GH: Discussion for the Month of March

[EricMontreal22]

Well I was glad lol. Not that I love her and Thomas, and it seems useless if we don't see him, but I really thought we'd somehow have some insant "back together" for Blair and Todd largely dismissing the ending.

[Vee]

I figured it was ABC gutting the budget. That is really harsh, what they've done to the opening - even OLTL didn't have to do that [!@#$%^&*]. Maybe it was because of the GH budget crisis Valentini inherited from JFP?

[EricMontreal22]

Wha? That didn't sound like an update of the old theme to me *confused*. But I agree, this is a mess.

[Mary Beth]

I fondly remember Ned and Alexis's conversations about being the "gatekeepers" for their respective crazy families.

[DRW50]

The entire show, really. The hollow and out of place feel to Robert and Anna's return reinforces that the GH built up over 30 years is long gone.

They had those for several years, but to Ned, gatekeeper meant endless lectures. He spent a lot of time lecturing her too. I never understood why this character became a schoolmarm, but that's basically what he was after Lois left.

[Vee]

I don't find the Scorpios' returns hollow. Rushed for Robert and his short run, perhaps, but I understand JFP and Guza pretty much bled the coffers dry - look at the fuckin' opening.

Ned did turn into a lecturer, but I loved him anyway. I actually loved Ned and Alexis, but it eventually just sort of stopped. And it was perhaps too "safe" - I know Wendy Riche and Guza's first big clash (at least, as heard in public) was over the mixed marrieds story of 1999. Guza wanted Jax/Alexis and Ned/Chloe to pair up for real, but Riche was bound and determined to make her new "signature" couples - specifically, Jax and Chloe in this instance - stick. At that time, I think, Guza was right. I certainly thought so as a kid. That story was great fun for me regardless, even with just the tease, but it's the kind of stuff Guza lost all interest in writing when he returned in 2002, determined to reverse-engineer the show into the cable dramas he couldn't get a job on.

[EricMontreal22]

I firmly believe he's once again passing on his conjecture (which, granted in this case is probably not far from the truth) as fact, once again.

[Juliajms]

Well they were awful at the time, but "they" (meaning Edward, Tracy, Monica and Alan) also had the power and knew how to use it. Now if Ned were talking that kind of smack it would be terrible because the Q's are weak. They've been written as a bunch of old, powerless people living alone in a huge house. It's down right sad. You can't have characters rebelling against what the Q's have become because they no longer represent power.

[DRW50]

I just don't see Anna having any real connection to anyone. She doesn't fit in for me. Robert/Anna and Anna/Luke had one or two nice scenes each. Luke/Robert had some potential but as soon as it became about Robert finding a new start because of Ethan, I think they just made it about tying up a loose end. Too much plot and not enough character. This was a good chance to have some nice scenes with Robert and Emma, and Luke being reminded of the family he pissed away. They shouldn't focus on Ethan.

[EricMontreal22]

It sounded mildly better--but it still seems so random they have these random half assed *different* opening themes two days apart.

[DRW50]

They were kind of weak then too. Edward blustered and the rest bickered. You basically had an entire family unit made up of people who were supposed to be hated (AJ, Edward) by viewers, people who stood around vacillating (Alan, Monica), and people who spent most of the time talking about how disgusting their family was (Ned, Emily, Jason). Lila was mostly around to beam at Jason. I never saw the point of this happening again and again and again. I just concluded that Guza hated the family and needed to humiliate them for Jason. Then when he came back, he didn't need to do that anymore, so he just obliterated them.

[EricMontreal22]

She was Kate but that was a bit odd. She barely reacted when Maxxie asked about her outfit and came up with an excuse, then looked in the mirror and kinda freaked. Maybe she was slowly coming out of her DID...

[Vee]

Yeah, the Quartermaines were hardly a massive threat in the late '90s. Guza kept having Jason, Carly and Sonny insist that they were, and this was back when I really cared about those three, but I still never saw it. I was like, "the Quartermaines? Really? That bad?" You'd have the mob trio piss and moan about how awful the Quartermaines were, how detrimental to Michael's upbringing, etc etc. and then they would cut to more wacky, fluffy Quartermaine shenanigans. We were hardly dealing with the Cassadines, or even the Buchanans on OLTL in their darker times.

[Skin]

Dead. On. This explains so much.

I actually felt that the Q's had a lot of story when I started watching around the late 90's. You had the perpetual screw ups in AJ and Skye, you had the golden children in Jason and Emily, you had Alan and Monica as neglectful parents, you had Tracey who was just a trouble maker in all capacities and then you had Edward as the gate keeper of the businesses and wealth. I would say that has tons of potential to be good soap. They could be good or evil, so much about this set up can write itself.

[DRW50]

Tracy and Skye weren't around for the period I mentioned. They came in 2001 and 2003. What was around wasn't all that interesting, to me. Alan and Monica, aside from Alan's pill addiction story, were limited to bickering about Jason and saying "this is my house" "I gave it to you" a million times. Emily verbally abused her family day in and day out. AJ got drunk and whined as random groups of people berated him. Edward gruffed.