GH: Week of April 7th

[Wales2004]

I've never been a Sonny fan but I did like him with a couple of the Carlys. I never ever ever (multiplied by infinity) liked him with Brenda. I think MB and VM worked well together but I didn't like the pairing and any chance of me changing my mind went out the window, door and whatever else when they wrote Brenda's breakdown after he left her at the altar (so MB could overwhelm the prime time viewers of America).

I don't know if they're just gearing up for MB's possible departure but even though Kate at one point made Sonny tolerable, she also kills him as a character. Part of it for me has to do with the writing (big surprise) and the terrible timing. I get that the whole Connie from long ago was supposed to ring up this insta-love between Sonny and Kate but they rushed what might have been a workable s/l to inflict the Sonny/Kate/Trevor drama on viewers at rapid speed for sweeps and it went downhill. Kate has already said twice that she doesn't want to die for Sonny and that's sensible but there's no compelling reason why she's with him.

I'm not feeling the love that's so great and overwhelming for her that she has a reason to put things on the line. Then they have him ignoring his children and making changes because of her without generating a real feeling that he should. He just looks like a total idiot and I can't even feel a sense of why Kate has got him whipped.

[Cat]

LOL, see, I *loved* Sonny & Brenda and thought Mo and Vanessa had mad chemistry. However, when Guza started writing Brenda as constantly crying, begging Sonny for his love, even begging to be his mistress at one point (while he stayed married to Click-Boom LeeLee), that's when it soured for me. Maybe Guza was trying to tell me that their youthful passion was sick and dysfunctional. And that's OK. It's the fact that he turned Brenda into a needy wreck to do it. Any evolution or growth on both their parts during Claire Labine's era was thrown out of the window as both characters went through the same pattern of dysfunction and hurt again and again.

As for Kate, the news that TPTB were looking for a Kate in the first place came immediately after an initial offer made to VM to return to GH (which she turned down) and a failed search for a Brenda recast. When the Skate story started, I was struck how much it seemed like a SL the writers had remodelled from a possible S&B retread. A first love... accidentally bumping into each other again... the woman returning from the fashion industry in Paris/NYC... uncertainty turning to love again. And then Kate and Jax setting up business (and a connection) together. If Kate were Brenda, Carly's over-the-top rage and jealousy would seem somewhat in context.

The thing is, it's not Kate's fault if we aren't quite comprehending Sonny & Kate as a couple. I think Megan Ward is a real find and has chemistry with a surprisingly large section of the canvas. It's the fact that many cannot buy Sonny with ANY love interest. Be it Brenda again, or Carly again or Hannah Banana or Sam or Reese or Claudia. Sonny has become a monster and it is impossible to feel empathy for a mobster who kills and refuses to change or own up to his own misdeeds. So why should we root for him and his new girlfriend? Will this be the love that saves Sonny from himself? Who cares? He'll only end up calling her a whore or some such hateful remark.

And without a love pairing... well, this is a soap, albeit a dark, misogynistic and badly written one. No character can survive without a love interest. Just ask Tyler Christopher, who is running headlong into a Nadine SL. Or Josh Duhon whose time sadly appears almost up.

And that's why I think Sonny is done.

[Kendall]

When SJB was playing Carly, you just loved to hate the Bitch but at the end of the day. You Loved her . Carly was a lot of of things but she did have a heart (well sometimes lol). From SJB expressions to her very impressive range, her Carly was just right and thats why Sarah is considered one of the Greatest Actresses on Daytime if you were watching GH from 1996-2001.

On the other hand, TB tried at first to inmintate Sarash before she brought something new to the role and honestly, it didn't work. Thats why she was HATED her 1st year. After a while, she did make this Different Carly her own but still she wasn't Perfect as Sarah's Version or that GREAT of an Actress. To be honest, I feel that she ABC forced her on Fans and I was so happy when she left .

At the end of the day despite what people say, there is no such thing as the BEST CARLY because that will always be SJB. ANDDDDDDD, Sarah will always be the "REAL Carly" that GH FANS felt in Love with and not the Fakers/Miscasts.

[Wales2004]

I have to say first that I really enjoy reading your posts.

IA with you about MB and VM because I did think they worked well together. I just had a major issue with the character Sonny and the only time I was okay with him in a pairing was with Carly (another character I didn't care for). For some reason, their dysfunction worked at the time and SJB and MB also worked well together. I think because Brenda was such an infectious character to me, I wanted her with someone better. I liked her with Jax, That relationship was ruined for me by VM's last return but they have a better chance for me personally of undoing that damage than they do the damage they caused with her and Sonny.

I like MW and I'm not blaming the character Kate but I am blaming the writing and especially the pacing. I could buy Kate as the all consuming love who could cause him to reassess his choices if the pacing were there. For me that would have been that Kate shows up and they reconnect and go through some of the issues they had in not seeing themselves in their present day versions and then the external obstacle appears. The Carly angle could have been easily handled by her finding out earlier on who Kate really is. Instead they created too much instant chaos by throwing Trevor into the mix too early, not justifying Carly's jealousy (which is just laziness because they rely on "well it's Carly"), throwing in Claudia, and also trying to build this divide with Jax and Carly before they even strengthened them as a plausible couple as well.

I think we're supposed to root for Sonny no matter how he treats women because he flashes his dimples and women love bad guys. They're not differentiating between "bad guys" and men who treat women badly. Unless Jason and now Jerry are the "bad guys" who are selectively respectful to women.

The way the love pairings are written are awful. There is too much reliance on the audience overlooking poorly written pairings simply because they have a crush on a couple and/or letting their imaginations run wild.

[JSROCKS]

On a lighter note(if there can be such a thing in a s/l like this).

After her "sweet and sticky" conversation with Coleman-- DIANN HAS MADE A BOOTY CALL YOU GO GIRL!!!

[UKBoi]

I have to disagree there... I've seen clips of SJB's Carly on YouTube etc and I've never really been THAT impressed. Sure, she is a good enough actress but she didnt make me love Carly...make me want to see more of Carly and make me really want to root for Carly despite anything, which is something that Tamara Braun did excellently. To me, she is and will always be the real Carly...Laura Wright is doing a good job and I really like her as Carly, but to me Tamara will always be the REAL Carly. I also loved Jennifer Bransford's portrayal and if she was given a chance I'm sure she could have been amazing eventually.

For me, it's Tamara first, then Laura, then Jennifer and then Sarah...SJB is a really good actress and despite how much of an annoying ho Claudia is, I really enjoy every scene she's in (although she really needs to stop perving on her brother).

[Skin]

I agree. I never rooted for SJB's Carly as she wasn't supposed to be liked and she wasn't the person you rooted for. She was a bad character who was given layers of sadness and we saw where she came from more or less. But she was bad and she was supposed to be that way. We weren't rooting for Carly to take her mothers husband away, we weren't rooting for Carly to destroy Bobbie's life, we weren't rooting for Carly to do any of the heinous things we did. She was a villianous but we understood why she was the way she was and we were able to understand and recognize her anger and even feel sorry for her at some points. She was a three dimensional character who we were interested in but we hated her because of the rotten things we did but at that same point felt a sort of sympathy for her at the same time because we saw that her own actions hurt her almost as much as she hurt everyone else.

Tamara Braun was the best "heroine" version of Carly because we did root for her and we DID want Carly to have the best. We did see how Carly changed and we did want her to find happiness. We did want her to get away from psycho Ric, we did want her to survive after Sonny put a bullet in her head and we did want to see Carly reunite with her son who was kidnapped by Faith because Tamara was able to sell Carly as a heroine and she was able to make veiwers root for her and make the views want Carly to succeed. Two very different portrayals but I think each were done quite well.

LW simply can't compare.

Moving on from the Carly debate. I don't even think I want to watch GH anymore. It's just really bad right now.

[Kendall]

Watching Clips and Waching SJB whole entire run on GH are two different things sweetie. SJB made you love Carly and Hate her at the same time and thats what made CARLYBABE so Special unlike with TB who ABC by the way forced her on many Fans.. Tamara ruined that classic role and made Carly so unrecognizable and honestly, GH should had just changed the character name. For you ,TB is your Carly but at the end of the day. SJB will always be the REAL CARLY. NOT the the Fakes even though I LW is doing fine as a RECAST.

[UKBoi]

If that's what you think, 'sweetie', then it's your opinion and you are entitled to it, just as I am to mine. I'm not saying your opinion is wrong, just that I disagree with it.

I agree, it's hard to watch. What should be really emotionally charged drama surrounding Michael has been sacrificed for the mob war that nobody cares about. We've had one scene with Bobbie and Carly but why isn't Bobbie acknowledging that her daughter knowingly put her son in this danger when she let him become a Corinthos rather than the Quartermaine that he truly is? Why isn't she blasting Sonny for putting Michael in this situation and why isn't she urging Carly to get Morgan the hell away from Port Charles? Why arent we seeing the Quartermaines making Carly squirm about what she's done?

The only thing watchable for me is the Carly/Kate scenes, and Lulu is really ruining them because I have a feeling that in the end Lulu is going to win over Maxie. Again. Despite the fact that Maxie really needs to win this round.

[SoapQueen89]

Says you. I didn't fall for the character of Carly until Tamara portrayed her. Never got the big deal with SJB, and think she's highly overrated. But hey, it's my opinion. REAL Carly, FAKE Carly, who cares? Is that like the REAL Greenlea and the Sabinelee? Please. We all like who we like and we all are entitled to have our OWN opinion.

[Toups]

I hate Carly no matter who is playing her.

[Kendall]

Yes says me and others because it's my Opinion and I stand by it. SJB is the REAL Carly and when she left, they got a an average actress like Tamara who destroyed the role.

[UKBoi]

Speaking of Carly, Laura Wright really blew me away with the scene where Carly went off on Sonny.

"And you just thought you could snap your fingers and the danger would leave? You risked your son's life on wishful thinking, Sonny."

"You dont give a damn about your kids, Sonny, except when you want to pull them out as little badges, and use them to pretend that you're some kind of good father."

That scene really blew me away. The acting from Laura, Maurice, and even Nancy Grahn and Megan Ward, who had really nothing to do, was all great. I really felt for Carly in those scenes, and I was just wishing that she'd slap Sonny again. However, she's being totally out of line towards Kate. It only makes me love Kate even more for understanding what Carly was going through and trying to make Sonny see that Carly is going through a lot and urging him to realize that he didn't do anything wrong. Also, Alexis was right...the fighting was solving nothing and was causing Carly to lose sight of the fact that she had a son lying in a coma to pay attention to.

Claudia Zacchara just needs to trip over in a pair of her red high heels and fall down a hole, never to be heard from again. Sarah Brown is good and everything, but Claudia is just BLAH...that scene with Michael just made me cringe, there was absolutely no need for it and it's just a blatant ploy to get us to like her. It's Sam McCallGirl all over again...GH brings on a big name as a new character, it doesnt work so they try to redeem them. Let's expect LOTS of rewrites to Claudia's backstory now to make us feel sorry for her/like her. She'll have been raped in Italy or something...

It's been three days of no Maxie...I want her back soon!

[Toups]

I know eh. I'm not falling for it. Claudia is such a disgusting character.

It's too bad she didn't realize this sooner.

I loved hearing this coming out of Carly's mouth: "Alexis, you were right."

[detroitpiston]

She also got a nice with Luke.