1 hour ago, carolineg said:

but I have always said I don't think he has much fondness for the Sonny/Brenda pairing.

I don’t think he does either. He loves Brenda, and Sonny, just not together. He was smart enough to play the longing, but once he had Carly/Sonny nobody else was ever good enough there. I felt during her first return they were a little heavy handed even with the Carly/Sonny stuff. I think it’s part of why he intended Brenda to end up with Jason in 2002, and why she and Jax were always played more as a couple.

1 hour ago, titan1978 said:

I don’t think he does either. He loves Brenda, and Sonny, just not together. He was smart enough to play the longing, but once he had Carly/Sonny nobody else was ever good enough there. I felt during her first return they were a little heavy handed even with the Carly/Sonny stuff. I think it’s part of why he intended Brenda to end up with Jason in 2002, and why she and Jax were always played more as a couple.

Guza generally seems to like couples he creates like Carly/Sonny, Jax/Brenda, and potentially Jason/Brenda. He never really wrote for Sonny/Brenda as a couple together besides the last return.

I do think it was fairly wise to keep Sonny/Brenda apart in the first run because of Carly/Sonny's popularity and the length of Vanessa's initial contract. I am pretty certain everyone assumed Vanessa would stay, but at the time it was probably a solid decision when VM bolted. Unfortunately, Carly/Sonny will end up torturing us for the next two decades lol. At the time blowing up the very rushed Skye/Jax pairing was a smarter choice.

11 hours ago, carolineg said:

I do think Garin Wolf tried to change the tone slightly in his brief stint, but I also don't think a ton of effort was made to drastically change things until Ron stepped in.

GW's promotion to HW proves @titan1978 's point about JFP and Frons hiring a lackey to keep the show going until what was supposed to be its' cancellation. I still remember reading his interview w/ Michael Logan; and after about the fourth or fifth time he uttered that "Sometimes they come back!" garbage, I think it was clear to Logan and everyone else that he had absolutely no idea at all what to do with anyone on the show.

1 minute ago, Khan said:

GW's promotion to HW proves @titan1978 's point about JFP and Frons hiring a lackey to keep the show going until what was supposed to be its' cancellation. I still remember reading his interview w/ Michael Logan; and after about the fourth or fifth time he uttered that "Sometimes they come back!" garbage, I think it was clear to Logan and everyone else that he had absolutely no idea at all what to do with anyone on the show.

I get both your points. If that were the case they might as well have kept Guza but I assume it was a last attempt to save money or maybe they were eyeing RC/FV all along. For all I know GW was following Guza's outlines.

I think I recall GW's GH being slightly less dark and liked some of what he did with Sonny (temporarily) hit rock bottom. I would have to refresh my memory of that period because I can't actually remember much more than the Sonny arc. I don't think GW was necessarily head writer material and it would have been awful for GH to close out the show with him at the helm.

Garin Wolf, like Jean Passanante, might have been really good as part of a writing team in the right role. But neither one of them should have gotten the top spot. As much as I love Patrick Mulcahey, I think he also should not have ever been a solo HW or at the top of the ticket without a pure idea person there as his equal, which Korte is not. But PM at least knows how to make a character and their words reveal their motivations, wishes, personality, etc.

I was hopeful when Guza was let go. I remember the fan response and wishes for Sri Rao during Night Shift 2, and at the time that was airing he expressed interest in the main show. So there were talented writers not already washed up interested. And there was a tonal shift, but it stayed firmly in JFP’s creative wheelhouse, which is part of why she got fired too. It was also her MO back then. She tried to get rid of the HW position on OLTL, preferred weaker HW writing teams towards the end of her GL run, AW was a mess, and she brought McTavish with her to GH. Awful decisons and they showed onscreen. Guza/Pratt got associate producer titles specifically for more money and some autonomy to enforce their ideas, and she acquiesced unless something gave her the edge, like budget issues. She even tried Passanante on Y&R. Comically a bad idea!

GW had stayed and gone fi-core during the writers strike, and it felt to me like his GH was just limping to a close instead of trying a shot of adrenaline. Ron Carlivati drives me crazy with his bad habits, but he and Frank tried to save the show. Jill did not, and it’s almost comical considering she is supposed to be such a great EP. We can say Frons was stopping her all we want, but he was on borrowed time after the cancellations and general distaste for his ideas, which were almost DOA, and ratings matter. Had she injected energy and used the vets like FV/RC did, who knows how different things could have been?