GH to air "classic" episodes

[titan1978]

While watching the “classic” episode when Sonny shoots Dante I noticed just how bad many of the beauty shots are in the Frons/JFP opening.  Hardly any of the cast has a flattering image in that opening, the patches also really stand out.  Except for the end shot, which was almost immediately laughable considering how many of those men were no longer on the show (including prominent Greg Vaughn who had been replaced with JJ). 
 

The OLTL and AMC ones might not have been my favorites, but several people at least looked good in them.  Especially the AMC one.

 

It was nice to see a Lulu I enjoyed.  I forgot that she and Dante actually had chemistry and I liked them.

[Planet Soap]

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In looking at old youtube clips Dante was far more interesting when he first arrived

[titan1978]

Having a good Lulu to play off of, and being antagonistic with Sonny added a lot.

 

I also liked his confidence.  He had a certain swagger that was fun to watch, especially because he wasn’t in the mob.

[Planet Soap]

That video quality in these pre HD episodes, yikes ABC, yikes!! 

 

How is Jerry Jax still walking freely after the Metro court, did they not see "Mr.Craig's" face at all?

[ChickenNuggetz92]

 

It's a dull and grainy mess, and the aspect ratio is off haha. Even Y&R and B&B's episodes from the 80s look way better.

[WebberFan]

I watched yesterdays episode and was so happy to see Megan Ward. Anyone know why she was fired? She's the only Kate I'll ever acknowledge. She actually made me enjoy Sonny and MB for a minute! Anyone know why she was fired? There's someone on Twitter insisting it was because she was a "bully" and encouraged her fans to harass SJB.

[BetterForgotten]

If anything phased her out it was the introduction of Lisa LoCicero's Olivia. They stopped focusing on her when Olivia was introduced, and she sort of phased out before they recast with BROADWAY LEGEND Kelly Sullivan. 

[titan1978]

I enjoyed her as Kate and I did not understand when they phased her out.

I have some conflicting emotions about that episode.  It had better writing and performances, so the fact that it did not look as crisp was fine.  However, the whole thing was so Jason and Sonny centric that I was also annoyed.  And that Michael.  We certainly got an upgrade.  And I’m not trashing that kid’s appearance-  his acting was always atrocious and the entire time he was there he was annoying af.

 

Great to see Claudia.  And also, I just do not like LW as Carly.  I forgot how grating she could be when Carly was written more in character than she is now.  Somehow SJB and TB made me get past the bratty aspects, but Laura Wright just screams entitled in such a way you would think her mother was Tracy Quartermaine.

[BetterForgotten]

Someone once said that SJB played Carly like the trailer park girl from the wrong wide of the tracks, and LW plays her as the popular head cheerleader in high school (the anthesis of what the character was conceived as). I think that's pretty accurate. One can argue that Carly's become more and more "establishment" since her beginnings, but the heart, soul, and nuance is just gone with the way LW interprets the role. 

[Planet Soap]

So the writers not only had Michael kidnapped, shot in the head, in a coma, shoot Kate, have him kill Claudia and then sent to prison, but have him raped too? Good God, he really inherited AJ's bad luck.

[carolineg]

 

It's strange how Olivia phased her out because for a minute it seemed like Kate was going to be Dante's mother.  Wasn't she mumbling about Dante after she got shot in the hospital bed?  And then Kate basically disappears.  It must have been a behind the scenes thing or someone really, really liked LLC.  I mean she herself said she tested for recast Lois and a potential recast Brenda-GH casting clearly liked her lol. 

But Megan Ward was too awesome for GH.  The perfect hair, the bitchy one-liners, and the ability to make Sonny somewhat likable?  Clearly she had to go.   And let's be honest no one wanted to see Megan Ward have to play the crap that was Connie/Kate DID.

[titan1978]

The DID storyline was a stunt, nothing more.  Kate didn’t have another personality, she just didn’t like growing up as Connie when it came to the fashion world, and created a new persona out of ambition and to leave her past behind.  That ambition and power were the things she had in common with Sonny as Kate, not just a history with him as Connie.  I also thought they were building to her being Dante’s actual birth mother.
 

I’ve seen several episodes with early Dante  again with these classics, and I am reminded why I liked him back then.  It was the first time I felt in a long time that someone was given a point of view that did not think Sonny should be above the law and always right.  They wrote for and to Dante’s point of view.

 

I will give later era Guza some credit for this- they had started to address how much damage Sonny’s life and the choices Jason/Carly/Sonny make had done to many people.  Even when you had them blame Dante for Michael going to prison, I remember scenes where they admitted to each other that this was all their faults.  Sonny’s conversation with Brenda when they break up their marriage is another example.

[carolineg]

 

Kate absolutely should have been Dante's birth mother.  Olivia is really a redundant character that never needed to exist.  So I have no reason why she does lol.  I bought Sonny had a puppy first love in Bensonhurst before Brenda, but not two loves before he met her since that didn't jive at all with the way Sonny was when he was introduced.

 

I won't go into the DID story because it is unnecessary and I liked she made a new life for herself because she wanted to not because she was mentally ill.

 

Dante/DZ was amazing when he first appeared.  Best new character in a long while.  But it became Dante all day everyday.

 

I do like when Sonny has real conversations where he holds himself accountable, but they are few and far between.  Yeah, the break up scene between Sonny and Brenda is great, but she spent months waxing poetic and excusing his behavior.  And a few months after he tried to kill Jax everyone was back on team Sonny.  Same with Dante's shooting.  Same with AJ's killing.  There are moments of fallout but they are so brief it has no impact.

 

  I remember nearly vomiting when Sonny told Brenda about shooting Dante and she said "that must have been so painful for you"  Ummm...no Bren, the correct answer is Sonny you are horrible and I bet it was painful for your unarmed cop SON you shot point blank in the chest.

 

[titan1978]

@carolineg I agree.  There was too much Dante.  And while I think Guza’s team was at least having the characters address Sonny more in a realistic way, it was never far enough or with lasting consequences.  It was nice to see though.

 

Guza really stacks a deck when he wants a character to work- Dante is Sonny’s son, has family immediately with Olivia, paired with Lulu Spencer, shared a past with Brenda.  Always all in on his pets.

[carolineg]

 

Agreed.  You know Guza's head nearly exploded with glee at the thought of pairing his new favorite pet Dante with his old favorite pet Brenda lol.

 

I don't hate Sonny.  I have a soft spot for him so I get certain characters would as well, but no one is ever allowed to be mad at him for any extended period of time.  Olivia was back giggling with Sonny about old times about six months after he shot Dante lol.  I can't even remember a time where a non-enemy/foe character was allowed to be mad at Sonny for more than a couple months.