Vee

With the tragically brief Patrick Mulcahey era ending at GH, I am back on the Knots grind while also tackling Dallas' dream season c/o Peter Dunne for the infamous Lorimar creative swap year! I'll talk about it more soon in fulsome and bloated terms absolutely no one asked for, but I will say the show is already a bit more arch in its first episode. I'll probably keep my Dallas comments to its thread, which is no stranger to my diss tracks for the show. I hope the dream season defies my expectations. I'm very curious to see how this strange creative switch affects each show's DNA. I also need to remember where the hell the Empire Valley story left off, and who is left at Galveston Industries (besides Sumner and the now absent Ava Gardner) who could know about the still-murky circumstances surrounding why that one exec did all this for Abby. Props to Laura for apparently diving back into real estate and securing another job in uh, 24-72 hours.

If you think you've seen this movie before, you're not alone.

Hayden sucks.

As someone else noted, I think it's likely just

I honestly thought the scripts nosedived pretty quick in 2012, but I haven't watched that stuff in ages. Those first six months with Connie, McBain's instant dead sister, etc. were beyond brutal. It was the water crisis in the fall that got me fully hooked. But yes, they did dump virtually all the longtime writers fast.

He's voiced by Dom DeLuise. As is often the case, that's all anyone needs to know. If you're curious I believe Pluto TV (and the 24/7 YouTube stream) often runs many of the Season 13 episodes on their MST3K channel.

I saw a clip of this the other day and hoped to never see it again. Thank you for bringing it back into my life. Wishman is possibly more scarring than the new MST3K season's already-infamous Munchie.

This is generally how I feel. But I still don't want either of them to be HWs again lol. I'm not over how Mulcahey was treated, and the show actually having intelligent dialogue again.

Oh, I forgot all about JJY coming back.

I will say I had a soft spot for D&C for a long time because of their sense of humor online as people, and their other work. I just don't think they were or are remotely ready for the long haul HWing a soap. I'm sure many of the people I think are terrible HWs are lovely people; many actors swore by Jean Passanante's day to day or breakdown work. But her HW stints are some of the worst I've ever seen anywhere. While I have zero interest in working in soaps vs. what I do, what you describe is one reason I always kept my life carefully partitioned. If I'd ever gotten the call you would see me nuke as much of my online soap fan footprint as possible lol. Including this post! In other news, FV appears to have hinted at

It's explicit that it's a returning male, and it sounds like they meant an actor based on the wording. Of course this is Frank so he could just mean Roger Howarth #4.

I never cared about Liz and Jason (which felt like an also-ran of Jason and Robin) in the '90s, but I thought the 2000s revisit was very interesting (and sexy). This was a married woman with several kids who lived a domestic life, had given up her youthful career dreams for her children - a realistic picture that soaps rarely show. But she still had a passion for the dangerous man who got away, and he still wanted her. They fell back together when they were in two very different worlds and she gave him his first child. That's great story. The problem is that once Kelly Monaco re-signed they couldn't get away from it fast enough, because Frons loved her and Guza II was all about the leather jacket ride or die deal with Jason and Sam. Even though Sam has never been more interesting than in that period when she became a villainess and schemer. I've not been remotely interested in Jason and Liz since, or Jason and anyone. I think the moment has come and gone. But with the right writing, who knows? Unfortunately I think the right writer just left the building, so I'm disinterested.

The one thing I liked about that was that they made him part of the firmament - had him hosting the Christmas party at GH and singing to the kids, going by Steve Webber, etc. It just felt appropriate given the legacy. But yeah, he was only cast to give Steve Burton's buddy a job. I'd probably bring Steve back recast sometime but I always struggle over who's more viable, him or Tom Hardy. You can't really have both.

Another reason not to engage with soap twitter or take them as gospel opinions.

I'd forgotten Supertrain was the immortal Dan Curtis, who always bet big and walked away whether he had a hit or a giant flop. Of course. Insane that Robert Cobert did that (incredibly catchy) deranged first theme song. I'll be shocked if Dan didn't find a way to get Roger Davis, John Karlen or Nancy Barrett on the show somewhere.

I know Tony Geary (and maybe others) talked about Monty giving O'Brien and others hell on set. I thought she did a very good job in all the material I've seen with her. I thought the Lana/Lisa twin saga (where IIRC Jeff though he was tangled up with twins but it turned out to be DID) and the tornado that killed Diana and Peter's daughter and brought in David Hamilton all kicked off around the same time. But it sounds like from what's been recently discussed that maybe one set of brief writers (Elman?) brought in Lana/Lisa earlier. By the end of the year I think Marland had arrived just before the new year, introduced Bobbie and kicked the split personality story out. I remember we were wondering not long ago if maybe the prior writers had introduced "Nurse Barbara" (as she was initially called onscreen) just before Marland, but Jackie always claimed it was definitely him who introduced her. I remember a bit of posted archival material - probably on here, probably in this thread but I can't remember - seeming to detail the swift wrap-up of the Lana/Lisa story but I can't put my hands on where and what it said.

I'll simply say the recent Netflix and Gizmoplex/Kickstarter revival seasons are pretty good and leave it at that! You can find many of those episodes playing for free on MST's Pluto channel (and one new MST classic, Carnival Magic, features GL's Don Stewart).

E. Hell

Apropos of nothing, I'm rewatching some classic Mystery Science Theater 3000 this morning and I'm just struggling with the earthshattering revelation that the infamous Corinne Jacker wrote the MST favorite Overdrawn at the Memory Bank, a bizarre public television pre-cyberpunk scifi caper with Raul Julia. You're welcome, everyone!

LaFortune is the one I could never see as a con artist/femme fatale. I'm embarrassed to admit I had a lot of fondness for her Laurel as a kid (who everyone hated but me even then), but admittedly I think it was mostly bc she and Hillary B. Smith were so similar, down to FLF doing a stint filling in as Nora on OLTL around 2000.

It really does seem like Josh writes week to week just spitballing to keep the lights on. First Ashley then had DID, then it was her doctor, now it's his twin, now they're maybe dead. How long did this even take?

A lot of stuff in the late '90s and early 2000s (or even late 2000s) slowly got messier and/or very flawed over time, sure. A lot of analysis is weighted by hindsight to me. (And even Labine had bum stories or characters) Everything that's been said about the BTS turmoil or trends being set for the future is true. But compared to most of the last decade a lot of it looks like Shakespeare. I'd watch anything from '98-early '01 tomorrow. I still consider most of the show til JFP's arrival part of the golden era or its last traces, even as '99-'00 in particular had plenty of issues. And even Guza in the 2000s had some good stuff or solid daily scripts. A couple weeks ago. But frankly I think Tristan looks and sounds frail so I wonder if that's part of his relative absence lately. They've brought Holly back a number of times since FV took over, so I wouldn't be surprised to see her again.

I would be happy to have David appear on a recurring guest basis to come in from time to time to make trouble. But I was also the guy who wanted Angie Hubbard to appear briefly as a one-time thing for an abortion rights storyline to help out Portia and Elizabeth, so I'm not averse to my own weird ideas. The problem solves itself, but again I think FV won't do it because Brenda, JJ's Lucky, etc. are too big for 'his' version of GH. Brenda means much less room for multiple pointless characters played by actors he likes.

I think they just want to keep what they see as their core audience (older white middle Americans) happy, and those people seem to love either the mob or just everyone. I have to figure personal favoritism and Facebook are the only reasons to keep this gigantic cast. I think the Ashfords are only still around because FV has zero investment in Black story, and it is easier for him to keep them around in mediocre plots and say that's diversity vs. having to actually cast new people and come up with new stories. Portia, Trina and Stella are great but I'd nuke Curtis and T.J. tomorrow. And yes, I think KMc would easily do little stints. Probably nowhere near as long as her extended visits in the late '90s, but enough.