BrendaB

After having seen the beautifully written long death arc for Dominique in 1993 and how wonderfully the entire cast acted, it's just pitiful how badly this Willow story is being written and acted.  Every single character (except maybe Leisl) is so vapid in that never-ending non-story.  Since they're clipping old scenes from 1981, they should go watch and re-learn some of the lessons from 30 years ago, too!

After all these years, I still cannot stand Snarly and her perfectly cast mini-me daughter.  Carly's smug, arrogant bitchiness being portrayed as if she's a sympathetic heroine grates my nerves.  I also can't stand sappy, indecisive Nina and her even worse daughter Wallow.  I wish Nina would go full on crazy and unintentionally kill her own daughter and intentionally kill Carly, Joss (and maybe even Sonny) in the tradition of some grand Greek tragedy and then be carted off to a psych ward permanently.

The only good acting being done in every episode is by our Gerber baby, Ace.  Yesterday, he was clearly traumatized by Trina knocking out his nanny!  It was lovely seeing Constance Tower's Helena.  Holly & Laura are doing great, too.  I wish Felicia was there-- I liked the comment earlier in this thread about doing a Charlie's Angel thing with the GH gals (but I wouldn't include Anna until Valentin was permanently out of the picture).

11 minutes ago, AMCHistory said:

This one was a dud for me because Ned/Jenny and Paul/Jenny had no chemistry. They were couples for couples sake. I never got why Paul and Jenny were endgame when Tracy and Paul were hot. 

Oh, I wasn't rooting for either couple or any combination of the couples in that crazy group.  I was just enjoying all the comedy & fall-out drama that resulted from it-- like the couples massage scenes at the spa with Marco.  Tracy & Marco's plotting against Jenny & Paul was a lot of lighthearted fun.  Ned trying to get back with Jenny by conning her and Paul about Tracy's whereabouts to send Paul off on a world wide goosechase was mean, but it was delicious how Jenny dumped soup on Ned's head when she found out!  Even Tracy's goodbye scenes before she left in 1993 were awesome.  There was real bittersweet tenderness between her and her parents and even AJ.

Thanks @carolineg .  I'm looking forward to watching the whole Brenda story in those edits!

11 minutes ago, carolineg said:

Brenda sets her up for cheating and she just cries about it instead of defending herself to the school board of Jason and Robin who, hilariously, vote against her.  Brenda is the heavy here and wrong, but Karen does little or nothing to fight back.  That probably is what Labine is talking about when she said her first week she had Karen throw the pills back at Sonny.  Obviously, the fact she is an abuse victim frames things differently, but all she did was whine about things to Jagger and Jason instead of standing up for herself.   

Are you seeing those scenes you mention about Brenda, Robin, Jason, Karen, etc. on Youtube?  I don't remember them in the AddieCate's uploads since there's gaps on that playlist (absolutely annoying that ABC/Hulu just don't upload every episode in their taped archives).  That teen scene on GH was so cute back then.  I definitetly LOLed at Robin & Stone's first meeting and interactions when Robin told Jagger to "take him back" where he finally found him.

@titan1978 GH had a lot of fun triangles (or squares) in 1993.  Besides the big one with Brenda, Jagger & Karen, I think the Lucy, Scott, Dominique (later Catherine) one was riveting, and the AJ, Julia & Ned was fun, but the the craziest one was Tracy, Paul, Jenny & Ned.

On the November 8, 1993 episode is when Brenda and Jason overhear Rhonda telling Ruby about Karen's childhood rape/molestation and then Brenda & Jason express a whole bunch of regret about both their past actions and words toward Karen.  But, yeah, I'm in the same boat @carolineg, Karen just wasn't likeable compared to all the characters around her.  They told a lot of story about her, but they probably needed a more charismatic actress to pull off the part-- like Rebecca Herbst if she was born 5 years earlier.  Elizabeth kind of seems like she was Karen 2.0, anyways.

It seems like a batch of major characters are going to be written off in 1994 during Labine's first full year:  Karen, Jagger, Marco, Sean, Tiffany, Julia (I really loved the sisterly bond and them pulling one over on Ned at the end), etc. but Labine still had a full roster of great characters to start her run on the show with.

I did notice how Jon Russell from One Life To Live (Dorian Lord's hottest love interest, besides David Vickers) represented Ryan Chamberlain during his trial and is now Lucy's lawyer in her custody battle with Scott.  Of course, Marco Dane has been a great comedic character on GH after his remarkable OLTL run.  I keep seeing Gillian Spencer (original Vicki Lord) in the writing credits for GH in 1993.  Seems like the ABC soaps have had nice cross-overs and cross-pollination for decades.

On 4/25/2023 at 11:53 PM, carolineg said:

I hope Jagger sits alone at home now feeling bad about how he strung Brenda along for so long.  It's a good episode.  Ruby is so heavily invested in her teenage boarders romantic lives, but it's sweet she's looking out for them I guess.  Also, there is something very endearing about Brenda/Jason/Robin meeting at the movies and them going to find Brenda when she doesn't show (and Brenda's working as a waitress at Kelly's).  Sonny getting his ass kicked by Jagger and having to be escorted to the hospital by Stone and Karen over a punch is pretty funny.

LOL.  Ruby was like a more cantankerous version of Mrs Garret from the Facts of Live, but she was so TeamKaren&Jagger, not impartial at all.  Jagger was definitely a (beautiful) fool for letting the best thing that ever happened to him slip through his fingers.  Bill Levinson's writing team really worked Karen up with her backstory and current problems, making her the hard-working, goody-goody heroine going through tough times, so it's kind of a sad waste how Karen was killed off in the Port Charles spin off a few years later.  I liked the recast doctor version of Karen on that show.  I wonder if they were trying to get Antonio Sabatto, Jr. to come back and play Jagger on there...

I'm now at the end of October 1993 when Claire Labine's work starts showing up and the Halloween episode was so fun between Ned trying to blackmail Julia for sexual harrassmant, Lucy & Damian versus Scott & Katherine at the Halloween party, and of course the second greatest return in soap history (after the "Amazing Grace" return of Brenda):

The BOOM! on the next episode was so sad (even though it was a random dayplayer), but that's a great re-entrance for some iconic characters.  Lucky was instantly a star.  That casting director really could pick 'em in the early 1990s.

Wow.  Frank Valentini needs to take a good hard look at the show he's producing, look at the flopping ratings and make some seriously quick changes.  The writing has sunk to a low and boring point, but even the directing is terrible.  The shaky camera-work in this wedding episode almost gave me vertigo and made me feel claustrophobic in that tiny room of what's supposed to be the Quartermaine mansion.

Mixing up the reception activities with the ceremony was so weird.  Ned getting up to sing a song in the middle of the aisle before the vows and then no song plays (because GH no longer has a music budget?  can't even use its old archived themes?).  Sam saying "til death does you part" twice as she randomly officiates the wedding vows despite not sharing a scene with Willow and Michael in years (if ever?).  All the child actors on this show are creepy AF (except the actual cute babies), too, and there's really no need to be showing them so much.

The Carly & Willow love-fest is so damn fake, just as fake as the Ava & Nina friendship conversation.

The only thing I enjoyed in this episode is Tracy irritating Olivia and then tuning out of the wedding, playing on her phone.  LOL.

^  I think Dara had a random DA/police station scene and some fizzling out with Taggert before she disappeared without any acknowledgement.  When Taggert disappeared, too, I had thought they would have reunited somehow off-screen, but apparently he hooked up in Harmony with the girl from Passions.  Total downgrade (both ladies are beautiful, but Vanita's clearly the superior actress and Dara's characterization was much more interesting).

This scene from this episode reminds me how beautifully unrequited love and infatuation used to be depicted in soaps:

"I want you to stay, please," at the end makes my heart flutter and feel so much empathy for the perpetually star-crossed Brenda.  It's no wonder Vanessa Marcil would be able to repeat the same type of chemistry with each of her 3 great '90s pairings.

Anyways, another great episode filled with laughter (Lucy, Brenda, AJ & Robin), tears (Brenda), mystery (Sean, Mac, Felicia, Ryan) and climaxes (Katherine being exposed, Sonny getting knocked out by Jagger).  They sure do not make episodes as good as this anymore.

8 hours ago, Vizion said:

Speak of the devil!  I love Gloria Monty and her 40 year old quote saying the same thing I just did:

"I can't stand to see a scene take place with two characters sitting at a table for longer than a minute or two...I abhor...repeated extreme closeups, monotonous flashback scenes and lethargic duo-logues."

AMEN, sister!  Terrible how her show has regressed back to the same mess she (and I) abhor.

So cool that she worked with Bea Arthur and other legends in the theater world before jumping to directing/producing TV.  I wonder how/why Joan Crawford ending up on the Secret Storm...I don't remember that from the movie.

On 4/20/2023 at 11:02 PM, slick jones said:

 

Thanks for posting!  Cool to see how close the Quartermaine den and the Kelly's diner set are.

I'm current watching September 1993 of GH and it's crazy how disgusting and vile Sonny was-- it's crazy how popular the character became the center of this show.  Getting Karen addicted to alcohol, drugs and turning her into a stripper at his club.  He's a groomer, Andrew Tate-type that should have been killed off if there was any (fictional) justice.

The other difference between shows back in the 1990s and now is how humor-filled the dialog used to be with Scotty, Lucy, Brenda, Julia, Felicia, Mac, etc.  I wonder why the writing for the daily scripts became so devoid of humor this century...it's so uninteresting how 2 characters just sit together in scene after scene now summarizing what happened, worrying about the same uneventful thing and saying insipid platitudes to each other.

On 4/16/2023 at 6:02 AM, Faulkner said:

love the sense of humor.

I would much rather Marianne Williamson be president than anyone else in the current field (even if it's unlikely she'll win).  She seems as decent as Jimmy Carter, the last decent president the USA had.  I'm glad she declared early and has a campaign engaging young voters (who delivered Biden his presidency, but he's done basically nothing for them so far).  These politicians trying to ban TikTok instead of dealing with real problems (gun violence, income inequality, homelessness, climate change, unaffordable healthcare, child care, elder care, etc.) are the real charlatans.

Wow.  Still watching the terrific 1993 storylines on GH via Youtube (now into September).  This show's casting was so top notch in the 1990s, even the minor roles were filled by interesting choices. 

At first, I thought "hey...she looks like Lorna from Another World...no, it's Skye...no, it's both!"

I had no idea Robin Christopher was on GH before she was on AW, playing assistant district attorney Abby Mitchell.

Nicki Cox playing Jagger's sister was a surprise, too.

It's remarkable how sexy the show was-- the Julia & AJ scene in the Bahamas, having sex in the rain, and back when they're in Port Charles were sizzling hot.  Felicia & Mac were cute/hot/sweet/funny so consistently.  Even Alan & Monica were getting it on passionately (not that I necessarily want to see that, but I guess it's good to be fair to all generations ).  Leigh McCloskey (Damian Smith) was such a hot addition to the show, too.  I can't wait to see what he ends up doing...

Alexis looks the same in today's episode in 2023 as she did in the 1990s, and yet her face looks so natural.  What kind of voodoo is Nancy Lee Grahn practicing?

Wow.  I don't know if I like the swole up Spencer (but Nic Chavez is just as hot before and after bulking up).  I wish Cody was looking like he did today in every scene-- so fine with his hair combed and in a suit-- instead of the casual slob look the character's usually sporting.  The actor does such good work, too, even just with his eyes alone in scenes.  So damn dreamy.

I'm definitely liking this Victor umbrella story, so far (except Valentin's overwrought crying), and the fact that it's tied to Laura's history.

LMAO @ all the fake crying histrionics throughout Monday's episode.  Such bad acting all around, especially the Valentin actor.  The BEST acting award goes to baby Ace looking at the camera with a "WTF am I doing here?" face when he debuts on the ship after having been kidnapped. 

4 hours ago, carolineg said:

Hulu uploaded yesterday's GH really late and I am watching it now.  Seriously, who was that Danielle lady?  Is she just a very nice singer or someone actually appearing on GH?

I hate how inconsistent Hulu is with uploading GH timely.  There's no reason it shouldn't be available on Hulu by the time it airs on ABC for the west coast, anyways.

And, yeah, that random lawyer-turned-singer getting so much of her life story told with Carly fangirling her was ridiculous.  I wonder if that singer just has someone on the show she's connected to doing her a favor or something.  Otherwise, they could have at least gotten Angie Stone, Erykah Badu or, heck, even some of the new girls like Muni Long or SZA on there to promote their new albums.  They should have had Latto up there sing-rapping "bad chick, I could be your fantasy...big, big energy" with the Magic Wands dancing.

Josh Kelly (Cody) has been getting too much sun.  His skin will not age well if he keeps doing that (or was it just bronzer?).  I wish they'd give him better stories instead of letting him languish in the background.

They need to fire that balding Lemonhead and put Angela Rye, Abby Phillips or Phil Mattingly in his slot.  Phil is so fine!

Ugh.  They need to stop with the pre-emptions for this lunatic's never-ending nonsense.  All that free media is what helped him clinch the win in 2016.

Today's episode was better.  Loved "The Middle."  The nicest aspect of the Nurse's Ball is having most of Port Charles' citizens all together with multiple storylines connecting to a climax or cliffhanger, with some added musical comedy.  It's a refreshing change from the 2-character dialog scenes rehashing everything that make up 99% of soap episodes now.

LOL @ 25 year old looking Jordan gleefully wanting to be a grandmother.  Molly's beautiful (if a little too thin), but she looks the same age as her mother-in-law!

Thanks @ironlion.   LOL @ Mr. Fitch getting flustered by Dorian's question.  The actress looks like a combination of Susan Seaforth Hayes and Dixie Carter.

On 3/26/2023 at 9:33 PM, ironlion said:

Dorian OLTL- Nancy Pinkerton, Claire Malis, Elaine Princi and of course Robin Strasser were all good. It was refreshing to see the sex pot femme fatale version of Dorian that Claire played in the 1977 episode on YT.

Do you have a link to that episode?  Sounds intriguing.

Slightly tangential to your topic, but did anyone else play Erica Kane as a temporary recast (like if Susan Lucci was pregnant or sick) and is there footage of it on Youtube?  It'd be cool to see a thread of iconic soap characters that had been played famously by a single actor get temporarily portrayed by someone else...

Interesting tidbit @Vee.  I wonder if he just hated acting opposite Anthony Geary who just seems insufferable to me.  GH did some big and random casting coups in the 1990s.  I was surprised they even got Regina Belle to play Lucy's friend and sing at Dominique's memorial right after her big Disney song had charted.

@carolineg I agree.  I think they just needed to send Bill into orbit.  I never want to hear those 3 words, "Summer in Provance" again.  I liked Bill's son Sly's relationship/attachment to Julia, though, and his relationship with his aunt Jenny.  That was sweet.  Sly's attachment to all the adults in PC (besides his deadbeat dad) was cute.  Seemed like he was being raised by the whole village.  I wonder if the show ever considered bringing the character back as an adult...

And speaking of returns, it's crazy that they apparently recast Dillon's dad with Richard Burgi and apparently made him a serial killer in the 2010s (if my perusal of the character wiki is accurate).  His relationship to Jenny and the rest of the PC was so normal in the 1990s.  I loved that Tracy/Ned vs Paul/Jenny dynamic.  That was fun.

@dc11786 it seems like you've seen a whole lot of episodes that AddieCate hasn't posted in that 1993 playlist...is there another account that has those episodes, like the Ryan Chamberlain storyline climax?  I agree with a lot of your points.  It's amazing how far the show went with certain things back in the 1990s...they wouldn't dare delve into those depths in the 2020s.

I'm now in the July episodes in the aftermath and it's so cute seeing Felicia & Mac having a more normal romance...I actually tuned into GH for the first time live around the double wedding of Mac/Felicia & Kevin/Lucy...and then Peter Jennings interrupted it for some breaking news...I was so pissed.  Then school started up again and I couldn't keep watching GH.  Ugh!  But now I can finally work my way through the glorious '90s GH on Youtube.  I don't understand why Hulu doesn't have the whole series up!

Definitely a flop 60th anniversary episode, hopefully the week gets better than that crap.  There was a few cute ideas, but they were executed so poorly with the cringe-editing and awkward dialog.  The writing was especially bad, with obvious continuity problems:  one minute Portia is working at the hospital saying she's doing an extra shift so she could avoid going to the Ball, but then shows up inexplicably to have more redundant non-interactions with her husband and daughter about some 20 year old inconsequential lie of omission?

They should have had current town gossip and Deception employee Gladys scam her way into co-hosting with the Grey's Anatomy actress.  That would have been much more entertaining to have those 2 actresses/characters play off each other while spilling some tea on TV about PC's prominent citizens.

The only decent thing about the episode was all the gowns on the women.  Elizabeth with that hairstyle and dress was exceptionally beautiful.  Brook Lynn has such strikingly big eyes, she's like a cartoon Disney Princess.

Okay, I am mid-way through 1993 of AddieCate's GH episodes playlist.  Wow:  the cast and stories are even better than 1992.  I was surprised Claire Labine still hasn't showed up on the writing credits, so all this greatness is due to Bill Levinson & his writing staff (plus Wendy Riche's production)?!

Steve Burton looks better and less awkward in 1993 with longer hair, but WOW at how cruel he was to Karen here:

The way Brenda, AJ and especially Jason slut-shamed and harassed Karen is horrible, but so bold of the show to go there with her character in this child molestation story.  I still like all these characters despite how cruel they were to (mostly bland goody-goody) Karen. 

Vanessa Marcil and Sean Kanan were soooo gorgeous in 1993.  The chemistry is palpable, crazy they didn't do anything with them together.  Making AJ into a complete loser for decades was such the wrong move.

The only storyline in 1993 I haven't liked is Luke(Bill?) being a deadbeat dad and having a triangle with Holly & Victoria.  Both of those women would have been better off in a triangle with Randolph Mantooth, instead, but I guess then he wouldn't have returned to Loving and The City.  Funny how both female characters look similar to Lisa Peluso.  Alex & Ava Rescott Forbes Alden Masters #3 forever!!

1 hour ago, Faulkner said:

Ron Carlivati posted this on his IG story to honor GH’s 60th anniversary. 

How did his time at GH end on a sour note and who owes him an apology?  He seems to have done fine career-wise and accolades-wise ever since.