Planet Soap

GH: 2/3rds of the cast with no story Y&R: Phyllis, Chelsea, Billy, Devon, Abby, Lilly, Sally B&B Katie, Wyatt, Liam, Hope, Finn, Carter, Zende, Paris

I think it's been established that soaps are struggling. I think a more fitting conversation is how much longer do the four remaining soaps have left? Will the existing tv soaps be shifted to streaming? Will The Gates revive the genre and either breed new soaps or extend the shelf life of the existing ones? Food for thought😉

Sam just falls into the "happened to be on there for a while" category. Sonny's legacy status is debatable, and there is an argument for Carly since she's Bobbie's daughter (via a RETCON). Of "the quad", Jason is the only undeniable legacy character. I really don't want to see Sam killed off. I'd prefer for A) Lindsay to take over the role, B ) Write Sam off without death, or C) Have Kelly Monaco improve her acting as the writers give her better stories.

I grew up watching Sam as the fourth lead of the show. But I cannot deny that since Jason went off the peir in 2012, Sam has drifted into irrelevance. Monaco has been phoning it in for years with an Is uninthusiastic delivery of her lines and vapid facial expressions. As much as it hurts to see veterans go, she is played out.

B&B I raced to this thread to say Ridge and Bridget. Low and behold it was the first answer! B&B Stephanie unknowingly giving a rapist the location of the keys to Brooke's house. B&B Brooke sleeping with Deacon, Nick, Thomas and Oliver. Y&R Victor gaslighting Sharon with a double of her deceased daughter (Cassie/Mariah... his adoptive granddaughter. GH Luke rapes Laura then taunts her by playing the song that he raped her to AGAIN at the campus disco. GH Ric locking a pregnant Carly in a panic room then gets forgiven and becomes DA OLTL: Todd Manning/Victor Jr: raping Marty, the dead baby lie, causing Star to fall down stairs, beating up Cole, "re-raping" Marty (Yet still being forgiven).

1998-2002 B&B was peak camp with everything from Brooke and Deacon, to Brooke and Thorne vs Macy to Morgan and Sheila! Bring this energy back!

I think its the modern ---sometimes down for anything ---GH fans that liked their loved story. Longtime fans and the more discerning (I hate how superior and pretentious that sounded) weren't going for it. Franco did too much. He got Michael raped in prison, implied that he raped Sam I front of Jason, was a serial killer and committed other acts mentioned in this chat. He was too far gone to be redeemed. The biggest insult was Franco getting Michael raped in prison then rewriting history to say he meant for the rapist to protect Michael. I think the latter was done clear the way for him to have a relationship with Carly. But I think Franco and Carly were only a couple so Roger Howard and Laura wright could be together, to and rekindle Carly's romance with Todd who had to be written off when ABC lost the rights to OLTL.

I think the late 90s (image from 1998) was Luke's best look. Shaved rather than shaggy head.

Very older looking Geary dressed better as Bill Eckhart

Yeah Luke had this weird pilgrim look and Laura was styled like a matronly wife. Speaking of Luke, at 2:24:07 during the train crash story Luke makes this odd remark that he never wanted to be a father, and that it was Laura's idea. He says was only a sperm donor. He adds that Leslie is handling raising LuLu, and Lucky is married so Luke's fathering days are over. He comes off completely disinterested as a father to Lulu in the following scenes, only to be worried upon hearing Lucky is on the train. Even Skye had to correct him. This was a far cry from the proud dad Luke that we got in the '90s. The determination of (I'm guessing Tony Geary) to strip the character down into a nihilistic but comical con man was pathetic. https://youtu.be/QDleI27VkP4?si=LB0deEEca3pspQZX

Oooo Guza....do you all like him after GH? Hopefully JFP gets nowhere near this.

Loved the panic room. I still dont get how Ric came back from that and became DA.

Got it. Because 96 was a mix for both of them I'm always not too sure who wrote what between Labine and Guza. Looking back, 1996 it was a pivotal year as it laid the groundwork for the Sonny/Carly/Jason show we have today. What was your take on the Bill Levinson era vs Labine?

What particular events would you say marked that 2003 decline? Speaking of the early 00s, from rewatching 2002 Sonny was juggling a lot of storylines! His and Carly's presume deaths, Alexis' pregnancy, and Brenda's return.

These are interesting perspectives. I've always seen people writing that GH started going downhill by 1997 as Labine was gone, the mob became more central, and many cast departures by '98-99. I've felt the same as well based on observation and not knowing who the head writers were. I do like Guza's flair for action, and I can see how AIDS, Breast cancer, and kids dying in school bus accidents can get depressing. Granted Guza was good under Riche but under JFP is when his destructiveness was evident. But compared to Frank era GH 2002-2011 looks like gold compared to 2015-Present GH. SB: rewatching the Port Charles hotel fire sweeps event, could they not have sent multiple helicopters landing in different intervals to conduct the rescue?

Tony's death was sad. For me it was also symptomatic of what happened to the show. We had this great humanistic, emotional, and balanced show, that got 180d for (Non Italian lol) mafia centered stories. At least we got some good sweeps events from the era that was to come. I wonder what General Hospital would have been like had Claire Labine stayed head writer for the length of time that Guza was in power.

I say this jokingly but not jokingly...would Y&R take Ron!??

Ron Moss cannot act...Drake Hogestyn is rough too, but they served their roles and made it work lol. BIG FAILS... Y&R Phyllis as Sheila. Why? These characters had no history so how did that make sense? Maybe because Phyllis was the new Sheila in the 90s since Kimberlin went to B&B? Why end the run of an iconic villain like this? Thank God Brad Bell undid this. Guiding Light: Clone Reva/Amish Reva

With Sam on current GH basically irrelevant without Jason, it got me to thinking...how relevant was Courtney after her breakup with Jason? EDIT: Jason **Sonny and Carly have always been "The Trio" with an interchangeable fourth member.

That lines up come to think of it. Its a shame Brenda didnt last longer and yes...they were definitely pairing her with Jason. Then Courtney and Sam got in there some how. Sonny & Carly's last child served NO purpose. She didn't drive story at all.

Was there no way to make that fall look more realistic? Maybe it would have looked less stupid If they just cut to the shot of her falling out of the window right after the push. The window trope and soaps, is any window that weak? LOL.

How to get GH back on track? Some suggestions: Properly plan out and consistently stick with focused storylines for at least a year. Bell era Y&R was masterful at this. Dump unnecessary characters from the overloaded canvas. Make "the mob trio" part of the ensemble, not the show leads. Make scenes longer with more in depth dialogue. Stop stunt casting and bringing back old faces just for them to have no storyline. Make Jason have emotion and stop making him this ever patient wise soul SB: I think Jagger's return is the perfect catalyst to bring back Brenda, especially as a love interest for Jason. That last one was controversial LOL.

Well that dismissal was anti climactic! Being that the same soap writers from the glory days are still in the business why does soap writing suck so much now? Did they forget how to write? Are they burned out? Is it network interference?

Thank You!

I need to find that scene of Carly #2 kissing Jason!