Vee

The reason GH ruled afterschool in the mid-late '90s was because of the characters and writing IMO, and those scenes ran long and were impeccably written. I always said you could've put some of the Labine and early Guza years on at night without compromising ABC's primetime pedigree, and I stand by it.

They actually did break it a bit for some of the wonderful scenes with the vets processing Ryan's death last year, IIRC - fairly well-scripted, paced time spent with Lindstrom, Kristina Wagner, JJY, etc reaching into that deep history. But I also always wondered if it was happening because they needed to fill out the episode runtime. And yeah, Frank has long been a proponent of 90 second or less scenes because he's been obsessed with the teen/youth demo since OLTL and thinks they'll change the channel if he lets it linger. I'm just so tired of it.

He definitely was when they created him - they were just marking time to get rid of Billy Miller once they had Steve back. But to me Jason is the one played out, especially as Steve increasingly resembles corned beef hash onscreen. There's nothing left and fans will never accept another recast, so I would be done with him. Whereas Drew is a blank slate you can mold into any type of romantic leading man you want. I'd take that opportunity.

I would allow Drew to have some semblance of a company on the side but put him back with the WSB/PCPD - he was a Marine/Special Forces/whatever. Which is what they should've done with bearded CM at the outset but here we are.

I'm pretty sure Hillary and Mark Derwin famously dunked on KB while barely not mentioning his name in Jeff Giles' book - referring to an actor they both worked with who just read lines strewn in hiding spots on the set.

Not if they're very different men with different people, IMO. But then I'd still not have Jason around lol.

Am I wrong to want Drew recast again after all this? He's still such a blank slate and viable character, you can remold him completely just like they should've done (and essentially did, just in the wrong way) with CM. He's a viable male lead when he's not unbearably written and yes, performed. Wrong answers only!

I have been plugging along on my YT binge through '86 over the year, and I was curious: Did Marland introduce the intense psychosexual fascination Lucinda had for Craig, or was it always there thanks to Hubbard? She's clearly deeply into him and I can remember seeing it as early as, I think, some Christmas '85 episodes. I thought I'd read they slept together eventually but I don't know when that was or the circumstances. I believe they were deeply at odds in the 2000s when Craig became a supervillain, but I don't know if that relationship ever began to mend itself. Back in those days though, he seemed to be in her blood.

Yeah, I remember hearing that (allegedly) she might've done a bit more in that episode (or maybe two) had Goutman not written her into a couple more scripts preemptively. That made her management squirrely and it became what it was. But I'm still just glad she appeared.

There are few more devoted and passionate soap alumni than Julianne, other than Sarah Michelle Gellar, maybe Kelly Ripa, a few others that don't come immediately to mind. (Alec Baldwin, I believe, has always been there for his soaps both daytime and primetime and has stayed close with Kim Zimmer.) I've always loved how Julianne never fails to bring it up and advocate for it at any major industry showcase. Guy Pearce reminded me of this recently, as he's frankly gone above and beyond for Neighbours in Australia and is still recurring on the show.

I don't know exactly how their long break-up happened or why, but it's often been put on one or both of the actors. I do know HBS was very unhappy about the ONS with Sam Rappaport though, and tried to get killed off over it. She wanted Nora to die in childbirth, she was that upset about the story. Regardless, they took to the reunion wholeheartedly when it finally occurred and it was like no time had passed, and they both were clearly thrilled both onscreen and off. Doesn't always happen that way.

I think Laura is doing a fine job. But I don't think you can properly honor the Carly/Bobbie relationship without acknowledging Sarah and yes, I'd use her. Even if not as Carly then in a role like Yvette Nicole Brown's at Epiphany's memorial.

I haven't lost hope that Sarah and/or Tamara will be allowed to appear next week. It would be a big mistake to leave them and a few others out, but I'd settle for them. And Tony Geary, who I think has to appear.

I'm a little annoyed they didn't show a vintage Laura/Bobbie fight scene or Scott/Bobbie stuff there. What would be the harm? Bobbie was absolutely ruthless to Laura in the '70s, lol. Terrifying. There was also a very brutal scene from the same era they showed on some soap awards show way back when, where Bobbie tore Scott apart after his initial rejection of her. Maybe the best work I've ever seen Jackie do. I wish I knew how to find it.

From today's show:

Nor I! I actually really liked A Martinez as Roy early on. I was one of the few. I wasn't happy he supplanted Julian Stone's Jerry, but I liked him and I liked his relationship with Luke. (I also thought he had chemistry with Laura, and I wonder if those stories about their testing him with Genie were true.) But once JFP turned it into The Roy Show, forget it.

Jason and Lois might cause me to break out into hives. Jason and Nina sounds like a recipe for Steve Burton's own personal Beau is Afraid.

I don't think MVJ's alleged early concept had anything to do with JFP's own interests, really. Her focus was on hiring Jensen and frontburnering her and AM as the new stars of GH, and that's exactly what she tried to do. I don't think she ever had any grander unrealized plan for Melissa, I think what you saw is all she had. Their story and handling followed exactly the same overbearing playbook as her favorites and their characters over on AW or OLTL. The only difference is that you couldn't play that shít at the flagship soap of ABC, and that's what got JFP relegated to the existential broom closet when Guza returned. I will be watching today's show, but I really hope Frank lets up on his usual 90 second scenes when the memorial episodes come around.

if Knots had continued on - or was a daytime soap - Gary would undoubtedly have sprouted at least 1-2 more illegitimate children from those years.

I have always wondered about the early version of the character supposedly sketched out by Michele ValJean's brief HW regime shortly before Jill brought in Megan. IIRC the rumor (which may be bunk) was that "Melissa" was instead supposed to be linked to Stefan and instead of a nurse would be a psychiatrist played by Bobbie Eakes, who was fresh off B&B or close to it. I'm not sure Roy was ever a part of that iteration, or if their backstory was merely her entry point.

Oh, I don't think he tanked the show's gross attempt at Sonny and Sam. Or Sonny and Kate #2/Connie. Or Sonny and Emily, the brainchild of his wife and himself, and something I in my role as Nostradamus warned people about for almost a year over on ol' Television Without Pity. I saw it coming miles away when they started moving them together onscreen while pushing her and Nikolas apart, yet somehow when they finally kissed I still couldn't believe my eyes.

I definitely heard that Bobbie was going to be the psycho heavy for Roy and Melissa. They were the A-couple for Jill at that time, two of her favorite actors. Do I think they were going to kill her, no, but Jackie was on the chopping block. Watching the worm turn and Melissa be revealed as a Kevorkian-esque psycho was extremely rewarding for me. I watched those scenes where she gets caught and jailed again recently for the first time in 20+ years and they seem outright defiant; I think they were written in Jill and Megan's last days, and the scripts almost seem resentful, lashing out at the audience as well as Roy for not accepting Melissa's goodness and sacrifice lol. (And also clearly trying to get Jensen Buchanan an Emmy.)

She came with Jill. They were a package deal at that point. Of course when they tanked the show Jill lost virtually all central power AFAIK despite retaining her title, which is a worthwhile comeuppance IMO - it was Guza's Hospital from then on. He had learned from his battles with Riche and came back after securing a producer credit. The only moment that changed was during the writer's strike in 2008, when she was the one minding the store with Guza gone and suddenly you had the return of her color/wardrobe fetish introductions a la Angel or some of her GL characters with Claudia, then an overnight huge frontburner story for Rick Hearst and Ric's new immigrant bride lol. Yes, and Tony put a stop to that. I don't know if she was going to die but I do remember the word was Bobbie would go nuts over Roy and Melissa and get shipped off to Ferncliff. The worst version of the story I remember was that somehow Carly's rape would be somehow connected to the cancer or disease, like uterine cancer or something. Just something really grotesque and typical of Jill.

Specifically, the temp Carly was supposedly to be raped by Sonny's rival Sorel while Sonny and Angel made love and Carly would later die of some sort of gruesome cancer or disease. MB hated the Angel story, and he and several other performers basically mutinied over their stories (including Endgame). Maurice threw his weight behind Tamara publicly as did the fans, and everything fell apart for Jill and Megan shortly thereafter.

I enjoy Lindsay in the role, but I think Sam is a spent character and I don't see a point in keeping her no matter the actor. She's one of so many in the cast GH has mostly held onto out of brand loyalty and fear of audience degradation IMO. So much of the show these days is built on simply maintaining its very delicate equilibrium.