GH: Classic Thread

[DRW50]

Thanks. That was all past me.

[Contessa Donatella]

This is news to me. How I avoided knowing this, I do not know. But Monti Sharp? Seems to me he'd be woefully miscast. Very talented but not Justus Ward. 

[Vee]

From what I recall, Joe Phillips did play Justus' downfall very well. I remember tuning in one day after school and Justus was drunk and messy, bitter about something and for a long while I thought it was a different actor. He was very good. I didn't mind Justus going dark but they didn't have anything for him after that.

Mfundo Morrison (the last Justus) was very weak and was just another mob lawyer, in between scenes of him having impromptu prayer sessions in burning hotels. He had a weird, pretty sexist C-romance with Kent Masters King's Lainey Winters (I wonder WEHT her - she was close to Scrubs, Liz and many of the hospital crew in those years when they were rebuilding that side of the canvas) and then a past with Faith. Then they killed him needlessly.

I would still dump Curtis and bring Justus back tomorrow to help shore up the Qs and to add a new entry point for more Wards - and I'd probably bring on his illegitimate kid with Faith that was rumored during Mulcahey's run last year, to play with both Trina and Emma, maybe as a scheming techbro type (not in DOGE, don't worry). It could be Joseph Phillips as Justus or you could go a bit younger, which I might to try and put him with Portia who I think needs much more story. Brook Kerr works very hard and gets too little. Anyway, there's many Wards you could bring on - from Keesha and Justus, to Maya again or her little sister Zoe (who Guza had allegedly intended for Michael when he was young), to all sorts of entirely new people since it was a gigantic family tree.

Here's the Kwanzaa ep mentioned recently, BTW. I believe this is MVJ:

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They also do the long transition into the Koz theme and the credits here. GH used to have these transitions into the opening down to a science, I miss this kind of attention to detail.

Edited February 8 by Vee

[titan1978]

Thank you for posting that episode @Vee

I don’t think I have watched a Labine era GH episode without feeling something, ever. She and the team they assembled were the perfect writers for the vision Wendy Riche had. When things were at their darkest during her tenure, I also felt hope. I might need to do a rewatch for the first few months of 2025.

Just that simple moment with Ned looking at Monica leaving, and saying Happy New Year had depth to it, because the emotional core of the history was there. History on soaps, for me, has never meant minutia or just a name from the past. It’s the weight of Ned seeing Monica clearly unwell. It’s how Laura always desperately needed a maternal figure and family, and clearly found one again in Mary Mae and her family.

[Vee]

Yes, I forgot to mention that this ep is a lovely showcase for both Leslie and Stuart Damon. I've been reviewing a lot of Leslie's key eras lately (including the Lassa Fever saga, and the subsequent quad with Rick, Alan, Lesley, etc. I've seen before, as well as her affair with Sean Donely) but her work throughout the cancer drama is stuff I hadn't watched since I was a kid. And it's still very good.

I loved how Edward still called Laura 'young lady' too. There is a throughline back to the young woman (barely an adult) who answered his phones at ELQ.

Edited February 8 by Vee

[carolineg]

I always thought Keesha would be so easy to bring back even though I liked Justus more.  Keesha was on the show long enough to be established, but she basically had her whole life ahead of her.  She's almost a blank slate.  I honestly think Portia/Brook Kerr could have easily been a recast Keesha.  I would have gone as far as giving Keesha a child by AJ.  Honestly, it's better than Trina's paternity saga.

[Contessa Donatella]

I have thought this exact same thing. As a matter of fact, I like Keesha quite a lot. In the back of my mind, I sorta am watching for her to appear.

[Planet Soap]

A lot of Classic clip compilation videos are coming out about Monica since Leslie Charleson's passing. This was a cool look at her relationships with Jason and AJ as kids

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This one features years of her scenes with Tracy from their first scene together to their last.

 

 

Edited February 8 by Planet Soap

[DRW50]

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Amazing to think we've got at least 3 episodes now from around this period. Finding '60s GH is spotty but much better represented than most other soaps.

This episode has a flashback to when Steve tells Audrey they lost their baby. I don't think that was in the other episodes we've seen (if it was, my apologies).

Reading up on Polly's history I see that a year after this she dies in a car crash, pregnant, while Phil is driving. Odd seeing this in an episode focusing on the aftermath of the same happening with Steve and Audrey (very different circumstances, I know). Was that the same headwriters? I wonder if viewers ever found these stories repetitive (and this one also had another round of Jessie/Phil) or if they just loved the characters enough to not mind. 

Edited February 9 by DRW50

[Vee]

I was just rewatching Patricia Breslin (Meg #1) in the Twilight Zone classic episode "Nick of Time" with William Shatner. These eps are all a blessing - I'm just now getting to them.

[FrenchFan]

Thanks for that !!

[Forever8]

Thanks so much for bringing the episode to our attention. I can't wait to watch as I always been interested in 60s GH. 

[AMCOLTLLover]

Thank u so much for the tag…

What a gem! Can’t believe Jessie and Lee being so prominent. When I started the classics they were just supporting characters. Gosh I love Jessie

[VelekaCarruthers]

Wow. Wonderful.  The Hursleys, GH creators, remained the head writers until 1973 before their daughter and son in law, the Dobsons, took over for two years.  The Hursleys back story is here in this fascinating article.  https://michigantoday.umich.edu/2013/07/29/a8670/

[DRW50]

Thanks so much for the article.

I thought it must have still been them, as I know GH was steady with viewers until starting to falter in the early '70s - just wonder how people would have felt about quite that much repetition.

I get more of the older woman/younger man vibe here with Jessie and Phil than I did with Roy Thinnes. Looking up the ages I see that Martin West is actually a bit older than Roy Thinnes (maybe a year or so). He does look older than Thinnes, but he has more of a vibrant spirit here that makes you understand why poor Jessie was naive enough to yet again let him into her life. I can see why he lasted so long in the role. 

Edited February 9 by DRW50