GH: Classic Thread

[Paul Raven]

Jan 82 Lynda Hirsch column

Pat Falken Smith, now head writer of "Days of Our Lives" and former head writer of "General Hospital," had another go at Gloria Monty, producer of "General Hospital," on the cable network news special "The Soap Behind the Soaps." In it, Falken Smith said she simply did not want to work for Monty any more and furthermore, "If the show had been on radio I'm certain Gloria would have done the acting parts as well." Falken Smith also took Tony Geary to task and said at one point she asked him "to get a Writer's Guild card because he was doing rewrites of the scripts and then telling people in the media about it." She further says that she went to Geary and asked him to stop rewriting continually and also said she wanted to know where the gracious, grateful young man who came to her two years ago and thanked her for giving him the role of a lifetime had gone. In Geary's defense, Falken Smith said, "When I asked him to stop doing all this rewriting, he stopped." Geary makes no secret that he feels that Luke is a very important part of his career and that he does take liberties with the script. However, we believe that's probably one of the reasons why the character of Luke has been so exciting. 

 On the other hand, most of the "General Hospital" actors stick to the scripts, and when they were being written by Falken Smith, they rang true and were interesting, just as they were when Doug Marland was writing it. As for the new writers on "General Hospital," we'll have to give them a bit more time because their main concerns to date have been getting rid of two major characters Bobbi and Laura. By the way, when Gloria Monty was asked about Falken Smith on the same cable network news special, Monty said as graciously as she could, "Pat and I are dear friends. She was a great writer and when her sub-writers left with her, they all wrote notes to me saying they were sorry to be leaving."

Edited May 27, 2019 by Paul Raven

[vetsoapfan]

 

In any case, both DM and PFS gave us extraordinary material to enjoy. They both wrote  GH in a way that appealed to the mass audience AND was highly intelligent. Not many writers have been able to accomplish that in the last 20 years. GH would be dead right now without the contribution of these great scribes. We were so lucky to have them. Those were golden years.

 

 

Yes, she stopped wotking during that writers' strike, which is when the scabs and Monty destroyed the show with the Ice Princess garbage. PFS was furious. She acknowledged that she did not like material that went beyond the realm of possibility. The sci-fi sh*t was not her idea or her doing. She made that very clear in the press.

 

 

Later writers sometimes continued on with the Lesley/Monica antagonism, sometimes not. Certain writers (probably those too lazy to investigate the show's history or understand the characters' relationship) had Lesley and Monica more friendly; had them go to lunch together (as IF!!!). But the scenes in which Lesley helped Monica give birth were during PFS's tenure.

 

 

I always saw Monica (during her early years) to be more insecure and desperate than a total bitch. Growing up an orphan (well, until Gail adopted her later in life, which the show and the writers then forgot about) and unloved, she was determined to do anything necessary to find love and financial/emotional security. Her atrocious behavior towards Jeff, Lesley, and Alan stemmed from the fact that she was so madly and genuinely in love with Rick that ethics and morality went out the window. The bigger problem was, her relationship with Rick was toxic and unhealthy. He brought out the worst, rather than any good qualities, in her. Once the "Rick fever" was out of her system, and Monica settled into a marriage with Alan, she became healthier,  more secure, less desperate, and her better qualities emerged. Certainly Alan and Monica had their battles and their conflict, but there was an underlying understanding between them; they really were meant to end up together. Damn the incompetent writers for callously killing off Alan (and all the Qs), and for ultimately turning Rick into a degenerate sleazeball who pretty much deserved his ultimate fate. (That final Rick story was EGREGIOUS; a real stain on the show's history.)

 

Well said.

 

No matter how much power, money and sex he had, Roger Thorpe always suffered for his raping Holly (as he should have). He was guilt-ridden and seen as a pariah for decades. It disgusts me that people like Luke, Sonny, Jason and their ilk commit the vilest, most despicable actions (not just rape), and then become celebrated members of the community and/or have their crimes forgiven and dismissed.  On the latest anniversary show, I gagged watching Laura sing Sonny's praises. 

 

 

 

True, although in order to justify the Luke and Laura relationship, true-blue and noble Scotty Baldwin (who was a sweet, supportive hero back then), got thrown under the bus. He was ultimately painted as a villain for "daring" to feel resentful that his wife abandoned him and ran off with a criminal rapist. That infuriated me. I have always loathed Luke.

[j swift]

I recently read a fascinating fact lost to history.  Monica and Gail were estranged when she first arrived because Gail thought Monica had an affair with her first husband, when in fact her husband had sexually assaulted Monica.

 

From Soaps in Depth: Gail was horrified to learn that her late husband, Greg, had raped Monica when she was younger. This caused a rift between the two women, but they eventually worked through it. 

 

 

 

 

[vetsoapfan]

 

Yes! The writing and acting really saved the day for the Roger and Holly saga. We always understood and felt mesmerized by their (admittedly twisted at times) feelings for each other, which we did not have to feel guilty about because Roger's crimes were never forgotten about, dismissed or ignored.

 

 

Right. I was mollified somewhat by the fact that years later, Luke finally admitted he had raped (and not just "seduced") Laura, but it was still hard to swallow that they had been happily together and married for so many years without this MAJOR ISSUE surfacing loooong before it did. The show made a huge blunder by glossing over Luke's degenerate, vile crime and Laura's passive acceptance of it. The entire fiasco was so immoral, so socially irresponsible. I don't care if Geary and Francis had significant chemistry. It does not justify turning a violent crime into romance.

[j swift]

I agree, what I like about Monica is that she grew-up because of everything that happened to her and nobody had to stop and notice her heroics. 

 

I agree again, she needed redemption, but there was never exposition about how she had changed for the better, which I appreciate.

 

It is interesting that unlike their relationships with their long-lost daughters (Dawn and Carly), both Bobbie and Monica were also excellent mother-figures to their almost-daughters (Emily and Terry) and almost-sons (Lucas and Jason).  I hope Terry still calls Bobbie on Mother's Day.

  

Totally, it was the dancing in the department store, and the sleeping with a sheet between, and living on a farm, that harkened back to old Clark Gable and Gene Kelly movies and gave them rooting value.  It de-intensified their passion and made them more idyllic. Which, of course, opened them to criticism of "romanticizing the rape", but it was very effective at the time.  I recall how the whole package of a mystery, with fast scenes, filmed out of the studio (in recognizable parts of LA that we would scream at the TV), using an odd-looking actor with a perm, and contemporary music was so novel that it was part of the appeal.

 

Also, (I really hope it is clear that I am not defending this, just stating the facts), "A Trip Down Soap Lane" podcast has this fascinating scene when Scotty finds out and he asks Laura why she left the disco and then went to the park, cried rape, and told the police she was raped in the park.  Which is also an interesting detail given the times.

 

Edited May 27, 2019 by j swift

[vetsoapfan]

 

The handling of the Bill and Laura situation was very adult, very complicated. They had been in love first, and desperately wanted to be together, but when Bill disappeared and Laura married Mickey, that set off a dreadful chain of events. Laura was still madly in love with Bill upon his return (she had only married Mickey for security and to forget her doomed romance with Bill). Bill was still in love with her too, and crushed that she had married his brother. They physically longed for each other, we saw this day after day, but Laura denied herself because of her marriage vows and her sense of morality. When Bill got drunk and cornered her in the hospital, Laura physically and emotionally wanted to be with him but intellectually knew it was wrong. Bill forced himself upon her, yes, no question...but viewers saw and understood that in her heart, Laura really had wanted to consummate her love for Bill. It was rape, but the circumstances were ambiguous and gray, rather than black and white. (I am NOT justifying sexual assault, just pointing out how complicated this situation was, which is why the story captivated the audience so much. It pulled at your emotions, heartstrings, and understanding of right and wrong. Brilliant, brilliant writing by William J. Bell and Pat Falken Smith. DAMN. I miss the days of adult, nuanced, complicated material on soaps!)

 

 

I've always contended that soap writers must be careful about what they allow their characters to do. Once characters go beyond a certain point, and commit rape, murder, and other heinous acts, they should be punished and certainly not turned into the towns' heroes, saints and saviors. Daytime TV executives and writers understood and adhered to this rule once upon a time, but since Luke The Rapist captured screaming fangurls' lust, anything goes. Repugnant slugs like Sonny, Jason, Franko and their ilk should have been dispatched long ago.

 

 

Exactly. And frankly, Michael Zaslow's talent went a long way to humanize Roger, and let us see the broken man behind the monster. Geary often settled for belligerent camp. Luke was a degenerate.

 

 

Yep. Without his chemistry with Genie Francis, Geary's Luke Spencer never would have become a phenomenon. ABC's acquiescing to his enormous ego was infuriating. An actor is there to act, not dictate personal story preferences. I'm glad he's gone, to be honest. Now we need to axe Sonny, Jason, Franko, and 25 other GH characters!

 

 

In the interviews I've read, Marland said that he never intended for Luke to become a major character at all; he was there as Bobbie's sidekick and henchman in crime. he was supposed to be killed off. Laura and Scotty were Marland's endgame, the way Kelly and Morgan on TGL and Lily and Holden on ATWT were. I can't see Marland allowing Kelly to ultimately end up with Nola, or Lily to end up with, say, Craig Montgomery, or laura to break up with Scotty and leave him for Luke.

 

PFS did develop the Luke and Laura saga, but said that she wrote the rape as a rape. It was Gloria Monty (seeing the obvious chemistry between Geary and Francis) who wanted them to become a romantic duo. That's why Monty started to pontificate in the press (and have characters saying on-screen) that Luke had only "seduced" Laura. For a female executive to foist that sort of sick message onto teenage girls in the audience is deplorable,

 

I think the overheated and frenzied fangurls in the audience focused their attention and lust on the ((ahem)) "beautiful rapist" and pictured themselves in Laura's shoes. It's not uncommon for teenagers to fantasize about older lovers. But many more mature and rational members of the audience and the press condemned the immorality behind this ill-advised plot 

[vetsoapfan]

 

 

The first Rick, Michael Gregory, was a hunk and a half. He did not look special in still photographs, but he had a spark, a charisma, a certain something on screen that was quite appealing. Chris Robinson, on the other hand, always struck me as cold, aloof, unfeeling. I never warmed up to him. But Richard Dean Anderson's Jeff? WOOF! Total babe. His virtue would not have been safe around me!

 

Thanks for posting this. Gotta love the brutally honest PFS!

[j swift]

 

RDA's scarf game was iconic. 

[vetsoapfan]

 

It had originally been written that Greg and Monica had had an affair, but I think the show later said Greg had raped her, in an attempt to redeem Monica.

[j swift]

It could have been interesting if Greg was Dawn's father.  Unfortunately, after four recasts, an awful scene partner, and the return of Gloria Monty, nothing was compelling about Dawn.

[vetsoapfan]

 

He always looked great in a T-shirt and jeans. 

Please register in order to view this content

 

Chris Robinson complained in an interview once that RDA would go into his own dressing room and smoke cigarettes, as if that were uncommon or a crime back then. Robinson just came across as unpleasant. RDA came across as affable, gregarious and adorable. I know whom I would have chosen.

[AdelaideCate007]

Please register in order to view this content

[BetterForgotten]

I was talking more so about the mid to end point of Monty's tenure. A lot of the press articles from the mid to late 80's often criticized the show for catering to the lowest common denominator and for the heavily plot-driven writing. 

 

Gordon Russell was supposed to be transferred over to GH from OLTL before his death - Monty and Russell would have been an interesting combination. Too bad we never got to see that happen. 

 

Likewise, Nancy Curlee was supposed to replace the Labine's in 1996, but she backed out when she got pregnant again, and we got Guza instead...

[vetsoapfan]

 

ITA about the state of GH in the mid-to-late 1980s. I thought it was poorly written and sophomoric. So many of the sci-fi/fantasy/adventure plots that the show did was painfully bad. The Ice Princess story initially attracted the interest of kids, but they are not the target audience of soaps, and tend not to stick around after their initial curiosity dissipates. Trying harder and harder to present more outlandish stories just to keep a fly-by-night audience around has never worked. Even Dark Shadows, which was very well done its first few years, burned itself out and lost its once-eager audience.

 

Soaps were created and meant to be primarily about human relationships, family conflict, social problems and romance. When the shows stray too far from that foundation, they falter. "Gimmick soaps" NEVER last too long.

 

I watched OLTL all through Russell's reign. I found him to be weaker on his own, but excellent when paired with other writers like Sam Hall. Wallace and Monty might have been an interesting pair. Nancy Curleee following Labine would have been the best-available choice, IMHO. It's too bad we got stuck with Guza again. The relentless focus on mobsters, brain-damaged killers, and violent degenerates in general really destroyed the show.

Edited May 28, 2019 by vetsoapfan

[Khan]

 

Ah, but that WAS his game plan, according to his original story projections.

 

Yes, Kelly and Morgan were slated to marry, and Nola was to pay dearly for her lies.  However, Quint was NOT supposed to end up as Nola's true love -- at least not originally.  I don't have the full details, but going on comments made by (I think) Tom Casiello (who had access to Marland's writing at one time) and John Wesley Shipp, as well as how the beginning of the story played out onscreen, I surmise that Marland had designed Quint to be a (short-term) villain, who would ultimately place Nola in some type of mortal danger, thereby forcing Kelly to rescue her, and launching him and Nola into a full-fledged relationship.

 

Of course, once Lisa Brown and Michael Tylo began working together, Marland saw the chemistry between them and changed his plans.  That's why I think JWS, as Kelly, floundered once Kelly and Morgan's marriage fell apart (which, in retrospect, was part of Marland's original plan), because, without Nola, there was nowhere for him to go, romantically speaking.

Edited May 27, 2019 by Khan