Vee

Keith Robinson was already on-set for the premiere week, so clearly Johnson knew he was gone weeks or months ago. New viewers will get over it. It's the same old surprise as virtually any soap recast. If they were to recast one of the core four (or Kat!) then I'd get upset.

It's also been so long since most new soap debuts that we forget about the early changes at certain shows. I'd been thinking about this history for some time while wondering who BTG would cut first. AMC dumped the first Ann Tyler very quickly (maybe before air?) as well as several Lincs, and OLTL's first Viki never went to air at all despite promos along with swapping out Larry and Meredith in a matter of months. I'm sure many other shows have other examples.

At least they've popped the cherry and can now recast Martin and recast/dump Derek or Ashley. But I could understand staggering cast changes, i.e. the mention of Santa Barbara. You don't want to end up in a Ryan's Hope situation either, where it didn't happen as fast but they kept changing actors.

I saw neither of these, but to each their own.

Right. Breathlessly running back and forth between here and Twitter and saying 'omfg you guys this is serious' all the time based on some tweets you saw kind of makes you lose perspective. I don't particularly love Maurice Johnson being out but a recast on a new soap opera is not a major crisis. It is strange. I wonder if it was about the workload because he's been very active on social media. Some actors just can't take it.

It's certainly not who I would recast and I think it's a pity but let's not pretend people acting shocked on Twitter is going to be some huge scandal. It is a recast on a new soap opera, it is not that serious lol.

Original Ted was just tweeting about the show a couple days ago! He's so fine too. This is far from the first recast I expected lol, there are several others who need to go.

Not Ted!

A very troubled guy, but very talented and magnetic in certain roles.

This is the exact last thing you want to talk about people 'getting out of their system'. That is never going to happen for anyone who knows.

She definitely says it was a different kind of acting in an certain older style she loved, and that she tried to have fun with it when they would try to do melodramatic flashbacks or something. She also says that it was great training and she learned from the vets like CZ. The usual stuff. Apparently she even ran into Alan Locher in P-Town a couple years back and the show came up. Small world.

They would kind of reunite in a certain way in my concept - the whole story would be about Luke realizing and accepting that he did love his life with Laura and their family, that he is still in love with her - but Luke would die a hero at the end of the day, giving his blessing to her and the new man already on the scene. Like I've said before, that's all I'll say in public because that OTT idea runs long lol.

And I can still get through a whole week of it without feeling like I'm on a death march like watching GH.

Oh lord. The bell tolls for GH!

What a privilege to see all this now. The idea that Hal's niece(?) in 1991 is so out of the modern world that she is mesmerized by washing machines and phones is a bit much - especially played by Parker Posey. (Upon doing some digging given her recent role on The White Lotus, it seems she's always been largely complimentary of her time on ATWT in interviews - she name-checks Colleen Zenk as being especially good.)

I do too, but I ain't putting it on here lol. The story I had in mind would pretty much be designed to end in a sweeps blowout as a big adventure story to send the show off to Hulu for good (with much PR fanfare) with a streamlined cast. It would blow the last of the network budget to do it lol. But yes, it would honor LNL, end Luke and cue up Laura's new man (not Kevin, who would end up back with Lucy). If it were up to me Luke would hang around, but that's just not going to happen so I would settle for giving Geary what I think he's often been dying for re: Luke: A big, permanent death.

BTG is far from perfect and has definite issues in casting and scripts IMO, but it feels fresh for a lot of obvious reasons. It has a ways to go on a number of levels but it's consistently more pacey, entertaining and intriguing than trying to barrel through a week of GH.

If it was up to me, sure. But I think the only way he'd ever return for that at this point (assuming he's well) is if you also kill him off in the same story, and even that's a gamble IMO. But it's what I'd do, in a year or less.

And tellingly, this (timestamped below) is how that ended - still a favorite scene of mine, and wonderful that someone on staff realized this had to happen after Laura left the room. I think that's true for the remainder of Genie's second run, but I also think the BTS situation got worse and worse. And I don't think it was any one's fault, nor do I suspect Genie was exempt from blame. I think a lot of constraints may have been put on story for her, but I also think the show didn't handle it or treat her well. But it was so long ago now. I do think Luke loved Tracy in his way, at that time, as much as he could love anyone who wasn't Laura or his children. I enjoyed Luke and Tracy together early on, I understood the logic of pairing him with the anti-Laura. But the repetitive stories where Luke fúcks Tracy over or disrespects her or smears Laura in comparison ground me down. Luke could never respect Tracy as much as he claimed to, or as much as she convinced herself he did. And any time she realized that and threw him out she'd then take him back again and the cycle would repeat. Tracy was something that made Luke feel he didn't have to change, but change sometimes is essential.

Nah, it's more relevant than us dragging Donna. Which I intend to continue to do. But I do think the fact that they're going to get worse is why this kind of storytelling only becomes more important.

I do think that and Genie dragging her feet on coming back in '97 was a huge part of it. People today forget or weren't there to remember just how long that went on and it was openly discussed in the press.

I don't agree with that. I would feel the same about any show or network that dropped the story out of cowardice. At any time in the last 30 years.

I usually don't. I've had her on Ignore for years. Usually I only see her when someone quotes her mess and rarely acknowledge her, but certain things just set you off. She's gotten away with a lot more than just this, and we all know it. They're not even telling a story now, lol.

I was saying the other day it would be a hoot if she came on being someone's slightly cringe old fashioned liberal grandmother still dropping questionable terms and claiming she dated all the civil rights idols before Anita.

Odd timing: Just as we were discussing the Daniel Colson saga, Mark Dobies has passed away.