titan1978

As others have said- he really explored the inner person with every major character on his shows. I can only speak for Y&R, and you knew the psychology of those people and why they made the choices they made. When he was on top of his game, Y&R was lushly produced, and filled with fascinating characters all dealing with their various psychological issues. It did gothic well, and was very much like an old Hollywood film at times. I have described his style as cerebral and a bit chilly before on this board. It’s always been my impression, especially with Y&R in the 80’s and 90’s before he retired. The characters had emotions but something about the way the show was put together sometimes gave it a detached air. When I watch what little there is if his DAYS available I don’t feel the same way. But that’s the differences between the Horton family and the characters he drew from on Y&R.

Honestly, that’s even worse. These people know how to run a factory production line and have forgotten all about basic entertainment. I hope they don’t have someone discover the corpse on Thanksgiving!

Brooke had Jamie, but the show needed some teens so she also ended up adopting Laura, sharing a name with her child that was killed IIRC. Erica also had the worst one of all time- the unabortion. Alexis Davis on GH had Kristina and Molly before she remembered she had a long lost daughter that turned out to be Sam. Later retconned into being fathered by Julian Jerome. Which never made any sense to me. Brenda also had a son that she believed had died. And I felt at the time that kid was being shoehorned in because they didn’t want her to age out of having a kid. Luke and Holly also now had Ethan, which gave Holly a child and allowed Tony Geary to reinvent his character’s history in a terrible way. I’m kind of shocked they never went this route with Tracy Quartermaine. She has so many periods of time not on the show to easily fit a baby in. And she was snobby enough to abandon one that didn’t fit her image (conceived during an affair, etc). Days gave us John’s son Paul in the last few years. A son he conceived when we were watching the show.

I know I have seen photos of Alexis in drag as a butler on GH. It was during a period of time I was disgusted with the show and wasn’t watching.

It’s been at least two days in Port Charles since Austin was killed, based on the changing clothes and pacing. Nobody is missing this guy? Not work? Not even a scene of Ava flashing back to their last conversation? The way they are playing this is beyond strange. Zero continuation for 3 full days? It was the cliffhanger! I don’t know what’s worse- seeing Finn all the time or having to hear all the characters talk about him.

It was beyond gross. Add in having to watch Marty basically be in second position of importance behind her son Cole. Puke.

There was still some life left there. And I actually enjoy Paige but I get many fans dislike of her as the central character. I kind of agree with Donna Mills though- at that point there wasn’t much left for her to sink her teeth into, and Abby was becoming dangerously close to just being a scheming vixen for the sake of it. The best part about Knots was that the characters had the depth and meaning. We watched Abby grow and find power. Seeing her scramble against Paige was not worth watching. I think there was a great thread that could have been followed with Abby though. A continued bid for power that ultimately cost her everything. I know Donna wanted to tell a story where Abby loses, and is practically homeless. I think there was a path to telling that story and possibly even having Abby build herself back up without being as nefarious as the first time around. Not completely defanged but going through tremendous growth. Like during the period of time when she had Lotus Point, was more concerned with her children’s well being and was content, even without Gary. She was still ruthless at times. But not the way she was before the twins were taken.

I will never understand the decision to do that with Marty. Beyond tone deaf. I was excited to have her back for a minute. I knew they couldn’t recapture the weight of her original run but it ended up worse than I could imagine.

I don’t watch B&B, but I remember this from the board. How did Oliver also not know this was not his young, virginal girlfriend? As cute as Oliver is, his body type could not have been more different from Ridge.

Damn. I’m 10 episodes behind, went to catch up on Hulu, and they have replaced Howarth with Laura Wright on the title card that plays when you start the show. It’s been Howarth (and has annoyed me) for years. ABC is done with him.

Look at the ratings, and look at what I am sure was a decent contract. If ABC got involved, they made the right decision here, no matter how much Frank loves him. Something needs to change, and this is hopefully the first of a few things (Easton next). It is funny everywhere else I visit with soap commentary online people are always so into Roger Howarth. Not Easton so much though. I do agree that his soap career is based solely on what he did during his first run as Todd. He never hit that high note again, even when he came back to OLTL the first time. Interesting. I preferred Holroyd by a mile.

It never made sense to me back when they did it! Thankful they didn’t go the rumored original route of Rick having molested Laura, but this was almost as bad. She’s so visceral! It’s a shame they made her into such a tragic character by killing off her whole family. Monica had teeth, and the best version of her had an edge. Leslie almost slapped the bun off her head.

Those pop songs often benefited greatly from soap exposure- especially if it was a supercouple theme. From the distasteful success of Rise immediately after Luke raped Laura to the other songs mentioned that were not gross. I used to love those end of show montages of various couples in love or longing for each other. About Monty’s first tenure on GH- even though Bell was the gold standard for a modern version of the traditional Irna style, he had respect for Monty and what she was doing. As late as his joint interview with Claire Labine in the 90’s about structuring a show, he spoke highly of Monty. For me, I think the show worked best at that time during both of PFS’s tenures as HW with Monty. They didn’t get along, but they got the execution right. Strong writer who understood and also accepted the pace and style Monty was going for. I have said this before around here- I think the issue was everyone trying to copy GH. It was already not traditional- the family was the workplace, not like other traditional soaps. Another silly 1980’s trend- the influx of international accents! Robert Scorpio created a craze! All of a sudden every soap had a main character with an accent! Possibly Eric Braeden deserves some credit too! All these small towns had one!

Leslie slapping Monica will always be my favorite. I didn’t even see the full original episode until the last few years. But the 35th GH anniversary special showed it with Denise Alexander’s commentary and I have been a fan ever since. Starts about 6:20 minutes in. ”What about love Monica?” I just think it’s produced in a way that heightens the whole soapiness of it- the dialogue, the close ups, the actual slap that it seems like Monica truly felt. Hell even the 80’s lip gloss. Fun.

Another 1980’s trend not mentioned yet was the increasing importance placed on the star more than the character. Really popularized by Monty on GH, but in use on other soaps in the 80’s too. Monty stopped anything but short term recasts by 1981ish, and when someone left the character was gone, and the show moved on. Heather Webber was the last major recast during her tenure that I can recall. The celebrity of soap actors exploded.

Huge difference seeing her in a zoom reunion and onscreen performing.

I think she would have fit right in back in the Bill Bell era too- she has qualities that I think worked well with his writing. How exciting to see her again, looking so great.

I will never forgive the GH team at the time for that story. The foundation of the show needed Emily, Georgie, and I would include Cooper and Logan here too. They should have been used in years of story. Instead there was a giant hole that they kept trying to fill for 20 something’s for a decade. It kept the focus squarely on Sonny/Cary/Jason, and then just supplanted Michael as the younger character to build off of. Plus Garin Wolf and JFP’s ending fell flat. And I am aware that the actor playing Logan was a problem on set, and the original killer. Doesn’t change how I feel- they had a set of characters worth building on. Instead they just continued with the idea the show was going to be cancelled within 10 years so let’s just keep dismantling instead of building.

Yeah I don’t think anybody was telling Bell what to do. The only time his hand was fixed was the whole 1 hour thing. Bill Bell was very complimentary about what Gloria Monty did at GH. In that joint interview he did with Claire Labine he clearly was familiar with the GH style and Luke & Laura. It would not surprise me if he just wanted to run some adventure through the show. I never felt Y&R had slipped into a GH clone as much as DAYS did.

The overall misogynistic vibe the show was mired in. The fact that Ric didn’t really pay for what he did. I remember thinking Liz was missing her brain quite a bit. But that cliffhanger is one of my all time favorites on GH. I would put it right under the Labine era shootout with Brenda in the shower/Laura’s house/Stone and Robin outside the Club on my list of favorite GH cliffhangers. Clink/Boom being number 1. The original story was whimsical, which suited Lila. Plus it was wrapped up in Sean and Monica’s affair. The Tracy revisit was stupid and not fun to watch at all.

GH-Casey the Alien. Introduced Faison, dealt a little with Anna’s past as a double agent and grief from losing Duke. It was implausible but as a kid I enjoyed it. GH- The Panic Room. As much as I didn’t enjoy what the show was at that point, or what Liz had become, her seeing Carly was a thrilling cliffhanger.

For a very brief time during Wendy Riche’s EP tenure there was an outside ambulance entrance. They just don’t film there anymore. They also used to have more of a traditional ER area, it looked different than the other hospital sets. I think both are visible when BJ is wheeled in after the accident.

I’m still going to hold out hope that if we ever see Vanessa again that Rena will also come back, even if just for a brief visit. I love Lois but she really doesn’t fit currently as a long term character. Not in the capacity she would deserve. And I would never wish a pairing with Sonny on her.

Her voice breaking at the end really hit me emotionally. Lovely tribute, and by all accounts so far Tyler had meaningful relationships with many cast members.

That’s awesome!