GH: Classic Thread

[carolineg]

Lol!  Now I have to go back and watch because I completely forgot about that Jax/Tracy/ELQ subplot.  It is such a minor blip on the Sonny/Brenda/Jax edits that I almost forget it's entire purpose.   I genuinely thought Ned covering for AJ in Jason's accident was the final nail in the coffin.

 

Others may disagree with me, but it's been brought up more than once in dialogue, so I *think* the show is explaining it that way.  Neither Lois or Ned have specifically stated that's why they broke up but they've talked about it.

I can agree with this.  The whole topic is probably too nuanced for GH in 2024, but there should be an explanation about why Lois is perfectly fine with the Q's now when she was completely unwilling to let Brook Lynn grow up with them 30 years ago.

[Vee]

That's so stupid if true. Katherine was the stumbling block to their true love that they vanquished before even getting properly married!

[carolineg]

I am pretty sure the show currently thinks Lois's most memorable moment is her popping out of the cake and want to use it.   Again, I think it's just laziness.   I think Rena and Wally are trying to make it more complicated and nuanced, but if I was a new viewer my take would be that Katy Bell is why they broke up.

[Franko]

Bob Hope's GH spoof from 1982, featuring Elizabeth Taylor, Glenn Ford, Tony Geary and Richard Burton.

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[Franko]

Doug Sheehan has died. In his honor, a fun bit with Joe and Jeremy.

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[Chrissy81730]

Rip

[Jdee43]

Shame he never made it back to Kelly's.

[NothinButAttitude]

[DRW50]

Thanks. It's a shame Joe didn't get to have a happier ending, or a return. I think GH took him for granted.

Nice to see a brief glimpse of GL near the end (I wonder if that episode is available).

I sort of watched this at the time but not really as I was not exactly a huge Guza fan, early, mid, or late era. I've said before that I don't think Maurice Benard is a very good actor. I still generally do not but to his credit he's just right here, and still extremely intense and charismatic. This should have been an exit story for Sonny. And you can see just what a fantastic casting choice DZ was, even if he has ultimately ended up being around the same boat as the late lovely Mr. Sheehan in use. 

(oh and I did not realize until today that Emme Rylan's beige Lulu lasted until the end of 2020 - wow).

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Edited July 10, 2024 by DRW50

[Vee]

This was a period some of us like @carolineg and @titan1978 I think have discussed a lot - the last of the worthwhile Guza team works. They had downshifted considerably from 'Sonny the hero' over a period of time here and continued to do so, as it seemed Guza had soured on him or Maurice; more focus was given to Jason, to Jason and Carly openly acknowledging they had failed to take care of Michael or raise him right by raising him among Sonny and the mob (first by his getting shot, then by his killing Claudia and going to prison and becoming a spoiled, traumatized brat with Drew Garrett in the role), and most of all DZ/Dante here was the show's key new star, who they had kept in the wings for a year or two before casting. The material was good, rich and layered, and Dominic was very good. He was clearly Guza's new focus and fascination, along with JJ's return not long beforehand with Lucky as Dante's partner - I have said before I think they could have carried the show for years a la Luke and Scorpio.

It fell apart of course by defaulting to Dante protecting Sonny even after taking a bullet. (I think they even had the neighborhood cop Dante cited turn out to be corrupt, lol) And the Brenda return saga not long after this was another example of Guza refocusing the show on Dante - he had wanted Dante and Brenda to have had an affair years before, and for Brenda's child to be Dante's son. (VM vetoed this.) But what's tragic is that this kind of intense and layered focus on nuanced male characters went away with that team and with the advent of FV/RC, for whom most 'good' male characters are just clueless stock himbos to be manipulated by fun scheming women or gay men. Almost all the life was drained out of Dante instantly at that point. He's come back from that nadir a bit since then in recent times and DZ still does great work, but he's still not in the role he once was on canvas, when he commanded the show.

I'd also say (and I won't repost them now unless you ask, because I've gone over them on here way too many times) that I think Sonny's final scenes with Brenda in summer 2011, the following year, are the last great performance Maurice ever gave and the most honest Sonny has ever been with himself or anyone else. One of the last great pieces of work the longtime writing team did as well, and those are the scenes I always cite when I say there is no point in romance for Sonny ever again unless it's Brenda and it addresses what happened to their marriage.

Edited July 10, 2024 by Vee

[DRW50]

Thanks @Vee . I have appreciated the thoughtful talks you @titan1978 and @carolineg have over those years, enough to make me go back at times even with my issues over that writer. I knew as soon as Dante was going on about the cop, he'd turn out to be corrupt. 

I will have to check out those Brenda and Sonny scenes again.

I see that Dominic left GH for a bit in the late '10s. If he had kept trying he might have found work elsewhere but given the state of the industry I can't blame him for returning to a steady gig. I'm half-surprised Frank didn't punish him for that choice but I'm glad if he didn't. Even as Dante barely has anything to do, he's still one of the most natural presences on the show and has made the very obviously filler Sam pairing work much more than you'd expect.

[Vee]

That's excuse enough for me to post them yet again! Here:

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[titan1978]

Much like Patrick Drake, Dante did not fare well under Frank and Ron. Ron just doesn’t know or doesn’t care to write a complex male who isn’t a villain or villain adjacent. Now if they like how the man looks without his shirt on, they at least let them blandly carry on. Nathan for example.

And yes, as we have discussed, there was a concentrated effort on the show to shift Jason into the lead character, and slightly downgrade Sonny those last few years of Guza. Carly was still in the mix, but Guza never centered Laura Wright like he did SJB or even TB. She still ate the show alive as far as appearances though. Franco was obsessed with Jason and Sam, not Sonny.

I hated almost all of Guza’s work from his 2002 return to his firing. But I have never denied it was strongly written. It was just too bleak for me, and it got increasingly sad watching them (Guza/JFP) dismantle the show. I would pop in for weeks and then not watch for a couple months, etc.

And as annoying as I found their run, it wasn’t generic. Luke, Maxie, Sonny, Carly, Jason, Liz, Lulu, Dante, Robin, etc they all had their own voices in the scripts. Even a returning character like Laura or Brenda still had their own specificity. I have come to appreciate that when compared to the totally generic show we got once Carlivati was fired.

I love how both of them had matured, but the same issues will always break them apart. It has been consistent since she wore the wire. They are toxic for each other, and yet they cannot fight the pull for long. He wants power, now that he has it he wants it even more. And she wants his passion to be for her, for that to override everything else.

These are fantastic scenes for both of them.

[DRW50]

Thanks @Vee for the clip. It did seem like Maurice was trying, and his very natural connection with Vanessa remained front and center. The dialogue was also remarkably honest for a character that has been drowning in justification and delusion for decades.

[Khan]

Watching clips like those is like watching vintage Y&R: I might not like everything that I see, but I'll definitely agree that it's better than the [!@#$%^&*] we're getting today.  (Come back, Bob and Jill, all is forgiven!)