DavidEvanSmith
-
Posts
689 -
Joined
-
Last visited
Content Type
Forums
Events
Blogs
Gallery
Posts posted by DavidEvanSmith
-
-
I love references to things that happened on The City. I still hold out hope that Carla Soleito will surface on GH to torture Tracy with some secret from her City past... The City was so great because it was a soap where Loving characters (Tess, Buck, Jacob, Steffi, Ally, Danny, etc.) mingled with AMC characters (Angie, Frankie, Jackson Montgomery), and a GH character (Tracy). It was a great intermingling of soaps! I wish it had been allowed to continue longer!
I posted this on a "Favorite dialogue" thread, and thought it would be appreciated by City Fans everywhere!
This is a DELICIOUS exchange between Tracy Q and Sydney Chase which was basically their "changing of the guard" as Morgan Fairchild was leaving "The City" and Tracy Q was landing as the main diva.
Tracy enters
Sydney: Don't be shy, come right in.
Tracy: Sweet of you to ask.
Sydney (to Maria the maid): Maria that's okay, I can handle this. Buh Bye.
Tracy: Oh, I don't think I like being referred to as "this" or being "handled" for that matter--
Sydney: Tracy what can I do for you.
Tracy: Well to begin with, you can be courteous enough to return my phone calls.
Sydney: Look, I've been very busy, I'm leaving for London.
Tracy: So I've heard.
Sydney: And, I was just walking out the door, so if we could make this brief.
Tracy: I was going to ask you for a small favor but now that I see the way you treat your friends, I'm not sure that I want to.
Sydney: Please! Just being seated together at the same table at a couple of charity dinners hardly makes us bosom buddies.
Tracy: My, aren't we forgetful. You are conveniently forgetting the Stockwell deal... that cute little chain of television stations...?
Sydney: Oh I remember it quite well. That little chain of television stations Jared and I bought, only to discover we were subject to an FCC investigation.
Tracy (laughs): Oh I was shocked.
Sydney: You were also sleeping with one of the commissioners.
Tracy: A consolation prize, to say the least. But that was in the past... we've won some, we've lost some.
Sydney: And that's about all we have in common, Tracy.
Tracy: Not quite. As I mentioned on the phone, when I was in Switzerland, I ran into... a close pal of ours. Malcolm Christopher.
Sydney: Oh yes, how is dear old Malcolm.
Tracy: As big a lech as ever.
Sydney: That always was Malcolm's weakness.
Tracy: Well he's got another one now. He drinks now, too. And double scotches tend to loosen lips.
Sydney: Well Tracy, I'm sure a combination of your charms, and a little booze would make Malcolm sing arias.
Tracy: Hm, thank you. He told me a very good story.
Sydney: You know I'd really love to hear it, but I'm gonna miss my plane.
Tracy: No I think you'll want to take the time to hear this one, it's a really interesting one. In fact, it's a page-turner... if you know what I mean. It's about gold. Hidden. In this building. Now in your possession, I believe. So Syd... did you report your little stash to the IRS? (Sydney hesitates, Tracy throws her head back and laughs) HhhaaaA! Naughty, naughty!
Sydney: So Tracy, what is this, are you trying to blackmail me?
Tracy: Oh, perish the thought.
Sydney: Good. What would you call it, then.
Tracy: I'd call it... an advance.
Sydney: On what.
Tracy: ... Why... on our friendship, of course.
(Cut)
Sydney: So friend, what's the deal?
Tracy: Umm... I have a bit of a cash flow problem, at the moment.
Sydney: Really...
Tracy: Some accounts were mis-managed, some stocks I can't get my hands on...
Sydney: ... and your family cut you off without the proverbial nickel.
Tracy: I beg your pardon.
Sydney: Well, you've done such a wonderful job of researching my life, I thought I'd... return the favor.
Tracy: Good job. Touche, Sydney.
Sydney: So it's true.
Tracy: It's a temporary situation.
Sydney: Mm, "temporarily disinherited"... funny, now I don't think I've ever heard that one before!
Tracy: It demands a temporary solution.
Sydney: Oh good, so what are we talking here, a... loan?
Tracy: No, I was thinking more in terms of a gift.
Sydney: Dream on...
Tracy: Sydney you're rolling in gold. You can afford to make a charitable donation.
Sydney: And I make a charitable donation every year... to the hundred neediest cases... so why don't you apply to them.
Tracy: I HAVE DANCED WITH YOU ENOUGH. Do I get what I want, or do I spread the word about your gold in so many places, it'll make your empire go up like a cheap rocket?!
Sydney: And if I don't?
Tracy: Sydney, I never bluff when I'm holding the cards! This is a full house!
Sydney (laughs): You know, you are a truly miserable person.
Tracy: (smiles) I would say it takes one to know one... but cliches are so boring, like those chairs over there. Did you actually shoot those leopards or did you just order the hit?
Sydney: Oh don't be silly honey, I bought them at auction. Leopards are an endangered species, just like you.
Tracy: Isn't this fun? Too bad you have to catch a plane. Should we wrap it up? Do I get what I want, or do I go to the IRS?
Sydney: And then what?
Tracy: You never hear from me again. Scout's honor.
Sydney: Right. I tell you what, Tracy, it wouldn't have been any fun at all if I didn't make you dance for it a little bit, but... um, I'm not going to give you money. I'm going to give you something better.
(Cut. Tracy's holding the deed to the building.)
Tracy: What would I want with this dump?
Sydney: Landmark dump, please.
Tracy: Is that what the rats call it? No thank you.
Sydney: Well Tracy, that's my final offer. 51% of 212 Greene St, take it or leave it.
Tracy: I'm leaving it. Let's try door #1, Syd, the one with the gold behind it?
Sydney: The building's worth far more than any cash I could give you at the moment.
Tracy: Oh. A little cash flow problem of your own right now? No sale.
Sydney: Well you know Tracy, my darling husband, rest his soul, gutted my business, so I need the gold to revitalize the business, sort of slowly. As you so graciously pointed out, we can't have too many people asking too many questions, now can we.
Tracy: (reexamining the deed to the building) Alright so what am I supposed to do with it?
Sydney: I don't care. Sell it, burn it, wear it, for all I care. Here you go darling, here are the keys. Write if you get work.
Tracy: How do I know that this is not a phony? (holding up the deed)
Sydney: Oh. You see that name at the top?
Tracy: (examining) Jocelyn Brown?
Sydney: Right. She's one of my attorneys. Talk to her, she lives on the 5th floor.
Tracy: How do I know that SHE'S not a phony?
Sydney: Check with F. Lee Bailey, honey. Goodbye, Tracy.
Tracy: Parting is such sweet sorrow.
Sydney: Mmmm. Give my love to the tenants.
Tracy: What tenants?
Sydney: (smiles) Goodbye, Tracy. And good luck.
Of course the trick was, Tracy also inherited a million dollars in back taxes that were attached to the building.
0 -
I LOVED The City. Still mourn it to this very day. I agree with Eric, the soap REALLY came together when Tracy Quartermaine came on, and I think THAT'S when it really started to shed a lot of the Loving baggage tying it down. Featuring Debbi Morgan and Darnell Williams originally from AMC, Jane Elliot from GH, and a few faces from Loving, as well as exclusive "City" characters like Carla Soleito and Zoey, it became much more of its own machine.
Of course, I'm biased, Jane Elliot's Tracy was and is my favorite soap character, so a show that had HER as the centerpiece leading diva was a must-watch for me. It's the kind of prominence she deserved. It was also refreshing to see HER free from some of her GH baggage. Tracy always was getting kicked out of Port Charles by her father Edward, so it was cool that we FINALLY got to see how she filled her time when she was away from her family. In many ways, she was the same (blackmailing, scheming, money-grubbing, looking down her nose at people), but in many ways she was a better person away from the Quartermaines (happier, lighter, funnier... she would sing to herself in her loft!) because she didn't have the Quartermaines constantly throwing past failures in her face all the time. I loved to hear Jane throw in a line or two from a show tune while gliding around her loft when a scheme was going her way.
Because Tracy is such a reactive character, I was always interested to see HOW she would feel about one person or another. On GH, a lot of her feelings about people stemmed from who they knew, who they had been aligned with, and how they related to her family. In The City, it was a different ball game because people knew OF the Quartermaines, but didn't know them personally, so it didn't matter. I loved Tracy's dynamic with Jacob. There were always hints of racism or classism back when Tracy interacted with cousin Justus Ward on GH, but there was none of that on The City. I remember she hated Jocelyn (because Jocelyn was with Alex Masters, Tracy's "one that got away".) I loved watching Tracy's relationship with Zoey evolve over time. LOVED the rivalry with Carla Soleito. Was surprised that Tracy didn't dismiss optimistic blondes like Tess or Ally, because I really expected her not to take them very seriously. Don't remember Tracy interacting all that much with Angie, if at all, but would have been interested to see their dynamic because Tracy kept pulling Jacob into bad situations, and Angie was trying to adopt at the time, so imagine how bad Tracy could have made them look as prospective parents?
I thought the show ended SO well, with Tracy snagging the Soleito mob, just as Molly Malone returned to bump off Sydney and apparently had plans for the rest of the people back in The City. When word got out that Sydney Chase was found dead, and Tracy had coincidentally JUST taken over the mob, wouldn't Tracy have looked MIGHTY guilty?! Plus, Molly was obsessed with Danny, so I'm sure Molly would have had plans for the pregnant Carla, since she was carrying Danny's child. So if something happened to Carla, Tracy would have looked guilty for that, too!
I would have loved to see what happened, if the show had been allowed to continue. I actually wrote a few months of continuing story and still have it on a site. Molly continued her reign of terror and Tracy did look guilty and was scrambling to provide herself an alibi for all of Molly's crimes, while the Sydney Chase media empire was up for grabs and brought a few alleged relatives out of the woodwork to claim the Chase fortune... including a sister of Sydney's played by Heather Locklear (I could dream, couldn't I?) and someone claiming to be a new husband of Sydney's, who had allegedly married her right before she died... Marco Dane! (bringing Gerald Anthony to The City... and the actor might still be alive today, if he'd had some consistent acting work in the last ten years)
">0 -
I hated the Ian/Lucy pairing, and Port Charles was really the show where Thorsten Kaye got more credit than he deserved. He was the Sonny Corinthos or John McBain of Port Charles and was thrown into a relationship with the leading lady of the show (Lucy, duh!), to further solidify his leading man status, but the only way the writers could think to do it was to completely assassinate Kevin's character. Hated it to pieces.
I also think they criminally wasted sexy Brian Presley, Nolan North was ALWAYS wasted, and there were a lot of missed opportunities.
Remember when Livvie got pregnant by the Avatar and it was possible she was going to have a demon baby? I was so excited about the possibilities of that storyline. It was around that time when Joy Bisco returned to PC as Casey's living twin Marissa the reporter, so I thought they were going to have Marissa leading the charge to get the scoop on Livvie's demon baby. ANYTHING could have happened with that pregnancy... wasn't the pregnancy progressing more rapidly than normal as well? I thought it would be an interesting way to give Livvie a child and poke fun at SORAS at the same time by having it be a bratty teenager within weeks. But then Livvie poisoned Alison's bathwater and fell into it herself, and lost the baby. What a wasted opportunity!!!
Ah, PC.
0
Loving/The City Discussion Thread
in DTS: Cancelled Soaps
Posted
I sure did! I watched Tracy's debut, and couldn't shut it off until Desperate Housewives came on. I was right in the middle of the engagement party where Tracy hired the actors to play Quartermaines. LOVED FauxEdward being gay and throwing himself shamelessly at FauxNed!
Jane Elliot looked like she had so much fun on that show!!!