GH: Classic Thread

[Darn]

Yeah I watched an episode last week where AJ was hounding Brenda about going after Ned, clearly signaling that AJ/Brenda were the intended couple.

[carolineg]

It's weird how quickly he drops out of the Sonny/Brenda story because in the beginning it does seem like they are setting up a triangle and there is the hilarious scene of Sean Kanan and Mo playing basketball aggressively after Washington D.C.  And then AJ just isn't really part of the equation anymore.  

This scene is never not funny.  From the height disparity to the fact Sonny is in a suit. 

[dc11786]

Adult A.J. has the misfortune of arriving on the scene during the second Monty run around June, 1991. In terms of story, he replaces James Morrison's Joey Moscini in the younger leading male role. Part of A.J.'s issue is that there are no strongly connected characters to the canvas in his age range. They place him in the same orbit as Sheila Cantillion, the nurse who Joey had chased after. His major conflict was he was using his parents' broken marriage to justify his own poor behavior. Gerald Hopkins, the first adult A.J., isn't terrible, but the character of A.J. feels very underdeveloped in the material I have seen.

It's not until they decide to give A.J. an issue with alcohol that he develops a stronger sense of a presence on the canvas. This occurs around late 1991 in final weeks of Monty or the first weeks of Wendy Riche. By the time Nikki Langton is on the canvas, A.J. has already been arrested for a DUI and seems to be trying to get better, but who's sobriety is definitely in jeopardy for getting involved with a woman like Nikki. Nikki becomes the necessary catalyst in the younger set that include A.J., Sheila, and Dr. Eric Simpson with Nikki going after Eric and A.J. at different points to achieve her goals of obtaining the information she needs in regards to her father. Previously, prior to the drinking, A.J. was the troublemaker planting drugs in Simpson's locker at General Hospital to make him look bad to Sheila, but ultimately nearly costing Eric his job. The shift in persona made A.J. more rootable as he was just so self absorbed in his early days. 

Riche seems pretty influential in shaping the younger canvas having brought on Karen Wexler during the interim (as part of Audrey Hardy's VolunTeens program at General Hospital) and Jagger (through the robbery episodes I haven't really go into yet. Riche has also spoken about how she wanted to do the AIDS storyline initially with A.J. as a result of some sexual experience in college that may have been with a man or with a woman. A.J. was definitely a character that Riche had a strong outline for of who she wanted him to be, but not necessarily the direction she wanted him to go. At least that is how I look at it. 

I think as early as Gerald Hopkins, there is hints of resentment brewing underneath the surface between A.J. and Jason with Jason clearly the golden child and A.J. constantly feeling the need to prove himself. I think it was cemented more when Sean Kanan took over the part in February, 1993. To an extent, I think A.J.'s resentment was initially directed to Eric Simpson because he was a doctor at General Hospital working with his mother and father. Eric garnered the respect from A.J.'s parents that A.J. couldn't. Nothing I've seen has played heavy into this, but there seems to be an undercurrent to their animosity. 

When Kanan arrives, I definitely got the sense that the show was building A.J. and Julia as a thing because they were also building competition between A.J. and Ned at ELQ. A.J. was trying to find his way back into ELQ with Ned refusing based on some prior missteps A.J. had taken during a prior stint under Gerald Hopkins. I thought that all made sense, but they also layered Jason and A.J.'s relationship with A.J. still in the shadows of his little brother, but also really wanting to play the protective older brother when it came to Karen and Jagger.

A.J.'s anger towards Jagger is intriguing. I guess it was misplaced anger relating to Alan's involvement in Nikki jilting A.J., but there is at least one point where the scriptwriters joke that A.J.'s sexuality maybe in question. Marco makes an off the cuff comment to A.J. at the gym about Marco being a fighter, not a lover in regards to A.J.'s attempt to interact with him. It may have just a been a natural extension of the show's undercurrent of toxic machismo from that era, but I still find it intriguing. To be fair though, an underfive gives Dominque and Lucy a strange look earlier in Levinson's run when Dominque is talking about how excited she is to have a baby with Lucy.  

I could see the mileage the show could get out of A.J. and Brenda given the dynamics between A.J./Jason, Jason/Brenda, A.J./Julia, Ned / A.J., Julia/Ned, and Julia/Brenda. There would be a lot of angles to explore. 

[DRW50]

I never understood why they let Crystal Carson go.

[titan1978]

She was my favorite of all the new characters introduced during Monty’s second run. 

[victoria foxton]

A.J and Nikki never really interacted with people their own age. They did with Eric and Sheila to a point. But they were dud characters. Sheila, and Eric were never properly developed or integrated they just randomly popped up. It was a shame that Dawn was dead by this point. Dawn vs Nikki could've been interesting. Along with Decker in the mix. Dawn after all was both AJ and Nikki's older half sibling.

 

 

Edited April 5, 2023 by victoria foxton

[carolineg]

Thanks for that really interesting deep dive into AJ.  I don't really have a clear view of AJ before Sean Kanan, so I enjoyed you breaking it down so clearly.  Was AJ de-aged in your opinion with SK?  He seems to have lived quite a bit, but didn't seem that much older than the teen group and mostly interacted with them.

+1

There was so much potential even with Ned/Julia/AJ triangle and then she got canned.  Not to mention all the things she could have done with Brenda.

[Vee]

I remember a person elsewhere who was absolutely obsessed with Gerald Hopkins' brief run as A.J. and insisted he be put forth as a Todd recast on OLTL in the early 2000s. I've barely ever seen him.

[Darn]

I will never understand the demonization of the Quartermaine family. Yes they would bicker but it wasn't this menacing, destructive, intentional abuse they painted it as. Alan and Monica regularly hurt each other because of their oversized egos but they loved their children and were more attentive than most soap opera parents. Edward wasn't far from a great husband or father but he loved his kids and his wife and would close ranks whenever outsiders turned out to be a real threat. And Lila was the kindest person on the whole damn planet.

You had someone like Carly barreling into every scene, catching an attitude with potted plants, lying just because it's 4:37 on a Tuesday yet the Quartermaines are evil incarnate?

I just don't understand how as a writer you can have a subset of characters throw a tantrum and barware because they didn't get their way that week yet Alan and Monica arguing for two minutes (no really, go watch some of the Quartermain scenes where they're meant to be seen as awful. 90% of the time it's all of them yelling at each other with one of the "good" characters like Emily (die you ungrateful street urchin) screaming "Would you all just STOP?!") is somehow beyond the pale.

I'd say Tracy and Edward were the only truly mean-spirited members of the family and after a certain point Edward was just a cantankerous old man yelling at the sky.

[Bright Eyes]

That reminds me of the writer who quit the show or was at least relieved to have left because she always had trouble with the immorality of who was supposed to be the heroes and who she was meant to villainize.  I wish I could remember who it was.

[Vee]

It was always outsize with reality. Carly, Jason and later Sonny would whine incessantly about the evils of the Qs but anyone watching longer than 3 minutes in those years saw a boisterous, often comedy-oriented rich family that just bickered a lot. You were not dealing with Victor Lord or even Victor Newman.

Edited April 5, 2023 by Vee

[carolineg]

It was a narrative started pre-Carly though.  It started with Ned/Lois and Lois being afraid to raise her child in that world which I never really got either, but Rena was leaving.  It obviously got worse once Jason had his accident and everything that happened after that, but it was always a little strange to me.

Also agree 100% about Emily.  She is an ungrateful brat that should be a lot more thankful to the wealthy family that took her in when she was a literal orphan out of the kindness of their hearts. 

[DRW50]

I think it's down to Guza knowing they were easy foils for Jason and Sonny, the cool, hip, edgy mobsters. Beyond that, they were a part of the show's legacy, which Guza also hated, and resented, as they would remind he was stuck on a soap, rather than working in primetime in movies. You could always feel the sheer loathing for them any time they appeared in his run. 

[depboy]

Apologies for the delay in derailing the thread 

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! I am going to try to post summary info from 1968 on a more regular basis. If it gets to be too much of a thread derailment, please let me know and I'll dial it back. I am aware that not everyone cares about the happenings from 50+ years ago, but I feel like this "lost info" may be valuable to some.

Monday, January 1, 1968: Dr. Henry Pinkham, Sr., Henry's uncle, comes looking for his nephew; Steve and Meg receive letters from Iris who has gone back to Kansas City.

Tuesday, January 2: Lucille gets more than she bargained for from Audrey when she attempts to persuade Audrey to postpone the divorce.

Wednesday, January 3: Lt. Todd interviews Tom Baldwin again; Steve and Audrey reconcile.

Thursday, January 4: Todd interviews Polly again, checking her memory of what she overheard between Jessie and Tom the night before the wedding.

Friday, January 5: Lucille is indignant in her interview with Todd.

Monday, January 8: After Lee locates Iris in a Kansas City motel, Meg convinces Lee to go.

Tuesday, January 9: Tom warns Jessie of Todd's theory that he and Jessie were romantically involved and are responsible for John's death.

Wednesday, January 10: Steve and Audrey plan a second honeymoon.

Thursday, January 11: The District Attorney interviews Polly.

Friday, January 12: The D.A. tells Todd that Polly is a satisfactory witness, but he will interview Jessie and Tom before he charges them with murder.

Monday, January 15: Lee convinces Iris to come home with him.

Tuesday, January 16: Polly refuses to tell Tom about her talks with the police.

Wednesday, January 17: Jessie is interviewed by the D.A., but refuses to answer when asked if Tom ever told her he loved her.

Thursday, January 18: Meg goes to see Iris.

Friday, January 19: Iris is skeptical about some of the 12 steps in A.A.

Monday, January 22: Tom is outraged by a newspaper article naming him and Jessie as suspects in the Prentice murder.

Tuesday, January 23: Meg goes to see Iris, and tells her that Lee needs a new secretary.

Wednesday, January 24: The D.A. tells Todd he is ready to take the case to court.

Thursday, January 25: Tom and Jessie are arrested for the murder of Dr. Prentice.

Friday, January 26: Lee argues that the defendants' reputations should convince the judge to set bail.

Monday, January 29: Jessie and Tom are released on bail; Audrey phones to say that she and Steve are rushing back from Hot Springs.  Later, police call Jessie with word there has been an accident, and Audrey is being brought in by ambulance.

Tuesday, January 30: The severity of Audrey's injuries are unknown. Jessie tries to comfort Steve.

Wednesday, January 31: Dr. Nelson tells Steve that the fetal heartbeat is weak and suspects complications.

Thursday, February 1: Audrey forces Dr. Nelson to tell her that all is not well with the baby.

Friday, February 2: Jessie tries to comfort Audrey without success.

Monday, February 5: Audrey insists on having a Caesarian section, and Dr. Nelson reluctantly agrees.

Tuesday, February 6: Lee interviews Polly.

Wednesday, February 7: Steve, Lucille and Jessie learn the baby did not survive.

Thursday, February 8: Iris offers to work with Lee on the trial.

Friday, February 9: Steve breaks the heartwrenching news to Audrey.

Monday, February 12: Audrey tries to get Steve to promise they will try for another baby.

Tuesday, February 13: Polly is intrigued with Lt. Todd suggests that Jessie's murder conviction will invalidate John's will, leaving Polly the sole heir.

Wednesday, February 14: Tom suggests to Lee that he plead guilty to let Jessie go free.

Thursday, February 15: The jury is selected.

Friday, February 16: The D.A. promises a strong case in his opening statement.

Monday, February 19: Lee makes his opening statement.

Tuesday, February 20: Steve asks Lucille for help dismantling the nursery before Audrey gets home.

Wednesday, February 21: Meg feels left out of Lee's life in court and at the office.

Thursday, February 22: Steve is an expert witness for the state and fears he was not much help to his friends.

Friday, February 23: Lee cross-examines Steve.

Monday, February 26: It is Steve and Audrey's wedding anniversary, and Steve takes her home. She is broken to find the nursery has been dismantled.

Tuesday, February 27: The D.A. tries to break Lucille's loyalty on the stand. He produces evidence that the bottle of Alkaloid X-34 had Jessie's fingerprints.

Wednesday, February 28: Meg is subpoenaed.

Thursday, February 29: Under oath, Meg admits that Tom told her he loves Jessie.

Friday, March 1: The D.A. successfully makes his point over Lee's protest while Steve is a witness.

[janea4old]

Your posts are one of my favorite things in this thread.  I love this history.