Vee

I don't think Frank would ever deliberately sabotage the show. Survival is always his aim. But as I said in past posts recently I think it's twofold; I think all you've said is absolutely true, but I also think that through the "Cartini" years with Carlivati Frank went from seeing himself largely as a driven facilitator focused on the show's longevity to seeing himself the way the soap press saw him: As one half of a creative duo, the supposed last hope for soaps. He very badly wanted to create the blended 'super soap' of ABC Daytime at GH, to preserve the history and characters of the other cancelled soaps, despite the cost to GH and complaints from the audience. I think the hype those two had built around them eventually got to him, and he began to believe that he too was a creative visionary for the show. And I think that view has borne out in GH's condition ever since Ron was fired. You don't keep rehiring Easton and Howarth unless it's become personal and not just about the bottom line, try to force Genie off-contract or turn away Vanessa Marcil even when it's counterproductive. Since Ron left his orbit and their dream team (and possibly professional or personal friendship) has dissolved Frank has repeatedly put in place writers he can control, who will write about characters or actors he prefers in the ways he prefers. This one may be different.

Drew and Nina do have a weird kind of chemistry in these recent scenes with her tearing up Crimson. I don't think either should be long for the show (at least not Drew in his current Cameron Mathison iteration) but @Khan is right that there might be deranged bipolar hate sex potential - Nina has always been nuts and they definitely appear to be ramping up to portray Drew as off his gourd. Why Drew's years of torture and brainwashing by the Cassadines didn't break him but a month or two in the local pokey did beggars belief, but nevermind.

The Guza II scenario was my first thought about this hire. JFP was reduced to a facilitator from then on, almost entirely powerless on the creative end as far as we know. But I'm going to wait and see how it plays out. Frank being deposed would be quite a feat at this point.

I'm happy for their resumes, let's just leave it at that.

I mean, I predicted it lol. It didn't surprise me at all that she exited with Spencer once the strike ended, it just made narrative sense for the show. I knew once she got her memory back and Chavez had an exit date that Esme was spent. I fully expected those two to have an exit a la Vanessa and Leo du Pres on AMC and that's exactly what they got, instead it was falling off a boat instead of over a waterfall. And I doubt I was the only fan anticipating something like that. But I didn't put it on Twitter or IG as an educated guess. If I did it might well have ended up on this thread being called a 'rumor' and we (I don't mean you) have to be more discerning than that.

Finn Wittrock (AMC), Blair Underwood (OLTL) and the one and only Donna Mills (Knots Landing, LIAMST) are all in Ava DuVernay's Origin.

I don't blame you for being confused. This all sounds like social media detritus and random speculation from people on apps who are in turn interpreting random comments from other fans. That's not credible information and we shouldn't just echo anything and everything.

No one's offended.

I thought it was too coming from back East but the show seems just obsessed, so I thought it might be going down in Silver Lake or DTLA (or some dark nook of WeHo).

Still deranged to me that an axe-throwing pub is a regular set on this show. Did Frank just really get into the axe-throwing hipster scene in LA?

I think the American left, while often aggravating, is a lot more stratified and complicated than these creeps.

Y'all were not kidding about some of these outfits. They got Lois out here looking like an OnlyFans dominatrix.

Jesus, who cares.

It's so embarrassing watching this dude have lots of scenes grumbling about Sonny, Karen, etc. To say nothing of the utter futility of bringing Jagger back. Just run out whatever contract clock he has and send him away.

Oh lord. Please let that end fast.

Gift link:

LOL if you want to see the show at possibly its most insane, watch away. That was a rough time.

The Reese backstory still doesn't make much sense to me.

I knew when they quickly married Carly to Lorenzo in a C-plot that they weren't invested lol. They would never have let that happen with Tamara there. They'd gone out of their way to turn Alcazar into a fool and a cripple over the course of the prior year, after Tamara and Ted King got too much heat and audience support for comfort.

Yeah, I posted the trailer for the Ewan McGregor movie they're promoting a page or two ago. I think Jake and Kim are friends with the writer or director, hence they got the call. Happy for them.

I wouldn't quite call Jacob and Angie a flop. It was definitely a Xerox couple at best but they worked for me on both LOV and TC and had a real following simply because of Darnell and Debbi. It was not a situation like what was going on with Stefan and Katherine further down the schedule. But yes, it was right to just bring Jesse back (even if the explanation and storyline were ludicrous and still don't make a lot of sense to me, and I watched that storyline everyday).

I still think the Bransford thing was a combination of factors. I doubt Guza and co. were ever committed to her; I think they were holding out for either Laura or someone else and saw JB as a sacrificial goat at best. But I would not be at all shocked if JFP (who had different interests than Guza) was brazen enough to believe she could bull through and sell the audience on another old FOJ for the role - she'd hired JB at OLTL in the first place. The instant Guza was out of the building again during the 2008 strike, after all, is when Jill tried to ram through months of frontburner story for Rick Hearst again, who Guza did not give two fúcks about. I think Emme Rylan actually had some very strong opening story at GH in the custody fight with Maxie. Nothing else ever worked and she was at best very forgettable. I feel bad though, because I liked her on GL and I think she never got any really decent writing on GH. (I am in no way advocating for her return lol)

For years off and on I've wished an impossible wish that General Hospital in the States could land Colin Salmon as Laura Spencer's new love interest (he's done worse gigs!). I've been down bad for him since Prime Suspect 2 with Helen Mirren and his Bond films. I am glad a soap has got him and that he seems to be being embraced after a ropey intro story I still don't understand. I'll have to check in and watch.

Quinta with Tisha Campbell and Tichina Arnold.

Sadly, no. I had no idea there was ever a press statement that he was going to for Megan.