titan1978

I recall that making the rounds back then too. They had taken that one scene of Laura and Lucky visiting the attic with Robin in the early 90’s and tried to build a story out of it. I think her leaving changed a lot of what was planned. Was it Rick’s affair or Scotty, and was it Bobbie or did she think it was Bobbie? I hated what it was, but I have no doubt that both Genie and Denise would have done excellent work if the story had been that Rick molested her. Like a lot of what Guza did when he returned under JFP. I may not have liked it, but I bet it would have been scripted and acted well. I hope they continue to give Liz scenes with their sons. It’s always compelling and really suits her.

I would really like a candid interview with Bob Guza about his time at GH. Every era, from scripts with PFS and Monty to every run as HW. And someone asking the real questions. Starting with- What was your working relationship with Riche like? Who made the demand to kill off Alan? According to Michele Val Jean it wasn’t Guza. Was there really supposed to be more between Dante and Brenda than shown that Vanessa nixed? What was the original plan for Laura when Guza/Pratt took over that was allegedly changed when Genie quit. Also why didn’t Laura return in any lasting way? How much did Guza hate Courtney? As much as the fans or no?

From what I have seen, and most of it is closer to the end of her time on the show, her Heather was the center of the schemes but somehow convinced herself that these were things happening to her, not ones she created herself. It is an interesting take, it reminds me a bit of what Sami was like in her first couple of years under Reilly at DAYS. It really comes out a lot when she has scenes with Alice. Mattson’s Heather, even early on with her sanitarium friend, is much more calculating and self aware. That only grows after Jeff divorces her and takes Steven Lars. All this Heather/Alice talk reminds me how much I love Susan Moore too. I understand why they killed her, but I also wish she had been able to pop in over the years and make Alan and Monica miserable and complicate things with Jason. Does anyone that watched back then know when exactly Scotty leaves the show for the first time? I don’t have a clear idea for what happens with Scotty after he punched Luke off the boat and sent L&L on the run. I have seen most of that era online, but I’m having a hard time remembering his exit, or how long he stayed after the punch before leaving.

She was not. There is that anecdote from Tony Geary about Monty bringing her to actual tears for a scene by being abusive to her. And I found an interview online where Mary disagreed with how Monty wanted her to play things, and they did not get along from then on. They did try to get her back for Diana Taylor’s murder and Jeff’s exit, to wrap the story up. She declined. This has added to my opinion that Heather was supposed to be the killer all along, and they changed it because Monty like Mattson.

That sounds amazing! Thanks for everything you have done so far posted here. Those of us not old enough to experience the show back then are grateful for the new insights your research has given us!

IIRC that was when I noticed what an ass Greg Vaughn had. He was always hot, but the blocking of that scene really drew attention to it. I also forgot about this! When she was actually let go, I thought she was probably expensive and JFP/ABC needed to cut the budget ASAP. Vanessa had been expensive, JJ wasn’t cheap, and the show blew those returns and didn’t get the ratings they thought were going to come. Same with all their wasted time with James Franco.

They really put Becky through it. And I have never understood why. By all accounts, especially back then, she was professional not one of the problem children on set. Didn’t complain about her scripts or ridiculous pairings either. And she was legit a fan favorite. I mean her fans saved her job!

I vividly remember Rachel Ames describing them as the couple that should have been together, and never was during that great 35th anniversary special. I recall reading on this site an interview with Jackie Smith from way back where they credit another writer I had never heard of with creating the Quartermaines (at least Alan), and helping the stories during the Monty/Marland. I think there must have been a lot of creative input happening by the incoming team before they were credited. Which is something I have seen on GH since. The transition between Labine/Guza and Guza’s late 1997 return were all preceded by him not being credited but by the show being set up how he wanted it as HW. Possibly also when Monty came back, there are a couple of weeks of shows that are way more her style before her relaunch than the prior regime. And we saw it this year with Korte/Marland.

His actual enthusiasm for the job shows in his scenes. He’s got a lot of personality that I have to imagine is coming from him, not just the scripts. If Bob Guza was HW that kid would be a goner from Finn’s addiction.

I may laugh every time I see that dedicated bench for Gregory. Especially when you think how little time has been spent grieving Spencer by anyone, let alone Trina. Austin was murdered and nobody talks about it at all. Someone attempted to kill Sonny and the feds and Anna are all over it. I liked Alley Mills as Heather until now. Before the Hook stuff happened she reminded me more of Mary O’Brien’s version than Robin. Sort of a panicked schemer compared to Mattson’s cooler head, but I could see her as Heather. But if Robin Mattson isn’t going to be playing her then what are we doing? Frank needs to learn that good things can end, and it’s not always a bad thing. Get the man some therapy!

One of my complaints is that the newer generation of Q’s have no doctors after Emily was killed off. The Quartermaines were central to both their own story orbit and the hospital. For better or worse they have been the core family with the most representation as far as members onscreen since Labine. Now it’s like they are actively moving every character away from the hospital (Willow and Joss are not great characters, but at least they were connected to the actual hospital). Even the recurring doctors are not seen often, just randos that nod and smile and have no lines so they don’t have to pay them as much.

I did enjoy Britt during her more recent run. She and Jason actually had a spark. In her first run she was just catty to have someone to be nasty to everyone. It’s just another example of one of these actors not really knowing what is best for their character. Like Tony rewriting Luke and claiming he was always how he wanted him to be. I will die on the hill that Luke before Nikolas was revealed would never have cheated on Laura. It doesn’t matter that we didn’t see him for almost a decade, he would never do that to her.

And my response to this would be why not? He has played Jason as close to the way he wants since he quit and came back in 2001-2002. When you watch Jason up to Robin leaving in his first run, he has way more emotions on display. I think a great place to explore Jason now would be him rediscovering his connections with people. He can still be Stone Cold, but I think he should also be more emotionally open with his kids, Liz, Sam and Carly. The pool was a great scene. That’s a Jason I could be interested in again, one who is trying new things.

And they were raised together yet one of them sounds like Foghorn Leghorn! I still think there was gold in Willow faking her illness. What a treat those posts were!

He apparently adored him, including giving him advice about never coming back to daytime because of how that grind is on talented actors like himself. One of the reasons I disliked him was because Maurice liked him so much. He is so patronizing about his great talent and how he teaches those that will listen to him telling them how wrong their choices are. From all accounts, as egotistical and difficult as Tony Geary could be, he didn’t pull crap like that on his peers. Neither did Susan Flannery, Erika Slezak, or David Canary. I think Homa deserves way more credit for Michael Sutton, KMc, and Vanessa improving so dramatically that year on the show than Mo does. One of the things I liked about NC as Spencer was he apparently did not bend the knee. He basically told him he has his own process when MB tried to give him the talk he always gives the newer performers, which did not go over well.

I am glad he is not returning. However, if you wanted to get ABC’s attention, there are worse ways to create engagement and try to show them they should bring you back.

He has always been a pain online. Good way to get your old boss to see engagement for you though if he wants to return.

He wasn’t keeping them from telling it, the previous HW’s were fired because of their Jason story that involved Morgan. Mulcahey was hired after they passed on that idea for Jason’s return.

So part of what Dan and Chris pitched for Jason’s return involved back from the dead Morgan. And that was so awful they lured Mulcahey out of retirement, nixed Morgan, and fired them. And now he is a possibility again with Mulcahey gone. What a shitshow.

The comedy of this show! They already have a trashy gossip columnist, Nina forced him on Alexis and that’s one of the reasons she started looking into practicing law again. Your show already has a built in version of this with conflict already built in! Instead it feels like Frons came back from network death and told Valentini he needed a celebrity quickie to generate interest. And Frank said I GOT IT! Could this be anymore ABC of the 2000’s/Frank? Jesus.

This conversation with Lois and Brook Lynn would have so much more weight for me if she mentioned AJ and Ned. That Ned lying about Jason’s accident because of AJ. being drunk was something that led to the end of their marriage. That Ned not trusting her and being more worried about the image of the family instead of the consequences chipped away at the foundation of their relationship. Encouraging them to do the right thing and not lose each other in the process would have been a nice use of history. Instead we got generic Cerullo family members. I have missed Liz and her boys sharing scenes so I am glad they are showing her side of the Finn situation. Finn is a few weeks away from thanking absolutely nobody but himself for Doctor of the Year. I know ME thinks he is serving intense, but it is giving La Lucci’s high camp a run for its money.

I do not remember this at all! What was he attacking her for? What a dreadful casting announcement.

I thought I was the only one that felt this way? I have never liked him on any soap. Maybe I tolerated him as Caleb, but they promised me 12 week arcs and I thought he would be gone!

What was left of the Guza team that was supporting Garin Wolf/Shelly Altman was replaced by supporting writers from OLTL or people that worked on OLTL (with the exception of a couple of newbies) when Frank and Ron arrived/within the first year. Some of them had been in positions for a decade or longer. The day to day writing on GH was much stronger than OLTL. Korte was the only member of note to remain. Dan and Chris also came from OLTL, as did Passanante. If you look at Ron’s first six months, it was a hybrid of his ideas with better written scripts and the camp toned way down. My statement stands- the show hasn’t been winning any writing awards (until now) since that team left because the scripts are bland as hell and lacked any character that the actors didn’t bring to the set themselves. Well one period of time was when they fired Genie during the first run for mayor storyline. I can’t remember everything that was going on, but I remember the show was pretty good all around, she was front and center against Ned, and then it just all blew up (her being asked to take recurring in the middle of a lead storyline made zero sense from a writing perspective, that had quick budget cut written all over it). I really did like Livvie, shame they didn’t just ignore the vampire stuff and bring her to GH. The show could have used Nolan North’s character too at that point. He would have made a great antagonist for Robin and Patrick down the road. The multiple derailments of any story for Trina.

@ErrolThat was a good interview that touched on what could be sensitive topics, you handled it deftly by keeping a fun tone! I have said many times over the years that I think Chris and Dan had decent ideas, and if FV and Ron hadn’t jettisoned 95% of the prior writing team, those would have made good stories for these times. At least twice I thought their show was actually good, and both times nearly all the stories that were working were either dropped or pivoted. And in both instances all of a sudden Michael Easton and Roger Howarth took center stage again, which was one of the signs that Frank had intervened in my eyes. Were they great? No. But again, what could have been with stronger supporting writing we just won’t know. That was the best Sam!