@Franko Thanks so much for your newest recap. I look forward to these, and I appreciate how you structure them instead of just straight up summaries - in cases like this with the Laurelton story I know that would be a chore for you to put together. The Laurelton scenes sound alternately dreary and unhinged.

Did DL know about what Terry went through in Laurelton? Was that ever mentioned?

Given that we're just out of Valentine's Day, day I liked the focus on various couples. I agree that something is wrong when Steve only returns to prop a couple who only last for a year and he has no real connection with.

Bobbie and Jake had such an unhappy end and were yet another soap couple tarnished by constant baby stories, so I am appreciating their happier days here.

Thanks so much, @DRW50. I always fear that I'm going on and on and on about Laurelton, but it's occupying, like, three-fourths of the show as a whole at this point in 1986 and it's just an endless array of kitsch. Well, not even kitsch -- it's just plain bad.

I've once again gotten my viewing done early, taking me up through Terry & Kevin's wedding, Jennifer and her goons pressuring Sarah to shut up, and Kevin finding out about Terry & Patrick's failed sexual encounter. I'll give my own commentary a little later, but I like your mentioning DL, who hasn't come up even once during my viewing. I think the show wants to pretend that he never existed, even though that would/should be a logical beat to play. For that matter, I have no real sense of Terry's late mother.

For all I know, Jessie's time off screen includes matchmaking for various GH staffers and/or patients.

The Jake & Bobbie stuff is especially sweet, although I'm now certain that he won't find out about her past until all the way in 1987.

Edited yesterday at 01:03 PM1 day by Franko

Is this (the Laurelton saga) around the time GH's ratings started slipping?

2 hours ago, Khan said:

Is this (the Laurelton saga) around the time GH's ratings started slipping?

Yes. We're getting closer to mid-March, when Y&R dethroned GH for a few weeks.

7 hours ago, Franko said:

Yes. We're getting closer to mid-March, when Y&R dethroned GH for a few weeks.

That's what I had suspected. Not only was the Laurelton saga an absolute chore to watch, it also caused GH's ratings to falter after years of being on top. TPTB really should've killed the story first chance they got.

A late January 1986 promo.

In memory of Tristan Rogers: Luke remembers Robert on the anniversary of his 'death.'

3 hours ago, Khan said:

That's what I had suspected. Not only was the Laurelton saga an absolute chore to watch, it also caused GH's ratings to falter after years of being on top. TPTB really should've killed the story first chance they got.

Newcomer Anna had a rough road having to carry this Laurelton mess just after Robert took off. I guess the Asian Quarter saga was that popular!

Watching the late '70s and early '80s in rapid succession lately though, it feels like Bobbie is aged up so fast by the show. She goes from the scheming vixen (and Bobbie in her heyday was as merciless as classic Carly if not moreso, woof) to still a young, vibrant and easygoing lover with Noah upon her return in late '82/early '83, to just a couple years later in '86 where she's wearing drab sweaters and perpetually clucking over Terry Brock who can't be much older than her, trying to adopt as many kids as possible.

Edited 9 hours ago9 hr by Vee

14 minutes ago, Vee said:

Newcomer Anna had a rough road having to carry this Laurelton mess just after Robert took off. I guess the Asian Quarter saga was that popular!

Watching the late '70s and early '80s in rapid succession lately though, it feels like Bobbie is aged up so fast by the show. She goes from the scheming vixen (and Bobbie in her heyday was as merciless as classic Carly if not moreso, woof) to still a young, vibrant and easygoing lover with Noah upon her return in late '82/early '83, to just a couple years later in '86 where she's wearing drab sweaters and perpetually clucking over Terry Brock who can't be much older than her, trying to adopt as many kids as possible.

That seems to be from the grueling DL story. I still don't know if the show needed that story (and it does seem out of step for the rest of the show in that era, as has been mentioned).

I watched a clip from the Laurelton Frisco and Felicia clips with Terry finding a dead body in their living room and doing the most OTT wailing and sobbing as Bobbie races downstairs and has to console her. It's just a test to watch and does seem like an odd fit for Bobbie. I suppose this is the end result of getting rid of any older women not named Lila.

Edited 9 hours ago9 hr by DRW50

8 hours ago, Vee said:

Newcomer Anna had a rough road having to carry this Laurelton mess just after Robert took off. I guess the Asian Quarter saga was that popular!

IKR, lol? But, at least the Asian Quarter saga happened in Port Charles. Laurelton, OTOH, was about [!@#$%^&*] that happened off-screen years ago, in a town that I don't think GH fans had ever seen or heard before; and it was centered largely around characters they either didn't know (Jennifer Talbot, Earl Moody, the brothers O'Connor) or didn't actually care about (Terry, despite having been on the show for awhile and being connected to Bobbie and the brownstone). About the only GOOD thing to come out of that story (which I still believe was another one of JER's cockamamie ideas, until I learn otherwise) was Lucy. Otherwise, between that and GL struggling, it's no surprise that me and Mama Khan began watching SaBa more.

19 hours ago, DRW50 said:

Thank you very much!!! Rare footage from those years!!