The City. Which is interesting, because a few months later Genie also left for maternity leave and didn’t want to come back because she was happy at home and the writing sucked. I really hope they decide to play a story for the kids where they stay connected. I don’t want another sibling against sibling thing to happen, especially when they find out Lulu is awake.

She ultimately decided to leave because she felt like Lois was regressing into an idiot. She talked about how Labine got that Lois had an open heart and was a good person, but she was also shrewd and not a saint or naive. The whole tone of the show was changing and it was a good time to exit. If Labine had launched her new show Rena has said she would have gone back to play Lois there. I was sad to see her go, but much like Kevin and Felicia, I don’t think Guza ever really had a handle on them or Lois. I saw Lulu wake up, and I wish they weren’t always in such a hurry. I miss shots that lingered before settling on a reveal like this. But I’m just nitpicking. I think there is potential for real emotional material to come with those three kids wanting to stay together. It’s complicated and heartfelt and should be really played.

It was two years of brilliant storytelling that the show never really lived up to after. They didn’t know what to do with her immediately after. Her therapy story wasn’t central and was botched. And then they would trot out Nikki Smith like it was the 80’s again. I think what they did with Jessica later was just beyond disgusting. They really trashed ES’s character with DID as a catch all excuse, and only Slezak’s innate class and intelligence saved Viki when the writing and show let her character down returning to that well. I love that Robin Strasser constantly brought up that she still beloved and played that Dorian killed Victor, even when the show moved it to Viki. She wasn’t afraid to play a murderer, even when she was not the one playing it.

They are truly making Drew look like a scumbag. I can’t tell if we are supposed to secretly want him with Willow? The writing would seem to be going that direction at times. Then you have him in her living room, talking about her blushing and he looks like a predator whispering in her ear. And yes, Jason shouldn’t just attack people. But the balls on Drew to act like Carly should back him over Jason is wild. He’s seducing her son’s wife. This is Carly we are talking about here. 20 years ago she would be standing over his body holding a bloody knife or a smoking gun when the murder mystery kicked off. We would need a credible Spencer recast established first. His whole thing was protecting the Prince and the legacy of the family, which would naturally have moved to Spencer as Nikolas has been such a disappointment. But if we had that, I could easily see a return to the family if they leaned back into their gothic roots. And his obsession over Laura would add some danger back into her life, which the character needs IMO. The foggy pier has been missed.

From what I can recall they were making it up on the fly. She was recurring at first, and they didn’t even name her as a Cassadine. Just a cousin, and I can’t remember if that was even established right away. Was she also secretly in love with Stefan before her full past was revealed? That was such a rough period on the show after years of good story. And thank you. Moving on to the show right now, I really wish Michael was taking a heel turn and gave us a little bit of Alan plotting against them. But as it stands too many people know right now to make that work. I did enjoy Jason kicking Drew’s ass more than I should. And Isaiah is making the chemistry rounds and so far he is promising as a performer, even if we don’t know much about the character yet. Lucky is suffering from the same thing that has plagued Jason- his initial return story is over. Now what. They should already establish what he is doing for money, his relationships besides Liz, Aiden, and Laura. Like Dante, who could use a larger circle himself. Even his new pal Isaiah- there is history there and it’s just being left offscreen. Where is the story?

One of the few duds cast during that era of the show.

Erica stealing Maria’s child was a pretty low point.

Thank you. Even that backstory belonged to someone else. Guza ported it onto Alexis from his plans for Miranda.

I am not exact on the timeline, but if he didn’t write the marriage himself it was during the time they were working from his outlines while he was prepping Y&R. So it was by his design. This is one soap trope I hope stays in the past. Pat Falken Smith wrote the rape. One of the reasons Marland left the show was interference in what he wanted to do with Scotty and Laura. Every account I have seen places the blame squarely on PFS and Monty for both the rape and the later seduction angle. He was long gone when the seduction angle came about, which was months later. Lots of story plays out between the sexual assault and them going on the run. I just watched most of it for the first time. There are several shows where Bobbie knows Luke raped her and brings it up quite a bit, sometimes in sympathy for Laura and sometimes not.