GH: July Discussion Thread

[bellcurve]

So cheap too.

I mean, there are black comediennes out there. Ellen Cleghorne and Debra Wilson were both great examples of that.

[Ryan Chamberlain]

I'M REBA!

[DeeeDee]

Ellen Cleghorne!

[Katherine Chancellor] Dear God In Heaven [/Katherine Chancellor]

[bellcurve]

What's wrong with Ellen?!

[DRW50]

I always liked Danitra Vance too. And Maya Rudolph, when she had something to do.

I guess it depends on the context. When you had drag on In Living Color, I thought it worked OK, at least the Wanda sketches were usually funny. On SNL, black men in drag often comes across as not wanting to actually write for black women, but also to humiliate and emasculate black men. I could never see that the same way after reading about some of the awful things SNL tried to do in the 70s.

[NorrthCafe]

Spill on the SNL of the 70s, Carl. What happened?

To the list, let's not forget Martin Lawrence as 'Shanana' and Tracy Morgan as 'Starr Jones'. I think there's also the issue of demeaning and humiliating black women, by black men in drag in television. It's the "safe" way to write stereotyped black women. Such pathetic caricatures. It's interesting because I've never seen that behavior from RL men in drag. IRL, it's a matter of expression, but not mocking or demeaning women. I don't know what's wrong with entertainment industry writers (epseically daytime). Linzy is new to me so I don't know how his performances stack up against any of the above mentioned. I just thought his presence was incredibly bizarre and disrupted the scene. The writers made no attempt to make use of his skill. They just threw him out there. TPTB may have just as well put a neon sign in front of him that read "look at what we've done".

I'm sure TPTB are giving themselves triple diversity points on this one. They shouldn't. I'm betting they're unbeliveably pleased with themselves. How 'hip'.

[DeeeDee]

Ask Jay Mohr

[AllMyDaysatGH]

Where the hell did Lulu come from?? My god, GH just had to throw the shrew into the mix somehow. She really came out of nowhere, no surprise.

I have a lot to say about the episode, but i'll just keep it short and say that i thought it was really interesting. Steve/Olivia were surprisingly hot together, i didn't think they would be. Great work by Lexie Ainsworth, Rebecca Herbst & Laura Wright. They stood out to me. I was so infuriated with Maya for just sitting there not doing anything when Steve was asking for help, but it wasn't until her talk with Olivia at the end that i realized there's something more to it. We'll see how it goes with her. Most likely, nowhere.

[DRW50]

According to the backstage book written in 1986 (I haven't read most of the one that came out a few years ago), the show pretty much had no idea how to write for black actors and didn't really care to make the effort. Instead they came up with sketches like Ni**erand, a coin you could buy. This actually made it to air. One sketch which did not make it to air, because the black crew members walked off the set and Lorne Michaels intervened, was a skit for a toothpaste that helps black people have teeth which glow in the dark.

For years Garrett Morris had little to do beyond sing and dress up in drag (I think the one exception was the "baseball been berra berra good to me" character). At one point Cicely Tyson, who was hosting the show that week, complained about the offensive writing and also asked Morris why he put up with it.

By the end of Morris's 5 year stint on the show, he was at times completely out of his mind. During rehearsals for a Kirk Douglas episode, Morris ran onto the set, screaming at everyone to help him get rid of the invisible robot who was sitting on his shoulder and watching him all the time. The book claimed that people within NBC had given him the money to buy cocaine (he would claim that this was for some outside projects, but most people knew there were no projects), and over time he began freebasing.

[Aragorn]

That was another great episode! Both the Thursday and Friday episodes should get over 3 million viewers.

Before he died, Warren quoted Keifer: "Look what you made me do!" "This is all your fault!

Screw Maya. She froze and couldn't help Ethan.

I asked earlier this week if anyone thought Olivia and Steve would make a good couple. Here they had instant chemistry with each other.

Franco isn't dead. That body was laid there before he jumped and he only wants everyone to think he died so he could make his escape.

[Ms. Chandler Quartermaine]

Now, at first I too wanted to smack Maya...but then I remembered her talk with Ethan last week when she told him he reminded her of her ex boyfriend. And when he asked about him, she said something to the extent of "he lived on the edge like you, but in the end it caught up with him". Which leads me to think Ms Maya has a dead ex boyfriend, who most likely died in front of her or she at least was the one who found his body.

So now the scene makes sense, she probably saw Ethan lying there and it took her back to her ex.

Maybe I'm reading to much into it, but her ex-boyfirned definitly has something to do with the way she reacted to Ethan.

Also, puting Maya in the hospital side of GH was a stupid idea...I think she would have been a better fit in the business world. I wish they would play up ELQ more, and give it a set and some stories to go along with it. It would be a great contrast and balance to the mob/hospital stuff both of which bore me to tears.

[quartermainefan]

I thought it was a lot of fun. My favorite part was the end with the reprise of his theme song and that whole sequence, but I also liked the entire hospital stuff and everyone involved. Now what about Mrs Bauer? Is she going to be like Jason Voorhies' mother?

[Cheap21]

Damn Patrick for holding Carzilla back. I wanted her to walk in the middle of the shooting

Actually the fainting was the moment she got posessed by Shirley. Shirley's spirit literally jumped into her and in the upcoming weeks Olivia is going to be acting strange. Expect to see her making cheap jewelry for no apparent reason and being drawn to the cancer ward, taking up a new volunteering job there. She will also grow close to Liz and Maxie, all while remembering key moments in Shirley's life

Now Mr. Bauer beat Kiefer and thats what made Kiefer hit Kristina? I thought this revelation came out of nowhere and was used to justify the current madness. I really wish they hadnt turned him abusive bc it felt unneceasry and over the top

[Dion]

Actually Maya already told Ethan (in the scene they had after the one you describe) that her ex was brought in to the ER of the hospital she was working at the time. She didn't recognise him at first because of his extensive facial injuries, but once she did, the attending took over and she stayed with him until he died. It tormented her that she didn't know if he knew she was there or not and was heartbroken not just because he had died but also because all his potential was wasted.

So you are definitely right about Maya's reaction being because of her dead ex

By the way, is it me or did we just have two consecutive episodes without Sonny? I was genuinely surprised that when everybody started conveniently turning up just in time to be in the lockdown, he had already left GH and was on the docks with Alexis in Wednesday's episode.

[R Sinclair]

Maurice probably is on vacation and had his scenes pre-taped in the hospital (pre-lockdown) and docks. I say that only because I don't dare get my hopes up that TPTB realized they could get along fine without Sonny.