Vee

I'd be into a pill story more if someone actually died from it unexpectedly. Or if it just wasn't Sasha, Curtis or Finn as the addicts. If half the cast wasn't worthless and boring. Maybe that.

I just assume Demi said no to the stupid "Blackie and Jackie" gag cameo Frank and Ron had offered period. I don't think they ever had a prayer there with her though.

Yeah, I was under the impression the issue is still the bottle.

I've seen a lot of today and yesterday but i'm also catching up on much of the last week period nonsequentially. I'll miss the evolved business and interpersonal dynamic with Drew, Nina and Willow which I think has already elevated considerably (putting aside the hot Drew/Nina affair) - feels like the framework for something more stable and mature for all those characters, reminds me a bit of the business trios or quartets from the early '90s. I assume Korte will nuke it since she and some of the prior staff clearly despised the Nina character for taking Carly's husband and spent much of the last few years (until PM arrived) running her down onscreen every day.

The thing is we're conflating viewer response (then and now) and network response. The network reacted to a ratings dip which was real (probably for a variety of reasons), but most viewers then and now did receive those stories well, and they still adore and venerate those stories. It wasn't a simple case of viewers rejecting them. And I don't think they would reject one in future if it was well told with a character they cared about either, so I think the premise of not doing these stories is fundamentally flawed. But given Willow's endless cancer (to the point we were sure she was faking it) and Gregory's long decline, I do think GH should take a break from them.

Lots of things led to where we are today. That doesn't mean I would trade any one of those stories being told for a better show in 2024.

Most of those storylines are famous and very well-remembered and praised to this day though, so in the long-form analysis decades later does the ratings drop (and IIRC Labine leaving voluntarily, to do Heart and Soul which didn't pan out) matter? The key issue with Gregory's ALS story was not about portraying it onscreen, it was about dragging out his time on the show for years to the point people were sick of the character long before this. He's had some lovely scenes over the last few months and has worked very well with JE, but it was time to be finished. And if you had a show the caliber of Labine's and a character as beloved as Stone or Robin or Monica you could've told a long-form illness story, just like those. But the show is not in that kind of condition and Gregory is not a beloved character, so it was about finishing it. It's not a referendum IMO on doing long-term illness storylines. That was because of a nasty choice of dialogue when the truth came out (where IIRC Drew said he couldn't and wouldn't hit her, as he said that would be his normal reaction to finding out someone sent him to prison). But no, Drew is not her 'abuser'. That was overblown nonsense AFAIC just because people hate Drew or want Sonny and Nina or Nina and Valentin. All of which are preferences they have a right to, but that isn't about portraying sex onscreen. That's just fandom.

Her name was Susan Peters and she did brilliant work after her accident in a noir film called The Sign of the Ram where they used her disability, and her life ended very tragically for unrelated reasons. This is all wildly off-topic, just like RKK being a serial sex pest regardless of whether or not someone had a personal relationship with a friend of theirs.

I think they had a ton of very poetic, elegiac character scenes for Gregory and Tracy over the last few months. But honestly at this point I was past ready for him to die. Abrupt maybe, but I'm just glad it's done. I might advocate for the longer, more detailed story with another character more well-liked who hasn't already been wasting time on canvas for years, but with Gregory I was ready to be finished. Is it though? We've seen couples stans lash out at them with anyone but their chosen fave for decades.

Except that isn't about puritanism IMO. That's about stans of the Nina character being overprotective of her, disliking Drew (which they have a right to) or in many cases committed to one pairing (Sonny) which is done.

I've never cared for KT or Britt and never will, but yes their scene was very hot. I think FV was very capable of producing a sexy show at times at OLTL as well as earlier on in his GH tenure. But I think these days his tastes are even more bland and often specifically calibrated for the FB audience or not upsetting the applecart of what he thinks preferred viewer sensibility is, and with rare exception (like the recent Drew/Nina interlude) the only couples who get those kind of more heated scenes are ones he either favors or wants to cater to the fanbases on. Otherwise it's just about maintaining. But he also has no problem showcasing male beefcake to his preference, hence the fascination for years with the NB male strip show and often showcasing random bit players like Yuri or whoever. They were made to care about Spencer and Trina because the online and fan support was too powerful to ignore, and even then they stalled it out for as long as humanly possible (and I think Frank would've still paired Spencer with Esme or Joss if he could've gotten away with it). I don't think it was about a fear of showing sex there period - they had no problem getting Chavez undressed - so much as it was as a fear of upsetting the ratings due to interracial romance and sexuality, and an annoyance that it was not their preferred central female lead.

I thought the Liason ONS was very hot in part bc the intimacy with Steve and Becky/Jason and Liz had always been there, been rebuilding for a long time and the scenes were overall very well done and scripted. But I'll submit that it was less explicit than the full-on grinding with Steve and KT. And all that is even with me also having had zero time for Jason for over 20 years, lol.

RKK was (allegedly) an infamous sex pest on every soap he's ever worked on who virtually every major lead he worked with reported on. Also true.

Can they write a wedding night sequence? Apparently not, judging by the past week. Can BLQ have a steamy affair with another man despite being married or (in future) single? Most likely not. I can go on. How long you got? Gregory was a senior citizen who has literally spent the last year dying before our eyes.

Anyone who has a long enough memory knows it was truly nuts to watch Jason hit it twice in a year with two different women. Steve had not gotten down like that onscreen in years. I'm not sure even the Liason ONS in the mid-2000s was that explicit (though it might have been), and there it was a woman Jason had a long history with.

The issue I remember re: Katie was never where she began in the 2000s, as a fan favorite character in a very popular pairing and then at least one other reasonably popular follow-up. The issue was the latter half of the decade where the entire show seemed spun around her, and pairing her with increasingly implausible partners.

No, Steve should've been fired for several things including dictating story for decades, and I still don't need him on this show. What AS is asking for BTS does dictate more than style choices, it also dictates story and material and what kind of material you can write for her. As I said BLQ can easily be a Lucy Coe-type character, where in her golden era her sexuality was a core part of who she is and what she used both in business and in romance. If youthful material involving sex or even essential intimacy is unable to be written for Brook Lynn Quartermaine it hampers story. So while her issues are considerably less egregious than Steve's many lapses of judgment BTS, I would still let her go if this does not change.

It was no different when Steve refused to play a romantic lead for decades. No one is asking for Amanda Setton to disrobe in front of a packed set and grind down like some sort of Albert Alarr situation. Just to be able to dress like a young woman and play out some soap opera romantic scenes with her love interests.

It's the same preciousness and favoritism that allowed the ending tag of the live eps in 2015 to be just Nicolas Bechtel as little Spencer dancing around the sets a la Stewie's sexy parties on Family Guy, like he'd eaten 3 whole Pixie Stix. I could not believe that was what they were ending the day on. I believe a lot in fostering a family environment behind the scenes on these shows, and I actually really enjoy kids having a key role on soaps when the roles are written well and the kids are able to act (as was the case in the '90s). But the stuff with Bechtel running rampant, or Violet mugging through scenes or whatever else is not that. It's just Frank seeming like an overly indulgent Dr. Dolittle (Dr. Dolittle fostered animals, but you know what I mean).

She seemed to complain about just about everything though, rest in peace.

BLQ is an active and vibrant young woman who is also succeeding in business. She should be getting into business shenanigans, screwball capers and (yes) sexy adventures with a lot of different people, friends or potential lovers. She should be Lucy in her prime. I can think of so much I'd love to do with her, particularly with Amanda in the role. Instead she is now a cop's wife basically wearing bloomers half the time who we rarely see intimate with her husband who has the look and personality of an overgrown 15 year old Eagle Scout. That is the issue.

I was very impressed with the material posted from this a couple years ago and always wanted to see the whole storyline. I think Lucinda went back to her family home after this?

Oh, that's so sad. They did have a good rapport onscreen.

John, you know as well as I do that when they hired Billy Miller it was as a recast Jason. But that is not the point. You're not engaging with what I'm saying. I understand that you are a fan of the show through thick and thin and just want it to do well and you want to keep watching. You are entitled to that. I have watched this show off and on for over 30 years myself. I want it to do well. But people are allowed to critique the show, these actors and their behavior onscreen and off and yes, sometimes want them gone. We're all aware that many of the actors are very nice people who may be fun in interviews or to look at or communicate with on their social media. But that doesn't make them our friends, and that doesn't make them people who have to be protected. We're all just consumers here of a product and the product is this TV show. And people are allowed to feel a certain way about it. There's nothing you can do about that.

It also goes to her wardrobe. I could totally understand AS being sensitive after giving birth (or for what Kirsten Storms has talked about going through), but that was quite some time ago. Kirsten's wardrobe (and more importantly, performance) have leveled up considerably in recent months and she feels like a vital and vibrant player to me for the first time in years. AS' BLQ still is often dressed like a much more mature woman and she is clearly unwilling to commit to the romance or intimacy portions of a soap opera. I think Amanda's often done a fine job in the role. But if she can't do love scenes, she can go. This isn't a situation like Jason where not only does he have decades on the show under his belt, has at times been insanely popular and plays a character with major brain damage who very rarely gets close to or sexually intimate with anyone (and therefore, IIRC has had a grand total of five sexual partners since the year 1995 - though I'd still kill Jason off). This is supposed to be a vibrant, healthy young woman ready for romance in 2024. If she's not willing to play that part in full, she can leave. And I would've fired Swickard and killed Chase already, just because he's boring. He was recast.