titan1978

They missed such a great opportunity to have an intact Quartermaine family for Michael to have his teenage rebellion and run to them instead of Sonny/Carly/Jason. Even better if they had done it after his prison stint when Carly and Jason were admitting their decision to put him in Sonny/Jason’s world had cost everyone dearly. Imagine if we got to see him bonding with Alan and how upset that would make Sonny at that time.

It was very strange. Not to mention this is all in such a short amount of time, a little over a year. It’s wild how messy the show was onscreen and off from end of summer 1996 to December 1997 (Guza officially credited again). The rough writing contributed to Maurice leaving, Vanessa almost leaving, and Genie refusing to return to the show (she was really happy at home with her two children, why leave that for the aggravation happening at the show). NLG was hired without an actual part to play, so Alexis wasn’t a well crafted character and they made it work on the fly. She has said that poor foundation is why she felt like they just did whatever with her for years. Nobody was happy, even Guza was upset with the timing and he was leaving for a show he was going to have a created by credit on. Because the show was on fire and they had barely started.

The affair was, and how the affair began at first was going to repeat when the affair stopped and he became more of a stalker, the gifts were going to become creepy. I don’t know beyond that what was going to happen/what Culliton changed. But the affair and a certain unhinged behavior by Dorman was all Guza/Harris. I tend to believe the trial for sexual harassment was Guza because he loved trials. All his tenures involved major court cases. Tin Man stuff was way after Guza’s projections, although I can’t remember if it was Culliton or the next writers that also started the Aztec doll nonsense. Apologies for dropping all this in this thread but that’s where the discussion about SN was happening!

Guza left in 1996, and he had a very detailed six month bible that the writers had developed that was used, including Miranda and her backstory. Culliton was credited as HW while they were using that bible. The network made them use Tracy before she took over as lead on The City, so Culliton and the team reworked that storyline/came up with most of it to justify her short stint. Stefan/Bobbie was supposed to last way longer. Things start to get iffy around the Laura faking her death storyline to cover Tony and Genie taking some time off, as well as was Lesley part of that plan? I tend to think she was, because Culliton barely used her. When they came back in 1997, it was pretty much Culliton from that point on until he was fired. He came up with Carly/AJ conceiving Michael. Guza came back and was in the building but not credited for about 5 weeks before his relaunch week. That’s when Luke tells Alexis her backstory (which was ported from Miranda), the two Mac’s and Guza loved the Carly story, but wanted it moved from Tony to Jason to create renewed conflict with the Quartermaines and Jason. And I believe Shelly Curtis had more to do with the idea of pairing up MBE and SN again due to her history with them and that they had made magic before. Riche had no background there. They had to stall Stefan/Laura because Genie was going to return from her vacation and work for a couple of months before her second maternity leave which she kept extending somewhat because she didn’t want to return to crappy writing.

I wondered about that fear too, until I saw the 1983 story play out. She was terrified of Stavros, and now that I have gotten to see so much of 1979-her return, she was very different when the character came back from the Cassadines. Also Genie has said she played Laura as if she had a mental off switch. She deals with trauma by disassociating, which can explain how she dealt with Luke raping her as well as all the other things that happened to her. So it made sense to me. However, I felt back then and now that they kept Luke and Laura apart too long, that Stefan outlived his usefulness, and Laura especially should have been allowed to kill Helena permanently by 2000 at the latest. Lucky’s return storyline should have ended the Cassadines. Nikolas and Alexis could easily have stayed without the baggage of the rest of the family.

JMB does still act, and has apparently declined a return at least once. The realities of Hollywood right now are that there will be less jobs for at least the next two years, if not longer due to the streamer bubble implosion. Pilot seasons no longer exist like they once did. By the fall we may have actors available that would return to soaps or talented people that haven’t been on a soap before. If I can’t have JMB, I am going to keep manifesting for Marci Miller.

What a strange list of acting nominees.

I haven’t been this happy about a firing since Frons fired Guza, then Frons was fired, then ABC canned JFP all in a pretty quick succession. I hope his good buddy Josh is out soon, but who do they replace him with?

I would recast Cameron before Spencer. With Liz you have an active parent on the show who can be in her own stories and her kids. I harp enough here about the need to bring back Lulu, Lucky, or both. I am also perfectly fine with Liz taking a tumble with Cody. Bring back the Spencer side of Laura’s family, not the Cassadines.

Agreed! Really strong work @janea4old!

Yeah that’s Frank, it’s been his style on this show since nearly the beginning when the show was on the chopping block still. He cut his teeth on GH with Ron telling heavy recurring character stories, and kept it up after RC left. That’s how they told the 50th, it’s just way too much now.

The scripts are not stellar yet, but there is so much more detail and care in the words people are saying that it makes it easy to watch even mundane scenes. The way Brook Lynn and Chase discussed money and their upcoming new life was refreshing for a couple that was kept apart for one stupid misunderstanding after another. Laura and Anna had an adult conversation about why they have a fondness for Sonny and also why that doesn’t matter with him being a violent criminal. Cyrus and Laura also had an adult conversation that was watchable, something I rarely feel about Cyrus. All this poor old victim Cyrus is getting ridiculous though. Yes he went to jail, but he was also a murdering criminal.

I don’t really see Maurice leaving as much as he bitches about it. Anyone that listens to his YouTube show knows he doesn’t do well with his mental health and not working somewhere he is well respected. And the drama with Vanessa is the will she won’t she. She isn’t on my radar for co-worker complaints. She’s a lot like Rena in that she demands Brenda has a certain look in order to help her play the character. I know she was promised one thing and the show tried to do something else with her last return (I will forever thank her for not letting them create a romantic backstory where she slept with Dante). Riche still socializes with her, as does MVJ. She and Guza got along. Her co-stars like her. I think the issue is the tried and true show wants all the eggs in their basket, and she wants a level of control or freedom or both that they have no problem giving to MB and TG in his day. But they balk at listening to a woman. RC was never going to be a good fit writing Brenda. Of all the Valentini writing teams, the current one has the best shot.

It really cost ABC nothing to give Tony and Genie favored nations contracts- which means what one gets the other gets. They should have the same money and as proved to be the sticking point when she quit in 2002- equal time off. I know she came and went more, but some of that was because of crappy treatment next to Tony. They had almost equal pay in the 90’s through her quitting, and all both of them negotiated for was more time off repeatedly/favorable schedules. They also both had clauses that they could quit every 13 weeks without penalty too with enough notice. I bet nobody has that anymore. And they got a payout if the network got rid of them before their whole contract. But that was back in the days before the budgets got involved in contract negotiations.

So did the inserts include Laura/Jordan and the scenes with TJ? Because his scenes with Hat Dad also felt very tacked on to me, which makes me wonder if they are acutely aware of their lack of using the Black cast and all of a sudden decided to drop some scenes in? We had all that conversation and then no follow through with Molly and TJ themselves. They didn’t drop any plot movement stuff that I could see unless it is Cyrus vs Sonny, which does not make sense because Finola teased those scenes with Laura a few weeks ago so we knew that was coming. Unless the idea of Cyrus pressing charges is new and they dropped that in with Jordan to help set it up?

What is up with these spoilers? Laura and Anna come to a mutual realization. Trina questions Josslyn and Dex about their relationship. Alexis and Finn support each other. Brook Lynn and Chase have an honest discussion about money. Elizabeth opens up to Gregory. I just watched Tuesday 4/16 on Hulu and the only thing in the daily spoiler I have seen that was actually used was the Trina, Joss, Dex stuff. No Anna and Laura, instead it was Jordan and Laura. No Gregory and Liz- Gregory and TJ. No Alexis and Finn at all, or Brook Lynn and Chase.

Reading through comments and actually watching the show, and one major issue that I hope is finally addressed is the focal point. This show is dominated by performers not on contract. I know this is a hallmark of the Valentini era, but it has to change. Blaze has a story about her. Kristin is in stories that she is not the focus of- I can’t remember if this Molly is recurring or not. That also includes TJ, who is on even less than Kristina. Laura is stuck trying to keep Heather on the show with her recurring husband Kevin. Don't get me wrong- I think there is room for the recurring players. I don’t want Lucy to disappear again. But it’s way over the line with them we look at the focus of the show.

Didn’t they kiss during the PC Hotel fire sweeps stunt? They thought they were dying and decided to be honest about their feelings. And it was promptly moved away from.

Me too! But a year of terrible stories and the last two days in overalls have left me beyond numb to poor Sasha. Time to cut that character. Let her get an amazing job offer from Home and Heart that takes her out of Port Charles and we wish her the best!

There is no doubt in my mind that the new writers did not have to submit a story bible beyond fix the Jason return. My feelings from the start were that May/ Summer was going to be a better indication of new story directions. March was the Jason umbrella and setting that story up on its feet, while exploring the rest of the canvas. I think some of the starts and stops have been that way under Valentini anyway, dictated by how he manages the budget. I can imagine Korte being asked what she would do with the story as the Jason expert, and using that opportunity to pitch a return to the GH that she loved. I still hope we get an interview from EK/PM at some point to hype their vision. The network was clearly game for a change- look at the exits of Howarth, the rumored exit of another, Burton’s return, luring Patrick Mulcahey out of retirement. Sometime during the strike somebody at ABC started paying real attention to the show again above Frank. Be that Varni or someone else. All of a sudden we had that ABC special that they rushed into production too. I have no doubt Frank Valentini is still very much the EP here. But his show is starting to look and feel like GH did before his time, including stronger day to day writing and way less focus on his friends from OLTL.

IIRC Blaze agreed to be the Face while also opting out of stuff like personal appearances. The Momager made a big deal about it. I knew when it happened that Sasha was going to be back hawking Deception on that show. I wish Lucy had a real friend or confidant on the show that is not Scotty. Maybe rekindle her friendship with Felicia? Because I would like a scene where Lucy admits her bulldozing has more to do with her inability to deal with her life outside work, and her overbearing nature with Deception is because that’s all she has as a legacy. She is desperate for the name Lucy Coe to have some kind of meaning. They could even tie it in to her reaction to Bobbie’s death, and how much an entire community grieved for Bobbie and how little Lucy feels her absence would even be noticed. Speaking of which, where is Felicia? For the faults of Chris and Dan and Frank V, I hope the new regime recognizes the show was saved by weaving those legacy and fan favorites back onto the canvas. I don’t want a Frons level show again where we only see Carly getting story and a rotating cast of youngsters. Give me a real story for Liz, for Laura, and Anna. Not just rotating them into other people’s stories. When PM was on Guiding Light, it was an ensemble and nearly everyone had something to do. Portia could also use something deeper than Trina’s mom. And just like several other times on this stupid show, where is Trina and why won’t they use her as a lead?

I enjoyed the Davis girls, and Lexi as Kristina. But I have to give credit to Kate Mansi, she’s great on this show. I don’t see Abby at all. She has matured Kristina, and I can see her as a viable lead in her own stories. Nina, Drew, and Kristina have all been reinvigorated, and that’s just in day to day writing. I know Korte loves Carly, PM too. But this Carly is 100% what she became when Mulcahey was no longer on the show. She can be a lead character without sacrificing everyone else or allowing her to slip too far back into Guza Carly. I hope this is an over correction since the Jason thing is their first big story, and we get some nuance back into Carly and she isn’t on all the time.

It was a cumulative effect that gets lumped under the trial IMO. The rise of talk TV that leaned into more sensationalistic material, filling an appetite that COURT TV and the constant coverage had created. Plus you could miss a talk show and go right back the next day. The habit of soap watching was broken, and soaps thrive on habit. Once that more casual audience stops watching it’s hard to win them back. Network execs not adjusting to how more options during the day for people to watch thanks to an explosion of cable had changed their industry. Instead they kept trying to recapture numbers like the early 90’s and 80’s, and the audience was fundamentally different now. So they decided they should have more input, more story control, and more stunts. Also in the late 90’s we started to see no more investment in training a new crop of show runners and writers in daytime, and women were no longer running shows like they had been forever. Shows like Y&R and DAYS were still thriving because they were stabile- you saw the same characters and the stories moved incredibly slow. Even the older characters were still in major play. As wild as DAYS was, all those Reilly stories were about romances. Y&R seemed to capitalize on the fact that there were many Black people watching daytime and nobody was telling real stories with those characters. In the 90’s, to me, Drucilla, Neil, Malcolm and Olivia were just as important as Nina, Cricket, Paul, Sharon, etc. And finally, a bunch of EP’s formed a committee because they didn’t like how their shows were marketed at awards shows, like it was all sex and no depth. This was also the height of AIDS. So some of them almost became neutered. Wendy Riche was one of the ringleaders of wanting that image to change of soaps being too sexy.

This is a woman that had a full on cat fight in the lobby of the MC with the recast Kate, IIRC. The one where Kate launched herself at Carly!

There were some rough patches that are hard to forget for me- Luke/Felicia, the complete waste of Faison’s return, Lucky and Nikolas recasts I could not stand, Laura becomes sidelined, Carly and Sonny (I never cared for the pairing). Then JFP gets there and tries to destroy Bobbie to prop Jensen Buchanan, Rick is a bigger creep than ever before, Courtney… Brenda coming back reset the show creatively and it was must watch during that entire run. Then Robin came back and they built up the hospital again, and I loved those characters. From there I was still watching daily until the text message killer story, even if I felt it was too dark and misogynistic. I will always give that team credit for sweeps stunts that were very watchable! Wasn’t he referring to his first weeks on the show? When he had a breakdown, and Wendy and Shelley held his job and Curtis walked through the script line by line with him on his first days back. I didn’t know that continued.