GH: Classic Thread

[carolineg]

Well, damn. That throws out my idea of a Sly/Lucky pairing lol.   So Bill/Luke are cousins?  Why was the show randomly testing Bill/Bobbie then?  Or maybe I just imagined that.  

[Vee]

We've been asking that same question to the heavens for awhile now.

But yes, the cousin thing was a key part of the 1991 intro and the 2015 flashback episode with the young Spencers - Joey Luthman played both Luke and Bill as teens. IIRC Luke and Bobbie's mom Lena was an Eckert, Bill's aunt.

Edited May 7, 2024 by Vee

[carolineg]

The 2015 Luke/Bill stuff I am not great at remembering.  Because it all was just an eye roll.

I am just trying to imagine a Bill/Bobbie pairing in my mind and it doesn't work out well lol.

[dc11786]

Lena and Fred Eckert are siblings. Fred wasn't happy when Lena married Tim Spencer, Bobbie, Luke, and Pat's father. That was the source of the supposed feud between the Eckerts and the Spencers. I'm in early March, 1991, and Ruby (at bequest of Bobbie) has decided to make an ongoing commercial order from Eckert's for the diner, which should end some of the bad blood. What wasn't resolved will end in late May, 1991, when Fred Eckert has his heart attack. 

I suspect that the Eckerts were from some soap that Monty had spent the past year or so prior to returning to GH trying to launch. She was living in Portland with her husband and was trying to establish a production facility where she was going to develop said show. When ABC signed Monty, a development deal for a new soap was attached, but I'm not sure if ABC was really ready to cut the cord with "Loving" yet. Anyway, I suspect the Eckerts were the central family of that show. 

I am wondering if the Eckert/Spencer connection was a result of signing Tony Geary rather than developing a story for Tony as a new character. I think Bill (accused of sabotage) and Bobbie (a pariah because of the baby swap) had some potential on paper, but even eliminating the cousin element there is no sexual chemistry between Geary and Zeman. 

Most of the references this spring to Eckerts has been in relation to donuts. There is supposedly a late night donut window (according to Kristina) and Sam or someone brought donuts from Eckerts' to Dante's homecoming. 

March, 1991 is already becoming a bit of a drag. Everything is either an Eckert story or Mac/Robert related. The resolution of Dawn's murder happens fairly quick (Frisco found a tape of Edge bludgeoning Dawn and it's announced that Edge had been found murdered). There is a bit around the ELQ end of the fallout of the sinking of the Tracy, but it is very community based (how will this effect the poor (offscreen), working class people of Port Charles. I think the setup is for Ned and Jenny, but maybe that's just me reading into what was coming down the pike. 

[carolineg]

I know it's been said before, but I think the Eckerts sound interesting in theory.  If you drop the whole Tony Geary/Spencer angle and just hired a few dynamic actors for Jenny and Bill it may have worked.  

I personally find the working class PC stuff boring and annoying.  I have no idea how relevant it was in 1991 for the audience though.

[BetterForgotten]

Other than Marland and Pat Falken Smith, Monty never had strong writers supporting her ideas. The character work during the later part of her first stint and during the entirety of her second stint left so much to be desired. 

I remember an interview when Wendy Riche first came on board and threw some unintentional shade about Gloria hiring her sister to write the show, and that it would take some time to rebuild the show, and she wanted to move it into a more character based direction. 

Edited May 8, 2024 by BetterForgotten

[titan1978]

I liked what it ultimately lead to, which was people having jobs besides being former spies and cops or the hospital. We had Mac and Felicia opening the Outback, Jagger boxing at Marco’s gym, Sonny’s seedy strip club, the Charles street stories, characters living in modest means again. It helped to reestablish the Quartermaines as the haves in Port Charles society. It opened up possibilities. Riche took what Monty was trying to do and actually did it, even with Levinson it was better than Monty’s first 6 months.

[carolineg]

I did like the Outback and Luke's and the fact people could only afford to live above Kelly's.   Riche did have a lot of characters aspiring to "make it" like Jagger, Karen, Stone, even Miguel lol.   It felt more grounded.

Your point is spot on.  Monty made it all seem mundane and boring.  Jenny droning on and on about the environment and the working class is just dull, but I don't know if it's the actress or the writing, or the combo.  I did find Julia/Bill to be fairly interesting.  I don't know if that is Monty though.

[Contessa Donatella]

May 9, 2023

Taby Leaped! 

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[Contessa Donatella]

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Contessa Donatella]

If Ron Carlivati had been faced with the problem that Gloria Monty faced after the rape, he'd immediately have killed Luke & brought back Tony Geary as a new character Myron, in a sweater vest, pocket protector filled with pens, pencils & instruments. I wonder if Laura would've liked the poetry he read her. It's a game I play, "What Would Ron Carlivati Do?"

 

Possibly "What Would Wendy Riche & Claire Labine Have Done?" would be a better way to spend my free time. ??? 

[dc11786]

I don't think reigniting class conflict in Port Charles was a bad idea, but Monty acted like there was no class distinction prior to her arrival. Charlene's brood and the Grecos were working class. The Brownstone crew represented the more upwardly mobile / middle class social strata. And the Quartmaines were the wealthy. I think she should have worked more within the existing structure. 

I think there are some comparisons between the Eckerts and Charlene's brood. The Eckerts were cousins to an existing character (Bobbie) just as Decker and Colton were cousins to an existing character (Lucy). The older sibling (Colton/Bill) is more grounded while the younger one is more reckless (Decker/Jenny). Like the Eckerts, the Simpsons were also mixed up with the Quartermaines. When watching the Edge / Decker business partner dynamic, I felt like this was similar to the later dynamic between Bill / Paul. 

The final weeks of Monty 2.0 (late December 1991 - late January 1992) started to get better in terms of the character work in my opinion leading up to the arrival of Linda Grover as Norma Monty's writing partner. 

As @Toups pointed out, Riche ends up leaving the show without a headwriter from mid-March until mid-June so she most likely ended up shaping the show in the direction she wanted with the introductions of Jagger and Karen, the pairing of Bill and Holly, the medical malpractice involving David Langton's death, and the ongoing emphasis on the Ned / Jenny / Paul / Tracy quad. I do think Riche made the right choices as it allowed the show to regain an emotional depth that had long been missing. 

I think eliminating the spy network material was a smart move and moving the stuff back towards the hospital and the courtroom. The stuff that I am not looking forward to in 1992 will be the remnants of that (Holly/Paloma). I like the Ryan Chamberlain stuff that I've seen (even if it can be a bit more melodramatic than even I can take). Riche did the opposite of Monty. Instead of firing everyone, she fires almost no one. 

[NothinButAttitude]

[AMCOLTLLover]

Lady of my heart.. awwww. That melts my heart tbh. FnF always endgame for me. I don’t care how much they wrote Frisco as a deadbeat father and husband. He will always be Felicia‘s real and true love. 

[Liberty City]

Finally getting into solid classic General Hospital... beginning in January of 1991. So rich. SO rich!!