Vee

Since I'm already wildly behind and only watched part of the livestreaming marathon up to where I left off, I'm curious: Is there a general consensus (or at least varied opinions) on which of the Latham/Lechowick seasons are the best, if any? I know they're polarizing in general, and I can't go just by the blog opinions of the great Tommy Krasker and so on (who I think has spoken up for Seasons 9, 10 and 12) and of course I'll make up my own mind. But I'm curious about longtime fans' overview.

I've always heard so much about this. I might check it out.

I think a lot of soap twitter people (including but not limited to Hinsey) come in with their own spin both for and against their favored or disfavored actor. I suspect the truth is caught somewhere in between the BTS gossip about KM's alleged troubles or behavior, and FV's own axe to grind. Again, this is another example of how soap twitter is not real life. People acting like this will 'shake GH to its core!!' and be some massive shift have not been paying attention to how marginalized Sam has been for years and how much Kelly has phoned it in - or they've just been stanning too long to acknowledge it. Sonny, Carly, Jason, Laura - that is a massive shift. (I'd argue even Becky/Liz would've been a blow too simply because like Laura she is so foundational and ubiquitously popular now, JJ has just returned and they have tried and failed to fire her twice before.) Sam would've still been a huge shock too even ten years ago. But now, after the last four years or more of disuse, she has merely suffered the same fate as Courtney or Reese almost 20 years later.

Frank tried to cut Becky around 2015-2016 and learned the same lesson JFP and Guza did around 2010-11. I don't think it happens again unless Jonathan goes (who made it very clear last time that he wanted to be reunited with Becky, and that he left in large part because the show failed to deliver while giving him depressing, ugly stories), but I've been wrong before. I know they allegedly were gunning for her earlier this year, but I had a feeling it wouldn't happen. Becky is the third rail at this point IMO. I think when Kelly came to work she was very good. She just hasn't much over the last 15 years at minimum IMO, and even before then at times. She got comfortable with Steve, until she wasn't. I think she had periods with real potential again after Jason's 'death' in 2012, and again with Drew/Billy Miller but it has never lasted. I think she worked hard with DZ this year, possibly because she knew she was in jeopardy. But Sam has been a spent shell for me for so long. Her best period, again, was when they thought she was leaving the show in the mid-2000s and therefore leaned into making her a villain and town shít-stirrer opposite GV's Lucky. If they'd let her do what she's best at she could've become not unlike Ava is now - I think it was @titan1978 that said Ava should be a Roger Thorpe-esque character, not a heroine, and that's where she works best and how she has survived on the margins. That, and Maura always comes to work.

It really does. I think this must have happened very fast - what is the tape-to-air delay now, a few weeks? A month tops? Maybe slightly over? I always assumed if Sam died she'd get it from one of the mob's enemies (or now, the WSB's re: Dante) but I am beginning to wonder if she might get some old fashioned Irna Phillips-style traffic accident exit lol. It depends on how long the air delay is. If Sam goes digging for help for Lulu she could easily run afoul of whatever is up with Lucky.

I see we're back to this again, like clockwork just like I mentioned on a previous page (I'm not blaming you for it at all, to be clear - I agree with you). I had plenty of criticisms of Zimmer in the Rauch years, but Kim laid out that story re: JVD and others very clearly in her book and it was always BS that they tried to blame her for the other exits. She had a contract and she stuck by it. No matter how much folks try to rep for Marley on Another World, she was the hatchet woman for those departures and she contributed heavily to getting GL cancelled, period. Now back to Kelly Monaco!

Now VM coming back under Frank would actually floor me, lol. I don't see it though.

Agreed. But IMO Molly and T.J. have no longterm use at this point period, and Molly needs a long rest off-canvas. Like I said the other day, soap twitter has its uses but it is not IRL. Everyone has fans on there, everyone thinks they're huge based on some handful of scenes. They think every mid couple or C-tier pairing is big game, and it ain't. It's the same principle here. Acting like Sam/Dante/Lulu was going to be some major gangbusters triangle that could spike the show's ratings and be great story - please. It is a foregone conclusion set against a stopgap C-pairing the show has no investment in. We are in the 2020s. We need to be getting more serious than acting like weak tea like Sam/Dante, T.J./Molly, Sonny/Nina, Brennan/Carly, Kristina/Blaze, Dex/Joss, etc. are going to drive the ratings. GH at its modern height, in the mid-late '90s or even early 2000s would not piss on these weak setups.

I can't remember who made her face their avatar a mere eight months ago but it holds up!

I knew this would be uniquely satisfying for you! I haven't had that kind of hatred for Sam since the Guza years ended, but I have been ready for her to go since at least 2005-2010. She's had intermittent periods of my thinking she could be and do more since (like when she turned villainess during the Liason reunion, her best era), but it's never lasted. And honestly Kelly has been phoning it in for a lot of those 21 years.

All true, but it's a common (and lazy) practice in modern daytime tbh and I think in the end it worked well for her and for Alexis and the girls. Unlike, say, grafting Julian onto them. Oy.

Now I'm the one leading from behind! I am still in Season 7. I'll have a lot to catch up on with these comments in the months to come, lol.

And she was right to do it, no matter what anyone might say now to defend the honor of Marley Hudson. They tried to blame Zimmer for JVD's exit, which was bullshit. Honestly the way this was getting gassed up online I was expecting Mo, Laura or Steve. All of which I would be fine with lol, but I do think losing MB would be a serious body blow to the show's numbers no matter how much I personally would be happy to see Sonny go. You have to prep the show longer for an exit that big and reposition enough of the canvas. Whereas with Laura, I like her and I think she's done a good job but while I'd be shocked I wouldn't necessarily blink, not unless they intend to kill off Carly which would be a mistake. I would just say, fine, bring back Sarah Brown lol. I do think she is a legacy character, but they only made her one to anchor Sam deeper in the show. I do think she has a place there that is legitimate, I like her family relationships (it's probably the aspect of Sam I most like) and how they built up her place in Alexis and her sisters' lives, but I have also been tired of Sam since the late 2000s, and I wasn't exactly a fan of her to begin with. I think she had a slight new lease on life with Jason gone in 2012 and potentially with Billy Miller's Drew, but none of that lasted long. She has been cruising for decades.

FV should be fired for lots of things. Not for dumping Sam, lol. He has slit many people's throats over guarantees and money. When he tires of them he just waits for them to give him an excuse.

I remember the allegations that Frank wanted to keep LH more than once when Kelly allegedly was being difficult during COVID. There was an illness story to explain all that after but I still suspect it had to do at least in part with masking up as was rumored, and if so I'd have fired her for that permanently. But again, as both caroline and I have said, what is the point? For me Sam has been tired since before the 2010s. I do think Kelly worked very hard early this year when PM came aboard. She made me buy into the Dante stuff. But it was still a C-pairing, and Sam was still surplus to requirements.

Exactly. Sam has been spent IMO since at least 2016, though I probably would've cut her long before that. I think LH has done a good job and Kelly has tried in recent months/years, but what is the point?

I do hope they will do the story I suggested when @DRW50 and I discussed this exact eventuality a month or two ago: Have Jason and Alexis dive into a vicious custody battle. This would also likely push Alexis back to the bottle or close to it; she has not suffered a loss like this since Kristina Sr. That's something I'd commit to watching, despite having zero investment in this show long-term with the current creatives. I think the fallout from her death has more value at this point than keeping Sam herself. But yes, I'd cut half the cast.

Not surprising to me at this point. I was just saying Sam has been spent for years and should be killed off.

Lord. That explains a lot and I agree. Reminds me of FV's obsession with having lots of blondes at OLTL, and making Kassie DePaiva keep her hair super blonde vs. dark blonde/auburn (along with other actors, I suspect).

Finally, these guys are getting some heat: A good reason to stay vigilant, though I still don't believe it will end up being that close:

Not enough. But ducking the debate would be suicide.

Another trailer for Demi Moore's (Jackie Templeton, GH) big Cannes comeback, The Substance.

To that point, this is a panel straight from Hell (I could not believe my eyes when I saw who was next to Carville) but Collins' reporting here could be accurate.

I think Mansi carried the show for most of the spring tbh. She surprised me with how well she fit in, and I was not some big fan of hers from DAYS. The simple truth is I don't care about that endless surrogacy storyline so I don't really care about those scenes. Sure, she had a bad day from what I saw in those gravesite clips; most soap actors do. But I'd still rather watch her regularly than another ten interminable years of T.J. and Molly doing nothing. The time to make me invest in them was a minimum of five years ago. It's time to cut bait on this whole storyline, finally write them out and move on. Soap Twitter sees one mid set of actors have a few good days and then goes 'give them all the Emmys! Frontburner story!' They get all excited and think they're gonna move the needle and that everything they're saying has a massive impact. It's not reality.