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I'm also appalled by GH's indifference to its long-running black characters, like TJ, who's been on the show for 13 years and has been in a relationship with Molly for most of that time, but who never seems to be mentioned by Molly or her relatives or even his own relatives. But to be honest, aside from Trina, I can't think of many black characters on GH I'd actually miss if they disappeared tomorrow. I don't actually miss seeing TJ onscreen, just like I don't miss seeing Michael onscreen; but Michael gets mentioned several times a week, whereas TJ is never mentioned onscreen. I think the key word is "token". I'm not sure how many African-American writers are on the GH staff, but it certainly feels like no one behind the scenes is really invested in these characters. I get the sense that the writers are afraid to give them any cultural specificity that might mark them as different from the white characters, and they're afraid to give them deep character flaws that might make them interesting. So instead we've got this group of bland buppies who are mainly there to react to things that the white characters do. I hope that someone on GH's writing staff is watching BTG and taking notes, but I doubt it.

Keep in mind, Natalia Livingston has a Daytime Emmy, and even at her worst, Satra could act circles around her.

I've been enjoying the show a lot this week, but the past couple of days of Jason/Sonny scenes remind me how much more I would be enjoying it if they didn't have to feature Maurice Benard three days a week. Some of his line readings today were just painful.

Sorry, I meant to write that she spends her time taking care of others as a nurse and mother, but you get my point. As a young woman, Liz used to be driven by her own ambitions and desires, but she gradually sublimated that and moved into a caretaking role, a supporting role. And so it's sort of thrilling to see her reconnect with her old "main character energy" again.

GH isn't very good with romance these days (and honestly that's been one of the show's weak spots for the past 25 years, since the Guza/JFP era). But those Liz/Lucky scenes today were powerfully romantic and poignant. I love how they're showing Liz, who spends most of her time now caring for others as a wife and a mother, getting to return to a time and place where she was led by her own desires. And the fact that they're showing us the flashback footage is just icing on the cake.

What I loved about that short scene was how her speech was very theatrical, right on the verge of camp, but she managed to connect it to real emotion, so that just in a 30-second span you could get a sense of Ava's self-pity and fear and rage.

I think that between yesterday's episode and today's, Maura West has her Emmy reel sewn up. Iconic scenes where she's standing over Sonny's prostrate body. I just wish they'd gone on a little bit longer, but such is the short-attention-span editing of GH.

Like most of us on this board, I think Sonny is an albatross around the show's neck. But I have to say that Maurice Benard comes alive in his scenes with Maura West. Their scenes today were electric, and I appreciated how the writers weren't afraid to show Sonny's petty, vindictive side.

God help me, but I'm actually starting to like those WSB training scenes with Joss. They're just so bizarre and tonally very different from everything else on the show, but the actors are committed enough, they're selling it. The guy playing Vaughn is pretty good, and he's got a sarcastic edge that sets him apart from most of Frank's generi-hunks. And these scenes are really playing to Eden McCoy's strengths, as her steeliness and stubborness actually work in this context.

Unpopular opinion, I guess, but I think the show has been really good this week. A number of plots the show has taken time to set up--Brook Lynn and Dante's baby, Valentin and Brennan's Spy Vs. Spy thing--are finally paying off. And I think the show has been good about balancing its traditional strength--cliffhangery, plot-driven action stuff where someone pulls a gun on someone else, or someone ends up in the hospital when they're poisoned with Polonium--with quieter, character-driven moments. The show is using a lot of its veteran actresses and their history really well. Tracy is the obvious case, but we also got a great scene with Felicia today talking about her own tumultuous time with Frisco in an attempt to convince Carly to dump Brennan. And even though Laura seemed a little too empathetic towards Valentin yesterday, I did love how she brought up her own past with Luke and Lucky to talk about the psychological tolll of a life on the run. It's definitely not perfect, and sometimes plot points take precedence over character logic. As someone pointed out upthread, it makes no sense that Sonny wouldn't just shoot Valentin. But I do think GH is doing a lot right, and I'm enjoying it more than I have in years and years.

Okay, the fact that Valentin has a fake passport that reads "Will Cortlandt" made me laugh out loud. Also a nice touch that Charlotte has a fake passport that reads "Melanie Cortlandt."

As I said in the other thread, we need a poll on exactly when he's going to die saving Joss from a fiery explosion and/or mob shootout: February 2026 Sweeps May 2026 Sweeps November 2026 Sweeps

I still can't get behind a Brad/Lucas recoupling, but I thought Van Hansis really sold the hell out of those scenes, making me believe that (for whatever far-fetched reason) Lucas was ready to jump Brad's bones. I guess all those years being paired with Jake Silbermann really taught him how to generate onscreen sexual heat with a partner who's not giving you much to work with. Now if they'd just give him a love interest who could match his intensity--is Eric Sheffer Stevens still available?

I knew that Frank must get his casting ideas from watching old David DeCoteau movies! This guy was one of the male leads in 1313: Cougar Cult, which must be seen to be believed (but probably should not be seen at all): Anyway, I give this guy 18 months tops before Frank gets bored with seeing him shirtless and replaces him with a fresh hunk. The only question is, will Vaughn die saving Joss's life in a tragic explosion and/or mob shootout during February 2026 Sweeps, May 2026 Sweeps, or November 2026 Sweeps?

Yeah, I felt Ric was really speaking for the audience when he told Kristina point blank that she needed therapy. (Too bad that GH's resident therapist has temporarily departed for places Beyond the Gates).

Boy, this Sidwell stuff might just be the dumbest storyline on the show right now, and that's saying something. What's more, it's making most of the characters involved with Sidwell seem much dumber than they should be. Sasha comes up to the table of Deception execs and says, "Why are you doing business with this man? He kidnapped me and held me in a room with a bomb," and Lucy just brushes it off, and Natalia kind of shrugs and rolls her eyes a bit like, "Yeah, that sounds like my ex-husband!" And it doesn't help that Carlo Rota plays Sidwell like a Dollar Tree version of a James Bond villain.

I hope not! This is the best use of Cameron Mathison I've seen since the Ryan/Gillian era of AMC. Smarmy, self-serving politician is really the role that he was born to play, and I hope they keep him around for a long time as a natural antagonist for Jason, Sonny, Carly, Nina, and the Qs.

You've really pinpointed one of my major problems with DAYS these days. Of course, all the soaps seem to struggle with this; it's only just now, after they've each been on the show for 5 years, that Sasha and Willow on GH have stopped being interchangeable. But I feel like DAYS used to be much better at infusing each character with an individual voice, back when the Cullitons used to write a lot of the daily scripts. I think at this point they could benefit from bringing back some of their female characters who really do have more distinctive personalities, like Melanie or Chloe or even Gwen.

Agreed, although I will say those Joss/Brennan scenes today might have worked for me if Charles Mesure was still in the role. He had a little twinkle in his eye that suggested he had a genuine soft spot for Joss and Carly. Chris McKenna, on the other hand, seems fundamentally shifty-eyed and untrustworthy, and I'm just counting down the weeks until he and his French assistant lady close down the Port Charles WSB branch and close the book on this whole silly storyline.

I think I'm enjoying GH right now a lot more than most of you are, especially now that Cyrus is dead. I don't think I've ever liked any of the performances Jeff Kober gave on the show, although I'll admit he wasn't bad in his final scenes with Elizabeth. However, even I was a little confused and disappointed that after what seemed like months of building to a "Who Killed Cyrus?" mystery, we actually see Joss shoot and kill him. This just seems like almost Josh Griffith-level squandering the dramatic potential of a situation.

Maybe that's what all the "Brad's been working out" dialogue last week is leading up to...

Having endured a year of Clone Reva, I had no problem coping with Geriatric Pregnancy Reva. But honestly it must have been tough for the writers to keep coming up with frontburner storylines for Reva, who'd already been through all the soap cliches: amnesia, cancer, long-lost child (twice). That said, I actually can think of a story I wish they'd done in their later years: Reva and Josh run against each other for mayor. It might have been a fun new spin on the Reva-Josh conflict, and we could have gotten juicy scenes of their mutual friends and family members having to pick sides on who to support.

I haven't read Zimmer's book, but I wonder if she also resented the fact that in the Peapack years she often appeared as a supporting character in other people's storylines (for instance, as a supportive grandma in Daisy's abortion storyline). As you say, Zimmer was actually great in this role and turned in some captivating naturalistic performances. It's a smart way to use a star whose guarantee says they have to appear 3 days a week, much better than the Rauch era which came up with increasingly ludicrous plot-driven storylines to keep Reva front and center. And Zimmer showed why she won all those Emmys by slipping seamlessly into those supporting roles and really connecting with her younger scene partners, boosting their performances as well. It's a talent I wish some other overexposed soap actors who appear in 150+ episodes a year (cough, Maurice Bernard) shared.

Right!? Mike is looking like a snack, while also being a good listener (which is equally sexy in its way). The other thing that strikes me as really stupid about this storyline is that it ends up killing off two of the only long-term characters who might organically cause conflict. You want to keep at least some schemers and your psychologically unbalanced characters on the canvas. And if I'm not mistaken, they killed Charlotte off in August 1973 and Kit in February 1974, making these both sweeps stunts. And it reminds me of the sweeps stunts General Hospital did in the 2000s, where they got some momentary thrills from killing off important characters, but then were left with long-term holes on the canvas they couldn't repair.

I don't know if they actually raised viewership (although the Emmy wins might have kept the show on the air a couple years longer). But I can see how the Inside the Light eps would be a great entry point for a non-viewer or even a reentry point for a lapsed viewer. They usually concentrated on one focal character, rather than jumping back and forth between storylines. So viewers would have fewer of the "What's going on? Why does this matter? Who are all these people?" questions I have when tuning into new soaps (or old ones I haven't watched for a few years).