GL: March Discussion

[RoseVioletDaisy]

Seriously, I know Dinah's bat**** crazy sometimes and did a terrible thing to Bill and Lizzie but EARTH TO MALLET: YOU'RE A FREAKING COLD-BLOODED MURDERER!!! And for some crazy reason that I'll never fathom, Dinah loved you enough to forgive you and protect your sorry ass. She even took a bullet in the head for your worthless butt! You just bought a baby off the Bosnian blackmarket and great-granddaddy Buzz has been running all over town looking for somebody who might be willing to off Alan Spaulding for him. But all that's totally cool and Dinah is unparalleled evil who must be shunned by all?

Ugh. Whatever. Self-righteous hypocrisy thy name is AC Mallet. Right now, I might actually prefer watching Lurch go over the next cliff instead of Jeffrey McRapist. I hate him that much right now.

Dinah's a tough character because she has no middle ground. She has a great capacity for love and loyalty but at her core, she is monumentally screwed up and will always make enormous mistakes and act-out in really horrible ways when she feels abandoned, betrayed, or scared. That's who she has always been and if that changes, she won't be Dinah anymore.

[Dan]

Honestly Greg, I agreed with alot of what you said, but I disagree with this. I think it's much more important--like GL is somewhat doing now--to reintegrate a saner Phillip back into town and reestablish his relationships than it is to delve into that. Maybe somewhere down the line in a few months, then we can find out about the lowpoints of his recovery, but for now, I'm enjoying having the 'old' Phillip back.

As for Ross, I maintain that that plane stuff never happened and Ross is still alive albeit living a double life as Clint Buchanan. That's my story and I'm sticking to it.

[P.J.]

I get that. I guess I'm just over GT's continual jaw-jutting, head-bobbing, perpetual motion style of acting. The writing does her no favors...there isn't a lot that seems even remotely redeemable about Dinah. And there is like zero chemistry with Shayne.

I think someone somewhere decided that "Marina Mallet" was just horrible sounding. Apparently, it was easier to rename Mallet, and try and sweep it all under the rug, than try "Marina Cooper Mallet".

OH...and something that bugged me...Bill's dramatic declaration that "he has no sister". NICE TRY. Perhaps some lackey at the studio would like to remind him he's got TWO other sisters, Mindy (who was just in town) and Maureen.

[DRW50]

Mindy was on the show a few weeks ago and Maureen makes occasional appearances; they may have forgotten Bill's related to them, but I think someone just decided that Bill saying, "I no longer have a sister named Dinah" wouldn't have as much dramatic impact.

I never liked GT when she was at OLTL, I can see where she can grate. I like many of her choices at GL and I like her with Shayne. She's exhausting but she always seems so visceral to me in a way I don't see on soaps as often now. Lisa Brown used to have this type of acting style. So raw.

Dinah's done so many terrible things...for some reason I never hold them against her. Maybe I'm still happy about her killing off Hart...

Do you think they should have avoided a christening for the M&M baby, since Mallet was a godfather for Marina's christening and went on to marry her?

[Rakesh]

WTF is with Gina yelling like that? That [!@#$%^&*] is soooooooo annoying.

[Mitch]

LoL..I was waiting for dumb Frank to mention that when they asked him to be a godfather.

Sorry, I can't stand the Coopers together in their Super Duper Cooper way. Every last one of them grates...especially Bogue when he tries cute and hearty "Oh we need a godfather for our boy!" Plus, doenst it take longer to agree to be a godparent instead of just saying yes????

The Coopers as the MAIN family is really one of the main things holding this show back from its full potential.

[RoseVioletDaisy]

Definitely, they're just not compelling or complex enough to be THE family. It was fine when they used to orbit around the nucleus of the show and involved in stories but they can't BE the story.

[Antoyne]

So I watched the first few minutes of the show just to see what was going on, and I'll admit the camera work has gotten a little better..But um WTF was that music during the Jeff/Reva/Josh scene?

[P.J.]

WHY isn't BLAKE on more???

The rest of the show...Pfft.

[DRW50]

I actually liked most of the show (I didn't really watch the Reva/Jeffrey scenes), but I would love to see Blake more. How cute when she says "Frankie". I'm glad the actors remember the history between the characters, even if the writers may not. Then her amusing interaction with Olivia.

Is Josh still a minister? I'm not sure how his superiors would feel about that very steamy flirting with his ex. Even if there were no Otalia, I'd never want them together again, because the Josh Lewis Moral Superiority Complex would roar back to life again at some point, but RN and CC have always have the chemistry.

I never like when any soap character says, "You have never hurt (me/him/her/them) more than they are hurting right now!!!" Bill's had a relatively easy soap life, but the torture he went through in Venezuela, and Ava passing off Remy's child as his, and having to spend so long in that mess with Eden, I'm sure those were more painful than Dinah and the kidnapping.

[Greg's GL]

I hear ya, Dan. I like the "old" Phillip as well. I guess the thing that gets me is that it was THIS regime that fucked up Phillip to begin with. THEY are the ones responsible for that crazy Phillip we saw before they wrote him off. I could kinda understand if we had a new writing regime since that happened, but we don't. They have to own up to one of the worst character assassinations to ever hit GL (and daytime) IMHO.

I agree with you both on the Coopers. They should NOT be the core family of the show. It's ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ.

Lastly, let's not forget that before JLH was given the TITLE of Headwriter, she was still part of the credits as something (if I remember correctly) called "Story editor". I have no confidence that a simple change in title is the reason some people think that the writing has improved. It hasn't. There are still huge, huge gaps in story and the execution of the "story" is way off. Perhaps Otalia and Phillip are the best right now. But they blew it on Reva's preggy story. It could have been riveting. Everything else? Ugh.

[DRW50]

I don't know if anyone believes a change in title is why the writing has improved. Some people probably just think the show is better now. Some people may only like one story, or two stories, or they may think the show is a work in progress and they've seen improvement. There are still big changes which need to be made and sadly may never get made (like the strange idea to continue showcasing Daisy as their young lead heroine when she's never been successful in the part), and there are other huge problems which people have articulated better than I ever could, but I think the show is better now than it has been in a while, even outside of Phillip and Otalia.

I think the big change in the writing for characters like Phillip shows that whoever is in charge of the writing must have undergone some shift over the past few years. The main headwriter is more likely to have strong influence on the story and tone of anyone under him or her. Like at GH. When Guza was gone on the strike, some of their scriptwriters stayed behind, and the quality went up tremendously. Then as soon as he returned, the crap came right back.

[Dan]

Not to mention the fact that JLH has three other headwriters writing alongside her, ones that we know from experience couldn't tell a good story from a hole in the ground. I don't see how any of us can tell how much is JLH and how much is either the actors, the other writers, or just dumb and simple luck. Because it isn't as if the improvement is lifting all parts of the show.

[DRW50]

Besides JLH and Kriezman, who are the other headwriters? Lloyd Gold and (?)? I don't remember that much about Gold's writing, was he the one who wrote about Marah's endless declarations of virginity, and Beth/Lorelei?

I agree the show still needs improvement, plenty of improvement, although I think that's true for any soap now, sadly.

I do wish they could do something about Daisy. People are already going to write off any future stories with her because she's just so annoying and has such heavy baggage as a character.

[Dan]

Christopher Dunn, who was Lloyd Gold's co-headwriter. Yep, Gold/Dunn wrote Beth/Lorelai, Cassie/Alonzo/Richard, most of Marah/Tony,Catalina, Ben Reade's return as a bet-making college playboy, Danny and Michelle's "Mission Impossible" story, and the very beginning of the Tory storyline.