GH: November 2018 Discussion Thread

[dragonflies]

Aaaahhh AmTam's Emily, SJB's Carly, aka REALCarly, one who can act and not just smirk through every scene!

 

Edward and Lila, I miss them so much! SB and MB had hot chemistry. I actually preferred Coltin Martinez as Nikolas to Tyler's

[Antoyne]

Damnit I forgot to record. Do they usually put these episodes on On Demand?

[dragonflies]

I don't know if HULU will have this eppy or not, ABC.com might

[cassadine1991]

That single episode was so much better than anything from these past several years.

[All My Shadows]

 

I just checked, and it's not on Hulu or On Demand, which is frustrating because I do recall Victor and Nicki's 1984 wedding from Y&R being available On Demand just like the first-run episodes.

[alexisfan07]

It's on ABC.com

 

https://abc.go.com/shows/general-hospital/episode-guide/2000-11/27-thursday-november-27-2000

 

 

It made me really sad to see Bobbie as the host of Thanksgiving, in the center with characters surrounding her the way it should be, but now Sonny and Carly are at the center and Bobbie's been reduced to their side prop. 

[BetterForgotten]

I just remember how much I thought the show sucked at this time, and how dire most of the material was. I didn't know how much worse it would get years later...

[EricMontreal22]

Yeah I was gonna say I was never a huge GH fan but I remember the final years of Riche's era not being very good...  And yet watching this now in a modern context it really does seem like A+ material.

[Vee]

"Bad" Guza/Riche, warts and all, was still better than a lot of the other shows at the time and certainly all of them now.

 

The fact that GH was basically primetime caliber from '93 to '00 in terms of dialogue and character (with a few low periods - Culliton, etc.) when I was a kid both made me happy and galled me as OLTL sank into the abyss from '98 on. I loved both but wanted the same for my favorite show.

[DRW50]

Maybe I'm being contrarian but I still can't praise most of what we got from 1998-2000. 1998 had some good moments but even that was overshadowed by the worst (like the Jason worship and the sick rape revisitation story that asked viewers to blame a rape victim for her rapist feeling guilty, and as the cherry on top, had her son verbally abuse her for months because she had been raped).

[titan1978]

I hear those complaints.  I think when Guza arrived, the stories for Luke and Laura had her a vital part of them.  The Damian murder and the return of the Cassadines.  Luke had a point of view and was important to the story, but they were stories that hinged on Laura.

 

When she finally came back from maternity leave, it seemed like Luke was the center of stories that included Laura, but her point of view was not as present or as vital as he had been in the earlier stories.  Her own stories were basically her between Luke and Stefan, and she seemed lost in both.  Add in the Lucky death, and while I think she acted that period of time beautifully, she was miserable and isolated as a character.

 

I also had problems as a viewer during 98-2000 of Riche/Guza.  In hindsight it is superior to what came after, although I do think Guza/Phelps had some periods of greatness.  Light years above today.

 

Guza and his team, even if I hated the characters featured and their stories always had good dialogue that was about character and had depth.  It wasn’t just traded barbs and plot movement.  I miss that.  I think the current HW team would be greatly aided by stronger breakdowns and scripts.  The stories aren’t top notch, but great scripting kept Days from being a total chore.  The Cullitons gave that show a lot.

[dragonflies]

To think this is what we consider good now, and a few years after this episode the show literally went to HELL

[All My Shadows]

They made it available on demand after all. Y’all know I don’t do GH, but I’m watching out of curiosity and because it’s nice to watch an older soap episode with good picture quality.

 

I wonder if the current PTB watched this and noticed how the Thanksgiving episode opened with families featuring longtime characters played by longtime performers preparing for the holiday. How do you screw something like that, I do not know, but soap writers/producers have been doing it for years.

 

Lawd, they plastered that horrendous “opening sequence” onto this episode as if Dave Koz playing the saxophone is politically incorrect eighteen years later.

[Chris B]

I recently got Hulu and with Y&R being so bad and DAYS in a slump I decided to pick up GH and see if it's any better. Keep in mind I'm not a hardcore GH fan, but I have been impressed enough to keep watching. I've watched on and off since 2001, but GH was never my main soap and it's been years since I watched regularly. I last watched towards the end of Carlivati when it went off the rails. 

 

Now I will say I started with the beginning of November and am halfway through right now. I haven't learned enough about the stories to decide what I like, so far nothing is really jumping at me, but I see enough familiar faces to keep me watching for now. Another thing, the production values IMO were excellent. I've always loved the new hospital set and I appreciate that so many people seem to have a place to live that isn't just a hotel suite. I think everything looks cohesive and the cast looks amazing. On Y&R everything looks so old and broke down so a new set always stands out, but here everything looked fresh. It's crazy that something as simple as the womens hair being brushed is a positive lol. The hair, makeup and wardrobe was really good in comparison to Y&R. 

 

For the people that know GH better, is there something in particular I should look out for that is a strong story? I was happy to see Laura has something going on. I also like the idea of what they're doing with Kevin and Ryan, but I don't think he's killed anybody important yet. The one big shock for me is that Nina is still trucking along. I never understood Stafford on GH. Do we like Franco now? Is he still a criminal? I liked what I saw with him and Elizabeth. I'm also happy her kids finally seem to be growing up. It seemed like they'd be young forever.

[Vee]

98-2000 was certainly far from flawless. The roots of Bob Guza's misogyny and tacky primetime dreams were clearly evident in the show. But there was still a ton of incredible work, even in the stories we now take issue with, and a lot of it was done by him and the team he kept whole for many years.