4 hours ago, carolineg said:

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.  

She has said before that she started working on a book but realized it was nothing but a collection of jobs and trauma until she got married and started a family. She had no life beyond her career before that, and her career had been traumatic in her younger days when she became famous. She loved the actual work, but the fame part mixed with the isolation of being so young really did a number on her.

As far as a spark- when they first came back she had it. They didn’t really stop writing anything but Luke loves danger until after her second maternity leave. That last year or so of Labine Laura was more neglected than Luke because Luke had stronger ties to the only story they were telling-Stone dying and how the community responded to that.

Back then I had only seen a handful of Luke and Laura scenes before the return. Now that I have seen more of their original run, I think Guza leaned into more of the younger, very troubled Laura. And Labine didn’t. 

When Genie left GH she signed with CBS and got Bare Essence min series. I don't think anything else came of that.

Perhaps CBS just signed her for the publicity and weren't all that interested.

Then when the Bare Essence series bombed it was probably a rude awakening to the realities of the primetime biz.

I can't remember who it was but an actress commented that it was limos to the studio, fashion shoots,(keep any clothes you like,darling) catered lunches etc as their series was launched, but once it tanked she had to pay for a cab home.

'

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 

 

19 hours ago, AMCOLTLLover said:

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. 

I think its the modern ---sometimes down for anything ---GH fans that liked their loved story. Longtime fans and the more discerning (I hate how superior and pretentious that sounded) weren't  going for it. 

Franco did too much. He got Michael raped in prison, implied that he raped Sam I front of Jason, was a serial killer and committed other acts mentioned in this chat. He was too far gone to be redeemed. 

The biggest insult was Franco getting Michael raped in prison then rewriting history to say he meant for the rapist to protect Michael.

I think the latter was done clear the way for him to have a relationship with Carly. 

But I think Franco and Carly were only a couple so Roger Howard and Laura wright could be together, to and rekindle Carly's romance with Todd who had to be written off when ABC lost the rights to OLTL.

Edited August 14, 20241 yr by Planet Soap

Watching 2005 episodes and I must admit that I like Jennifer Bransford a lot. Dare I say that has the Carly vibe/energy more than Laura Wright? #unpopularopinions

7 hours ago, Sapounopera said:

Watching 2005 episodes and I must admit that I like Jennifer Bransford a lot. Dare I say that has the Carly vibe/energy more than Laura Wright? #unpopularopinions

She wasn't really the right fit, but I think she did the best she could?  The writing for Carly was nuts back then.  I don't think she did a bad job.  The deck was really stacked against her. I think it was clear she was a placeholder.

17 hours ago, carolineg said:

She wasn't really the right fit, but I think she did the best she could?  The writing for Carly was nuts back then.  I don't think she did a bad job.  The deck was really stacked against her. I think it was clear she was a placeholder.

Very much so; she gave me Alexis vibes if Nancy Lee Grahn had exited, honestly. Not a bad actor but miscast in a role.

8 minutes ago, Liberty City said:

Very much so; she gave me Alexis vibes if Nancy Lee Grahn had exited, honestly. Not a bad actor but miscast in a role.

She had horrible material with that Reese nonsense and Carly's breakdown.  Carly was very weak during this period and not very likeable.  We can argue if Carly's ever been likeable, but I think you get my point.

I also think Kari Wuhrer and JB look a lot alike (at least with their styling back then) and I personally would get them confused sometimes because I was watching very casually during that period.  That's probably a me problem though.

36 minutes ago, carolineg said:

She had horrible material with that Reese nonsense and Carly's breakdown.  Carly was very weak during this period and not very likeable.  We can argue if Carly's ever been likeable, but I think you get my point.

I also think Kari Wuhrer and JB look a lot alike (at least with their styling back then) and I personally would get them confused sometimes because I was watching very casually during that period.  That's probably a me problem though.

In scenes I get that, too. Very eerily similar... which part of me feels like was intentional?

25 minutes ago, Liberty City said:

In scenes I get that, too. Very eerily similar... which part of me feels like was intentional?

I don't know.  Reese's story is so weird that I think she had plastic surgery at some point.  She basically had a million backstories even before she was Carly's high school bff.   I read Reese's GH wiki a few months ago and had no idea what I was reading lol.  It was crazy ride.

I would suspect if the show didn't secure LW from GL Carly would have been written off.  Not forever, but until GH could find the right person.  JB was never meant to be permanent IMO.  I do think Mo actually defended her and seemed to like her though. 

3 minutes ago, carolineg said:

I don't know.  Reese's story is so weird that I think she had plastic surgery at some point.  She basically had a million backstories even before she was Carly's high school bff.   I read Reese's GH wiki a few months ago and had no idea what I was reading lol.  It was crazy ride.

I would suspect if the show didn't secure LW from GL Carly would have been written off.  Not forever, but until GH could find the right person.  JB was never meant to be permanent IMO.  I do think Mo actually defended her and seemed to like her though. 

Completely; Wright leaving Guiding Light when she did was the stars aligning for the role. And then Bransford was gone. LOL.

23 minutes ago, Liberty City said:

Completely; Wright leaving Guiding Light when she did was the stars aligning for the role. And then Bransford was gone. LOL.

Yeah.

I still can see people seeing JB lining up more with Carly than LW.  At least TB's Carly.  LW is Carly to me now, but it took me a long time to get used to her in the role.  I wouldn't be sad if GH reached out to SJB and had her take over again.  Obviously, they would never.

4 minutes ago, carolineg said:

Yeah.

I still can see people seeing JB lining up more with Carly than LW.  At least TB's Carly.  LW is Carly to me now, but it took me a long time to get used to her in the role.  I wouldn't be sad if GH reached out to SJB and had her take over again.  Obviously, they would never.

Oh that would never happen; at this point, the role is Wright's unless she chooses to leave. Carlypalooza is the closest people will get to seeing Brown & Braun as Carly again.

I don’t know. Jill Farren Phelps has a history of miscast recasts. I actually do think this was supposed to be more than a placeholder. If she was a placeholder, then that was twice in a row that Phelps temp cast Carly, which shows me she would have been fine to eliminate the character. Both SJB and IIRC Tamara were speaking up about the story more than women are allowed to on a JFP show, and both exited without much love for her as producer.

Laura Wright feels like an example of someone better being free at the exact right moment, and ABC wanted her.

I’m with @titan1978 I think JFP was dead serious about making JB work in the role but it was just never gonna happen. I remember the last ditch effort too when they lightened her hair and started having her do more press interviews to try and sway the audience but they were still brutal to her.

I know when Laura Wright originally met with Frons it was about getting her on one of the NY soaps and then pivoted to Carly afterward. If Kari Wuher hadn’t got pregnant they probably would have left Carly in the mental hospital for a few years and kept Reese as the new female lead instead of recasting again.

I remember the internet nickname for JB’s Carly being ‘Carl Lee’ at the time, lol