GH: Classic Thread

[titan1978]

For a character he did not create, Courtney just screamed Chuck Pratt. Once he was headed out the door so was she.

Speaking of the virus sweeps event, does anyone know who decided it was time for Robert Scorpio to come back? Both in hindsight and at the time it felt very strange considering how the show was written and produced at the time. The focus was getting rid of classic era characters, not bringing them back.

[carolineg]

I wish I had an answer to this and I am curious as well.  The actual story fit GH/Guza's sweeps event stunts and is similar to the toxic balls story lol.   But who decided to bring Robert and Holly back for......that?  Holly as the mastermind to a scheme that makes her money by unleashing a deadly virus to the world is certainly a choice.

IIRC, the show was pretty messy overall at the time.  And not just normal Guza messy-more like Sonny/Emily as a love story messy.

[Vee]

It was hilarious, a total 180. And yeah, I liked ALW on AW and liked her at the show initially with BW. It was too bad. But she was placed in a position where she became unbearable fast.

I think it may have been a combination of things, but I'm not sure. I expect Guza liked the idea of finally bringing Scorpio back (he wrote there in his heyday, after all) and he certainly early on in the return pushed this cynical take on the character being much more cavalier about Robin and his family vs. his life as a career secret agent. I know Tony Geary had also pushed for it for years - allegedly, his original version of "Endgame" which he wrote with Irene Suver (and which JFP discarded) had featured Robert's return from the dead.

I think it also benefitted the show at the time. Kimberly McCullough had just returned on contract, was now a major foundational player again and in spite of issues with execution they began to re-orient a massive portion of the show around the hospital again, focusing in on Robin and her love interest Patrick. It also synergized well with the network striking gold in primetime with Grey's Anatomy. To the show's credit, that return to a significant hospital focus and several major on-contract hospital characters at any time has pretty much remained ever since late 2005-early 2006. That came from Robin's return.

Edited August 3, 2024 by Vee

[carolineg]

I know there is a scene when Jason just blatantly tells Courtney he's with Sam now and kick rocks and Courtney just runs out sobbing.  It's fantastic.  

Honestly, if the show just used her as supporting ALW probably would have been a fine utility player for years.  But I am still wondering what happened to her damn dog that Jason gave her.  That thing had as much airtime as her for a minute.

That's probably the most realistic explanation.  You really can see the moving parts of the story being okay, but the execution was really off.   It's very Guza.  The Drs. don't find the cure, but Jason/Carly do lol.  They at least got some drama from the deaths (Tony, Courtney). For once it was actually significant cast members.  I know we all deride vet deaths, but at least BM got to go out with a bang after being used as background for years.

[Vee]

It's still an incredible scene (and script). So good, and such amazing work from BM one more time.

I don't remember the scene with Jason rejecting Courtney for Sam lol. I wish I could find it.

[carolineg]

I can only find part of it, but Jason keeps shutting her down and she runs away crying.

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[Planet Soap]

Tony's death was sad. For me it was also symptomatic of what happened to the show. We had this great humanistic, emotional, and balanced show, that got 180d for (Non Italian lol) mafia centered stories. At least we got some good sweeps events from the era that was to come.

I wonder what General Hospital would have been like had Claire Labine stayed head writer for the length of time that Guza was in power.

Edited August 4, 2024 by Planet Soap

[carolineg]

I believe I have said this before, but I don't think it would have went well.  I love Claire Labine but she excelled at writing stories that were going out of style by the late 90's.  I also think Claire was creatively spent by the time she left GH and the show was a bit depressing.

Guza brought more action and drama that was necessary to compete with Days that was surging.  Guza was pretty great in the beginning as well.  

Do I think Guza should have been canned long before he was and was overall detrimental to the show?  Absolutely.  I just don't know if Claire would have been as revered or if her writing would hold as up as well into the 2000's.  

[titan1978]

I loved her work, but I don’t think that was the answer.

When Guza got pulled away because Sunset Beach was actually going into production, the show was really good. It was a marriage of the Labine writer’s depth, Riche’s production, and some of the old school Monty era action and intrigue thanks to Guza.

My what if has always been Guza/Harris continue uninterrupted, and Labine gets control of Ned and Lois for her proposed spin-off. Riche trying to do two shows was a negative for both.

[Planet Soap]

These are interesting perspectives. I've always seen people writing that GH started going downhill by 1997 as Labine was gone, the mob became more central, and many cast departures by '98-99. I've felt the same as well based on observation and not knowing who the head writers were. 

I do like Guza's flair for action, and I can see how AIDS, Breast cancer, and kids dying in school bus accidents can get depressing. 

Granted Guza was good under Riche but under JFP is when his destructiveness was evident. But compared to Frank era GH 2002-2011 looks like gold compared to 2015-Present GH.

SB: rewatching the Port Charles hotel fire sweeps event, could they not have sent multiple helicopters landing in different intervals to conduct the rescue?

Edited August 5, 2024 by Planet Soap

[carolineg]

1997 was bad but Guza wasn't at fault.  He was gone.  You could feel the moment he was even ghost writing back. 

Cast departures were rough in 98-99, but that wasn't exactly his fault either.  The replacements they tried to bring in for Robin and Brenda were trash.  Carly is basically what he had to work with unless you had a Chloe/Hannah based show lol.

Again there were a lot of mistakes. But it didn't get bad bad until 2003 IMO

[Planet Soap]

What particular events would you say marked that 2003 decline?

Speaking of the early 00s, from rewatching 2002 Sonny was juggling a lot of storylines! His and Carly's presume deaths, Alexis' pregnancy, and Brenda's return.

Edited August 5, 2024 by Planet Soap

[Vee]

The rise of the Fab 4 (Sonny, Carly, Jason and Courtney) which remained the focus of the show (with Sam swapped in) for years to come, with other characters being demeaned or destroyed and the misogyny leveled way up. This was also the period when increasingly cartoonish mob characters and action storylines began taking over and ripped from the headlines gimmicks, which I think was partly Chuck Pratt's influence re: blonde sexbombs. Faith Rosco was wonderfully played by Cynthia Preston, but she was ultimately just an evil fetish object. (Though I'd still bring her back for a short run if I could!)

Edited August 5, 2024 by Vee

[DRW50]

Based on her writing at OLTL and GL...even if I know it was probably impaired or sabotaged, I'd tend to agree. 

[Vee]

So do I. I think she would've been spent not long after '96 or '97.