GH: Classic Thread

[greens_dupres]

Maybe because of how bad GH has been in recent (JFP) years, I tend to remember the Richie years as entirely magical and wonderful now. What were some of the bad parts of her mixed bag?

[VirginiaHamilton]

If I'm not mistaken, Riche was the one that decided to either fire Genie Francis because she gained weight or deny her a significant amount of maternity leave (i.e.: the same length as AG's vacation time).

If I've got either right, I certainly won't defend that. However, I will say that the good that she did the show (which, IMO, was the best I've ever seen the show) under her watch outweighs the bad. Not only was she very receptive to telling stories that were very much relevant to modern times, she knew how to keep Guza's ass in line (which, in hindsight, was sorely needed after the fantastic Claire Labine left).

[DRW50]

JFP did that.

Riche basically let the show grind to a halt starting around 1997, and then did little to stop the Jason worship which ate the show alive starting in 1998. Many key stories which had been built up for some time, like the Stefan/Laura "romance", slowly died onscreen. Endless amounts of time were spent on zoned out Jason reading kid stories and pouting, while a dozen characters spent nearly every day raging over his honor and glory. Endless overly producer, slo-mo shootouts. Then you had some slapped together comic relief which wasted potential (like Jax/Alexis). They also did a poor job replacing Brenda, as Chloe and Hannah both failed with viewers.

[Susan Hunter]

I have always been a casual viewer of GH, never really invested, but I loved the Stefan/Laura story and when Bobbie slept with the guy who played Lucy Ewing's husband on Dallas who had made a bet with either Lucy or Katherine that he couldn't break up Bobbie's marriage. Was Faith Roscoe on during this time? I liked that character.

[DRW50]

Faith Roscoe was on about 6-8 years after that.

[DRW50]

March 1972 Daytime TV

Ann Morrison who played Mrs. Nelson was killed off the show. Ivan Bonar joined as the District Attorney and Don Hamner as Lt. Adams.

[DRW50]

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[OldGHFan]

As a HUGE Gloria Monty fan, I have to say I really loved the Wendy Riche era. I thought she was a fantastic producer. She respected Monty's GH but made the show her own. While watching Riche's GH, I remember thinking for the first time how proud I was to watch the show. I will always love Monty's GH more than Riche's GH, but I really came to enjoy all the different aspects of Riche's GH. It was more balanced than Monty's GH. The show under her reign was well written, respected history, showcased a lot of different characters and had true emotion. I absolutely cannot stand Bob Guza as a writer, but I liked him under Riche's reign. That says a lot. I would give anything to have Riche back to tell GH's last stories. She is greatly missed.

[SweetPea36]

My biggest problem with Gloria Monty was Luke raping Laura and then Monty telling us it was a seduction, not a rape. It was a very violent rape, and GM saying that was so offensive I've never been able to get past it.

Other than that, I thought both Gloria Monty and Wendy Riche were vastly superior to those who have had their jobs after they left. Riche seems to have been able to control Guza's worst excesses where JFP apparently encouraged them.

[DRW50]

I don't think JFP really cared - she probably just focused on the visuals.

I thought Guza's worst was still on display with Riche; her version was a little more restrained, but all that seemed to mean was huge energy chasms as we yet again watched Jason remind everyone that Michael was the specialist angel in the world.

[SweetPea36]

JFP had her own special touches. She was (in)famous for wrecking Boobie's last love story and cut way back on Jackie Zeman's airtime because she said nobody wants to see old people kissing. She also decreed good girls are boring, so GH viewers were in for a long siege of Carly/Sam slore stories.

Edited April 20, 2012 by SweetPea36

[DRW50]

I think some of that was before Guza came back. I got the feeling that after her work flopped and Guza/Frons/Pratt came in, she was pushed more aside.

Off topic, but I really did not like Roy/Bobbie. I never would have guessed A Martinez was very good on Santa Barbara considering the energy drain he was on GH.

[SweetPea36]

I agree about Roy/Boobie. He never seemed to fit in, and I had loved him on Santa Barbara. I felt the same way about Marcy Walker on AMC; they were better together than apart.

I think you're right about JFP not having a lot of influence, but because she was the editor, she got the last laugh because she sometimes went to town cutting scenes she didn't like. She was often accused of being prudish because she allowed far less than the ABC censors would have let go. Mostly she and Guza fought like a cat and dog over budget and his propensity for constantly using their most expensive actors.

[Susan Hunter]

I never saw those particular episodes. What happened after the rape? Did Laura actually say that she was raped? How did the story play out from then on? At some point they turned Scotty into a villain, but how?

[ghfan89]

Initially it was called raped and they (both Laura and Luke) acted like it was rape and called it that. There is a scene on youtube where Luke tells Bobbie he raped Laura and used other colorful terms as well. It wasn't until they were on the run Luke tried to get Laura to admit it was seduction and not rape.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XvlL9fuc_U8

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Edited April 20, 2012 by ghfan89