GH: Classic Thread

[Liberty City]

No; pretty sure they changed it.

[depboy]

June...What can I say about June 1973?  It's a mess.  Enjoy!

Friday, June 1, 1973 (scab script): Meg invites Jessie to lunch; Jessie realizes that Meg is well over the edge; Meg tells Jessie that Lesley and Lee are having an affair; Jessie doesn’t believe it and Meg asks her if she's in on it with them.  Lucille tells Audrey about a surprise party for Al; Audrey tells her about Jim’s heart patient; Jim scrubs for surgery on Tommy.

Monday, June 4 (scab script): A new patient, Martha Harbison, meets with Peter; Martha is Diana’s age and pregnant, suffering from nausea and headaches; Peter suggests that her issues might be mental, and she gets very upset.  Mrs. Andrews is worried about Tommy who has been moved to the recovery room; Audrey enters Mercy Hospital just as Mrs. Andrews is leaving.

Tuesday, June 5 (scab script): Steve and Jessie talk about Teddy, and Jessie coughs; Steve suggests a checkup.  Al and Howie go to a bar where Howie only has ginger ale; Al is planning to redecorate the living room as a surprise for Lucille.  Audrey tells Jim she knows she’ll find her son again; Mrs. Andrews and a nurse talk about Tommy.

Wednesday, June 6 (scab script): Peter visits Martha, who says she is 4 months along; Peter thinks it is more like 6 months; he thinks she doesn’t want the baby; she admits she is 6 months along and doesn’t want her husband to know she’s pregnant by another man.  Jane introduces Augusta McLeod to Peter and Lee; Augusta is a single former nurse.  Lesley, Peter and Lee discuss Meg needing psychiatric help.  Lesley and Jessie have dinner at home; Lesley is about to open up to Jessie about her past, but it’s too painful; Jessie tells Lesley about Teddy; she also tells Lesley about urging Augusta to work at the hospital; Lesley is shocked at the name “Augusta” and says she has only known one Augusta in her life.

Thursday, June 7: Pre-empted by Watergate Hearings.

Friday, June 8 (scab script): Diana confesses to Jessie that the child she’s carrying is Phil’s; Jessie offers to tell Phil.  Scott tells Lee that Meg threatened to spank him; Lesley arrives; Meg refuses to see her and asks Lee why he doesn't take Lesley to a motel room.

Monday, June 11 (scab script): Peter believes Martha is sick because she hasn’t told her husband about the baby.  Lee apologizes to Lesley for Meg’s behavior; says he’s sending her to a spa; Lesely says she ought to be going to a psychiatric facility.  At Mercy Hospital, Mrs. Andrews is not allowed to see Tommy; Audrey arrives and catches a glimpse of Jim and Mrs. Andrews; she calls for security.

Tuesday, June 12 (scab script): Audrey is complaining about Mrs. Andrews to Jim; she insists that Tommy Smith is her baby; Jim is skeptical, half promises to let her see Tommy tomorrow; Audrey calls the police and tells them Mrs. Andrews will get away before she is apprehended; Audrey tells Jim to look for a mole above Tommy’s sternum, but Jim says he can’t tamper with Tommy’s bandages.

Wednesday, June 13 (scab script): Phil returns from a brief break to recover from Tracy’s death.  Audrey calls Lee to tell him she’s found Tommy; Jim tells them he has not permitted Mrs. Andrews to see the child.  Lee tells Lesley that he told Meg he thinks she needs psychiatric help.

Thursday, June 14: Pre-empted by Watergate Hearings.

Friday, June 15 (scab script): Lee tells Jessie she is going to have to pay for Teddy’s $25,000 note.  Mrs. Andrews has disappeared.  Martha is smoking to make her baby smaller.  Al Weeks consults Millie about surprising Lucille with a living room makeover.

Monday, June 18 (scab script): Henry asks Jessie if she is feeling alright; Jessie admits she hasn’t been feeling well.  Jim and Steve discuss Jim’s transfer from Mercy; Steve asks why Jim won’t allow Audrey to see Tommy; Jim says Tommy’s recovery is his priority.  Phil wonders it Tracy would have lived if was brought to the hospital sooner.  Augusta tells Jessie she is working as a private nurse for a few more weeks; Jessie suggests to Lee that she take care of Tommy.

Tuesday, June 19 (scab script): Lesley is adamant that Meg needs psychiatric help.  Jessie worries as her cough is getting worse.  Jim allows Audrey to see Tommy, who is relieved that it is her son.

Wednesday, June 20 (scab script): Jim tells Audrey it won’t be too long before Tommy can go home.  Jane suggests that Augusta move in with them; Howie has a strong reaction.

Thursday, June 21 (scab script):  Caroline O'Connell, a snippy new student nurse, annoys Lucille. Augusta refuses to live with Audrey.  Harvard Brewster, a decorator, looks over Lucille’s apartment.  Meg returns home from the spa and is suspicious when no one is there.

Friday, June 22 (scab script): Peter advises Martha to tell her husband about the baby or she’ll stay sick.  Meg answers the door to Mrs. Andrews who tells her that Tom died in Mexico of typhoid; Lee explains to Meg that he asked Steve to take over from Lesley as her doctor; Meg tells Lee of Tom’s death; Lee refuses to tell Audrey.

Monday, June 25: Pre-empted by Watergate Hearings.

Tuesday, June 26: Pre-empted by Watergate Hearings.

Wednesday, June 27: Pre-empted by Watergate Hearings.

Thursday, June 28: Pre-empted by Watergate Hearings.

Friday, June 29: Pre-empted by Watergate Hearings.

[Dion]

After months of suffering from fugue states - during which she would commit acts of vandalism such as torching Franco's studio, attacking Chase and moving a portrait around the house. After a short stretch in Shadybrook, Liz returned to work and began to remember seeing a woman who'd been pushed down a flight of stairs. The fugue states and memory flashes had apparently been triggered by the sight of Peter August at the bottom of a stairwell at GH (after being pushed down by Finn) the year before as Liz would continue to have flashbacks of both incidents - eg she'd have a flashback of Peter which would then trigger the older flashback of the woman.

The mystery deepened when Liz drew a portrait of the woman she kept seeing in her flashbacks, and then saw pictures of Finn's late wife Reiko on his phone, who looked exactly like the woman in the portrait

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(I mean you'd think she would've already seen pictures of her ). Finn revealed to Liz that he and Reiko had been working in the Mariana Islands during the 90s and Liz remembered that she'd gone with her family there just prior to her arrival in Port Charles . 

Liz began to suspect that her father Jeff Webber had pushed Reiko down the stairs. Having been estranged from her parents for 25 years, she broke into their house only to be confronted by them. Jeff (now being played by William R Moses) and Carolyn (Denise Crosby) eventually admitted that Liz had pushed Reiko down the stairs after finding Jeff and Reiko in bed together . Reiko survived the fall, but needed a blood transfusion that led to her contracting the fatal disease that eventually killed her years later  (this retconed the earlier explanation that Finn had unwittingly exposed her to the disease while looking for a cure).  Jeff and Carolyn then sedated and brainwashed their daughter to forget all about the incident .

Liz eventually told Finn about what happened and he was shocked as while he knew that Reiko had fallen down some stairs he didn't know she'd been having an affair and had never heard of Jeff Webber prior to coming to Port Charles.

[Joseph]

THANKS! kinda of a letdown! But thanks for the insight! Rebecca could've done an excellent work in the case of a Multiple personalities storyline, and the character really had the kind of Emotional Baggage for that!

[FrenchFan]

I like the dynamics with Meg and Lesley. Maybe there were plans for DA to be paired with Peter Hansen but this was dropped.

[DRW50]

Last 14 minutes of the November 20, 1979 episode.

Some fun Tracy scenes, and also some exploration of the fallout for Bobbie after Roy was killed (remember when soaps cared about aftermath?) that reminds of Jackie Zeman's talents and the power of the Luke/Bobbie relationship.

 

Edited September 9, 2023 by DRW50

[dc11786]

I've jumped back into late August - mid September 1990. The show maintains the typical adventure story of the month and I have watched two climaxes to two different action and adventure stories. The first saw the end of Cesar Faison. I do not have much use for Cesar so I was glad to see him go. That whole group of characters is not my favorite. I appreciate the references to other spy missions and the sense of commraderie between Sean, Anna, and Robret, but the stories are  very plot heavy. Katherine Delafield remains the odd person out. She feels so forced into the show. She takes over the club to give her something to do, but that doesn't work. So they give her an adopted son, King, from the San Cristo storyline. I just do not care. Similarly, poor Finola Hughes cannot hold onto a love interest to save her life. There has been Jonathan Paget/Duke, Julian Jerome, Cesar Faison, Casey Rogers, and now Shep Casey. Before the year is out, I think they might even try her with Edge Jerome. 

The end of Cesar at an essay contest for Wyndamere's at Delafield's has a few nice moments. One where Anna seems more complicated about her feelings for Cesar than she had suggested earlier while Robin reads her essay about how great her mother is. Andre Hove leaned into Faison's feelings for Anna. I liked the twist that the DMX agents (including Boris played by a pre-"Days of our Lives" Ivan G'Vera) working with the WSB agents. There was also a rather ludricious twist where Frisco dresses as a man of another nationality for a second time this year (this time he is impersonating Jacques, but I believe it is actually Ric Young playing Frisco playing Jacques). 

The second adventure plot that comes to a conclusion is Decker's mysterious past/ Wendy Masters' murder. I think Wendy Masters' departure is a loss for the show. I think she is a young schemer that the show really could use. The tailend of the story is high camp with Decker and Dawn playing a reheated love on the run tale which takes them first to a movie house in West Viriginia and then later Midvale, the town populated by the people of Turley's Roadshow, the circus that Decker use to belong to. The Midvale story is mostly camp complete with Lynn Milgrim (I think its Milgrim) appearing as the thought to be dead, Loretta Drago. There are moments I feel like I am watching Jean Holloway's Bambi Brewster story or wondering if it is an attempt to redo Laurelton. Either way, the highlight has to be the insane conclusion featuring Anna and Shep and the circus folk in full costume performing a clown reenactment of the tragic love story of Drago, Loretta, and the late Collssimo. Palumbo and Hardy do not disappoint in conclusions, but they are often these hugely over the top events. 

The quieter material is more enjoyable. Alan and Bobbie are developing an adoption service based on their work with Anita, the pregnant bodega worker who's baby Rico was going to sell. The antics of the Quartermaines in reaction to everything going on. Tracey Q really is a gem and Jane Eliot can sell even the silliest of quips. The relationship material can be fun. Tracy and Monica connecting over their children in danger. Carla's concern about her mother back in Santa Mora. Scotty and Tracy are fun when they are given something to do. Tracy going at it with Lucy is great, which leads to Lucy faking a pregnancy to be "more apart" of the Q clan. There is some nice Alan and Monica scenes revolving around an offscreen AJ failing in school. 

The strongest story is still a B-story unfortunately. Simone is concerned about the closeness between Harrison and Meg. Harrison has secured a lawyer, Eric Nash, who has stated Harrison's custody case will be a cause for him (I'm assuming father's rights). Stphanie E. Williams is great as Simone. Alexia Robinson holds her own as Meg, who has gone all in and married Harrison. Harrison and Meg now have a condo set, which is quite nice, and leads to another story at the end of the year. Simone learning about Meg and Harrison's marriage is delightful. I wish this was a bigger story. There was a moment where Steve prevented Audrey from meddling, but I would have liked to see where that would have gone. 

Tony has been given little to do, but Brad Maule continues to do so mcuh with so little. I don't really feel much one way or another about Felicia and Frisco and the baby, which is crazy because I love Felicia later in the Wendy Riche era. I do think the problem is the lack of agency that Felicia has. It is definitely an issue across the board. 

Furthmore, another strange choice is the fact that the show is so expansive in terms of where the story is taking place. Raimundo and Electra arrive from San Cristo. Shep and Tiffany spend a lot of time together in Midvale before Anna, Drago, Dawn, and Decker arrive. There is talk of Santa Mora, the country that Rico, the Grecos, and Anita are from. Dawn and Decker are in West Virginia. Cesar is on Spoon Island, which I realize is off the coast of Port Charles, but it still isolates the character at times. I think this travel continues fairly often until later in Riche and Labine's run. 

The couples are fun: Lucy/Alan, Scotty/Tracy, Carla/Colton, Simone/Tom, etc. It just seems like so many of the long time characters are sidelined in order to focus on the very narrow focus of Sean, Robert, and Anna. 

I look forward to seeing how the final days of Palumbo/Hardy go before Monty arrives in December. 

[Vee]

@dc11786 your laser-like focus on eras of these shows down to the smallest detail, subplot and recurring player is always absolutely essential and incredibly welcome. I thought I had that for a few shows but yours often puts me to shame. The wealth of shared and learned history for a waning art form among the poster base is the central reason I stay here year after year, and you are definitely at the top of the list. Thanks so much for these windows into vast swaths of material, both primary and obscure, that so many of us have either lost or never known before.

As to this era: I've said it before and will say it again, I still don't know why the actors and a good portion of the audience were against Robert and Anna reunited. I understand why Monty went for it (one of her few sane decisions the second time) and I still think they should be back together. I love Emma Samms as a person but Holly only does so much for me. But I am in the minority on all this. I saw some of Greg(?) Beecroft as Faux Duke recently - as someone who found him obnoxious as hell playing the blue collar hero on GL, watching him play a suave bon vivant was bizarre and even more strange.

Edited September 10, 2023 by Vee

[DRW50]

I think it may be down to Anna arriving as Robert's ex, while Robert's rooting interest was with Holly and eventually, Anna's with Duke. Anna and Robert were not primed as a couple fans were meant to root for.

[dc11786]

@DRW50 There are moments in 1990 where they play Anna/Robert, but usually it is just an attempt to make Katie Lady (as King refers to her ad nauseum) jealous. Part of the issue is a big chunk of the first half of 1990 depends on the revelation that Anna cheated on Robert with Faison during their marriage and that Sean arranged it to happen. For this to be a big deal, you had to play into Robert/Anna. I think Joe Hardy said to the press he wanted to open up opportunities for Anna, which is why they ditched Jonathan Paget. Also, at one point, Robert misses his wedding to Katherine in order to save Anna. Anna and Robert as endgame makes sense in this era because none of Anna's new pairings work and almost nothing works about Katherine. Her career as a pianist keeps her out of the spy circuit. She is an orphan so there is little family drama to play. Every time they try to expand either area, it just doesn't work. 

Cheryl is set to return in the upcoming weeks (I'm in mid-September), but I haven't even gotten to the groundwork for her return yet. Though, I suspect the Anita's baby subplot plus Alan and Bobbie's adoption program was meant to lead into the Lucas/Cheryl stuff. Cheryl/Shep/Anna/Robert would be a quad that makes sense. 

Regarding Anita's baby, there is a nice little beat during the scene where Anita meets the baby's prospective adoptive parents. The couple (also Latinx) talk about their struggles with conception and then explain that they were discriminated against in the adoption market, which I thought was pretty surprising for 1990. Though, it lets Bobbie get on her soap box. 

Lucy's "baby" is a great arc, which leads into Lucy's actual pregnancy. I like when they just play the reaction to things. Lucy is with the Q clan in the red living room (Tracy, Monica, Ashton, Lila) discussing Dawn, Decker, and Ned's predicament in Midvale. The nice moment where Tracy comments feeling odd being bonded to Monica in this moment is disrupted by Lucy's attempts (again) to make a connection within the family. Monica, Tracy, and Lila all go in on Lucy about how she couldn't possible understand until she becomes a mother. In that moment, Lucy, who has already been plotting to get pregnant, announces she is carrying Alan's child. It's delightful. Later, when Alan comes home, Tracy lashes out at Alan about the baby, which Alan is not aware. Stuart Damon and Jane Eliot do really well in those scenes. 

@VeeThank you kindly. I enjoy your posts as well. "General Hospital" was never my show, but the early 1990s period interested me when I bought a lot of DVDs and there was a three month stretch (October-December 1989). Palumbo's work intrigued me (less now than then) and massive overhauls such as Monty's 1991 purge fascinate me. I kindly stumbled upon someone who was getting unloading DVDs they no longer wanted from GH so I got (March 1981-January 1992, with some gaps) for a very good bargain. So I'll continue to pop around. I really want to get through Wendy Riche's entire pre-Labine era because what I have seen is very intriguing. 

I'm most disappointed, and interested, in Tom, Simone, Meg, and Harrison. Stephanie E. Williams is just a leading lady. I don't see how they weren't keeping her on the front burner in this story. Simone is clearly still captivated by Harrison, whether that is sexual or not Williams leans into the ambiguity. Harrison is clearly playing Meg, but there is no build. The fact there is no build to Harrison/Meg is really wild when you realize Meg's first scenes (at General Hospital with Lisa Fuller's Dawn) revealed that she had a crush on Harrison. Not building the Harrison/Meg angle is a misfire. Furthermore, the fire Alexia Robinson shows when Simone confronts her after learning Harrison and Meg are married (Simone has come to Harrison's condo to discuss Tommy and finds Meg in her negligee) is wonderful. We are a month away from "Generations" doing the Maya / Doreen catfight, but you have two very strong African American actresses here as well who could carry the show if TPTB allowed them. I also appreciate that Meg/Harrison happens when Dawn is out of town and not able to counsel Meg from making such a decision.   

With that being said, the diversity for 1990 is somewhere between admirable and criminal. The African American cast is great, but not used. Hardy and Palumbo also introduced a Latin American community with Rico Chaccone's bodega, the Grecos, and briefly a nightclub that seemed to have a latinx flair. Their stories aren't great, but I think Colton/Carla are interesting in context of the class conflict between the Qs (where Carla is employed as a maid) and Simpson/Coe clan. I know the "Santa Barbara" crowd wasn't thrilled with Robert Fortinero, Jr., but I like Frankie, but he is very limited in his scope. I still think they should have kept him and paired him in an unlikely friendship turned frienemies situation with Gerald Hopkins A.J. 

[j swift]

When we were reviewing Classic SOD news from this period, there was a fascinating series of articles about how unpopular Joe Hardy was within the production.  @dc11786 Your description of the Tracy, Monica, Lila, and Lucy scene reminded of those stories.

At the time of the 7,000th episode, Mr. Hardy held a press event to celebrate by unveiling the remodeled entrance for the Quartermaine mansion.  He showed sketches, toasted the set with champagne, and toured the new two-story foyer.  Which was all well and good until SOD began to question why nobody from the cast bothered to attend the occasion.  Hardy was left with egg on his face, when not one actor came to set, in the middle of the day, to help him celebrate.

In prior issues, he openly feuded with Michael Watson who played Dekker because the actor left for 6 weeks to film a movie in Eastern Europe, he criticized one of the Dawns for not learning her lines, and worst of all, the ratings plummeted to 8th place.

Overall, I enjoyed the period of Anna's singlehood.  It reinforced the notion that Duke was the love of her life because all of her subsequent affairs never equalled the passion that they felt for each other.  When Monty returns and suddenly Anna is tieing Robert to columns, it felt forced.  But, it is interesting to read that there was groundwork laid in the prior year.  As for Bobbie's brief foray into adoption agency, Monty drops that beat so hard, that Bobbie is inexplicably back at GH as a nurse as soon as her cousin gets hurt in the explosion of Tracy the Tanker.

Finally, watching 1990, aren't we thankful that male ponytails have never come back in fashion?

Edited September 12, 2023 by j swift

[titan1978]

They were teasing a connection between Robert and Anna during the Grant Putnam storyline too- Duke was jealous of their connection and Robert’s attempts to rescue her were going so slowly that he went to the Jerome’s for help- effectively returning to the mob.

In the 80’s After Monty, I prefer Wes Kinney’s tenure to Joe Hardy’s. I didn’t know he was so disliked by the cast! I sat through all this when I was very young, and was not that engaged.

[depboy]

Life gets in the way!  I will be trying to resume the 1973 synopses soon.  Sorry for the delay!!

[Paul Raven]

No problem. Thanks for the update. As Agnes Nixon said...Make them wait!

[FrenchFan]

So Good to have News

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