Top 10 Over the Top Plots of 1996

[DRW50]

This was a Marlena de la Croix column.

I'll just put her choices and then if you want any writeup of any of her actual comments, I'll type them out.

10. GL - She had a tough time choosing, as there were so many, like Blake's twins by two different fathers and the Gilly/Griffin story. She said she forgot everything but the story where civil rights leader Griffin had himself shot for his cause, to which she said her reaction was "unprintable."

9. ATWT - Almost all the stories were awful she couldn't even joke about them. She said the story with Lisa and the Chinese smugglers was something Ed Wood Jr. might have loved.

8. OLTL - Viki being hypnotized into almost shooting Kevin.

7. AMC - The story which never actually happened, when Janet getting plastic surgery to look like Brooke.

6. Y&R - Phyllis "secreting herself" in Paul and Christine's honeymoon bed. She said that she loved that storyline.

5. B&B - Eric proposing to Sally to keep Forrester in his hands, then dumping her at the fashion show. Ridge proposing to Taylor at a fashion show while a humiliated Brooke looked on.

4. AW - the victimized "fashion icon/policewoman" Josie Watts.

3. AW - Frankie Frame's brutal murder.

2. DAYS - John goes to the gas chamber. John goes to the guillotine.

1. GH - Lavish praise for Stephen Nichols and Stefan Cassadine, the "sexiest, most sensational male character on daytime television."

[alwaysAMC]

I was really looking forward to the Janet/Brooke storyline... sad it got dropped. I remember she started getting jealous of Brooke/Pierce, and she would record Brooke's voice and practice sounding like her and dressing like her. The Friday cliffhanger was AWESOME, but then it got dropped. Ohhhh well.

[Cheap21]

I loved the AMC Janet/Brooke plot. That was crazy and over the top and RM did well with that material. Too bad they didnt really go anywhere with it

[DRW50]

That story would have entailed Robin being fired and Julia playing a dual role, so I'm glad they never went through with it. I'm sure Julia would have done a good job but at that time I think Robin was one of the best parts of the show.

[Cheap21]

Not really. They didnt have to go all the way, but I would have loved it if she at least got to kidnap Brooke. She could have switched her plans and with Brooke out of the way, try to win Pierce over as Janet, while mimicking Brooke and the reasons he fell for her. What ended this story was when she crossed paths with Kinder and her story went in a completely different direction. They could have had her find out about what Kinder was doing and blackmail him into kidnapping Brooke and holding her captive along with Skye. That would ahve been a good way to merge the two stories instead of dropping it fast in its tracks

[Gray Bunny]

Those were the DAYS... :::sigh:::

Okay, what exactly is the Gilly/Griffin story? Anyone care to supply the Cliffs notes?

[DRW50]

Gilly's mother Vivian got upset when her old flame Griffin, a civil rights leader, came to town. She still had feelings for him, going as far as to resume their affair and betraying her poor husband Charles. But she also had some ulterior motives, as she was increasingly disturbed at his becoming closer to Gilly. Gilly began to fall in love with Griffin. They went as far as kissing, and would have had sex if Vivian had not told them that Gilly was Griffin's daughter.

Gilly, one of my all time favorite GL characters, was disgusted and left town in shame

[Mitch]

I am surprised she didnt even mention Brent/Marion!!!

Anway, Griffin was a Civil Rights Leader (I put that in caps as that is how McTavish wrote it) who used to work alongside Gilly's mom, the uptight Vivian, who we discover was part of the civil rights movement. Well Griffin and Vivian had gotten it on back in the day, so it didnt lead a brain surgeon to see that Gilly was really Grif's kid. Vivian tried to intervene but Gilly of course thought her uptight mom was just being her usual self. Luckily they found out before they did it, (I remember that at this time McTavish wrote Alan and Alex as as being quasi incestuous, as they had Alex OBSESSED with Alan's love life and Alan treating her like a nagging wife, and they had Michele chasing after her own (though not biological) first cousin and no one said a word (take that Jammy!!!)

Griffin also was standing up for 5th Street against Alan, who wanted to plow it over cause he loved Reva so much (dont ask.) Though there were really no african americans really ever shown on 5th Street, Grif took up the cause (though there were some stock "ethnic," characters in the background chanting "Save 5th Street," with their leader, Troll Man, uh, I mean Buzz. Anyway, for some reason Griffin thought it would help the cuase to shoot himself..and act like someone was trying to assassinate him. Why no one, at GL, P & G, CBS voice any concerns over this, like you know, having a black civil rights leader shot, but he done it himself, one can only excuse with the fact that they were indeed the Idiots In Charge.

However, Griffin was one HAWT DADDY!!! What a wasted storyline (and we never got to see his chest enough!)

[P.J.]

I think Gilly turned out to be Griffin's daughter...her mother had a meltdown because they were dating.

[DRW50]

We replied at the same time. Clearly that story was burned into our brains...

I agree that Griffin was hot.

Dahlia and her mother Tina also lived on Fifth Street. Dahlia...well, she sang. A lot. Tina was yet another hooker with a heart of gold who only appeared once or twice before leaving Dahlia with the Coopers. The woman who played Tina was a VERY good actress, searing, and I wish she had stayed. There was no black character like that on GL, before or since.

I think Brent/Marion might not have been mentioned because the story at least tried to maintain some decency and grounded itself along with the hysterical stuff. McTavish's later stories did not.

[Gray Bunny]

Eww. I thought maybe there was a *chance* that Gilly was Griffin's daughter, but then the real truth came out. What a crap way to be written off.

Griffin... I normally love my dark meat :::chuckle::: but that big porn mustache is a major turn-off.

[juniorz1]

The denouement of the John goes to the gas chamber story was amazing. Marlena playing that cat & mouse game with Stefano, John writing that infamous letter to Marlena that drove 2 years of story, the way Peter & Jennifer were roped in, the reveal that Tony/Andre had committed suicide- I'm no JER fan by any means (he turned all my fave characters, like Hope for example, into brain dead morons without their personalities) but he did denouements like no other in his day.

[MichaelGL]

In 1996 the Gilly/Griffin/Vivian story garnered plenty of screentime on the show. I found McTavish's efforts to display AA characters on the front burner admirable, of course as many have said the fact is the story she placed them in wasn't all that great.

Here's an episode of 1996 GL where Gilly reels from the revelation that she almost seduced her father.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4H-GtD-1cQc

What was everyone's opinion of the character of Marcus around this time? I know a few people found the character of Dahlia to be annoying, with her constant need to break into song every now and then, but I thought both actors were quite good, especially the actress that played Dahlia(Who'd later go on to be on Boston Public.)

[Mitch]

I loved that version of the Reardon kitchen!!!

While it was great that McTavish wanted to feature AA characters, she did it in the most stock character kind of way. Before on GL the black characters were just, characters...I know some people dont like that but I did, they were "mainstreamed," for lack of a better word, and totally part of the show. They did bring up prejudice, etc, like David being beat up, but they were citizens of SF like everyone else. McTavish had to cast her characters in either a sterotypical role "The Prostitute," and the "Fatherless Girl, who also, of course sings," The Angry Young Man," (we kinda had that with David but whatever and The Civil Rights Leader!

I HATED Marcus...his annoying bugging of eyes, and flipping of head everytime he was ANGRY, (which was each and every scene) made him look like a drag queen without the makeup on. Worse, McTrash put him with Dahlia. So we have a new charcter no once cares about, attached to another new character no one cares about, eating up huge chunks of airtime. Dahlia was the black Lucy Cooper, boring and annoying, but everyone was supposed to love her, and it was apparent they were going to try and make her Frank's kid (cause GL needed another Cooper!!!) but luckily she was shipped off before that happened. Marcus on Dullia had no chemistry, and it was obvious the only reason they were together was because they both had the same skin color.

Now if McTrash had brought on Vickie, the black Spaulding instead of Amanda, that would have been cool. Seeing her take on Alan Michael, who became a dullard himself after falling in LURVE with Lucy for control would have been great. Marcus could have hung around as Dinah's gay best friend.."Oh no GURL, you did NOT climb up on that hot ass Hart..grab a tini and come over hear and tell it. Bitch please, you need to keep those panties on once in a while!" Okay, so thats a stock character too, but the actor was more beleiveable gay then straight.

Griffin as a ruthless business man helping out a sexy Vickie would have been great...(plus countless shirtless scenes for that HAWT Daddy!)

[Gray Bunny]

+1... every single episode was exciting, IMO, during that era.... such heightened stakes, high drama, and well-played.