4 hours ago, Cat said:

 

I know. I liked Claudia and Johnny a lot and their SLs started off intriguingly (also BB had really strong sexual chemistry with just about every woman on the show -- with the notable exception of Julie Marie Berman. That anti-chemistry was ROUGH).

 

After a while, though, the stuff they were putting Claudia through bordered on the exploitative, misogynistic and cruel. And the way she was killed off and her body dumped in the woods, whew. 

The way Claudia was killed off was particularly violent.  Unfortunately, she was written so far into the corner at that point I didn't care.  And if I had to see the flashback of Michael swinging that axe one more time I was going to scream.  First Drew Garrett's Michael had the flashback 1000 times then CD's Michael did lol.

 

The mistake with Claudia was boxing her with Sonny.  She was so good with a lot of other people on the canvas, specifically Nikolas.

 

1 hour ago, Taoboi said:

Yeah Kristen/Tony is another good one. 

 

WHHHHHHHHHHHHHHATTTTTTTT?????????

 

I know super random right?  Anthony sold Claudia off to Gino and he raped her.  I don't even know......that's horrifying and no wonder she was nuts.

 

1 hour ago, Vee said:

 

I actually thought what was done with Claudia's exit was pretty true to mob life, and a daring thing to show on a soap. The problem, as always, was that the entire show angled around the mob and misogyny at that point and treating Sonny and Jason as the heroes at all costs - what they did, what they'd raised and driven Michael to do and forced him to cover up, was all good drama but it retained them as the stars of the show with a moral compass largely absolving them. Until Guza got bored with her there was an attempt to make Claudia a tragic, flawed hero too, after getting a kid shot in the head.

 

 

Yes, supposedly they'd planned to reintroduce a few Soleitos and maybe Carla. It never happened.

 

I actually wouldn't have minded some Soleitos coming back including Carla.  It was just the wrong time on the show.  It was in the middle of the OLTL stuff and the Connie/Kate/Joe Scully stuff too.  There were so many new characters running around at that point, but the idea isn't half bad.

5 minutes ago, carolineg said:

The mistake with Claudia was boxing her with Sonny.  She was so good with a lot of other people on the canvas, specifically Nikolas.

 

I think the mistake was the character, period. There were some powerful moments but I think it was a fundamental mistake to bring Sarah Brown back as anyone but Carly. I'd still hire her today.

Edited April 30, 20214 yr by Vee

3 minutes ago, Vee said:

 

I think the mistake was the character, period. There were some powerful moments but I think it was a fundamental mistake to bring Sarah Brown back as anyone but Carly. I'd still hire her today.

 

Yeah, I don't know what the trend is with bringing actresses/actors back on the same soap, especially ones so highly identified with a role. It didn't work for SB or TB.  I think Claudia was much better planned out than Kim, but did the show think we wouldn't recognize SJB because Claudia was evil, had black hair, and wore red stilettos lol?

I don't know if I can see SJB playing Carly as she is now, but I'd be willing to see her take it on. 

 

Shows seem so unwillingly to take the risk to bring the original actress/actor back when the recast is popular.  Don't bother to secure the person if you aren't going to make the move to put them back in their original role.   Same with WN on Days as Alex.  Why waste everyone's time and have him interact with the same people he would as Roman.  Cut your losses with JT and make him Roman again!

 

I can't think of a single case (outside of a long lost twin situation) where this sort of casting worked.

2 hours ago, Vee said:

 

I actually thought what was done with Claudia's exit was pretty true to mob life, and a daring thing to show on a soap. The problem, as always, was that the entire show angled around the mob and misogyny at that point and treating Sonny and Jason as the heroes at all costs - what they did, what they'd raised and driven Michael to do and forced him to cover up, was all good drama but it retained them as the stars of the show with a moral compass largely absolving them. Until Guza got bored with her there was an attempt to make Claudia a tragic, flawed hero too, after getting a kid shot in the head.

 

 

I was actually more interested in the Zaccharas than I was in the Corinthoses (plural?) for a while, precisely because the Zs seemed to be like a real, crazy mob fambly (as opposed to the Good Mob Avengers). Brown and BB were excellent as these broken, tragic, doomed siblings. The actor who played Trevor Lansing was also fantastic (his name escapes me -- though I've seen him in Columbo and other great shows throughout the 70s, 80s and 90s).

 

As you say, though, it was all about Sonny, Jason, Carly, Michael and making them heroic at all costs -- and against the odds. Michael bashing Claudia's head in with an axe is not a great look on anybody. Sure, Sonny spent about a day with his hand on his forehead, mumbling about "My mob life made him dis way" -- but all that was quickly excused with "Michael was just tryna protect his muvva. He's a Good Boy."

 

As @carolineg pointed out, it was the unabashed violence. Throughout her run, Claudia was the outlet for various men's (and notable misogynist Carly's) viciousness and blood lust. I couldn't help but root for her.

Oh, Stephen Macht (Trevor Lansing) is an absolutely brilliant character actor in film and TV. GH should've kept him around for years and years to come. He could be on a dozen soaps.

15 minutes ago, Vee said:

Oh, Stephen Macht (Trevor Lansing) is an absolutely brilliant character actor in film and TV. GH should've kept him around for years and years to come. He could be on a dozen soaps.

 

That's it! Stephen Macht. He has done literally everything out there -- Highlander, a few Star Treks, Melrose Place! I remember him most notably from the Columbo episode with Lindsay Crouse as a sex therapist who gets revenge on him.

 

Ahem. Back to inappropriate sexual chemistry in soaps!

 

This isn't Daytime, but on original Dynasty (back in the 80s), Adam (Gordon Thomson) had some kind of crazy chemistry with Fallon (Pamela Sue Martin) which the writers actually had culminating in a kiss before they knew they were actually siblings. 

41 minutes ago, Cat said:

That's it! Stephen Macht. He has done literally everything out there -- Highlander, a few Star Treks, Melrose Place! I remember him most notably from the Columbo episode with Lindsay Crouse as a sex therapist who gets revenge on him.

 

He gives one of the all-time insane performances in Stephen King's Graveyard Shift, and also was one of the top choices (along with Yaphet Kotto!) for Captain Picard on Star Trek: TNG.

AMC (step siblings)

Jr and Jamie (Jacob young & Justin Bruening)

Frankie and Natalia (Cornelius Smith Jr. & Shannon Kane)

 

3 hours ago, carolineg said:

The way Claudia was killed off was particularly violent.  Unfortunately, she was written so far into the corner at that point I didn't care.  And if I had to see the flashback of Michael swinging that axe one more time I was going to scream.  First Drew Garrett's Michael had the flashback 1000 times then CD's Michael did lol.

 

The mistake with Claudia was boxing her with Sonny.  She was so good with a lot of other people on the canvas, specifically Nikolas.

 

I know super random right?  Anthony sold Claudia off to Gino and he raped her.  I don't even know......that's horrifying and no wonder she was nuts.

 

 

I actually wouldn't have minded some Soleitos coming back including Carla.  It was just the wrong time on the show.  It was in the middle of the OLTL stuff and the Connie/Kate/Joe Scully stuff too.  There were so many new characters running around at that point, but the idea isn't half bad.

YES, VERY!!! I had always wanted the things that happened to Tracy on THE CITY to have some impact on GH so I was excited to hear it be considered that Carla might show up. And I remember Skye blackmailing her. But how do I know remember Gino being Claudia's dad??

 

Then again  I wasn't a regular viewer. But still...WOW. 

 

 

3 minutes ago, Taoboi said:

YES, VERY!!! I had always wanted the things that happened to Tracy on THE CITY to have some impact on GH so I was excited to hear it be considered that Carla might show up. And I remember Skye blackmailing her. But how do I know remember Gino being Claudia's dad??

 

Then again  I wasn't a regular viewer. But still...WOW. 

 

 

 

So the Tracy stuff had to do with her investing or funneling dirty money while she was married to Gino and Anthony Zacchara blackmailed her into marriage over it.

The Johnny stuff was mostly used as a plot point for Sonny to humiliate Johnny publicly, so he announced at a party that Claudia was his mom, not his sister, and Gino was his dad.  To be clear, Anthony is Claudia's father.   It didn't really go anywhere.  Johnny was sad, but nothing really happened because Claudia was long dead and I think Barash was gone less than 6 months later.  But like I said, it was right in the middle of the OLTLers coming on so it probably wouldn't have been that popular to have City characters come on since we were already inundated with a bunch of characters from another soap.

 

13 hours ago, Forever8 said:

I've been saying on Twitter that it is time to age up Daniel's daughter Lucy to come stay with Grandma Phyllis. I wouldn't mind a stint or two from Daniel. Though I wonder if Michael Graziadei would want to do it? Then again he is about to have twins in real life so maybe he wouldn't mind the work?! 

 

 

 

The last time "Daniel" appeared on the scene was when GT portrayed Phyllis, right? 

Now that Lily is a divorcee and because he and CG displayed genuine chemistry, it could be a good idea for Graziadei/Daniel to do even a brief story arc. From what I am reading, it sounds like the show could use some diversion. Then again, I don't believe that JG could pull it off, even for a brief story arc.

2 hours ago, carolineg said:

It didn't really go anywhere.  Johnny was sad, but nothing really happened because Claudia was long dead and I think Barash was gone less than 6 months later.  But like I said, it was right in the middle of the OLTLers coming on so it probably wouldn't have been that popular to have City characters come on since we were already inundated with a bunch of characters from another soap.

 

No, Johnny left in March of 2013.

 

The timeline is a little off. Garin Wolf was the one who brought the Soleito connection back in 2011 and played with bringing on Carla. He had Tracy marry Anthony. Frank and Ron Carlivati took over in February of 2012 and dumped the Anthony marriage and had Johnny kill him. They inherited the Claudia reveal literally a week or less before they fully took over, IIRC. Johnny was played heavy with them all year, and paired with Carly (abandoning the prior two teams' tease with Carly and Shawn). Johnny was used as an obstacle for pairing Carly and Todd, and it turned out he had accidentally gotten Starr Manning's boyfriend and daughter killed on their way through town by trying to shoot up Sonny's car on the road. Johnny was outed and sent to jail in March of '13. But he was played frontburner til then all year long.

 

They kept bringing him back after on and off, because they clearly still loved Barash.

19 minutes ago, Vee said:

 

No, Johnny left in March of 2013.

 

The timeline is a little off. Garin Wolf was the one who brought the Soleito connection back in 2011 and played with bringing on Carla. He had Tracy marry Anthony. Frank and Ron Carlivati took over in February of 2012 and dumped the Anthony marriage and had Johnny kill him. They inherited the Claudia reveal literally a week or less before they fully took over, IIRC. Johnny was played heavy with them all year, and paired with Carly (abandoning the prior two teams' tease with Carly and Shawn). Johnny was used as an obstacle for pairing Carly and Todd, and it turned out he had accidentally gotten Starr Manning's boyfriend and daughter killed on their way through town by trying to shoot up Sonny's car on the road. Johnny was outed and sent to jail in March of '13. But he was played frontburner til then all year long.

 

They kept bringing him back after on and off, because they clearly still loved Barash.

 

Thanks for the corrections.  I was doing a lot off memory. I can't believe Johnny was around for a whole other year!!  I thought the Starr/Cole car stuff was resolved earlier.  I remember the Connie/Kate/Johnny stuff and the Carly/Johnny stuff I just don't remember it lasting that long.  

 

Makes sense that GW introduced it all first.  I just remember it all blurring together and the Soleito reveal with Claudia lined up closer with the Starr stuff.  I think I would have preferred the Soleito's to the OLTLers because at least there was a Tracy tie and a mob family made sense on GH. 

Yeah, they had Johnny get out on parole or something or escape several times in short stints in the following couple years. They always played him as a remorseful antihero with a heart, had him try to make Dante jealous with Lulu, etc.

Definitely need to include Another World's Mac and Iris in this thread.    Douglass Watson and Beverlee McKinsey definitely had incredible chemistry, and years of story on the show was Iris seeking revenge and stirring up trouble for Mac's wife Rachel since she married Iris' beloved "Daddy."