Khan

No, that's Dante's new gig, lol.

Oh, he's in town alright! He's working for Pikeman.

Again, if that's Frank's goal, then he isn't aware that he's actually doing the opposite, keeping GH so inoffensive that he's boring the audience (which, as I've said countless times, is the worst sin you could commit in entertainment). But I say that out of total respect for him and for the pressures he obviously faces everyday at the show.

Again, something I really needed to hear Tracy say, lol.

ICAM!! IMO, a big problem with today's soaps is that they don't have any characters who are striving for something. Viewers really respond to characters who strive to better themselves in some way, or who yearn for something (or someone) that is elusive to them. So, I would hope that TG hands us a nice mix of haves and have nots.

I agree, and I think it's great that he's so easy to work with, too. Actors especially need a producer who is attuned to their needs. But it doesn't seem as if all that admiration for FV has resulted in an emotionally charged show.

When Al Rabin and Shelley Curtis left DAYS, they took the heart of that show with them. To those who, like MB, want to make excuses about budgeting, consider this: SFT's original sets were essentially black-painted screens, with window frames held up by wires to suggest windows; and when they needed bushes to suggest an outdoor scene, they tied twigs to music stands. Yet, I'll bet that if you were to ask someone who was around then, they'll tell you that watching just one, 15-minute episode of SFT was more thrilling than watching an entire week or month of GH today.

I hope not, lol. It'd break my heart to see the empire that Zukor and Lasky built get taken over by Byron "No Budget, No Problem!" Allen.

Before we dealt any meals, or sweated to any oldies...

IOW, you're saying that Frank Valentini is playing it safe and has been for quite some time. Which is a real good way to kill any soap opera even as you think you're doing the opposite. You know why Norman Lear named his second company "T.A.T. Productions"? Because, it was short for "Tuchus Affen Tisch," which is Yiddish for "putting one's ass on the line." That's what Frank's gotta do. He's gotta put his ass (cute as it is!) on the old line. He's gotta stop playing it safe and instead play the hell out of every scene, regardless of anything, including where it lands on the makeshift "Wheel of Fortune" wheel that has become GH's taping schedule. Lord knows I hated JFP's overall approach, but at the end of the day, her scenes had energy. Well, I know how much you enjoyed the last years of OLTL on ABC, and I don't wanna take that enjoyment away from you, or from anyone else. I know a lot of people would disagree, but I felt the "soul" of OLTL had evaporated long, long before the network finally pulled the plug on it. And please do not get me started on the Nurses' Ball, which ceased being relevant the day a dead body turned up in the middle of the festivities.

Well, to be fair, I wouldn't ever badmouth my own show to the public either, lol. I might say, "Well, yes, we've experienced some ups and downs - not everything worked as our team had hoped - but we're confident that our show remains in a very healthy place." But even I wouldn't have told Logan or whoever, "That Dena bitch couldn't write her way out of a paper bag," lol. It doesn't take a budgeting whiz to have a producer or head writer with vision. It just takes someone who can answer one, very simple question: What is this show about? I'm reminded all the time of Al Rabin, who, as DAYS' EP, always asked after every scene, "What have we shared with our audience?". He, along with his team (including Shelley Curtis), understood that it isn't about how much money you throw at the screen - although, for sure, you make every penny you use count - but about finding the emotional thread in every storyline, in every episode, in every scene. It doesn't take a lot of money to produce the kind of heart-stopping drama that was Rabin and other EP's trademark, and it doesn't take a lot of time either. But it takes heart, and that's something that I've never seen in FV's work, either on GH, or even (sorry, @Vee) on OLTL.

Thanks, @Franko! Mama Khan was more of a GL fan, so I don't recall much of Simmons' time on GH, but I *do* remember TRSS, lol.

I, for one, would like to know why. Why does he always keep so many actors on the payroll when there's only so much airtime and budget to play with? Even his longtime mentor, Paul Rauch, wouldn't have thought twice before jettisoning large groups of characters, so why is FV different? Does he hate to see anyone out of a job? I hesitate these days to criticize any soap, for a number of reasons, but when it comes to GH and FV...? I think it's great that, by all accounts, FV is terrific to work for - not to mention, he's also easy on the eyes, lol - but I just don't understand him as a producer. More specifically, I don't understand his vision, or know if he even HAS a vision (beyond sluggish storylines and bloated casts with bland leads and overly precocious child actors). Like another poster said, he keeps the trains moving on schedule, but we don't need Mr. Conductor from "Shining Time Station" to produce GH. We need someone with creativity and verve, and for me, those qualities just aren't there. Even when Elizabeth Korte and Patrick Mulcahey write great scenes, they still land with a thud on screen, because FV adds nothing besides turning the cameras on and off. A great or even good soap opera scene should kick down the [!@#$%^&*] doors like a rock star; but at best, a great or good scene on GH merely nudges you awake with its' elbow. GH needs a leader - be it a HW, be it an EP, be it both - with an Elton John or Mick Jagger-like attitude to the work. Someone who's gonna give us balls-to-the-wall soap opera - even with no budget! - because they know that all the network can do to them is fire them.

Even if it doesn't change, or change anytime soon, I could learn to love the super-sized cast, but only if they learn how to juggle actors' guarantees better. Either craft more umbrella storylines that draw in more characters, or take a page from the final, threadbare season of KNOTS LANDING and make those gaps where actors suddenly disappear and reappear without notice work for the storytelling.

Granted, I know less than nothing about these things, but I feel like if GH simply were to pare down the number of (recurring and contract) cast members and storylines, the rest soon would fall into place. You really don't need a cast of thousands anymore on these shows, when 15-18 regular, on-contract cast members would probably do.

Which came first: his appearances on GH, or "The Richard Simmons Show"?

I agree. Of course, it's still odd to me that we're even talking about a spa/fragrance/cosmetics/skin care company on a show called GENERAL. HOSPITAL. (I'm sorry, I love a lot of what EK/PM are doing, but someone's gotta bring this show back to being exclusively about the hospital someday, lol.)

I had the exact same reaction when I heard it.

Now there's an ad campaign: "Deception -- It's Whatever You Want It To Be"! If Deception is a cosmetics or skin care company, then it DEFINITELY needs more than one line and spokesmodel. I mean, where's the line for WOC? Or "Deception Silver" for females 65 and over? How 'bout a non-GMO or cruelty free product line? You get what I'm saying, lol.

Exactly, lol!

I kinda like those episodes as well. They really shake up your expectations (which isn't easy for any long-running series to do) without turning MSW into an entirely different show. I just wish Lansbury and her team had taken more chances like that in subsequent seasons, because it seems like once they had cracked the formula, they never strayed from it not even a little bit.

LOL!! IKR? Especially in our current socio-political climate. Of course, there's no conflict in my concept, unless Lucy faces pushback from someone from within the company, but one major issue that I have atm with GH is that it operates as if it's still 2011. We've come a long way from that period of time, I think; and IMO, it's just not okay anymore for something like the FoD to be exclusively white and cis female. And I swear it started out as a spa, lol!

PREACH!! Demarco and Demetrius is one thing, but when you start having names like Synclavion or Telekeshia.... I will never forgive Ron Cowen and Daniel Lipman for introducing on "Sisters" a black, male drag queen with the drag name "Chardonnay LeBlanc." I mean, you barely have any actors of color on your show, even as extras; and when you do finally give us one, that's who and what you come up with??

I'm very sorry to hear that. Edgar was highly respected w/in the theatre industry, and he had extraordinary tastes. His son, David, appeared in at least three episodes of MSW: "Moving Violation" (season 7, episode 13), "Murder on Madison Avenue" (season 8, episode 22) and "Threshold of Fear" (season 9, episode 16). Thanks, @DRW50, for sharing the news.

Similarly, I hope the African-American characters don't have stereotypically African-American names that don't really exist outside of the Maury show. But she was so GOOD at it: