carolineg

IR as a person is just problematic. I try not to focus on it. I think there is a lot to say about Brenda truly realizing she loves Sonny, but doesn't like him at all. That was probably her best scene in her entire return. First love is so tricky, and while I think Sonny/Brenda are endgame it was very realistic. They had moved so far apart. The love was there but it was too much time. Jax/Brenda have always just clicked in such a more real fashion. Jax tends to not have the same baggage as Sonny in regards to exes and kids because most of his pairings were super disposable so I am okay with Brax. I truly believe if Brenda needed help or was in trouble Jax would be on it. Sonny would probably talk it over with Carly before making any action. Or send Jason 🤣 If Ingo/Jax left tomorrow, I don't think anyone would bat an eye if he said he was going to Rome to work it out with B. I kinda blame LW herself. That's how she plays it. I don't think SJB is the be all and end all. She failed a lot in other roles. But she was Carly and she was great at that. I prefer TB as Carly, but I would never argue SJB is the best Carly LW just made Carly into something completely different. She's great and gives it her all but she is almost playing a different character.

Yes. I do. In an actual world Brenda and Jax were super viable and it played in a way that you could see Brenda's dilemma. I don't even honestly consider Jax Brenda's 2nd choice. Just a more adult choice. Jax got jealous and ruined it twice over a couple of kisses. So I see them both as very much at fault. I don't think IR or VM lost any chemistry at all over the years. It could play on and on for years honestly. Brenda would appear wishy washy, but she already does so? Sonny and Brenda seem to always be chasing dreams (though I love it), but Jax and Brenda are the true rootable couple.

Yeah, lol. I used to think MB was DEAD sexy. Now I am like meh? I don't understand the mumbling and stuttering. He was perfectly capable of delivering lines in the 90's. I still think he is worth some good performances, but I actually think Vanessa brings more out of him. But he seems to respect her and what she brings to the table. Because he should. He would not even be a thing if he didn't happen to have some great chemistry with a young Bren. He literally would have gone down as a weird creeper that seduced Karen if not. So S&B being fire may or may not have ruined the entire trajectory of the show. Take that as you will lol

I really love Jason/Brenda. Just because they both love each other but annoy one another. I don't really understand why Carly doesn't annoy him because Brenda/Carly are both characters that are cut from the same cloth except one is spoiled and one is oh so brave because she is scrappy but whatever lol. The Brenda return had a laundry list of issues. The first being her forever stay in Rome basically talking to day players. The Dante/Brenda stuff wasn't the WORST idea. Because it's soapy, but it's not like either would have done anything wrong. They had no idea the other existed. It was just like Guza took his new favorite toy and paired it with it's old favorite and was like MAGIC!! But that wasn't the case. I am not huge on stars dictating the story. Although I agree with Vanessa stance, I don't like the idea she was actively working against her job basically lol. And I am a S&B shipper. I practically have S&B forever tattooed on my hip, but it should have been more organic. And I felt her and Jax had more spark than her and Sonny at a lot of points. I felt a lot of the sexy hotness of S&B was left out. The cackle obviously existed previously (moreso in her 2002 run), but it wasn't as distracting. This felt like a Vanessa nervous? weird habit. That's exactly where it should go. Sonny doesn't have to be only a 1 or 2 day player but Brenda, even as Sonny's wife, would work fine as that. Listen I would take SB and SK back in a heartbeat. Again why not? RH is on his 3rd character. Can 2 enormously popular characters get a re-do? I love LW, but she has long left the station as Carly the scrappy upstart, she is a soccer mom. Sonny and Brenda work together because Brenda has always been slightly unattainable to Sonny in his mind. And Sonny was the only man Brenda truly ever wanted. It still, after all these years, works on paper and with the actors, I think.

Loved Johnny and Olivia!! Her by far best pairing. Lol I would die if LLC just came back as Lois one day Why not? I am sure Vanessa could appear one day a week and it would be fine. You just put her back with Sonny and let it go from there.... Not that i need her to be with Sonny but that would make the most sense. I am fine with her with Jax too. Hell, she could just annoy Jason and I'd be good.

I mean Younger ended right lol? She seems a bit harsh for me to be Lois but I'd be open.

Yes. It clearly seemed like the pace was too much for her. But I also think she checked out after the Dante stuff. She relied a lot on charisma that didn't translate well and weird tics she never used before like the cackle. But I think she just felt awkward. Listen, she basically plays different versions of Brenda on every other acting gig she has ever taken so I think she can still play her, but most of the time it was weird. She was okay with her usual standbys: Jason, Sonny, Jax, Robin. Like I still felt she had legit chemistry with IR, KMC, and SBu. MB was hit or miss, but I thought their wedding was very sweet and so well deserved. I thought she did well with Sonny's kids too. She was decent with Chad, Lexi, the little kid that played Morgan and Molly (who's name is totally escaping me right now). Tracy is a yes for me too. And possibly Lois. They just need a good recast. I wish LLC had taken on that role, but I guess they offered her a Brenda recast before Olivia lol....That would have been something

Is there anyone you would have back under FV's GH 2021? My only thought is possibly Robin.

No I for sure didn't take it the wrong way lol. Brenda has been thrown under the bus for Carly and probably would be again. But we all know Carly is just a girl who built her life on Brenda's sloppy seconds...🤣

Brenda was never stupid. Someone that made dumb decisions sometimes? Yes. But they always portrayed Brenda as at least mildly intelligent lol. Same with Carly. She makes stupid choses all the time, but I think she's very savvy still. Frank may have his own personal bias, and whatever. But I don't know how it wouldn't be great optics to hire JJ or VM back? He'd be a practical hero if he got either one of those names..

True lol. But his aversion to popularity is weird. Brenda would never look stupid. THE END.

It seems stupid not to try? This isnt really relevant, but I work in Retail Talent Management and I see a lot of overqualified/overpaid candidates and you think they are out of your reach, but when you ask they accept all the time. From what I can tell, they aren't even inquiring or asking. To me it's seems like putting feelers out to both JJ and VM would just be a smart business decision.

I feel like Lucky's absence is noticeable. But even without a recast, casual mentions of him with the kids or being an active parent would help a lot. I don't understand the show at all. ME and RH can play multiple characters, but we can't have Vanessa/Brenda or JJ/Lucky? Perhaps JJ might be a harder get, but VM seems willing and able to make it happen. MB seems onboard. I can't believe VM is such an outrageous diva that Frank won't even go there. Maybe both are set. Las Vegas still airs on the E channel and I think Nashville is in syndication.

I was actually surprised/not surprised when I read that. Not surprised that JFP was awful to her, but AT landed quite a few roles right after GH so I assumed she just knew it was time to leave. It would be interesting to see the trajectory of the Emily character if she had stayed. I agree there would have probably been a Nik/Zander/Emily triangle, but CB and AT were so good together I doubt Nik would have won. I definitely don't see AT hanging out a Windemere as a pretty, pretty princess, but I could see her as a (more believable) doctor. I think AT would have done great with the cancer stories. Could Emily not have kids? It's strange she never had a pregnancy or child with Nik.

She chose to leave when her contract expired. It was rumored that JFP and her did not get along and JFP wouldn't give her time off for a project. They toyed with Nik/Emily a little under AT. I remember her kissing him, but it wasn't reciprocated.

He truly was. So anyhow, JY's casting seems to be controversial. It was a misfire whether or not it was for a 'hunkier, sexier' actor. Maybe someone in casting really thought he was great? But is JY's stint as Lucky that damaging for the character? I think GV's tenure was much worse for Lucky through no fault of GV's. The minute JJ came back Lucky gained 50 IQ points. I definitely hated how JY's Lucky treated Liz, but in the scheme of damage to LL2 that came much later. Is there outrage over the casting of NL as Emily? She much more beautiful in a traditional sense than AT and has similar limitations.

Which doesn't seem like a big ask? There were many ways to reunite them in an organic way and JJ coming back made it easier to accept some things that happened with the JY and GV recasts. Although Lucky saying Liz/Nik were "rutting like farm animals" was amazing. I died. That was a legendary line lol.

So many tears on JJ's return. So much time spent on Siobhan and Liz/Lucky went nowhere. Liz/Lucky may have been too damaged to repair at that point, but the show spent so little time on it. RH/JJ still sparkled together, but throwing Lucky into the Balkan mess was a miss. JJ wasn't great as a cop, but an undercover WSB spy did sort of work for me. As a child he was very savvy with computers, had a sense of fearlessness and adventure, and it does seem like something he might be into as an adult. Idk, he tried his best and got a few emmys for it. I wouldn't put the return in the miss category like Brenda's, but in the so-so pile. I guess it was just an attempt to sex Lucky and Lucky/Liz up a bit. Before this everything was pretty chaste and virginal with those two. And GH probably felt it was time to move them forward. IIRC, which I might not, there was a big push with that young adult scene around that time. I remember all those black/yellow ads they had and remember Liz/Lucky strongly featured. JY was just a strange choice. They easily could have found an actor with the qualities they wanted that had stronger chemistry with RH because she has chemistry with almost everyone.

I actually did sort of like Skye and Luke and completely forgot they happened. Listen, Emily and Courtney probably both needed a rest and I was thrilled when they killed Courtney off. But I think they easily could have shipped them both out of town for awhile. I just think all of Georgie, Emily, Courtney could be used effectively today. It was a short term ratings grab for Guza, but long term stories weren't thought about. Deaths like Stone, BJ, Lily etc had points and long term ideas. None of these deaths did. Even killing off all of Maxie's boyfriends, Logan, and Zander all seem so silly to me. I agree JJ was unlikely to be cast after he was a child/pre-teen. I would say the same for Amber Tamblyn. But is JY really that hot? He is no Greg Vaughn. Tyler Christopher was smoking hot, maybe not hired specifically for his abs, but c'mon he was pretty gorgeous @FrenchBug82

The writing for Emily was poor, but it got so much worse in general as the years went on Emily does not seem so bad. Emily is missed on this show. Maybe not NL, per se, but Emily being dead was and continues to be problematic. And her romance with Sonny was such a tiny blip on the radar does it even matter anymore. In the same way Georgie being killed was idiotic and so short sighted. She is very missed on today's show. Why were they killing off so many young, legacy heroines? Hell, as hated as Courtney is/was she could actually be used very well on the current canvas. And all 3 of them appear as freakin ghosts all the time they would probably having been willing to come back later down on the line. I am not defending JY, but the writing was horrible for Lucky. He was awful to Liz, hooked up with Sarah, then weirdly kept lying to Liz's face about wanting to get married. And let's be real, the only chemistry he had with anyone was his onscreen brother. So I think it's a mixture of bad acting and awful writing, but I didn't think JY even knew what to do with himself in the role. Just miscast

And you know, she started out okay. Her and AJ were pretty good. She took up so much airtime for those briefs years a 'wham!' killed off like it was nothing lol. Such an odd character and pairing for Guza/Frons to pick a hill to die on. I think she probably had the least amount of chemistry with SBu out of all his love interests.

Yeah I am pretty sure we didn't need TC in dual roles when he was hardly managing to play just one. Typical GH of the era, brutalizing woman and all that though. Emily was just a brat, but her attachment to Jason was the strangest. Everyone else made efforts with her and she just thought Jason was where it was at. I agree it was probably Guza's dig at the Q's but I also think we were supposed to find cute and sassy. NL's Emily was much closer to the family I think. Fair. That's true. He could have easily been Zander though. Wasn't it 2002? The year she only wore velour sweatsuits and UGG's and had that stupid dog? The only reason I vaguely remember the year is because I wanted funny Jason/Brenda shenanigan's with the Q's a we got that instead. Why did Frons and Guza like that character so much?

When she was pre-teen her exasperation at Edward or the Q's would annoy me. I mean these people did take you in when you had nowhere to go and our giving you a pretty good life. So shut it Emily! Fawn over Jason somewhere else! I did like her with Nik, Liz, and Lucky when they were teens and loved her with CB's Zander. Idk, Lucky just always seemed like the cooler pre-teen to hang out with. Or maybe Sly! Poor kid just disappeared. I know the Eckerts are not a thing to talk about after Monty, but they should have brought him back for that teen scene. Natalia Livingston was okay. There were times when I liked her and times I liked her less. I thought she did really well interacting with friends. She wasn't one of my favorites and the Sonny stuff was creepy, but time and being killed off brutally heals my old wounds. I just know some people hated her, and I am more in the meh? She's fine group.

So now I might sound like a Nik/Emily shipper and I am NOT. I don't think they were turning the audience off in a way that Sonny/Emily did or were flash in the pan like many of Nik's romances. I do think they had a decent fanbase. I am not sure if I can articulate this right, but they were one of the last couples on GH to get that fairytale writing and sweeping romance type stories. With Nik being a prince and her his princess. On the flip side their stories were crappy and they had her raped then killed her off but I think the intention of an old school romance was there. They didn't have fire chemistry or were my cup of tea, but at their best they were pretty look at and sweet. Outside of Gia, they certainly had better build up than any other Nik pairing. Idk, I could be wrong, but I wouldn't say the pairing was a flop just a good portion of their stories. Amber Tamblyn got on my nerves too. But I think I preferred her. She could be obnoxious though. I just never like the precocious child butting into business that wasn't for her and I feel like Amber played that for awhile. She got better as a teen.

He doesn't do anything! All he does is repeat the same stuff about Ciara like 4 days a week to different characters. Seriously what has Ben done in months? He is either being creepy with Ciara or talking to others about how creepily he's obsessed with Ciara. The show has a way out. Write him off with Ciara. That will make the Cin fans get a happy ending and they can come back and visit after a nice long honeymoon and break from our screens.