14 hours ago, Planet Soap said:

I think the late 90s (image from 1998) was Luke's best look. Shaved rather than shaggy head. 

The earring is a little off putting, but wasn't it trendy mid 90's?  I agree this is Tony's best look though.

11 hours ago, titan1978 said:

Back then, the only time I felt Laura was well dressed and styled was right around Lucky’s dead storyline. She had flattering bangs, her character was with Stefan and she was dressing up more. You know the show felt so too because right around this time she all of a sudden had a new round of photos taken that ended up in soap mags for months.

Genie looks stunning there.  Stefan/Laura make a very attractive couple and I recall thinking they had decent chemistry.  I was always sad about Bobbie/Stefan's quick ending though.

Edited August 9, 20241 yr by carolineg

59 minutes ago, carolineg said:

I was always sad about Bobbie/Stefan's quick ending though

Another one of the great ideas Guza set in motion in 1996 then had to leave before it could be fully fleshed out!

9 minutes ago, titan1978 said:

Another one of the great ideas Guza set in motion in 1996 then had to leave before it could be fully fleshed out!

Such a disappointment.  They had great chemistry and the story had so many layers.  I really get why the show moved to SN and MBE, but it was majorly flawed in execution.  The chemistry never translated.

14 minutes ago, carolineg said:

Such a disappointment.  They had great chemistry and the story had so many layers.  I really get why the show moved to SN and MBE, but it was majorly flawed in execution.  The chemistry never translated.

A part of me wishes Katherine had left the show when her marriage to Ned story ended. They never really got a full character out of her.

But I would not trade the Ball and those scenes with Laura and Stefan and her falling for anything. She should have stayed dead, but they weren’t willing to go that far with Luke in 1998. Laura asking her since when do we look anything alike and the way MBE played those scenes was so good, haunting even.

It was possible for the Bobbie marriage to work for a couple of years and still get where they did with Katherine. Might have worked better too instead of trying to make Stefan her shooter and her savior.

22 hours ago, titan1978 said:

A part of me wishes Katherine had left the show when her marriage to Ned story ended. They never really got a full character out of her.

But I would not trade the Ball and those scenes with Laura and Stefan and her falling for anything. She should have stayed dead, but they weren’t willing to go that far with Luke in 1998. Laura asking her since when do we look anything alike and the way MBE played those scenes was so good, haunting even.

It was possible for the Bobbie marriage to work for a couple of years and still get where they did with Katherine. Might have worked better too instead of trying to make Stefan her shooter and her savior.

It always seemed like MBE really enjoyed playing Katherine, but the character was a mess.  I am not the biggest Kayla fan and I think MBE does better with a character with some edge, but I feel like Katherine was just meant to fail from moment 1.   The first fall from the parapet was epic though!

I feel like there were so many possibilities with the Stefan/Bobbie marriage.  The obvious tension with Luke, but you could have played more Bobbie/Nikolas bonding.  The show started going there a little bit, but you could imagine the problems with Laura as well when Bobbie starts becoming a maternal figure to Nik as well.  It wasn't endgame or anything, but I feel it was cut way too short for a SN/MBE pairing that was probably never going to work because the characters were just too different.

So I’ve kinda compared Elizabeth‘s Lovestory with Lucky and the one with Franco.

i have to say that Friz definitely the better written couple and they had a stronger chemistry. I would even put Franco and Liz into my top 10 ultimate favorite couples of all time. Even top 5 if I catched up with the missing years. 

I still dont get why Franco had to be killed off and was the issue was? Coz it’s not like Franco was still evil or whatever. I have to say that Franco‘s character development is one of the strongest in the shows history if I am being honest 

On 8/11/2024 at 5:23 AM, AMCOLTLLover said:

I still dont get why Franco had to be killed off and was the issue was?

Because he was a serial killer and most of the audience hated him.

16 minutes ago, Vee said:

Because he was a serial killer and most of the audience hated him.

I'm going to add he KIDNAPPED Elizabeth's baby. Tumor or not, there's no way she should or would have ever gotten together with that man.

 

On 8/11/2024 at 8:23 AM, AMCOLTLLover said:

So I’ve kinda compared Elizabeth‘s Lovestory with Lucky and the one with Franco.

i have to say that Friz definitely the better written couple and they had a stronger chemistry. I would even put Franco and Liz into my top 10 ultimate favorite couples of all time. Even top 5 if I catched up with the missing years. 

I still dont get why Franco had to be killed off and was the issue was? Coz it’s not like Franco was still evil or whatever. I have to say that Franco‘s character development is one of the strongest in the shows history if I am being honest 

 

7 hours ago, Vee said:

Because he was a serial killer and most of the audience hated him.

I never had the feeling people hated Friz back then. I always was under impression that they were quite popular.

I mean Elizabeth did some bad things herself. Maybe not as bad as Franco BUT she is flawed herself and maybe that’s why she clicked with him.

i really loved 2016-2019 and how hard Franco worked on himself and his relationship. Like I said he had such a strong character development tbh. 

1 hour ago, AMCOLTLLover said:

I never had the feeling people hated Friz back then. I always was under impression that they were quite popular.

They gained a contingent of Becky's fans just happy to see her with a pairing and Roger's diehard loyalists who would watch him do anything, but Franco was always reviled despite many attempts to put him over.

It is all perspective, but one person’s excellent character development is another person’s (mine) watching a show jump through hoops to keep someone because they liked the actor more than the rest of the show. He should never have been Franco. They should never have tried to keep RH and Michael Easton in roles that kept failing instead of trying something else. Poor Rebecca Herbst was forced to prop both of them.

Hamilton Finn might be a beloved character right now if they had cast someone else to play him that had not played several characters already in the same decade.

On 8/5/2024 at 10:33 AM, carolineg said:

Agree with everything you said about Guza.

I never thought about Labine regressing Laura.  I always thought her pushback with Luke's antics made sense given where she was in life.  Finally getting her house, finally able to stop running, Lucky growing up, getting pregnant with Lulu, etc-Luke was always just about to ruin that stability.  I wasn't terribly familiar with Luke/Laura's 80's story back then, so maybe a re-watch of it now I would have a different opinion.

The writing did make Laura a much more reserved character, but I wonder how much is down to Genie Francis losing most of the spark she had when she was first on the show. That can happen with younger performers as they get older. Even by the time of her AMC work she feels colorless to me.

16 minutes ago, DRW50 said:

The writing did make Laura a much more reserved character, but I wonder how much is down to Genie Francis losing most of the spark she had when she was first on the show. That can happen with younger performers as they get older. Even by the time of her AMC work she feels colorless to me.

Wasn't she practically forced to return as Laura by ABC?  I could see that affecting the way she felt about the character.  I could also just see Genie having a different take on how she thought Laura would act all these years later.  

My perspective was that Laura just grew up and was just tired of being on the run.  I didn't see it as losing spark or spunk, but I see how others can.  I think it's probably a combination of both.  Again, I would have to re-watch.  

12 minutes ago, carolineg said:

Wasn't she practically forced to return as Laura by ABC?  I could see that affecting the way she felt about the character.  I could also just see Genie having a different take on how she thought Laura would act all these years later.  

Yes. She made no secret of how much she didn't want to return. Unfortunately, her performances in roles she did seem to really want to play weren't a lot better. But she has her moments.

8 minutes ago, DRW50 said:

Yes. She made no secret of how much she didn't want to return. Unfortunately, her performances in roles she did seem to really want to play weren't a lot better. But she has her moments.

I can't say I am very familiar with her work outside GH and Days.  Genie needs to write a book or something.  It must be very frustrating to be so successful so young and never really be able to recapture it or move on from your most famous role.