carolineg

It was just a weird, rushed ending for Brenda/Jax and horrible for their fans. Jax even offered her a million dollars to leave town. I *think* the original plan would have been to have J/B get married and then for Sonny/Brenda to fall into an affair or something and then it would follow the basic beats of what became the Sam story with the baby and Jason. Ooof to the Summer stuff. Now that you are telling me this it is sort of coming back to me. It was just a very b story at the time. Didn't Summer tragically die?

Jax dumped Brenda at the altar after she kissed Sonny and she left town. It wasn't all that dramatic, but a crappy thing for Jax to do knowing her history.

Yes. I remember it now. Luke/Lucky were really not doing anything very good back then but I guess Genie leaving left the show in a lurch (rightfully). Do you think the show was willing to let Genie go easily because they got Vanessa? Worked out well lol

I don't remember the details of the story but I remember it being awful. A hooker in a love triangle with father/son? I have no affection for Courtney/Jason, but I didn't mind them back then. Or maybe I just giggled when she looked so sad after Brenda/Jason got married. I liked early LiRic a lot as well.

It was so good! Must see tv at the time. It's not a surprise the ratings reflected that. Almost every story was decent too except for the Lucky/Luke/Summer stuff. It did begin to drag during the Luis trial, but I do think Guza was going to ramp things back up with Brenda/Sonny/Jason after that if VM didn't leave.

Haha! I always crack when Skye calls her a manipulative, lying, man stealing, illness faking whore. It's a good scene. I always forget that Jax/Skye lived at Alexis's house before it was Alexis's. RC plays a good drunk.

I didn't love her as an insta-Q and it did feel like she was immediately part of the family knowing none of the history. I did like her relationship with AJ. I was actually annoyed they de-Qed her, not because I had investment in that, but because they did it to pair her with NED. Skye was just an odd fit for OLTL and GH and Guza never knew what to do with her. Skye was everywhere and in the strangest pairings. Anyhow, the potential of Jax/Skye was there but it moved so fast and everyone knew it stood no chance against a Brenda return. I may have broke Jax/Skye up before Brenda and given Jax/Brenda other obstacles (non-third party) and saved Skye for post-Brenda Jax. I'd be fine with Skye popping in now and then and bringing Lila Rae on canvas now as well.

To me, RC is very cold as an actress. Very old Hollywood. I never really connected with her as Skye. And while I liked Jax/Skye and thought they had good chemistry, the whole romance felt super rushed so they could be married before Brenda came back. On the other hand, the Brenda/Jax/Skye stuff really gave RC some of her best material on GH and some of her best scenes are with VM. The scene where Brenda hands a drunk Skye a drink is one my favorites. It was a brutal and bitchy take by Vanessa, but Robin was excellent.

Yeah, I am pretty sure that's the general consensus. Robin was very good that year with the Jax divorce and falling off the wagon. I never was a big RC/Skye fan, but that's why I said VM won for being VM. I am not sure her material in 2002-2003 stood up to the other nominees, but more of an overall thanks for her popularity. This was probably Vanessa's best work. It's a shame RC never got another chance for an Emmy because she really was a good actress.

Uh, I hate the Brenda breakdown story! I think the quieter moments were okay and there is a decent scene at Lily's grave that I think she submitted for the emmy, but the OTT actual breakdown ruined it all for me. I don't think her getting over the breakdown was handled well either. How did she get better? Jax's support? Having a one sided conversation with Lily's gravestone? HATED IT. VM was better in the Stone AIDS/Sonny wire break up stuff and her 2002 return stuff. There wasn't a chance in hell she would win that emmy in 1998 on the strength of material. I think every actor she was against had better work that year. There was a possibility she could have won on popularity alone, but I never thought she was a favorite. @BetterForgotten Julia Barr was the winner. The nominees were Julia, Amy Carlson, Amy Ecklund, Vanessa, and Victoria Rowell that year. At least she got her Popularity Emmy in 2002 so I am sure Vanessa is fine with that.

For sure. I can't even think of a female established lead in that age range besides Carly that was popular in 1999. Anyone the show tried from 1995 until 1999 was a dud-Lily, Miranda, Gina Cates, Hannah, Chloe, and Angel all spectacularly bombed (one literally). Lois, Brenda, Robin, and Keesha (I think?) were gone and they put Karen on PC instead and every good hire was either younger or slightly older. In fact if you think about it PC got all the good 20 something GH new hires in that era with Eve, Julie, Karen, etc so that might be a casting issue as well.

The teen scene under Levinson was really good I have to agree. I think that time period was good for new cast members, but the show was in flux with losing a lot of it's 80's stars. I remember Holly in particular doing nothing exciting at all. I think most of Guza/Riche was solid. 1997 without Guza and 99 being full of misses as well. In GH's defense, they lost a lot of key characters at the time due to actors just leaving so I can't blame it all on them. Lucky, Nik, and AJ were misses, but they weren't awful and it was a mistake to try to so obviously try to replace Vanessa and then lose KMC shortly there after, but they were suddenly stuck without any heroine's in that mid 20's age range besides Carly. Lol! I can't remember what I did 4 hours ago, but I can tell you all about the time Katherine Bell took over Deception and tried to replace Brenda with a blonde or the names of Lois's brothers and the girl that dumped Sonny at the Prom. It is a disease. I remember having to ff scenes with characters I hated and hoped I could find the right spot where I wanted to pick up the story again. Youtube really is the best. I really appreciate those people who did those edits for couples and characters and sold tape and now upload to you tube. That's true dedication. GH is mostly intact, but it kills me some of those amazing Days playlists got deleted. There was some amazing stuff. I used to love the Marlena ones that told her whole story practically.

No. I guess I just made that up. I thought a Jerome was part of "The Cartel" but that is not true according to the internet. I also tend to get Cheryl and Jenny Eckert mixed up in my mind as far as their histories and stuff too.

Isn't there a fairly strong Jerome family link with Bill too or am I crazy? It was all very silly and awful, but for some reason I think it could have worked I am just not sure how exactly. I think there are enough pieces there and if they brought Julia in and then Jenny, Paul, maybe a Brenda cameo it could have connected a lot of the canvas. I have never, ever been a big Luke fan, but that exit was just awful.

What did Cartullo have to do with it? I can't remember. I think in theory Luke being Bill could have been interesting, but it would be way too difficult to keep it secret since everyone he interacted with was off screen and largely forgotten at the time. And he needed those people to make the story motivation work.

1997 was really bad when Guza left and Richie was starting up PC, but overall yes. It was solid up until 2003ish with JFP maybe even until 2005-2006 to be honest.

The first scene SJB Carly/Brenda ever interact in is at the police station with Sonny in 1997 during the Tin Man stuff. They exchange pleasantries like they are at least aware of one another and Brenda asks Carly if she has a ride home. I think Jason, Sonny, Brenda, and Carly were all brought in to the Police Station. There is one more scene aside from the above where Carly/Brenda are snarking at each other around her breakdown where Carly says something about Brenda needing a designer straightjacket or something. I'd have to go through a Carly playlist to find it. They did interact at group functions like the Docks Gala and I believe the Nurses Ball, but after the first interaction they always disliked one another although their scenes had very little substance. Most of the Jason/Brenda stuff during that era was Jax/Brenda or Brenda yelling at Jason over Robin/Sonny. Carly was obviously in the picture, but not of much consequence to Brenda or Jax. I have a really good memory and I had all the S&B/Brenda edits on VHS and watched them a million times when I was 18 or 19 and had my own place and no cable before youtube existed lol. If a character interacted with Brenda between 1992-2003 I probably could tell you about it.

Mac really does get the short end of the stick in romances. He never even got a child of his own. He just raised everyone else's (not discounting his huge role in those kids lives-they consider him a second father), but it's weird for a soap to never give a long running character like that zero bio kids. She didn't seem very formidable against Brenda, especially when she got all weepy and insecure every time Sonny and Brenda were in the same room. But in her defense, in this scene she literally thought Brenda was dead for years up until that moment and I didn't think her reaction was bad. I do think SJB and even LW's Carly would have at least more of a bravado of confidence that TB didn't against Brenda. TB was good against Sam, Alexis, Reese, et all though. Idk, I think TB's vulnerability worked for Carly in that period of her life. But, obviously, girl should be afraid of Brenda🤣 Not a fan of that VM hairstyle. Sometimes it looked good but sometimes it looked like a frizzy mess. It looks good on TB because her hair can look really thin and flat though.

It was basically an adventure story that started with Lila's memoirs then somehow led to Felicia/Luke teaming up to find Faison and possibly deadLucky and Felicia and Luke ended up having an affair/one night stand. The trial is for Stefan's death which he faked for reasons I can't remember. That is the shortest version you will ever hear of all the events but it's all you really need to know. It was dumb.

I think the idea of Luke/Felicia solving a mystery and going on an adventure started out okay and I remember liking them as friends just fine. Was it Geary that pushed the pairing? Or was it Guza? Or both? There was no way to do the romance without Felicia and Luke looking bad, but the show went out of it's way to tell everyone how awful Felicia was in every way and just doubled down on the notion. Like Felicia was the only one in the wrong.

It was obviously a bad look for both Luke/Felicia, but it really wrecked the Felicia character and began her descent into cheater, bad mom, selfish person, etc. It made her easy to marginalize later on because a lot of the audience wasn't there for her anymore. I don't think Felicia ever recovered from this as a character. It was that unpopular and that awful.

I remember they went as far as Sonny calling Brenda and asking her a bunch of questions about Julia/Barrett Industries. I didn't know they were in talks with Carson and Richardson, but they were named dropped a lot, which made the whole thing entirely obvious to viewers since none of them (including Julia) had been mentioned in years. I still wish we could have Sly. He could fall for Liz.

Maybe, but Julia was older and so unlike Brenda. She also disliked Sonny and 99% of Brenda's choices where Robin was more in awe of Brenda and S&B's #1 cheerleader. Maybe Lois made her more obsolete due to her pairing with Ned and more grounded reality of Sonny and his life. There were also characters like Katherine, Lucy, and Alexis that filled similar positions as far as careers and love interests in that age range.

I am sure we've had this discussion before, but I liked Crystal Carson/Julia. I liked her with Bill (I know), Ned, and SK's AJ. She fit well in her 1998 return. I think CC retired from acting to teach in the 90's, but it's a role that was surprisingly never recast if that was so. I am sure the show could have easily found someone to play Julia and someone that actually looked like VM's sister in the 90's. She had enough connections and the show alluded to her knowing/dating OG Jerry Jacks back in the day. Also, how Cooper Barrett was not related to the other Port Charles Barrett's is one of the stupidest decisions ever by GH lol.

I don't remember how long ago we heard it, but I think the speculation at the time was that he was Paulina's abusive ex, so it couldn't have been that long ago. What are these popping soap boards that are so fun? Most soap boards have like 10 posts a day and I can't think of one that is super pro days and Ron.