Port Charles Discussion Thread

[victoria foxton]

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January 19, 2000

[victoria foxton]

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April 22, 1998

July 27, 1998

August 31, 1998

[victoria foxton]

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[Chris B]

I recently decided to watch this from the beginning. I’d seen the arcs and years ago bought the premiere episodes through October. Now I’m midway through November which is my second month thats new to me. After a sluggish start I noticed things started actually moving and the storylines were changing so I checked the credits and it looks like Lynn Latham has taken over. From re-reading this thread I know her tenure wasn’t well received so I’m curious how this will all play out. 

[titan1978]

I remember thinking it did get better when she got there, but then I stopped watching it again.

 

I absolutely loved the period written by Karen Harris and Barbara Bloom.

[j swift]

For me it was the endless permutations of the romantic quadrangles (Lucy, Kevin, Eve, & Scotty/Ian, and Alison, Livvy, Rafe & Caleb).  They ping ponged back and forth, in and out of each other's bedrooms, reciting lovey dovey dialogue that was only sped up by the chapter format. 

 

I also found Michael Easton and Brian Gaskill to being very unappealing, with their brooding personalities, beaded chokers, and bad haircuts, so the idea that those two engaging young women fought over these shlubs (who had to resort to magic to maintain their attraction) turned me off. 

 

No spoilers, but the loss of some of the original female cast was big blow to that show that was never supplanted by the later ensemble.  That being said, I made sure to watch the end of each arc, as well as the finale, mostly because I was intrigued by the novelty of the production format.

Edited April 8, 2021 by j swift

[Chris B]

I just finished December 1997 and the show keeps getting better. Now it could be that my standards have been lowered since I found it so slow at the beginning (not to mention the current state of soaps), but so far I'm impressed with Lynn Latham as HW. She's injected the show with so much energy and the stories are moving faster, but she's also taking time to develop the characters. Ellen in particular was about to become one with the wallpaper and now she has a mother and a brother and a mystery about why they seem to hate her. She's also getting the romantic pairings going with Karen/Joe and Scotty/Eve having some nice development. I also like that Lucy, Kevin and Scotty are starting to be more proactive when it comes to getting Rex out of Serena's life. It's nice to see Lucy scheming, especially since it's so obvious this is going to blow up in her face. 

[victoria foxton]

 

 

  

Edited August 1, 2021 by victoria foxton

[amybrickwallace]

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[amybrickwallace]

1997:

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[dragonflies]

 

[DeliaIrisFan]

Wow, 25 years...I feel old.

PC occupies a weird place in my heart.  I was rooting for the Labine GH spinoff, but GH was still watchable when the decision was made and I was totally on board for a Lucy-centered spinoff.  Unfortunately, there were clearly not enough closeted, unpopular teens with nothing better to do in their free time that summer than watch an extra half hour of GH.  Even I'd stopped watching GH by the time PC actually premiered, it had gotten so bad...and I gave PC a few weeks at most.

The late '90s on ABC soaps was such a fascinating moment in hindsight (at the time it was mostly frustrating), and PC was case in point.  So many resources available: for primetime episodes, relatively high-quality marketing, casting.  And the existing vet cast who could be strategically utilized after not getting much airtime for a while were nothing to sneeze at either.  But even when those budget windfalls got allocated for good things, nobody who knew what they were doing was ever empowered long enough for all that money to pay off.

PC had a good cast and some talented people behind the scenes.  My teenage self would never have admitted the latter, but the Cullitons and Riche probably had good ideas and clearly were trying their best.  In hindsight, they were clearly too overworked churning out 1.5 hours of TV a day to come up with a long-term vision, let alone fight for it.

And hey, PC was the last half-hour soap to premiere, and the last soap to premiere, period, that wasn't Passions (of course, you couldn't make up the fact that PC ultimately went off the air plagiarizing Passions if you were trying to come up with a really esoteric parody of soaps at the turn of the millennium).

Edited June 5, 2022 by DeliaIrisFan

[Soapsuds]

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[Soapsuds]

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[John]

Ok I watched The PC reunion and they said some actors were replaced that couldnt handle it

 

Was Jennifer Hammon (Karen) fired? I know SOD reported she quit. I know PC replaced Michael Dietz for some dumb reason and David Gail and Alex Mendoza were good Joes but Michael shoukdnt have been fired

 

I do think they fired Renee Allman (Danielle) for not keeping up