GH: Classic Thread

[j swift]

I enjoy the reference to Lila sending flowers, because she obviously didn't live there yet.  I wonder if the scene exists where Lila and Edward decide to move to Port Charles permanently?

Furthermore, I agree with Monica, how did Rick get their phone number when they just bought the house?

It also made me remember Monica's iconic bun.  I appreciate the coding that Monica wore her hair up while on duty, and she unpinned her hair for in flangrante delicto with Rick. 

Finally, it is so soapy that Monica doesn't even notice Alan's flaring nostrils when she mentions Rick.  She's a smart cookie, I would think she could read the rather obvious non-verbal cues.

I recall the first refresh under Joe Hardy, the staircase was redesigned.  It got pushed back, more in line with the front door, to expand the foyer.  The stairs were also angled differently, (easier to push someone down), and the colors in the drawing room were richer.  The current version gets me totally befuddled because I no longer understand the blueprint.  Also, it is always TV magic that the actual set of Lesley's house was probably more square footage (because it had a kitchen), but the Q estate always seemed bigger.

Edited January 16 by j swift

[AdelaideCate007]

I think I posted a version of this same thought when either Stuart Damon or Jackie Zeman died, but watching some old clips of Leslie Charleson the past few days and man, that GH cast from like 1990 to 1997 was just so good. The stories weren't always great, but that cast was.

Alan, Monica, Tracy, Edward, AJ, Jason, Ned, Emily, Mary Mae, Justus, Luke, Laura, Lucky, Robert, Anna, Holly, Robin, Frisco, Mac, Felicia, Lucy, Kevin, Sean, Tiffany, Bobbie, Tony, Lois, Scott, Ryan, Brenda, Sonny, Steve, Audrey, Dominique, Karen, Jagger, Stone, Julia. Then people like Stefan and Alexis towards the end. Just about as perfect as it ever got. Even people like Damian and Katherine were miles better than some of the flops they've had since then.

[Contessa Donatella]

It was 1993 when I added GH to my soaps. So, for me, that time period, is like, forever. 

[titan1978]

Pretty much everyone was watchable and doing good work. Even the duds like Jenny were better than the flops we got as the decade closed.

[Vee]

Me neither. But if you really want to go nuts, try processing Liz and her boys supposedly living in 'the Brownstone' and squaring that set with the longtime one and its exterior.

[carolineg]

The Brownstone is all wrong.  I would also nominate whatever is happening with Sonny's penthouse.  I will always be trying to figure out what is happening there.  The door was on the other side and there used to be stairs.

[Vee]

Do not get me and @Darn started on that broke-ass riff on Sonny's penthouse and his new love for officecore design. We've been cracking up about it for over a year. I don't even care though, I love that he was reduced to this and Laura has the real space these days. The two halves of the statue bust look like Sonny (or a stagehand) just dropped them and put them up on separate podiums.

I would contribute to a damn gofundme if they would restore the Brownstone to a vague semblance of its original design, including the original exterior. If they can afford those Prague sets and shít and setting a dude on fire they can redo that.

Edited January 17 by Vee

[carolineg]

Sonny's penthouse looks like a Doctor's office for sure.   I think the windows are similar, but how do say it's the same penthouse when it's missing an entire floor?  And you literally have Jason's penthouse to compare it too?  They never looked the same but they were across the hall from one another.  Just say Sonny bought a new one in the same building.

I would love something similar to the og Brownstone.  When's the last time we saw the original set?

[Vee]

Idk about the interior, but the last time I remember the exterior was 2003-04 or whenever Robin Mattson's Heather first returned. She poisoned Lesley or something to become Lulu's new nanny. They were outside on the steps. It might have appeared after that but I have my doubts.

ETA: Same scenes, I think! Good old GH Wiki.

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Edited January 17 by Vee

[carolineg]

Thanks!  I remember seeing it in 2002 and I couldn't remember if it was shown after.  I love that stoop/stair situation.

[Vee]

I lived in one very much like it in Brooklyn for years, lol. It is either the same from the '90s or very similar.

[janea4old]

This is so true.

One of the things I liked about This is Us, was that the homes of each character felt unique. I don't pay much attention to sets at all, but even I noticed that.

[Liberty City]

Production like this will never been seen on GH again I fear, which is sad to admit.

[DRW50]

I was so impressed with the clip @BetterForgotten posted in the GH thread for Tracy's 1993 exit. It may be the best exit I can remember from GH. I ended up going around and watching this scene from Tracy's 2003 return. It's fitting that Lila was key to both scenes, and that this was one of Anna Lee's last appearances. 

GH 04.17-18.03 - Tracy asks Lila to let her stay

On the one hand, at least the Quartermaines all have defined personalities here, unlike now, but you can feel how lacking in nuance and turn-based the writing has become by this point, as each person just walks up to hurl invective. I'm also reminded of how much less interesting a character John Ingle's Edward was compared to David Lewis, even if he did have some good moments - it's just that he wasn't suited to parts like this where you are reminded of the complex history Edward and Tracy shared.

I was watching some clips of Lila's death and memorial - a lot is not here (including one very memorable Tracy scene), but there are still some strong moments, like the eulogies from Tracy and Alan.

It's amazing how Jason-centered this is. Sometimes I forget how much the point of view did start to shift from him after Guza left. And I'd forgotten Steve still had more of the youthful looks when he first came back, before he began getting too big.

I had also forgotten just how many Quartermaines were around at this point (in spite of AJ being gone and "honorary" Q Skye not being there). Yet you can see in the big group moment in the living room how little use the show has for them - very sour writing and half-hearted energy and performances, especially from some like Natalia Livingston (I guess I did at least buy that she cared about the Quartermaines, on some level, unlike Amber's Emily) and whichever Justus this was.  

One consistency from then to now is Brook Lyn seemed more mature than Lois, but at least Brook Lyn still had some semblance of screen presence (no comment on the Vanessa Carlton songalike in the third clip I didn't link). I don't think Lesli Kay is bad, but she is so blatantly just imitating Rena Sofer. Even when I was never a big Lois fan, her return has reminded me how much more natural she is onscreen than anything Lois has going on here. In contrast, Jed Allan is better than I remembered, it's just hard to buy him in the material as he had just arrived. I think the worst with him started when Heather started pursuing him - was that a story or did I just make it up?

Something else I'd totally forgotten was how much they were trying to have Felicia repairing her relationship with her daughters and with Mac. What was it that led to this being dropped? Did JFP or Frons lowball Kristina Wagner?

Mac's nasty digs at the Quartermaines in their time of grief are startling. He doesn't even bother to give praise to people he was once closer to, like Alan and Monica (in spite of Alan being a rock for Robin). Another case of TPTB at the time letting their anger course through the characters.

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Edited January 18 by DRW50

[Vee]

2003 and 2004 were especially bad years for the show, and the Qs. The writing was juiced up in that period particularly by both Frons and the presence of Chuck Pratt, who I think made the show much more adrenalized and crass with action, sex and a kind of 90s primetime sensibility that didn't often work IMO. Everything was about the gunplay and big setpieces, kickboxing Courtney, Faith the male fantasy whore supervillain, etc. There were many lowlights still to come (2005 is probably the worst year of Guza II, and prompted a massive reset of the show and refocus on the hospital following Pratt's exit and the crisis rehiring of Kimberly McCullough), but nothing is ever as tacky as the Pratt co-writing period IMO. The better, longer scenes interspersed amidst the sturm und drang, mob worship, etc. did return much more after the early-mid 2000s there. I think @carolineg and others might agree with me on that, but who knows.

I don't blame John Ingle for this stuff, as it's just bad. I do think he had a lot more nuance and good material in the Labine years especially, where he showed his range and depth. Rewatching it recently it proves out for me.

Jed Allan did get pursued by and I think marry Heather briefly. That story came and went so quickly, another example of the amphetamine storytelling in that period.

I don't know what happened with Kristina's brief return which I barely remember. I assume she did get lowballed. I know they later (or was it before?) had JFP pal Sandra Ferguson in the role, which bombed. Then Felicia didn't return again til Georgie's death several years later, where Maxie absolutely rips her to shreds at the memorial in a very good (but tough) scene. I'm glad those days are past.

I didn't hate Lesli Kay as Lois - I thought she was working hard to evoke Rena, and they could've just re-paired her and Ned. The Alcazar thing was a pointless, embarrassing C-story though, designed to marginalize him further post-Carly.

Edited January 18 by Vee