GH: Classic Thread

[DRW50]

The worst were those magazine covers that would heavily imply actors were involved. I remember one with Emily McClaughlin and the last Phil Brewer.

[Paul Raven]

I have read that ABC lured Denise to GH quickly and that the Dobsons were forced to come up with a character and story on the fly and that Leslie wasn't a very interesting character at first.

[amybrickwallace]

Is it true that Lesley didn't really become an interesting character until Laura came along?

[Khan]

I've heard (or read) that it was Douglas Marland who figured out what to do with Lesley, zeroing in on the triangle (of sorts) w/ Laura and David Hamilton, and later, on the dynamics among Lesley, Monica, Rick and Alan.

IIRC, too, GH's then-producer Jeff Young was quoted as saying he objected initially to Denise Alexander's hiring -- not so much because of Alexander herself, but b/c the network lured her away from DAYS with no real plan in place for her.

[quartermainefan]

I don't know who all the writers were but throughout the 80s the core Qs got tons of love from the writers. The comedy, the murder mysteries, the affairs, even when David Lewis left they still kept him as a ghost. If the writers didn't care for the Qs I doubt they would have lasted as long as they did.

In the 90s the new regime came in and they apparently thought murder mysteries, affairs and comedy were all beneath them, so they decided to have half of them become drug addicts, the other half run away from the family, and all of them giving self indulgent monologues for some perpetual highlight reel titled "Now THIS is how you write a soap!". And in hindsight it was all dull crap. I have tried to watch Monica's cancer story on YT and can't get through 10 minutes of it. Paige' cancer ditto, Alan's drug addiction the same...all of it was just monologues and characters narrating their every thought to anyone who would listen.

The writers of the 1980s understood what to do with the Qs. The writers of the 90s didn't so they changed them into this whiny, weak bunch where everyone is perpetually moaning and lamenting about something. The writers of the 2000s just killed them outright.

[OldGHFan]

Interesting take on the Qs, quartermaine fan. I have to agree. I LOVED the Qs in the 80s. I still loved them in the 90s (because I grew up with them) but they weren't the same Qs. Then Guza (and Cartini) decimated them. It's so sad.

Oh, I also loved the article on Denise Alexander. She was THE reason I first tuned into GH in the 70s.

[amybrickwallace]

Getting back to Denise Alexander's Lesley in her early days on the show, I would have loved to see her and Judy Lewis (Barbara Vining, Laura's "other mother", and Amy's mother) interact. At that point, Judy Lewis was best known for her stint as the definitive Susan Ames on The Secret Storm (and in real life, being the daughter of Loretta Young and Clark Gable) - then went behind the scenes to produce Texas and later to become a writer on Search For Tomorrow. Then she left show biz, went to college and got her degree, and became a licensed family therapist before her passing in late 2011.

[Vee]

Yeah, I think it's ridiculous to say only Doug Marland cared about the Quartermaines - whether or not we liked various storylines, they were frontburner for most of the next twenty years. They were part of GH's bread and butter for multiple regimes - Alan and Monica, Susan Moore, Edward's son, Lila's lover, you name it. And Labine, while she told different stories, hardly disliked them either.

It's not about whether you or I liked the storyline - the fact is they played them heavy for decades. Multiple [!@#$%^&*] regimes didn't do that out of masochism or seething resentment. If they had wanted to dump them it would not have been difficult to do just as had been done to the Bauers, etc. throughout the '80s on other shows like GL.

Edited May 7, 2014 by Vee

[DRW50]

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[cassadine1991]

Just realized tomorrow starts BJ's death storyline

[DRW50]

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Luke's hair must have been an all time low at this point. He looks like Walder Frey.

[NothinButAttitude]

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[cassadine1991]

Since today is the 20th anniversary

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[amybrickwallace]

HAHAHAHA!!!

[OldGHFan]

I can't wait to watch all of these clips later tonight. Thanks for posting!