GL: March Discussion

[P.J.]

I was disappointed in the much awaited reveal of Dinah's part in the kidnapping. In a way, it was great that Dinah just came clean without months of Phillip torturing her...but it just fell flat for me. I appreciated the Dinah/Phillip scene after a lot though.

I thought the rooftop scenes were kind of silly.

I can understand Jenna's return up until today. Let Buzz talk a LIVE human being please. And I'm a little grossed out by the makin'-out-with-ghosts scenes.

OMG...were Billy and Vanessa on all three days this week? Shut my mouth.

[AllAboutAngst]

I thought Gina Tognoni was fantastic, but they didn't focus enough on the reactions IMO. Why didn't we see Vanessa's reaction? I couldn't care less about Bill and Lizzie, they're quickly becoming rather insufferable to me, but even I thought their reaction to it was pretty lame. Lizzie was basically like "Whatever, I don't care, I just want to be with you schmoopy" and started macking on Bill again

It's a damn shame though that Phillip and Dinah are cousins because GA and GT have some great chemistry, that last scene between Dinah and Phillip was pretty great.

They're overdoing this rooftop thing, and I'm sorry, but IMO, Dinah being suicidal now is so not Dinah-like. She's made mistakes before, a lot worse than this one.

I thought there was some standout performances today from Gina Tognoni, Jeff Branson and Justin Deas though (even Bonnie Dennison was pretty good).

Is there some reason why Phillip is not applying the same amount of pressure to Alan as he did to Dinah?

[DRW50]

He may be leaving Alan alone because other people are already going after him, and because Alan wasn't involved in the kidnapping.

I think Dinah's changed some after her brain damage and recovering from being shot in the head. Then again, since they haven't addressed this lately, I might just be fanwanking.

I agree with both of you about the reveal being something of a letdown (I think they just want the story to be over, but that's not an excuse), but I do think the location work helped add to the story. There are some days where the use of outside footage really adds to the drama.

[Southofnowhere]

Was i the only 1 cheering for that little twit with the gun to shoot herself? I've only watched like 5 times and already can't stand that chick!

[MichaelGL]

Oh the continuity on this show! One moment Springfield is a town in the middle of nowhere, then next it's a bustling city with skyscrappers. I wish the TPTB would make up their mind. BTW I'd much rather prefer it be a city.

To describe today's Dinah reveal and fallout. It's like we got the build up to it and only the falling action from it. It's like they went from point A to point C, without stopping at point B. I seriously thought when the show returned from a commercial break I missed a act or two. One minute Dinah is surrounded by Billy, Vanessa, and a bunch of dayplayers, then next it's only Dinah, Lizzie, Bill with Phillip luking in the background. It was a major letdown. I don't care how this will affect Mallet and Marina tomorrow so the previews didn't instill much faith in me.

[josephm68]

I think showing city scenes mixed with the country scenes work very well. I live in Burlington, Vermont. Just a quick 10 minute ride down route 7...and things get very country feeling. I used to live in Cleveland...lol....I certainly did not live in or around downtown cleveland...however, I worked there...so...some days I'd be near the skyscrapers...then I'd drive home to the 'burbs...I think it adds a lot of variety, flare, and texture to the stories to show that there is a downtown "city" like Springfield, along with the more country areas perhaps Springfield Township as it were.

[Dan]

If you're talking about Daisy, then I agree. In fact, I'd offer to do it myself.

Agreed. I just wish they would use more NYC location shots to show the downtown version of Springfield.

But anyway, so I was thinking about GL earlier today (this tends to happen when I don't get a chance to watch it). But SORAS has done horrible things to this show and perhaps I see it more clearly on GL because of the small cast. Now we have some very generationally inappropriate romances with mixed results only because there are barely any alternative couplings.

If it weren't for the fact that Daniel Cosgrove and Marcy Rylan have chemistry, I would be kinda grossed out by Bill/Lizzie. Not to mention the fact that he once hooked up with her mother and step-mother/step-grandmother (!). And Bill went from dating Michelle, in his age-bracket, to Lizzie who was born (in SORASED-Years) probably 10 or more years later).

Mallet and Marina DO disgust me. Especially considering the fact that Mallet was named Marina's GODFATHER when she was born. (!) What pisses me off is how okay Frank is with them, when he went ape-[!@#$%^&*] when Marina started dating slightly older Ben Reade.

And now, the burgeoning romance between Shayne and Dinah. Branson and Tognoni have chemistry, but I'm still slightly unnerved by their coupling.

As much as Cosgrove and Rylan have chemistry, I kind of wish they would recast Michelle and reuninte the childhood sweethearts. They can rectify Mallet/Marina simply by reuniting him with Dinah and then perhaps recasting Marina and putting her with Shayne.

[MJM]

I live in Central New Jersey. Going from farmland to skyscrapers isn't unusual. East Brunswick Township, about a half hour south of Peapack (Which is actually a borough, not a township), has a two 23 story towers and a 17 story hotel in the northeastern corner, and farmland five miles away in the southwestern corner of the township.

[Mitch]

I have always thought of Springfield as being like the town I grew up in, which is in Central Illinois. It is a fairly large city with major corporations, (even an International Conglomerate HQ, ADM...) but you drive ten minutes away from downtown and you are in the country...and I do mean country, farms and all. The only problem is that my town was oh so much more boring then SF, no clones, assassins, or meglamaniac billionaires running around twirling their proverbial mustaches.

However, I do get sick of seeing Peapack, they should only use it sparingly, the town park is okay, once in a while, the rural areas when it is called for,..and we need to see more of a mix a pulsing city center, (Spaulding, Lewis Oil, the Courthouse,) and the suburban areas (the Bauers, the Spauldings,) and rural, (the Farm, etc.) I wonder if they can lease space in Peapack to build some more sets, I know the Spaulding Dining Room is in Peapack, and I heard word they are going to rebuild the Bauer Kitchen.

[DRW50]

I hope that's true about the Bauer kitchen. I still miss that kitchen, and their living room. Michael O'Leary will probably be shocked to ever have a set again.

For a diversion until the show comes back on, Mindy's Twitter has been updated up to the last few days. The most recent entries are about a phone conversation with Nick, but there's a fun confrontation with Alex from last week. I would have loved seeing Mindy and Alex face off during KT's brief stint, especially since KT never played any of that material the first time around.

[jfung79]

I was surprised too, but I was mainly just happy to see her so I didn't mind that it wasn't explained. In my mind, it's because Dinah told her about helping Mallet adopt the baby (though not all the details), and she and Billy just came by on the way home from somewhere to say congratulations as well as to check on Buzz thinking he might be there. Also, because of the Henry name connection, she may take more of an interest.

I will have to look for SOD and SID the next time I am at the supermarket to check out these Crystal Chappell / Jessica Leccia interviews. I, too, am glad, that Crystal Chappell has stuck around. I am pleasantly surprised that she is still here when she wanted out of her contract a few years ago. I never would have expected Beth Ehlers to jump ship before her .

Olivia has had some backburner periods, but overall, I still think she has been well served by the show. The character is multidimensional and gripping. Even when she was at her most conniving, she was never a one-dimensional evil woman, you could always understand her motives, wanting to hold on to what she had. The only really awful story I can think of was putting her with Jeffrey, her rapist, although there were periods when I was not watching that may have had worse stories. Crystal Chappell has garnered several Emmy nominations and a win as Olivia, and that isn't possible with consistently bad or no material.

[jfung79]

I finally saw Wednesday's episode, and I loved the paralleling where Shayne was revealing his secret about "killing" Lara to Josh at the same time that Dinah was revealing her secret to everyone else. It all worked for me. I didn't feel like the show went from point A to point C. I expect we will see more reaction from Vanessa next week.

If anything, the weird editing for me happened with Remy -- in the mini-mart one minute, the party the next, and then gone again.

[Dan]

DAYUM! Beth Chamberlin looks even hotter with glasses on. ::Pant, Pant::

Today's episode was kinda shitty. Too much Cooper family intrigue. Blech. I think it's time for an Agnes Nixon-style plane crash for the whole lot of them. When they aren't self-righteous martyrs up against the big-bad Spauldings, they are so saccharinely sweet they make my teeth ache. And now they have Baby Henry to fawn upon. Aww. Mallet and Marina's tru wuv. Let them all run into a minefield.

Speaking of, I like Dinah when she is at her most pathetic. It reminds me of how the character used to be. The whole "my mommy left me and made me join the circus poor me" routine has been showing a bit in the last few episodes and I really like it. I'm still not completely on the Shayne/Dinah train. I still remember that Shayne was just a child when Wendy Moniz's Dinah shot Hart. This is why soaps should ban SORAS so we don't get [!@#$%^&*] like this.

Once again, the highlight of the episode was Phillip. I swear I think that Carolyn Hinsey is right for once, Grant MUST be writing his own story. Otherwise, it just doesn't make sense that most of the rest of the show could be steeped in suckage.

Ok Bill and Lizzie, let's get with the present now. This "starting over" [!@#$%^&*] is starting to get on my nerves.

You know, I'm glad I found out that ER reruns at the same time as GL. Now whenever the show pisses me off, I can watch Season 1 of that show in peace.

ETA: I forgot to rant about something. In this week's SOD, a GL rep was quoted as saying that a Peter Simon return is "wishful thinking." Well folks, if the fans are "wishing it," maybe you should get off your asses and at least *try* to make it happen? Morons.

[Rakesh]

What a stupid episode! The acting was great but the writing was HORRIBLE and that music only it made it WORST. The highlight for me was Phillip and Beth.

[Rakesh]

Was it Alan? No offense Alan but you're not better than us. If you want GL to stay on air, you better make sure P&G get rid of those hacks and use the money for something good. FIRST thing, hire a freaking set designer! My God, the sets on GL are trash. I'm sorry but they are. Can they afford paint? Ornaments, windows curtain and stuff like that?