GL: September Discussion

[sactownfan]

But ever since I've watched the episode, a rant has been brewing in me. This is what the show should have been about. Why did it take cancellation for someone upstairs to think "Ya know, maybe we should actually give the fans what they want to see?" I would have loved to have seen a longterm storyline showing Vanessa seperate from Matt (logically) and grow closer to Billy, dealing with her hurt from all those years before when Billy descended into alchoholism again and shot Roger, leaving her alone during a brutal custody battle. And we should have seen Billy charm the pants off of her, but genuinely remorseful and trying to get his life back on track for her. Who would NOT have wanted that? Instead we got force fed couples and stories that an amateur could have written. I have YET to see a fan of Mallet and Marina. Never mind Cassie and Josh, Reva and Jeffrey.

I just saw a great spoiler for Bridget's return and I wonder, why couldn't that have been worked into a new storyline YEARS ago? Why couldn't they have recasted Peter, a child with ties to multiple families!? Instead we get Tom Pelphrey and his Zimmer-esque hammy acting and the Tammy/Jonathan pairing that ate the show whole. We get Rafe and Dim Bulb Daisy and Ashlee and Remy's idiot wife who is so forgetable I have yet to remember her name. It's absolutely incredible. That is why the show is so difficult to watch right now because even the great moments with family and long-wanted reunions just underscore how many missed opportunities there have been during the Wheeler and Conboy regimes.

Wow. What a stupid and bitchy post. I agree on some points, but no Reva and Jeffrey fans? You've got to be kidding. They are EVERYWHERE. Doesn't mean YOU have to like it... but to say they don't exist, is just ignorant. Same with Jonathan and Tammy. Some hated them, but a HUGE amount loved them.

I agree that Rafe and Daisy were not a hit, nor Mallet and Marina. But you lose ALL credibility when you make it about YOUR reality, and not the REAL reality. Jeffrey and Reva were a hit. Just like Jonathan and Tammy were. Of course, you have the right to disagree, but make it truthful, okay?

[DRW50]

I think I continue to be the only person in existence who liked Cristina

I see what you're saying about Peter, but then, if I have to choose between a legacy character being unseen and a legacy character returning and being destroyed, I'll go with unseen.

They did such a bad job with bringing that generation in. Look at Daisy, who was, by the end of the show, sleeping with the guy who had once been her stepbrother, who at one point she thought was her half-brother, and who was at one point 13 years younger than her.

Meanwhile, we have Leah, who was aged about 16 years overnight, and who then became so ridiculously out of place that she was almost never seen again. Did we even hear anything about her after her fleeting appearance at the last Bauer barbecue?

[sactownfan]

Really? GL made NO attempts to tie things up? You are a JOKE. Another World ended it's run with an episode revolving around a GORILLA. GL brought back fan faves Ed, Holly, Fletcher, Nola, Bridget, Dylan, Michelle and Danny... and you're STILL not satisfied?

I think this will be my last post on SON. It brings great news... but unfortunately has attracted people who only see the worst of things. Bring Holly back? Instead of cheering, all I heard was "it's not enough." I'm a "glass half full"{ guy.

So farewell to all you "half empty" folks. I hope someday you learn to enjoy life. Seriously. That's not a slam. That's a hope for all of you. Life is precious. Next time you have to "rant" about your soap, imagine someone who is a worse place. Dying of cancer. Or living in a third world country, which doesn't have proper education or health care. Americans are fortunate they were born where they are. And every day, I appreciate that. I don't want to waste a day, or even an hour, because something was 51% bad. I choose to appreciate the 49& good.

So no, the last months have not been perfect, but there is SO much to appreciate... that's what I'm doing. GL didn't end with Josh and Reva getting married and a fake gorilla interrupting. The stories were heartfelt, and I, as a fan, appreciate the wrap up.

[sactownfan]

Really? GL made NO attempts to tie things up? You are a JOKE. Another World ended it's run with an episode revolving around a GORILLA. GL brought back fan faves Ed, Holly, Fletcher, Nola, Bridget, Dylan, Michelle and Danny... and you're STILL not satisfied?

I think this will be my last post on SON. It brings great news... but unfortunately has attracted people who only see the worst of things. Bring Holly back? Instead of cheering, all I heard was "it's not enough." I'm a "glass half full"{ guy.

So farewell to all you "half empty" folks. I hope someday you learn to enjoy life. Seriously. That's not a slam. That's a hope for all of you. Life is precious. Next time you have to "rant" about your soap, imagine someone who is a worse place. Dying of cancer. Or living in a third world country, which doesn't have proper education or health care. Americans are fortunate they were born where they are. And every day, I appreciate that. I don't want to waste a day, or even an hour, because something was 51% bad. I choose to appreciate the 49& good.

So no, the last months have not been perfect, but there is SO much to appreciate... that's what I'm doing. GL didn't end with Josh and Reva getting married and a fake gorilla interrupting. The stories were heartfelt, and I, as a fan, appreciate the wrap up.

[bellcurve]

Sit down, fanboi! Sit down!(©R Sinclair, 2009)

[sactownfan]

Uhhh, if you gave me a reason to sit down, I would. I'm a fan... and I like some things and dislike others. What I am NOT is an incessant WHINER who is still complaining about stories from 20 years ago. Was killing Maureen Bauer a mistake? Probably. BUt she was NOT essential to the show's success. If Mo was the show's matriarch, and you want to kill her... build SOMEONE ELSE to take her place before you kill the previous one off.

Erica. Luke. Reva. Viki. Victor. To me, NONE of these characters are irreplaceable... But DAMN, good story is!

[bellcurve]

I think your attack dog, long winded, CAPS ridden posts are enough incentive for you to do so.

I thought you said this would be your last post at SON. Don't let me keep you.

[DRW50]

Even if love can't save the world, or GL, I hope it can at least save the GL thread Come on guys, think of Peapack.

[Greg's GL]

Just finished watching the entire week. I would give the ending episodes somewhere between a 6-8 out of 10.

Like we've all been saying since the new "production model" was introduced, I can't stand this "music" being played in the background. I was hoping that EW would abandon that aspect of her "production techniques" for the last few shows. And the fact she dug Josh and Reva's song out of archives for those scenes proves that she could have done so. Have someone bellowing "How it huuurrrrrts" while strumming a guitar as Phillip tells Lizzie about Alan in the background is not what I wanted to see.

It's strange that no one mentioned Harley. I wonder if EW still holds a grudge against Ehlers?

I would also have seen more story for Holly and Ed over the last month or so. And Mindy and Rick. It would have been nice to see how they came to be reunited.

Alan-Michael and Amanda should have been there for Alan's "funeral". I would have loved to see India.

On the plus side, I loved that Reva and Josh were reunited. Cried like a baby in those scenes. I liked that Lillian actually said at Maureen's grave that "Springfield was never the same after you died". Exactly true. Maybe EW was trying to right a wrong that was done so many years ago.

Overall, I don't think the end was horrible. It could have been better, given they had quite a bit of time to tell the "end of..." stories. But I will say that they pulled off more than I thought EW and JLH could or would. And that's saying something.

[Vee]

Ellen Wheeler's out of a job and she's trolling the forum! Does Joseph Smith approve?!

[tanyia2]

I am going to miss this thread.

[Max]

I thought that the final episode was good (but not great). The "one year later" aspect of the ending was something neat that was never before done on a soap finale. I'm also thankful that GL fans did not have to experience something as awful and disrespectul as having a gorilla appear in the final episode.

I only have two complaints: First, I am shocked that the names of some very important GL characters--Roger Thorpe, Harley Cooper, Ross Marler, and Bert Bauer--were not even mentioned during the final week. (While TPTB are entitled to be upset--as I am--for the fact that Ehlers and verDorn left the show, they should not have taken out such anger on the characters they portrayed.) And second, way too much time screen time was given to useless characters (like Ashlee, Rafe, and Remy), while certain extremely important characters (like Ed, Holly, and Nola) got hardly any airtime.

[Chris B]

Oh wow! It's a good thing I have too much class to call this loser all the things I'd love to....

I'm not sure how far in advance AW had to prepare, but GL had 5 months and they STILL couldn't get it right. Let's even argue that the story was set and couldn't be re-written, they were already planning on bringing Michelle back (recasted), so why not just condense her story, bring Nancy St. Alban back and give them a proper send off? It would require minimal effort since the story was in place. Instead you have those people back for cameos crammed into the final weeks.

The final months of GL were wasted on a murder mystery for a character that wasn't dead. Grieving over ANOTHER character who wasn't dead and also, Dinah was banished from Springfield due to this mess that wasn't even tied up!!! That's garbage. And that WAS the main focus these final months. A story which wasn't tied up.

Getting back to you. I'd suggest you get a life and make some friends. Maybe then you'll be able to accept that other people can have a different opinion. It probably wouldn't hurt to visit a psychiatrist either.

[DeeeDee]

[DeliaIrisFan]

I've finally finished watching the last week. As someone who has really tried to give Ellen Wheeler and Co. the benefit of the doubt over the past few years, I have to say I was really disappointed in the wrap-up, pretty much across the board.

The implication of the final episode itself seemed to be that this show began in 1983, which is just so puzzling because this is the same regime that produced the 70th anniversary episode. They of all people know that there was a GL before Reva and the Lewises the Four Musketeers, and even before the Bauers for that matter. Not even a mention of Bert? The sentence that wrapped up almost 73 years worth of history was, "Always, Bud"? Really?

The story leading up to the last episode, inasmuch as there was any coherent story, was completely off the mark as far as I am concerned. Alan should never have been killed if they were not prepared to bring back characters like Alan-Michael and Amanda (or even explain their absence). Billy and Vanessa and Buzz and Lillian having a double-wedding made no sense. Ross and Vanessa's daughter on the run, wanted for murder, again was incomprehensible.

And the flash-forward was just wrong, IMO. The point of soaps is that they happen in real time. I can only remember a handful of times on any soap that a new day has started within an episode, but to skip an entire year during a commercial break? For me, seeing what happens on a soap is not nearly as important as seeing how it happens. All of those contrived happy endings, one right after the next, just seemed so hollow. Especially since, in other genres, when a substantial period of time passes off-screen, there is typically subtext in the acting, directing, and character development to hint at the life-changing events that must have transpired to bring these characters to where they are now. Ironically, the characters/actors that I think would have been best able to do that weren't even included in the "one year later" sequence. Maureen Garrett's Holly, Peter Simon's Ed, Marj Dusay's Alex, Maeve Kinkead's Vanessa, and Jordan Clarke's Billy all suddenly reunited with each other in real time, with little or no explanation. Since there was a jump forward, why the rush - why couldn't all of that happen a year later, too? Even so, that one Ed and Holly scene was some of the richest, most nuanced acting I have seen on soaps in years. Those two played every possible beat of what little dialogue they had, and actually made me believe that they had reasons for suddenly deciding to run away together besides the fact that was in the script. Of the cast that we did get a glimpse of in the future, Zimmer and Newman did a nice job of conveying that these two characters had gone through things in the past year and had learned and evolved in the process. But not so much Daisy/Susan and James, or even Rick and Mindy. These were just not characters who had very many layers to begin with. Crystal Chappell, of all people, certainly could have conveyed a year's worth of character development with the slightest bit of material, but she had literally no opportunity to do so - I guess we're to assume that Olivia and Natalia will not even progress to kissing in the next year.

I don't know... I always thought this team had good intentions and was fighting an uphill battle, and every time I tuned in during these past couple of years and saw something remotely good, I genuinely believed it was pretty much a miracle under what must have been nearly impossible circumstances. But GL had six months to plan the finale, and they got the go-ahead to bring back past cast members (as glorified extras, for the most part, but still, they had a critical mass to craft an ending that drew from history and impacted any number of characters who were on-hand without gaping holes caused by the absences of the ones who were not). That's more than other soaps that have gone off in the recent past have had to work with, but right down to the "And now, Guiding Light" montage at the beginning, which looked like somebody designed it in PowerPoint the night before, everything seemed so ill-conceived and slapped together. This was an historic event in television hist ory, and it should not have been like that.