titan1978

It was wild!

He had a lot of layers too. You had the danger stuff with Frank Smith and the issues with being Sonny’s partner. His fatherhood issues with Lucky and Laura. His relationship with Laura as she was happy to be back home and he was more inclined to keep running. They also still had a believable romantic connection. He and Bobbie had a very specific dynamic. There was a lot of fertile ground and it didn’t feel like his maligned opinions at the end of his tenure. I loved Luke during Labine’s run. Truthfully, I still thought he was a wonderful character until the Felicia affair. Which tracks, because I need Laura to help make Luke palatable, and that was a point on the show where Genie felt they had stopped writing for her. She was just miserable for like two years as she grieved Lucky and the end of her marriage. I enjoyed him a bit more again when Lulu arrived as a teen, and he was pulled away from being selfish all the time. But it got worse from there. That’s the willingness part. What should be a collaboration sometimes becomes outsized on either end- a character way out of character to support a plot, or an actor refusing things or actively sabotaging the intent of the show (Burton with SJB’s Carly towards the end of his first run, KM clearly tanking her Jason reunion to stay with Billy Miller, whatever the hell happened with Liason/JaSam in the mid 2000’s, etc). I remember reading an interview with Zenk about how much she hated Bitch Barbara on ATWT, didn’t agree with what Marland was doing, and fought against it. And then after the fact realizing that probably saved her in the long run because the show could see her as more than just a victim. Sometimes they should just act!

I usually agree. However some of the best plots on GH came from a willingness to listen to the actors about their characters. LC brought the idea of Monica’s breast cancer to Riche, and they ran with it. Genie in some of her first conversations with Wendy Riche brought up those two years that Laura was gone was fertile ground, and long enough for her to have a child and fully recovered. Guza ran with that one. Tony created the overall ideas for the L&L return, and Lannie fleshed it out with the writing team. Well there was some conflict with it, because Claire Labine said Wendy would send her to talk to Geary about stuff they knew he would not like in her We Love Soaps interview. So he’s not fully creating that narrative later. She acknowledged that she just wasn’t capable of writing that 80’s action stuff he wanted to do all the time, and that Luke as a family man and what that means interested her. She did say he was always gracious about it with her.

I can appreciate the protectiveness and ownership Tony Geary felt for Luke. The problem was he became so absolutist about things being a certain way that the audience saw him play differently. And that he himself spoke differently about before he got burned out. I can get behind TG not wanting to play the same Luke and Laura dynamics. But to have that be so ingrained that they can’t even have Genie on the show was ridiculous. And I know that was JFP too, not just Tony.

I really enjoyed the scenes between Jake and Jason, and the later one with Liz and Jake. As far as acting goes, what I saw with Jake was the performer making actual choices instead of just reciting the dialogue. I see promise in several of these young kids. I hope the show strikes the correct balance with Anna and Sonny. Because we know they are not going to get rid of MB. But this is Anna Devane, not Mac. And Anna was nobody’s fool. It was an incredibly convoluted retcon.

The abrupt ending of the Aztec doll storyline, the beginning of the 2 Macs, and somewhere around those few weeks is also when Alexis gets her family history lesson from Luke, and Brenda begins her early signs of depression/instability. This was when Guza was on his way back and the show didn’t officially credit him until his “relaunch” week. But he was back in the building, and the writing was moving towards setting up his plans. The exact same thing happened during his first tenure- he overlapped with Labine and was not credited as HW even though he was there setting his plans in motion with the other writers. I have been watching a Jason Morgan year 1 playlist, and there are so many details I forgot due to how Jason was by his total story domination in the 2000’s It’s easy to forget the family controlling him was not the only reason he leaves the Q’s. It’s also because of the pain everyone is going through, including him, not getting past the old Jason. He has this conversation with Robin and AJ several times. Jason Morgan is impulsive and at times insensitive due to his injuries. He also has a lot of joy in his new life, that is totally gone once he settles into Stone Cold after returning to the show in the 2000’s. I also forgot how long his no strings sexual relationship lasted with Carly and how that impacted on Carly fully going after Tony because she wanted someone to care about her and look at her like Jason looked at Robin. Ned trying to one up Edward with Jason’s stock, and Jason selling them to Sonny to protect him legally with a shell company was even more entertaining on rewatch than it was when I saw it the first time. And all that is before Tracy walks in the door. The show never should had destroyed the Q family.

I like the idea of Emma not being little miss perfect when/if she ever returns. She doesn’t have to be a full on villain. Monica and Alan were excellent doctors, mostly good people who both also had a dastardly side, especially when it came to each other in their younger days. There are many ways to have a character that is not sugary sweet, and it could be fun to watch.

Dante actually looked handsome in that bed after waking up! And the last couple of days have convinced me that he and Sam are a real couple. That’s what happens when you give them some emotion to work with, instead of just saying they are a couple and moving on. They also made Stella’s work at GH feel real, instead of her just carrying a folder around. I know it’s not perfect, and may never get there or even close. But characters that have been treated as space fillers or just there have been made more detailed and real in the last month than in years. Dante laying in bed has been given more depth thanks to building up his family and playing his connections than he has had the entire time FV has been at the show. I could take or leave many of the cast, I have felt that way for years. This week, the show made me care about Olivia again. I see the renewed purpose for Stella. Valentin even interests me! I haven’t felt this much for Sam since the mid 2000’s. Burton is filling Jason with a lot of emotion, and it is making me invested in his story. Improved writing meeting more invested performers is doing wonders for a show filled with people a few months ago I didn’t even waste time watching. And I will give Frank the credit that everyone seems to have stepped up their game to meet the more detailed and depth filled writing, and he has to have set that tone or it would not have worked.

Carlivati had no clue how to write for Lulu, and I get why JMB had enough. Her character had more going on than just a baby factory. But all of a sudden she and Maxie are reduced to traumatic children stories without any emotional depth.

The meds are the extra kick. Sonny was this isolated during the (vomit) Emily affair, but she was trustworthy. Ava is not, which makes his situation more precarious every day his meds are off and she is his only confidant.

This is a soap had had a current character, Anna Devane, have a whole ass story with Casey the Alien from Lumina. I have long ago suspended belief with GH if I am being entertained. Guza shifted Jason to the center towards the end of his last tenure, and now we are veering closer to that again. It was really noticeable once Dante arrived. Sonny’s stories quickly became about his kids more than him directly. As far as Sonny goes, I think this is one of the most organic manipulations he has had in years. His isolation started with his missing year in Nixon Falls, his relationship with Nina which cut the cord with Carly and Michael. Jason dies, Then Michael went after him through Dex. Nina and FCC. He was already isolated and ripe for manipulation. Then Ava and possibly Avery are in danger, and he lets an actual viper into his orbit, and she’s the only one there. One betrayal after another, his meds are off, and someone that knows his security is taking shots at him. Then Jason arrived and Dante is shot. His last safe person. I see one long line of events leading to this moment.

Austin recognized his shooter didn’t he? Now I do think it might have been Ava or Valentin.

I haven’t found them all horrible either because for the most part they are not actively in their own stories yet. It seems like everything IRL is rough for a lot of people right now, myself included. Take care and I will personally wish harder for Vanessa to return.

Imagine if we got a very Helena type moment with someone hypnotizing her in a dark room with those Cassadine Tarot cards (another dropped story thread), and they pull back to reveal Valentin holding them up to her blank face, “Protect your King”.

I was in and out through that whole story. I believe Pikeman had something to do with Anna’s house burning down and her WSB story from the scabs. The public reveal of her time as a double agent, her search for evidence against Brennan, etc. which all played a part in her shooting Charlotte. What I am curious about is if Valentin was Pikeman from the beginning, or if he took over after Brennan went to jail? My wish would be all along, and we get to see some dastardly stuff from now on.

After his first couple of months I knew he was probably going to be a one contract and out person. He has the charisma/talent on daytime, which is a factory production at this point and very hard on newer folks. His size makes him good for mid 20’s roles and his face was still youthful enough for him to play younger. I could easily see him in a Marvel movie. The only thing that would make me believe he might have come back was the tone of Hollywood right now- less projects being made across the board means way less roles going around. Plus his Ryan Murphy series won’t be airing until the fall at the earliest. Which is a long time if he doesn’t book anything else big due to lack of projects.

This reminds me so much of Guza’s first official week back during his second EP run. Calm down, no show has that overall quality today. But they started that week with Nikolas being shot in front of Luke’s, and then we had Carly leaving Tony with the brilliant twist claiming Jason was Michael’s father. I can still see the way Sarah Brown played that scene in my mind. The twists that have happened in the last 7 days have been one good story turn after another! Wasn’t Pikeman behind Anna’s difficulties this summer too? If that was Valentin I cannot wait for the fallout, because she also has a personal stake in this now. Ava and Valentin conspiring together is a fantastic twist. I hope Laura gets to slap Valentin again before this is all over.

I would argue that is far more how Carly behaves than anything I have seen in the last couple of years. The exception being Nina and the FCC- Carly blaming someone for a consequence she deserved is 100% on brand. Carly as kitchen mom and friend to the town was a quiet phase she was trying out. Carly being blindly loyal to Jason no matter what is back in action. If anything, I found her more loyal to Jason even during the Guza years than Sonny, so this tracks for me. Or the script writer added it as they were writing the actual script. Although, we know how Korte feels about Carly (which I assume extends to her spawn), and she was there through all the terrible writing Trina has gotten and the propping of Joss, so I would not be surprised if her fingers were all over that convo. It could also have changed during filming by the directors and actors. That one line of dialogue doesn’t change how terrible/classic Valentini the pacing was in that episode, and that is one of the things the breakdown is traditionally supposed to establish. It is awful that there is not more diversity in the writing at GH, losing someone who was clearly invested in the young Black lead is not great. As many of us have commented though- she had limited overall input because Trina has been dragged through terrible/non existent writing her whole tenure.

Burton hasn’t consistently allowed this much emotion in Jason since his Robin and baby Michael days. If he’s going to be here, at least he is trying again. Maybe MB needs a couple years off to truly appreciate the job he has. This is very refreshing to watch people question Sonny and Jason and not have the whole town serve the usual excuses- Jason must have had a reason! Especially Sam, those were great scenes. This episode was more choppy and similar to what the show was like before the new writing regime. The script was more in line, but the scenes were chopped up. This is the first episode that the old style was so prevalent. Possibly due to the breakdown to scripting process, which might explain why they felt they needed a change. Still bad optics. Breakdowns do strongly dictate pacing though! I think I am going to dislike Danny, he has the air of old school Sonny/Jason worship about him, and that’s not what I want to see in 2024.

IIRC when he came back from the show’s COVID hiatus, he stopped coloring/highlighting his hair.

Room doesn’t always mean physically. They used to do conference calls for writer’s meetings, now I assume they are on zoom several time a week.

The show could have helped by giving him more of a salt and pepper effect than blond and gray. And a haircut.

We have no idea why she was fired. For all the talk about PM coming in, Korte has worked with these writers for years. She may have strong opinions on who they should keep. I think the idea of refreshing the team with people not trained under FV’s style is a good idea, because they have done only plot driven stuff for years. Breakdown writers traditionally had a large role in shaping the day to day show, and that has been an issue on GH for a long time. I hope any hiring they do focuses on mentoring talent and diversity. As Peace said, she brought that perspective and maybe didn’t get enough of a chance to do it more. They may still bring in other writers that have worked with PM, but I still hope they work on diversity too. Sonny’s conversation with Michael was great. I recognize this Sonny. I wonder if people that started watching or came back during the last few years would be shocked by him. This is as close to a 2000’s Guza era Sonny we have seen in almost a decade. The nice part is that people are standing up to him! How different that decade could have been if they really did this back then. Ava is the most out of character which adds to my belief that she is up to something. Anna realizing the shooting doesn’t make sense and getting the truth as we understand it so far from Jason was great. Carly throwing someone out of Kelly’s/Bobbie’s wasn’t as fun as her strutting around The Metro Court, but she is also recognizable again.

I would hope in 2024 giving writers a shot that are new to the genre and diverse would be paramount. These soaps desperately need diversity on both sides of the camera, especially writing! Frank loves kids almost as much as Gloria Monty hated them (or Labine killed them!).

Reading @Vee’s comments, I wanted to add something I noticed on Friday. Since the change, I am enjoying watching characters I had zero use for. And that is just because the scripts are better and the scenes longer and full of character. Nina has come to life in a way that justifies having someone like Watros play her. Willow has all of a sudden become more real, and she and Michael felt more like a married couple than they ever have. Drew sparked in those scenes with both of them. I am very realistic about any soap in 2024 reaching the storytelling glory of the old days. But the show is giving even the duds actual characters, and it helps the watchability. I am excited to see down the road how the show feels, and that’s rare these days. I am really sick of Sonny already though. He’s everywhere and it’s not enjoyable watching him struggle at times to connect with scene partners.