titan1978

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.

I keep harping on it too! She has been missed as a lead, and has been a real MVP during this tumultuous year. I hate that wallpaper. Nothing looks as cavernous to me as the nurses station. When JFP had that new set built the walls were closer in. It wasn’t even this bad during the height of COVID. I know it’s to make the lighting setups easier, but it looks like the hallways are huge and the nurses station feels like a mile away from the elevators. But I hated when they got rid of the hub design, which was also done way back in 1997 to make it easier to light and film. But what they lost was the effect they used to have of people walking around the hub from the hallways, it helped make things less static.

I don’t think they could pull that off. Laura’s dress was torn, and she was near catatonic. I recently saw the scenes where Jessie talks to her when she arrives at the hospital, and the scenes when Luke brings her flowers in her hospital room (like the next day!) and basically lets him know she isn’t going to admit it was him. They will never be able to escape the fact that they told the story the way they did. Equally crazy is the audience at the time largely wanted them together after the rape, would yell rape me to Tony Geary at public events, and gave the show its largest audience following their story to the wedding. All of our modern commentary completely glosses over the majority of the audience supported this from 1979-1981 and beyond. At least we saw both of them tortured by what happened. I watched DAYS during the supercouple era and what they did with Jack was just as horrendous, as well as turning Lawrence into a romantic character with Carly, amongst other stories. EJ/Sami wasn’t even that long ago all things considered!

I remember it pissing people off about a decade ago when NLG said out right that Alexis has never been a real character. She is whatever the writers want. She compared it to Julia on SB, who she said was a fully formed character and was easier to navigate because she was so well defined. Thank you. Thank you Thank you

Yeah, especially when you can look at her unraveling during his sister’s death and see the writing could be helping her. Instead it’s generic and she is doing all the work. I also have to say though, as someone that recently lost my mother, I am barely able to watch. And I am kind of relieved it is not stronger writing or I would have to tune out completely. know it was different times and Lucky was a teen, but compare this to Genie, Tony, and Becky’s truly raw grief during the fire storyline. I could not sit though that right now. But I do miss when the show is less superficial and generic. Or everyone’s sadness about BJ. They even gave Sonny and Carly stronger material with Morgan. But this is the show now and for the foreseeable future I think.

I get it. It will take me a couple of years to think Michael Easton is gone for good too.

Donna, your question said her fans and their behavior. Not some of her fans. You didn’t quantify it. So I responded to what you said. You were taking a minority and making it out to sound like her fans don’t deserve any sympathy.