GH: Classic Thread

[titan1978]

As awful as Monty’s seduction rewrite was, I give her some credit for learning her lesson there.  She never did it again.  Which makes me think she knew it was not good.  

 

 And unlike DAYS, which was the most like GH in tone in the 1980’s, the women had more agency and were not as male dependent as on other soaps of the era.  I love Hope and Kayla and Kim but they are nothing like Anna or Felicia or Monica.

 

That period between PFS’s first two GH runs is a mess.  The DVX Grant Putnam mess, David Gray, Susan’s murder... just a mess.  Without those actors and a few couples people were excited about, I am amazed the show stayed number one.  Anna’s arrival, Frisco/Felicia, Robin, the Asian quarter storyline through the end of Monty with Duke and the Jerome’s was a great time on the show though.  I also think the next two EP’s had great stuff, and the show was good if not great, except for wtf Casey the alien and Duke being killed again for no reason.

[OzFrog]

 

That was such an awesome clip to watch, on so many levels. Thank you for this!

 

A few observations... firstly, was this Robin Mattson’s first air date as Heather Webber? It was weird seeing the tension from Richard Dean Anderson playing Jeff in that whole scene.

 

Also, that was indeed classic Leslie and Monica right there. I loved how deftly Leslie handled her, particularly when Rick was mentioned.

 

Was that Susan Pratt playing Annie?

 

On a tangent, was there much played around the sibling dynamic between Rick and Jeff during this time? I’d be curious to find any scenes played between them, particularly played by RDA and Chris Robinson.

[j swift]

The wiki says that Robin Mattson's first airdate was October 1st, which would have been prior to all of this talk about the holidays.  BTW, gotta love a soap asylum where they let out criminally insane people for the holidays.  

 

This is the setup for Diana Taylor's murder which will happen in February 1981, wherein a big part of the mystery depended on the fact that GH nurses wore capes as a part of their uniforms, even in emergency situations.

 

Yes, that is Susan Pratt as the virginal nurse Annie. Jeff was juggling her, that cougar Dianna, and his ex-wife Monica in that one scene.

 

I don't recall much sibling conflict amongst the Webber boys, once they got past the whole Monica-thing.  

 

I find it remarkable that there are three different phone calls in that scene and the person on the other end got their own set each time.  It was an interesting way to break up a long scene.

Edited May 30, 2019 by j swift

[titan1978]

The posted clip of Monica and Alan learning of Lesley’s death was a great scene.

 

The one with Lesley and Monica is good too.  On another show they would have been rivals for years.  I wish we had gotten that.  Claire Labine would have loved writing for Lesley.

 

That clip also reminds me just how much Genie is a lot like Denise in acting choices.  I see a lot of similarities.

 

Lesley is such a great character.  I would kill to see scenes of her from DAYS- especially confrontations or scheming.

 

Oh- and I am more than ready for Jeff Webber.  He can get it.  Especially over Rick and even Alan.  Also- I loved Doug Sheehan on Knots and he is just so cute when I see him in clips from this era as Joe Kelly.

 

Richard Dean Anderson must have been proud of his time on GH.  Proud enough to attend the 30th anniversary party and be in the giant cast photo with Riche and tons of former and current actors.  

Edited May 28, 2019 by titan1978

[OldGHFan]

Who wasn't at GH's 30th Anniversary?  So many people were there.  Loved it!

 

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[j swift]

Today, I'm stuck on the logic of why Rick adopted Laura when he married Leslie?

 

First, Laura was almost 18 and almost married to Scotty,  Second, the marriage didn't last that long.  Third, Leslie had just met and adopted Laura a few years earlier.  Fourth, she was on probation, so Rick was liable for her behavior on probation.

 

I recently read a critique of pre-Monty GH that fans complained that the Webbers had taken over GH, to the point that one of them became Steve's son.  Given that feeling, what was the logic to have Laura become a Webber?

Edited May 28, 2019 by j swift

[titan1978]

Wasn’t it symbolic of them wanting to feel like they had the bonds of family?  Since Laura had been so troubled and Lesley had missed out on so much of her life?

 

I know I have seen clips of Rick with Monica and it was very important to him that she still be his daughter and important.  Laura even likes Monica during the period Rick and Monica are together.

 

I wonder if any of the scenes of them in therapy back then when Laura was more troubled covered any of this?

 

Is Chris Robinson there?  I couldn’t find him and considering everyone else that is I think it is strange.  Even the AJ before Kanan is there, and he had been replaced relatively soon in relation to this.

 

Genie was there when she was still fighting being back on the show.  She lost her AMC job because they wanted her back on GH.  The audience didn’t want Geary as Bill, and it was the decision of all involved to bring back Luke.  Geary said he couldn’t be Luke without Laura (sure changed later), and so the network forced the issue.  Genie waited a long time to agree.  Mostly because of the trauma of her first period in the show.  Once she was back, backstage was so much better and she was valued so her opinion changed.

Edited May 28, 2019 by titan1978

[vetsoapfan]

 

Very possibly Marland wanted to keep the Morgan/Kelly/Nola triangle going for as long as possible, and have Kelly become reinvolved with Nola at some point, but since Marland stated so many times that Morgan and Kelly were his couple, unless I see it in his own words, LOL, I'll never believe he meant for Kelly to be with Nola "in the end." On AW, Steven Frame kept getting retangled with that bitch Rachel, but Steve and Alice were endgame. On Days, Laura Horton stayed married to Uncle Mickey for TEN YEARS (closer to 20 in storyline time), but Laura and Bill were the ultimate endgame. A year's story projection from Marland indicating Kelly would rescue Nola and start having feelings for her does not necessarily mean that 10 years down the road, Kelly and Morgan would not be the ones to get the fairy-tale ending. (Not trying to argue, just air my POV.)

 

I've also heard that Quint was originally meant to be short-term, but he and Nola were a fun couple for a while, so I don't mind that he stuck around longer than originally expected. He would not have been my ultimate choice for Nola, however. I always thought that once she grew up, matured, and became stronger, she would outgrow him. She would no longer need a larger-than-life "fantasy figure" akin to the heroes of all the classic films she used to immerse herself in.

 

I agree. Other PTB never seem to see their own mistakes, and repeat them endlessly.

 

 

ITA! I think the main reason GH's ratings did not collapse during those bad years was because the competing shows were just as bad or worse at the time. The 1980s were a grim period for both AW and TGL. When all the available choices in a time period are awful, I tend to stick with the show I'm already watching, because at least I KNOW it and have a history with it. Why leave one bad soap to watch an unfamiliar-AND-awful soap?

[j swift]

I understand the sneering value of Casey the Alien, (and the fact that GH went from #1 to #8 during that time), but I want to put in a pitch for "single-Anna-the-detective" period of GH, both pre and post-Duke.  I liked the characterization of Anna as a mother to Robin, in their quaint cabin home, with her hair and blouses all buttoned up.  I liked how she mentored Frisco as a detective, as well as her fraternal relationships with  Sean and Robin's other godfathers. As much as I enjoyed Anna & Duke's tango, or Anna tying Robert to a column (which on re-watch has very little build-up beyond a single scene at Robin's school where she wishes her parents were back together).  I thought it was novel how long Anna remained on her own within a soap universe.  Given that the stories around her were not good, it still doesn't diminish how cool Anna was on her own.

Edited May 28, 2019 by j swift

[titan1978]

I love Anna during that period.  Also Casey the alien gave us Faison, and we got to explore Anna’s time with the DVX.  I loved that aspect.  Anna teaching Frisco was a great mentoring relationship back then.

[victoria foxton]

I loved Anna from that time period. She was a strong independent woman. Who could kick butt.

[j swift]

I went back and watched the YT edit of The Laurelton Mystery, which takes under an hour because they edited out all of the B-storylines of the time.

 

This edit makes the story much clearer.  Patrick O'Connor attacked Terry Brock on the night of her high school Valentine's dance in a motel on Main Street.  That same night, Kevin O'Connor secretly killed Earl Moody who was trying to expose a problem with the well supplying The Purity Water Company and hid the corpse in the Town Hall, during the dance.  Earl's body fell onto Terry in the Town Hall when she tried to escape Patrick.  The town's economy was based on the water so they all agreed to cover it up and buried Earl in a shallow grave, not knowing for sure who killed him.  Terry began drinking too much and moved to Port Charles to be near her father DL Brock and his new wife Bobbie.  Which explains why Terry had a southern accent and her father sounded like he was from Brooklyn.

 

Three years later, the O'Connor brothers move to PC to intern at GH just as Earl's nephew Neil Johnson arrives in Laurelton.  The Purity Water receptionist Sarah liked Earl and wrote a note to Neil to find Patrick in PC, who she suspected killed Earl because she knew he had attacked Terry the same night.  Also, Sarah and Patrick had equally inherited Earl's shares in the water company, which gave him a motive. Kevin was the first person to see Neil in the Brownstone, they argued, he stabbed him and hid Sarah's note under the floorboards.  Later, Kevin married Terry and killed her maternal grandmother Jennifer Talbot, the other major shareholder in the water business.  Kevin's plan is to frame his brother Patrick for murder and simultaneously drive Terry mad in order to be the sole inheritor of Purity Water. 

 

However, once Kevin is arrested, he begins a double jeopardy plot when he learns from his illicit lover, law librarian Lucy Coe, that he cannot be tried twice for the same crime.  He encouraged Lucy to perjure herself in hopes of a mistrial, so he could not be tried again if more evidence was found.  His defense attorney/co-owner of the Brownstone, Jake Meyer, proved it when he found an article on double jeopardy hidden in Kevin's bathroom.  Kevin was much better at scheming than hiding bodies or incriminating notes. 

 

It is slightly unfair to critique as one long story, as SOD did back in the 1986 Best/Worst Issue, because it is really two stories, the murder investigation and then the trial.  Also, it serves as a backdrop for Frisco and Felicia's engagement and the beginnings of Jake and Bobbie's romance.

 

However, at least one quibble, Anna is delayed by having to walk from the train to Patrick & Terry's wedding.  Simultaneously, Terry falls into a fugue state and begins singing gospel at the top of her lungs while strolling down Main Street (someone should check if George RR Martin of Game of Thrones watched GH for the inspiration of Cersei's walk of shame).  Somehow, Grandma and the whole congregation hear her, but Anna never hears a thing.  That detail (and the fact that the O'Connor boys went from high school to medical interns in three years, and Sean Donnelly spends the whole story babysitting Robin rather than helping with the investigation, and Buzz Stryker was Terry's therapist rather than Gail Baldwin, and Anna didn't ultimately solve the crime) bothered me.

Edited May 31, 2019 by j swift

[Khan]

Well, that might make the story much clearer...but it doesn't make it less stupid, lol.

Edited May 29, 2019 by Khan

[j swift]

I would argue that the real stupid story was Terry's follow up when she dated Dusty Walker-the-bellhop/songwriter who was hypnotized into becoming an assassin every time she sang country music.  

Edited May 30, 2019 by j swift

[Khan]

 

LOL!!

 

It's amazing how GH stayed on top for so long.

Edited May 30, 2019 by Khan