When Bill died Sly ended up with Paul and Jenny, who limped along for a bit then lived offscreen in PC. Sly was still seen a lot as Lucky’s best friend for a couple of years, and I truly don’t remember much of any appearances after Labine leaves, he was already being phased out before the Webber sisters arrived.

Catching up on the last few pages- as we have discussed many times Monty had the right idea about the tone of the show needing to be more grounded, she just botched her way into doing it. Both the show and Bill Eckert might have been more successful had she brought in a writing team that was capable of that transition instead of just trying to force it to happen. Riche’s vision is pretty rocky even if she did accomplish grounding the show until Claire Labine became available.

Tony Geary as anybody but Luke was never going to fly on GH. He was too iconic. And both of them have spoken about how difficult it was to return in 1993. Both Genie and Tony have said they knew that return would basically cement them never having other parts again. What Genie did was build a life and family away from the show. And Tony by his own admission struggled with that until he found Amsterdam, which is when his time off requests became the focus of his contract negotiations. If you are a creative person, soaps even back then are a grind.

14 hours ago, Khan said:

Could I just express one more time how much I love reading your analyses of all things soaps, @dc11786 ? You always bring so much insight that I'm often left feeling breathless. And everything you've written about Bill Eckert is spot-ass-on, too, lol.

Thanks. I have an odd fascination with that 1990-1993 period because there is such ongoing level of chaos because of the constant change in headwriters, producers, cast, and stories. I think there is a bit of irony that it is ultimately the return of Luke and Laura that grounds the show in a reality that was often abandoned by their initial rise to prominence.

11 hours ago, Vee said:

Speaking of intimacy: I was poking around in fall '89 and was startled to see Bobbie and Ruby sit down the day after Tony's proposal and have Bobbie express qualms about the marriage as she basically says they've never been physically intimate together, just 'best friends.' Did Tony just spring this on her without them being officially romantically involved before then?

I think Bobbie and Tony's wedding is a surprise to Bobbie if I remember correctly. I could be wrong. Bobbie thinks she is just going on a vacation to Puerto Rico (I think?) and she ends up getting married to Tony.

I think Jackie was pregnant at some point in 1989-1990, but I don't remember what part of the year. I don't think that would have played a role in anything, but maybe it did.

Given Bobbie's often mentioned past as a sex worker, having her marry Tony, who loved her for just being the amazing woman she was, seems like such a richer emotional story than it probably was intended to be. The woman who had started off weaponizing sex to get what she wanted settling down with a man seems to borderline conservative wet dream and a truly happily ever after. Palumbo is writing most of the romance as I recall. Tony and Bobbie are fairly on the outskirts of the story until late in the year 1990 when Cheryl returns and Bobbie starts working with the adoption agency after a substory in the summer where Bobbie had helped the pregnant bodega worker.

Despite the lack of focus in 1990, when Tony and Bobbie get material, Zeman and Maule always hit it out of the park. When Simone is first diagnosing Lucas with diabetes, there are some nice scenes where Bobbie is worried about not having the medical history of Lucas because he was adopted and thinking that this was somehow her fault because of her call girl past. Tony is so supportive as Bobbie is crashing out. It was a rare moment of depth for them at a time where I don't remember them having much of their own story.

9 hours ago, BadBoy93 said:

I'm loving this discussion. Bill Eckart perhaps should have had more time if they kept him around alongside Luke's return. Have Geary play both roles and perhaps do something with that. But then Geary's schedule became more limited as the years went on so that would've created quite the problem later down the line.

I would have preferred to see Laura without Luke and letting Geary play Bill, but I accept that was never going to be a possibility. I think Tony Geary was too big a name (with too big a paycheck) to be playing a supporting role in a much broader canvas like I would have liked. I don't think Bill could have played a leading man opposite a strong mature female lead unless the woman was morally corrupt. Maybe Bill and Katherine or Bill, Katherine, and Damian in a story, but I don't think that this would have been front burner material.

Similarly, there was some discussion about Tiffany and Sean earlier in the thread. I do think there was a place for them in the late 1990s with the Cassadines as Sean had a roguish start and there were always questions about whether or not he'd go turncoat again. Similarly, wasn't Tiffany basically one of the Cassadine women when she was first introduced (Tony's girlfriend?). I think having one or both of them playing double agent in the Cassadine circle might have been intriguing, but maybe nothing that could be played long term. I also think Tiffany being dragged into the Bobbie / Tony / Carly stuff as an anchor in the storm for Lucas would have been an interesting layer. I just don't know if you could justify contract money for those sort of positions.

7 hours ago, carolineg said:

I have talked forever how I wanted Sly back. I am always curious why he wasn't brought back once during the Emily/Nik/Lucky/Liz era. I think I would have paired him with Emily back then though. The Eckerts were long gone, but perhaps the memory of the failure of the family was still fresh enough that Riche/Guza didn't have much interest.

Riche always seems to be about the long game. Even though Sly was raised in Luke and Laura's home, and Bill was a terrible father (sorry Geary, he was), Bill still died saving Sly and Lucky because the hitmen thought Bill was Luke. Sly lost his father because of the Spencers. The setup for a bitter young man would have been too similar to Nikolas, who hated the Spencers because of their connection to his family. It could have been interesting to bring back Sly, have Nikolas try to turn him to the dark side, only for Sly to remain a positive force.

7 hours ago, Vee said:

It was, and they've never said much.

IIRC Luke and Laura raised Sly as Lucky's brother for a couple years. He was a family fixture. Then he faded out around '96 or '97 and I think they probably said he went to live with Paul and Jenny. I don't know if he got an onscreen exit, I doubt it. He did have regular interaction with Lucky, Emily, etc. right to the end. I think he was gone before the Webber sisters arrived.

The last episode Sly is mentioned in the curlyq summaries is January 23, 1996,though sometimes minor characters don't always make the summaries.

6 hours ago, Franko said:

No worries. Well, wish me luck, everybody -- I'm about to begin my dive into The Decline and Fall of the Monty Empire (i.e. 1986 episodes).

I will be curious to hear about this after having done bits of Monty's return run recently. These transition periods always seem to be rich in roads not taken.

2 hours ago, titan1978 said:

Catching up on the last few pages- as we have discussed many times Monty had the right idea about the tone of the show needing to be more grounded, she just botched her way into doing it. Both the show and Bill Eckert might have been more successful had she brought in a writing team that was capable of that transition instead of just trying to force it to happen. Riche’s vision is pretty rocky even if she did accomplish grounding the show until Claire Labine became available.

I don't think Hardy / Palumbo's GH was amazing, but it wasn't the creative wasteland that needed to be hacked away in the manner Monty did. There were stories that should have continued to their natural, non-rushed conclusion (Cheryl / Bobbie / Lucas and Dawn / Decker). Some characters leaving was probably for the best (Colton and the Grecos, even though I enjoyed them), but the wholesale dump of everything in the course of 2 months was too extreme for daytime.

I enjoy what I've seen of 1992, but it's definitely rocky. For me, it seems to settle a bit by the time Levinson is left to be the solo headwriter (c. October 1992) until Labine's arrival in the next year. Tonally, Levinson's material can lean into the "women in peril" more than I feel Labine did, but it would also be a bit of a turn. Felicia may have been tortured by Ryan Chamberlain, but she had a lot of agency in his comeuppance. I don't feel like we would have seen that under Monty.

We've gone over this many times here over the years, but RC getting mad and changing the Bill story to Fluke was such a mess. They should have let it play out as Bill, especially since they were setting it up. There was no reason to start mentioning the Eckerts again if they weren't committed to going there. I don't have much of a desire to see Jenny again, but I echo the idea that Sly could work and they should try it sometime. Offscreen GH is filled though with characters that should have been brought back ages ago.

I've always thought Julia could work even now without Brenda. Probably not for a long term thing, but I think she'd be fun in a short arc. She's friends with Lucy, Felicia, Ned, and Mac. She knows Tracy. There's always the Sonny and Jason connection. I'm sure she met Carly during one of her returns. I don't know if she overlapped with Anna or not, but it was probably close enough they could just fudge it and no one care. I think they could do something with her still.

11 minutes ago, AdelaideCate007 said:

We've gone over this many times here over the years, but RC getting mad and changing the Bill story to Fluke was such a mess. They should have let it play out as Bill, especially since they were setting it up. There was no reason to start mentioning the Eckerts again if they weren't committed to going there. I don't have much of a desire to see Jenny again, but I echo the idea that Sly could work and they should try it sometime. Offscreen GH is filled though with characters that should have been brought back ages ago.

I've always thought Julia could work even now without Brenda. Probably not for a long term thing, but I think she'd be fun in a short arc. She's friends with Lucy, Felicia, Ned, and Mac. She knows Tracy. There's always the Sonny and Jason connection. I'm sure she met Carly during one of her returns. I don't know if she overlapped with Anna or not, but it was probably close enough they could just fudge it and no one care. I think they could do something with her still.

I really liked Julia and she did have her own existence outside of Brenda. I'd be happy to see her again, unlikely as that is.

Going through random GH clips and found this absolute beauty

32 minutes ago, DRW50 said:

I really liked Julia and she did have her own existence outside of Brenda. I'd be happy to see her again, unlikely as that is.

I agree. And to be honest most of her best material has little to do with Brenda (outside her nice 1997 return). I'd focus more on the business side of things and her romantic life. She can hold a grudge against Sonny because of Brenda and tangle with Carly for the same reason, but she never interacted with either on screen. There are probably too many women in that age range at this point though.

1 minute ago, BadBoy93 said:

Going through random GH clips and found this absolute beauty

Thanks for that!

Honestly I haven't laughed this hard in years. I could dream of GH today doing something this goofy again.

7 minutes ago, BadBoy93 said:

Honestly I haven't laughed this hard in years. I could dream of GH today doing something this goofy again.

I think Jax has a wacky dream as well where Sonny/Brenda make out and both Miranda and Brenda threaten to shoot him? And they are both wearing wedding dresses. This is only a bit of the episode.

12 minutes ago, carolineg said:

I think Jax has a wacky dream as well where Sonny/Brenda make out and both Miranda and Brenda threaten to shoot him? And they are both wearing wedding dresses. This is only a bit of the episode.

I think the whole episode is a dream. They do that again around 2002, but the show wasn't as ugly at this point. The 1996 Thanksgiving is one of the more entertaining "special episodes" soaps were doing in the '90s and '00s.

Edited 2 hours ago2 hr by DRW50

10 hours ago, Vee said:

@DRW50 will be surprised to note that Melissa Hayden from GL can be spotted as "Mouse" in fall '89 episodes. I had no idea she was on the show, I think Mouse was a recurring player.

About 30 years ago I remember an SOD feature on roles soap actors had before they had bigger parts and I saw a photo of "Mouse" and Frisco, I think in fishing gear.

24 minutes ago, carolineg said:

I think Jax has a wacky dream as well where Sonny/Brenda make out and both Miranda and Brenda threaten to shoot him? And they are both wearing wedding dresses. This is only a bit of the episode.

26 minutes ago, DRW50 said:

I think the whole episode is a dream. They do that again around 2002, but the show wasn't as ugly at this point. The 1996 Thanksgiving is one of the more entertaining "special episodes" soaps were doing in the '90s and '00s.

It was Courtney's dream IIRC ☹️