1 hour ago, dc11786 said:

The problem I had with PC's early episodes was how the Scott / Lucy / Kevin stuff played out in one orbit and the interns in another. There was some crossover with an attempt at a Scott / Eve pairing and Karen being Scott's daughter, but it just feels odd. Revisiting the Dominique story with Rex Stanton and Danielle Ashley when Katherine Bell was still over at the mothership (I believe) is just an odd choice. I thought Rib Hillis was a stunning man, but he was very green in those early episodes and the attempt to do Marland's Morgan / Kelly with Jake / Lark wasn't going to work in 1998.  

MBE was around as Katherine until 1999, but I am pretty sure she was presumed dead at the time PC premiered after her fall from the parapet at Wyndemere. 

1 hour ago, dc11786 said:

I know he is popular, but I haven't enjoyed Sean Kanan in 1993 or 1995 episodes. Gerald Hopkins isn't a master thesbian, but the character seems more tailored to his strenghts, the self destructive loser, while Sean Kanan's AJ just always seems sleazy to me. AJ almost always seems to be the contrast of Jason once Jason arrives and there never seems to be much too that characterization. I think Jason / Brenda / AJ with a side of Julia and Robin would have been wickedly destructive, but it would tear the characters apart in a way that Levinson seems to thrive in and would cause Labine to balk.   

Another story that reached a quick death under Labine like Karen / Sonny. I believe in the final weeks of Levinson, Monica creates a fake boyfriend, Rod, who she uses to make Alan jealous. It seems very juvenile and demeaning to Monica so I can see why Labine revealed the ruse within the first week and moved on. I can't imagine Rhonda / Alan were end game, but given the way the Q boys were treating Karen, I can't imagine what would have been said to Rhonda had she and Alan shacked up together. I do think the Ray Conway murder was the origin of the Labine / Riche argument "Is anyone capable of murder?"

Speaking of 1993 lore, do we know when Tracy was anti-choice that led Elliot to leave? I may have asked before, but I imagine the comment was made during the Jenny / Kensington story and was either early on or I missed it. 

I like that SK played AJ with sleaziness like an overgrown, immature frat boy.  I thought it worked for the AJ at the time, but he was the first AJ I watched in real time.  I also enjoyed the fact SBu and SK looked so much like brothers.

I wasn't terribly invested in Rhonda/Alan.  It just did seem like a story that never reached the intended conclusion.

I keep hearing people speak about this Tracy anti-choice stance and I am also curious to figure out the origin or scenes when this happened.

16 hours ago, carolineg said:

MBE was around as Katherine until 1999, but I am pretty sure she was presumed dead at the time PC premiered after her fall from the parapet at Wyndemere. 

That didn't happen until a year or so after PC's premiere. Looking at IMDB she did make a number of appearances, but only a few involved the Dominique story.

Port Charles Recaps: The week of January 12, 1998 on PC | Soap Central

Port Charles Recaps: The week of February 16, 1998 on PC | Soap Central

1 hour ago, DRW50 said:

That didn't happen until a year or so after PC's premiere. Looking at IMDB she did make a number of appearances, but only a few involved the Dominique story.

Port Charles Recaps: The week of January 12, 1998 on PC | Soap Central

Port Charles Recaps: The week of February 16, 1998 on PC | Soap Central

Thanks!  I think I got the Katherine shooting timeline confused with when she fell off the parapet.  Now that you said that I do remember that Bacchanalia Ball and it was clearly in May(ish?) 1998.  

I honestly don't remember her on PC at all, but she was obviously around lol.

I probably need a rewatch soon because things are starting to all blur together timeline wise for me!

Edited December 28, 2024Dec 28 by carolineg

39 minutes ago, carolineg said:

Thanks!  I think I got the Katherine shooting timeline confused with when she fell off the parapet.  Now that you said that I do remember that Bacchanalia Ball and it was clearly in May(ish?) 1998.  

I honestly don't remember her on PC at all, but she was obviously around lol.

I probably need a rewatch soon because things are starting to all blur together timeline wise for me!

Neither do I. I remember her sparring with Lucy and maybe the Nurses Ball appearances (wasn't she "dead" for 98 but alive for 99?), but that's it. Reading some of the recaps I do remember some people at the time pointing out how stupid the whole gaslighting Rex story was. 

15 minutes ago, DRW50 said:

Neither do I. I remember her sparring with Lucy and maybe the Nurses Ball appearances (wasn't she "dead" for 98 but alive for 99?), but that's it. Reading some of the recaps I do remember some people at the time pointing out how stupid the whole gaslighting Rex story was. 

I really don't remember late Katherine shenanigans that well.   I think she fell of the parapet and was secretly alive, reappeared at Stefan's? murder trial for her death, tried to marry Nik, and then fell off the parapet a second time when Helena pushed her and was dead dead.

The Rex story irritated me in general because Wayne was doing whatever that was when Days decided to recast Roman at the same time and I couldn't be objective.  The whole story was a waste of time and I kept thinking how much better it would be if Wayne was playing Roman instead.

3 minutes ago, carolineg said:

I really don't remember late Katherine shenanigans that well.   I think she fell of the parapet and was secretly alive, reappeared at Stefan's? murder trial for her death, tried to marry Nik, and then fell off the parapet a second time when Helena pushed her and was dead dead.

The Rex story irritated me in general because Wayne was doing whatever that was when Days decided to recast Roman at the same time and I couldn't be objective.  The whole story was a waste of time and I kept thinking how much better it would be if Wayne was playing Roman instead.

You're right. And then she was living back at the Q mansion for a while, for some reason. 

I didn't pay extremely close attention to early PC but I mostly remember the Rex story being dull and a waste of talent, and Danielle being dull, even if Rib Hillis was gorgeous. 

I'm not a big fan of money scheme stories in general, which didn't help. 

I think moving the Cassadines away from their earlier malevolent/gothic roots and into being about money schemes also made them less interesting.

6 minutes ago, DRW50 said:

You're right. And then she was living back at the Q mansion for a while, for some reason. 

I didn't pay extremely close attention to early PC but I mostly remember the Rex story being dull and a waste of talent, and Danielle being dull, even if Rib Hillis was gorgeous. 

I can't recall why she was living at the Q's, but I think @Vee mentioned the scene upthread where the Q's and Katherine were celebrating her birthday and they find out about Brenda's death.  She snuffs out the birthday candle with a smirk and a bit of bitterness because her birthday was ruined.  I assume this was the time she was living with the Q's.  I guess someone invited her.  Lila?  Edward maybe?

Danielle was dull and so was Rib Hillis, but they were cut pretty quickly right?

1 minute ago, carolineg said:

I can't recall why she was living at the Q's, but I think @Vee mentioned the scene upthread where the Q's and Katherine were celebrating her birthday and they find out about Brenda's death.  She snuffs out the birthday candle with a smirk and a bit of bitterness because her birthday was ruined.  I assume this was the time she was living with the Q's.  I guess someone invited her.  Lila?  Edward maybe?

Danielle was dull and so was Rib Hillis, but they were cut pretty quickly right?

I think Danielle was killed off in the spring and then Rib (what was his name - Jake?) a few months later, at the Nurses' Ball (starting that weird continuity issue with GH/PC where horrible things would happen on one side of the NB while the other would be fine and dandy).

Someone must have taken pity on Katherine. Looking back that's where I should have known she wasn't long for the show and had very few connections left. 

6 minutes ago, DRW50 said:

I think Danielle was killed off in the spring and then Rib (what was his name - Jake?) a few months later, at the Nurses' Ball (starting that weird continuity issue with GH/PC where horrible things would happen on one side of the NB while the other would be fine and dandy).

I remember watching both PC and GH in the summer of 1998 and having no clue why the GH characters weren't freaking out about this serial killer.

7 minutes ago, Franko said:

I remember watching both PC and GH in the summer of 1998 and having no clue why the GH characters weren't freaking out about this serial killer.

General Homicide Killer should’ve been a crossover storyline

45 minutes ago, Franko said:

I remember watching both PC and GH in the summer of 1998 and having no clue why the GH characters weren't freaking out about this serial killer.

Yes, the GH side was focused on Alan's issues and Sonny's reappearance.  Didn't Tony make a scene too?

To be fair, I don't think Jake was murdered until the very end of the Nurses Ball.  It just didn't seem like the GH side of things even knew there was a murderer on the loose.  The 2 randoms killed before Jake that had no connection to the GH cast might not even make people in Port Charles blink in 1998.

4 minutes ago, carolineg said:

Yes, the GH side was focused on Alan's issues and Sonny's reappearance.  Didn't Tony make a scene too?

Tony arrived on Helena's arm - another story that seemed to be dropped.

2 hours ago, DRW50 said:

Tony arrived on Helena's arm - another story that seemed to be dropped.

Hmmm...I think Helena helped Tony get off on the kidnapping charges for Robin/Michael?  I believe Helena made Alexis defend him and claim temp insanity.  Carly ended up shooting him and all that.  I can't remember what Helena's endgame was with Tony or if for some reason she was just screwing with Alexis and Tony was just a pawn.

There are aspects of the Cassadine resurgence in the 90's I loved, but it very quickly got repetitive and motives to some of their plots become convoluted and lacked clarity.

13 minutes ago, carolineg said:

Hmmm...I think Helena helped Tony get off on the kidnapping charges for Robin/Michael?  I believe Helena made Alexis defend him and claim temp insanity.  Carly ended up shooting him and all that.  I can't remember what Helena's endgame was with Tony or if for some reason she was just screwing with Alexis and Tony was just a pawn.

I can't remember either. Maybe she needed a crooked doctor. They seemed to just forget the whole thing fast and Tony went back to very infrequent appearances at the hospital.

Another scene I have no memory of, which suggests throwing anything against the wall for those two characters. 

I wonder if Katherine/Tony (Tony turning to her after Bobbie/Damian, maybe Katherine using him to spite Damian) might have been more interesting back in the day than Mac/Katherine:

 

Edited December 29, 2024Dec 29 by DRW50

19 minutes ago, DRW50 said:

I can't remember either. Maybe she needed a crooked doctor. They seemed to just forget the whole thing fast and Tony went back to very infrequent appearances at the hospital.

Another scene I have no memory of, which suggests throwing anything against the wall for those two characters. 

I wonder if Katherine/Tony (Tony turning to her after Bobbie/Damian, maybe Katherine using him to spite Damian) might have been more interesting back in the day than Mac/Katherine:

 

Interesting.  I think both characters were out of options at this point.  

Tony is the type of character that you did need on the show and Guza should have tried harder to keep him relevant.  After his stellar work in the mid-late 90's he should have been kept in a solid supporting role.