6 hours ago, Soaplovers said:

If I recall, Dinah was mentioned during the custody story in 1993/1994. There was a small arc where Dinah was preparing to come for a visit to see Ross while Blake was nervous to meet Dinah, but at the last second, Dinah wasn't on the plane. As it later turned out, Vanessa had asked Dinah not to come because she feared that if Dinah came to visit while she was in the custody battle with Bridget.. that it would reflect poorly on her.

I recall Ross was upset with Vanessa for doing that... but it would explain why Dinah seemed to have a chip on her shoulder about Vanessa when she did finally blow into town in early 1995.

6 hours ago, Robluvthebeach said:

So Wendy Moniz had shared that she was hired as Dinah in Fall '93 (Sydney Penny had tested but went to AMC) but Leonard Staab's accident postponed those plans and then when they decided to bring her back was in Feb. 95 (she was a GL fan and was watching when Dinah was brought up in conversation between Vanessa and Ross in'94 and was worried that they may have hired someone else -but it was a red herring). So, when Dinah did come back the plans were always to bring back Hart as well to pair them together

1 hour ago, Spoon said:

I do remember them talking Dinah up for a while. I'm glad they chose Wendy, I don't know about Sydney's AMC work but I think she had an unimpressive stint on B&B.

Oh this is very interesting, thanks for posting! I'm glad Moniz was able to still go to GL after that long year of waiting. Gosh, I don't think Sydney Penny would have worked as well in that role. She was amazing on AMC and very popular, so going there made a ton of sense being part of the iconic Santos family. Moniz plays bitchy/scrappy really well.

Speaking of the Santos family, could GL not think of any other last name for their first major hispanic family? Haha, just seems like they were looking over to AMC and said ok, we'll take that name too.

16 minutes ago, alwaysAMC said:

Speaking of the Santos family, could GL not think of any other last name for their first major hispanic family?

I would assume they picked the name "Santos" because that translates to "saints," an ironic commentary on a family full of criminals. So that shows at bit of thought.

But other than that when it comes to the Santos family? Pfft. SO disappointing to me as someone who is part Latina. I hate mob stories to begin with, and trying to make Latino mobsters one of their core families was a huge mistake, IMO.

Edited 23 hours ago23 hr by DeeVee

@DeeVee only Carmen and maybe the grandma were really bad. Danny wanted to get out, Tony was a little more gray but his brother, Father Ray was generally portrayed positively. They gave up quickly on Pilar, which GL did a lot around that time.

Here's a question, who did more damage to the DNA of GL- the mob or the Island people?

3 hours ago, DeeVee said:

I would assume they picked the name "Santos" because that translates to "saints," an ironic commentary on a family full of criminals. So that shows at bit of thought.

But other than that when it comes to the Santos family? Pfft. SO disappointing to me as someone who is part Latina. I hate mob stories to begin with, and trying to make Latino mobsters one of their core families was a huge mistake, IMO.

LOL - I didn't even think of that (the "saints" translation) - how ironic. Definitely a choice all around.

40 minutes ago, Spoon said:

@DeeVee only Carmen and maybe the grandma were really bad. Danny wanted to get out, Tony was a little more gray but his brother, Father Ray was generally portrayed positively. They gave up quickly on Pilar, which GL did a lot around that time.

Here's a question, who did more damage to the DNA of GL- the mob or the Island people?

I'm just new to the Santos family, but Mick of course was bad (the first guy who Michelle killed in self-defense). He started it all.

Gosh, I don't know much at all about the Island people, but doesn't sound promising haha. Unless this is the Prince I've read about that maybe Cassie or Beth was in a relationship with. And I remember a clip of a blind Reva holding someone at gun point... if none of that has anything to do with the Island people, then nevermind :)

1 hour ago, Spoon said:

Here's a question, who did more damage to the DNA of GL- the mob or the Island people?

Wow, tough question, lol. Both outlived their usefulness, but if I had to choose...? I'd say the San Cristobel crew. At its' heart, GL was a Midwestern show; so, to have over half of it take place suddenly on this mythical, vaguely Hispanic island (with royal subjects and townsfolk who were anything BUT Hispanic) was just too discombobulating (sp?). Say what you will about Andorra, San Rios, or even Barbados and Santo Domingo, but at least they didn't eat the show for years on end.

27 minutes ago, Khan said:

At its' heart, GL was a Midwestern show; so, to have over half of it take place suddenly on this mythical, vaguely Hispanic island (with royal subjects and townsfolk who were anything BUT Hispanic) was just too discombobulating (sp?). Say what you will about Andorra, San Rios, or even Barbados and Santo Domingo, but at least they didn't eat the show for years on end.

It's never good for a soap opera to have a second location. It splits the show's characters and it makes it close to impossible to do umbrella stories.

Agnes Nixon did it with her soaps with Center City and NYC, but had the characters tethered enough to the original locations to make it work. Not everyone is Agnes Nixon, LOL.

And worse, they eventually brought them all to SF. It was idiotic to have big music industry people in SF back in the 80s, but royals? So silly.

Edited 21 hours ago21 hr by DeeVee

3 hours ago, DeeVee said:

It's never good for a soap opera to have a second location. It splits the show's characters and it makes it close to impossible to do umbrella stories.

IA. It's also next to impossible to maintain the show's tone, especially when you have a fictional, small(ish) town next to a bustling, urban city. You're not going to tell the same kinds of stories for characters living in NY, for example, that you would for characters still living in Pine Valley.

5 hours ago, Khan said:

Wow, tough question, lol. Both outlived their usefulness, but if I had to choose...? I'd say the San Cristobel crew. At its' heart, GL was a Midwestern show; so, to have over half of it take place suddenly on this mythical, vaguely Hispanic island (with royal subjects and townsfolk who were anything BUT Hispanic)

Definatley the Island of WhiteBread people did the most damage. It was not only dumb, it was already outdated material by the time it started airing. Rauch dusted off his fairy tale island from the OLTL OTT era and pushed it on GL like it was something new. Prince Richard was one note (how do you write for a fairy tale prince...unless you he gets together with his princess and leaves town forever and then it would have all been with it.) The only way to write it was like the Dobsons did orignally with James Stenbeck, the fairy tale prince turns into a nightmare. Once Cassie is married she is only allowed to go to certain places on the island..why? Say a hot guy of color is cast as a leader of the rebels who kidnaps her and shows her what was really going on in the island..the natives working to prop up the royals and their rich friends...leaving Cassie torn...she then sees Richie is as bad as Eddie (with a more polite facade) and then works against him ( I would have had Richard be the one to hold Cassie in the tower) But no way would Rauch and team present something that was not bland tripe that they thought the fat dumbies at home still watching the soaps (their view of their audience) would love.

At least the idea of the mob made some sense...the straight lace Bauers, pillar of SF contracting with this shady family. Only the execution sucked. Having no Bauer patriarch to go up against Carmen hobbled it from the start.

with GL it was ridiculous, you'd have folks traveling back and forth from the island like it was the diner. Per the Island people, i think Olivia and Edmund assimilated the best. Especially once Alex returned and Edmund was basically her new warren/hawk or buzz type-task person.

Michelle married to the mob would've been the perfect opportunity to bring in Uncle Mike from DC to crackdown on racketeering, but alas we GL fans couldn't have nice things.

Worse than the mob and the island people was Jeffrey. As they said in mean girls, the producers tried to "make fetch happen." He was shoved down the audiences' throats so hard, it should've been criminal. Rumor was that they considered making him a Bauer, which I would've welcomed because if were stuck with him at least give us some lip service towards series lineage. Personally, he should've been Alan/Rita's son if anything.

Makes you wonder where the show would've gone if the Dinah/Hart actors were convinced to stay or if the Teri/Annie character wasn't such a flop.

Edited 15 hours ago15 hr by Spoon

7 hours ago, Spoon said:

Here's a question, who did more damage to the DNA of GL- the mob or the Island people?

I don't even think it's a contest---it's San Cristobel. It may not be realistic to have multi-millionaires and multi-national corporations on every block, but at least it's rooted in the relatable. Princes descending on a midwestern town it beyond ridiculous. Even when we got rid of the island, we were stuck with the inhabitants. And of course, then along came Jonathan. RME. We were stuck with them all, thanks to Reva.

Thanks for the info and Dinah/Moniz. While I don't think Sydney Penny would've worked in the role as written for Moniz, maybe Dinah wouldn't have been so over-the-top bitch either.

5 hours ago, Spoon said:

Here's a question, who did more damage to the DNA of GL- the mob or the Island people?

I think the DNA of GL was damaged before either story.

Both stories went on for too long, although it's not until the Labines that the stories truly sour on me. I think because they tried to add a grit which was just ugly rather than increasing the depth.

The SC characters added more to the canvas than the mob, where, aside from getting to see Miriam Colon do her thing, the only positive was Paul Anthony Stewart. Olivia, Edmund, and to a degree, Richard were all good additions. I liked the Richard/Cassie relationship and Bradley Cole as the dashing prince, even if the inherent racism and colonialism in the SC story was noticeable at the time, let alone now.

As others said, the nadir is Cole as Jeffrey. That character, and hambone Jonathan, are the moments I'd say corroded what was left of the show's DNA. No matter how much Rauch and B&E loved Annie, they knew she was not the rooting party. Jeffrey and Jonathan were somehow meant to be our heroes. It was like two Todd Mannings being dumped into Springfield.

(yes, there was Roger, but the show was always much more honest about Roger than they ever were about those two pieces of [!@#$%^&*])

Edited 13 hours ago13 hr by DRW50

14 hours ago, Spoon said:

Worse than the mob and the island people was Jeffrey. As they said in mean girls, the producers tried to "make fetch happen."

And Jeffery happened because ConWest went to a fan event and saw the fan fraus freaking out over Cole's "rock concert" Why TPTB thought the people who actaully have time and the inclination to go to a fan event were not representative of the viewing public at large. God I hated Jeffery worse then if Buzz/Fletcher/Richard rolled into one character.

I think that Joan/Alex summed up both the island and the mob in two of her lines:

Eddie: "Have you ever been to San Cristobal?"

Alex: (with a bit of a sneer) "NO, but I have heard of it! I'm sure its a charming little island."

Carmen: "I am Carmen Santos, and you are moving into my territory."

Alex: (barely acknowleding her) "And I am ALEXANDRA SPAULDING, and I couldn't care less!"

54 minutes ago, Mitch64 said:

God I hated Jeffery worse then if Buzz/Fletcher/Richard rolled into one character.

Oh, GAWD, me, too!

The funny thing is, I quite liked Cole when he played Richard. If Richard, Edmund, and Olivia had blown into SF as displaced Eurotrash, I think it would have worked. Maybe friends of India helping her with her latest desperate scheme to get money out of the Spauldings?

Anything would have been better than the island crap.

Edited 46 minutes ago46 min by DeeVee