Khan

Meanwhile... Gregory Harrison is no Stuart Damon, but he's perfectly serviceable as a new, older male lead on this show. Yet, for whatever reason, they're gonna saddle his character with ALS, while Weeping Willow is just one bright light and a touch of Jesus' garment hem away from being cured. What gives, GH!? You know, @carolineg, you make a good point. It's possible that the show realized the mistake they were about to make, but used James Franco's arrival as a sort of cover. Not to take anything away from MEK, but maybe JPS should be playing Martin instead? Just a thought!

Matt Borlenghi has always come across to me as a "mook." If the Cassadines were not the Cassadines but the Cassellis, and they were from Jersey rather than from...wherever they're from, then I think he could have been convincing. Otherwise, no, I don't believe he could've done any better.

First, they cast him; then, they give him a character I still don't know beans about; then, they bring him back, just to pair him with the girl who bumped off Laura Horton!? Ron's got balls.

Sigh. I'd have to agree. I feel like the writers (and Frank) are having fun with this concept of a user-friendly Cassadine, but they're doing it at the audience's expense. Hey! Maybe, when he goes, they could spring for a montage set to Billy Joel's "I've Loved These Days"?

If that's true, then how sad for us all. I'm a fan of James Patrick Stuart's. I love seeing him on soaps again. But I'd be kidding myself if I thought GH was serving him well with his ridiculous character. Valentin has got to get his groove back. Maybe he could walk in on a compromising position between Robert and Anna and swear revenge. Anything! Just stop this Cassadine version of AC Top 40 radio before more innocent lives are destroyed.

The fact that you've spelled "Valentin" with an "e" on the end sums him up precisely, @titan1978. Valentin isn't threatening; he's like a big, squishy valentine; the kind you receive along with a heart-shaped jar of candy kisses with a Snoopy plush toy attached.

It's the era of Carlivati, Vee. Give into the madness.

What if Victor IS Luke and Helena has brainwashed him?

I don't believe Luke is dead either. Didn't Shane, I mean, Mr. Sheffield, I mean, Victor push him from a cable car or something? If Luke could survive an avalanche and a swordfight, he could survive being pushed from a cable car. Meanwhile, if Victor stays, then I want Frank to bring on Fran Drescher as Fran Fleckman, Diane's cousin from Flushing, Queens, and be his new love interest. I want this, because it's been a year, and I've given into the madness and accepted that Carlivati-esque camp is what these shows want now.

CM, as in Chandler Massey? Chandler deserves way better than eternally constipated Peter Porte. And I'm not a fan of Chandler's.

Robert L. McCullough has talked about how Abby Dalton would know next to nothing about what was happening on the show, because she'd read only her scenes and no one else's. I don't think any solution to the murders was entirely satisfactory.

To be fair, @Soapsuds, you don't need to know how to act to act in a Hallmark movie or TV series. You just need to know how throw snowballs and bake gingerbread convincingly.

Now, I'm hearing echoes of announcer Alan Berns' voice at the end of every GL episode ringing in my ears: "Tell us what you think!"

And that's okay! If Frank wants to rebuild all of GH around JPS, be my guest! Just give him a character to play, not an American Greetings card or a Michael Feinstein Spotify playlist!

I'm watching again for one reason and one reason only: Jane Elliot. I'd watch JE in anything, because she can make anything work. Even Tracy Quartermaine as GH's answer to the old puppet "Madame." (Fortunately, her Wayland Flowers is still back in Amsterdam.)

Or just someone who can't be bullied by Frank. (Pete Lemay, wherefore art thou?)

Peter Porte is a handsome man who is dead behind the eyes. He isn't a "get" for DAYS; he's the quintessential DAYS actor.

As headwriters, Chris Van Etten and Dan O'Connor have trouble knowing when to cut their losses. They finally offed Peter August, but only after everybody else in the known universe begged for him to be gone. The same thing's happening now with Valentin and Willow. Their take on these characters and others is clearly not connecting with audiences, yet they show no signs of course-correcting or just getting rid of them altogether.

Another idea or approach would be to say that Willow has cancer but goes into remission rather quickly, only no one, especially Michael, knows she's in remission because she's still pretending to be sick in order to continue receiving all the attention from everyone.

Are you talking about her cancer? Yes, that would be good, lol. But what would be even better, I think, would be that she THINKS that she's pulling a fast one but learns later on that, no, she really is dying -- but this time, because she's been outed, absolutely no one believes her!

For me, it all boils down to this: Jack Abbott, as portrayed by Peter Bergman, is not worth faking your own death for. He just isn't. At this point, I'd be okay with Nina dying and Watros returning as her twin; and if you want to pair her again with MB/Sonny, that's fine, although I think it'd be more interesting to see her possibly in a triangle with MEK/Martin and KS/Scotty.

I think Josh Griffith attempted to do just that at Y&R with the Jack/Diane/Phyllis triangle, but it's all gone kablooey now that Phyllis has gone to the trouble of faking her own death, which feels in character for Phyllis, but also feels awfully excessive and cruel. But, you're right, Frank Valentini wouldn't go that route, even if it played to Cynthia Watros' strengths, because he sees her and Nina as worth saving, for some reason. (I like Watros, but I've never liked Nina, and I never will.)

If Lana Turner had been too much of a handful BTS for the cast and crew, then why not just replace her with someone else from that era? Why kill off Jacqueline when it was clear that more could have been done with her?

As a character, Brenda is too savvy and resourceful to be a heroine, and not cruel enough to be a bitch or vixen. In these days, when characters on soaps tend to be one-note, that makes her a difficult character to write for. So, I wouldn't want VM to return under the present circumstances, because I don't believe the current regime would know how to write her in a manner that wouldn't make us hate her in the end. (Look at how they've reduced Tracy to little more than Tallulah Bankhead without the dry martini.)

I wouldn't mind seeing Laura tied (for lack of a better word) to a new family, the same way they originally tied the Quartermaines to Monica through her marriage to Alan. GH could use a new, core family, preferably one with ties to the hospital. MEK has proven to be a worthwhile addition to the show. I wish I could say the same about James Patrick Stuart and Valentin. I know from watching AMC for years that JPS can do menacing if asked. Killing off Will Cortlandt might have been fool hearted in the long run, but we got good work from him in the meantime. I think the problem is how the show sees Valentin. They want him to be like Stefan, when he should be more like Stavros. But I'm even more sorry that Kim Delaney's grand return to soaps in Demi Moore's old role turned out to be a nothing-burger. I saw TR/Scorpio in scenes with CH/Diane and I thought, "He should be doing this stuff with Kim as Jackie."