GH: Classic Thread

[Paul Raven]

Variety review from April 63

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[SoapDope]

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[depboy]

Nice! Thanks for sharing!

[depboy]

Here is June 1975! 

Monday, June 2, 1975: Augusta pleads with Peter to adopt her baby.  Lesley asks for Steve’s help on Joel’s behalf.  Augusta tells Peter that he and he alone can make her life in prison bearable; they say goodbye.

Tuesday, June 3: Augusta is sentenced to six months in prison.  Kira is again dismayed by Steve’s intensely negative reaction to her reporting of the complaints against Joel and GH. Cameron tells Lesley that he has looked for and not found, until meeting her, a relationship similar to the one that he had long ago with Kira; he kisses her and she is hesitant but accepting.

Wednesday, June 4: Steve finds it difficult to listen to Beth talk about his projected marriage. Lee tells Peter and Diana about Augusta’s sentence.  Lee and Henry persuade Jane to go home although she is very worried about Joanne; Jane tells Lee she is upset about Howie coming to see Joanne; she doesn’t want to have to see him.  Steve talks with Joel about the fact that Thurston has decided to leave the investigation up to Margaret - Joel expects no breaks from her.  Dr. Tonella calls Joel for help with Joanne.  Henry calls Jane and tells her to come back to the hospital.

Thursday, June 5: Lesley senses that Margaret is not completely objective in her investigation.  Jane is irritated with Mrs. Dawson’s concern about Joanne.  Marty Bishoff brings his friend Felix Buchanan into the free clinic because he has severe stomach pain.  Jim is infuriated when he finds that Lee is escorting Audrey to an Al-Anon meeting.  We sense that Felix Buchanan is taken with Lesley.

Friday, June 6: Cameron and Margaret intuitively know that they are on the same side of the fence in the investigation of Joel.  Jane tells Diana that Howie made her life miserable and that she doesn’t want to see him.  Peter, Diana and Martha move into their new house.  Kira tries to talk to Steve about wedding plans, but he is in no mood to have that conversation. When Lee brings Audrey home, a drunk Jim accuses her of infidelity.  We see a pair of hands looking up Lesley’s phone number, putting a handkerchief over the mouthpiece of the telephone and dialing the number;  we do not see the face of the person doing this.

Monday, June 9: Kira returns her engagement ring to Steve.  Jim and Audrey argue bitterly; Audrey tells Jim she went to an Al-Anon meeting with Lee; he is shocked to realize that she thinks he is an alcoholic.  Felix calls and whispers to Lesley. “At last, I’ve found you.”

Tuesday, June 10: Steve tells an emotional Kira that he didn’t expect her to break the engagement.  Cameron tries to trace Felix’s call, without success.  Audrey proves to Jim that he can’t hold out his hands without them shaking.  Steve tells Lucille that Kira has broken the engagement.  Cameron tries to reassure Lesley that the crank caller will not call again.

Wednesday, June 11: As Jane and Mrs. Dawson argue about Howie, a nurse runs out of Joanne’s room; Jane knows that it is a crisis.  Kira gives Mr. Thurston the legal documentation necessary to get transcripts of the records of patients who have made complaints, but he refuses to turn them over to her.  Dr. Tonella reports that Joanne has had a convulsion due to hypertensive encephalopathy.

Thursday, June 12: Joel is called back to the hospital because of Joanne’s condition.  Lesley gives Felix a prescription.  Lee tells Peter that Augusta hasn’t made a decision about the baby.  Jim is angry when Lee calls Audrey and they plan to go to another Al-Anon meeting. Margaret plays cat and mouse with Joel over the patient files.  Lesley gets another mysterious call.

Friday, June 13: Lee tells Steve that Kira has every legal right to get the files.  Joanne’s heart stops beating.  Steve is called to pediatrics; he takes Diana with him in case it is about Joanne.  They learn that Joanne has died.

Monday, June 16: Jane, unaware that her daughter has died, tells Lee that things are going to be different for her and Joanne from now on.  Peter remembers that Augusta tried to convince him that it would be good for him and Diana to adopt her baby.  Jane learns that Joanne has died.

Tuesday, June 17: Jane is devastated and collapses in Lee’s arms.  Beth gives Peter a letter from Augusta.  Audrey apologizes to a friend from Al-Anon for missing a meeting.  Peter reads Augusta’s letter (we see Augusta as she is writing that letter).

Wednesday, June 18: Joel feels very unsure that something he did caused Joanne’s death. Lesley tells Peter that she is changing her phone number because she got another crank call; she tells him that Joanne’s death has made her remember the deaths of her own children. Diana urges Peter to tell Augusta about Joanne.

Thursday, June 19: Thurston reluctantly gives Kira the transcripts of patients who have made complaints against the hospital and Joel.  Jessie remembers Phil telling her that Peter and Augusta are more than just friends.  Kira promises Steve that she won’t make the contents of the files public until he has had a chance to look into them.  Augusta works in the prison pharmacy with fellow inmate, Billie Dutton; she is overjoyed to learn that Peter will be visiting her tomorrow.

Friday, June 20: Felix asks personal questions of Lesley, and she senses he is somewhat emotionally disturbed.  Cameron learns from Kira that the transcripts look bad for Joel; he urges her to make them public and tells her that he is going to propose to Lesley tonight. Peter is brought into the prison guest room and Augusta embraces him; Peter is awkward and doesn’t know how to handle it.

Monday, June 23: Steve tells Jessie that at his first glance, the complaints against Joel seem justified.  Peter tells Augusta that Joanne died; she is broken up; she urges Peter to decide whether he and Diana will adopt her baby.  Cameron asks Lesley to marry him.

Tuesday, June 24: Jim is angered by a bricklayer at Johnny’s bar; the questions hit a nerve and Jim breaks a glass and cuts his hand.  Steve gives Joel transcripts of the records, but Joel reveals he is very discouraged about the whole prospect of fighting for his innocence. Johnny brings Jim into the clinic for treatment of his hand.  Felix daydreams of Lesley.  Lesley is surprised by Cameron’s proposal; she tries to return the ring, but he urges her to keep it.

Wednesday, June 25: Audrey is humiliated when Steve brings Jim home drunk.  Joel tells Lesley that Felix refused to be treated by him at the free clinic.  Cameron is distressed that Lesley and Joel continue to be in contact.  Lesley dreams that Joel wants to marry her and is disappointed when she wakes up.

Thursday, June 26: Lee is concerned that Jane is unwilling to talk about her feelings.  Audrey tells Jim that Steve would like for him to evaluate some of the patient complaints against Joel.

Friday, June 27: Jane comes back to work; Lucille and Jessie notice a change in her attitude. Joel is shocked when he studies a medical record of one of the patients who have complained.  Cameron urges Lesley to marry him.  

Monday, June 30: Joel tells Margaret he is seriously considering resigning.  Jim tells Steve the mistakes in the hospital transcripts don’t seem like the kind of mistakes Joel would make. Billie asks personal questions, and Augusta gets annoyed.  Diana dreams she is pregnant with Peter’s child.  Jim is humiliated when Steve turns him down about being rehired; Jim starts to drink; Audrey finally reaches the end of her tether; she insists she will not take blame for what has happened to him and that she is going to continue to go to Al-Anon.

[Dion]

Thanks @depboy

uff...the early years GH baby and child curse strikes again!

Poor Joanne and poor Jane!

Now I don't know if it had already been decided to write Jane out by this point but if the decision had already been made it does seem unnecessarily cruel to kill off Joanne. I recall Jane had a miscarriage as part of her first story and then another one two years later.

Edited November 1, 2024 by Dion

[Dion]

25th anniversary special, features a long montage in the middle

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[Paul Raven]

@Dion Great video.Thanks for sharing. The montage is amazing, will have to go through it several times to try and identify everyone. They pretty much ignored the early 70's. Maybe no footage available.

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[cassadine1991]

I do wonder when we are going to get the mention of Laura

[Vee]

Not officially a Thanksgiving episode, but a very important one for the holiday and especially this month and this year. Happy holidays.

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[carolineg]

Thank you for this!  Such a beautiful episode.  Tom/Felicia's stupid romance didn't even ruin it.  I used to love Lucy and her duck, but it seemed slightly out of place in this episode.  

KMc was so talented as a young actress.  She's just absolutely fabulous.  Everyone here is, but Mo really stands out as well.  I really like the Luke/Lucky conversation.  It's something I have remembered for 20 years now it stood out that much.  The whole show feels like a community where everyone is affected by Stone's death.  

The way the episode is structured is fascinating as well.  Characters pop in and out.  Mac, Luke, Lucky, Brenda just show up late in the episode.  It's so much more organic than the show having the set characters featured in the episode in every set of scenes and that's it lol.

And of course Brenda is the hysterical mess while everyone else is acting quietly with their grief.  The look on Lily's face when Sonny grabs Brenda away from Stone's body is 100% worth it though even all these years later lol.

[janea4old]

This is amazing.  I hadn't seen this before.
Michele Val Jean is listed last in the writing credits, does that mean she was the scriptwriter or breakdown writer for the episode?  

Transcript here:
https://tvmegasite.net/transcripts/gh/older/1995/gh-trans-11-29-95.shtml

Lucky's thoughts are well-written but it's what JJ puts into it to bring it to life

[carolineg]

I liked the way Tony played it too.  He didn't want to crush Lucky's dreams about Heaven and the afterlife, but you could tell he was skeptical.  A very nuanced scene to pull by both.

Also, it's really gross Luke was smoking a cigar in his kitchen first thing in the morning.  I have watched this episode a million times and didn't notice it until I re-watched it yesterday lol.

[Vee]

It was MVJ's script. She has talked about writing the episode on Twitter.

[dc11786]

I don't think I've seen this episode in its entirety before. My 1995 viewing a couple years back stopped at Ned and Lois' wedding just as the AIDS story started ramping up. 

I was wondering when this episode was filmed. Rosalind Cash passed on October 31st so I am curious if this was filmed after that. That may add an additional level of somber to the performances of some of the performers. 

This episode definitely felt like Labine was trying to embody the spirit of Delia from her creation "Ryan's Hope" into Lucy. Lynn Herring is a real gem who manages to make every incarnation of Lucy enjoyable. I thought the Doc and Lucy scenes were an interesting contrast about the possible end of a love affair while Robin and Stone are sharing their final moments together. It made Lucy look a little silly, but I hope this was reflected upon in a later episode. 

I don't know if I have ever heard Stone and Robin's last "date." I thought that was very poignant.  

I went back a little bit further in Wendy Riche's run and watched some November-December, 1992, that's available online. I think the Levinson era is very intriguing to the point I have to wonder how heavy a hand Riche exerted in the writing until Labine came on board. I know she was the defacto head for the first months of her tenure after bouncing Norma Monty, but even during A.J. and Nikki's wedding that wasn't, there is just a very strong sense of community. Gail and Lee have been dragged back to Port Charles because someone remembered Gail was Monica's foster mother. Audrey and Steve and Sean and Tiffany are sitting in the crowd commenting on the events. It's a nice feel. 

Nikki is such a fascinating creature. Mostly a hot mess, but there are moments where I think this character could have worked as a long term (or at least longer) antagonist. There was a nice sequence before the wedding where Nikki confides in Monica that she never thought something like this could happen to her only for her to smirk behind Monica's back when they hugged. I'm not convinced that Riche was completely ready to let go of Nikki when she had her pregnant during her brief 1993 return. 

I saw a little more of the early stages of the custody battle with Tiffany and Bobbie. I didn't remember them mentioning in 1993 that Tiffany believed she couldn't get pregnant (maybe she did when she actually got pregnant). That seemed to be a bigger motive in the battle than I had expected. 

The Jack Kensington scandal is such a Levinson style story that degrades the female heroine by degrading her sexually in a way that is unnecessary. I didn't realize they played a beat of Jack Kensington still wanting Jenny. I think that kinda went away in 1993 as Jenny and Paul were already together. I enjoy Cheryl Richardson more later in her run, but Jenny is such a hard character because she often has so little agency. I really have a soft spot for so many of the Monty II remnants that Riche managed to find a some life in. Cheryl, Julia, Nikki, Bill, and Paul all seem to be more manageable in these forms. 

The art caper stuff never seems to do anything for me in any form. I like that Lucy is back and they are mixing her up with Marco. A Marco / Lucy / Tracey triangle would have been messy in a fun way. Lucy's new perfume line that she's trying to launch "Domination," clearly a play on Dominique, is also a beat that I thing that is dropped fairly quickly. It's so odd to see the animosity between Lucy and Dominique given how quickly that changes in January once Dominique starts showing signs of illness. 

I'm considering jumping back to April, 1993, to finish off Dominique's death and to watch the tailend of Ryan's reign of terror (I want to see him attack Steve and Audrey) and Tiffany's pregnancy. I am also curious to see how the Ray / Karen / Rhonda / Alan story plays out. 

I think one of the nicest things about early/pre-Labine Riche is the revitalization of the Quartermaines after whatever Monty did to them. I don't think Monty's financially failing Quartermaines were my favorite form though a lot of the groundwork for what I like in 1992/1993 is laid out in the later half of Monty II.