GH: Classic Thread

[titan1978]

She was truly robbed the year of the fire.  I will never forget Luke telling her on the docks, then going to identify Lucky, and lashing out at Luke and Sonny and Jason.  Not to mention the week after leading to his funeral.  I remember even soap stars from other networks saying how her performance was truly overlooked.

 

Her grief just seemed so real.

[OldGHFan]

Yea, that was just a tour de force. Genie was outstanding.  In fact, I just might have to rewatch those scenes again.

[titan1978]

I will give her credit though.  She learned from that mistake and during her run no other female character was raped.  Which was better than another one falling in love with their rapist.  

 

I think rape is an important story, especially on shows with such high female viewerships.  The stories should reflect what is going on.  But soaps have a tendency to sensationalize it and make it a plot for a couple to overcome.  DAYS I’m looking at you here.

 

And though I did not watch it, Santa Barbara seems to have been particularly rape crazy for a show that aired for just a decade.

 

Monty would never have revisited that story.  She also would not have divorced Luke and Laura.  She described her own style as a mix of Hitchcock and Capra.  So thrills but also a sense of right and wrong that was close to black and white.

[Soaplovers]

I actually think Luke and Laura divorcing wasn't a bad thing.. what was bad was that Laura got the shaft as a character after the divorce.. even after Luke was finally written off the show.

 

In real life, couples do change and sometimes outgrow one another.. and Laura was fairly young when she married Luke.. so it would make sense for them to grow apart especially once they had a family.. with him still craving the adventure/danger.. and Laura wanting to set down roots and give her family the stability that she wasn't given (and sadly failing at). 

 

I do recall one scene during the early years of their return in the 90s when Luke/Laura separated.. and Laura was having a heart to heart with Amy... and Amy pointing out that Laura always craved stability.. yet always would grow bored.. hence why she would always choose Luke over Scotty.. and asked Laura what made this time different.. and Laura didn't have an answer.  I think this scene happened during Labine's stint as writer.

[amybrickwallace]

 

Prior to Genie's win in the Supporting Actress category in 2006, she'd only been nominated for an Emmy ONCE before - for Lead Actress in 1997. (Her future Y&R co-star, Jess Walton, won.)

 

Speaking of the 1999 Emmys, I still think it's unfair that Liz Herbst lost the Younger Actress Emmy to Heather Tom. Her work in the rape storyline was compelling and realistic. At least she got a Digest award that year.

[OldGHFan]

 

Yea, I give kudos to Monty for that as well.  No female ever got raped again on her show.  I did notice that.  Monty's biggest thing was the romance.  She had that in spades with Luke & Laura, Robert & Holly, Frisco & Felicia and Duke & Anna.

[DRW50]

 

Heather Tom was superb in the story of Victoria's baby loss. The problem for Herbst, as with Genie Francis, is aside from some individual scenes and scattered episodes, the writing was very hollow, and centered on men. To me the rape story with Liz and the rape revisitation with Laura were about Lucky and Luke - viewers being asked to cheer Lucky as he verbally abused his mother and asked to pity Luke for the burden of being stuck with the woman he'd raped. I thought the whole thing was disgusting. 

 

I had a difficult time believing in or connecting to much of anything with these characters under Guza. Liz eventually became loathsome after Lucky "died" and she was paired with Jason, and Laura just felt empty and aimless, whether it be with Stefan, at the hospital, wherever. I also never connected to any of Lucky's "death" story, acting or writing.  

Edited March 21, 2018 by DRW50

[titan1978]

I do agree that the story was written for Lucky and Luke and involved Liz and Laura.  

 

To me the Luke side of it wasn’t a burden, it was that he never felt that he deserved his “angel”, and that he had been found out about just how awful he was.  He was shedding his attempt at being the best version of himself, which he did for his love of Laura.  When Lucky found out, it brought back all his shame and his attempt at not being the person who has done this for a huge part of his life was destroyed.  But it was pretty much only about him, not Laura.  It was about breaking him down. 

 

If they had even tried to give Laura a point of view, it would have been incredible to revisit this.  Instead I was let down once we got to the actual confrontations between the three characters.

 

 I thought Lucky was his most spoiled during this story, and kind of hated him when he was with anyone but Liz.  Laura never got to truly explain what happened to her to him in a way that was appropriate and the depth of her feelings for Luke then and now.  We just got nasty Lucky.  I did love her telling him he didn’t own her, and that she had a life before him and separate from him that was hers.  But that was one episode.  Then it was walking on eggshells for a long time between the three characters.

 

Oh Guza.  His entire writing style is deconstruction.  The problem is he never builds it back up.  But I would watch that year again daily over anything happening on the show now.

Edited March 21, 2018 by titan1978

[amybrickwallace]

 

I have to agree with you there. They dropped the ball on what could have been a really great story.

[Dax7000]

My all time favorite GH character was Lucy Coe. I was a little disappointed when they completely changed her from a schemer to a comic relief type. I appreciate character growth, but her early manipulations were great fun to watch. I am surprised they allowed her to keep her Quartermaine stock all these years.

 

 

[titan1978]

 

All this talk about the Riche era has me watching YouTube and bawling my eyes out.  I don’t think any story has moved me as much as Stone’s did.

I like Lucy best when she is just shady enough.  Early Labine was great.  The schemes with Damien, fighting with Katherine,  the pain over what the bet cost Bobbie and Tony.  Missing Serena.  They went a little too far with her once she completely changed into a better person for Kevin.

 

This is an iconic scene because of Lois and Katherine, but I also love Lucy and Ned.  “She’s all yours pal!”

 

 

Edited March 22, 2018 by titan1978

[Antoyne]

It's crazy reading through some of the stuff you guys are discussing as I unfortunately started watching GH when it became General Mobspital. Heck all of my favorites unfortunately were tied to the mob in Ric, Faith, and Claudia. Two of which died at the hands of the soap's "heroes" Sonny and Jason. The fact that the show never actually had either of them kill Ric still shocks me.

[amybrickwallace]

The material that we saw when Riche/Labine were at the helm remains some of the best soap ever. GH was firing on all cylinders for most of the 1990s. 

 

I wonder if some of the topical stories (AIDS, cancer) and maybe even a couple of comedic ones (Lucy annually ending up onstage in her undies at the Nurses Ball) were stories Claire Labine would have used for RH if that show had still been around. If so, she surely would have won even more writing Emmys for RH.

[BetterForgotten]

It's ironic that Labine creatively saved GH, given that ABC destroyed her soap (RH) when they tried to make it into a GH clone. I say 'creatively' because ratings did falter after a while during Labine's stint, which many blamed on the show becoming too topical and depressing. Guza did boost ratings in '96. 

 

When the Labine's left in early 1996, ABC almost lured Nancy Curlee to replace them, but she backed out at the last minute and we got Guza instead. I wonder what could have been with a Riche/Curlee team...

[Vee]

I think Nancy Curlee might have been able to help OLTL, for awhile anyway.