Jdee43

It's too bad they couldn't get access to the old music cues from the 80s and 90s, to run with the flashbacks or in the current scenes. That would have added a lot. Imagine if they had played the old Roman and Marlena theme.

BTG B- Some boring spots, with little forward momentum. GH C A least they're trying to up their game, but the conflicts still seem phony and manufactured, ultimately much ado about nothing. DAYS D I guess some marginal improvement with the writing. The show seems less like a joke, but it's still so played out.

I wish they would just upload everything to youtube...

The last few episodes have been good; the acting, the emotions. It's nice to see that GH can still do classic soap opera. I do wish that they would respect their long term audience more and do it without all the silly rewrites though. And where do they go from here? I'm a bit pessimistic and fully expect the show to go back to the drama-less, boring mess it usually is. I'm giving it a month, tops.

The character of Lois has been ruined and trashed. There's no coming back from this mess. The current production and writing team have had no idea as to what made her special to begin with. She had a bit of moral fiber. Her treatment on the show is not atypical though, as most characters will get trashed, even beyond redemption, if it serves the current flavor of the month plotline.

The Nurses' Ball has always been cringey, fast forward material for me, but especially during the Frank era. The musical numbers and audience reactions are unwatchable. So many of the conflicts on this show feel phony and manufactured. Probably no better instance is the Gio - Dante crap. Gio's whole story is inorganic, plot driven, no stakes, fake conflict; giving people lame drama just to give them drama, a prime example of GH under Frank.

I'm surprised they haven't introduced the owner of Orphey Gene's. Since their inspiration for it seems to be partly from General Hospital, maybe they could introduce an Aunt Ruby type to run it.

I think at this point I'd rather see Ashley recast more than Derekt. They need someone more charismatic and authentic, who doesn't come off as "acting," especially if they have to carry this horrible writing.

I think it wasn't just some of the poor casting choices that did the show in during its early days, but also the flat writing. Perhaps it was network interference? You'd think the Dobsons would have fought harder for their original vision, but after 6 months they dropped most of it.

When the show debuted, Louise Sorel came on like gangbusters. But then in the fifth week, they introduced Lionel, and her star power dimmed. Unfortunately her character became more of a jealous, shrewish wife. Lionel came on like gangbusters after the earthquake, especially in December 1984, but unfortunately after that, they had his character in jail for 2 months, which dimmed his star power. I'm watching late February 1985, and Mason is still dull as dirt. His character hasn't come alive yet. The show is really doing a good job with the Kelly/ Peter stuff, mostly due to the performances. It's too bad they couldn't make Peter this interesting from the beginning.

I was going through those episodes from 1984 and early 1985 before they were taken down. Some of the older characters, like Don and even Tom, looked a little out of place, like they were on the wrong show. But the newer characters were fun. It's too bad they lost the character of Melissa. I guess Jennifer took her long-term place on the canvas.

Lemay came on in 1971, Rauch in 1972. From 1971-1974, they pretty much continued the show as it had been under Agnes Nixon, with its escapist star-crossed love triangles. But then in 1975, with the expansion to an hour, it seemed they were given permission by NBC or Lin Bolen, to do more of their own thing. They did and transformed the show into a high-brow theater hour, focusing on their favorites and on psychological conflicts. It was good from 1975-1979, but it was a bit overhyped and wasn't sustainable. Lin Bolen was into psychological, realistic drama, as seen from the failed soap opera she developed and pushed from 1974-1975, How to Survive a Marriage. I wonder how much of the new one hour AW in 1975 was Bolen encouraging/ordering Lemay and Rauch to incorporate some elements of her How to Survive a Marriage. Or perhaps Lemay and Rauch were fans of How to Succeed, and incorporated elements of it on their own?

The Eva / Tomas scenes at the end -- to see a good actress having to play a scene with someone giving her less than nothing -- that was painful.

Sonny, a week or two after having open heart surgery, walking around with his shirt unbuttoned to a V neck, showing no signs of stitches or even a scar..

Lois's return has been a bust. So disappointing that the writers have never written for her. As with Tracy, the pool of GH vets is so thin, there's no one to pair her with. Doubtful they would go to the trouble of properly recasting a legacy character and then sticking him with Lois; they're obviously not that invested. If she wants to be on this show, it'll be as a noisy grandma who stays in the background.

I don't think Lois the character was there. The Lois we knew from the 90s has pretty much died with this Gio story crap.

Looking at the big picture, in what sense did Another World influence this show? Many of the same people, from writers, actors, and executive producers, worked on both shows, usually working first on AW. What impact did that have on OLTL? Did they try to make OLTL a little like AW, consciously or unconsciously? Could OLTL have been seen at some points as just AW but on ABC?

The Sonny stuff has been crap. No stakes, no emotion, no pay off, just filling up airtime. I never liked the rewriting of the history between Mike and Sonny, of how the Sonny of the last few years is now supposed to give a damn about Mike; please. Sonny should just leave already. Give Maurice another character if he wants to, maybe the hospital chaplin, so he can still be mushy and hug it out with people. Also I don't understand why the show chose an attractive young female to be the assassin; a little misogynistic touch there perhaps?

I think Margaret DePriest's first head writing stint was a very low point for the show, especially late 1986 to mid 1987. Trying to inject life into AW with a serial killer story never worked; AW wasn't that kind of show. There were also some poor casting choices during this time, with Vicky & Nicole miscast, letting go of Nancy, and long time characters like Larry & Clarice disappearing or, like Quinn, getting killed off. For me, the final nail in the coffin was 1988, with letting Lemay go after the strike. That told you all you needed to know about how P&G felt about the show. Bringing in scab Donna Swajeski, presumably at less pay, was a terrible choice. Swajeski is a mediocre writer at best. She might have been boringly competent, but she was never going to make a show special. AW might have had a renaissance in 1989 had P&G kept Lemay.

Would you say that Search from around 1975 to its end had the handsomest cast on daytime? It seemed like you had to be really handsome or pretty to be on this show. Acting talent was a nice bonus, but not necessary; it seemed to be all about looks.

This show has a lot of interesting elements, but a lot of boring filler material too. Perhaps if it was 30 minutes, we'd get more of the interesting and less of the boring. 60 minutes, especially for a brand new soap, is hard.

What they did to the Capwells they'd later do to the Quartermaines on GH, claim the family was super toxic when the family really was not.

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.