Vee

She is, but precious few are as openly misogynistic as her regimes have consistently been. GH 2001 was boring to watch, before finally tilting into embarrassing around Endgame. Her OLTL became an absolute slog and gutted the show for years. Most of her friends were wildly unpopular when brought to ABC. OLTL cast/crew and ABC brass alike hated Kale Browne. Some are very talented actors (even Browne wasn't bad) but they stuck out like sore thumbs most of the time on both shows. The Jensen Buchanan debacle, which culminated in a lawsuit, speaks for itself. She made the choice to drive both Sarah Brown and Amber Tamblyn off the show before their time. She also was allegedly instrumental in pushing Genie out the door. This is a pattern for Jill that goes back to GL with women - particularly and especially women - who she finds to be an existential threat to her vision for a show. It's been decades of this. I don't care what Jill has learned, because I don't think her work has ever been worth it and I don't think Y&R is any good. And I heard enough of the stories of GH going overbudget in her era (however many were true or not). We're all getting older but one thing I have less time for is dinosaurs of the industry getting their umpteenth chance. It didn't work for Paul Rauch or John Conboy and it doesn't work here. YMMV. That's just how I feel.

I think there were a lot of things wrong with Guza's later work. I also think he did a lot of things well. I am not convinced he would frontline Maurice again today. He was quite infatuated with DZ/Dante on his way out. I do think he would blanche to see the state of Sonny, Jason and the mob lol. And yeah, it depresses me too. EPs are meant to leave eventually. Eras are meant to come and go. But there is no sign that is going to happen here.

I would take the Guza writing team back by a mile. Not necessarily the Gooz himself. I am not sure GH can survive in the current era without FV's budget wizardry tbqh. I would like to hope someone else is out there who can do the job and also be favored by most of the cast. I think he has done wonders for tributes to the elder and deceased cast, and I don't think that can be overstated given past mistakes from the JFP years. I think there are many things he does well. I agree many other elements are stale and risk-less. It took a network mandate to bring in a writer who shook up the show with what ultimately led to its current hottest story, and that was someone who clearly did not get along at FV's GH and was quickly excised. So I also think I would prefer new (or at least different) blood if possible. And if that's not possible, then at least let Frank stop horning in on the stories and favored characters so much.

Or they're all solid guests for a podcast regardless of our opinions of Carlivati's work.

JFP reached the limit of her skills many, many years ago. She's toxic at best and still casts her friends above all. We can get better lighting anywhere. I'm not interested in another old hack with a trail of bad history.

I'm not interested in your latest fetish for obscure horror star Kimberly Beck, or your past ones for Marcy Walker and scuba gear. I have a long memory. The answer to any and all questions you may have about her is no from me. Stop @ing me.

I'll pass.

Exactly. And Frank will not step back from the writing or creative process to let a new set of writers he has less control over in. He's become JFP in certain ways.

Or people they just like having around, like at least a third of the cast. Sasha should've gone ages before she did. Willow was around for years before miraculously becoming anything more than bland. Curtis and Jordan, Martin, Chase, I could go on.

Anna and Lucy are reasonably genial acquaintances, not friends AFAIK. Anna tolerates Lucy given her past misadventures, and was not in town for her more reformed years. I do think Jacinda and Kristina may happen, but I don't really care either way. I find Jacinda tedious and the whole thing a waste of time. Brennan has always been a jumped-up dayplayer, as caroline says. They elevated him to give LW a romantic partner when the latest attempt at Jason/Carly died on the vine and recast him to play out what is left of his story. He has never held much interest for me with any actor, and you could tell he had a clock on him from the beginning. Either Jason or Lucky (or both) should've been in the WSB years ago.

Brennan has always been lame.

I have no problem with 'sex worker'. But I can't stand Jacinda. They got folks calling her a hooker on the show, I'm calling her a hooker.

Not to blog as we've talked about this stuff a lot in the last year, but seeing Danny call Tracy "Aunt Tracy" and saying she's his favorite aunt as he and Jason live in the mansion is such a sea change from the old days with Jasam, etc. This would have been unthinkable then. Somewhere Guza is having an anxiety attack. I do wonder how Steve feels about this but he has leaned into the Q material well onscreen during this run and given it real effort, likely in part because he knows his lead stories have flopped. Asher A. (I'm too tired to spell that tonight) is still a bit green but has a lot of charisma and personality, and lesser young actors have gone further on that than him. I would still move to amp up his existing daredevil/tryhard delinquent qualities, trying to impress his father as the contrast to sweet Rocco who is regularly his straight man. Maybe he steals a bike like Dad's. And I would recast Georgie in the mold of her namesake. Another wallflower/good girl and rebellious wild boy, though Danny wouldn't have a clue about how she feels for a long time.

I have gotten Michael and Kimberly vibes off Drew and Willow for a long time. If and when he recovers the relationship should continue in the same vein as when Michael discovered Kimberly tried to kill him.

Also what's kept me with the show for much of the last year despite the ousting of both Patrick Mulcahey and Jonathan Jackson. They've gotten very lucky, but they also made a smart choice in not dumping all of that when FV got full control back. It's the strongest umbrella story on a still very mixed show that often coasts on great actors and a lot of quick and dirty twists and frenetic energy. Now they desperately need a strong contract love interest for Rory Gibson, and to stop playing it cheap there and in other areas. Hot take: Congresswoman Cain (should be Quartermaine - she and Drew should just take the name back) should fúck both hapless staffer Kai and Chase to keep each under her thumb. It allows the show to dispense with both down the road, albeit Kai much more quickly. I do now suspect a Drew semi-redemption arc may exist, much further down the road. Which tbh I am fine with. PM's conception of Congressman Drew Q which led us here was more in line with that kind of gray but viable character. I don't want or need him fully redeemed as a good guy because he has made a great villain since late 2024, but they can flesh him out amidst his suffering and possibly in future make him more palatable for other romances after his and Willow's twisted marriage ends (hopefully not any time too soon). Maybe he saves the BJ Jones Memorial Bus or something.

It's a no from me!

All true. I think a lot of '67 is very strong. I don't hate the rest of the show at all, I love a lot of it - it just fundamentally moves away from spotlighting most of the original characters.

I don't recall any word of Rena doing PC. She left GH the year before. AFAIK Ned and Lois were only ever associated with Labine's planned spinoff Heart and Soul, which got dumped for PC.

I like poor old Alice but this baffles me in every episode in this period lol. How is she still around?? I don't know the exact circumstances of what happened. Every domestic scene she has should be appended with her saying 'I murdered Diana Taylor!' Very funny that Luke's psychic flash sequence is accompanied by the famous Exorcist music, Mike Oldfield's Tubular Bells.

Monty and her team really did nail most casting, and allowing the actors freedom and to become tightknit. You can see the throughline in stuff from slightly later this year, when new additions like Blackie and the Templetons join Robert, Ruby, etc. in seeing Luke off on his wilderness jaunt where he will meet Holly, or in stuff from '83 or '84 and later with Anna becoming a part of the town, Bobbie, Tony, Frisco and Felicia and so on. I don't care about Laura Templeton at all but I do buy the easy rapport between most of the characters or at least actors in the mix because the town, the community and the relationships always feel so lived-in in the original Monty era. (Including, as you say, the Webbers' rising and possibly homicidal exasperation with Amy - whose inability to get off the phone and stop gabbing to a reporter contributed to Laura's abduction in January - which also cracks me up.) They also really played the deep emotion and feeling in the relationships, particularly among Ruby and Luke and Bobbie, over the years. Norma Connelly was so amazing. I'm not sure if she ever got a confrontation scene with Sarah Brown's Carly, or Helena; if she did I'd love to see it. That's what struck me about the LNL wedding episodes as well, finally rewatching them in full again with more knowledge and experience with their stories in '79, '80 and '81. It's a massive splashout, Monty is on some Baz Luhrmann shít, but it works not only because of the sumptuous production value but because you have gotten to so deeply know and care about all these people. Even the smallest characters from Beecher's Corners or the Lutzes have some history with Luke and Laura. In those Monty years they serviced every little piece.

Same here. What a talented kid.

LMAOOOO

I still find that big climax of the David Grey story so wild lol. I've only seen bits and pieces of it but I never forgot that scene. Just bonkers. I think it was Ron who had them mention 'the Treasures of Malkuth' in a local museum exhibit some years ago, or maybe it was the latest team. Another little cheap nostalgia hit, yes, but it amused me to reference the story at all with Grey and the Sword of Malkuth.

As someone who was part of an abortive project many years ago covering DS Year One in depth, what I would say is that the trade-off ultimately was how much character depth, layerings, etc. the show really lost after that first year or two. Roger, Vicki, Burke, Sam, Carolyn, Liz, etc. are all much more rich and nuanced characters in '66 than they ever were later, where many of them became largely foils and fools for Barnabas, Julia, Angelique, etc. Especially Burke Devlin, who as originally presented with Mitch Ryan (who didn't help himself with his alcohol issues BTS) was a charismatic and powerful force on the canvas too big to be duped by a vampire. It's night and day re: who most of them are in that first year vs. who they were left as later. The intensity of the show in that year was all much more not just about the gothic atmosphere and vibes but in the oppressive focus on the characters and their inner lives and contradictions. It was only the talented actors and the thumbnail sketch of who the characters started out as that gave most of them life and spark in DS' later years. And I do think the show fundamentally erred in shifting too much focus away from Vicki (any Vicki) as opposed to letting it be both Vicki and Barnabas.