carolineg

21 hours ago, ironlion said:

@victoria foxton Thanks for the clip. In sheer coincidence, I just decided to watch Brenda's breakdown storyline from around this same time period.

 

I find it interesting that Sonny left Brenda at the altar to protect her from his lifestyle, yet a few years later he moves Carly and Michael into his penthouse. I do recognize however, they only had Sonny do so because Maurice was going to leave the show temporarily.

 

I wonder what would have became of Sonny and Brenda had Vanessa not left the show that year. ( Sonny and Carly may have never happened, if they didn't pair Carly with Jason, Carly might have run out of storyline and been off the canvas when Sarah Brown left).

 

I do enjoy Sonny and Brenda as a couple but I must recognize that Jax, though he has his ways about him, is probably better for Brenda than Sonny. Sonny seems to consume Brenda's entire being. With Jax, yes she has a degree of dependence on him , but she appears stronger and more of her own person. 

 

Though I prefer Brenda to Carly as Sonny's woman, Carly is admittedly more capable of handling the mob drama.

 

Finally, there were several missed opportunities with a Brenda/Jason pairing. They had a lot of chemistry during the high school years, in 1998, way more in 2002 during their fake marriage plot, and there was still a lot there in 2010. 

Brenda's breakdown story is probably my least favorite Brenda story ever (yes, including the Balkan).  The actual breakdown is very cringe worthy acting wise and I hated that Sonny leaving her basically led her to spiral into a mental breakdown.  Though I did like the way it brought her and Jax back together.

I think if Vanessa had not left the show they would have kept her with Jax for awhile, although I assume Sonny and Brenda were always the endgame.  I don't think VM leaving would have effected Carly's airtime or story.  She could have had a legendary love/hate relationship with AJ for years.   In fact , thinking about it, Vanessa staying would have probably helped the show stay on track.  Sonny/Brenda/Jax and AJ/Carly/Jason seemed to be the more appropriate triangles and losing both VM and KMc at nearly the same time sorta left SB's Carly as the only viable younger leading lady so she got all the story instead of just leading her own story which probably indirectly caused  Carly to become the lead she is today.

I think Brenda/Jax/Sonny are legendary and Carly/Sonny/Jax can't even hold a candle to that triangle, but I am not sure either pairing would be anywhere close to viable today.  Maybe Brenda/Jax?  The only way I see Brenda and Sonny getting back together is as an endgame pairing when GH ends which I am here for.

Jason and Brenda were going to be paired in 2002.  I heard the same thing @titan1978 did.  Sam's story back then was basically a slightly reworked version of the Brazen/Sonny story they planned before Vm left.  I always wonder how Brenda having Sonny's baby and falling for Jason would have effected the show.  I assume it would have ended at some point with Carly/Jason and Brenda/Sonny.  It was always a missed opportunity to not pair Jason and Brenda but the timing was never right.  Jason and Brenda always had a weird almost sexual energy to them even when they were bickering and fighting and I think Sbu and Vm play off each other well.  It's one of the few times StoneCold's lack of emotion and SBu's bored acting choices actually worked in a pairing.  

Oh well it was not to be.  But seriously I could think of 10 characters to drop from current GH just to bring Vanessa back.  Watching Brenda in super long sleeves cackling, making out with Sonny, and fighting with Jason is still more entertaining than anything on the current show

1 hour ago, Soapsuds said:

Terri Conn ...Katie - ATWT....show host on QVC

 

 

 

 

I think she's been doing this for awhile now.  Maybe a year or so.  I mean someone in the family has to work....

That's so sad.  I really loved TC as Nik and addiction is such a horrible disease.  This sounds like he is hitting rock bottom.  There may be more going on than we know and it may be financial, but I would think he would be okay considering where he is living and the fact he worked steadily for 20 plus years.  Even if he has been struggling with addiction since he was a teen, it seems to have gotten much more serious in the last couple of years.  I don't remember hearing about him having issues before Days (which doesn't mean they didn't exist he may just have been more functioning).  I really hope he gets the help he needs for himself and for his family.

5 hours ago, titan1978 said:

It was a fragrance company at first.  By the time it was a cosmetics company I’m pretty sure Jax had taken it over from Lucy.  Laura and Carly were fighting over it at one point if I remember correctly, with Sonny siding with Carly over Laura.  It was during the brief period after Guza was fired but before Phelps replaced Riche.

 

I am pretty sure Jax did not take over Deception.  Katherine was still running Deception when Jax hired Lucy and stole Brenda away from Deception to have them both work at Jax Cosmetics.  And that's where Lucy/Brenda worked until Brenda had her breakdown.   I am not really sure what happened to Jax Cosmetics..  I assume Jax still owns it?

I am very unclear about what Deception is/sells.  Wasn't it just fragrance back in the day?  Is it a makeup line too?  A spa?  And whatever happened to Jax cosmetics?  Didn't Lucy run that too?  

6 minutes ago, ranger1rg said:

Am I the only one who doesn’t think Cynthia Watros is doing a good job playing Nina? I’ve liked her in everything else, but this just isn’t working for me.

Nina is just a crappy character.  I think CW is trying to figure out how to play a basically lame character and MS was just distracting us with scenery chewing and hammy performances.  That said, MS had better chemistry with Ingo and JPS.  I think I might prefer her Nina, but I think Nina is wholly unnecessary and can go anytime.  CW just doesn't click with any of the cast members and is pretty painful with Jax, which is surprising, as I usually think he has pretty good chem with his leading ladies.   So I think CW is a good actress-she just really can't rise above this awful character.  It's not like she's getting Annie Dutton material here.

On ‎10‎/‎8‎/‎2019 at 8:12 PM, ironlion said:

IMO Guza under Riche beats Guza under Phelps. Guza in general beats anyone who's been writing GH post 2014, and that's an unfortunate statement considering the damage he did to that soap.

 

Growing up in the 2000s, I thought GH was the bomb until I watched older episodes online and realized what I was watching was a far cry from what came before. The contrast between 90s and 00s GH became fully evident to me when I saw numerous classic episodes during the 50th anniversary marathon.

 

Case and point, the mob plots had more weight and impact to me from 93-95ish, I believe under Levinson then Labine. The mob stuff was wayy more serious with plots like breaking Frank Smith out of jail, and Luke's house getting shot up. There were earthy concequemces and not as much of the glorification of Sonny as we see today. The mob plots today lack any sort of dramatic impact, they're almost comical to say the least. The last time any mob drama hit hard for me was when Michael got shot in 2008, or the Metro Court fiasco in 07. 

I have to agree Guza's GH is miles better than GH now and that's saying a lot.  By the end he was out of ideas and plagiarizing himself.  Even though a lot of his stuff in the end was bad, at least stuff happened.  Nothing ever happens of GH anymore.  Guza was at least good at big events.

I honestly think GH was pretty good creatively until about 2003-2004. The Courtney/Jason/Carly/Sonny stuff was overkill and that's when I feel like the mob glorification really began.  Obviously,  Sonny/Brenda began the Sonny is awesome narrative, but the Carson early years really took that to a new level and pushed the Jason is a hero hitman agenda that still haunts us today.

On ‎10‎/‎8‎/‎2019 at 7:18 PM, titan1978 said:

She left him pretty well set up, it was just the beginnings of it all, and not fully developed plots.  But he did not inherit a bunch of stories already deep in motion.  His complaints are funny because when he came back, he famously wrapped up nearly everything as a ghost writer before his first official show back, when Nikolas was shot outside Luke’s because he hated everything.

 

Bobbie’s flashback/dreams with babies crying, Jason was firmly in Robin’s orbit, his accident, and Jax were all Labine’s last plots. He took them in different places than she would have (Jax was meant for Lois, etc).

 

But when you look at her last six months, the show was kind of meandering and had lost a lot of momentum with Stone’s death.  It had so dominated for months.  That story took the wind out of the sails of the show for a bit when it ended, IMO.

I agree the show was a little meandering and very dreary.  It was really heavy watching all of those death, cancer, accident stories right in a row.   There wasn't a whole lot of romance either. Kevin and Lucy are the only couple I can think of that were light hearted and happy.  Luke/Laura and Ned/Lois were together at this point I think, but both couples had a lot of back and forth between them. Sonny and Brenda had broken up and were being awful to one another plus we had to watch them with Lily/Miguel,  the q's were upset about Jason, everyone was sad about Stone.  It felt like 75% of the characters were miserable for several months, but I will say the Labine era and early Guza was probably the last great era of the show. 

I also think that Labine had a pretty solid idea where she wanted to go with Bobbie, Jason/Robin, Sonny/Brenda/Lily before she left. Some of the Luke/Laura stuff he probably took in his own direction and the Ned/Lois/Jax stuff which had to change because RS decided to leave.  So basically, I thinking all he changed was bringing the Cassadines back, inserting Jax into Sonny/Brenda, and writing Lois off.  Every other story seems firmly in place and I can't think of any stories that suddenly shifted direction when Guza started.

I would be sad if GH got cancelled.  Yeah, it's basically unwatchable now, but it gave me some great memories as a kid/teen.  It gave me my favorite soap opera character of all time: Brenda Barrett.  It gave me Sonny and Brenda-who I was obsessed with in the 90's.  I don't watch regularly, but there is something comforting for me to see Sonny, Carly, Jason et al if I want to at 2pm everyday.  I honestly think GH should do a time jump like Days and just drop 75% of the cast.  The show isn't aggressively bad it just so boring.  I don't know I just hope there is some way to fix it before it's gone forever

Liked that episode too.  Sarah is such a dud.  So boring. Elizabeth makes her interesting.  And RH is so beautiful.  Julia and Brenda were adorable and Jax and V were cute too.  I felt like they were going there but didn't?  NLG looks better now than she did 20 years ago.. And the Stefan, Luke, Alexis, Katherine Bell stuff is basically zzzzz..  Although MBE looks amazing.  Even though Jax and Brenda did nothing of importance that last scene was very sexy and intimate.  Why can VM sell all the scenes in 1997 but is awful in 2010?

12 hours ago, Vee said:

I know it was much rumored that in the original "Fluke" mess planned on GH a few years ago, Julia, Sly and Jenny would all make appearances. It was clear Fluke was initially Bill due to his veiled references to the Eckerts, the Barretts and making Tracy pay for what she did to his sister (Jenny).

 

When fans figured the twist out and Tony Geary went out for extended medical leave, Ron Carlivati threw out the outline and turned it into cut-rate DID. Sigh.

Yes!  I remember Sonny and Sean? his bodyguard talking about Barrett industries and I think Sonny actually called Brenda off screen to talk about it and it went nowhere. It's a shame because even though the characters weren't the best it would have tied the story together better

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCNpPbmgIPSTE0P4nHXwHrsg

For those who love Julia it looks like Crystal Carson has uploaded most , if not all, of her scenes as Julia including the late 90's stuff on you tube . 

GH saddled her with Bill for too long but she was enjoyable with both Ned and AJ.  It's so strange to me they basically got rid of her and never brought her back considering she had strong ties to a lot of characters that dominated the mid to late 90's.  I didn't like Bill and Julia together because he seemed too old for her although I am not clear how old Julia is.  Did they ever establish that?  She can't be more than 5-7 years older than Brenda because they had clear childhood memories and interactions together but she acted like she was in her 30's.  Plus she's only 2 years older than VM. 

Anyway, Bill sucked but Jenny was my least favorite Eckert.  She was the worst.  Hated her and Ned.  Hated her and Paul.  Hated everything about her.   I liked Sly though.  They should have brought him back as a teen to be in the Lucky/Liz/Emily/Nik teen scene

On ‎9‎/‎17‎/‎2019 at 6:38 PM, victoria foxton said:

https://youtu.be/ypSOa49IvR8  General Hospital (October 28, 1997)

Thanks! I really enjoyed this episode even though nothing truly important happened.  So many good characters.  The Q's!, Alan's increasing drug addiction, Bobbie being a good friend, Emily and Monica having a true heart to heart, SJB's Carly and her schemes, Aj, Keesha, and Julia (love Julia!).  The weakest link was Jax and Brenda who were pretty boring and having the same conversation about Sonny they have in various forms for the next 6-9 months ( who am I kidding they have this same conversation about Sonny in various forms for the next 20 years) The Q's add so much.   It's weird because I remember thinking 1997-1998 was a mess for GH at the time except for Carly/Tony/Aj/Jason.  Mb had left and the Brenda breakdown story was awful and Port Charles had just started so things were a little weird, but the show was actually good.  Also I wished they kept CC as Julia-she was great.  And young Amber Tamblyn was great as well.  I actually want to see the next episode

I think they were both awful but things happened under Guza.  They had events and the show wasn't as dreadfully boring as it is now.  Sonny/Carly weren't written great, but I never found them as dull as I do at this point.  By the end Guza was a hack, but he did write some good stuff (Clink/Boom, Brenda's 2002 return, early Carly, the Cassadines reappearance etc).  I don't think the show fell off the rails until about 2005/2006. The only thing I liked about Ron was his 50th anniversary stuff.  And that was probably just from the nostalgia of the returns and the Nurses Ball coming back.  So if I am choosing the lesser of 2 evils it would be Guza with an EP like Wendy Riche that reigns him in.

5 hours ago, rlj said:

Why is everyone acting as if Tony and Kristen are real siblings and weren’t married before?

 

This Kristen reveal was just as good as the one months ago, deja vu , just saying!

I think people are acting appropriately skeeved out by Tony/Kristen now.  Whether it was Andre or not, people were not grossed out at all by the fact they got married in 1994 or 1995.  It was hardly mentioned but I always thought it was super creepy whether or not they were actually blood related.  It was just weird.  Weirder than John being a priest or devil possession? Probably not, but strange that it was played as a lovestory, at least on Tony/Andre's part.

I would guess Sarah to be about 35?  So older than linsey  but younger than Sarah should be.  Sarah's age doesn't really bother me when  I don't feel like she has a huge or memorable past to draw from.  She was basically a fairly blank slate character that hadn't been seen or really mentioned in over 2 decades.

I would have to agree that EM and MM's Brady and Belle seem too old especially when they reference past stories like Sami selling Baby Belle on the black market when MM and AS look they same age.  Really Brady, Belle, Paul, and Will should all be close to the same age but they are clearly 15-20 years older.  It's an odd choice.  Honestly I think AS and Christie Clark look a lot younger than EM and GV.

When the most exciting thing about the show to me was Lucy mentioning she wants to re-launch Deception, you know you have a writing problem.   In regards to Sam, you really can't tell me she is this bad ass chick when she needs to be saved by Jason every 5 mins

I find Eric Marstolf very bland.  Roark Critchlow's Mike was the definition of bland

Chase and Nathan from GH.

All those bland guys on GH in the mid 2000's that Maxie and Lulu dated :  Jesse, Cooper, Logan

This isn't at all racy in the explicit sense, but I always thought it was so scandalous and hot that John and Marlena just had sex on a conference table fully clothed with an open door.   Who knew Doc was so kinky?

I thought the scenes were Brenda and Jagger first had sex on GH and she pulls out a condom were pretty racy, but I was young and would have to see it again.   There was also a Jax/Brenda kiss scene that was banned in Canada because of very obvious tongue action in 1998.  I think it was when she proposed to him when she was nuts but I can't remember now.

Didn't the entire CBS lineup start showing male butts for a minute?  That had to be kind of racy.

2 hours ago, SamandWillowFan said:

I agree that Avery was unnecessary, but the twins who play her are adorable so I'm ok with her now. Though I'm hoping this baby Carly is carrying is not born. Especially since Michael will be making Carly a grandmother when he gets his son back.

They should have made Avery Morgan's but whatever.  To me, Sonny as a character was overall more weakened by his womanizing ways and getting everyone pregnant than the mob nonsense.  I always thought 90's was a fairly loyal guy and apparently he learned nothing about safe sex from the death of his best friend from AIDS.  Stupid decision for the character.  I am sure Guza and MB thought it made Sonny look manly but it makes him look like a joke.

4 hours ago, Dr Neil Curtis said:

It baffles me that Shawn & Belle only have Claire, you would think they would have had another well going all around the world. And to think a Kiriakis would give a child up to the system. Tyler need to come do a corporate takeover of Titan. 

It is kind of weird Shawn and Belle only have one kid.  Almost all days big couples have two except John and Marlena.  But they have been basically off screen since Claire was pretty young so Idk.  The Tyler/Pocket story is one of the worst ever.  What a silly loose end to just leave hanging and never mention again.  And Phillip still has no kids.

18 hours ago, xtr said:

 

I have to say I do love seeing all the different generations and bonds on soaps, that happen when couples have several children. And they branch out and have their own families and ties. Like on Days when you see all of the generations interact. There is something special about that. Like when several generations gathered for Caroline's funeral and seeing several of the Hortons interact. Especially at family events/special occasions.

 

Though on the other hand there are some characters who keep getting saddled with kids and really shouldn't have any more. Like Sonny on GH. Sonny should have stopped having kids like 10 years ago, lol. IMO, they should have definitely stopped giving him kids after Dante. (Heck, the argument could be made they shouldn't have even made Dante his son. I know I was one that didn't like them giving him another child with Dante at first.)

 

IMO, Sharon on Y&R doesn't need any more kids. And neither does Nick in any form or fashion.

Sharon and Sami from Days were both unnecessarily saddled with too many children very young.  Sami was a grandmother by the time she was like 35 lol.  But someone like Carrie had her one and only child off screen.  Weird.

The problem with Sonny on GH isn't really the amount of kids (which is excessive) but the time frame.  For the first 7 years on the show he remained childless (except for the Lily explosion baby) and was basically in love with the same woman.  Then from 2000-2010 he impregnated Carly, adopted Michael, had Kristina, impregnated Sam,  had Morgan, impregnated Claudia, and found Dante.   That is a ridiculous amount of baby/child stories to give a character in a 10 year period, especially with his revolving door of female partners.  I would never had made Dante his son, certainly wouldn't have given him Avery, and have no idea why we are watching Sonny and Carly have a kid now.

Stefano would be my guess too.  But Sonny Corinthos has to get some award

1. Dante

2. Lily's dead baby

3. Carly's dead baby

3. Kristina

4. Morgan

5. Sam's baby

6. Claudia's baby

7. Avery

8. Carly's current baby

plus Michael

That's a lot too and I am probably missed some and unlike Stefano all but one of these kids happened on screen.

5 hours ago, Wendy said:

 

Except EVERYBODY on GH kisses Sonny's ass, so... *Shrug*

Agreed and she was a Sonny and Jason apologist long before the entire town was. It's not like it was a new personality trait.  And I don't think she stopped being their apologist when they met Carly.  She just didn't like Carly.  I get it.  I don't like Carly.  Anyway, I think Scrubs was a pretty well crafted romance and had 2 good actors in KMc and JT and they actually had chemistry with another.

23 hours ago, amybrickwallace said:

Agreed about Robin/Patrick for the reasons @Wendy and @carolineg listed - and for the fact that their couple name was not only not a stupid mashup of their first names but a direct nod to their work as doctors (Scrubs). I'm also glad that they didn't stick Robin with The Borg again.

Lol. I secretly loved Jason and Robin in the 90's. Those ads about the boy with no past and the girl with no future.  Loved it.  I was however grateful that an adult Robin was able to stay from a dangerous relationship that was done and move on with someone who was basically a good person.  It was one of the few times a gh leading lady returned to the canvas and moved on from her most prominent love interest with no looking back.

15 hours ago, SamandWillowFan said:

He's still very attractive. I like the idea of the two of them together. I also loved the Jax and Hayden reveal today.

I was surprised by the Jax/Hayden reveal until I thought about it.  She is totally his type.  Although, pause, they met in Rome.  Either Rome is the ultimate GH off screen hangout or Jax/Brenda were a thing up until recently? Because I doubt Jax is just hanging in Rome, not seeing Brenda, and learning Italian and meeting petite brunettes.

Robin and Patrick for GH was the first I could think of and I didn't think they were that great, but they had chemistry and a pretty good build up to their romance.

Emily/Zander, Kate/Sonny, Lulu/Dante, and Maxie/Spinelli all started out really well, but became pretty crappy after good beginnings

I also thought Belle/Shawn and Chloe/Phillip were decent as teens in the early 2000's on Days

Leo/Greenlee on AMC

That's about all I could think of and that list isn't great