Vee

Far, far too young. He was incredible on Rome (the precursor to GOT and most of the modern wave of high-budget prestige TV/streaming) with Kevin McKidd, the immortal Polly Walker, Tobias Menzies, etc. and the show got canned, IIRC, for being too expensive. Its budget probably wouldn't put a dent in a single year of Thrones or LOTR today. Ray Stevenson could do anything in any old piece of material and often did in the last decade, but he was never less than 150% committed. What a guy. First Amis, now this.

Relevant to both threads, I think:

I'll admit to not having watched it, but I still can't imagine how a new show could've so bungled a setup involving Judith Light, Mitch Pileggi and Carlos Bernard all in the same series as heavies. That is a murderer's row. I guess it comes down to the plotting and the young leads being miscast (though I've always liked Jordana Brewster).

I'm just amused Jacobs vetoed them using Abby. He was right to do it.

Kind of, but they backed off it well before that and put her with Johnny for a year. I could swear Shawn and Carly was teased for at least a year prior to that. And Curtis absolutely is a replacement. They even inherited the same love interest. Both men were disposable.

Accurate! Shawn was so hot and so poorly used - his years as Sonny's goon post-Jason in 2013-2015 were particularly embarrassing. I never got over their dumping the planned Shawn/Carly romance, and he was surprisingly convincing as an unexpected tycoon when he got out of prison and took over the paper and gave it to Alexis to run. Sean Blakemore was the hottest man on GH for a number of years. I think he still gets plenty of other work and won't come back on contract, but I'd take him back.

She objects because Spencer is a spoiled aristocrat who came back to town stalking and terrorizing his stepmother and immediate family, who's screwed her over more than once and whose psycho ex-girlfriend framed Trina and nearly put her in prison. I think they want people to think so, but also aren't truly invested in major story for any Black characters outside of Trina in any way (and that was a struggle, let's be honest). That's how you end up with months of treading water while Donnell thinks about pre-ordering Tears of the Kingdom.

There is every reason for Portia to not want her daughter with Spencer after all the bullshit he's pulled since he was a child and well after they met. It's an organic and classic soap conflict, the trick will be if the show does some bad shít so Curtis can stare at her stonefaced and shake his head some more. I would still give Portia that abortion rights story at the hospital I mentioned awhile back. Then maybe have younger Thomas Hardy Jr. chase after her, and either undead Justus or someone else for a bigger romance. She absolutely deserves real, substantial story of her own.

Wow, classy.

Someone should tell him a ton is on YT.

That is excellent. And yes, I would purge my account and posts myself if ever I moved into soaps lol.

I don't think she does! Others do, I do not. Jordan has never been much of a character. They've tried three actresses, the first was the best and did her best and it wasn't enough. Send her away for good, bring back a Ward or something.

I remember FV weighing in on the casting process on I Wanna Be a Soap Star, lol. His vaguely hunky choice ended up on OLTL for 13 weeks or whatever. It was not pretty. Let's just say I've often suspected his hand in the casting at GH.

TH would not pass a Host test on Westworld. I don't understand people on GH Twitter caping for this actor claiming "Jordan needs story!" Jordan has not had a consistent character across three actresses and is now played by a cardboard standee.

Not Laurus!

Imma leave this one to @Darn! He's got a lot to say.

You're kidding me. Why did I think she was dead?

And ironically I think (based on Labine's own interviews) that it was originally possibly intended as a triangle for Dorian and Viki. Mel and Viki's connection was teased early on and Labine has said, IIRC, that the Mel/Dorian pairing came about in part because one other party was not interested in being in a love triangle. That would have to be Erika Slezak, and I assume despite her personal fondness for Robin that she just didn't see the appeal in a love triangle opposite Dorian. Labine also teased a reconnection with Viki and Clint (and gave us maybe Clint Ritchie's last great scenes on the show when Clint finally confessed his resentments about the dissolution of their marriage), but my understanding is that also didn't happen because of CR's drinking and possibly Erika not wanting to deal with that again.

A legend on the field and on screen.

Taking the industry standard perfunctory press photos isn't the same thing as having a real vested interest. Within a year of that quickie wedding Markle was gone, and within a year of that exit Jill had pushed Robin Strasser out.

I think RR was pretty enough, they did bring her back at least once for another couple years and gave her some teen story (and tested her with Zander). While Richards had talent I think she was either not totally equipped for bigger material or (equally likely) not physically mature enough for them to make stories work, not unlike a lot of soap kids who've been replaced including the dreaded Bechtel. (And it amazes me that the Joey/Dorian story on OLTL was originally pitched for Chris McKenna's Joey, who still looked about fourteen.) There's also FV's (alleged) attempt to recast her with Budig during his and Ron's run. I don't mind ELQ stories when they use the players well, even when I have little idea what ELQ does. As I've said before, the FV regime has at least made an attempt to show us more material examples of their business - the Brownstone renovation and whatever else, even the Pickle Lila horror. But I have never bought into whatever the fùck Cassadine Industries is lol. Same with "DiMera" on DAYS.

I remember the mags (back when they still had a shred of autonomy) suggesting the same - that Dorian and Mel's wedding was thrown together in the offices because the show no longer had regard for them. I was shocked by both Laura Bonarrigo's firing (one of the first soap magazine stories or BTS machinations I ever became aware of as a teen, after Genie Francis' long maternity leave at GH) and Robin's subsequent ousting. I thought both were simply foundational, I looked up to Cassie as a big sister type and as a young viewer I didn't know they could be touched in that way. I never 100% forgave the show for what JFP did to Robin, and I don't think Robin ever fully got over it either.

There would be more Latino and Black characters - probably the spouses - but I also thought of maybe having a fourth wild card, a cutthroat Latino tycoon who is alleged to be Jock's long-lost son or daughter pulling rank on all of them, positing that the Steve Forrest character from the later seasons was Jock after all. Except that question would of course never be answered and the truth would never be confirmed.

I would've done it the simple way Jacobs originally posited - John Ross good, Christopher bad - except I was trying to account for the TNT revival, which I figure enough people watched and which had Hagman's last performances. On that show, John Ross was the heavy and Christopher the good guy, and Christopher apparently died at the end. So I adjusted for that and came up with something else.