Your memories of Guza's GH

[DRW50]

Now that we're in or have already passed the last few days of Guza's GH tenure, is there anything, good or bad, you will most remember his time on the show for? What were your favorite moments, and what were moments you hated?

I only started watching regularly around 1997, so I missed most of his first run, but I pretty much hated his writing after he bungled the Carly/Caroline reveal, made most of the show into an ode to Jason's love of baby Michael (complete with daily scenes of "good" characters raging at those who dared question him), and turned Laura's rape into an excuse for Lucky to verbally abuse her. As you can see, I'm not exactly objective about his tenure. But do you agree with those who feel he was great for a long time and only came apart in recent years?

[quartermainefan]

When I think of Guza a few things I think are the major points. During the Pratt years, the nadir, the show was in this horrible Drab 4 era where no one was allowed on except them and Emily, and we were subjected to the daily minutia of the drab lives. Once Pratt left, the show opened up and the real Guza surfaced: the wannabe comedy writer. Diane and Max, Spin and Maxie, crazy Anthony, the three guys lusting after Lulu, the whole Jason and Spin relationship, the Markhaam Island vet fest..it was a lot of old fashioned cornball comedy with the accent on "cute". That was ok if you like that kind of thing, and I liked Diane and Spin and Diane saying "Jackal? Who's the Jackal? I thought he was the Grasshopper!" but it is tough to do a soap around shtick.

And then simultaneous was the other Guza, the nihilistic lover of chaotic writing where monday's events get thrown out by tuesday, and the writing is ugly with shootings and murders and all the violence and chaos needed to portray Jason, Carly and Sonny as the oceans of tranquility the heroes need to be.

I will begrudgingly admit that when Guza did good, his writing was better than the writing on other soaps. Michael in jail and the judge ripping into the adults was great. The recent scenes with Luke and Lucky when Luke learned he killed Jake, the intervention which was just people talking was good too. And Guza was good in Irwin Allen mode. The hotel fire, the train wreck, the monkey virus...they were all really good.

His biggest failing for me was the lack of stories week in and week out but featuring the same characters anyway. It was boring to see six or eight characters pair off in groups of twos to discuss the exact same topic, and then change partners and have the conversation again. His obsession with babies, pairings in lieu of stories, the way he formatted episodes...these were his big weaknesses I think. That and the need to show a world of obscene immorality to make his heroes look more virtuous than they are.

[AllMyDaysatGH]

The Zaccharas. I love/loved all of them! They are my favorite part of Guza's last run as HW! I'm not afraid to say I loved almost all of GH in 2008, particularly in the Summer. I say it all the time, I *LOVED* Johnny & Lulu on the run & in love that summer. That story was fantastic. It's what made me fall in LOVE with the character of Johnny Zacchara. He's awesome!! And Johnny & Lulu were BRILLIANT together! I'm still mad they broke up.

What an interesting family, I just loved the dynamic they brought to the show and I thought they were the only intriguing thing about GH's version of the mob. Anthony was perfectly cast & SJB as Claudia was amazing no matter how bad the writing got for her. I still miss my Claudia.

[Skin]

I think Guza did catastrophe's great. I loved the stuff he had with Zander/Emily, The Hotel Fire, Zander and his backstory with his father, Alexis/Rick, Rick/Elizabeth, Tamara Braun's storylines, Emily's breast cancer, Jax/Skye, AJ/Skye, I also liked Gia/Nikolas, Patrick's HIV panic, Alexis/Sam mother-daughter reveal, The virus storyline when we were introduced to Laura Wright's Carly and Lulu. All that stuff was quite good. Not sure how much of that was him though.

[JaneAusten]

For me its hard to find much good. Unlike others, I think he and Pratt together made a better writing team than apart. I thought the big events such as the hotel fire and especially the train wreck, where people like Robin, Emily, Alexis were allowed to be featured as more than male appendages was good. With Pratt around the Quartermaines, while minimized to a great extent, still had a presence on canvas, Monica was involved with more of Emily's earlier years after she returned and was an integral part of her breast cancer story and Alan and MOnica even had a presence in Jason's memory loss in 2005. I much preferred Dillons quirkiness over Spinelli and his slapstick retread I do think the 2 writers while they turned the women into victims and appendages,also gave the show the little romance it had, something GUza never ever did. I don't like who Luke or the Spencers have become under Guza. I just don't think people tune into soaps to watch a once rootable family become such white trash losers.

GUza's legacy, he killed off/ruined more legacy characters during his reign than any other HW and that includes MAB. And the way it was done was viscious and hateful and never lead to any decene story. He decimated the Quartermaines, probably the most popular family on daytime, and the real cornerstone of GH. He hated romance, and I don't find his version of comedy at all compelling. Humor and lightheartedness is great. Slapstick like the stuff with Spinelli, Diane has a very low tolerance and shelf life and with Spinelli hes definitely been overused. He traded in the dark gothic yet upper classed murderous Cassadines for another yet another cheap trashy mob family in the Zaccara's and while I adore Sarah Brown,her portrayal along with the writing, while she's a fine actress, is part of why the character failed the rest of the family IMO is an entire waste. AZ is more of the same, a cartoon mustache twirling do nothing villian. I much preferred characters like ALcazar and Faith who was probably my favorite villian in the past 15 years. Cynthia Preston embraced the crazy and turned Faith into not just a cartoon, but embraced the crazy and ultiamtely gave the character some teeth.

I think while people like TG and JJ and the intervention stuff is considered groundbreaking(*shrugs), I personally find nothing compelling in it other than used to showcase their "great" acting. None of these so called great moments ever seem to really drive compelling story. Its the same issue I have with Franco. A lot of big talk and "great" moments that change or lead to really nothing.

He also had a perpensity of falling in love with an actor and letting it derail story by keeping them, Sebastian Roche, Brianna Brown, Bradford Anderson, Brandon Barosh are good examples of characters brought in for storylines that would have been better served had they just allowed the stories to run their course and the actors go. It dilutes story in a major way.

The good were the big events(which also in the end lead no where), a few decent stories like Kristina's abuse story, the FA story until it go derailed for GUza's love for Lisa.

One of the few bright spots, Kate and Crimson. I loved the whole concept and I thought for once they created a female character that was more than another Carly or Brenda clone or victim. Classy, intelligent, educated, cold, bitchy with a touch of softness. Not evil and mean and "edgy". And I loved Megan, I know not popular on this site Crimson gave Maxi and Lulu at least some semblance of a job.

I think the fact that so many actors have spoken out since he's left tells a lot of how very unstaisfying his reign was for most of the characters. Sure the same people, Luke, Sonny, Jason(those 3 actors) got story all the time, but what does it matter when you have 35 other actors and characters totally underutilized.

[DRW50]

JA that's an interesting view on Pratt/Guza.

One thing I wish could be answered by someone at the show is exactly who it was who hated Stefan Cassadine so much. That has always been a WTF moment for me.

One thing which always bothered me in Guza's late 97-00 run was the lack of energy. I didn't watch much when Pratt was there but when I watched some in recent years it was still that same lack of energy. I wonder if that's why he was so fond of sleepytime Jason.

[JaneAusten]

Good question. Stefan Cassadine was I think my favorite character on GH. He had a great combination of ruthlessness and evil, so opposite of the bad boys of today like Adam on Y&R or EJ on Days who's victimization and evil is primarily female centric.(Well maybe not totally for Adam). He never really hurt women in the same way and showed a tenderness and loyalty to his family and to women he cared about. I credit Stephen Nichols for a lot of that. I think I liked him better than Steve Johnson his other popular character. I can't speak for the hatred for Stefan. I have no clue. I do know SN fought a lot for things during his final 6 months on the show to make the character more human than where the writing was leading. It was very similar to what they did to AJ. A vulnerable evil bad boy who they turned totally evil and unrootable in the end.

For all Pratts downfalls and there were many, story moved in between events. You didn't go in circles, there was not such repetitiveness for months until you got to the next event.There was a lot of ugly, AJ's destruction and death, Michael killing AJ(which they ultimately had to change), Emily's rape, turning Carly into the show heroine, which I think was more destructive than anything. SHE ISN"T ONE. BUt at least there was movement. IA Guza's GH became boring.It became, look at Tony Geary and JOnathan Jackson the great actors or look at Franco and became less and less about story and story movement

[Cat]

The good:

- Mark Teschner's talent at casting both leading and supporting roles.

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The Bad:

- How Luke's love for Laura was entirely trashed just to prop up behind-the-scene agendas. In fact, the way the Spencers, Cassadines and Quartermaines were completely defanged, gutted and ruined. Now Lulu is the "heart" of the Spencers -- WTF? That snotty little Barbie?

Her.

CourtneycourtneyCOURTNEY!

- Mob = GOOD. The mantra that killed GH.

Snaggle eats the show.

[Antoyne]

The dismantling of the Quartermaines.

[OldGHFan]

The man is a HACK! I've never met Bob Guza, but I absolutely hate what he did to MyGH.

I do think in the beginning (reigned in by Wendy Riche) Bob Guza was a good writer. I really loved the Laura/Stefan/Nikolas storyline. I enjoyed the arrival of Bobbie's daughter, Carly, played by Sarah Brown. I think the aftermath of Liz's rape (Lucky/Liz romance & the reemergence of Laura's rape) was terrific. But after Wendy Riche got fired, things went terribly wrong.

Apparently, Jill Phelps could not reign Bob Guza in and we got Bob's ultimate fantasy. Sonny, Carly and Jason dominated the entire show with anyone that opposed them looking like a fool with no point of view. There was no longer any love or romance - hate sex dominated. Violence, mob and shootouts became a regular occurrence as did the murder of a Quartermaine family member. We did get some comebacks of great 80s icons (Rick, Robert, Holly, Anna, Laura, Felicia, Scotty, etc) but they were nothing like they were in the 80s. We had Rick Webber the murderer, Robert the deadbeat dad, Holly the bioterrorist tart, Anna the swinging chandelier, afraid of being a grandma spy, Laura the weak, wallflower lady that sported a wig, Felicia the deadbeat mom, and Scotty who never stopped obsessing about Laura and apparently didn't remember someone named Dominique. I can't stand that Guza ruined all these great 80s vets! And lastly, Guza killed off so many good characters needlessly that he did not have too. Couldn't Emily or Georgie just gone out of town? But the kicker for me will always be the murder of Alan Q. Why? Just so we could see Jason and his Box of Pain? So unnecessary.

I don't know how good Garin Wolf will be in his new position as head writer of GH but I do know I am THRILLED that Bob "the hack" Guza was finally fired. He was in the position for a decade too long.

[Mr. Vixen]

There really aren't very many good memories for me. I've always thought that Guza was a mediocre, at best, writer. Yes, some of the moments you all have mentioned have been bright spots. However, for me, it's mostly the "tragedies" that stick out in my mind. The hotel fire, the train crash, the monkey virus, the hostage crisis, etc. I think Guza really only did good under that platform.

The only other stories I can remember truly, thoroughly, enjoying would be the Panic Room and the Black and White Ball. I know I'm in the minority, but I loved the Panic Room story, up until Alcazar took over. And the black and white ball sort of plays into the "tragedy" element, I suppose.

The main problem I had/have with guza is his misogynistic writing, his dropped storylines, and his repetitiveness. For YEARS, GH was all about it's strong women. Audrey Hardy, Jesse Brewer, Bobbie Spencer, Felicia Jones, Monica Quartermaine, etc. Yes, they all had their fare share of men, but none of them ever truly needed a man to live. They were independent and strong, they just happened to like men. That's something unHEARD of on GH under Guza. Women were never allowed to become strong or stand on their own. If they didn't have a big strong man to hide behind, they were written as crazy, neurotic bitches. Suddenly, strongwilled characters like Bobbie, Monica and Audrey were shoved out. Felicia was retconned and trashed in every way possible, to the point of utterly destroying the character. And instead of those characters we all knew and loved, we got an influx of new man-craving, spineless women such as Sam, Carly (in later years), Courtney, etc.

The dropped storylines: So many times, Guza wrote things to advance a "story" and then never mentioned them again or bothered to clean them up. For instance, in 2009 Edward was all of the sudden having a rendezvous with this young, hot blonde woman. It "fueled" the story with Robin/Patrick investigating, Andrea Ffloyd going insane, etc. Then, after the carnival accident, it is NEVER mentioned again. Same goes for that nurse that Lisa killed. Shoved her right down the steps and no one ever found out. And then there's Valentin Cassadine. For weeks everyone was afraid of Valentin, Helena had that birth certificate, etc....Then POOF, nothing.

The repetitiveness is probably the worst feature Guza had. Episode after episode after episode were spent with the SAME conversations. How many times did Lucky say "my dad is an alcoholic" this year? I don't want to see 40 different people having the same conversation, because that's not storytelling. All that accomplished for me is making me TOTALLY uninterested by the time a conclusion came.

The lack of family/romance. GH always had great families. The Quartermaines, the Spencers, the Hardys, the Webbers, etc. The Quartermaines were SUCH a milestone for GH, and he single-handedly destroyed them. Killed alan, AJ, Justus, Emily. Brought Skye on and then made her not a Quartermaine. Brought Brook back and retconned her into hating a family she used to be close to. The Spencers: Bobbie was forgotten. Luke was retconned into always hating his family. Laura is MIA. Lulu is an unlikeable slut. Lucky is a pathetic loser most of the time. The Hardy's and the Webbers were pushed out completely, unless you count that Heather Webber story where all of the sudden out of the blue, she was obsessed with Luke? Cause I don't.

There isn't any romance on GH anymore. Like I said earlier, now all we have is whiny, self-loathing bitches who are desperate for a man. There aren't strong willed women, and whenever a female character resists being in a relationship (ala Robin) she is portrayed as a selfish bitch instead of a strong woman scared to be loved and lose her independence.

Lost relationships: Carly/Bobbie, Jason/Monica, Robin/Brenda (hardly at ALL this last visit), Liz/anybody (they wrote out all of her friends other than Robin), etc. There are no true friendships on the show under Guza. And the few family relationships that remain are either never explored or filled with hate.

[psychofan]

I've always been on the fence with him. He was never my favorite writer, and I haven't been a day-to-day viewer since 2003-2006(ish)? Only watching about once a week or for the major events since then. I'm one of the few that enjoyed the mob stuff WHEN it was good. I liked his four center pieces-- Sonny, Carly, Jason, and Sam (hides). I liked the storylines he gave Nikolas and Emily and especially when he incorporated Helena into it. Only in recent years have I begun to not like his writing at all. The Spinelli stuff is TOO MUCH. Diane, I like. But the majority of the time now is divided between silly slapstick, characters that no one cares about, and discussing relationships that have been discussed five thousand times. It gets old. There is never anything new with him anymore. That's why, while I enjoyed some of his run, it really was time for him to go.

My favorite Guza stories:

The panic room

Crazy Faith

Anything with Helena

Michael's Kidnapping

Carly's breakdown

The Hotel Fire

Metro Court Crisis

Quarantine

Serial Killer (Diego)

Sam/Lucky/Liz

[R Sinclair]

Now that he's officially gone, I will say one positive thing. Guza was good at the three-day-arc, of which most of his "storylines" consisted. Good drama for about 3 days, especially when matched with the strongest of the script writers on staff.

My one constructive criticism is that Guza was less a storyteller and more of a "plot teller." He was able to conceive very interesting plots (Claudia's Murder, Kristina's Abuse, Michael's Rape), but never took advantage of the medium to flesh out the story and let the appropriate beats resonate... which goes back to my "positive" comment. The three day arc. He essentially wrote what should be a 13 week arc... into 13 episodes or less. It's as if he always wrote for primetime -- not daytime, thereby going back to my criticism that he never took advantage of the medium.

[StevieM]

I think Guza's best moment was the Amazing Grace montage when Brenda returned in 2002. And I like Spinnelli a lot.

His darkest legacy was the senseless slaughter of the Quartermaines. And the trashing of Luke and Laura (including their history).

He wrote some good short-term arcs, like the Metro Court hostage crisis, the hospital virus, etc. (although I didn't see the point to casually killing Tony).

Overall, I think GH would be much better today had he never been HW.

[KMan101]

GH lost all of it's heart. The fact that Monica was dropped, Bobbie was forgotten, Audrey vanished though often referred to by Liz. Felicia was trashed. Scott was a one note villain. Holly, Robert and Anna were nothing but an attempt at grabbing ratings. Tony was ignored then killed for whatever reason. Georgie and Emily, the "lights" of two families were horribly murdered ... He destroyed everything.