Vee

That's a country club?? It really does look like a bordello from Moulin Rouge. The Main Street set looks like a kids TV soundstage.

I'd forgotten John Beradino did an on-air mention of Emily McLaughlin's death (though Jessie was only acknowledged briefly two years later), but I'm sure people know this one.

I was very satisfied with Day 2, which made me very satisfied with the show's handling of the tribute overall. Sure, I would've liked Sarah, Tamara, Brad Maule, Tony, Jonathan, etc. But I don't want to be ungrateful for what I thought was another in a series of several strong tribute episodes to departed cast (Sonya Eddy, John Reilly, etc.). Even when the show is a disaster or crushingly boring, they have pulled these off very well over the last several years IMO. You could’ve filled a week with Brighton just interviewing the cast about Jackie, but that wasn't needed. Still, I would’ve maybe done a third day of mostly just her interviewing more people, and in that you could’ve either broken the fourth wall for Sarah, Brad, Tamara, etc. or found some flimsy way to allow them to appear in some other capacity. I even might’ve considered letting Sarah sub in for Laura for part of the scenes with Felicia talking about her early years (theirs was a wonderful dynamic that has never been explored before), the way they did back in 2014 when all 3 Carlys swapped during scenes with Maurice, or maybe let Sarah and Tamara take different parts of Carly's final sendoff to Bobbie alone at the end of the episode before closing on Laura. Still, that's nitpicking at this point. It was a lovely tribute.

A life well lived. RIP.

They have very few writers on staff - or scenes where it's allowed - to not be pure exposition vs. character. The stuff last year with the vets dealing with their emotions over Ryan's death were very good because it was actually rooted in their history together, as they all had a long, dark experience with Ryan going back to '92. But too often stuff is just very basic explainers for the audience.

Who exactly is up on the memorial wall at this point? How far back does it go in recent gratuitous deaths lol. Is Sabrina up there? I assume Kiki is. Is Leyla Mir on there? She died in the line of duty as a surgeon. Emily's on the wall, right? I don't mind Bobbie being involved in helping women and girls in human trafficking. That suits her character IMO. What I don't love is the idea that Carly investigating it will lead to the return of Jason.

@DRW50 It's that time again. Meanwhile:

Yep!

It's been a long time since JFP and Guza just dismissed any offscreen deaths. This team did decent memorials for Sonya Eddy/Epiphany and others in recent years. I wasn't surprised they went for it with Jackie. I'm not thrilled with the current level of flashbacks or returns, but I will give them Day 2 to impress me more as this is supposedly a 2-episode event. I think GH did well with Epiphany/SE. I also thought the memorials for Gail Brown, Peter Hansen and John Reilly were decent, even if the plotlines surrounding them (a mini-WSB caper, Gail's treasure hunt, etc) were goofy. With Sean it was a labor of love built around Reilly's IRL daughter as Sean's daughter, and it was sweet.

Nice to see as I expected, but I still want more.

This guy looks a bit too old to be a recast of Tate.

I don't see how it could when it's mostly actors still on the show.

i've always heard he was and assumed that was part of what he'd long been dealing with. But I'm hesitant to make assumptions about a personal history that was so troubled with someone who passed away under such tragic circumstances.

It’s kind of ridiculous they’re not playing more flashbacks. Hearing Lynn and Kin struggle to churn out endless clumsy exposition about Bobbie’s past and then Becky like a clickbait soap site with zero clips is arduous to watch. Kin looked like he was passing a kidney stone having to remind the audience that Bobbie brought Luke Spencer to town and ruined his life for the 300th time. I'm hoping they're saving the clips for today and tomorrow. Sonny and Dante have had slowly decomposing variations on the same conversation for over 10 years. "You okay?" "You're a cop!" "But I'm your son too!" Their relationship has barely moved an inch and is so weak. Say what we will about the Guza years, but both Dante and his relationship to his hated father was dark, complex and layered for awhile before just settling into the apologist comfort zone. It's criminal how Frank and Ron discarded him, like most of the male leads that predated them, as a male-presenting spare part to plug into couplehood or clueless vacuity. Dante used to be a soulful character. Even Michael had an edge and layers. Cody/Sasha scenes are unbelievably boring. Sasha is like a genial test pattern onscreen. Josh Kelly is talented but this vacant expository material is not his forte, and despite the awkward explanations I have zero idea what they're talking about. Just let him be the jolly stable stud boffing lonely ladies like Liz! Laura is doing great but I’m sorry, these scenes with Becky would just hit different with Sarah. Carly's paranoia and hatred towards Elizabeth was boundless in those days.

The show featured Bobbie and Jackie pretty often as a supporting family player in the last 10-15 years, IMO. There were points where she was appearing as often as the semi-regular recurring vets. Frankly her face issues got in the way of some of it, I think. The 2000s were much more on-off depending on the time. I do think they need to show a lot more flashbacks and I think too often Frank or the network eschew that because they don't want to remind people of a preferred past vs. the now.

I remember seeing a few instances of that. How long/often did they play Andy (DeFreitas or otherwise) with his grandparents before Chris died? I'm assuming Andy was not seen much at all before Wagner and McLaughlin first left pre-Marland/Horgan in '81, so was it only over the course of the prior year or two before McLaughlin's death? I am glad GH, for all its flaws, took pains to show Jackie Zeman's Bobbie with her grandchildren, relations, etc. all through the years. In recent times her being there for the children or her family was often the bulk of her appearances. So when both actor and character have untimely passed, their honoring her this week also has weight for all the generations.

That blog entry is wonderful. And Amber nails it here: This is the first time I learned Emily was originally just a 3-month role.

That monologue and his entire hosting run was one of the worst I've ever seen at an awards show. He bombed like nothing else. It was up there with Doug Williams getting clowned by Jamie Foxx.

I have reason to believe B.J. will appear, but I expect it might be the original actress (Brighton Hertford?). I am still holding out hope for other surprises, not limited to TG who I'd be shocked not to see soon in some capacity but also Sarah, Tamara, Brad Maule, etc. The press release suggests there may be some.

This poor temp. The latest Faux!Maxie in the trenches for reasons we needn't enumerate. Sitting here having to toss out exposition about the biggest storyline in the character's history. It’s too bad they couldn’t get Molly Burnett back again, she would be my first choice for a Maxie recast in a pinch even if I think the character needs a long rest. If Guza was still here Sonny and Lois would 100% fúck. The UK soaps might do it too tbh, they love pairing up the spare ends of supercouples. I'm not saying it's a good idea (it's not at all, at least not long-term) but it's there.

Oh man. You can tell they're all barely holding it together.

Jo Koy's set was as bad as advertised. Wow.

Very glad Anatomy of a Fall was recognized. Possibly my best film of the year.