Vee

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.

Great minds - I just said that for the umpteenth time myself too, lol. I don't think you could ever get Kimberly back on contract again given her current focus on directing for primetime, but she's never seemed averse to appearing as a guest whenever asked over the last decade. She's appeared many times since Robin's last permanent exit in 2015(?). The rest is all true, but I don't think FV would ever commit to it unless it meant his job. And I do wonder if part of the resistance to cutting the cast that Mulcahey allegedly encountered is also down to Varni playing favorites or someone obsessing over aged Facebook viewers who just love everyone.

Frank isn't going to do it, so the network would have to. And their brief moment of will for that was just killed in the crib, so I expect very little. They will likely just reinstate 'Emmy-winning' CVE and continue apace. Anyone else would go after Vanessa or JJ, but IMHO we know why Frank doesn't do that. It would destabilize the bland show he prefers to make which is often so milquetoast now that it can be retrofitted to add any preferred favorite actor he wants.

A potentially intriguing update on the lost footage of The Magnificent Ambersons. I assumed for decades it was totally lost so I'm not getting my hopes up, but Wellesnet is a long-standing site not known for hyperbole. @DRW50

So GH won last night (oof) and I do wonder if this means FV will get to move Van Etten right back to HW. I won't be watching. In other news for those of us who don't check those threads, Dan O'Connor has just moved to DOOL. I believe he and CVE both got their start under RC and FV at OLTL (and were both briefly mooted to take over Prospect Park's OLTL 2.0 as part of the revolving door of HWs there just before it collapsed). I do agree bringing Jagger back as Wagger was another memberberries/nostalgia choice with no real core behind it - just something for Frank and co. to do and expect brownie points, like the very weak return of Jeff and his wife after decades (I would recast both tbh) or Jackie, both to service Finn, or the waste of Paul Hornsby or many other instances. Yes, Harrington has done a decent job, has a bit of chemistry with various women including LW and Mulcahey made decent use of him upon taking over. But all Wagger ultimately is is another hectoring, 'mean' authority figure Jason must push back against like the characters we saw in much of the Guza years. Most of those characters were more overtly hypocritical or outright corrupt than Wagger, but that could still happen. There's no point in having him here long-term, as I've always said. Rena is different. She still pops off the screen and is electric as Lois, but she has no actual story. That's unacceptable but drearily common at FV's house style GH. Like so many other names he brings on (Eva LaRue), it often seems like he just wants to say he has her on the show. She should be given a real new story and a real (non-recurring) love interest.

This kind of individual shared history and wealth of experience and knowledge is why I stay on this forum. Please never apologize let alone thank us, we should thank you.

It seems very intimate. I just hope it isn't exploitative.

The saga continues: Lewis opening with anonymous quotes of random staffers defending him is an amazing choice.

LOL. Good luck with that.

It's an interesting idea but I couldn't judge PM's ability to generate stories without seeing them, and frankly we never got that far. All we saw was internal improvement before he quit, and he was apparently meddled with and micromanaged the whole way. It's part of why I'm staying a bit to see if anything else coalesces. The most we've gotten - Nina/Drew/Willow, etc. - is the most intriguing stuff on the show for me, along with the town turning on Sonny, Gregory's death and Finn's tailspin.

Neither do I. I think the recent (for me, anyway) structural improvement at the day to day level proves that, which makes this situation all the more depressing and frustrating for me. The pieces are there, what is lacking is the proper will and power BTS. Even stuff like Jake and his friends stumbling upon Finn boozing is classic soap building block material this show would have more easily pawned off on a microchip full of Drew's missing memories or Peter August a couple years ago. That's where I'm at. I came back for Jackie and stayed through to now.

Oh, let me be extremely clear: It was absolutely a hot mess in the Ron years lol. But I think there was still passion in his work and in what they were (often poorly) trying to do, still some spark. A good portion of 2012-2015 is terrible, but there was also a fair amount of good or at least entertaining amidst the psychotic (well, not in '15). I haven't felt there's any passion since '16 but for very brief intervals here and there (like the recent brief HW change). Either way, I will resume my regularly scheduled non-programming of GH and cease watching soon enough. The brief Mulcahey regime is the most I've watched regularly in 8 years.

Don't forget the riveting breastfeeding story with Olivia, etc. whipping 'em out in court. Or the endless Shiloh/Dawn of Day saga. Or Franco's molestation drama. Or Oscar and Kim.

His taste seems to run the gamut from 'Home Depot' to 'mid-2000s gay culture'.

Politico smells blood: