Vee

A bit late, but Elizabeth Dennehy (Blake Thorpe Marler #1, GL) has a supporting role as Michael Rooker's wife in Horizon: An American Saga, the first film in Kevin Costner's possibly doomed, very strange (and soapy) Western quadrilogy (now streaming on HBO).

Well, Tracy goes without saying.

The stuff with Willow and Drew picking up again and Michael scheming is always what locks me in to watch again these days. That and stuff I think might be good drama with Gio, preferably minus shirt. As opposed to just BLQ and Lulu screaming at each other.

I've definitely thought of him.

I did think she had real chemistry with Redaric Williams but we know how that ended.

Monica's birth family has always been mostly enigmatic and unknown. Viki's entire bloodline has decades of massive history. How exactly would tying Viki and Monica together be beneficial to either one? It feels like bad convoluted fanfiction. I don't particularly love the idea of Erika coming on playing anyone other than Viki given her massive footprint, but the idea I l like even less is suddenly saying Viki has yet another secret relative and it happens to be the late matriarch of General Hospital.

John, there is no way that is even remotely necessary.

Easily the area of the canvas I kept trying to catch up for, lol.

I suspect they would've gotten more had Season 4 been able to happen. I just assume they're doing better and Bobby and Shelly sorted things out.

@DRW50 this is sourced from Empire Magazine, per Frost confirming TP is done. It also gives insight into Lynch's own thoughts on the ending of Season 3, which match yours long ago (and some of mine): I do think they would've gone forward with Season 4 eventually had Lynch lived and moved past that ending, but it's good to hear more of Lynch's own perspective which he rarely would offer openly on narrative.

It's true. But she's also outright said so herself in her hotline, on her social media, etc. - that she was horribly hurt by JFP pushing her out, and felt she had to come back and always be 'on' and pushing very hard onscreen to keep impressing the show and keep her place, lest she 'bore' the control room. I sympathize with her feelings, but it wasn't conducive to her quality of work. That did start long before Carlivati, it was there from the beginning when Michael Malone brought her back in early '03. Though it certainly got even broader later. Robin still did a lot of good work, but she was too often in a different, histrionic gear vs. the 90s for me. You could no longer depend on her to bring an emotional scene down to ground level. Certain partners helped her find that still, though: Pamela Payton-Wright as the renewed Addie who challenged Dorian's point of view about wanting Viki's life (and they should've had so much more of the sisters), Brittany Underwood who she had a wonderful rapport with, etc. Erika sometimes as well, not because Erika couldn't be subtle but because it was rare in the 2000s when the writing didn't demand Viki and Dorian still go at it hammer and tongs. And Robin and KDP are very close offscreen and on but their relationship ceased being a quiet one in the '90s. And yes, Malone, Strasser, etc. also have made no secret of it being a hard adjustment early in 1993 and that the writers didn't know what to do with her in the beginning, that they'd simply had to deal with a prestige return brought upon them. They did correct once the big umbrella story settled, but Robin of course spent the next 30 years griping about that because she wanted to still be the one who killed Victor Lord even though she gave Malone the idea to retcon it lol. I am not disputing the soap press take at the time. I just know that within a year or two I never saw a hint of anything like that in the mags from fans, or on the online soap forums of the era where I was lurking while far, far too young. (And where actors like James DePaiva would knock around occasionally complaining about Max being domesticated, unaware then that the Internet is forever.) It's been mentioned, but to her credit Robin has gone out of her way to say on Twitter that Elaine Princi was treated very unfairly by the show on her behalf.

I also think they're missing a trick not putting Dani and Anita together (or head to head) more. That relationship seems deeply fraught.

I know it was rocky early in '93, I just don't remember it being some kind of major catastrophe with Robin being disliked by a majority of fans. The show also course-corrected fairly quickly over the next year, the whole Victor, etc. saga was huge and the early Emily Haynes nonsense was forgotten. That period being rough is no secret, but sometimes we substitute recent forum sentiment for past conventional wisdom. I don't think it's any shade at Princi to say that in the eyes of most people, Robin adjusted in time and so did the show. It was Robin's final run on the show in the 2000s after coming back in '03 that was marred by her own fear of being fired/pushed out again. She overacted a ton (somewhat by her own admission) because per her own words she feared if she didn't go 200% the show would lose interest in her. I still always enjoyed her, but you could feel it onscreen and I missed what she was capable of when she was less traumatized. There was plenty of baroque story for Robin and Dorian in the '90s but it was never done with her yowling most of her lines or endlessly malapropping French, unlike the last years.

Princi is great but she was indeed a very deliberate ringer Rauch hired to get at Robin when she refused to return in '90. She claimed he told her the audience would forget all about her. That's not quite what happened but Princi did very well, especially after Gottlieb and Malone came in. (I don't think the rocky adjustment period for Robin in '93 was quite as rocky as people claim, but I'm biased as I came in around the same time she first came back.) It's the Nancy Pinkerton era we've recently unearthed from the '70s you should check out - what a fascinating iteration of the character.

I am finally getting back to October '91 and going straight through, so I'll be behind whatever else is being discussed here but will likely offer my tedious meanderings if they still appeal to people.

Apparently the show's decision. I am not exactly weeping over this, as I found Collins a very cliche 'grumpy old flame' potential love interest character. I suspect the rumors are true re: there being issues with Ifeachor's very public affiliation with a major right-wing, anti-LGBT/anti-abortion megachurch.

Exactly. Which is why I keep bringing that scene (and Brenda) up, and it's not like I was one of their OG stans. It took me years to come around on Brenda in general. But that is the only reality that's penetrated his life in years, except for a brief interval last spring, or when Michael found out about A.J. ten years ago. Beyond that he and Carly have opted to live in a cozy fantasy world. And once upon a time Tamara's and even Sarah's knew better.

Sonny always says this stuff, but nothing ever changes. He never actually lets them go, they never walk away, more people get hurt or die and it's the same old thing. Tedious.

Nicole is too violent? Opposite Leslie, the mad cyclist?

She does really resemble '99/'00 Sarah Brown there, lol. Right down to the top and straps.

I think KMM absolutely can do that kind of character. She showed that spite for Nina for several years. There's no need to ever recast this role - it's not that integral.

It's very, very similar and has been since the beginning. I'm sure that's why she was cast.

I think part of it was just the clear trajectory onscreen. It made sense for people to think Ava was on the block given where she was going (very dark again). I just suspected she would weasel out and Valentin would get it, because PM seemed into her. And yeah, I pretty much let it go and ignore it with Nina and Ava at this point. They're fun together. But I also didn't care when Mulcahey burnt it because I have a long memory.

The thing is that MVJ clearly wants to honor and showcase Jon Lindstrom, who she shepherded to stardom at GH personally as Kevin/Ryan. Which is admirable in theory, but instead onscreen the surprise has been Lauren Bugliogi basically becoming the same kind of screwball star Lynn Herring did when MVJ transformed the Lucy character and put her with Kevin.

I can't remember who was with me on thinking Mulcahey had the long game with Ava and wouldn't kill her - titan? kalbir? Anyway, that was my thinking at the time, that he was repositioning her as a strong villainess, that she and Valentin would link up (as each had discovered what the other was doing to Sonny) and then Valentin would ultimately take the fall for the whole thing. But I can see her being offed as being very possible at the time. The factor that makes me think that may have been the case is that the instant PM was out, someone (most likely Van Etten) set to immediately repairing Ava's sympathetic, fan favorite relationship with Nina and Trina, which had been lain waste.* While either that same someone or IMO someone else (most likely Korte) had Sonny kick her out and most of the town put Ava back on her heels again, broke and desperate once more. Not unlike how the same creative team treated Nina when she took Sonny from Carly. (* - personally I never bought the Nina/Ava friendship given their history and didn't care, but they do have lovely chemistry as actors so I don't mind it and hoo boy were the fans pissed) That's just funny lol. I'll eventually stop returning to this analogy (not any time soon), but the Cody thing reminds me of Tonja Walker playing with various boytoys on OLTL. It's the same spirit, while Ric serves another aspect of the character. If Cody doublecrossed Kristina because Ava has him down bad I wouldn't blink.