GH: Classic Thread

[carolineg]

I am not arguing their creation or validity as a couple.   The fact is Luke/Laura did happen and were the most famous couple in all of soaps.  The Spencer family is currently almost non-existent on the show.   It crazy (to me at least) to see the trajectory Luke/Laura/Lucky etc took from their heralded 1993 return to today.  I know that's a long period of time and things changed but I don't think any other soap on the air today would have snuffed out such a famous coupling so completely. 

[AMCOLTLLover]

Yes I remember that episode. That was odd. That happened a few times during December 80 to February 81 that she was mentioned heavily without being involved. It felt really dragging tbh. I can’t wait for the next phase in that story!

And thank u so much for telling me that Joe gets a new story. He is one of my favorites. I could watch him like every day

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He has chemistry with like everyone on the damn show!

 

[Vee]

I think that is down to Frank being cowed by TG over LNL in the 2010s despite his and Ron's initial plans to reunite them, and hoping they lure him back for more someday. I also think it's down to his not knowing how or caring about writing for Lulu or any Spencers without Tony. Genie bullied her way into a contract (as she should) but they still don't know how to fully deal with Laura's link to Luke anymore in her new place on the show. RC never cared about Dante and Lulu (a couple I wasn't exactly big on but they had a real fanbase under Guza), and neither does FV. Dante is also not a priority now, sadly.

If you got back JJ as Lucky, which is not something FV wants IMO, it would destabilize the rest of the mostly ill-served male leads or his preferred male stars. Even a recast would also command more attention to elements Frank can't fully control. Same goes for Lulu. With Lulu back in the mix there's less for the anonymous chicks he has hired or other preferred female leads. Not that I'd have much of a clue what to do with Lulu myself atm, but yes, I agree the current loss of the Spencers is prominent and strange. I'm glad Laura has a central place in the canvas for herself sans Luke, but it still feels very grudging on Frank's part if not wholly GH's overall. And without dealing with the Luke and their family of it all - without having her family/children structure - it makes it easier to lift her out as she visits other people's frontburner stories. Laura is not someone you should be able to lift out.

[titan1978]

I think he is absolutely adorable.  I liked him on Knots Landing as well.  He brings a lot of personality to his characters, and a sense of being a decent guy.

I mean the show still has a Cassadine contingent but only Laura who isn’t even a Spencer anymore (but always will be I guess).  It’s wild to me.  And I am perfectly fine with Luke being gone.  But I think Lulu and Lucky should be there.  A job is just waiting for her with Alexis at The Intruder!

I do want JMB though, or a new recast.

But if Lucky comes back, how will Frank use Liz to prop one of his friends?

[carolineg]

I definitely understand TG being an issue and GF being in and out through the years.  I don't think any of us on here are losing sleep over L/L being broken up and realize it was toxic.  At the same point, you are alienating the most casual GH viewer by having no Luke, none of their children (outside Nik), and having Laura in a whatever pairing.  Dante/Lulu were very popular!  ER might have not been the exact right fit for Lulu, but the couple was immediately decimated once she started. Lucky is maligned by being off screen and making Liz parent alone. GH has no real anchors for lapsed viewers to come back to unless you are really big Sonny fan.  FV is intentionally handicapping the entire show and it's obviously not just a Luke/Laura issue alone.

In my perspective, I recently had a friend stay at my house.  He watched soaps on and off and said I'll watch Days and GH with you.  Days is awful, but he knew John, Marlena, their family etc and could follow along.  Watching GH, he was like don't know these people.  Don't care.

Listen, I would be fine with a recast Lucky/Lulu.  I don't know where to go with either exactly, but half the stories on the show would be more impactful if they were involved because we know them.  And maybe it would take a load of Maxie and Liz having to carry all these ridiculous stories and fave actors.

[Vee]

I completely agree, but we've been over it a lot lol. I think it's unconscionable what they've done re: Luke and Laura and I've made it pretty clear how I feel about Laura and Kevin. I would give her a new man and story, but you have to do better honoring the Spencers IMO. I would try to lure Tony back for a year or so with the promise of killing him at the end - but he'd have to play what is written. If he won't come back, there's always another way.

Edited April 3, 2022 by Vee

[Dion]

It occurred to me yesterday that Sam has now been on the show longer than Lucky

[carolineg]

I know there was a lot of ego involved with Tony and I understand being frustrated at always having to play Luke/Laura, but it's a job.  TG shouldn't get to dictate what he wants to his bosses.  There is keeping talent happy and just obliterating Luke/Laura entirely.   Regardless of everything awful about Luke/Laura-it seems like a disservice to the audience that loved GH for years to never put them back together.  It just seems unthinkable to not have them end up together-even if it is Laura going to find a now not dead Luke off screen.  

I have never been enthralled by Luke/Laura and most days didn't even like them.  I have always thought they had nice chemistry, but I didn't see the worldwide adoration over them.   But for Laura to have her main family as Nik and Spencer feels completely wrong.  

Again, I like Laura/Kevin and Laura's stories right now, I just don't think it's the endgame for her.  I don't think it's even Kevin's endgame-that's Lucy lol.  I do think Kevin/Laura is a nice, true to life progression of partners you would want after such chaotic experiences.  But on a soap thats boring.

That's the most depressing thing I have ever heard lol.  

[Khan]

That must've been during the period when GF and TG weren't speaking and GH's writers had to write around that, even though Luke and Laura were supposedly still together.

Thank you!  He could have quit at any time if he didn't want to keep playing "Luke & Laura Vs. Evil," but he never should have been allowed to dictate storylines to the degree that he did.  Like you said, @carolineg, it's a disservice to the fans who have loved GH for years NOT to put them back together eventually.

I agree that having Nikolas and Spencer as Laura's only real, main family in PC is wrong, but if the alternative is suffering through another, miserable Lucky or Lulu recast, then I'm good with the current status quo, lol.

I suspect the adoration toward Luke and Laura was due to the fact that you had a young couple involved in these far-flung, very high-stakes adventures - the likes of which hadn't really been seen before, at least on daytime.  Otherwise, yes, you take out the Left Handed Boy and the Ice Princess, and you have just another, run-of-the-mill soap opera romance (albeit, one with a very questionable beginning, lol).

[carolineg]

With TG-it's employment.  He could have left anytime.  I can't tell my job I don't want to do this or that lol.  But I think all regimes regarded TG too highly and GF too little.

To be fair to L/L I don't think it's ever the same to watch clips as opposed to real time.  Especially in context to what was going on in real time elsewhere in daytime.  They just never lived up to their own hype when I was watching in the 90's.  They were good, just not my favorite.  But, even I can recognize how important they were, how they changed daytime, and how loved they were.

I never thought GV was bad as Lucky.  Not amazing, but serviceable.  JY was just a poor choice.  I didn't really have an opinion on ER as Lulu-I just thought JMB had better chemistry with Dante and the family.

[Khan]

What I liked about JJ as Lucky - and what I STILL like about him - was that he wasn't your typical soap hunk.  JJ has the looks and build of a "normal" person, which soaps used to be okay with, until they decided they weren't.

You didn't need him to have great abs to make him an audience favorite.  You just needed someone like Liz to fall in love with him and let the audience see why she fell in love with him so that they would fall in love with him, too.  That's how it works, people.

On the other hand, I've yet to find any reason why Lulu should have existed at all.  They could have killed her off years ago and I wouldn't have shed a tear.

Edited April 4, 2022 by Khan

[carolineg]

That's pretty on point to say GV was almost too attractive, but JJ brought something completely different acting wise so I think it was a trade.  GV is never going to give you gut wrenching performances, but he's likable and hot enough to pull it off.  I mean, JJ would never had been paired with Sam lol.  I think JJ, Kmc, AT all have that same 'real' person vibe.  Not everyone is Jagger Cates lol.  It's a nice mix to have relatable, attractive people against people you would never see in high school because they are so gorgeous and look 25.

I LIKE the idea of Luke having a daughter.  The show just never got it exactly right with casting.  JMB had a lot to offer, but she wasn't a great romantic lead.  I liked her and Dante but mostly because I loved early Dante.  ER was just sort of there.  I almost think Lulu was a plot point because 1. GF was pregnant 2. To bring on Nik.  

Tbh, Luke and Laura were not given an excessive amount of children.  The way Sonny/Carly were.  I don't mind 3 each (the Ethan stuff is offensive, but the amount of kids/tenure for the actors is not).

[Vee]

The reason I (mostly) don't support recasting Lucky again is essentially because of how seamless, IMO, JJ's contract return was after so long and it being relatively unthinkable. The stories became a mess but he fit like a glove, including as a heroic but roguish cop and with Dominic Zamprogna (a duo which, as I've said so often, should've become the Luke and Scorpio or ugh, Sonny and Jason of the 2010s-onward), and he legitimized the character again. He elevated everything he did, even as a fully grown adult. I feel like nothing is ever going to touch that and he makes anything that came after him forgettable. Plus, JJ is supposedly open to another return in some form. Nashville's been gone a while now. If that's true and if he could be lured back even on a recurring basis (and by 'recurring' I mean 'Frank Valentini recurring' - or like Cady McClain was 'recurring' at ATWT in her early years there), I would leap at it.

That being said... if it isn't possible, now is probably when I'd reluctantly move to recast Lucky again. But I would go after a name, as Y&R once did with Justin Hartley pre-This is Us. I would find another talented, grown-up teen idol from JJ's generation - there are a lot of them out there, doing TV and indie film - and get someone from the same era and generational memory, with some of the same presence, talent and stature, so that the audience could relate it back to JJ and realize we didn't just go out and get another 2000s-era Jacob Young (or Jeff Branson, another mooted choice who I feel is past his sell-by for the role). If Will Estes wasn't happily ensconced on primetime these days and was still a jobbing actor I'd pick him. If Devon Sawa wasn't having a major career resurgence in genre work and TV (seriously, he's very good) I'd pick him! But there's always options. Still, JJ is the first choice for me, period.

Edited April 4, 2022 by Vee

[j swift]

 

You know it's a fantasy when a couple is able to get from Beverly Hills to Malibu in April before sunset

[Vee]

Guza moved Jax to Brenda quick upon arrival, lol. I have a very vague memory of Jax's first day with Lois.