Vee

But if not for the useless extra year we wouldn't have the more healthy and mature Jax/Brenda endgame stuff I remember loving! Although I haven't watched much of it in decades and I am over them today lol. I think Sonny and Brenda is the only game left in town provided he ever changes, which he won't. I can't imagine Guza ever being into the Miranda they ended up casting after he was out the door. What a mess.

I never realized she supposedly looked different. I guess not that different?? Eh. I have no idea what Guza's endgame was with this quartet before he dipped.

I don't either. I thought Lucky literally couldn't stop playing it at one point or something? I guess a VR/ARG video game storyline was ahead of its time but very poorly done lol

November '96. I haven't seen this in 30 years. I was super into Stefan and Bobbie back in the day and it's still beyond me Culliton let it go. From what others have said, correct me if I'm wrong, they were still working from Guza's '96 outlines til December so I tend to count this as technically somewhat semi-Guza, as Karen Harris is still co-head with Culliton, lol. But of course you also already have Culliton's Miranda, miscast with Leslie Horan and taken far from the original planned intent, and the Timoria debacle. So it feels like kind of a mishmash, more than I remembered. It's such a shame how this next year was squandered due to the Sunset Beach situation. Nice to see Bobbie talk about her past marriages to Brock and Jake Meyer. Bobbie and Jackie were always comfort characters to me back in the day as a kid - she was the first thing I hooked into about the show in '93. Whereas it took me awhile back then to warm up to SN/Stefan. I found him fascinating from the start and loved his intricate and gothic relationships with his family (including Alexis) but also found him very spooky and cold, even later on when the totally bungled execution of the actual Stefan/Laura pairing around '98/'99 was sleepy, neutered and listless, while I counted the seconds waiting for LNL to reunite which never quite happened. By his last 3-4 years before exiting in '01 I had grown to like and definitely want better for Stefan. Anyway, Stefan and Bobbie were very sexy to me even at this time, but seeing Bobbie with the Prince of Darkness was tricky for a kid to process lol. Today I have no such compunctions and I adore Stefan. And I think Stefan and Laura (per their scenes in '96) also could and should have been scorching if done right. The Sonny/Brenda stuff is quite good here too. It's such a tragedy what happened to this longtime dialogue staff.

I'll just say I'd forgotten that Stone's death is actually only the midpoint of the episode. That took real balls. The rest being dedicated to the community reaction and a series of codas (like the Luke/Lucky scene) was wonderful. I also loved Sonny's reaction when he came in and just bluntly asks 'is he dead?' while trying to process and function himself, just repeating it over. It felt all too real. Maurice was very good in those days. They had, I just rewatched that stuff. It was played for fun after Lucky and Emily's runaway silliness. I think the Lucy/Kevin stuff was both there to add some lightness but tie in the themes of life changing over time and Lucy maybe having an omen that Stone was about to die. I just assume Jenny hasn't been back in aeons. I know Paul mentioned her a few times and said his scheming ways or other sins drove her and their son away. What's wild is I suspect they intended to have Cheryl Richardson (among others) appear during the original Fluke saga when he was meant to be Bill. They even had someone (Ned?) calling Jenny or Julia IIRC.

I agree, but I think it is his fault that he allows it. He can and will do more when he chooses, was my point above but he doesn't here. It's ridiculous. And yeah, I was surprised they got away with the Robin/Stone moment.

I mean, not to defend FV because I really don't care to but we've heard over the long years at both shows that he is very hands-on on the floor, in the booth, etc. That he'll work over scenes with actors re: intent. But he is also still totally an assembly line and very focused on merely going fast. Peter Miner, one of the great soap directors (going back to Dark Shadows I believe) focused on rehearsal and stylistic flair when possible, reunited with him after retiring from OLTL and said Frank told him 'what you did was great but we just don't have time anymore.' And that's true, to a point. But numerous recent GH actor interviews indicate that when Frank wants to convey narrative or character intent he will tell actors about it on the day. So what's the issue with love scenes? I still think it is a calculation on his part: These are more conservative times, they have even less taping time than before, so FV has decided to gut all lovemaking and just focus on getting those especially in the can and move on. They clearly don't give a shít about many of them when they could do more.

In fairness, I do think some of the love/sex scenes on this show still have some heat - the Dex/Joss stuff is clearly uh, animated on their part, Finola tends to deliver in her material as do Maura, LW, etc. when they get it. Cameron and Cynthia Watros certainly ramped it up when Mulcahey brought some sexuality back to the show, and I would argue that Cameron and Katelyn MacMullen also have some spark and brought some to their tawdry nursery room fúck. Even Kate Mansi and the dayplayer known as Blaze brought some heat to their sex scene earlier this year. But the show definitely isn't intense re: sex and passion as it used to be overall. Most of all, not nearly as much time is usually taken to showing it beyond the early moments or afterglow, versus the explicit lingering you would get back in the day.

It's only because the soaps are so conservative now period that they don't care. Frank just wants to keep his cast intact, probably keep Setton above all as an old OLTL fave and not rock the boat. I've rewatched a lot of classic stuff over this holiday period. People used to mock Tom Hardy and Felicia's horny-ass scenes but they got pretty hot and heavy, from blocking to camerawork (KW practically goes into Matt Ashford's underwear and the camera lingers on her unzipping him with his chest bared, then he does her on the damn kitchen island). Imagine that airing now. Would not happen on Frank's current show. And BTW he didn't used to be this tame at OLTL (or early GH) either. Back in the day on his shows people would still fúck. From Troy and Lindsay hitting it from the back (shout-out to @Darn) to Nash and Jessica to Victor/Todd and Téa's deranged sexcapades. Frank, who is all about survival, has just decided in these times to do a very vanilla, conservative show IMO.

No comment lol

It's all old news, but AFAIC if they don't want to do love scenes that don't look like last week they can both dip. Chase is useless anyway.

It was MVJ's script. She has talked about writing the episode on Twitter.

His wit, self-deprecating humor and easy ability to interact with live horses who eat into Genie Francis' guarantees!

I don't find Cody boring! I think Josh Kelly and occasionally even some of the writing imbues him with just enough personality. Sasha OTOH is rice paper. I do think JK and Alexa have some chemistry and I don't mind them being paired up for awhile as Dante grieves or whatever, but again I'm more concerned about Dominic getting screwed by FV again. It's his time to shine and that includes Dante and Lulu down the line, not him going under the wheels for another OLTL friend of Frank's. And I say that as someone who likes JK and wants Cody to continue on the show (with Tracy!).

See you in 6 weeks, Kin.

Not officially a Thanksgiving episode, but a very important one for the holiday and especially this month and this year. Happy holidays.

I don't think the curly hair suits Carly. I think it's all Laura Wright/Cassie Winslow. But I do think her hair/wardrobe are both often rough these days. Which is a shame because for many years she still looked pristine onscreen.

It literally looks like stuff she brought from home. They used to dress her so well. I guess at least it appeals to Facebook moms/grandmoms.

We have said it before in the main thread and I'll say it again: It is reluctantly time to find another hot Aussie of a certain age to play Jax, pair him with Rena Sofer and go to town.

I can reluctantly see the appeal re: Lucky and Maxie though it was so scuzzy in the GV druggie years. But no. It's time for Lucky and Liz. They're better as adults, they both want it, it's time. I actually think Laura's hair has been looking rough as hell for some time now. But so has her wardrobe. Dear God.

I would keep the family unit intact for awhile and play story with them, sure, but I wouldn't keep Kirsten on the shelf with Bradford forever. She's got too much life again these days and while I like them together again I am not ride or die for it. Eventually down the road I'd recast Michael and bring him on as a sort of deadpan straight man/younger guy to Maxie's unlikely slightly older woman comedienne, something I've thought about doing with them for many years. A fish out of water thing. Sue me!

I saw that too. Big surprise.

Kirsten was fully revitalized not only by better scripts in the spring but by her own medical turnaround. I really never thought I'd see the day and I hope it lasts. I would absolutely keep her now, though eventually I'd end things with Spinelli (putting her with a new Michael is still on the radar for me).

Somehow that shot is worse!

I'm sure she will. At least Genie is clearly on next week.