GH: Classic Thread

[Liberty City]

Who would you cast as Tom? Bring back someone pre-Matthew Ashford? Or someone completely new? Controversial, but maybe bring in Mark Valley?

Mark Valley (ex-Jack, DAYS)

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Chris Bruno (ex-Dennis, AW et al)

Dan Gauthier (ex-Kevin, OLTL)

Jon Hensley (ex-Holden, ATWT)

James Hyde (ex-Jeremy, Y&R et al)

[carolineg]

The only actor I remember pre-Ashford's Tom was the guy that played Todd Chandler on Days that is married to Lisa Trusel in real life.  He was okay and very blonde.  Nothing special and probably a bit too old now.  I don't know who I would cast as Tom today.   I am awful at that sort of thing.  I do like the idea of Mark Valley though. 

What about Jason Brooks? If we are going down the former 90's Days actor rabbit hole, I would choose him.   If I can't have Peter Blake I could see him as an aging hunky dr. 

Edited April 23, 2023 by carolineg

[dc11786]

David Wallace's Tom also had a brief stint as a jerk between Simones in early 1990. He had just learned that Tom Jr. might not be his, and Simone had left him to go on a cruise with her mother or something. Tom was a psychiatrist, which is one of the reasons I think he eventually faded into the woodwork. By the time Wallace left and Ashford arrives, Jon Lindstrum's Kevin is in that position. The shift to Felicia and Tom as well as Katherine and Mac in 1995 is rather jarring from what I remember. Tom returns during the spring of 1995 as the groundwork for Audrey's Alzheimer's has begun. I imagine there may have been some strong conflict planned between Tom and Steve over how to handle a condition like Alzheimer's, but it's probably best they didn't end up going down that road. 

From recent pictures, Wallace has aged fairly well, but I don't think he and Lisa Trusel live in Tennessee or somewhere else far from California.

In regards to Tony, from what I'm seeing, the show is definitely still action/adventure heavy well into mid-1990 even though they seem to have some strong domestic material, however, the domestic stuff appears as filler mostly. This is a shame because there is a lot material worth exploring just among the Brownstone group. Tony as the Brownstone dad really was something they could have played more. Maule handles the dramatic material with ease and makes the day to day life of Bobbie and Tony intriguing (to be fair, so does Zeman). In terms of story function, Tony remains mostly a reactionary character in terms to whoever is in his world at the moment (either his wife Bobbie, or previously Lucy, or his brother Frisco). 

You have Tony and Bobbie who have adopted a child under a year old who's origins are unknown, you have Tom and Simone, separated, working towards a reconciliation, raising a child they may or may not be Tom, and Felicia and Frisco expecting their first child. When the stories do collide, it works well, but the show should have leaned into this more. 

When Monty returns, this doesn't seem to get better. Palumbo and Hardy introduce Rita Lloyd Jones, Tony and Frisco's former stepmother, to the show. She goes to work at General Hospital and clearly has set her sights on Tony. I think that Tony and Rita had had an affair when his mother was dying or something, but I don't remember the details. It think there was real potential to delve deeper into the Jones family dynamic with Rita around given that Frisco had such anger surrounding his mother's passing and he was just becoming a father himself. Plus, Bobbie is in the thick of things with Broxton (the Jerome attorney) that things would eventually get really messy between Bobbie and Tony. Anyway, before anything can happen between Tony and Rita, Monty nixes Rita and ships her out of town during the pre-Eckert purge that occurs from late December 1990 until mid-March 1991. Bobbie and Tony still split over Bobbie's lies regarding Lucas and Cheryl, but while Bobbie flirts with cousin Bill, Tony is left on the backburner. 

 

[Vee]

I never understood breaking up Mac and Felicia for Mac and Katherine or Tom and Felicia. I can barely remember Mac and Katherine were even together; it took me a while to remember Mac and Felicia were even broken up for a few years. Mary Beth Evans was excellent in the role despite Katherine's intense unpopularity, but with the exception of Richard Culliton's brief infatuation with pairing her and Stefan it seems like they only held onto Katherine because of MBE's cachet as a soap star and perhaps a very well-negotiated contract.

[carolineg]

Stefan/Katherine were actually my first memories of MBE/SN and I remember wondering why they were so popular lol.  Katherine was ill defined from the jump and she just went from one strange pairing to the next.  I still can't recall why she and Ned married (blackmail...over something?).  I don't remember a ton about Mac/Katherine but I do remember Mac practically bribing people like Robin to be friends with her which was amusing.  I liked her rivalry with Lucy and her stint at Deception, but then Katherine would have odd jobs like planning one of Brenda/Jax's weddings. Because....it gave her something to do?   I also recall Katherine's only friend being Miranda, which leads me to believe she has poor taste.  Then her deaths and her creepy pairing with Nikolas.  Ugh...just ugh.  You have to wonder how Katherine got so far away from what the character was originally supposed to be. 

Stefan was pretty good.  I actually might prefer Stefan to Patch tbh. 

[Vee]

Did she? She came on as a scammer, albeit a softer one and it was a liar and vixen she remained.

[carolineg]

Maybe Katherine's character didn't change that much, but I do think we were supposed to sympathize with her more often than not after she got shot.  I was just thinking of the cast of characters she started with and where she ended up. 

Edited April 23, 2023 by carolineg

[Vee]

Oh, they definitely tried to make her into a heroine at several points including then. But ultimately she had scummier storylines than not.

[carolineg]

Yeah, I think they actually did try to lean into MBE's strengths as a heroine, and the Nik stuff was so cringe, but so was the Alexis makes Stefan/Katherine think they are siblings crap.  Which I still don't understand why that was a story because it amounted to nothing.  I think every writer had an entirely different idea about Katherine and what she was supposed to be and it was MBE's name that kept her run going as long as she did.  Honestly, she would have been much more useful on Days in the 90's instead although I wonder who JER would have paired Kayla with. 

[AdelaideCate007]

Katherine was annoying and unneeded but she was mostly fine when she was scamming the Quartermaines. Again not that it was needed but I remember her and Lucy being fun when they'd fight. Her and Damian were sort of amusing when they were together and just being pests to Lucy, Kevin, Mac, and Felicia. Her and Lois fighting over Ned lead to some good stuff. Mac and her were ridiculous as a couple even though I remember her being nice to Robin and that being some good stuff for the both of them.

Things went off the deep end when she got involved in the Cassadine mess and started going off the parapet once a year. Since her best "relationship" was with Lucy and there was the Scott/Dominique/Serena connection, I always wondered why they didn't stick her over on Port Charles too. That would have been better in the long run than that mess with her, Stefan, and Alexis.

Edited April 23, 2023 by AdelaideCate007

[DeliaIrisFan]

To be fair, Mac and Felicia broke up to move Felicia into Frisco's orbit after he returned.  All these characters were at best peripheral to my enjoyment of GH in the 90s, or worse, but in hindsight Mac and Felicia added another layer to the canvas and some pretty amazing stories, and I can appreciate that.  And their breakup made sense for the characters - and for TPTB as well, I'm sure, as long as Jack Wagner was available or potentially available.

That said, it would have been ridiculous for Mac and Felicia to get back together right after Frisco left for good.  They needed to see other people for a while, if only as B or C stories, and Mac and Katherine weren't a bad idea on paper.  It just didn't translate on screen. 

[carolineg]

I have never even thought of Katherine on PC, but this makes total sense to me.  I think it would have been a decent fit for her and wasn't WN's Rex her uncle or related to Katherine?  Which is weird because it's Kayla and Roman, but at least we know they interact well with each other.

[Vee]

I don't disagree on that. I just think Mac and Katherine, woof.

I thought Rex Stanton was Dom's uncle. Which is a tangential connection to Katherine as is, I guess. I have said it before but I would happily accept Zombie Katherine returning for a brief (brief!) arc to make Lucy, etc.'s lives miserable, and I suspect using Katherine was something Ron had considered back in the day. Major stories for Katherine almost always failed but MBE gave great villain with Lucy and others.

[DRW50]

For me MBE was better in the more unpleasant moments rather than the generic heroine moments. 

Katherine only should have stuck around for the one storyline, similar to what would have happened with later stunt castings. I do think MBE had a unique presence for that era of GH which made her stand out a bit, but I don't think she ever had an interesting pairing. I actually think a lesbian story with her would have worked, in the proper form. 

JER probably would have had Kayla sitting on the backburner with Mike.

[carolineg]

Looking it up on soapcentral it says Katherine was his niece on the paternal side.  Dominique and Katherine are actually sisters from what I can tell, but I honestly don't remember the intricacies of that story.

I literally was thinking she would end up with Mike lol.