carolineg

3 minutes ago, KMan101 said:

 

lol at Alexis and her drivers license. So true! 

 

She has Nikolas on the canvas  but Lucky's absence has been glaring. And growing more so with Lulu out of the picture for the time being.

 

GH does do momentum better than DAYS for sure. The Jan stuff felt really shortened, or filler, which it shouldn't have been. 

 

SOOOOOOO true about Ingo! Spot on. I actually feel bad for Watros she's stuck with him, LOL. 

I would just assume since Alexis did no jail time for any of her vehicular mishaps the state just took her license away forever, but I guess I am wrong.  She only lost her legal license over Neil so no big deal on killing Luis Alcazar and everything else.  Neil was the straw that broke the camel's back

I know, I know.  I forgot about poor Nik.  I guess I am channeling Luke from 1996 and just ignoring his presence as Laura's child.  Sorry Nikolas!  I do like you sometimes.

The Days Jan stuff was the worst.  Is John still in jail?  Days drops stories for weeks at a time.  So silly.

Ingo/Jax really suffers from lack of true characterization.  For a character that has been on the show as long as he has he doesn't have a very distinct personality outside of rich, white knight romantic/Sonny foil.

19 minutes ago, Gray Bunny said:

 

 

I definitely would've chosen John & Marlena, considering how they continue to defy all odds and one-note villains and remain strong together. 

Yes.  I think their storylines are repetitive and I know they aren't everyone's cup of tea.  But I truly believe they are  most romantic, "I would die for you", soulmate, endgame couple on soaps right now.  I am struggling to think of any couples this year that really wowed me any age, on any soap.

5 minutes ago, Dion said:

What about Nikolas? He's still there

 

But yes, as always GF is great. And atm it really does seem that the current writers really do want to write for Laura. For the first time in decades Laura's history outside of Luke and the Cassadines is actually being utilized. There are problems with Cyrus as a villain which others here have already noted, but having Laura as the central figure in this storyline (not Sonny) makes it infinitely more watchable.

Lol!  I totally forgot about Nik.  I think the recast sometimes throws me off and makes me forget.  Well, I guess he gets all Laura's motherly attention now.

36 minutes ago, KMan101 said:

Taggert has aged like fine wine. I'm so glad we've been blessed again with Real Andrews.

 

And notice how Jax and Nina have been MIA for the most part. They aren't even missed. Both could go tomorrow and nothing would change. God Bless Cynthia Watros though because she shows up for work and tries to make Nina more than a nobody.

 

I feel like momentum gets lost, much like I feel the same with DAYS. 

 

I LOL'd at Alexis and Tracy. Tracy setting Alexis up for a DUI shouldn't be funny but it is.

 

Genie Francis is slaying, of course. And proving why she deserves to be the Queen of General Hospital. I love Laura and Curtis's friendship. Although Laura faking being catatonic is giving be bad vibes of 2002 and bringing me right back to how I felt back then. 

 

EDIT: Wanted to add I'm still meh on Finn (I like Easton) but he does make some cute kids. Violet and Chase are adorable. 

 

Gregory Harrison would have made a good Jeff Webber. Finn should be Tom Hardy (everytime Finn and Liz have a chat at the hospital I wish it were someone she were related to). Just saying. 

I have always loved Taggert and his hatred for Sonny and Jason, so I am not thrilled with the story but I'll take it.

Jax/Nina are awful.  Nina is such a miss as a heroine.  She needs to go a little crazy and IR/CW have zero chemistry.  Ingo suffers from the same thing MB does-basically no chemistry with most of his love interests and Jax hasn't had a different romantic story since Brenda.  All his romances literally follow the same pattern: save the damsel in distress from her bad ex, woo her with romance for awhile, lady goes back to said bad ex.  And Ingo's 90's charm and charisma has worn off considerably. Jax was one of my faves for years but both Jax and Nina can go.

I feel like GH does better with momentum than Days.  The whole Jan story happened and then we haven't seen or heard much about it for 3 weeks.  It's all happening off screen for example.  GH just suffers from too many stories and too many cast members. 

As far as Tracy and Alexis.  I do like it.  But there is no way Alexis has a drivers license at this point.  She's run over at least two people. 

Love GF.  She really is wonderful.  I do think it's a shame she now has no kids on the canvas.  I would bring Lucky back played by JJ or GV.  Don't care.  I like GV's Lucky.

3 hours ago, Forever8 said:

Delores is Brando's mother and Mike's cousin who looks like Mo Collins from MadTV. 

 

Let's just say if anyone was given the opportunity to fix B&B how would you fix it? 

Lol.  Brando's mom has a similarly outdated name: Gladys.  I googled it and Delores was Sam's parole officer.  Clearly two memorable characters... I guess I never paid attention to Sam's PO officer's name because I rarely pay attention to Sam.

2 minutes ago, Soaplovers said:

I'm a sucker for Justin and Adrienne.

 

Marlena's best coupling is Don Craig

I don't love Adrienne, but I do love WK/Justin.

I really like Jarlena, but I don't think they were amazing this year or anything.  I just thought they were better than Steve/Kayla.  I thought Jack/Jen (when shown) were too.

I have never seen all of Marlena/Don and what I did was years after the fact.  Don always seemed like a sexist jerk and was pretty awful to Marlena during DJ's death. I did like them later on as friends.   I enjoyed WN's Roman/Marlena a lot in the early days too.

5 hours ago, Soaplovers said:

Patch and Kayla best couple???  

 

I paused at that too.  They weren't even together a lot of the year and now are bickering, but they aren't the worst choice.  If I had to pick at veteran Days couple I would have picked Jarlena, but at least it wasn't Ciara/Ben lol.

Can someone tell me who Delores on GH is?  I can't remember her at all and I watch GH, sorta, some of the time lol.  The only Delores I remember is Dante's young, attractive partner at the PCPD about 10 years ago.

  Count me in as someone who liked Kate/Roman.  LK is probably the only person JT has ever had chemistry with as Roman.  I liked Kate/John too, but obviously that's never going to happen again.  I don't mind Kate with Jake at all the show just basically throws Kate at every man.  I think it would be more interesting if Kate/Jack were explored more or if it was more than a drunken one night stand.

6 hours ago, beebs said:

Honestly, all it served to do was make Kayla super defensive at all times, Shane look gross, and make Kim look pathetic. I normally am okay with these kinds of triangles, but they rushed putting them together, and they made everyone extremely unsympathetic. Then when it was all over, the only lesson the show learned was that fans "wouldn't accept the supercouples being broken up", which I don't really think was the case so much as the fans didn't want to dislike characters they've spent years rooting for.

I disliked Kim's actions the most.  She's so clingy with Shane and I think it's a bad look.  Kayla and Shane looked bad too, but Kim was unbearable as well.  I don't hate the idea of mixing supercouples but Days always picks bad choices like Kayla/Shane or John/Hope/Gina.  They don't have any chemistry with one another and Kayla just wouldn't ever do that to Kim.  And obviously John/Gina was just a weird mess that Days kept going back to over and over.  I am blanking on mixing supercouples ever swapping and it working, but I am sure it has worked before.  

Wasn't there a psychiatrist that RoJohn briefly liked on Days that was very similar to Marlena?  I want to say her name was Whitney Baker?  And Isabella was all weird about it?  I want to say it was when talks with Deidre fell through or shortly before she returned and they mentioned the similarities a lot for a hot minute.

1 hour ago, j swift said:

Question from a former daily viewer in the 1980's (who now sometimes watches in quarantine and wonders how there is no sunlight in Salem) - Why is Tripp's last name Dalton and not Vitali or Johnson?

It's the adoptive name of the family he was given/sold to.  I think he was sold on the black market and his parents were abusive.

20 minutes ago, WebberFan said:

I'm sorry but this Jasam story is ridiculous. Sam didn't meet Jason yesterday. Sam didn't learn about his work and its consequences yesterday. They've been together for a long time and she even begged him to get her pregnant and willingly brought a child into his world. We all saw this play out onscreen. And, yes, the explosion happened but Danny did not "almost die" sorry to say. What is this rewrite with them? Sam had no problem with his life, and has used it to her advantage plenty of times, until he started ignoring her texts and calls. This is laughable and such a dumb way to create angst. lol.

I tend to agree, but I feel like Sam and Carly do this from time to time.  They get mad for awhile than go back to their respective partners when they get over it.    And I think it's more about the ladies not getting the behavior they want from Jason/Sonny then it is about the danger.  Sam has been willing to raise a baby with Jason since basically the moment she met him.  Maybe she's finally gotten a clue?  But it seems almost out of character for her.  The only Sonny/Jason women who were completely fine with the mob were Lily and Claudia and they are both dead lol.  Literally every other love interest of theirs has had issues at times.   Robin, Brenda, Liz, Courtney, Kate, Olivia and so on and so forth all had problems with the mob violence so it's not like GH is breaking new ground.  But I am here for it if it breaks JaSam up and gives them something better to do than be dull.

22 minutes ago, Khan said:

 

Careful, Ron might hear you.   

I know, right?  Lol I do find Hattie extremely annoying and it disturbs me that she is used for comic relief when she's basically a psycho who made herself look like Marlena and tried to take over her life.  And Roman is kind of into that lol?  At least Sam would have some motivation to be a psycho, but Ron I don't wish that into existence lol

Reading through @beebsawesome Days recaps in the Days history thread, and I am wondering if anyone thinks it was short sighted to kill Samantha off?  I know her death and storyline were very good, but being Marlena's twin and all she could have popped in and out for years being a thorn in Marlena's side.  And given Marlena some non-Brady/Black relatives if Sam had children.   I don't know, it really didn't limit Marlena's storylines, but I think there was a lot of drama to be mined from Sam's character in general that ended so early on in Marlena's run.  I know DH's sister doesn't really act anymore, but Hattie should have just been Sam back from the dead somehow.

11 minutes ago, Gray Bunny said:

I started watching DAYS when Mark Valley was Jack, so he was the OG to me at the time. Yes, Missy's departure caused the Jack/Jenn/Peter triangle to be backburnered for the majority of 1996, but it wasn't until Jack was recast with blonde himbo Steve Wilder that the two were dreadful. Not to mention, the majority of 1997 had Jason Brooks gone and Mark Valley's Jack stuck in jail. The Jack/Jenn story was basically non-existent for at least half of '97. 

 

One thing that always bugs me about DAYS is they rarely make any indication of a recast. There's no voiceover as is usually done, nor any explanation onscreen as they used to do. I think it was Melissa Reeves' abrupt December 1995 departure where we saw the last time DAYS put a chyron on at the beginning of Stephanie Cameron's scene indicating the part would now be played by her. 

I give the whole thing a pass.  Where are you truly going to go when the Jack/Peter/Jen stuff involved such amazing stories as poison paint, jungle madness, and going on the run in the circus?  They got the worst stories by JER.  Worse than Bo/Hope/Billie and that's saying a lot.

2 minutes ago, titan1978 said:

Oh I hated her at the time.  But back then Missy’s Jennifer was one of my favorites, and she had just as much chemistry with Mark Valley as with MA’s Jack.  I think I even like Mark’s better at one point.

 

I could have taken another recast, but Missy brought a lot of spark and tenacity and could play the humor that both Jack’s were also good at.  They made excellent sparring partners.  Stephanie Cameron was just another soap heroine- incredibly bland.  The last couple of years of Reilly’s writing needed the stronger performers to sell the material, the recasts just didn’t pull it off well.  She’s like Peck’s Austin- attractive and there saying the words, but no character.

I can admit the first scene SC did as Jen was a continuation of a scene Missy was in the day before and it was jarring.  I never had a huge attachment to Jen/Missy or Jack/Jen, so it was probably easier to accept for me.  I think the show did fine on impossibly short notice and very awkward circumstances.  I truly think Corday thought Missy would be back sooner rather than later.  As far as MV's Jack goes, he was a decent actor he just played Jack differently.

Austin Peck?  Didn't bother me because he actually seemed like someone who would continuously fall for Sami's idiotic schemes.  And he had okay chemistry with CC.  After PM left, Austin was the definition of a bland, attractive soap hunk.  I am not saying he was good, he just wasn't even given much to work with.  He was dumbed down worse than John at that point and I think John took one of the hardest IQ hits under JER.

6 minutes ago, titan1978 said:

I have to say though, Genie Francis and Jane Eliot made me feel something that the overall production struggles at- honest emotion that felt real, in one hug.

 

I will be curious once Laura finds out this was mob violence- when Lucky died, she went scorched earth on Sonny, Jason, and Luke.  I’m sure that won’t happen this time.  She and Sonny are like best buds now.

They are truly actors who can rise up crap and poor production to make things work and bring emotion.  I am not sure Laura will go at Sonny/Jason, but I see no reason why Tracey wouldn't.  She's never been fans of them.

22 hours ago, amybrickwallace said:

 

My sister would totally have taken umbrage with Worst Triangle. She loved that story...OK, she loved Mark Valley as Jack. On the other hand, she would have agreed about Franco - she couldn't stand him!

 

I've heard of Olivia/Cameron on OLTL, but I don't know what her arc was or which characters she had story with. Can anyone fill me in?

She was only on for a few months, but she had a story with Kelly/Joey.  I think she worked for Cord, but was secretly spying or doing something for Dorian.  

I am not going to lie, I liked the Jen/Peter/Jack triangle until they recast Mark Valley.  Stephanie Cameron honestly didn't bother me much.  And I loved Jason Brooks.

12 minutes ago, ChitHappens said:

I forgot about the kid that always leaves me scratching my head.  Probably Benard's idea.

Not sure who's idea it was.  I always thought Benard was over having more of Sonny's kids on canvas.  I thought it was 1 or 2 things: to solidify Carson by giving them a living biological child or there was actually a plan to make it a story with having a special needs child and they dropped it.  Regardless, it became just a whole lot of nothing.

Yeah I think you can easily pair LW with someone else.  She has shown ability to spark with on screen love interests.  Her and Sonny just aren't where it's at lol.  I do think the show has boxed Sonny and Carly into a corner.  They need to permanently break them up, but I don't think MB will allow that.  I literally think the only way to get him to let go of Carson is VM as Brenda.  I am just not sure FV has the budget or desire to make that happen, so I guess we are stuck with them until GH is cancelled.  BTW, what happened to that kid they had?  Is she fine?  Do they even acknowledge her presence?  Donna Corinthos may win the award for the most useless, non story of a pregnancy ever.

19 minutes ago, ChitHappens said:

@KMan101I think CarSon is "untouchable" because Frank can't be bothered with them as a pairing or individuals but knows he can't get rid of them.  He just deals with them because of Benard.  LW and Benard are going down with this ship so Frank allows them to believe they are the patriarch and matriarch of GH.  I watch about twice a month and neither really has a story and haven't for quite some time.  Back in the day, they would have been toast.  

I am not really sure where you can go with Sonny and Carly.  They are past the point of a 3rd party love interest not named Brenda.  Maybe they could put Jax into the mix, but the show isn't really going there.  Carly has picked up some Brenda characteristics along the way and lost a lot of what made Carly different.

I agree that LW and MB are in it for the long haul, so the easiest thing to do is just keep them together.  It's true they don't really have a story, they are just inserted to others.  I think it's just a lazy way to keep a mildly popular couple together.  LW does try, but MB can clearly care less about the Carson pairing.  He doesn't even pretend to be into it.  But the last time I thought MB was into a performance was probably 2011-2012 when his marriage to Brenda broke up and some of the Kate/Connie stuff.  I guess he tried with the Mike stuff too.

I think the show could easily pair LW back up with Ingo, but Sonny doesn't really have anywhere to go.

12 minutes ago, Forever8 said:

Brenda Benet (Renee) passed away in real life.

Brenda Benet played Lee Dumonde.  Philece Sampler played Renee.  It did seem odd to kill Renee of so quickly because I think she was popular and popular with Tony.

GH:

Alan Q, Emily , AJ, Georgie Jones.  GH basically owns this thread.  Way to decimate your main family by killing them off one by one.  And also kill of a young, likable heroine with supercouple parents.  So short-sighted.

GH also tends to kill off heroines they invest a lot in when they don't work: Courtney, Kate 2.0, Sabrina, Chloe, Reese, Leyla, Abby (off screen being hit by a crane lol), etc.

7 hours ago, Vee said:

I just don't think Olivia, in concept or character, resembled Brenda in any way beyond having dark hair. She was obviously a Lois clone and why they didn't just cast her as Lois in the first place is beyond me. She did audition for it in the 2000s but Lesli Kay got the part. I think Reese was an original Pratt concept that bombed bc in Wuhrer they thought they were casting a "name" from his old Spelling soap days and primetime cable who has never been a good actress or capable of authority.

 

Annie Wersching (Amelia) went on to fame as Kiefer Sutherland's love interest and costar in the later seasons of 24. They stupidly killed her off in the final season.

 

I liked Kate a lot. It's a shame what happened. What's strange is how they quickly brought in Olivia with Dante in the wings as a spoiler for Kate and Sonny and suggested she, not Kate, was his true love, after setting up Kate/Connie and her background with him so carefully. It's like someone (Guza or whoever) didn't like Kate/Ward and decided they needed to hedge their bets and establish Olivia as having an equally strong backstory with Sonny. That always pissed me off.

That's fair.  I just think the close resemblance to VM made me immediately put Olivia in the Brenda category.  I guess if anything it proved that even young Sonny had a type.  Something had to be up with Megan Ward behind the scenes.  Skate was popular (ish) and she was great in the role.  And then they gave Olivia basically the same backstory except with a kid and recast with Kelly Sullivan.  It was wholly unnecessary for Sonny to have not one, but 2 previous great loves in his past that we had never heard of.  And then Ron gave Kate/Connie DID and killed her off and basically destroyed Sonny's last decent pairing.  I never heard anything bad about MW, but someone must have disliked her.

10 minutes ago, Vee said:

I don't think Olivia qualifies as a Brenda replacement; she was more a Lois pastiche (and silly, since Lisa auditioned for NuLois and was later paired with Ned; the character backgrounds are almost identical and Olivia knows Lois from Bensonhurst, but oh well, I like Lisa anyway). Reese I don't think had much resemblance beyond vague looks. The rest are def Brendabots.

 

 

That Kristin whatserface recurring player who was also a brunette lawyer like Claire, before? they brought in Reese, when Mo's onscreen cachet was at a particular low. Jordan was her name. Embarrassing. 

Olivia is more a Lois clone for sure.  But due to her looks and Sonny connection I put her in the Brendabot category.  Didn't LLC actually say they considered her as a Brenda recast?  And then the show dropped that idea obviously.  I don't hate Olivia or anything, but Kate literally could have filled the same role Olivia did and they could have made LLC Lois instead.

I can't really remember Reese or any of her characteristics that well.  But you are probably right.  The only thing I remember is thinking KW looked a lot like Jennifer Bransford's Carly and I would get them confused lol.  So we will just put her on the list of failed Sonny love interests.

I vaguely remember the lawyer Jordan.  Then there was Amelia?  The producer of Sam's stupid tv show that secretly hated Sam.  Also, there was Carly's divorce lawyer that Sonny slept with, but I truly can't remember her name.  They are all fairly interchangeable to me.  

I am not sure I can think of a leading man who struck out with more love interests than Sonny.  He basically has only had 2 successful pairings in 30 years.  If I am generous, I'll give him MW's Kate.  I liked them.