titan1978

I agree, especially about Jax/Brenda. When she came back in 2002 for me they wanted the audience to think it could be Sonny/Brenda again, but had no interest in actually doing it. They clearly wanted Brenda/Jason and Jax as a foil again. When I found out after the fact that Sam’s baby story was supposed to be the next part of Brenda’s had she stayed, I thought my instincts were right. It was all Sonny/Carly back then, and I never enjoyed them as a pairing, which lead to several viewing breaks during Guza/JFP. I think his stance on vaccines was incredibly stupid, selfish, and not science based at all. But this was the guy who hawked Monavie to fans, so I wasn’t surprised. But the one thing he did that Ingo did not is he carefully walked the line about it being his personal choice, and accepted the consequences. Ingo wanted to make it everyone’s choice and not have any consequences at ABC.

It used to crack me up that Guza and that writing team were clinging to Carly and Sonny having feelings for each other when LW and Mo have little to no heat. Carly was always blowing up her life to ride or die for Sonny, they would even have them sleep together randomly or kiss. It wasn’t there anymore but Guza couldn’t let it go. Jax and Carly worked and it shouldn’t have. But they kept blowing them up for Sonny.

Yes to this. Carly was still Sonny’s enabler/defender up to the Nina/Mike reveal with Nixon Falls. While she still has moments, it’s not as in your face and deeply loyal as it used to be. Jax would play ball just to keep some semblance of peace until he was ready to do something about Sonny himself.

One of Carly’s kids should hate Sonny. He put them through a lot, and it’s an easy target for why her dad has been in and out of their lives. Good old fashioned soap opera. It’s one of the few things I like about Joss. I am enjoying both Joss and Lucas pointing out Carly’s hypocrisy with dangerous men too.

I think this is why the mask slipping and then coming fully off with Ava in those Mulcahey era scenes with Nina and Alexis were so thrilling and memorable to me.

For somebody that lived and worked in New York for at least 20 years, Frank is not cool at all.

GH is really lagging in younger characters. You look at the other soaps and it’s pretty glaring. I think part of it is they don’t invest much in Trina and won’t let anyone else be the full lead except Joss. Beyond the Gates makes them seem so old fashioned in comparison when it comes to early twentysomethings.

LOL!

As far as Maxie’s kids go, there was a real missed opportunity with Maxie being very much at heart a “cool girl”, and having one of her kids be as nerdy as I imagine Spinelli was as a kid. We could have even SORAS’ed them and eventually got to a She’s All That moment where the glasses come off and now it’s supermodel time lol!

He could drive you crazy for sure. But with the right people I found it amusing. Like when Brenda returned and he finally got to meet The Divine One. I used to love how much that pissed Sam and Carly off. I will be honest I liked his nicknames better than almost all the ones Luke used. They felt more like how a hacker would identify people- by screen names.

With KS also living out of state I think this seems very plausible down the line a bit. I think BA suffers from a couple of things, especially post Ron Carlivati. His character isn’t generic. The way he speaks is specific, as is the way he acts and the humor that used to be inherent in having scenes with Spinelli, Maxie, and someone stoic (that’s the nice way of saying that!) like Sam or Jason. He also isn’t classically soap handsome leading man material, which shouldn’t matter but I fear does matter to FV. His leaving the show to raise his kids outside Hollywood was his choice. Carlivati didn’t really do him any favors but he at least got the point was he was quirky. Mulcahey starts doctoring the scripts and Maxie and Spinelli have personality again, because they had the care to give them back specificity and someone who knew their actual characters. I know many people complain about the Spinellis and the Lucy Coes, Scotty, Tiffany Hill, etc. but I think GH especially needs people that fit in doing a caper, not just the super spies, mob wars, or cops and robbers type adventures. They break up the seriousness. There is a reason Claire Labine puts Lucy in partnership with Luke and Sonny at the club. And like Lynn, BA and KS have a knack for quick witted writing.

The best version of James Reilly would be so proud of this. It’s right in his wheelhouse, although Willow has to have sex with Chase right next to Drew propped up or in line of sight to complete it. One thing @Vee and I are going to keep doing is plotting for Serena to return. I love it! And I agree, Maxie should be at Crimson. But I also get why they use Deception. Everything about it is more fun. But Lucy should never be completely onboard with anyone else at Deception calling the shots. It was deeply rooted in her character growth. That tiny ELQ percentage she used to have and Deception moved her away from scheming vixen.

We had all the angst about not being good enough for her already. He should be witnessing Maxie’s visible anger about this pairing and that is what makes his insecurity boil over. I thought the whole things felt rushed. They do this a lot- skip the building and just go straight to the story they want to tell, until they are bored with it.

I agree. Let’s finally get her faking the cancer but not until close to the end. She and Michael can even be back in the gatehouse and give us another Susan Moore murder mystery. As far as those kids go, these are Quartermaines. If we can’t have a gold digger nanny looking to marry a Q taking care of them and doing the bend and snap in front of hot Michael, then send them off to boarding school!

This is one of those things that I know happened, but I just find it hard to believe. I know it’s a show, but pretty much everything with Dante/Lulu until the Lulu recast has felt incredibly poorly written and not in character for either of them at all. I just don’t buy that version of Dante, he was a stand up guy. I really hate what they did with Lulu, no wonder JMB left the show and is still like never again.

It was even worse for me when it was that part updo bun thing with the back long during that same time. Just ridiculous. I am sure it was an ask for forgiveness type of situation instead of permission when it came to the actual haircut.

Like maybe something shows up in Drew’s bloodwork that makes Liz suspicious, and she goes to Dante for help because she suspects he has been drugged. They do a little investigating together and start seeing each other in a different light. I think what we all keep coming back to is we want a story, not just scenes.

You might be on to something. It looks not great either way. Reminds me a little of the terrible bump it hair unit they put on Vanessa Marcil when she cut her hair shorter without permission in like early 1995-ish. I also haven’t really enjoyed this color on Becky since she changed it a couple of years ago. She’s such a beautiful and nearly ageless lady! If they go this route we are going to need to go full Rick/Lesley Webber. House full of strays, and a kid that looks like they could be in high school for Aiden. Lean into the easy humor of their family life and their jobs can be serious. Doesn't mean no drama, Lesley and Rick had plenty of it. But right now it’s just two people and guarantees to meet. And that’s no way to treat them or fans. Exactly! Genie Francis/Laura had chemistry with Tony, Mac, and Sonny in the early 90’s. I never wanted any of those pairings! It took Dante getting shot and Mulcahey doctored scripts to make me even remotely think Sam/Dante were a couple. The scripts added a significant amount of worth there and we don’t have that anymore!

Kin continued to piss the show off with his online antics about not having scenes, so even if he was medically able to return I don’t think he is all that welcome. He’s not a reliable narrator, but I get the impression from what he said about humor not being welcome on the show that his adlibs and general on set behavior wasn’t being enjoyed by tptb. That 60th celebration show had more Scotty bloopers than anyone else IIRC. Seemed kind of pointed to me. And it generates at least 6 months to a year of story! Michael in the asylum also pushes Carly and Jason to the edge, gives Curtis stuff to do at Crimson possibly at odds with Nina, and Willow covering her tracks.

I like it!

The idea of Jacinda was a good one based on Michael’s history with sex workers and his own traumas. But the story is DOA now. They should have cast a stronger actor to be paired with him. They could have hired a stronger actor, had her be Jacinda’s best friend/roommate and maybe modernize and say she does her sex work online only. Everything up to the false alibi can stay. Sidwell kills Jacinda and now Michael feels guilty thinking it’s tied to Drew or Willow, and he ends up helping her friend and roommate, leading to eventual romance. Every single story thought, especially on a soap, should be does this have legs to create more story. Even the Nina angle at Crimson became a dead end. Tell stories!

To be honest @Liberty City I stay on Frank’s neck almost as much as I do JFP for his banality. In an ideal world an innovative EP that was neither of them is running GH and Y&R. But at least some of his problems got fixed for him, namely Roger Howarth and Michael Easton being back back back again, and nobody having any real conflicts onscreen. So while I feel better about him than Jill as EP, I still wish for better!

What I don’t get is the Michael of it all. You have a very successful recast, incredibly attractive man who is doing good work at the show and you pair him with a dayplayer. They should have been building up a new love interest that was real for him the second they saw he was working.

I’m going to challenge you a bit here. She was notorious for running show budgets out of control, and firing actors/vets to pay for it. Especially at GH. OLTL was believed to be very much under budget for years under Frank and they were penalized with cancellation while Jill got away with issues with her budget. Her storytelling instincts at GH, paired with Guza and not, cost the show millions of viewers and for all their faults, Frank and Ron brought the show back up to like mid 2000’s numbers. As far as a woman in a man’s world, let’s look at her peers. In the 1990’s you had Wendy Riche, Francesca James, Jean Dadario Burke, JHC, Susan Bedsow Horgan, and I am probably missing a couple here or there. Not all of these people had successful tenures, but none of them also had as much difficulty working with women talent. I am not privy to backstage stuff at other levels like her producers, directors, etc. But JFP forced women out at every show and let men get away with murder. I am sure Robin Strasser can be difficult. But she doesn’t hold a candle to Tony Geary or Maurice Benard. Kale Brown was hated by his coworkers IIRC, but HBS was the one who felt punished for asking questions and wanting to know where Nora’s brain went. She fired a woman on maternity leave. As far as learning her lesson, she freely admitted multiple times in recent history that the lesson she learned from Maureen on GL was it was fine to kill her, they just shouldn’t have made the audience care about her so much before they did it. She doesn’t understand her audience or what damage she does to shows. I am sure she has had to deal with a lot of crap in her career. She knows how to win Emmy’s, although I remember her bloc voting being a bone of contention with soap journalists and fans. But I don’t think she is unfairly targeted with criticism. I feel the same way about Paul Rauch by the way. His talent as EP is mired by his creative choices and the way he treats women for me. She is not strong enough to support this story! Both Michael and Kristina deserve better!

I just don’t think she brings enough benefit to deal with the problems. The show will look good, certainly the lighting will have some variety. She used to have mostly good instincts with casting. But at what cost? All she likes is misery. Not drama, misery. She had more to do with Stuart Damon’s firing than Guza did. For me, every storytelling instinct she has is bad.