carolineg

I pretty much would have kept anyone over Jenny, but I've made it clear I can't stand Jenny. I think at the time it made sense to keep Jenny over Julia, but was a mistake in retrospect. Julia would have fit in so well with all the Ned/Lois drama-much better than Katherine. And once Brenda took off in popularity there was a whole slew of other stories for Julia to be included in. Once Jenny finished out her story there was no place left for her to go.

Well, I have lasted this long, so it's unlikely.😂 You have strength in numbers. I am probably the only one on this board who even mildly likes Sonny 🤣 and most days I don't. I just don't hate him. I don't recall. I remember him not knowing Sonny very well at all in the beginning yet he paid for all Gio's schooling-which seemed really odd.

I am not sure there ever was a plan for Gio. It really seems like GM was hired to appear and play at the wedding and Frank liked him. Then the show just inserted him into the Joss/Trina group and the Q's while they tried to figure out what to do with the character. Why the show landed on Brook/Dante's secret summer camp love child is a mystery to me though lol.

I felt both Julia's relationships with Ned/AJ were cut short? Or maybe never reached their full potential is probably a better way to describe it. There was a lot there on paper between the three and it just fizzled out. I always thought Julia as a character had legs and it was silly to write her out especially when her sister's story was beginning to really heat up. Thanks for the clip! I do remember Vanessa or Mark Teschner saying they auditioned a ton of actresses for Brenda so that might explain the delay in casting her and it was always the plan to bring Brenda on earlier.

Lol. That's fair. I am not clamoring for more time spent on Sonny/Sasha. I just think their relationship and scenes are nice. Like I said, I just didn't mind the Sonny/Sasha scenes. I am not dissecting the entire downfall of Sonny's character in the last 25 years. It would take a mini novel for me to get into that.

I actually enjoy Sonny/Sasha scenes. I think Sonny has always gone out of his way to support her and I surprisingly don't think he wants to sleep with her. It feels like one of Sasha's more real connections to the canvas even if they don't share scenes much. I agree about not knowing who Sonny Corinthos is now as a character though and I could go on about that for paragraphs. Rick Hearst definitely adds an energy and a spark to a mostly listless cast. I hate Ric, but you can feel the enthusiasm and delight RH brings to playing the character.

She is or at least that's what the internet tells me. It seems like she's doing quite well. If the pictures on Crystal's website are anywhere near current she looks fantastic. I just don't think she actively seeks out jobs on screen anymore. She seems pretty proud of her GH work and I think she would be game to return-just not full time. I also don't think Julia would be a particularly hard role to recast.

I have no doubt you are correct. It could definitely establish a pattern of behavior for Brenda. I do remember a scene for sure where Julia chided Brenda for being too busy to attend her father's funeral and was only around to collect her inheritance. I could have sworn it was due to skiing. Brenda being a good skier was a silly thread they kept around in the 90's when her an Jax went skiing in Canada so Brenda could stalk Sonny. She intentionally got lost so Sonny could save her and everyone thought it was ridiculous because she was an advanced skier. There was an implied relationship between Julia/Jerry in 1998. I think Jax explicitly said they were once involved. Julia also clearly adored Jax, so I could see a very messy Jerry/Jax/Brenda/Julia quad happening if Vanessa decided to stay. I agree it's weird there is no Cody/Lucy interaction.

That's a really good point. That seems like the obvious thing to bring up. Frankly, I was wondering why Justin didn't suggest splitting Titan to begin with. It only makes sense to me to mediate some sort of workable solution before going to court where Xander or Phillip could get nothing, but what do I know?

She does. Julia even knew Jagger lol. I don't think too many people remember Julia or a waiting for her to return, but the show actively gave dead Dominique a child. Julia could even bond with Cody since she was good friends with Dominique and give Cody that casual older woman/younger man fling we've been waiting for. Julia should team up with Ava against Sonny. If you gave Julia a child with AJ she would have a very strong motive to destroy Sonny on behalf of AJ and Brenda. Anyhow, the show seemed to be toying with a Julia return during the Fluke era, so FV is aware of her history and that she exists. I don't think Crystal Carson acts anymore, so it would probably have to be a recast. If I ran the show I would bring Julia back first and lay the groundwork for Brenda's return. It would be very easy to make a Barrett family return work and it would avoid the "Brenda is being threatened by a bad guy" reason she usually returns Well, that's also possible lol. I mean I'd rather Julia be Sidwell's wife than Natalia though.

Thanks! I never thought Brenda or even a second sister was mentioned before VM was cast. Everyone seemed a bit surprised Julia had a sister even Ned. Anyway, I remember Julia mentioned something about Brenda being too busy skiing or in Europe to attend her dad's funeral but that was when Vanessa was already airing so that might be what you are recalling as well? I think Brenda was always initially meant for AJ or an aged Jason. If they introduced her in 1991 I seriously wondered if she would have lasted as a character. Sauve is definitely not how I would define Harlan, but throughout the years the way Brenda and even Julia would speak about him after his death it seemed like he was? I know someone upthread said Cole was an alcoholic and not in the best place so maybe that was the idea and then the show saw Cole was not in the best place and pivoted a bit.

It is easy to work through if anyone at GH actually cared to. What kind of relatives/characters would you bring in?

Distant relatives would be a cool idea. We know so little about the family and the options are endless. Considering Brenda didn't know her own mom faked her death it would be very easy to bring relatives back that she didn't even know existed. The show would have to make me believe Brenda even cared about the Barrett empire though. She hasn't given it a thought since 1993 lol so I would think Julia would at least be needed to facilitate that feud.

I think you could make a case to bring Julia back with a daughter or son (it could even be AJ's or Ned's) if you brought Brenda back. Julia could buy Deception again or even take over Crimson. It might make Nina or Natalia redundant, but I am fine with losing both those characters. Make Julia's son/daughter around Michael's age, add Brenda's son to the Joss set, Brenda of course fits in with the whole Sonny gang, and Julia could mix it up with Tracy, Ned, Lucy plus judge Brenda's inevitable bad decisions and you have got yourself a place for both of them on canvas fairly easily. Of course this would never happen and I'd dump about 10 characters before adding the Barretts back in, but it actually wouldn't be hard if the show wanted to go that direction.

Thanks. GH obviously decided to just cast Julia and dropped Kelly/Brenda. Someone correct me if I am wrong, but I don't think they even mentioned a second daughter until Brenda was cast on screen. Of all the ideas during that period that were dropped it's interesting they brought a sister for Julia back. I suppose with KMc being so young they needed another female to play off Jagger/Karen and Julia's sister was at least connected to the canvas. I wonder if there were plans to make the Barrett family larger and more important than it ended up being- it all fizzled out by 1993 with Brenda being the only one left.

Oh, I get that. I don't even know if "like" is the way to describe how I feel about Jason/Sonny/Carly. I am just have emotional investment with them so I care about them more than I do about any of the newer characters. I used to be terribly upset if I missed a day of GH and now I could go weeks or months without it. It's more fun to post about the show than it is to actually watch it. Yeah, it would have been similar to Cody too. But at least Dex was a pretty blank slate history wise so a retcon would have made more sense for him than Sasha-a character that has been on the show for a decade. There are plenty of characters on GH that made it without being tied to anyone. I don't get why GH wants to make everyone someone's long lost relative these days. Yup. The show could have done more. I liked him becoming a cop.

I actually didn't mind Dex having no ties to the canvas. It feels like everyone on GH has become someone's long lost child these past few years. Sticking him with Joss and her friends all the time was weird. Dex seemed too old for them. In typical GH fashion, the show had no idea what to do with Dex and just kept him around to give Joss something to do. The Sonny stuff was silly because it never really went anywhere. Sonny found out, beat Dex up, and.........the end lol.

I know Ron's left the building now, but I could actually see EH as a Tripp or Joey recast on Days.😂

I can't believe his exit made news anywhere but SOD. Glad to get MB's thoughts on Evan Hofer's acting.😂

Yeah, Joss as a character mostly annoys me, but I do think Eden's a decent actress. The problem with GH for me is there are a lot of characters I just don't feel passionate about. I don't love them or actively hate them. They are just there. I don't have any personal investment in them. I think that's why I still like Sonny and Jason. I obviously know they both have been ruined and are awful, but they at least made me feel something once.

As everyone knows I am not the biggest Ava or MW fan, but it seems a bit silly to me. I will say Ava had lost her way as a character and PM was pivoting her back into villain territory which is where Ava should stay. Then again, I am an active Sam hater and I probably wouldn't have gotten rid of KeMo either. I never thought Sam was useful, but she had history and a decent sized fanbase. I am not sad about losing Sam-just a little shocked. I would have fired at least 10 people before her. I liked Dex fine. You could have done something with the character. I won't miss him, but at least he and Joss got some actual sexy love scenes. Like someone said above, Joss is veering into Maxie territory with the dead boyfriends. I thought she did a pretty good job yesterday with the material.

I definitely thought Ava was on her way out in the brief PM regime. I say kill both Valentin and Charlotte off and make it clear it was not Lulu's daughter to begin with. Hear me out though. I actually felt bad for Eden McCoy to have to play out scenes of a second boyfriend dying, especially since she lost her mother. I know her mom didn't pass away that recently, but I still sort of felt sad for her

I don't think PW's Chanel was ever meant to be long term, but the character caught on. IIRC, PW was attached to an entirely different project so Days knew she was short term. I liked her. RB just gave the character more layers and worked with bad material well. I just don't think PW's Chanel was supposed to be anything more than a way to give Paulina some depth at the time. I like CB's Gabi lol. She's a mess, but I enjoyed her. John Black level legendary. It's like they move each one on their own so expressively lol.

Hard to say with PW as Chanel. She was only on the show for such a short period of time. I just instantly liked Chanel. I doubt PW could play the material RB has been given and I do think it was a good recast. I just always liked Chanel. JJ/Lani were better. I also sort of like Gabi/Eli (don't yell at me). They were interesting. Eli/Lani tend to be dull.

I liked the first Chanel lol. Precious Way had a very sing-songey way of delivering her lines, but she had great screen presence IMO. Talia just had an intense eyebrow acting situation going on. Lani has had better pairings than Eli, but I do like them together. They are such an attractive couple lol.