Vee

This I don't remember, but Ron's insanely bitchy anniversary post 'congratulating' GH a couple years ago on IG was nuts.

A small thread:

I like Kamala, but the media has always liked to pick at her and drill down into her and her team as supposedly inept, and as a woman of color I think she faces an uphill battle in such a hyper-polarized, racist country atm which has had all its bigotry and misogyny given expanded license since Trump first came down the escalator. Still, the Beltway media circuit may now hate and resent Bidenworld even more. They would have to totally refresh overnight if Harris became the nominee, and they're not ready for that. I think Kamala Harris could serve and lead well if needed. But I hope it does not come to her having to go head to head against Trump this year (and I really don't think it will). I think that would be very tough. (I also think Buttigieg is a very skilled politician but is in no way ready.)

Towne was a complicated man but a screenwriting legend. Shampoo, The Last Detail and the imperfect but often brilliant lesbian sports drama Personal Best (a clear precursor to Challengers) stay with me especially. I do wonder if his Chinatown prequel series with David Fincher for Netflix will now happen.

That's not that unusual for the party bedwetters, though. Eventually most of them will fall in line. And again, this is all too early, too soon, the media has shot their wad too early gleeful at the thought of finally getting revenge on Boring Biden, and Trump is too stupid to not screw up more. I think the interview is just part of that. I agree he will need to do much more. And I agree they need to let Joe be Joe. But I also don't think voter concern is as strong as that of the media. Despite some polls.

Honestly: Who cares? The center sucks and is a discussion point, it has never existed onscreen. It bogs down Kristina in nothing work that only resonates offscreen vs. being active on the show. I'm ready to see the back of it.

Sure, but she should've started with that IMO. And also advanced her position in his life more before this in order to gather more ammo. But Korte wanted Hero Sonny away from Ava, so.

Two things can be true: Natalia deserves what she gets, and Ava is a villain who is doing good scheming. But this is very light work frankly. What does this do to damage Sonny or harm his bottom line? Nothing. It fúcks with his romantic life. Ava needs bigger guns.

I have reached the 'media is overplaying its hand too early' stage yet again with our Current Miseries re: Diamond Joe. It's too early, there is a lot of road left this election and they absolutely cannot shut up. They're burning the Old Joe topic out. Meanwhile Biden just booked a sit down interview with George Stephanopoulos and will surely be doing a lot more to prove he is not a dribbling invalid ready for Shady Pines. So I think in a month or two this will be burnt. Or at least I hope so. YMMV.

I will say I loved Ava telling Sonny flat-out: Don't forget who I am and what I am capable of. That is something too many in the audience have forgotten. They whine about the writing for Ava in recent months and say it's unfair but this is who Ava is, period. My issue is with how they moved her out of her cunning schemer position to one where is now weaker atm and more obviously able to be potentially picked off. There are better ways to do this, but I don't think Korte cares. I cannot believe the surrogacy is still going. Just kill the damn baby. Mansi is meant for much better than this, she's carried a lot of the show in recent months. I honestly don't care about the center and clearly the writers do not either. It has always been an invisible offscreen concept. Give her an active role in an up and coming, existing physical space on the canvas. Not working at some social work facility or tending bar.

I would still bring Justus back and blame Witness Protection. If Joe Phillips isn't too crazy online these days I'd be tempted to bring him back as another Q elder, but I can see an argument for aging Justus down a bit and making a recast a viable option for Portia. And I would recast Keesha, though my ideas there end in 'fúck with the fangurls by giving her lots of scenes with Steve'. I still wonder what the hell they had planned for Zoe that never got off the ground in the late 2000s. I think maybe she was supposed to be for teen Michael?

Eh, I'm not prepared to dump Drew now until the writing really craters for him again. But we'll see! There's plenty of Qs and Wards to add though.

I have commented many times on how idiotic it is that they brought on a Black youth named "T.J." who was not Tommy Hardy. And wasted Tequan Richmond, who I loved. But oh well. I have little time for T.J., but I would add more Black doctors among other characters. And probably bring back Maya Ward and her phantom sister.

Oh, big time. Starting with Thomas Hardy Jr.

I get the issue, but I think they did okay with that by letting Stella and co. take the reins after a certain point in the scenes. I think it does well to have a beloved character like Kevin dispense the info up front. It's a balancing act.

I think a lot of stuff really worked. But it's impossible to know what most of his stories were going to be, beyond the early stuff with Citizen Drew Q which I've really liked a lot. I suspect a lot of what we got was also watered down even before the screen - the network simply does not have the stones it used to content-wise. I've been rewatching OLTL's rape trial story from '93 in its entirety lately and it seriously holds up, but what struck me today was the subplot and backstory where Luna Moody reveals she was raped by the Klan, who burned down her New Age store in the South and killed her Black employee - the store being destroyed had been a minor backstory point for several years, I think, before this was elaborated. Would ABC/Disney let them be that explicit about who did it today? I'm not sure. Those Kevin scenes re: Marshall and systemic Black medical misdiagnosis was daring and transgressive enough. I would like to hold out hope ABC won't be satisfied with status quo when Jonathan returns and we'll see another change. Who knows. I certainly never thought Frank would be forced to let ME go after toppling Mulcahey. This is why I've always fúcking hated this cheap-ass opening. Get three Dantes and it's jackpot!

Can I ask what is known to be at UCLA from AW? Or if it's more easily, is there a link or site where I can survey what they have? I don't know how accessible it is to the public though my mother is an alumni.

It is going to be a hard fight and I personally would love to not be in this situation, but I do think we have a good shot. I will especially enjoy the media reaction if Trump loses and Biden wins, again. They're so mad.

Kristina's delusional behavior after T.J. and Molly's one argument was so ridiculous.

No, you moved it to a new thread you made, ignoring the one that already existed.

And why aren't you in the July thread?

I only have energy for one catastrophe at a time while recovering from a nasty virus, so I'm going to pivot to other less earthshattering yet unsurprising news:

Fine, I'll start. June was interesting in that it is a clear transition, like many have said, between some of Mulcahey's work and then reverting to staid factory settings. We've talked about some of this before in the past thread. I thought a lot of the Gregory funeral/Finn downward spiral material was often quite good - particularly Tracy's reflections on Gregory, her discussion with Stella about lost loves and the razor-sharp, tense and intelligent scenes between Finn and Alexis, trading knowledge of the nuances of addiction - though I do think ME's talent gave out near the end of his umpteenth set of crying rager scenes. Some of his stuff later in the month (not his final scenes with his family) got laughable, particularly him hurling the vodka bottles and woodenly shouting "no!" I think it was for the best to get Gregory and Finn gone ASAP and I can understand doing it quickly and relatively quietly, yet part of me also wishes they'd let him go out with a bang as I suggested previously - have a drunk Finn crash his car through the front of GH with Violet in the passenger seat, Guza-style. That at least gets the show's heart rate up, which it desperately needs right now. You don't even need to kill anyone in a setpiece like that, but it at least allows for some action. Finn's raging paranoia with Scott, ranting about the Quartermaines like this was 1999, was actually an interesting angle on the character; what if he'd lost it a month or two ago and we'd gotten several months of drunk, angry, volatile Finn like this and like those scenes with Portia and Terry, getting wilder and wilder before some sort of autovehicular incident? That could've been well worth watching, if a darker ending for the character. Still, what's done is done. The 180s on Sonny, Ava, etc. speak for themselves: Suddenly Sonny is remorseful, sensitive and caring about his friends and family, and after a single typical tearful convo with Kristina all is forgiven. Okay, Korte. Further: A month ago Ava had Natalia on tape all but signing up to repeal Obergefell while Natalia was giving Kristina hell at Blaze's recording studio but now she's eager for a sit-down meal with Sonny and the girls. We all know she's about to be busted for her homophobic remarks so I can’t wait for Natalia’s emotional meltdown apologizing to try to redeem her. The show clearly wants to have it both ways with Natalia: She came on strident, unpleasant and meddling, but they increasingly want her to be seen as a cute new option for Sonny because FV is excited to have Eva LaRue, who he openly targeted for the role from the beginning according to Mark Teschner, and wants to keep her around as another daytime prize for GH where yet another soap or primetime star sits around doing little of import. Meanwhile, the character has a bone to pick with everyone in town's background but the infamous crime boss she is semi-dating. To be clear: When ELR is in controlling bitch mode she’s quite good IMO, uncomfortably so. Natalia feels too real re: so many real life Karens. That's partly why people are so annoyed IMO. And they’re more annoyed bc Natalia doesn’t actually do anything but show up and be a bitch to Kristina, Lois, BLQ and most of the town and then flirt with Sonny. If she did something about all her complaints and threats you’d at least have a little story, but instead you have an unpleasant person who we're also expected to accept as a potential new female partner for Sonny because she is played by another soap star Frank is gaga over. I have no time for her. Then there's Brennan, another issue I have discussed before. Why is this dayplayer still here? His FB fans cannot be that numerous. And why is Carly still hanging around talking to this villain? Every time she visits Pentonville(?) she happily gives up all the intel Jason and Anna have to their enemy over and over. Is this supposed to be her heroic role on the show? Do they not get how fúcking stupid she comes off by doing this, or is someone just using mayfly brain in the writers' room, responding to social media feedback randomly wanting more of Carly with this Australian dude, with any man? If this was Guza at least it would be about Carly being Carly and doing stupid shît, but I don't think we're supposed to think that here at all. They want us to engage her with her weird connection with this bad guy who is the co-head of Pikeman, because... LW needs another chemistry option on canvas? I don't get it. So what have we got? 'Nice' Sonny again, throwing Ava out on her ass (not that I mind him bringing up Connie or being adversarial with Ava again, as he should be, but it defuses the entire scheme Ava had going under PM). Ava in a craven position, beginning to grasp and plead with people like Laura for help while slandering Sonny. Natalia all over the map. Kristina, Laura, etc. all slowly being set up to look like dupes over the last few months for turning away from unstable Sonny because Ava is now the one preaching that gospel - her being the new delivery system and also his gaslighter/druggist enables the show to once again handwave everything about Sonny's actual behavior and choices that most of the spring was spent reeducating the audience on. And then there's Jason and Anna. Anna now runs most of her op and decisions through Jason as of this last month. So yeah, the show is changing quickly and not for the better. But I am glad Alexis got her license back. And hey, Drew and Nina are still in play for now. Maxie is still revitalized, and there are still some striking, intelligent scenes. I'll probably hang til PM's name is off the show, and return for Jonathan. But we'll see.