carolineg

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.

Yes, lol. John/Marlena fans bought sheets so J/M could have more love scenes-and they used said sheets for Steve/Kayla. It's hilarious that a fanbase bought sheets, but also that Days was so cash strapped they used them for a different couple! I don't agree with the show writing John/Marlena out. They had just reunited haphazardly slapped together at the end after months of RoboJohn-and he ended up paralyzed. It was clear Higley just wasn't a fan of the couple and Marlena specifically. Sacred couple or not, it alienated a large (for Days) fan base. I don't really mind the Kayla/Steve write out. They weren't doing much. I think it's silly to write out two main couples. The show was suddenly losing some foundation and adding characters that to me weren't relevant. I will never like Carly or Chappell so the entire return was unnecessary and just a blip on the Days radar for me. Ditching two main couples and breaking up the third main couple was never going to work and the timing of CC's hiring was right around the time Deidre and Drake were fired, so I always correlate it together. Which may or may not be fair. Some elements of that era worked, but most didn't which is why Days rebooted a few years later and went back to their main baseline. I can't say if creatively that was right or wrong but Days is still going, so probably?

I have always been vocal about my love for MB/Melanie. I thought she was refreshing on a depressing canvas although getting so many stories and romances was overkill. Daniel/SC seemed to be a weird hill for Higley to die on because he was fine in small doses I guess? I just don't know what stuck out for DH to make her think he was the LEADING man on Days material.

I have clearly never been a CC fan in any iteration of Carly, but her antics were absolutely a train wreck. It was fun to watch, but picking a fight with KA probably wasn't the best decision. The return in theory wasn't horrible at the beginning. It was a very big disappointment to me that Days fired Deidre/Drake and then Steve/MBE and were like well here's....Carly. Her first run was too long ago for most to care. Tying her to Melanie/Daniel was also strange. Like you said a darker Carly probably would have worked better since she killed Lawrence at the start, but I also thought that move was a mistake. You are sucking a lot of potential drama at out her killing Lawrence at the jump.

I think Steve bought into his own hype and Kimberly never did. I respect Geary for feeling one type of way but Luke was treated a lot differently than the others.

I believe Jason talked to it about Sam too. Maybe around the time of Michael's prison rape reveal or when Sam really wanted a baby? Kind of the same era though. Oh, I don't think Steve was some sort of innocent. I think he loved being the star and didn't advocate for his veteran co-stars. I also don't think he advocated for them to be fired either. He was just more complacent in the going ons at the time.

I tend to agree with this. The show did seem to actively make her more relevant right before she left though. I agree. I don't think it was at Steve's urging or that he even wanted it. So many different things can be blamed. Frons's directives, JFP hating veterans, Guza wanting the show to be the Sopranos AND both Steve and Mo loving being bada** mobsters. There was a point during the Monavie era that I thought a lot went to Steve's head and he had way too much pull. He seems mellowed and more open now to play more nuance.

I believe SM said she chose to leave. Not sure if that was Frank giving her the option to say that or the truth. It all seemed abrupt, IMO.

I did. It was so strange after all the years they knew one another and how close Emily/Nik/Lucky/Liz were that the show decided they had undeniable feelings for one another at that point. Then Lucas was being a bit petty with Britt. Britt is an unlikable human being so I get it. I just couldn't recall if there was a concrete reason that he disliked her (besides the fact that she's awful in general)

It safe to say I blocked out everything about Liz/Nik as a romantic pairing so I don't remember that. I thought Lucas did like Britt because of Brad. Did Britt help with the Wiley switch in some way? Nina was offering so much without strings and Britt was just being stubborn and "independent" only to take Jason's charity and complain about it. Liesl also would have been quite helpful to Britt in getting her meds. So Britt was actually risking her health by being a brat. I still really don't know why Carly/Britt dislike one another. Carly hates everyone female Jason interacts with so it checks out, but I thought she was grateful to Britt because she saved Joss's life. Britt hates Carly because???? Jason runs to save Carly, which isn't really Carly's fault. There isn't any reason for them to rivals at all.

If there has to be a Charlotte in existence I do like this actress much better. Agreed. The writing with Lulu is slanted against her. GH thinks Britt being "britch" is hilarious. If they try to sell RP as anything other than a walking mannequin it will be laughable. At least he's good looking. I don't even know what Liz and Lucas have against Britt, so I am just going to assume it's valid and that I don't care.