Vee

GH only had renaissances in the '70s and the '90s because it was failing and steps were taken. The only way a soap opera changes for the better is when it gets hurt. Like I said before: This is not a pep rally. These executives and actors are not my IRL friends.

I don't need it to be a miracle soap. I need it to be better than GH, which is not remotely difficult. Ideally it would hurt GH. Because hurting the show, and viewers leaving it, is the only thing that will force any change.

It was one of Sonny's little girls, I think. I don't count them as individual human beings. No one under 15 should be in that opening AFAIC. We're long past the days of little Jonathan Jackson or Amber Tamblyn.

There was another random little child added to Frank's pachinko slot machine opening the other day. I just sighed.

There are a lot of people fed up with GH for many years who watched before, during and after Sprina though (us included!). I think there will be crossover and/or migration. The question is how much.

The later ATWT stuff was completely anonymous to me. Just soulless, which is how I've found virtually all of Frank's changes to the GH openings and music. It's the Michael McDonald background vocal guy who always cracks me up. That and 'soap on a rope'.

I don't think so. GH still has a lot of non-elderly viewers who watched for Sprina and other things no longer visible there. They stay out of brand loyalty or love for a handful of actors (many of us included). The question is how many will move or watch both. As for the writing team, I trust MVJ and her crew. Guza has a certain set of skills that make him valuable IMO, but it is Val Jean's show first and foremost. Any people who would immediately worry me are at the breakdown level and have no real creative power. Nor are they dialoguing.

I like the idea of the GL opening with the poem, but the execution is a mess. It doesn't help that, like Frank Valentini at GH, Wheeler had a crippling fondness for the little children employed by the show. So you had little toddlers barely able to speak lines doing half the poem and being indecipherable. Don't get me started on the Peapack opening and song.

I think Fairmont Crest is to be its own fictional township/village/whatever. I doubt they're going to specifically situate it too much. I'm just glad they went with DC/MD - it's a much more untapped and interesting locale for this kind of story than ATL atm.

Brennan has always been bad news and a stopgap dayplayer character to fill a void in LW's airtime. It's a matter of time before he goes no matter who plays him.

Lulu is really not the science type. Remaining an adventurous journalist was fine with me.

Not sure Donna has any room to complain about any thread, anywhere on this forum, going off-topic considering how many she has happily derailed for her personal whims. But it's entirely on-topic since Mike Bauer, a GL core character, did a stint on AW. If anyone has a problem with it they're welcome to go complain to the admin.

I'd just as soon save the next Who Shot/Killed [X]? story for Congressman Quartermaine. Bigger game. Easier to just silence ol' hickory ham Cyrus and Baldo (Sidwell) and be done with it.

Yeah, the theme really grew on me as well. Would I weep if they changed it? No. The opening itself is absolutely head and shoulders above anything ATWT or GL did in their last 5 (or in GL's case, about 10) years, not that I was a big fan of virtually any of ATWT's openings after 2005 or so. And much better than anything GH has done since FV arrived.

I lost track long ago, but always wanted to catch up. The show was far from perfect but has been a fascinating experiment and was a fun watch. It seems as though Amazon's new round of execs weren't onboard with platforming Neighbours, which is a peril with any non-network streaming service unused to the grind of year-round soaps. I still think there is a place for soaps on streamers, but these platforms have to be prepared to make a firm commitment as opposed to judging them like quick-burn prestige shows with 10 episodes a year that maximize viewership then vanish. I think losing the ad support of FreeVee was also possibly a major issue. I'll miss the Varga-Murphys most of all. And poor little J.J.!

I think it's undeniable GH is going to be tough competition. They are timeslot competitors and it has a very loyal audience which is trained to watch almost anything. But I think GH is so somnambulant at this point that BTG may indeed be a contender.

Yeah, I thought the theme was so-so at first but it has grown on me considerably. And I really love those James Bond/Jazz Age horns. The opening itself I'm just fine with.

Is the new '66 stuff today material that was already up? I've already been revisiting that recently, a few people seem to have posted it over the years. I guess it can't be, since spooky Robin (Gillian Spencer) is in the material I'm watching. Don Scardino's Johnny is a classic example of the poor little (sometimes rich) adolescent boy Agnes Nixon returned to so often - all the way down to Eric Nelsen's A.J. Chandler on AMC 2.0. And he's adorable. It's odd for me, knowing him best from Cruising. I think it was such a huge blunder for GL to kill off Bill Bauer so casually (twice). Both incarnations I've seen, Ed Bryce and Lyle Sudrow's equally weak, boyish version, are fascinatingly flawed patriarchs. More fool him, if so. Lezlie Dalton was fascinating to me. I will say the big scenes where she leaves Phillip to Jackie at the end of '80? '81? are absolutely shattering, even with the recast Jackie instead of Cindy Pickett. Just beautiful work by everyone. I had forgotten Mike Bauer was on AW. What did he get up to over there?

Lord. It's also untrue - Steve has cried plenty as Jason, both in the early years and in the last year since coming back he's been considerably more emotionally engaged. As for the old Chase marriage topic, the problem is absolutely Amanda Setton. Plenty of fundies like Swickard are on soaps, but he gets undressed onscreen. What they've done with her, aging up a vibrant, vital young woman not just with an adult son but with this wardrobe situation, is a debacle and needs to end. (And to be clear I'd dump him too - Chase is boring.)

Just DM us, girl, I won't tell!

Good grief. Martin?? A major blunder IMO, on par with killing most of the matriarchs, Dennis then little Dennis Jr., etc. My critique of the grinding, repetitious despair of modern EE matches DRW's, but I do admire the continued commitment from the BBC and so on for these kind of major events, like live episodes and the polling on Denise. Gimmicks, yes, but the kind American soaps can only dream of at this point and could desperately use. And their direction, production value and frankly often performances is still lightyears ahead of where we are now. But it's a totally different ballgame from us, as it's also a primetime soap and operates at a much higher tier than our daytime. I may have to subscribe to BritBox again just to see Angie and the live show. However hokey Sonia's big speech was (and typical of recent EE for these grand and sometimes unearned gestures), it was pretty soapy. Obviously no coincidence the baby is named Julia. The show is still very good at these moments and setpieces. I just wish the quality of the day to day storytelling, outside of the gimmicks and big setpieces, was as fresh and new as the money put into it.

I don't get the clownery on soap twitter where people will defend any mediocre story or mid couple or choice on this show just to keep supporting a weak product. I'm sorry but Setton dressing like she's in Iran has become a major running joke for this show.

It just feels vaguely anthropological, like why are we seeing white kids at a diner and then all these civil rights landmark moments only to cut to a show about Kelly Rutherford trying to cheat her way to a college diploma with some sub-Saved by the Bell muzak cues, or Barbara Rhoades woodenly delivering every line about her doomed soap career? The opening infuses the show with a sense of historic importance (which the show did have at that time by nature of its makeup) whereas the content and quality of the stories, uh, not so much, at least at first. (The stuff from later on in the show's run is much better.)

I didn't dislike the Generations theme or opening, but the self-importance of all the historical pictures was a bit much lol.

I like the opening (and the black/white motif) a lot. No complaints. I was honestly expecting a 10-15 second shot of the gates and Fairmont Crest and nothing else so I'm happy for a cast run. And nothing could be worse than the cheapo GH openings since 2012. It looked like a pretty glossy, CBS/Y&R-style opening. The music doesn't bother me. The brassy John Barry 007-style riff halfway through I like a lot. Could I do with a different theme, sure, but nothing about it offended me.