carolineg

I mean, I certainly won't mourn Britt if she dies again lol.

To compare her to Carly or Brenda is ridiculous. Brenda was a spoiled brat as a teenager. She wasn't perfect as an adult and often a chaos monster, but showed growth. Carly had a lot of trauma and was a very hurt person. Britt's just a jerk to be a jerk. Having hot chem with Steve Burton isn't a reason to re-hire KT. Steve Burton has proven he can have chemistry time and time again with love interests (LW's Carly aside). We don't need to go backwards here. Did anyone seriously miss Britt on the canvas?

Idk. I think Tony was the main inspiration for the entire Eckert family so it's hard to say if they would have been viable with random casting. I think a Luke/Laura return would have bumped up the interest in the audience enough for Monty to stay on for a few more years. I still think she was very out of touch with what 90's audiences wanted, but JER did make that sorta camp work on Days. It's an interesting discussion.

I don't even understand why Britt's "employer" would even care about Rocco. Britt didn't until she returned. So I get the defensive walls up, but there isn't the vulnerability side there at all. It's just Britch all the time. And, well, Sarah Brown could act so there's no comparison with Kelly T.

Britt is acting like a spoiled child. She can't close a window, but can run an entire hospital. Small things like that matter. I don't think KT has ever had the depth to play a multi-faceted vixen/villain/anti-heroine, whatever she's supposed to be. Even today with Jason talking about Monica she was sympathetic but turned it around to herself saying it's better Jason didn't get to say goodbye. She knows from experience. Like what? She has the emotional maturity of a 12 year old. There's almost a lack of any rational thought within Britt's mind. Ben/Rocco is her son, Jason needs to do her bidding, Carly should cater to her free housing needs, everyone should open their arms now she's not dead with no questions asked. And Lulu and Dante are the bad guys because they don't want some embryo stealing criminal that fakes their death regularly around their son.

Brenda didn't have a mugshot that I remember. She was arrested and they showed her in a jail outfit when talking to Jason and Sonny, but she was quickly released on bond. IIRC, she was sort of a silly ploy for Scott to get either Jason or Sonny to confess. I don't think anyone really thought she was guilty even though they went through that whole trial. I would have to check 1997 when Brenda was arrested for Dorman's murder though. Sonny/Jason broke her out of jail and went on the run.

If Monty 2.0 just pivoted, took input in, and cast better with superior writers her return could have worked. I think the landscape of daytime had changed and GM didn't care lol. I can't really picture Robert/Anna in Riche/Labine's GH. It definitely would have changed Robin's trajectory which I think was perfect at the time.

On paper it really wasn't a bad idea. Obviously way too much too fast to integrate them properly, but I don't think the casting was great either. Sure, Tony, whatever. It wasn't the best idea from the start, but Cheryl Richardson was a poor choice for Jenny. Especially when you focused huge stories around her. Someone with more spunk and a bit more prickly would have worked better considering her past. Crystal Carson probably would have done well as Jenny. Obviously I would never take away Julia Barrett because of Brenda. I just think the mid 20's virginal blonde heroine was dull at this period on GH. It was already tried a few times and failed.

As @Vee mentioned, I assume they are going to walk back Britt's behavior with the drugs she's taking or with something worse like a brain chip. Unless FV thinks Britt's behavior is bitchy, diva, and funny, which is possible considering we are supposed to find the "Britch" nickaname funny. Perfectly acceptable for a 40 year old Dr.

It seems like the characters did have an okay base. I am just not sure it was ever fully fleshed out like you noted. It was too much too soon for the Eckerts. And outside of Tony, I am not sure the show found the right actors for the parts. Pushing everyone else aside for the Eckert clan was never going to work. That's not how you integrate a family and Monty should have known better. Ned's face is my face when I hear this explanation. Thank you for trying to spare me, but I did watch it lol. "I never even thought about telling you!" Lol, clearly a woman ready for adult relationships and marriage.

Idk. He may have said that once, but it's clear John/Marlena were his favorite. Then Carrie/Austin. I agree the Jack/Jen recast stuff was bad, but Hope/Bo were always a bit separated from the rest of the main stories, while Jack/Peter/Jen were still in it. For example Hope was being menaced by Jude St. Clair during Aremid while everyone else was working on getting John freed. Then Bo/Hope were the side story while the rest of the cast was in Paris focused on finding Marlena and Will's kidnapping. By 1997 the whole Billie/Bo marriage with a baby on the way had Hope going on island adventures with John. It's like Bo/Hope were there but not integrated well.

But we never got any confirmation Jenny had an abortion, correct? I guess my next question would be did they scrap the definitive abortion because Jane was against it or was the whole thing too hot button at the time to make things clear? The whole Jenny situation was always a bit confusing. I have no idea why she lied about being a virgin when she was a woman in her 20's in the 1990's. It wasn't 1950 and even if she had an affair with the Senator she was clearly an underaged, groomed victim. Jenny was always a dud of a character to me, but most of her motivations never made sense either.

I don't mind other stories happening this week. I do agree the main focus should be Monica. I would cut the dog nonsense and would have re-introduced Nathan next week. I can understand GH having those stories going on in hopes lapsed viewers who come back to watch Monica's funeral will find those other stories interesting and keep watching. What old cast members would you suggest? I am having trouble thinking of anyone. Robin? Most of the people closest to Monica are either dead on the show or unfortunately passed away in real life. I would love a Sean Kanan AJ back from the dead pop up lol.

I often wonder how long Karen would have lasted in the 90's. My assumption it that ASJ would always have left since his career was red hot back then and with Brenda, Robin, and Carly coming into prominence I could see her part being minimized. I suppose she could have filled the romance role that Keesha did with Jason/AJ and a Dr. is always needed, but I don't see Karen with much staying power on the main show. The young adult scene was very crowded in the 90's. I don't think I ever heard Duhon had drug issues-just problems with JMB and Kirsten Storms. I think Kin spoke very highly of him. I believe Duhon also went on a post-GH press tour claiming how talented he was and how GH would regret firing him or something of the sort. That's why he was never picked up by another show despite being actually talented lol. In fact, I don't think Duhon has worked since GH anywhere. I thought those scenes really worked too. Lucy knew Monica and it was meaningful given their history even if Tracy/Lucy aren't close. I do agree with @DRW50 that it would be nice for Tracy to talk to Cody and Stella about Monica since they are her friends and care about her though.

The last scene where Britt took out medicine with the note-"Don't forget to take your medicine-C" made me think she might be being drugged and acting out because of that, but she's always been awful so I don't even blame C, Cesar, or drugs.

I can't believe Britt told Lulu out loud that she has a better connection with Rocco than Lulu does. Horrible human being. Why is there such a musical chair homing situation with Outback? Like I love the dog, but why is this a story? Everything else about the show was very nice. I liked Lucy/Tracy and Michael talking to Sonny/Carly. The Nathan stuff is meh, but it's at least a tiny bit interesting.

Exactly. It doesn't feel strange for Tracy to feel that way at that time. I absolutely can understand why Jane wanted to play Tracy pro-choice or for her wanting Tracy to stay out of the argument all together. Unfortunately, she was the most likely character in that quad to have those views. It actually would have played perfectly if Tracy had those views and when Lulu and Dillon were in that situation she reconsidered, but I doubt the show was playing a 20 year long game with Tracy at that point lol. While I understand the reasoning for ABC bringing Tracy back in 1996, I don't exactly think it made the character look good. The racists remarks to Justus, looking down on pregnant Lois for her background, trying to steal ELQ and Jax from Brenda, and seeming like she was raising Dillon to be a spoiled brat wasn't great. That all being said, I did like her brief return lol.

Oh, yes. I remember hearing that in this thread I think. Thanks for the reminder. I think it was about abortion now that you say that. I honestly could almost see 80's or early 90's Tracy being against abortion, but I understand Jane pushing back. My mind went to the Jenny/Paul/Tracy story which I did think make Tracy look very desperate at times and it was a bit unbelievable she would consider someone like Jenny a rival. Paul wasn't worth it (and I am not even talking about the fairly recent retcon with Burgi).

I didn't know Riche and Elliot had issues. Do you know why? I assume it was the Paul/Jenny/Tracy triangle which felt demeaning to Tracy, but I am curious if that was the issue. I thought the triangle was winding down by the time Riche came on board. It's possible I am confusing my timelines though. Thank you for that promo! It had to be the first Sonny/Brenda promo and it's sort of a non-promo lol. It's just the two of them flirting and Jagger being judge-y. Given the fact that most of these clips are some of their first interactions it appears GH immediately got behind the pairing.

Tom Langan was the writer that wrote Jen's return and then it went Brash/Cwickly to Higley to JER again. JER didn't like Matt Ashford's Jack at all, but it did appear like he did want to write for Missy's Jennifer back in the 90's like you mentioned. The initial Jen return was strange. Bo found her and it seemed for a second they might go there with Jen/Bo lol. Then Colin (and random Brady cousin) was brought in and he became evil. I wonder if Missy had certain restrictions to her return because she obviously refused to acknowledge anything with Peter or that marriage. It seemed like the writing and the show was treading very carefully on what Jen could or couldn't do and it was such a strange re-introduction that didn't matter at all in Jen's overall character history.

It's pretty clear JER preferred couples he created like Bo/Billie and was forced to go with Bo/Hope once both actors returned. They were relegated to more B stories while John/Marlena/Kristen and Sami/Carrie/Austin/Lucas were featured more heavily. Even though he didn't create John/Marlena he did create romantic John/Marlena where it wasn't a love based on Marlena thinking he was Roman. I don't think JER ever knew what to do with Hope/Bo or 'got' their appeal. They never really fit on his ideal canvas. The miscasting of Krista Allen as Billie didn't help either.

I preferred RKK's Bo too for most of the 90's. I loved Bo/Billie in the beginning and was so mad Hope came back. To be fair, I still don't care for Hope but I like Peter so much as Bo now. It's hard for me to imagine RKK playing most of the Bo stories Peter got from the 2000's on.

I don't think that's unpopular. It did suck the air out of the Bo/Billie/Hope triangle. LR/RKK had great chemistry. PR/LR didn't have nearly as much. Once Kristian returned it was obvious how it was going to play and Rinna left not long after. It didn't help that JER didn't seem to care much for Bo/Hope and saddled them with some bad stories. I don't think her absence made the whole tribute feel incomplete. It was glaring though, especially when characters like Carrie came back, who objectively wasn't terribly close to Alice. I wonder if the show even asked Deidre or if Deidre declined.

All your points are valid and I do know the numbers did go up, which did surprise me. Like I posted I think you could have taken John off the canvas and had Marlena visit him frequently to free up guarantees and it wouldn't feel as awkward as them both leaving and not involved at all in Salem going ons. I thought Ron did a good job of using John/Marlena and Marlena specifically. It was clear he loved the Marlena character. While I disliked a lot of their Ron stories I thought the shoot the bride story was excellent and one of the best J&M arcs in years. Vivian works to me as a character that pops in and out. I didn't love her 2009 return, but I also don't think she's fit to stay on the canvas for long periods. She got very tired near the end of her 90's run.

The John/Marlena exit story was ridiculous. I can't believe that's how they wrote out their main supercouple. I would obviously keep both of them, but if cash was that strapped I would have written out John before Marlena. John could have been sent to rehab for the time being and Marlena could make frequent visits. It was always so odd that with all the Sami happenings during this era that Marlena wasn't around at all. CC/Carly probably could have worked with the proper writing with an earlier return. She was never mentioned and not important when she came back. It was far too late to make Carly important again, although I would argue they could have brought her back when Lisa Rinna left instead of recasting Billie. I think CC was too busy being a juggling clown on OLTL or something though.