Jump to content

General Hospital January 2022 Discussion Thread


Recommended Posts

  • Members

The writing team held over by Guza from the '90s saved a lot of absolutely terrible [!@#$%^&*] and seriously elevated the day to day show until they were mostly purged in 2012. Even at its worst you still had some dialogue scenes in the 2000s that could've easily gone on cable, nighttime or streaming.

I never felt the over the top pushing of Julie Berman's Lulu rang true and I felt the character was forced into an outline they wanted to go with, but however she annoyed me it was still vividly detailed and not a non-entity which is what she became under FV and the recast.

Edited by Vee
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Replies 412
  • Created
  • Last Reply

Top Posters In This Topic

  • Members

I am going to be honest:  I don't really understand the ins and outs of production.  In my mind, less actors equal more money to use.  I guess crew would be a concern for longer scenes, but couldn't arcs be done?  Not like Port Charles, but certain weeks some characters are focused on and other weeks not.  I would drop a lot of people to recurring.  You might lose some younger talent (but aren't most recurring anyway) and just move different characters in and out?  GH just feels like by far the most bloated cast and I think it could be streamlined to be smarter produced.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Members

This is also deliberate. Frank is known for preferring to keep scenes to roughly 90 seconds or less because he feels certain demographics only stay with that length before flipping or exiting a stream; he is producing according to his perception of that attention span. He's been doing it since OLTL. And the rest you mention is all true, of course.

Edited by Vee
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Members

Guza had a lot of good material to feed off of.  He was given good Luke/Laura and handed Sonny/Brenda/Jax on a plate plus Robin/Jason and Ned/Lois. 

JMB was heavily pushed on men I think.  They pushed her very hard in the romance department until she clicked with Dante.

But are soaps really hitting it hard with the teen demo?  I am in my 30's and no one I know goes near soaps lol.  I dont think 18 year olds are lining up for this anymore.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Members

They knew they had a star pretty quickly after hiring her right around the time Genie first returned in 2006(?). When they realized what they had she (like Scott Clifton's Dillon before her) suddenly she began getting major airtime with key stars, and they moved her towards Carly and tried to craft her into mini-Carly to give her the authority of Carly and the mob's approval with the audience, all typical Guza bullshít back then. (They also shitcanned Lindze Letherman and Georgie's story with DIllon to give her even more to do) I liked her a lot with Logan Hayes, but my understanding is his actor was difficult. I never quite bought into Dante and Lulu because I just felt Berman was pushed too hard and into a tryhard frame, but she was very strong and I knew who the character was. I can't say that about Lulu since.

Tell it to Frank. He felt he hit gold with Kristen Alderson and co. at OLTL's cloying teen scene in the late 2000s and never let up on them. He also never gave up trying to re-craft a similar teen scene at GH, which is why Temp Joss (Eden McCoy) who fits the criteria of blonde, white and under 25, became a central axis despite just not being suited for it - she's not terrible, but she's not a star and she shouldn't be getting the kind of mileage she has. I think to him the scant youth demos are still where they live, breathe and survive along with the Facebook olds.

Edited by Vee
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Members

I don't think it helped that JMB was kind of a cold actress.  I didn't mind her idolizing Carly that much.   I liked her with Johnny but Logan and fake Barrett guy are the same person in my mind so I can't recall. She was got better overtime and was charming with Dante, but something about her always came off extremely aloof and harsh.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Members

I thought she had kind of a mini edge, which worked for how they used her.  I liked that she wasn’t just a retread of Luke or Laura, but she still felt like a Spencer.  I also thought she had good familial chemistry with all her family, Luke, both Lucky’s and Nikolas.  I also thought she was really great with Genie when Laura woke up from her coma.  But I can also see why people did not enjoy her.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Members

She had really good chemistry with her family and so much looked the part (mute dark haired lulu was always a mystery casting to me).  JMB also was great with JE/Tracy. She was just a little bit of a cold fish for romance but it worked with Dante's charisma.  I think before that they were trying to push her as a romantic lead in a more generic way and it worked better when she was more aloof and cold with Dante. It felt more natural to her abilities. I did think she worked well with Kirsten Storms and liked their friendship.  Also she did get a little sanctimonious in her mini-Carly years.  I am not a huge Lulu fan or anything, but I think JMB was good casting.  Same with BC's Morgan.  He was an obnoxious prick but that fit with what Morgan should have been-although young Morgan was so different and I wanted him to sail boats with Jax in Australia forever.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Members

Lol.  Her and Maxie had a slew of forgettable leading men at the time.  I get they were young ingenues but every single one of those love interests (outside Johnny) were interchangeable.  Weren't they at one point fighting over (not gay yet) Lucas?  Or was that Maxie and Georgie and really creepy?

Even with Dante, there was a time period where all Lulu did was talk about Dante and seemed to have no life of her own, but to be fair I think that was the time period on the show EVERYONE talked about Dante all the time.  That only stopped when VM came back and every single character had to talk about Brenda for entire episodes.  Poor DZ, Dante is with Sam now.  He gets all the cold fish or women that were in love with his dad.  It's weird to say the show wastes Dante when 10 years ago you couldn't go a day without Dante or hearing about Dante.  That really has nothing to do with JMB/Lulu, but it got me thinking about how much I liked Dante back in the day.  Probably the last great hire GH had.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Unfortunately, your content contains terms that we do not allow. Please edit your content to remove the highlighted words below.
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.



  • Recent Posts

    • Please register in order to view this content

       
    • Please register in order to view this content

       
    • Abraham!!!!!

      Please register in order to view this content

      Welcome back!!! And I see Abe and Paulina got a new apartment too, which is just a redress of John/Marlena’s, Steve/Kayla’s, etc. But it looks kinda nice. And I enjoyed his scenes with Chanel. It added another perspective to everything that’s been going on with her and Johnny. And Abe using his own history with Lexie to comfort Chanel was a good idea. Plus, it also provided us with more suspicion/red herring about Johnny possibly shooting EJ. I’m looking forward to see what happens between her and Johnny. And I’m so glad that the two of them are on the frontburner now.  Speaking of Johnny, I still have no problem with him going to work for Titan. The drama could be so good, especially once EJ finds out. To me, it seems like another realistic reaction to everything that’s been happening to Johnny lately. It doesn’t seem random and over the top either. And I like that they remembered to have Johnny tell Xander that he has no corporate experience whatsoever. Surprisingly, the two of them work well together. And so do Carson and Deidre. I love how the Marlena/Johnny relationship has been featured so much.  Kayla was still strong and kicking ass today too. The writer change has helped her/Mary Beth so much. But I do admit we should’ve seen Steve trying to get into Dr. Russell’s lab rather than Kayla instructing him over the phone.  And unfortunately, Chad and Cat still don’t seem to be doing much for me though. The cliffhanger was ok too.   Btw, Days was trending at #4 this morning on Peacock
    • There was a huge outcry when we learned that JFP intended to off Donna.
    • Especially children who much more likable characters and are played by better actors 

      Please register in order to view this content

      It’s a worse idea than her wanting to become a doctor Well, some of us Italians do prefer trumpets and saxophones over strings  
    • As requested by @P.J. the 1976 summary from Daytime Serial Newsletter. This was the Dobsons. I will be posting it in parts, as it quite lengthy. The Guiding Light premiered forty years ago on radio and now, after successfully having moved to television in the mid-fifties, it continues to chronicle the lives of the Bauer family of Springfield. Bertha (Bert) Bauer, the matriarch and guiding. force behind the family,has proved to be a source of strength and good counsel to all her friends and acquaintances as well as her own sons.  Michael, her older son, an attorney, recently married Leslie, who was formerly married to his brother,Ed, with whom she has a son, Freddie. Michael’s daughter Hope has always felt close to Leslie, but a recent conflict with Mike over her relationship with an older college professor has strained Hope’s relations with her father. Ed married Holly Norris last year but has just learned from her that their infant —daughter, Christina, is not his child but Roger Thorpe’s. Roger, who is deeply in love with nurse Peggy Fletcher, hopes the truth about Christina can be concealed, as he fears he could lose Peggy for good. Holly’s mother, Barbara, has recently married Roger’s father Adam and has no idea of the truth about Christina. Drs. Sara McIntyre and Joe Werner find their marriage is better than ever since orphaned T.J. became their foster child, and they are relieved that he is not the missing son of Cedars patient Ann Jeffers, who is searching for the child her estranged husband took out of town when she ran off with another man. Nurse Rita Stapleton, newly arrived in Springfield, aware of Ed’s personal upheaval, is solicitously offering him friendship and a shoulder to lean on. Dr. Ed Bauer has stunned the Bauer family by separating from his wife, Holly, soon after the recovery of their infant daughter, Christina, from pneumonia. Holly, exhausted by the baby’s illness and her own growing guilt feelings, has confessed to Ed that Christina is Roger Thorpe’s child, not his. Ed, learning that Peggy Fletcher has accepted Roger’s proposal,tells Roger to tell Peggy the truth before he does. Rita Stapleton, R.N., is taken aback when she meets Peggy’s fiancé, as she knew Roger when he worked in the oil fields in Texas. At the time, Rita was private nurse to wealthy oilman Mr. Granger. Roger, under pressure from Ed, realizes he can’t marry Peggy without telling her the whole truth. Somehow finding the courage, he tells her everything and begs for her forgiveness. As he feared, Peggy, stunned, breaks their engagement. Despite Ed’s later assurances that his own marriage was shaky before Roger, Peggy can’t forgive him; there’s no trust left. Holly, who has filed for divorce, goes to Peggy, explaining that she cared for Roger more than he ever cared for her, that she knew Roger loved Peggy from the moment he met her and became a better person for just knowing her. She assures Peggy that there has been nothing between them for a long time now. Leslie Bauer has returned to college to add personal fulfillment to her life as a housewife and mother. Her husband, attorney Mike Bauer, has undertaken a search for Ann Jeffers’s son Jimmy, whom she abandoned when she ran off with another man years ago. Jimmy’s father, Spence Jeffers, was a quick tempered drunk who cheated on Ann repeatedly. Mike offers Ann a job in his office, to help her meet the costs of the investigation. Spence and Jimmy’s trail seems to end in Alaska. Mike seems to resent Leslie’s involvement with school, and she is upset by his long hours and absences on the Jeffers case. Ann, realizing Leslie’s feelings, apologizes to her for causing Mike’s absences and tells Leslie how lucky she is to be married to a man like Mike.  Ed, unable to do neurosurgery after being wounded in the arm last year, decides to go ahead with highrisk nerve-root-resection surgery, despite the fifty-percent chance of total paralysis. In the operating room, Dr. Steve Jackson finds an excessive amount of scar tissue and refuses to continue the surgery, fearing that healthy nerve roots could be severed accidentally. Dr. Jackson closes, over young Dr. Tim Ryan’s objections, and later tells Tim his arrogance is becoming a detriment to his medical career at Cedars Hospital. Ed’s friends and family are upset at his reaction to this disappointment. His assignment as Chief of Staff wasn’t as fulfilling as surgery, and he now realizes that will no longer be part of his life. Rita Stapleton tries to cheer Ed by bringing groceries and consolation, but Ed’s depression isn’t lifting. His mother, Bert. Bauer,fears that Ed, a former alcoholic, may start drinking again. |  When Roger tells Peggy he’s leaving Springfield —for the sake of everyone he has hurt, Peggy, realizing also the suffering of her son Billy, who had grown to love Roger, tells Roger that even though it hurts to know about Christina, it hurts more to be without him. They agree to try again and plan to marry immediately. Barbara Thorpe, Holly’s mother, stumbles upon a manuscript written by her son Andy and, putting the pieces together, realizes that the story of a young woman whose child is not her husband’s is about Holly. Holly makes her mother promise not to tell anyone, which puts a tremendous strain upon her, as Barbara is married to Roger’s father, Adam Thorpe. Barbara is unable to tell Adam why she’s suddenly suffering migraine headaches and constant depression. | Despite Rita’s increasing attempts to reach him, Ed continues to sink further into his depression, until finally she tells him he isn’t half the man she thought —he was. Stunned into taking a good look at what he’s become, Ed admits he’s destroying himself and shows up the next morning at his office ready for work. Dr. Tim Ryan has become annoyed at the number of dates Rita has broken to be with Ed, and upon learning he’s up for chief resident, he rushes to share the news with her, only to find she’s entertaining Ed for dinner. Tim leaves angrily but later returns to apologize and propose marriage to Rita. She politely turns him down and suggests they no longer see each other, for his sake. Tim bitterly accuses her of using him. Under pressure from Adam to explain her strange depression, Barbara finally tells Adam the whole story.She informs him that Roger and Peggy are not welcome in her home. Home from his honeymoon, Roger learns from his father that Barbara knows the truth and has told him. Roger can tell his father only that he regrets what happened and he is a changed man now. He hopes his father can one day forgive him. Adam later tells Barbara she’s put the entire blame on Roger and hasn’t considered Holly’s guilt in the matter, adding, “I can accept the truth, why can’t you?” Feeling that it’s best for everyone involved, Roger prepares to resign as manager at the Metro Restaurant and take Billy and Peggy out of town. Peggy bolsters his confidence by telling him they’ll stay and fight this out together. Tim, upset by Rita’s attitude and rejection, is letting his emotions affect his work. When Ed, unaware that Rita is the reason, warns Tim that his recent lack of efficiency may lose him the senior resident appointment, Tim smarts at his rival’s being his superior. Tim takes stock of the situation and resolves to put personal problems aside and concentrate on his career. More to come...
    • @Tisy-Lish Seems like the bulk of 76 was the Schneiders who I don't believe ever headwrote another soap. I think the Labine/Mayer structured the show well in the time they were there and succeding headwriters used that to their advantage but then began chipping away with their own characters/story. @Franko glad you're enjoying delving into unfamiliar territory And now Part 2.... When a missing person’s report on Ben goes out, the Connecticut state police respond with their unconscious John Doe. When Ben awakens after brain surgery he calls for Betsy, angering Arlene, who gets drunk and goes to tell Meg the truth. Meg’s housekeeper, Carrie Lovett, who is Arlene’s mother (she had no idea of ‘Arlene’s involvement with Ben when she took this job), manages to prevent Arlene from seeing Meg. Ben, still hazy from anesthesia, tells Betsy how sorry he is for the way he’s treated her. Betsy, misunderstanding, assumes he means the gambling. Diana is still feeling sorry for herself, despite Jamie’s efforts to convince her that they can have a full life with children by adoption. When he informs her that his divorce is almost final and they can plan their wedding, Diana refuses to acknowledge that she has any future at all. Arlene, drunk and despondent, starts a letter to Ben in which she refers to herself as his “real wife.” Ray finds it and takes it to Jamie, threatening to give it to Betsy unless Jamie gets his client, Meg, off Ray’s back. Jamie has already warned Meg that Slater is no small-time hood; he has big money and power behind him. Arlene, confronted by Jamie, insists she meant “first wife,” but Jamie gives her seven days to produce a divorce decree or he’ll prove her and Ben guilty of attempting to defraud Meg. Ben, learning this, orders her to get a quickie Haiti decree, but she refuses, reminding Ben that he has told her sometimes he feels happy being married to Betsy and expecting a child. Arlene refuses to be dumped. Ray comes to Ben’s aid with a phony divorce decree. Ben takes it to Jamie for verification while Ray tells Meg that Ben needed false divorce papers from Arlene. Meg confronts her son and agrees to help him out of this mess. She plans to expedite his divorce from Arlene and convince Betsy to renew her marriage vows on their anniversary. Learning that Rick has known about Arlene and Ben’s marriage since the beginning, Meg withdraws her support from their planned ski resort. Rick realizes his dreams have just gone down the drain but can’t fault Meg’s motive. Arlene decides she needs money now to get Ben out of town and sets out to blackmail Meg. Ben, realizing that the only thing left to do is to run away with Arlene, leaves a letter for Betsy explaining why he married her but that he later fell in love with her. At the edge of town, however, he realizes he can’t go through with it. He tells Arlene he loves Betsy and wants to be there with her when their child is born, and he gets out of the car and calls a cab. Arlene, furious, races back to Meg’s house, where she tells Betsy the whole story. Betsy, disbelieving her, rushes to her bedroom, where she finds Ben’s letter confirming everything Arlene just told her. In shock, Betsy calls her brother, Dr. Tom Crawford, to come right away. Ben arrives and is truthful with Betsy, who no longer wants anything to do with him. Realizing that Meg stands in the way of his being a man, Ben moves out. Betsy is unmoved when Ben and Arlene’s divorce comes through; she won’t expose herself to that kind of hurt again. When Meg cajoles her to live with her until her grandchild is born, Betsy tells Meg that in the eyes of the court this isn’t her grandchild and she’ll never allow her child to be corrupted by Meg’s money, as Ben was. Meg, full of self-pity gets drunk and manages to get Rick drunk when she tells him Skyler Mountain is out. She then reminds him of how their relationship used to be and renews his passions, now affected by liquor. After they spend the night together, Meg decides to go ahead with the Skyler Mountain project after all. Rick makes it clear, however, that he still loves Cal and his relationship with Meg will be strictly business. Betsy continues to refuse to see Ben and is determined to be self-supporting. When she inadvertently mentions Ben’s letter to Bruce Sterling, the mayor of Rosehill, he has to turn it over to the district attorney. Meg is furious upon discovering that her own brother in law is the one who found the evidence against Ben. Dr. Joe Cusack is quite concerned about a teenaged alcoholic patient at the clinic, Lynn Henderson, who is determined not to be helped. She tries a sob story on Vanessa Sterling, but Cal, Van’s niece, overhears and warns Lynn not to put the bite on her friends and relatives. So Lynn, who refuses to heed Joe’s warning that alcohol has so destroyed her stomach lining that she could die from another binge, steals money from Van’s fund-raising folder and takes off. She later turns up at Van’s to apologize for stealing charity money and explains she was the ugly daughter of a beautiful mother and grew up feeling unloved. Van persuades Joe to let Lynn stay with her instead of returning to the halfway house she hates. Bruce, Van’s husband, sees Lynn as another of Van’s strays and asks Lynn not to take advantage of Van. Cal. is concerned to learn Rick will again be involve in business with Meg. He assures her it will be okay and that Meg is his last chance to fulfill his dream of making it big. When Meg overhears Cal telling Ben that she and Rick are engaged, Meg tries to tell Cal that Rick’s not the marrying kind and she’s wrong for him. Seeing that Cal is serious and Rick apparently is too, Meg threatens to tell Cal everything, including their most recent intimacy, if Rick doesn’t call it off immediately; she gives him twenty-four hours. Rick, for Cal’s own good, he feels, tells her he’s not the monogamous kind and she’d be better off without him. Cal, knowing she really loves him, refuses to let  go easily. So. he uses Cal’s knowledge of the fact that his son Hank dearly wants his parents to reconcile and tells Cal he and Barbara are planning to try again, for the boy’s sake. But Cal later runs into Hank and mentions that he must be glad his mother’s coming home. Hank has no knowledge of this and is confused. Rick, therefore, has to tell the child he used this as an excuse to get out of marrying Cal. But Hank, miserable at having his hopes raised and dashed, spills this to Cal when she tries to cheer him up. He tells her it was all a lie. Jamie warns Rick that his Skylar Mountain contract with Meg has so many contingencies that if anything happens, he’ll be holding the financial bag. But Rick, wanting this success badly, signs the papers, and Meg releases the money.
    • I genuinely in my 20 year history of watching Days can’t recall a single Bo and Phillip scene though I’m assuming there had to be one or two? Phillip was always much more presented as Lucas’ brother due to Kate’s involvement in their love lives and closer age post SORAS. I will say my favorite thing about PR though is he made Bo the only Kiriakis to actually pronounce it like Victor/John Aniston despite Papa Brady obviously being the dad he was associated with.
    • OK 1976 GL coming up   As none of those shows aired in 1976...
    • Thank you, @Paul Raven! I chose Love of Life because it's a show I don't have a lot of familiarity with, so I thought it would be interesting to look at this period with a more or less unspoiled view.
×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

By using this site, you agree to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy