GH: Classic Thread

[dc11786]

Funny. Five or so years ago, I would definitely agree with you regarding Brad Maule's sexual allure, but I don't today. I think he is incredibly sexy, but maybe not in the playboy cad who gets all the nurses into bed kind of way. Rather he is the hot dad next door who is just the right mix of cheeky and caring that I could see women like Carly and Lucy being drawn not just to the doctor husband's salary but the in control protective father figure. Early 1990s (at the very least) Tony Jones is a DILF. And this will be a hot take, but I'd take Tony over Frisco. 

Regarding Rita's viability, I do think Palumbo's plan was a Rita/Tony pairing. Rita arrives just as Cheryl Stansbury is about to discover that Lucas is her son and this conflict would most likely have caused Tony and Bobbie's marriage to his a snag and Tony would have landed in Rita's arms. This should, in turn, have created professional animosity between Bobbie and Rita, both nurses. To keep things fun, I probably would have had Rita befriend Lucy, who would need medical help to continue to play off Scotty's baby as Alan's. And a Rita/Lucy partnership would have just given Bobbie oodles to cluck about to Felicia, Simone, and anyone else who popped over to the Brownstone. 

Maybe I should have said Brenda lacks vulnerability. She is harsh and rough around the edges 24/7. Even with Jagger I don't get the sense she lets her guard down enough (January-April 1993). There is one scene with Jagger where she talks about her miserable childhood when she has joined Jagger at the cabin in the woods where he is living after leaving Port Charles. Every other moment I find incredibly hard to connect with her. Even Tiffany at her most toxic is consistently friendly with Holly and supportive of her. I think Levinson missed the boat by not allowing Brenda to help Robin more. 

Edited March 14 by dc11786

[Vee]

I also think Maule is often quite sexy in his own way. Yes, he was peak suburban 90s dad but there was more behind the unassuming outward appearance. His talent most of all is what stuns me the more classic material I revisit - such a quiet storm, but also capable of incredible wry humor.  Sarah Brown has also spoken highly of him recently.

[carolineg]

I'd take Tony over Frisco too.  I always thought BM was good looking.  He's caring and nice and offers stability.  

Yeah, I can see what you are saying about Brenda.  I have always thought it was a combination of writing and Vanessa's early acting.  I am not sure the writers even knew what they were going to do with Brenda.  It seemed like she was just going to be a spoiled rich girl obstacle for Jagger/Karen.  The character didn't have much depth and in the beginning I didn't even know if Brenda liked Robin or was just using her to get into the group.  I wish they explored her relationship with Julia more too.  I know they do love one another as sisters, but they really didn't connect in any meaningful way early on either.

I thought Vanessa had charisma to spare from her first moment on screen, but she's not the best actress early on.  It takes her some time to find her groove and infuse her natural likeability and vulnerability into the character of Brenda.  I'd say by the last breakup with Jagger she's actually become rootable.  And contrary to what MB said, I thought Vanessa had grown a ton as an actress by the time she was paired with Sonny.

I never thought raw sex appeal was what attracted women to Tony.  And I certainly don't think that was it in Carly's case, but I do think she loved him in her own way.

Brad Maule is kind of a forgotten talent.  I can't recall if he ever won an emmy, but I know he was nominated.   I am always surprised when I catch old episodes and I see how good he is too.  Not just in the BJ story, but even just doing something at the hospital or talking to Bobbie.  He is just one of those really great supporting characters a show needs.  There's nothing flashy about BM, but you don't even realize how much Tony contributed to the show until he was gone.

Edited March 15 by carolineg

[DeliaIrisFan]

The current GH writing turnover coinciding with a "fan favorite" return made me think of Luke and Laura's 1993 return (not to say Jason is in their league).  I just rewatched that Friday show when L&L appeared for < 1 minute at the end and GH supposedly tied(?) Y&R in the ratings in the second half hour.

I am curious about some of the choices that were made for this episode, when millions more eyeballs were on this show than ever would be again.  I believe the only characters featured that day who had met L&L were Felicia and, of course, Scott.  Unfortunately (from my perspective anyway), all of Scott's scenes were with Katherine Bell - Lucy was still a few weeks away from exposing Katherine as a con artist.  I just wonder why Bobbie and/or the Quartermaines wouldn't have made an appearance, to give returning viewers some familiarity.  That said, I wouldn't exactly say the show was catering to newer viewers, either - there was no exposition to explain who Luke and Laura were.  Bill Eckert was also MIA, so someone who had only watched the show for 5-10 years or less could theoretically have wondered if that was him with a new hairstyle in the cliffhanger.

I don't mean to fault Claire Labine for trusting viewers to figure stuff out, or even for the way she chose to arrange the deck chairs < 2 weeks after officially taking the helm.  The larger what-if for me is what would have happened if the network had gotten their ducks in a row sooner: if the writing team had been in place for at least a few months.  Wasn't it ~ 6 months from the time the news broke that Francis was returning before Luke and Laura first appeared?  GH got a boost in the ratings from their return, but there could have been even more of an impact if, say, BJ's accident had happened on the same Friday we first saw L&L.

Also interesting was that the very last scene before we first saw the Spencers in Canada featured Karen, who had run off with Jagger, deciding to return to Port Charles and come forward about what Sonny and Ray had done to her.  This really makes me wonder if Michele Val Jean had pitched the idea of revisiting Laura's rape years before it eventually happened, with the intention that it would dovetail with Karen's story in much the same way it eventually came up after Liz's rape.  I know Vee has written about the scene a few weeks after this when Laura found an old disco light and freaked out a bit.  Karen being Scott's daughter would have made for an interesting dynamic. 

[j swift]

I was thinking about GH's use of the WSB vs. the FBI.  I know Anna has been employed by both.  But, was Reece the first person identified with the FBI within the universe of the show?  I assume the switch from Cassadine-like spies to more grounded mobsters necessitated the introduction of a more realistic law enforcement agency. 

[DRW50]

Did they say who Hannah worked with?

[Vee]

Hannah was FBI. IIRC there were plenty of references to the FBI over many years, it wasn't avoided because of the WSB.

Edited March 15 by Vee

[titan1978]

Back in the day the WSB wasn’t just a US agency. World Security Bureau. The FBI has been mentioned often.

I have no idea what DVX stands for though!

Labine said one of the first things she did was have Karen stop using and call Sonny out. She wanted Karen to have some agency.

As far as the re-introduction storyline, they toyed with a bone marrow transplant storyline but decided L&L’s return needed to be bigger than that, and involve some danger to create momentum. Tony Geary has claimed that he and his writing partner created the framework and Labine and team implemented/expanded on it. They ended up reusing the bone marrow idea for the return of the Cassadines.

About Vanessa Marcil- I also agree she grew a lot as an actor before she was paired with MB. As a matter of fact, I think Maurice improved by being paired up with Tony for the Frank Smith story. I was not of the opinion that he landed as amazing and everyone needed to learn from him.

Vanessa made specific choices during the Karen stripper story where she is supposed to be exposing her and yet she acts as if she feels badly about it, and has some concern for what is happening. I thought she was playing against the writing a little bit and it was noticeable to me, and I was a Karen fan back then. It was like all of a sudden she decided to have an inner thought process play out as Brenda, instead of mostly surface. And I also loved VM, still do. But moving her away from straight vixen did wonders for her.

[carolineg]

Hannah was definitely FBI.  They used the fact that she looked like Brenda to try to infiltrate Sonny's business.

Brenda definitely moves away from just straight torturing Karen and does seem to feel bad about it.  I never thought about her playing against the writing, but I do remember when she finds out Karen was abused and she feels awful.   After that Brenda actually works to help Karen/Jagger with the Sonny stuff and just changes the character a lot.  Her becoming good friends with Karen is a bit too tidy of an ending, but I don't think Karen ever could prove Brenda did half the stuff she did and Karen's pretty forgiving lol.

[titan1978]

Well if she could forgive Sonny, Brenda pales.

[carolineg]

Of course lol!  I am sure it was only because ASJ and CS were leaving, but the way Brenda/Karen make up is just a little too convenient for me.  They asked her to be a bridesmaid in their wedding!  No one would do that in real life.  It's fine and good and I don't actually have a problem with it, but it was the moment you knew Brenda as a character was going in a young heroine direction.  All is forgiven!

[titan1978]

That was pretty wild. Soaps do stuff like that all the time and it’s always a head scratcher.

[carolineg]

Well, unfortunately Karen's only female peers were Brenda and Robin, so I guess they were her only bridesmaid choices.  I can't remember who Jagger was going to have on his side.  Just Stone?  I don't think he asked Jason lol.  I haven't seen the actual wedding in a while because I can only remember the one that was called off or interrupted.   So I don't think they had a bridal party at the second wedding.

[Vee]

I remember finding that insane. Didn't Brenda do revenge porn of her?!

[carolineg]

She took naked photos of Karen in the shower after gym class and posted them around the school, so yeah.  Child porn actually since Karen was a minor.  Brenda used to be a very good photographer, which is a forgotten fact.   But doesn't fit into the post about Brenda actually breaking the law and no one caught her so it was just 

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 lol  Brenda was suspected of it all but I don't think it ever came out to others on screen.  So I guess Brenda just lives with that lol.

Edited March 16 by carolineg