Stories that aren't as bad as they're made out to be

[tune_in_tomorrow]

I really enjoyed the Laurelton Mystery, too! I was a freshman in college and just started watching GH (and AMC and OLTL) in the dorm lounge and had no history, no soap mags, and certainly no blogs to base an opinion on. I had heard of Luke & Laura but they were gone by this time. The story and the characters drew me in, loved the aftermath back in Port Charles. Lucy Coe was introduced in that storyline. I didn't know critics hated it, and didn't know its impact on the ratings.

This brings up something not necessarily story-related but something I don't think is as bad as it's made out to be, I've never gotten worked up about new characters who seem to be thrust into every storyline. I understand now that the character of Terry Brock was pretty much disliked since she was a rookie getting a lot of screen time with Laurelton. But as a new viewer, I wouldn't have known any of that. The soaps always have to bring in new blood. Somewhere in 1960, I'm sure plenty of ATWT viewers writing in complaining about this Lisa person stealing screen time from Penny and Ellen. One person's overlooked veteran is another person's newbie shoved down their throat. I think it used to make some sense to draw in new viewers...of course that was when there were new viewers to be drawn in.

[MichaelGL]

I enjoyed the entertainment element of it, kind of wish the writers had done better on the follow through, if any to say the least. I don't think they should have let them have sex, rather have the cops and John interrupt seconds before Marty and Todd slept together. Everything else wasn't quite so bad.

Another "out of character" story that I found entertaining, was Dorian's marriage to Mitch. I found Mitch's reign of terror at that time more compelling than his most recent stint in Llanview.

[StevieM]

No, Toups, I didn't like that story. I absolutely hated it. I hated the way it ultimately played out and strongly disliked the beginning under Allen/Schoettle, even before it took a major turn for the worse. I was just pointing out that it didn't have to be quite the total disaster that it wound up being. Mostly, I was adding some historical commentary regarding what happened back then.

[DaytimeFan]

I loved that storyline, including the unbelievably repetitious "Pose, Pose, Pose"

The only thing I loved about Y&R's red porn opening was Jess Walton's epic hairtoss. She looked like a lioness. Sexy.

LOVED SuBe's "too primetime" opening. So much better than the other one they used.

[Sindacco]

Tom Langan was headwriter during that time. And yes the Hattie story was dropped. Though JER brought Hattie back briefly during the Salem Stalker story.

Back then John would go into mercenary mode alot, which made him violent.

[YRBB]

You know, I didn't mind the remix/whatever it was at all, and I liked the concept, coloring etc. (especially if you think about the 2003 replacement, which is complete crap--it even manages to make Nadia's theme sound almost bad!!!). But, I don't know how they did it, they managed to make a lot of the actors look horrible. I mean, how do you make Don Diamont look ugly? The sexiest guy eva? LOL It must take some special talent. And MTS as well... the angle in which they filmed that already weird, creepy mummy smile... UGH. And I think she's a gorgeous woman.

BUT, the Walton hair toss, the angle, the camera movement? BRILLIANCE. Utter, soapy, vixenish brilliance. Just SO Jill.

[Chris B]

Not surprised it hasn't been mentioned but I LOVED the Maryanne Curruthers story on Guiding Light and I enjoyed Ellen Weston's writing. That was the period that made me a Guiding Light fan so it'll always have a close place in my heart. I also thought the show looked great and had a strong cast at the time.

[Soapsuds]

It would have been a great story had it not been a complete rewrite of history.

[Gray Bunny]

Despite the absurdity, I mostly enjoyed GL's cloning storyline. It was exciting, well-acted, and suspenseful. I think what a big problem with GL at the time was that it was SO imbalanced. They had the cloning storyline 5 days a week, along with one other big story (first, the Harley/Phillip/Beth "Who Killed Carl?" mystery during the spring, and then the Ben/Blake/Ross triangle during the summer) and everything and everyone else got backburnered. It was definitely overkill. But the story itself was enjoyable and yes, the death scene was tearjerking.

I think the 2nd half of DAYS' Princess Gina storyline was also quite riveting and fun. The first half when Hope was transformed into Gina, panting after John and painting for Stefano was boring and aggravating (the way she kept pushing Bo away). And I couldn't wait for it to be over. But once they brought on Real Princess Gina and did the big lavish ball storyline with both Ginas in one room, the art stealing, Doug & Julie back, Bo breaking through to Hope, etc. it was quite entertaining. And finally, when Gina had miraculous one-day plastic surgery AND a flight from Europe to Salem, USA all in ONE FREAKIN' DAY... well, you had to suspend disbelief and just go along for the ride. Gina as Hope was probably the most fun of it all, even though poor Hope was locked in the castle turret with Stefano for so many months.

[SFK]

I was definitely thinking about this one, but as Soapsuds intimated, the thing about the guys knowing each other back in the day was a big flaw for me. That kinda thing works on The Simpsons, but ... But Carrie Nye R.I.P. was always marvelous.

[Vee]

That Tuscany fight scene on DAYS was [!@#$%^&*] hilarious. I remember that period. There's some [!@#$%^&*] out there that only Days of our Lives can get away with, and it feels like DAYS, for better or worse. That's part of it.

[jwsel]

I had to come out of lurkdom for this.

I totally agree with this (and have gotten into major trouble on other boards for saying the same thing in a blog). The build-up is quite good and gives a lot of insight into Shane's and Kayla's characters as they are both reeling from the losses of Kim and Steve. There also are a lot of misconceptions about the storyline that seem to have become accepted as fact. Most notable is the accepted trope that Shane and Kayla got together right after Steve's death, when they actually didn't kiss until four months after Steve died and didn't sleep together until more than a year later.

There's a lot of myth about this line. (I've also heard people claim that Shane said it to Kayla in bed right after sleeping with her.) He actually says "This time I'm with the right Brady" after Kayla tells him that all Bradys inherit the trait to drive people crazy and she jokingly asks if he's up to the challenge of being with a Brady. It's still a lame thing to have Shane say, but I don't think it's as utterly evil as it sounds in theory. It also isn't surprising that the line comes at the same time as Cal's horribly written return in late 1991.

[DRW50]

Thanks for sharing more thoughts on this controversial story. What was bad with Cal's return?

[juniorz1]

Not sure, as I rather enjoyed it. Then again, I'm a HUGE fan of Joseph Bottoms, who took over the role at that point from Wortham Krimmer.

[jwsel]

I won't try to detail everything here. I've written about the entire Shayla storyline on a blog, but I discuss my hate for the Cal return in the third part of the discussion. It's about mid-way down under the subheading about the bad aspects of the storyline: http://jwsel.livejournal.com/24484.html