Jdee43

1975, with the expansion to an hour, was the year the show was totally transformed. The previous 11 years, with its emphasis on couples fighting to be together against all odds, and on the Matthews clan, were basically thrown out. Now we got an attempt at a high brow theater hour, focusing on Rachel and Mac and whomever Lemay and Raunch wanted to feature. This version of the show was good for 4 years, but by 1979 it had crumbled. Unfortunately, it was this ruin of a show, with its flimsy foundations, forgetful of what happened before 1975, that we got for the next 20 years. Victoria Wyndham was completely on board with the changes that happened in 1975. Little doubt as to why, as Rauch and Lemay did make her the star of the show. But again, the changes weren't sustainable. They led to 20 years of mediocrity from 1979-1999.

Why do you think Victoria Wyndham lasted so long on the show? The last link to the glory days of the 70s? It's a bit ironic, as from her interviews it sounds like she disliked the history of the show and the show itself.

I'm watching the episodes where Peter kidnaps Kelly after her wedding to Joe, from mid-February 1985, 139 on. Their scenes are well acted. I'm struck by all the outdoor location work. Kelly's menaced by a snake and a cougar while trying to get away from Peter. She even blows up a car. The show seemed to have money to burn doing all this stuff! I'm not enjoying the other main story as much, with Sophia. Her disguises and accents are just so lame, it's hard to believe no one would recognize her. I'm not sure if Judith McConnell is quite the right actress for this current storyline. She can't do creditable accents for the life of her. Lionel has been kept in jail for too long. Back in December 84, he almost seemed to be the new star of the show. Having him in jail for two months has really diminished his role.

Just when it seemed like they were turning Vernon and Anita into Tom and Alice from Days of our Lives, they have scenes like those at the end of Thursday's episode! I'd love to see more of that 😈

Hobo Lucky going down memory lane with Liz hasn't been cutting it. It works only if you pretend that the characters haven't seen each other since the late 1990s and ignore 26 years of stories. Lucky's been back for over 7 months, and it still feels like he's only a guest star. He hasn't been integrated into the canvas at all.

I'm happy they didn't just kill Ric off.. such pettiness has been known to happen with this show..

This show really needs to up the crazy. What are they waiting for?

The anniversary show was unwatchable. So many wrong characters featured; so many shallow stories with no connection to the heart of the show. The constant fawning of Laura over Sonny lately has been ridiculous. Who wants to see any of that? It doesn't do any one any favors. That this is what they're now devoting most of Laura's screen time to is sad. The show continues to use her poorly. The writing for her the last few years has been terrible.

It still seems like it's mostly actresses who leave this show.

Sad. She's just bad news.

TJ has gone to hang with Taggert.

Just a reshuffling of chairs on the Titanic. Nothing is going to fundamentally change; they have their formula down.

This show is channeling early Santa Barbara's Sophia, with Leslie and her lame attempts at disguising herself. Also Naomi being mad at Jacob for arresting her mom echoes Eden being mad at Cruz for arresting Sophia.

It gets better in January 1985 with the start of the serial killer storyline. It starts out of nowhere with episode 114. If you go back a week though, to 109, you can see the start of Cruz and Eden as an official couple, with Cruz manhandling Eden, tackling her to the floor, treating her like crap -- that time period's way of showing how much chemistry they would have.. The storyline from 109 that Cruz and Eden are in about a sunken ship gets dropped as Cruz eventually becomes the chief cop investigating the serial killer. From the start, Cruz is laughably terrible at his job, letting the killer easily escape, inadvertently giving the killer the heads up as to where his victim will be, etc.

Hard to believe, Steve Burton had more storyline possibilities on Days of our Lives than he currently has on General Hospital.

Ryan Quan is now at GH? I thought he was a DAYS writer.

I started watching in 1987 and never really got into Rachel. She always seemed boring to me and hard to relate to. She was very affected; it was like she was putting on airs; her performances were not natural. I enjoyed the show despite her. I didn't know the history of the show back then.

No way would a new show ever have the budget to pull off the lavish 1980s. The shows can barely pull off being set in 2025.

Valentin is such a doofus. If he's going to pop in now and then, at least give him good writing and motivation. There's no reason why he shouldn't have been killed off during this latest pathetic go around..

With Santa Barbara, they had 2 Joes, 2 Sophias, and 3 CCs, along with another CC who never made it to camera due to a heart attack, all in the first 6 months. But what really hurt the show was the decision to drop what would have been their two main characters, along with their entire families. Joe was recast, then killed off, his family disappearing. Santana was written off, her family disappeared; she was recast through the years, but it never really worked. The show never quite stabilized after this early 180. It always felt like it was missing characters; there was not enough for an hour show.

Eva La Rue is miscast. If they wanted her on this show, they should have just let hey play Maria from.AMC. Who would care at this point

I like Carla Borelli and was really disappointed with how her character Reena turned out. With better material, she could have been a break out star on this show. But Reena became so weak and wishy washy. It was a waste for all involved.

Friday was the first episode I was FFing. It's just 3 weeks, yet the show is so repetitive. They need to start blowing things up with abandon. There are a lot of echoes on this show of past soaps that the writers were involved in. Definitely seeing a lot of echoes of 90s General Hospital. Also seeing shades of Santa Barbara, with the emphasis one big, rich family, for example. I hope this show doesn't follow the path of Santa Barbara's first few months: a strong open followed by a descent into boredom. By the time SB blew things up with an earthquake, 4 months after the premiere, it was too late, no one cared, the show was so boring. It needed a serial killer story to give it some life and begin a reboot, 2 months later.

When they brought in a new producer, not much fundamentally changed. I don't think much is going to fundamentally change with new writers. They've found their formula, however cheap and crappy, and this is the show they're going to do. With their budget and Peacock, probably not much else they can do.

Was Ron fired for creative reasons, or was he let go because they couldn't afford to pay him anymore? Presumably his salary would be on the higher side?