Louise Sorel's Donatella Stewart's stay may have also played a part in the Lucy / Rachel battle for a seat on the hospital board, but maybe that was later. 

The scene @Franko shared is a bit of a trip. More lesbian undertones to Lucy's relationship with women. I am assuming Sorel's character is a combo Donatella Versace / Martha Stewart. The short run patient arcs in 2000 are pretty strong from what I've heard. Linda Purl is the next one, I believe, with her right to die story that was suppose to echo some of the Dominique story with Scott acting as Claire Wright's attorney. 

It was very interesting seeing Sal Viscusco later in the episode as the tabloid reporter that Alan catches snooping around. 

2000 is a pretty decent year despite the insane turnover in the writers seat. I wish Harris and Bloom had been given another year or two to continue telling their version of "Port Charles."

I watched to episodes from late in Harris/Bloom's run (September 29, October 2). The episodes were well constructed. The September 29th episode in particularly smoothly moved between multiple stories by keeping the characters in two main locations (the nurses' station and the Scanlons' bar). I thought it was an effective way to move between stories without cutting to different locations. It created a sense of movement while also sorta building longer scenes. 

I forgot how good Alison and Jamal were. Erin Hershey was very energetic early on as Alison and Kiko Ellsworth is just smooth. It's a shame he never landed another leading role (I don't think his GH part was more than supporting). Anne Jeffreys as the heavy is a delighful use of the character. 

The show is also tackling the HIV storyline with Joe testing to see if he contracted the disease from his one-night stand with Nurse Jill. I was surprised to see that Jill was still around and given such a point of view. It was really nice to see the layers even to such minor supporting players in the story. Alex Mendoza is passable as Joe, and probably more age appropriate than David Gale as the younger brother. He still just doesn't feel right, though he seems fine enough opposite Ion Overman as Gabriella.  

The Livvie story is just really well constructed. Harris had been present for the original Grace story on GH I believe, which helps. I think Kevin's intense interest in Livvie causing tension in his marriage to Eve was the perfect way to segue marital discord while also setting up Lucy to swoop in with her own daughter missing. 

Ian is actually a lot of fun as the renegade doctor who thinks outside the box to help his patients. He is a necessary firework that I imagine Rachel couldn't stand, but I could see why Eve is drawn to this version of him. They are searching for the missing patient, which I think ended up intersecting with Alison and Jamal's story. 

Harris not being offered another position is disappointing. She would have done well on the P&G shows if she was given the freedom. 

2 hours ago, dc11786 said:

Harris not being offered another position is disappointing. She would have done well on the P&G shows if she was given the freedom. 

Wasn't it revealed years ago (by somebody) that Karen Harris almost took the HW'ing gig at GL before hearing from others how awful the working conditions were?  Or am I getting that story confused with something else?

I caught a couple episodes last week. 

I watched a little of May, 2000, episodes. There were two major plots in the episode: (a) Lucy showing up at the park during Julie's supervised visitation with Christina leading to the social worker taking Christina away from both women and (b) Serena ending up in Claire Wright's room. 

I don't hate the custody story as much as others, but the comment that this isn't the material that suits Lynn Herring best. I think it is still rather intriguing. Herring and Lisa Ann Hadley are fun as rivals. Lucy being willing to keep Christina safe from Julie that she is on the brink of destroying everything. In her desperate attempt to keep tabs on Christina, she has forgotten to pick up Serena from school leading to the other story. 

Serena wanders into Claire Wright's (Linda Purl) room. Serena is aware that Scotty is doing the legal work so that Claire can die at home. This is a rather poignant moment as it was clearly playing on the Dominique story, but this is going with a very different angle. Serena's point of view on the issue (she seems deeply aware of everything) asks Claire if she is scared and if she is in a lot of pain. Purl does well in this role and she has nice chemistry with Carly Shroeder. Something like this moment would be easy to skip, but it makes the story very heartwarming. 

In addition, I watched two October, 2000, episodes following the other ones I had been watching. The fall out of Joe's HIV test is very interesting. It is coming to light who was behind it and it's a desperately ugly move by a character who 100% would stoop that low. Alex Melendez isn't terrible, but he doesn't really excite me as Joe. To a lesser degree, he seems more age appropriate for Joe compared to David Gail who came off as too old for me. Melendez cast as the son of the Irish Scanlon clan is definitely a choice. 

The mystery of Livvie's paternity is unraveling very nicely with each episode giving a bit more of the story. Each piece seems to be building to a very obvious conclusion, but I think it's such a fun journey. It is also interesting that it seems to be driving Kevin and Eve apart and Kevin and Lucy together. This is just really nice. Herring and Lindstrum have great chemistry in this story and Lucy's point of view (re: Christina) makes this material meaningful. 

I really like Jamal and Allison. Amanda Barrington is desperate to keep them apart even threatening to have Allison committed to an asylum. I am curious how far Harris and Bloom were going to go with this. Allison shows some signs of PTSD after the Cedric situation and I think this would have eventually lead to Allison / Kevin. Jamal pushing away "Spunky" to keep her safe from her controlling grandmother is sad. It kills me to know what they will do to Allison and Jamal down the line. 

I would be curious what a modern reaction to all this would have been. A lot of 2000 is a variation on some of the best of Riche from 1992-1996. 

As was posted in the In Memoriam thread, actress Patricia Crowley passed away yesterday. She played original cast member Mary Scanlon Collins through the show's entire run.

3 minutes ago, Bright Eyes said:

As was posted in the In Memoriam thread, actress Patricia Crowley passed away yesterday. She played original cast member Mary Scanlon Collins through the show's entire run.

Sorry to hear this. I thought she'd passed a year or two ago. I liked her work as Mary, even if the character never went beyond a dimension and a half.

I dipped into the first week of June, 1998. The show has more energy than the opening months, but I cannot say I love everything going on.

The big umbrella story, the General Homicide murders, gives the show energy which it didn't have in the previous year and there are a lot of nice ripple effects. Lucy's character in General Homicide dies at the Nurses' Ball so there is tension and concern about Lucy hosting. Eve is suspected of killing Devlin, after having been revealed to be Devlin's former lover, which has led to tension in the Scanlon household resulting in Eve being booted and taking shelter with Chris Ramsey. Bennett is dead. Grace is dead. And Greg Cooper is sending notes. The dramatic tension is there, but I am not always super into serial killer storylines.

One of the nice little threads of the story is complications being caused in the Kevin / Lucy / Scott / Eve quad. I don't really have a horse in the race (I like Scott and Lucy, but they never seem to work together as much as they do apart). I don't hate Kevin and Lucy, but there is only so many patronizing speeches Kevin can deliver. With that said, there are some very well done conversations. Eve and Scott don't work completely for me either. I like all the characters separately, but I don't really care who ends up with who. Lucy's latest stunt has been to uncover Eve's past as an escort through information from Tammy Hansen (a GH crossover). The revelation causes more issues internally for Eve, and between Lucy and Kevin, than it does between Eve and Scott.

Concurrently on "General Hospital," Katherine Bell has recently been murdered by Stefan Cassadine which leads to Kevin and Lucy preparing to go to the wake. It is an interesting moment because Kevin does manage to tie the Katherine / Scotty romance back to the present day Scotty / Eve romance stating in both cases the women weren't perfect, but they did care for Scott. Kevin alludes that Lucy likes to keep Scott by himself in case things don't work out for her. Its an interesting hypothesis, and plays into Kevin's suggested fears that Lucy doesn't want to marry him.

There's a lot of historical references. Scott blows off the Eve/hooker reveal stating that he was once involved with another former prostitute at GH (Bobbie) without naming her. Kevin talks with Eve and connects with her on the accusations because of his own past, I believe alluding to the Felicia stalking on "GH." Eve goes off on how Dominique was a saint. I think the history lessons are great, but it often leaves me feeling like this isn't a story playing out in the world of "Port Charles," but rather in "General Hospital."

I find Eve, overall, more interesting in her other material. Shacking up platonically with Chris Ramsey. Going at it with Julie, who she goes as far as saying has an Electra complex and also states she pities Bennett for having a daughter like Julie. There is a very interesting nugget mentioned by Eve that she had a sister Shelly, who was badly burned at work, which resulted in Eve dropping out of school to take jobs to support the family leading to her turning tricks. The sister's burns supposedly have been treated and she lives in Austin with their mother. I wonder if Latham would have brought the sister in at some point.

In a B/C story, Ellen Morgan and Matt Harmon are reconnecting and the big conflict is Ellen is considering resuming her role as the head of the interns (Dr. May was doing this briefly and wants to return to pediatrics). Matt is quick to say he expects to snag the Quartermaine Fellowship soon and will no longer be under her supervision if they can just keep things quiet for a few weeks. Matt and Ellen have nice chemistry and this is a decent conflict, but there wasn't much play for it.

Courtney Kanelos has recently arrived in town and there are a lot of allusions to how much trouble she was in the past. I don't get the sense of the personal history between Courtney and Frank at this point other than Frank didn't like what Courtney did to his brother. There is some decent tension, but overall it's not really going anywhere yet. I didn't realize they were playing Neil and Serena's friendship this early as Serena goes to visit Neil at the hospital.

The show seems better than the Cullitons, but I'm not really drawn into anything yet. I'll probably just jump around again between episodes of "Another Life" and possibly binge 1997-2000 once I finish "Another Life."

@dc11786 Very glad to see your analyses again. I hope you had a good Thanksgiving.

I watched 1998 closely at the time and I'd tend to agree with you, especially about how Eve was much more interesting with Chris or Julie than in what they gave her. The attempt to turn her into a heroine soured me on the character, and I don't think it suited Julie Pinson, to say the least.