soapfave06

A shame they were never able to reposition her status after the Stefan death debacle, I enjoyed the hell out of the Julie heart storyline but after that she was wasting her time.

I kind of wish they had somehow tied her into a triangle with Nicole for a worthy rival, the Jake/Stefan 2.0 never worked.

I appreciate her never phoning it in, I’ve loved the character since DAYSaster and they cemented it with the wedding confrontation with Sami in January 2013. 
 

Hoping they don’t kill her off and she goes out guns blazing. 

Outside of the Big 4 and Sally, from my on/off watching:

Amber, Aly, JY Rick, Maya & the Avants, Deacon

For me the show lost a lot when they dropped Maya and Rick, Amber could have caused problems for Rick and Maya for years. Aly was a breathe of fresh air until she went psycho and died. 
 

I recently started watching 1999-2001 and Deacon is like the anti-soap male lead, I really enjoyed his introduction and find it kind of shocking how the show just dropped Kimberly, Rick, Amber, Deacon. 
 

I started watching in 2008 but didn’t get hooked until Brooke slept with Oliver on accident so if these are unpopular then oops lol

7 hours ago, Gray Bunny said:

Surprise evil brother and sister.  Didn't we do this a couple year's back with Orpheus' spawns?  I can't remember much about the sister. 

I’m honestly getting curious for a list of repeated plots on DAYS between the brainwashing, shootings, lack of consent, evil siblings, returns from the dead.

I wasn’t expecting an increased budget but they should have the most creative freedom and all they do is wash, rinse, repeat. 

I was listening to old DC podcasts out of boredom while traveling to work and was reminded of my absolute favorite plot in my actual GH watching time-Metro Court Hostage Crises.

I was very young when watching and even got me James/Jerry as the culprit didn’t work. Was there someone else who could have been revealed behind the mask? 
 

In my current poor memory of thinking, I was thinking it could have been Manny and Mateo?

As amazing as it was I am just not sure the fallout was worth it. 

Yeah, that’s a phenomenal idea Vee that would also advance a lot of story.

Ah, I forgot GH was on the verge of cancellation so I agree the timing was bad. In fact had they focused on GH and took the hybrid idea in 2013 once they were on the upswing and could properly balance the canvas, it would have worked better and they would have been past the PP contract debacle. 
 

In 2012 they lost many stars, every writer and had a slew of newbies so in hindsight doing the hybrid worked but I would have taken Serena over Starr any day for example. For the hospital, losing Robin and never utilizing Kelly and Lainey, I think Angie would have worked regardless but Todd, Tea, etc to a lesser extent worked. 

3 minutes ago, carolineg said:

Well, if you were in charge at GH I would have full confidence in you.  I know you would cut 90% of the characters I find useless and the show would have room for Angie. 

Hahaha, I second this! 

On a lighter note, GH has absolutely the best looking vets, I don’t watch anymore but seeing clips on Twitter: Felicia, Tracy, Holly, Robert, Mac, Anna, the ageless Liz, they are truly top tier. 

4 minutes ago, Vee said:

I liked the initial crossovers but I loved the Prospect Park soaps and I thought GH was on a healthy upswing when they left, so I have no regrets. But that's me. I did like John and Sam (and I had despised John on OLTL) and Michael and Starr, but here we are.

I would have Angie appear today tbh, if Debbi Morgan was willing, as a guest as part of an abortion rights story with Portia challenging local law at GH. But that's totally OT and more related to GH's current abdication of its responsibility to relevant medical stories. You could even be cute and have some people think she's Ellen Burgess, who knows.

I do think David would've been great to bring on mixing it up with people from time to time. But unfortunately Frank and Ron going too far with the crossovers and multiple failed roles for Howarth and Easton has poisoned the well, I think, for any more of that.

I love that idea, a shame it will never happen! 

It would have been cool to see Jesse working alongside Mac, Robert, etc and Angie at GH as COS with David causing problems for Liz, Monica, Patrick, etc at the time 

I think Anna and David were great from what I’ve seen and David/Angie/Jesse were fireworks for me from PP.

I agree, I don’t know what they did different with John on GH as my memory fails me but he was fun, I do kind of hate they made him the center of Faison’s unmasking though. 

If they could have maintained a balance of recurring rotation of GH 80s vets in a good spy mystery alongside the mob, the hospitals and the community social issue stories GH would really be the show to watch. They try, but they play too safe and build up to absolutely nothing. I still applaud them though compared to the sister soaps. 
 

Honestly the merry go round of OLTLers playing new characters every year, moving Liz to the sidelines, failing on the social issue stories (what happened to Terry? And what about Jake or one of Liz’s kids being gay?) among other soap mistakes (Y&R wasted their chance to modernize and diversify their cast circa 2017-2018, B&B wasted the Avants circa 2016, so on) led me to drop soaps period. 

Wow, that’s interesting.

I hate Sonny (haven’t enjoyed him since Kate 1.0) and love Tea but I agree the Guza writers would have hit gold with that. 
 

It never would have happened but I would have preferred Guza stay for the mob side of PC and Carlivati for the vet side but both would have imploded regardless.

As for GH as a quasi soap, I would have liked to have seen the Hubbard’s and David Hayward at GH, been okay with a few OLTLers and then revamping GH as they did. 
 

I am one of the few who adored the Prospect Park shows though and was sad to see they failed. 

2 minutes ago, carolineg said:

I like the idea of the ABC soaps all existing in one universe.  I don't mind crossovers.   It was just too much at once and if they introduced them more slowly it could have worked (not considering the lawsuit and other issues of course).

In regards to Jason, I don't mind him being human and flawed, but it felt like this character change was literally made to prop McBain and Sam.  Who were honestly good on their own and I have no idea why GH has never gone back to an Easton/Monaco pairing since then.  I am not retroactively turning into a Jasam shipper, but it was a pretty crappy way to give them conflict when you have been told for years Jason is awesome and Jason/Sam are the greatest couple ever.  Your points are very valid, but I was definitely part of the audience that felt like Jason was deliberately thrown under the bus for an OLTL character.  But, I mean, how many GH characters were thrown under the bus for Jason/Sonny, so I guess it's fair.  

I never looked at it like that at the time, I was so over Jason and Sonny they could have stayed under the bus and I never would have looked back but one thing that kept GH sailing was the almost solid dialogue and character focus that Guza and writers did and that, sadly, went out the window. 

51 minutes ago, Soapsuds said:

You've done it with Stefan and now Bo.

I would include Hope as Gina, Steve as Stefano, Marlena as the Devil (they get a pass on this one), Abby as her alters, the list goes on rather it’s brain washing or plot contrivance for them to get through an episode. Did Jack have amnesia or was he brainwashed when he returned?

The only time they didn’t use it for plot was Ben but he was treated as a hero instead of as “The Beast” to Ciara’s “The Beauty”, would have made them much more interesting IMO.

At least they did stop with the Return from the Dead every New Years Eve. 

I watch on and off from both being busy and the same plots being retold over and over.

I’ll admit I will take the bad CGI over the same damn set over and over again lol

I watched only a few scenes but I guess they simply retold BS2 where Hope was shot but Bo is now shot? Just like Bo was “programmed” the same way every single character has been programmed to the point of exhaustion on this show? 
 

I love camp/fantasy but after the absolute waste of time that was Marlena, Kate and Kayla in Purgatory/Fantasy Land (I was excited for this until it amounted to nothing) on top of them all dying multiple times and Megan will be Kristin 2.0 before we know it. 

4 minutes ago, Vee said:

I have no idea, but I think that's around the time she came onscreen. I always meant to visit the Paley archives when I lived in NYC, but over the long years I just kept putting it off. Maybe when I stop back.

Thanks, Vee! I’m trying to choose so carefully but OLTL is my #1 forever and always, I hope you get to go! 

Not sure how many have been but hoping to visit the Paley Center this year and was reviewing the availability of OLTL, does anyone know if Carla appears in the October 1968 episode available? She’s listed in the credits but not much comes of the description. 

I hope they continue uploading to Summer 1995

I started with the earthquake storyline in 1994 on the YouTube downloads and I’m quite enjoying the show, not sure how popular the stories were but the James/Taylor/Ridge/Brooke and Anthony/Macy/Sally/Karen/Connor has definitely grabbed my attention, the production is stunning and of course the odd sexual psyches like the James/Taylor affair, Anthony turning to Sally when he can’t get Macy and Karen faking the pregnancy are a little odd, it’s interesting.

If this wasn’t so popular, I’ll blame my having not watched a soap in months or maybe years since I gave up on the new ones after they went full fledged Hallmark 

8 hours ago, chrisml said:

Maybe I have the timeline wrong, but was 1993 around the time there were a lot of the crazy DOOL stories that got DOOL higher ratings? (Carly buried alive for ex.). I remember AMC especially was trying to mimic those outlandish plots. I can't see Curlee fitting into any of that. It feels in retrospect that the quest to copy those stories really harmed daytime as a whole. I think Curlee would have been a much better fit at OLTL working with Michael Malone during his first tenure.

Man, what could have been. I have no interest in OLTL from Fall 1995 on, I wonder what Curlee could have done with Marty, Viki, Dorian, etc. 

I think they lost sight of a lot of characters after those big trial arcs and the DID story. Actually, almost the whole canvas seemed lost: Bo, Nora, the Gannons, RJ

Who all would they have lost cast wise from the long term characters had the show continued on?

Thank you both! 

What air dates are the Finn and Steffy reunion and location shoot?

Started picking up on some random episodes and I am HOOKED on the April/Draper/Molly triangle. Didn't this spin out of him falsely going to prison, the train wreck, then meeting Molly, her pregnant, then the Nancy in the sanitarium plot? 

Molly is a delightful villain and i love how innocent she plays. 

12 hours ago, fivethej said:

Paul & Andy dig her out and save her. Paul picked Lauren up carrying her but nothing more was shown on-screen. Next time Lauren appears on-screen she is fine as nothing ever happened.

Thanks-I was wondering how Gothic they went with it. That's crazy they just swept passed it. 

Either I have been watching soaps so long or they have done this entirely too much. I couldn't be bothered to care even if they brought Stefan back. They won't find what made BB as Stefan work the first time and it will all be dull. Has happened time and again. 

Did they ever actually show Lauren suffering in the coffin (like Carly on DAYS) or was she just offscreen until rescue? Cool to finally see some of this story. 

Sharon had electro-shock therapy? 

I miss the Michaelsons too. Such a waste. The actress playing Leslie, I thought she had an old school vibe to her that I loved. The more screen time they gave her though she lost some of that on the job bravado she had when she was a recurring attorney. I can't remember how she and Tyler left. 

Then of course the waste of Gus Rogan, sexy Tyler, Hilary...ahhh. wow. 

I just realized I haven't watched this show in a good two or three years. Just read the board. 

I watched sporadically from 2008 through 2010 and found it entertaining in a bad way but once they did the Brooke sex scandal and introduced Hope in the summer of 2010 I was freaking hooked. Loved it. I was so into the Hope/Liam/Steffy triangle and later Oliver/Aly but they really failed to spice things up after a while. Amber's return was a dud, Deacon should have permanently came back sooner and after a million weddings (which I did enjoy) the Hope/Liam/Steffy triangle needed a psychological interloper like Morgan or Sheila to spice it up. I think I watched through KM leaving as Hope and JMW leaving at some point. 

If they kept Amber to as an interloper for Rick & Maya, properly expanded the Avant family and didn't destroy Aly/Oliver they could have survived all those ins, outs and recasts IMO. 

GH was slightly messy around that time onscreen but it used to be appointment TV for me, my cousin and my aunt and the casting was on fire then and we were so disappointed when they recast. DG was so, so good as Michael. 

It's so unfortunate we got two years, three? Of BB as Jake but only months as Stefan. That time jump they did threw the whole show off because I was so into it in 2019 and Stefan/Gabi were so much fun. 

I never knew Frank had a sister. Did she have any story? 

I have always been intrigued by the Grant family and wish they had done more with Frank & Nancy but unfortunately they were sidelined for the wonderful Jesse & Angie.