Priemtime shows do not run all year long they only run parts of the year for a certain number of epis. And what primetime shows currently are still dragging the same lame secret for years?

OMG! Common sense!

I do love the idea of long-running stories which will keep viewers interested and develop over time and show various arcs, emotions, etc. I just don't think soaps can do this now. Looking at something like Johnny being the one who killed Hope and Cole and being blackmailed about this - does anyone care? Does anyone care about Johnny/Carly, or about Johnny/Comedy Connie, or even about Hope or Cole (who were strangers to most GH viewers)? Is this going anywhere or is this just to stall time?

Spencer Truman! The year OLTL died, IMHO!

God he was on EVERYDAY.

That's also one of the reasons I became a soap fan. I just don't think soaps were doing any of what you describe by the late 90s. I always go back to the aftermath of Carly being revealed as Bobbie's daughter - a year and a half of story, resolved with Virginia Benson dying, Carly obsessing over Jason, Carly having little to no contact with anyone in the Spencer family aside from Bobbie, and Bobbie having very limited scenes where she tries to tolerate Carly as best she can. I was hugely disappointed and that told me to never trust Bob Guza.

Riche/Labine were better, but by the end, if you take away the Stone story (which was very good), you had the weird Bobbie/Alan stuff, boring Miguel/Brenda and Sonny/Lily, Laura gone half the time.

That's not how I remember Labine/Riche at all. Other than what you've mentioned, I got S&B, Luke & Laura's return, Monica's breast cancer, Bobbie & Tony's marital problems, Ned & Lois, Lucy/Kevin, ELQ, Deception, Jagger/Karen, and the emergence of the Wards (and I'm sure there's plenty more that I failed to mention). Hell, I even got a duck named Sigmund and a romance between the Spencer dog and the Quartermaine dog - something that I'd much rather tune into than whatever Guza shat out.

As much as I loathe the Slagbeast and consider her to be a major reason for this show's downfall, they did a good job of introducing her to the canvas and revealing her as Bobbie's daughter. Plenty of people were affected (and were allowed to actually react) to her trifling ass because of that - something that was done away with once the new millennium came underway - much to the detriment of this show.

I loathed Cartini's David. He had the mentality of an 8th grader.

Not many characters on any soap I hate more than David Vickers!

I certainly don't have a ff mentality, and I am absolutely certain others don't either. We just remember what good soap was. Cartini never knew.

Well, I know that "fast food mentality" horsesht doesn't apply to me, considering I was one of the precious few who watched every single episode of Garin Wolf's "boring" six months, while others continuously came in here to remind us that they weren't watching because it was boring. So, I know that it wasn't the pace of the plots that kept me. It was the character development. I mean, dear God! I actually was cheering Carly on by the time New Year's Eve came along, which, to me, was miraculous as far as getting me to actually empathize with a character I hate played by an actress I despise. I said that to say prolonging a "story" without any character development is nothing but stalling. I don't find it entertaining at all because there's nothing riveting about listening to, say, Todd and Johnny having the same conversation switched babies and dead granddaughters, or watching Komedy Konnie running around with people being conveniently dumb instead of watching Kate deal with being confronted with the reality that her son is alive. We've see Konnie in action for months. Enough! This is character regression, not development. We watched the character allegedly do the work and get herself sane, only to be told "Gotcha! All that was for nothing! Back to square one! Don't worry! You're gonna LOVE watching Connie ruin Kate's life and watch Kate put back the pieces again, since you loved it so much four months ago!"

That's not how I remember Labine/Riche at all. Other than what you've mentioned, I got S&B, Luke & Laura's return, Monica's breast cancer, Bobbie & Tony's marital problems, Ned & Lois, Lucy/Kevin, ELQ, Deception, Jagger/Karen, and the emergence of the Wards (and I'm sure there's plenty more that I failed to mention). Hell, I even got a duck named Sigmund and a romance between the Spencer dog and the Quartermaine dog - something that I'd much rather tune into than whatever Guza shat out.

As much as I loathe the Slagbeast and consider her to be a major reason for this show's downfall, they did a good job of introducing her to the canvas and revealing her as Bobbie's daughter. Plenty of people were affected (and were allowed to actually react) to her trifling ass because of that - something that was done away with once the new millennium came underway - much to the detriment of this show.

I don't really remember much reaction beyond Bobbie being angry. The story was dumped because they only cared about Carly propping Jason.

I was talking about the last year of Labine/Riche.

Well, I know that "fast food mentality" horsesht doesn't apply to me, considering I was one of the precious few who watched every single episode of Garin Wolf's "boring" six months, while others continuously came in here to remind us that they weren't watching because it was boring. So, I know that it wasn't the pace of the plots that kept me. It was the character development. I mean, dear God! I actually was cheering Carly on by the time New Year's Eve came along, which, to me, was miraculous as far as getting me to actually empathize with a character I hate played by an actress I despise. I said that to say prolonging a "story" without any character development is nothing but stalling. I don't find it entertaining at all because there's nothing riveting about listening to, say, Todd and Johnny having the same conversation switched babies and dead granddaughters, or watching Komedy Konnie running around with people being conveniently dumb instead of watching Kate deal with being confronted with the reality that her son is alive. We've see Konnie in action for months. Enough! This is character regression, not development. We watched the character allegedly do the work and get herself sane, only to be told "Gotcha! All that was for nothing! Back to square one! Don't worry! You're gonna LOVE watching Connie ruin Kate's life and watch Kate put back the pieces again, since you loved it so much four months ago!"

PREACH! I watched all of GW's stuff and was bored most of the time, but he developed the characters. He didn't prolong stuff as a stalling tactic. He simply didn't know what to do next. But as you said, he didn't regress the characters. They made sense. Cartini's chit does not!

Apparently RC basically confirmed LIz is gonig under the bus. But don't worry she has plenty of motivation(that hasn't been shown onscreen) for her actions

I don't really remember much reaction beyond Bobbie being angry. The story was dumped because they only cared about Carly propping Jason.

I was talking about the last year of Labine/Riche.

And I'm referring to the majority of the Labine/Riche run, which is precisely why I've taken a hardline stance on this ongoing debate. Had I not viewed the stories of that era, I'd be more apt to give an inch to those who stand on the opposite side of this fence.

As for Slagbeast being revealed as Bobbie's son, I clearly remember damn near everyone on canvas rightfully regarding her as the trifling slag that she was - which went far beyond her propping the roided goiter. The regime that replaced Labine/Riche is what whittled it down to that mess.

I am completely sure that Sabrina is really Robin.....no memory, brainwashed, a different face....a horrible plan from Duke.....this is a soap!!!

And I think Sabrina and the other girl (forget her name) will turn out to be Faison's daughters.

Also, there's a blatant difference between delaying the conclusion to a storyline to get more out of the story... and stalling.

Yep.

I do love the idea of long-running stories which will keep viewers interested and develop over time and show various arcs, emotions, etc. I just don't think soaps can do this now. Looking at something like Johnny being the one who killed Hope and Cole and being blackmailed about this - does anyone care? Does anyone care about Johnny/Carly, or about Johnny/Comedy Connie, or even about Hope or Cole (who were strangers to most GH viewers)? Is this going anywhere or is this just to stall time?

Exactly. For example, if Carlivati focused on at least developing and fleshing out Johnny and Starr's friendship, I could see this maybe being a legitimate prolonging because time needs to be taken to make the emotional connection matter for when the secret comes out. It could've been written as a caring and heartfelt friendship, with Johnny and the audience kinda anxiously squirming, hesitant to enjoy the friendship, anticipating that the bottom will fall out any minute, but hoping that it doesn't happen just yet. However, they didn't even do that. They had Johnny dote on Starr for about two weeks after we learned he was the one who killed her boyfriend and daughter, then they immediately moved Starr into her lesbian relationship with Michael and their attempts at foiling Trey and Kristina. The only Manning this seems to have become about is Todd. Starr seems to not give a damn about her dead fiance and daughter anymore and has had, maybe, one or two scenes with Johnny, if even that, the entire summer. But, yet, we're supposed to believe that Johnny feels guilty because he cares about Starr? How? He's never around her!

And I'm referring to the majority of the Labine/Riche run, which is precisely why I've taken a hardline stance on this ongoing debate. Had I not viewed the stories of that era, I'd be more apt to give an inch to those who stand on the opposite side of this fence.

As for Slagbeast being revealed as Bobbie's son, I clearly remember damn near everyone on canvas rightfully regarding her as the trifling slag that she was - which went far beyond her propping the roided goiter. The regime that replaced Labine/Riche is what whittled it down to that mess.

Labine had little to do with the Carly story, other than being involved in the original idea.

I guess if the only reason to care about the Bobbie/Carly story was to see if people thought Carly was a whore, that could be seen as entertaining. I didn't watch it for that reason.

Apparently RC basically confirmed LIz is gonig under the bus. But don't worry she has plenty of motivation(that hasn't been shown onscreen) for her actions

Even with Cartooni, I'm left scratching my head with Liz. I know with them we are supposed to connect the dots ourselves, but geesh! NOTHING onscreen in the past 3 years = Liz today. NOTHING!

The Liason vs JaSam feud is back in full steam on Twitter for a pairing and character "development" that took place offscreen? WTF?!

DAMN, they really want us to hate Liz, don't they? SMDH