titan1978

The first part is subjective, we can all watch and have our options about what the actors are doing. But the second part is the issue- we do not know what happened with any of these people! It is not clear that her money was reallocated for JJ’s return. It’s not clear that everyone was asked to take cuts, or that people didn’t have to. Burton already took a cut to come back. Perhaps Finola did already as well. Or maybe she was asked and did so. People that think this way also attack the actors like they have any real power anymore. Those days are way over. I do absolutely think there is an issue between Monaco and FV. She has barely been used in years. Direct your ire to tptb for firing her the way they did, and for the power struggle that has left the show in story shambles it is barely crawling out of.

It was a mess, but those were some of the best scripts the show has had in a decade. Not that it matters now, but uncredited he gave KM and DZ the material to make their families seem like actual people, and their relationship felt real. He gave Nina a brain and a purpose beyond begging for Sonny to take her back. There was good in there.

You are right, she has been posting in support or calling out unsubstantiated rumors. She is not responsible for what others post that were nasty simply because she retweeted positive posts from those people. I haven’t been able to find Billy Miller’s mom’s exact words, but what has been shared is not great.

Her mother and Billy Miller’s mom have been adding fuel to the fire that she was targeted by Frank unfairly. As I read more posts attacking other actors, I am less sympathetic to their cause when it comes to many of her fans. I have seen multiple posts claiming that Jonathan Jackson was offered some fat contract like he had in the JFP days. That Finola wasn’t asked to take a pay cut, and that’s not fair to Kelly somehow. That Laura Wright should be fired first. I am as sick of Carly as can be, but LW never looks bored or phones it in. That Maura was spared so KM had to go. That cutting all the recurring characters is the same on their budget as Kelly, or people like Gio. That Steve Burton still has the influence he had in the 2000’s and could save her job. Tagging actors in posts like this. WTH is wrong with people. Soaps have such a small fanbase considered to other celebrities, that it’s almost impossible to avoid stuff like this online. I feel for them, they are not in control of the shows. Kelly was in the top earners. This seems sudden enough to be budget, but also possibly more than that and the opportunity presented itself. i think it sucks to be fired, and if Michael Easton and Roger Howarth had not also been fired within this season I would be much more upset for her than I am.

I have no issue with despicable. Just don’t try to also have him be romantic or on good terms with these people. Alexis has terrible taste in men!

The show is in such a weird hybrid state. It’s not quite as generic as it was before Mulcahey. The scripts could be better, but there is clearly more care in them than there used to be. Dex and Molly, Molly and Alexis, and Tracy/Dante all had real emotions and character in the script. Ric and Alexis was a highlight too, they play so well off each other. It took Hearst sharing this scene with NLG to show some of what he does best. For being away from acting for so long he hasn’t really lost a step in sparring and the smug side of Ric. I think Huss did a great job having an emotional core for a character he has barely played, except in pivotal times. The guy deserves a shot.

We are all intimately aware of Frank and his budget. This feels like more than just the budget to me. Maybe that is conspiratorial, but it’s my impression. Killing her off on short notice is a statement. Let’s not forget GH cut Sean and Tiffany in the 90’s due to budget and lack of featured story. And DAYS has fired many people for budget reasons, most famously Deidre and Drake. And what happened to Genie a few years ago.

My favorite stuff with her was the abortion, and then the story with trying to figure out who really killed Rick/Scott going after her for killing Logan. And her initial love story with Dante. I can’t fault her for the other stuff too much because every woman was like that on GH at that point. The slaps and long hair flying was all over the place. Only Robin escaped constantly screaming at other women and was allowed to actually have female friends. And she was only spared really to be a foil for Carly. But I totally get why Lulu is an acquired taste. The only time I saw a spark of JMB’s Lulu with Emme was when they were gearing up for a fight about the kids in school with Willow as the teacher and Stafford’s Nina, and Liz.

Season 10 still has Abby, so that will be a winner for me. 12 would be next in line.

Would LH even want a full time gig? Isn’t she really successful outside of acting now?

She actively tanked her Jason reunion story because she wanted to act with her boyfriend. That pretty much sealed the deal, she never was used heavily again after that happened. And then publicly shamed the show when Miller wasn’t offered a new contract. Valentini is not going to forget that. I do feel sympathy for her. She has clearly been through it in the last couple of years in her personal life. Miller’s death was a tragedy.

I know. Sometimes I just can’t keep my figurative mouth shut.

EIGHT MONTHS?!? It feels like years! I can’t imagine this is to pay for Lucky, that decision was made way before this. Was she just informed?

I remember that JvD rumor going around. And didn’t Zimmer allude to it in her book? I know she said Wheeler tried to guilt her into it by saying that very thing- if they don’t get cuts people will be going. I am not a fan of Kim’s, but I 100% agree with her. First of all, they have a union to protect them. Second the networks have treated many actors like dogshit for decades, working these daytime actors into the ground for mostly their benefit. Third it is bad faith to even ask. I don’t care how much we love these shows, the people that work there deserve their negotiated job protections and money, no matter how much the ratings drop. Wheeler didn’t just fire her because she probably had contract provisions about paying her out. Back then the bigger stars had terms to protect them from the generic 13 week cycle. Some of the top dogs had to be paid out no matter what the cycle of the show wished to let them go.

Whoa. She really pissed someone off. That is wild!

Yeah there is a round of rumors on Twitter that several cast members, all women, were asked to take pay cuts. Most of the top earners are apparently the top line women on the cast. Not sure if I believe any of that, I’m sure Steve and MB are well compensated. This kind of stuff reminds me immediately of Guiding Light under Ellen Wheeler. Zimmer stood her ground about renegotiating her contract before it was due.

She has been phoning in her scenes for years. That first month of uncredited Mulcahey, Sam was the best she had been in almost a decade. Frank has also been marginalizing her since the Jason/Drew story. I am shocked she lasted this long. I have some empathy for her, she’s had a rough couple of years in her personal life. But she seemed miserable on GH for as long as I can remember. I wonder what was the final nail in the coffin? That temp recast is really interesting now. She is expensive, I wonder if more returns are coming or if Lulu is it for a while.

I do too, and it sucks. I have a lot of empathy for Maurice. I truly do think the show needs to step in for his health and have the conversations that he maybe doesn’t want to have. Which is Sonny needs to evolve, and that means different kinds of stories. Even if he resists them. I know that Valentini forces him to keep dying his hair and MB would prefer to not do that anymore. Stuff like that is ridiculous. Let the man go grey.

I still don't understand these "But he's not a prince" arguments I don’t either.I have enjoyed him way more in essentially a handful of episodes than I did MC after his first 6 months or so. I felt he was very overrated and got lazy real quick.

While the back half may not have been as strong as the first half of the show, there are so many things that did work incredibly well. Paige- they figured out the best use for her and for NS. She is allowed to have an edge, but they made the correct decision moving her away from Abby-lite. Anne- again, another example of finding the correct lane for the character and actor. I think she worked best as a sort of Lucy Coe character, with one scheme after another blowing up in her face. Linda- she does work well treading that line Abby did for so long, until the danger catches up to her. She has the desire but not the canny intelligence Abby relied on. But Linda was younger and pays the price. Frank, Pat, and Julie- I really liked these characters, and I am just as sad they all ended up gone by the end as I was the first time I watched. The show allowing Larry Riley to keep appearing until he couldn’t anymore was a class act in those days. People clearly dying from AIDS complications were not treated well even then. I also liked Jason and how that allowed Mack to revisit his background. Main thing I didn’t like- Gary and Val deserved a better final catalyst than Danny to reunite. The whole thing should have been treated as the important story turn that it was after all those years. The return to the Cul-de-Sac and more down to earth stories was the right direction to go. They did rely a little too much on twists and violence but the overall show never really stops being entertaining.

Yeah, I saw Ava as this show’s Roger Thorpe. Even after being shot, he still operated outside the lines and never really got caught. Punished? Yes. His relationship with Hart, losing out in business, broken heart, etc. but never sent to prison for real. I don’t think they were going to get rid of her. My concerns for Maurice stand. He feels he can only act if he uses method acting. He cannot handle drawn out emotional material anymore. He has said this many times in the last few years on his YouTube show. He also claims he is close to retirement, and yet when he has too much time off or backburnered he has mental health episodes. This started with COVID and has continued. I do personally think the show has a responsibility to acquiesce to his health needs. But so does he. So that leaves the show in limbo. He resists trying anything new, and also resists being moved away from the central figure of the show. Even Tony Soprano got great mileage out of therapy, and they just dropped that potential with Kevin (so far). Something needs to happen for both him and the show to be at their best.

They only recast Heather because PFS came up with that storyline to facilitate Jeff’s departure and wrap up the Stephen Lars story. She tried to get Mary to return for the wrap up and she declined. RM was supposed to be a temp. Instead, Robin was a hit with Monty and the audience. They altered Diana’s murder storyline and that was that. I have never seen an official account that Heather was the original killer. But I have read that it was altered. It just makes sense that it was Heather originally. IIRC Monty apparently disliked the practice of recasts, especially for featured players. So she didn’t use them at all after Heather.

Could not disagree more. I think the faster opening theme gives the show more energy right from the start. That season 14 opening was one of the things that hooked me in the 90’s when I watched for the first time. I saw the last season before anything else back then. It is very sad to see his final episodes.

Sisters was a Lorimar/Warner Brothers show. Makes sense to me that it would air on this channel. Hopefully others eventually will too.

In my post I also said her choice is fine to not show vulnerability. It’s the show that has chosen to show almost every beat of the story from Kristina’s angle. The writing until now hasn’t featured much of Molly and TJ, except to create conflict for Kristina. The show is demonstrating they want us to feel something for and about Kristina that Mansi is not bringing out. She projected plenty of it when she watched Sonny beat Dex down. Even though the history of Kristina knowing who her father is has been presented for years, I bought that because of Mansi. I compare her to those others because often the talent, especially now, has to bring something to the stage that the scripts and story do not have. Her work around the baby storyline has really been one note.