carolineg

I remember them being trapped on a roof for what seemed like days arguing over Gia vs. Liz as the Face of Deception. Which both Carly/Laura were above. I don't remember Mac/Laura teases but I think Mac got shopped around to everyone. I think we all recall the years we were supposed to pretend Mac and Alexis could be a thing.

You have so much good insight about Luke/Laura. I tend to feel like she was more sidelined than she was during the early Guza years because my strongest memories are more Luke based due to the fact he was prominent in the Sonny/Brenda story. Absolutely. I remember SOD reporting and Sarah was like lol everyone loves everyone here. Which was the right move at the time. 2003 was awful-fell apart by March. I always chalked it up to Guza having an entire Brenda/Jason/Sonny saga planned out. I had no idea he left for personal reasons.

It's been so long but I think Vanessa just calls out ABC daytime in general for not meeting her needs with a young child so that could be the case. I think JFP was really the one making most of the public statements about it and it came off canned and cold so she might just get the de facto blame. I don't specifically remember Vanessa ever saying Jill's name and just using broader terms for her departure. History leads me to believe Jill didn't fight for her at the very least lol. Amber is the only one I can recall making it obvious JFP was the issue. I think Sarah even said there was no problem with her and Jill when she left although we learned later that wasn't the case.

I think it also really helped that Vanessa/Brenda was Guza's favorite female to write for. It's not that I think Guza hated Laura exactly. He just never really understood her and probably didn't find Laura appealing to write for as a mature woman. I have no idea why it went so wrong in 2010 for Guza and Brenda because that really should have been an easy slam dunk for him.

Guza and the Brenda return was great writing although it was getting rough towards the end because the show burned through so much material in such a short time. It was also just the exact right time for her to return-not too long for people to forget about Brenda but long enough for people to want it. Plus, she was also distracting the audience to make Genie/Laura's exit seem not as bad as it actually was. SJB was worth a one year deal and I believe when they hired TB the intention was to kill Carly off entirely, so why not work with Sarah? I will never get over how much they worked Vanessa in those six months. I can't even tell you a non Brenda story in those months because the entire show revolved around her (which I was totally fine with). I also would completely accept Brenda being on 2 or 3 times a week and find it insane JFP couldn't capitulate to reasonable demands by an actress that was carrying the show. The show fell apart within weeks of Brenda's exit. Kelly Monaco wasn't the draw anyone thought lol. It just reeks of jealousy or bitterness on JFP's part in all these situations with the female cast. Lol. I agree. It was funny.

Agreed. I was with you yesterday, but today I questioned the Drew theory. This news would explain Shane's cold behavior. He was looking at Kim's test results/file, not John's. I don't know why he wouldn't tell Steve and Marlena though. Historically Marlena and Kim were super close (much closer than Marlena/Kayla) so obviously Marlena would have been extremely sympathetic as would Steve.

Yup. It strange because the Dawn of the Dead story started out really interesting, but like everything under Frank's regime it went on too long. Shiloh was the master villain at the time because the actor was pretty decent. I think the whole thing wrapped up in less than a year, but it felt longer.

Yeah, the story was awful. I just thought Willow/Chase were cute and a nice, relatively normal couple in the beginning. I thought it was a refreshing change of pace for two regular people to fall in love on GH at that time. So obviously it was a perfect time to bring in a cult story for them lol At the time it was stated Brook Lynn wasn't close with her mother and father and didn't want to take money from them. I think even Tracy offered her money. It was all strange, but Lois and Ned weren't on the show at the time so it was all swept under the rug. As if taking money from your parents was worse than being someone's paid escort or attempting to rape someone lol.

Yeah. When Willow first came on the show and she was a teacher. They were together through the whole Dawn of the Dead nonsense. Eventually, they break up so Michael and Willow can get married to get custody of Wiley (it's a whole long Sasha/Michael/Chase/Willow story that is just zzzzzzzzz). Chase and Willow eventually get back together, but she's in love with Michael and a cheating whore from the start so they lie to Chase because he is dying. Then Chase/Willow get married because he is still dying, but she continues to see Michael behind his back. Chase doesn't die obviously, finds out the truth, and then Michael/Willow get together. That was honestly the most concise way I could explain it and it still sounds complicated. Honestly, it was very boring on screen.

That would have made a whole lot more sense, so Days probably didn't think of it lol. Chloe on canvas would also help solidify Joy's connections with Phillip, Brady, and even Xander. Instead of Joy just saying, oh so and so used to date my sister we could see Joy react to Chloe being around them. It would definitely give Joy more depth because at this point she is just randomly inserted into different scenarios that just make me think the show has no idea what to do with her. Ending the Nancy bashing would also make me much happier.

You know even if you took out the whole rape/drugging aspect of the Brook/Dante thing in 2010 it would not make more sense to me than a teenage pregnancy. Then we'd have to deal with Dante consensually cheating on Lulu and it would make the characters like 50 not to mention that would have meant Carly and Brook Lynn's plan succeeded so there would be no reason to keep the baby a secret. Plus, AL's BLQ was still onscreen for almost a year after that. She was stuck in that awful tale with TC's Nik where she was paid to be his escort or companion if you all recall that. So even if this teenage pregnancy story is dumb it's at least in the realm of possibility. Also count me in for a Willow/Chase redux. I always thought it was both characters best pairing. That obviously isn't saying much but I did think KM and JS had nice chemistry.

I actually really like the actress that plays Joy and think she does a good job. I had been wanting the show to cast Joy for years. It was just such an odd time to bring the character on. Craig, Nancy, and Chloe are all in New York. There is no reason for her to be in Salem at all. Alexann Hopkins could be playing any random young female. Outside of her disdain for her own mother we really haven't heard much about her relationship with her family or Chloe or Craig. Chloe was on and off the show for decades in ridiculous stories and the show brings her sister and Phillip back now that Nadia's gone lol? Honestly this whole Rachel Sr. plot would make a bit more sense if little Rachel was going after Chloe and not Ava. At least Chloe/Brady have a long history and little Rachel has hated her for years. Anyhow, considering Nadia always comes back no matter how badly the show treats her I am sure we will see Chloe again. There really needs to be someone in town that grounds Joy and makes me care about her more.

Lol. It's such a fringe character I wasted too many posts on. No one would ever miss her if she doesn't ever show up again.

I think you can probably try to redeem Natalia. The problem is she said a few apologies to people and she's mostly being redeemed through Sonny. And even I am not naive enough to think Sonny liking her and giving her two gay children is enough in 2025.

Yeah, Idk if ELR thought working with Mo was a sweet deal or something, but trying to make us believe the character has legs is just her trying to get a few more paychecks at this point.

Idk. I can't imagine co-signing Sonny's nonsense is satisfying for an actor. This feels like a massive downgrade for her and I am not even that much of a Maria or ELR fan.

I have read some quotes from Rena about Loving where it didn't seem like a positive experience? She more mocked her own acting and being so young though. Again, I don't hate ELR for taking a job, but at least do the minimal research. Blaze's mother/family was said to be homophobic long before ELR was cast so she shouldn't be shocked about the character making these comments. The 58-year-old veteran actress being stunned she has to say mean things is like just a real walk back on the character and I am not buying it.

Yes. There are even actions and words that KMc and Vanessa have talked about Steve and Mo saying to them and Vanessa sort of laughs it off even though I am like...😑. Hopefully everyone has matured since then. I just think if you are comfortable taking shots at Tamara and Sarah I can't even imagine how much they mocked the actual unsuccessful love interests.

The GH set has always sounded toxic. I am a little surprised that Sarah was involved in the LV stuff since it seems like she was bullied by at least Steve as well. The stories Mo tells openly in his book about Tamara make me think a lot of the rumors are true. I am sure JFP just encouraged it all.

The Shane writing for the past few weeks (months?) has always seemed off to me as well. I buy the Drew theory.

Amber definitely would have stayed longer. I do sometimes think Sarah was just over it all at that point, but still would have probably stayed a bit longer. I think pretty much everyone at the time did think Sarah was destined for stardom though. LV/Hannah getting dumped was obvious. I am actually surprised she lasted as long as she did. I just remember hearing rumors Mo (and possibly Steve?) treated her badly, which checks out with everything we have heard about them in the early 2000's. And that JJ held a grudge for years. JJ's career was pretty hot back then and he would not have returned to GH in 2001 or 2002 so that could also be fans making something out of nothing. I tend to believe MB was pretty mean to Lisa if only because this was Sonny's return and first major flop of a story.

The helicopter and all her demands were way too much and made Jensen look bad. In the end I am not sure much of it mattered. AW was always going to go whether it outlasted Sunset Beach or not. I know SJB and Amber both had problems with JFP, but I believe Sarah at least worked it out with her eventually. I think Amber actually wanted to stay and the show wouldn't give her an acceptable contract or just wrote her off. I can't recall which. I think Lisa Vultaggio (Hannah) had issues with GH BTS in general not specifically JFP. To the point there were long standing rumors JJ was pissed at GH and possibly Mo for the way the show treated his girlfriend (now wife). I don't have anything positive to say about LV's acting or Hannah's story, but no actress could have made that character work. It was a really stupid plan to hire an actress that looked just like Vanessa Marcil months after Brenda left-even if that was part of the story. The Hannah character got much better once she started mixing it up with AJ and Taggert, but it was too little too late.

Yes! Now that you say that I completely remember she was supposed to replace Bobbie or something of the sort. JFP wanted to get rid of Zeman. I am not sure if that's more of a BTS tidbit or actual facts that were reported but I know people on here have discussed it before. I thought MBE was better than JB. She at least gave it her all. The writing for Katherine was just so off. I do agree MBE would have worked better short term.

I think we both agreed Watros brief stint as Vicky elevated the character much more. I think Jensen was passable in the early to mid 90's being an ingenue. But once she got a bit older it didn't translate and she didn't try to expand her acting or take any real chances. Even if they introduced Melissa slowly as a side character that beefed up the hospital staff a bit I don't think it would have been successful. There was just way too much talent not being used in her age range. If JFP just correctly used the actresses she already had instead she would have been labeled as a hero-or at least not gotten put in a corner by Guza for the rest of her tenure. Then again epically fumbling the ball with both Genie and Vanessa is probably one of the dumbest moves she could have possibly made, so JFP was always going to screw the whole thing up.

I think time has shown us Jensen Buchanan isn't a very good person or at least has a lot of issues. Hopefully she's doing better now. I don't blame her for taking the job at GH. That's not her fault. It's work on a popular soap and she's an actress. I side eye her ridiculous contract demands at AW, but again, that's on AW for not telling her no and to go kick rocks. AW put themselves in that position and it was among a series of bad decisions made before the show was cancelled. You can blame Jensen for mediocre performances and lack of chemistry with the GH cast. It doesn't appear she has worked since. I squarely blame JFP for greatly overestimating JB's star power and doubling down instead of pivoting when it was clear Melissa and Roy/Melissa were flops.