SERIAL SCOOP: SOAP OPERA HISTORY: Bill Bell & Claire Labine on Writing Daytime Serials (1997)

[~bl~]

I found GH extremely depressing during the Labine time frame. One of the other stories that wasn't mentioned by Khan was BJ's heart, so you have the trifecta: cancer, AIDS, and sick/dead kids (which destroyed marriages etc). It wasn't that there wasn't any humor, but it was that there was just so much sadness. One of the only positive stories outside of the stuff with the pets was Ned/Lois, so if you didn't care for them, it was hard viewing.

[John]

Yeah and because of Labine knowing that she had three sad stories already she nixeed the idea of giving Audrey Dementia

[amybrickwallace]

I HATED those slow-motion montages of the mob shootings. They were so cheesy and I rolled my eyes every time one of them came on. To be fair, cheesy montages were not just a mob thing. Remember the one where Alexis gave birth to Kristina? Oy.

[titan1978]

She did betray him, but I don't remember Lois or Ned holding it against her. Or Robin for that matter.

[titan1978]

I loved the first major shootout, that ended in Laura's house. Clink/Boom was also an excellent slow motion montage. Nothing after those two had any impact on me.

It was depressing, but it was full of love and heart. The Guza era was depressing, but lacked any heart. Nobody had friendships you could count on anymore, and every character had become dark dark dark.

Sometimes I think Labine uses the mob because she needs a villain, but wants one grounded in reality. I can't imagine her bringing back the Cassadines.

[Vee]

Guza tried to replicate "Clink/Boom" regularly throughout the remainder of his time at GH, later on with JFP's aid. Sometimes he succeeded.

Take Sonny and Carly's first sexual encounter - cross-cut with Jason being shot in battle, scored to a Billy Corgan trip-hop track from his Stigmata soundtrack. Or the big one in 2002, where Sonny discovers Brenda at the church in the rain over Judy Collins's "Amazing Grace." Or, even later, a tearful Carly singing a lullaby to Morgan during yet another mob shootout.

The early examples were all very well done, but after the first several they all ran together. It became the house style. And the press fell for it every time for the next decade, no matter how hollow each subsequent shootout/mob war became.

[amybrickwallace]

I always hated whenever sacred hymns would be used as a backdrop to the slow-motion shootout scenes. I personally consider it sacrilegious, but I understand how others might not.

[LoyaltoAMC]

I'm probably the only person alive who disliked Labine's GH. I found it slow, tedious, and pretentious. If you were a fan of the Monty era, as I was , not counting her awful early '90s return, I think it was very difficult to get into Labine's version, which just seemed like one, long neverending PSA. I know most of the actors loved that era because it gave them dark material to sink their teeth into, but as a viewer, I found much of it repelling.

[John]

I know some fans found going from BJ's heart to Monica's cancer and then to Stone's AIDS depressing & I agree on a whole it looked like GH was so bleak. However all those stories and even the light hearted stuff and the relationships were so well written in the end I feel its why many consider 1993 to be the 2nd wave for GH

[JONNYSBRO]

Honestly Guza 1996 with Riche excited me again. The show was hot as hot and much more exciting. Labine leaving was needed and ratings went up bigtime. 1996 everyone was calling GH the hottest show. Again Guza was dam brilliant under Riche he never produced better work in his entire career then with her.

[John]

Guza didnt producw [!@#$%^&*], that was Riche's job. Wendy knew how tell Guza no when he wanted to dumb things

[smirks]

Personally, I thought that Labine's GH was hilarious. Yes, there were three or four (if you count Jason's brain damage at the end of her run) medical stories on GH, but, IMO, the show is called General Hospital, and it's to be expected. But they often changed up the pace of those storylines, by doing things like sending Stone bungie jumping, or tempering Monica's cancer by using it to bring on Emily. And I feel like there was so much light-hearted humorous stuff. Almost all of Ned and Lois was thoroughly hilarious. You had Lucy's spacey antics. You had Katherine Bell's Wile-E-Coyote-esque scheming. You had Norma and Eve. The mansion overflowed with mismatched Quartermaines and intererlopers. And yes, Foster and Annabelle. But I feel like there was a lot of humor inserted on a daily basis, intentional humor, that was really well done intentional humor. Daydreams, that sort of thing. It never, to me, felt even close to bleak.

[Vee]

I agree - I found too light at times.

[John]

I agree some felt all the medical stories were bleak. Not me isnt that what GH should be about people and their health too since it takes place at a hospital

[Faulkner]

To be honest, and I'm a fan of hers, I disliked Labine's comedy. Lucy Coe under her watch was one of the most irritating characters I've ever seen on a soap. I was surprised to go back and see LH's earlier performances. And don't even get me started on Todd and the ridiculous bird.