Vee

We won't be seeing William Lipton back any time too soon. Time for the Cam recast.

William Lipton (Cameron, GH) has booked a new Amazon series. Sounds like it's time for the inevitable recast.

I've seen some of his last days again recently, his very last air episodes. He was incredibly strong and commanding to the end, clashing with Matt Ashford's Tom. Tony has real ups and downs in the McTavish, etc. period but I don't think he totally gave up and just started fúcking around until the mid-2000s. Something shifted and he wouldn't even give reverence to LNL anymore, it was all about getting back to the Bill Eckert dark night of the soul or just embarrassing himself hamming it up. But it's worth noting that in certain occasions - most notably the episode in 2015 where he and JJ rewrote their segments, shortly before his exit - he could still floor me. I will say that it's funny how I often clocked Maurice as bored and cruising as early as the post-JFP 2000s. There's an element of truth to that, especially from 2003-onward, but he was never as much of a spent shell then as he's become since Vanessa Marcil's last exit in 2011 IMO. He may have surpassed Eric Braeden for general cruise control. He's just wrung out. I know everything he's going to do. Anyway, that all said yes I think it's generally the men who get lazy first, and the men who are excused for it. Speaking of Kelly, I will say she's seemed engaged for the first time in awhile with this Danny material re: Jason. Makes me wonder if she is angling to go back there for job security (as she allegedly did a tearful, embarrassing mea culpa to their fans at an event not long ago). I hope not.

I will say I think Genie these days is a bit of a different story than some of the late '90s/early 2000s, where I think there were a lot of BTS factors. They had to practically force her back on the show after her maternity leave and I think both BTS/interpersonal issues and the show mangling Luke/Laura/Stefan really hurt her. SN and GF had scorching chemistry but they totally mishandled not only that opportunity and their romance but failed to properly honor LNL during that period, which made when they finally paired Stefan and Laura a poisoned chalice (especially to latchkey kids like me who came in with their family return in '93). And I think sometimes her discontent and disengagement showed, while other times she was excellent. But they also just plain didn't value Genie as much as Tony and others, in addition to never dressing or styling her well after her pregnancy (still a recurring issue). All that being said: I do think Genie is 100% committed in the 21st century because she now knows the mantle of show's steward falls on her, that there's no one else left to do it, and that Mayor Laura is at the center of the canvas. She takes that responsibility seriously. I appreciate that.

It is a bit wild to me that Tess came on as Trucker's(?) nanny and then became an advertising tycoon in record time. I still don't get how that happened.

Mo looks absolutely spent lol. Please just bring Vanessa back and let him take the traditional Eric Braeden Seat of Honor.

People keep trying to 'subtly' intimate around this online and I have seen zero credible information. Just say 'I just don't like Spencer' (or Spencer and Trina, or their fans or whatever your poison may be) and go.

How is NAC acting 'high and mighty' lol. Specifics.

Exactly. Curtis is given the lion's share of story despite the fact that he's the least dynamic character and actor. If Mulcahey has any power and if MVJ is truly back, my desperate hope against hope is we'll finally see a real Ward revival on the canvas. I remember JFP and Guza patting themselves on the back in the soap press over adding Annie Ilonzeh as Maya (and promising over and over to add her sister Zoe, which never happened) only to do nothing with her and to let her dip for a primetime gig and fizzle out for months. Imagine Steve Burton's (admittedly very weathered) face if they brought back Keesha.

I definitely think any Black actor paired with a white lead that has even a passing semblance of interest from the show will get more to do. That's the nature of this subgenre. The only exception to this rule is T.J. and Molly, both of whom FV abandoned utterly over a decade ago when he couldn't make Haley Pullos' Molly into NuStarr (which he and Ron attempted to do by selling her with a Cole Thornhart-alike white twink while making the super-talented Tequan Richmond the heavy in a triangle). And I am a major booster for more interracial romance on the show (I actually do want Laura's new man to be Black, just not Curtis!). But it also shouldn't be reduced to a cynical calculation by 2024, and the fact is Black actors should not be wholly dependent on a white partner to get better airtime and story, Black couples deserve it period. That being said: I do want better for Brook Kerr for a partner, of any color, than DT. He just doesn't give a shît, which makes me sympathize with the show passing him over less and less. Meanwhile Real gets nothing and he gave those scenes last year his all.

It's true! But he's just so wooden and monotone and has been for years that I think some of us have lost all respect for it, especially when other actors like RA get shafted or when he gives Brook Kerr nothing onscreen. Like LW or Becky Herbst, she puts in work everyday. In fairness to DT I don't remember any public indicator of him ever advocating for the pairing, I think we all just picked up on his intense investment in those Laura scenes vs. almost any other work he now does on the show and began clowning him for it lol.

I think for some elements of the online left that's true. But to be brutally frank, a lot of them didn't vote anyway. Therefore I don't believe Dem turnout is going to be materially affected on this issue. And yes, I think too many people are being preyed on and manipulated counter to their health and wellbeing, which is entirely separate. I do think the med strike, the self-immolation etc. are all horrific and not solutions. My feelings still mirror many of Adelaide's about this ugly, sad time which is why I generally have ceased engaging with the issue entirely online.

Donnell is busy putting the finishing touches on his cover of Christopher Cross' "Think of Laura", he can't come to the chat right now. I do think he had real chemistry with both Stafford (who, it must be said, also had heat with Keith Hamilton Cobb on Y&R) and Budig, but I knew at the time GH would never, ever go there. That was also when DT bothered acting. I can't get into JPS with anyone. Valentin as a character is such a cold fish even when he's occasionally not a wuss. I will accept that he does have some chemistry with Watros but it's all schemer energy to me.

I loved VW from many things and therefore loved Rhonda. I think they could've made her work, as many or even most characters didn't work at D&D, etc. or with Amanda from Season 2-on and had various jobs at various places. It could've been done, or you could've found a way to fold Rhonda's skills into something involving the fashion business with Jane, Jo, Syd, etc. But the structure of MP and its all-white sensibility never empowered any Black performers. Jasmine Guy lasted three minutes and Anne-Marie Johnson's character, woof.

This is the first I am hearing of anyone thinking Nina did an amateur C-section on Ava. No, I've always been grossed out by what she actually did. The language and description at the time were uh, explicit.

Yeah, I think at most it'd have lasted another 13 episodes if renewed after S1.

She didn't cut it out, but she definitely got right up in there and violated her after giving a truly grueling speech about helping horses give birth back in her family stables.

The issue is that during that regime (and at the exact time of that well-known interview) they also began to relegate the vets to these sort of juvenile C/D-tier plots in the background, where they'd all have senior love triangles or quads on recurring that made no sense and were demeaning to watch, catfighting and tossing around expository dialogue about old storylines, and often you'd pick them up weeks or even months later like it had either been going on in the background (Duke and Lucy suddenly having a full fledged relationship, all offscreen) or had no development whatsoever. I suspect that's why Genie dipped in 2013 shortly after returning for the anniversary; the rumor was Frank had expected her to become part of the veteran recurring corps too along with Stephen Nichols to play out more of this background silliness, and she wasn't having it. It wasn't the last time Frank tried either. I think there's times they did a lot of good for the veteran characters on GH and OLTL and understood the importance of having them there; FV has certainly kept that end up strong in more recent years. But I also think there's times back then that they just let them play out silliness on the margins and called that good story. Viki, Dorian, David, Charlie, etc. on OLTL weren't immune to this at times either. Anyway, it's all OT.

I'll be damned. There you go.

Didn't this get shouted out as MVJ's work on social media recently? The range of responses in the room seem very real.

Believe me, I've been ranting about it for years. At least with the Nina/Ava stuff they've discussed and acknowledged in recent times how strange their current BFFship is given their history. I guess I can sort of buy it because they've talked about it and because they're both deeply fucked-up people whose saga goes back decades. But the Sonny, etc. stuff is ridiculous to me. No way.

She's not around long, but yes, many soap vets are sprinkled across MP's long run. I think they knew it was change it up or cancellation with the latter half of Season 1 and Heather. Doug Savant's storylines as Matt were decried as tame and vanilla even in those days; I remember they infamously cut away from a kiss he had with Billy's friend(?) in a later season. I can't recall if the kiss was filmed or not, I think so. Matt's personal stuff was always kind of third-tier but they did thread him into ongoing storylines better later on, and eventually he started getting much edgier storylines which often came off kind of laughable (Matt on meth, or whatever he was on in Season 4 or 5) but at least they were trying to use him. I'm just glad Doug has gone on to have a much more fulfilling career - he's still married to Laura Leighton (Sydney, who you will get to know very well soon enough).

Hoo boy. Good luck with much of that first season! I do think a lot of it is essential though to understand the character dynamics when it shifts into gear near the latter half. The Jake/Jo, Michael, Jane and Kimberly stuff especially. I was a devoted viewer from the beginning as a kid; the promo campaign with Billy and Alison and keeping the toilet seat down, etc. got me along with Josie Bissett being stunningly beautiful, Vanessa Wiliams, etc. Earnest youthful drama was very much the moment at that time so it was kind of understandable why they thought it would work as is; I was nowhere near as big a 90210 viewer as I was Melrose. But I was fascinated by Marcia Cross as Kimberly from the jump, even before things took a turn. Many of us have dissected Melrose's later years a lot in its thread - check it out sometime.

Confident inaccuracy is a brand.