vetsoapfan

Particularly with the oppressive interference of "the suits" on soaps these days, I have a feeling Mulcahey is going to have a fight on his hands in the direction of GH moving forward. We know that's there's no chance of Josh Griffith's Y&R or Brad Bell's B&B offering us quality writing any time soon, and God knows Ron Carlivati is stinking up DAYS. GH is probably the only soap with the potential of now turning around and producing good storytelling. Fingers crossed.

Yes, it almost always (with rare exceptions) takes new writers' material some time to gel to the point where viewers get an idea of how good their work is going to be. I can think of Douglas Marland on General Hospital, Rick Edelstein on How to Survive a Marriage, and Claire Labine on Love of Life as exceptions to this rule. When they came aboard those shows, the writing seemed to turn around and soar immediately. It was almost shocking. Most times, new scribes take at least a few months to settle in. Brenda Dickson was "my" Jill too, and although her talents were modest at best when the show began in 1973, at least her Jill did originally come across as a normal human being. In her Norma Desmond phase (a perfect way to describe that, bravo), Dickson's characterization was more of a caricature; a cartoon. Jess Walton ultimately returned the character to the realm of reality.

This is very well said, and I agree. Various people have told me over the years that they have withdrawn from participating on social media, because of the easily-triggered. Extraneous, "filler" characters are pointless and ultimately counter-productive to the health of a soap. GH has a plethora of them on the current canvas. Mulcahey's skill has been evident in the past, so if we are lucky, he will be given the freedom and support to strengthen the show and downplay or eliminate its weaknesses.

Right. The reactions to any form of entertainment are always mixed and contrary; 100% consensus is non existent, and we have to accept that as a given. That's why I am always baffled when people take different opinions as an inflammatory act of war. I don't want or expect everyone to agree with me all the time about everything. How boring that would be. JMHO. ITA.

I would be interested in picking Racina's brain about his involvement with the sci-fi stuff on GH, and if he ever regretted it, if he was satisfied with how it turned out, what he thought about the audience's reception of it, etc..

Mine too. I love TKAM, but one of my best and longest-known friends friends cannot sit through quiet, character-driven dramas. He finds them painfully tedious, but he literally immerses himself into the other side of the coin, with films like Beneath the Valley of the Ultra Vixens; Faster Pussycat, Kill! Kill!; Plan 9 From Outer Space, and the like (all titles I only know because of him). It's like some viewers loved Claire Labine's lovely, emotional tales on General Hospital, while other fans much preferred the science-fiction sagas which dominated the 1980s. My friend and I always banter back and forth about we like and dislike, and often end up sampling each other's recommended titles. We understand that expressing even wide differences of opinion is not akin to acts of war, LOL. (That being said, I personally hope Patrick Mulcahey's version of GH is closer to Claire Labine's than Thom Racina's.)

Let's just hope that the new headwriters introduce intriguing new and returning characters whom the audiences grows to care about, played by actors who are worth our attention. Everyone will win! Soaps need all the audience pleasing they can get these days.

The consensus of many internet posters over the last 25+ years belies this claim, although you do have every right to speak for yourself. Well, they have certainly been on display on daytime TV at various times through soap opera history, but whether or not they "belong" there or are embraced by everyone can be widely debated. A calm reading of what I actually wrote confirms that I said people CAN seek out John Waters' films if they enjoy his style and content. There was no demand that they must do so. A huge portion of the audience has just abandoned soaps altogether, alas.

I do think that natural, layered and complex performances are just not everyone's cup of tea. There are those who would dismiss To Kill a Mockingbird in favor of Howard the Duck, or The Grapes of Wrath in favor of Chainsaw Cannibal Hookers. Differences are the spice of life.

I do hope Mulcahey will introduce new characters carefully and judiciously (or even better yet, reintroduce beloved, legacy characters from the past). God knows, I'd loathe seeing a Buzz Cooper 2.0 coming aboard and eating the show. Some folks may have loved Justin Deas' loud-mouthed and belligerent hamminess in the role, but many did not. UGH. Now, people do have the right to champion hammy theatrics if it's their preference, and yes, Howarth's nostril flaring was appealing to both of his fans (LOL! I jest, I jest! Sort of. 🫢). I know people who reveled in glee watching Divine with doggy doo in Pink Flamingos (seriously; they were wildly entertained at the outrageousness and wanted to see more pushing of the envelope like it.) I would counter that such material can be sought out in John Waters-type films. Soaps, a medium that has gifted us with performances by the likes of Beverlee McKinsey, Susan Flannery, Maureen Garrett, Charita Bauer, Judith Light, Jane Elliot, Frances Reid, Judith Light, Kate Mulgrew, etc, have long proven that stellar performers are celebrated within the genre. Not everyone is happy to settle for the work of Ronn Moss and his ilk. There are those of us who clamor to see superb thespian work on display, and we have been fortunate in that regard on many daytime dramas over the decades. Long live the Meryl Streeps of daytime! I'll take Beverlee McKinsey, Susan Flannery and actresses of their caliber over Brenda Dickson (God love her) or Charity Rahmer any day.😁

So, ultra-theatrical, hamming it up and broad Bette Davis-like impersonations is what you admire most in soap acting?🤔 I'll take Meryl Streep over Phyllis Diller (or Paul Holroyd over Hammy Howarth) any day, but...that's just me.🤷‍♂️ No doubt there will be newer fans who never saw Jagger Cates in his original incarnation. They will more easily accept this new performer since they do not have knowledge of the original characterization to compare with Adam Harrington's, and can't understand what a jarring and bad fit this recast is. To each his own.

Frank was okay enough, but Nadine was the only Cooper I actually liked; the last one I would want to see killed off. On the other hand, I prayed daily for Buzz to be axed!

Frankly, even though the show seems to be on its last legs, I'm surprised it's still limping along at all.

Of course she did.😉😉😉 We know. 🙃

Any time, anywhere, any day.🙃 F*** him. Yes to the F***! F***, yes!

Adam and Nicole: August 1, 1973.

This is cool. I had never seen this photo before, which is from Steve's and Alice's first wedding in September of 1971.

Setting fire to the iconic and beloved Horton living-room set is an insensitive decision which will only anger fans. There is so much emotional attachment to that set. What's next? Will they take a baseball bat to the Hortons' Christmas ornaments? Boo! Hiss! This is worse than the vile shoot-out in the Bauer kitchen.

DAYS, too, alas. But on GH, Sonny, Carly, Jason, Finn, and Drew need to be shown the show sooner rather than later. Core characters should be center stage. Bring back Serena Baldwin, Tommy Hardy, Lucas Jones, and other descendants of important families. Give Scotty (the longest-running character on the canvas right now) more to do. There are so many characters/actors the show could be focusing on.

The actor is objectively decent enough, just NOT as a Jagger recast. Shades of Kassie DePaiva taking over for Mia Korf, Wesley Pfenning being cast as Alice Frame, Susan Batten taking over as Connor Walsh, Roger Howarth following the wonderful Paul Holroyd as Paul Ryan. Why not just cast this new guy in a new role? He will never be Jagger.

TGL: Slaughtering the majority of the fine, existing cast in 1983 and 1984, changing the show's style and tone, and basically cutting off decades' worth of history from pre-1983. TGL: Amanda Wexler is Alan's daughter. No, wait, she's his sister! (An impossible retcon after what had transpired on screen.) TGL: Brandon Spaulding is dead (we saw him die on camera). No, wait, he's alive, so ignore what you saw! TPTB do. TGL: The patriarchs of major families all went fishing together decades ago, long before they even met or lived in Springfield.😑 TGL: Kelly Nelson asks Ed Bauer if Ed remembers Steve Jackson, Ed's former father-in-law, colleague at the hospital, and the GRANDFATHER OF ED'S SON.🙄 TGL: Reva the Clone, Reva the Time Traveler, Reva the San Cristobelian Queen, Reva the Illegal-Immigrant Savior, Reva the Amish Amnesiac, Reva the Portly Sex Goddess of EVERY MAN'S FANTASY.🫢 TGL: Harley, the super-heroine. TGL: San Cristocrap never ends, and Bradley Cole gets rehired.🤮 TGL: The Santos Mob, with a preacher in the family (Rev, Ruthledge was surely rolling over in is grave), a shoot-out in the Bauer kitchen (JFC!), and 587 weddings for Danny and Michelle. TGL: Peapack. Springfield is morphed into a muddy and run-down looking Walnut Grove with inferior sound and video equipment. Whew! I need a break now, LOL!

Going back a while... Duncan Eric, Search for Tomorrow Bill Prentiss, Love of Life Adam Drake, The Edge of Night Liz Stewart, As the World Turns Dan Stewart, As the World Turns Chuckie Shea, As the World Turns Greg Mercer, Somerset Mary Matthews, Another World Steven Frame, Another World Alan Quartermaine, General Hospital Tony Jones, General Hospital Bill Bauer (the second time), The Guiding Light Hillary Bauer, The Guiding Light Maureen Bauer, The Guiding Light Jennifer Brooks, The Young and the Restless Liz Foster Brooks, The Young and the Restless (Yikes! There are way too many characters to list, LOL!)

At various times over the years, Harding Lemay was guilty of this too, claiming that AW went to number one during his tenure, when in actuality, it mainly went to number one IN ITS TIMESLOT. Y&R fans have also long asserted (erroneously) that Paul infected Nikki with an STD. In reality, she gave it to him. (Doug Davidson has jokingly lamented the besmirching of his character's reputation more than once.) On Another World, fans (and even Harding Lemay) put forward the myth that Pat Matthews killed her first boyfriend, Tom Baxter, by stabbing him. In reality, she shot him. (episodes surrounding the story have surfaced.) Daytime TV's past is inundated with mistakes and myths, alas. Exactly. The typical atrocious writing was mean-spirited and sadistic, and alienated legions of fans. You don't kill off the show's beloved matriarch by ramming doughnuts down her throat (sick and repugnant). Forgetting any of this dreck ever happened was the best course to take.

That's right. Liz Stewart fell while running up the stairs, and later died from the injuries she sustained. Of course, critics have always been wont to mock and denigrate soaps, so they took the opportunity to ridicule ATWT by dishonestly spinning the situation as Liz "falling up the stairs." The character's being hurt while running upstairs is vastly different in meaning than purporting that she died by "falling up the stairs." I doubt the critics who started the myth/lie cared about accurately reporting the incident, and as time went on, the myth became established "fact" to those who didn't know any better. I tend to agree. Particularly when characters cross over from one series to another, I see those shows as being "related," so to speak. Yes, Irna wanted to kill off Liz for a while, but P&G originally stopped her. So Ellen Stewart marched into the hospital and saved Liz with a "bottle of hope" (long story, LOL), and Liz survived that first attempt to kill her off.

The abject miscasting of the "new Jagger" is a detriment to the effectiveness of the story, however. What a curious choice of actor for that particular role.🤔 Trying to manufacture chemistry between prospective romantic partners on screen is just uncomfortable when it's forced. Either chemistry is there or it's not.