carolineg

I think the show brought Chloe on too soon for Jax and made it a love story fast. In fact, I think the show should have recast Miranda and brought her back to make a new romance more believable. I still think there is something likeable about Tava Smiley. While she was a weaker actress, she brought a lot of charm to a cast that was pretty dour most of the time in 1998-1999 lol. As an obvious Brenda fan I can't say the romance bothered me. It just felt like a nice placeholder for awhile and he left her the minute he even thought Brenda was alive so it ended mostly the way I thought it would. I think the story of the Mixed Marrieds went on so long because of backstage push and pull with Alexis/Jax. Guza wanted it. Wendy didn't. I don't think I ever thought NLG was too old for Ingo or that it felt strange because Jax was a man of the world that had a lot of life experience. But, again, it was probably for the best considering all things Ingo now. I agree Ingo did need some heavy lifting from romantic scene partners and needed someone strong like VM and later LW. That's why NLG would have been great for him. I don't think he is as bad of an actor as everyone makes him out to be though. I can think of numerous good scenes he did throughout the years and IR did show conviction even in the end when SBu and MB had long since checked out. I will say Ned became darker post-Lois and never really moved out of that even with Olivia today. And honestly, I am not sure who really WANTED to see Ned rock out or thought Eddie Maine was believable as a big time rock star. Sorry, WK, but no lol. I will say I think Alexis's trajectory as a character would have been much different if she paired up with Jax back in the day though. There would be much less emphasis on her always choosing awful men IMO. Also, I think Ned/Chloe were literally cousins. Not close enough cousins to make marriage illegal, but still legit cousins so I am not sure where that would have gone if Alexis/Jax hooked up.

I don't know if the material around Ned/Lois post-Lois was the any writers fault. Didn't Rena go on mat leave and make it known she basically wasn't coming back since her contract was up soon? A lot of plans including Jax/Lois were entirely scrapped. It did feel like Ned was in limbo for awhile and just sort of let Lois go, but I thought the very slow intro to Ned and Alexis was acceptable. The whole Jax/Chloe/Alexis/Ned storyline was fun and Alexis/Jax had chemistry to spare. I didn't even mind the Jax/Chloe pairing too much. It felt nice and light even if TS/IR lacked major chemistry. It was an appropriate pairing directly after the drama that was his and Brenda's relationship and Jax still mourning Brenda's death. I thought most of the antipathy came towards Ned/Alexis during the Eddie's Angels and runaway bride stories. That mostly soured me on them because it felt so silly and unnecessary. This, to me, begins the descent into heavily neurotic, almost ditzy Alexis that moves through the Sonny affair, and ends with the story that was Dobson the butler.

For sure. I am not shaming her in any way. I am just glad she has some spark back and feels more comfortable. I don't care if she's taking weight loss meds one way or the other. Maxie transformation has been enjoyable to me because I was about ready to say rest her or recast a year ago.

Maybe just say Kirsten Storms looks nice today instead? There are numerous things she could be doing for her own health and to jump to the conclusion that she's obviously taking weight loss meds feels like a bit much if she herself isn't admitting it.

Honestly, I thought they weren't that popular. At the time GH had a lot of couples that just ranked higher in visibility and popularity so I wasn't sure if they were unpopular or just B/C level coupling popular. It seems like that latter.

Yes! I would definitely go with that. Dump Valentin and either reveal the real "Valentin" or just make the whole thing a cover for someone much scarier his name couldn't be said aloud lol.

Well, VI would at least have more chemistry with Finola lol. I couldn't stand Deimos so I am having trouble seeing it. Obviously, VI is more than capable of playing a villain. Then again so is JPS. The writing was and is chaotic. Charlotte was the first huge mistake for the character IMO. The whole Papa nonsense coupled with the fact he just stole Lulu's egg or whatever comes off super creepy not world domination scary. Without veering too far off topic-I don't even necessarily care about KA returning full time. Hope as a character is spent IMO. I am not an uber of Bo/Hope to begin with, but Reckell has shown he can do a variety of different things with a variety of different love interests and characters so I would welcome him back without her. Hope is clearly adrift as a character without Bo. I still wouldn't drop SN or MBE. With the recent personal losses on Days it's just a bad look, regardless of whether I think Steve is critical to the canvas or not.

It's strange because I can see some logic (outside of looks) to cast JPS as Valentin based on some of his previous work. He can be menacing. But once you are crying all the time and performing Billy Joel at the Nurses Ball you can't take him seriously as someone to be feared. Manipulative and conniving? Sure. A villain Helena was seriously concerned about? Absolutely not. Unless Peter Reckell commits to Days full time I don't see Steve being dropped. There is a gaping hole that John leaves and unless they are planning to make Roman central again (by recasting back to Wayne again) the show needs that nostalgic hero. Plus, the show needs one of their 80's supercouples and Patch/Kayla fit that bill. Again this all depends on what Kristian and Peter decide to do in the end, but right now it seems short term for both.

@TaoboiI don't know if this current writing team could do many past characters justice lol. I would give Stefan a shot though if SN would come back. Obviously SN is perfectly happy at Days and is needed on the canvas after losing Drake/John, so it's probably silly to even speculate. I am sure the show could find a recast, but with Huss as Nik and a Spencer recast on the horizon I am not sure if I'd take the risk of recasting a third role. I'll be honest I have a tough time believing MB's Valentin would have been scary either. JPS and his piano and weepiness is decidedly not though. Spinelli is more intimidating at this point.

Nothing was probably a poor choice of words. I just found Stefan's impact wasn't as great as it should have been and I don't agree with killing him off. The show started by cutting the Bobbie/Stefan relationship and going with Kat/Stef instead. Then the Laura stuff drug out forever (I know some of this was due to Genie's mat leave) and went back and forth with Nik's paternity. Pairing him with Chloe in the end almost worked, but then the story got really strange. I suppose in the end it was good the show never went with Jax/Alexis, but I did always like them. It just seemed like a nice place to put Jax in after the long chaos with Brenda. I think Sonny/Alexis worked better for Sonny to be honest. It was nice to see him with an age appropriate woman for once that he actually seem to respect. You had to stretch Alexis's motivations more to make it believable for her. I was never pining for any sort of reunion, it was always meant to be a fling, but I did think their ONS was pretty hot actually. NLG and MB did have chemistry. I think so. It's clear the focus has moved off the Cassadines, but could easily replace Valentin

Perhaps Ned/Alexis were popular? I just haven't really heard many people express their like for them. They are mostly forgotten, but I would say it was probably Alexis's best pairing? It got weird when they did the whole Eddie's Angels stuff though. I actually didn't mind some of the Sexis material either and I know that's not popular.

Oh I remember that kiss! Back when the Cassadines were creepy. I am not going to lie, I thought SN's best role was Stefan. I know GH did him dirty in the end and Stefan amounted to nothing, but I found the character much more complex than Steve Johnson.

I am not sure if Alexis was in love with Stefan, but there was some sort of incestuous vibe there. She was very jealous of the Katherine/Stefan relationship and I wasn't really clear why she teamed up with Luke to make it appear K/S were brother and sister. 1997 was a rough year lol. This would absolutely be the right move for Michael. He's been boring for far too long. The show seems afraid for Michael to be anything but a hero, although given his chaotic upbringing and parents it makes so much sense.

Miranda was a pretty large miss though lol. Not only did Leslie Horan have no chemistry with Ingo, I can't imagine her being able to play a long lost Cassadine. She must have had a great audition or something. I can't believe GH fumbled such a critical casting like that. I don't think a single viewer anywhere ever thought Jax would leave Brenda for that simpering, whiny woman. I also recall the show recasting Gina Cates and testing her with Jason, and that actress was also a big dud. I wonder what the original idea was for Alexis's backstory. I think NLG was already cast and airing while Miranda was still on. Of course I have no idea when the decision was made to dump the whole Miranda is a Cassadine story. I am one of the few people that really liked Alexis/Ned. In the post-Lois era, I thought she was a nice fit for Ned. The gatekeeping stuff was annoying mostly because it was self-appointed and no one really asked them to do it lol. Long post short, I can see where NLG is coming from, but I simply think the characterization of Alexis changed a lot post 2001 to make her much messier and sometimes pathetic. I think @Vee said the character suffered a lot of humiliation and I would agree with that. NLG has mostly kept Alexis's integrity and played her the best she could. I can definitely see the confusion Nancy may have faced through the years trying to play some of Alexis's lesser moments, but I think there was always a character there. P.S. @titan1978 I am so sorry for your loss!

VM would hate that unless Gio is somehow Sonny's I think. But GM looks nothing like either of those two. You could probably make a decent story out of Brenda giving her Sonny kid away to protect him and having Lois mostly watching over him, but Sonny has way too many useless kids as is.

That's sounds like a beautiful dream I would have lol. Except the Gio part. She doesn't need more rando kids. But you could also work in the Bensonhurst connection with Brenda confiding in Lois she was pregnant but in danger because when is Brenda not? Lois found "parents" to take baby Gio in and the Cerullos considered him like family all to protect the child's identity. Anyhow, I wouldn't mind seeing ELR and VM go up against one another......even if it's over Sonny.

Yeah, for sure, there are levels. It's just lately everything I have been excited about has not lived up to my expectations. PM gets cut early, Lois/Lucky's returns haven't been satisfying so far, the stories I enjoyed have petered out or haven't been written well, and characters I did like have been written very unlikable. I mean, I guess at least Sam's dead lol.

I think @Vee used the word passionless (sorry there has been a lot of replies since I last wrote lol) and that's how I feel. It's not the worst soap by a longshot. Days is ridiculous! But at least Ron has passion-even if it's passion to hate his own soap job-and I can watch and laugh at how stupid it is and be angry the writer is such an idiot. Plus, I know there will be a change in staff soon. GH just leaves me feeling nothing these days. Hopeless is too strong of a word, but I just think a lot could be done better and don't have any inkling anything is going to change so why bother?

Basically. The show will have a string of good episodes like Sam's death and then move back to the same weird or tedious things and loss all momentum. I can't even think of a single couple on this show I root for. Maybe Maxie/Spinelli and Mac/Felicia, but they are peripheral at best. It's strange a show with so many good characters and actors on paper can be so thoroughly mismanaged in almost every way.

To me the show feels directionless right now. There is a lot going on, but I personally feel like nothing ever happens and when it does it's unsatisfying. Most of the characters are just aimlessly moving along with no real motivations. Lately, I have just been coming away from watching the show and thinking "well, that happened today" and little else. It's not even enjoyable to make fun of lately.

I feel like PM "got" Nina and Ava more than any writer has and it's probably the only time I enjoyed both characters. I even liked Drew a lot more under PM.

The only reason I remember it is because both Tripp and Melinda have brought it up fairly recently.

I think that's why I get Tripp/JJ confused sometimes because they were both involved with Hayley, but one married her and one didn't and she just died off screen in the time jump. Even though Kristen pushing her and killing her was the most exciting thing Hayley ever did lol

Yeah, you and @Liberty City are correct JJ did have some interesting stories and Moss did good work. I just keep remembering the show losing interest over several writing teams. It's strange because it seems like JJ would be a character that would have a lot of possibilities. I can't really remember liking him and Gabi, but I do remember liking the Theresa/Eve/JJ/Paige mess. Unfortunately, Paige was a huge dud. So were some of his other pairings like Hayley.

Wasn't Moss around pre-Ron and wasted too? I feel like Ron's was writing for so long I can't remember.