Jump to content

GH: Jackie Zeman passed away


Recommended Posts

  • Replies 186
  • Created
  • Last Reply

Top Posters In This Topic

Top Posters In This Topic

Posted Images

  • Members

I remember we unpacked this some time ago, trying to determine based on the available dates and her own anecdotal evidence if Jackie had been hired (in late '77) before Gloria and/or Marland or not. I think the conclusion we came to is that no, she came with them both though perhaps before their names were officially on the show, which does happen. I don't think she was ever part of the attempted Elman revamp.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Members

A gut punch. Ugh.

Luke and Laura and especially Geary get too much credit for the rise of GH. And I think that's mostly because the press is able to hang their hat on the titillation of "victim marries her rapist" angle. They ignore the fact that the rest of the show had to be good to keep people watching and that that story didn't happen in a vacuum, there was so much more going on before and after the disco.

Anyway, back to Jackie. Bobbie and her fiery red hair are (like I told @Vee when he shocked me with this news) are an indelible part of my childhood and part of some of my earliest memories. She really was a throughline across countless regime changes, a constant that helped to shape basically all of the eras post her hiring in 77. This is hearbreaking, she was entirely too young and still so vital.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Members

Me too. That's been on my radar for a long time and I don't think it's incidental that Leslie (who was supposed to be back on her feet and onscreen this time last year) only contributed her voice to Sonya Eddy's tribute.

Denise Alexander, Leslie, the Heathers (Mary O'Brien) and Chris Robinson, later Stuart Damon, etc. don't get enough credit either IMO. Or giving the show a stronger elder support system by zeroing in on Scott's family with Lee and the recently-added Gail, though that began before Monty and Marland (they ramped up that whole end of the canvas).

Tony (allegedly) saved her job in that period, because Jill supposedly wanted to ship Bobbie off to Ferncliff after going psycho over Melissa Bedford, as Jensen Buchanan was supposed to be the new star. We know how that went. I'd been expecting him to appear this year anyway but I will be shocked if he doesn't for this.

Edited by Vee
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Members

It's almost as if there were TWO GH's happening during that period.  Ask anyone in the industry or the press, and all they can mention is Luke and Laura and the stupid Ice Princess (and - oh, yeah - the rape, too).  But, ask actual, everyday GH fans, as I have, and you know what they talk about?  Rick and Monica and Alan and Lesley and Tracy and Jeff and Heather and Anne and Scotty...and, of course, Bobbie.  Luke and Laura is almost like a footnote to many who actually watched the show.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Members

I don't think we can quite reduce L&L to that, they were gigantic at the time. I think a more accurate summation would be that the media now (and perhaps then) considers the rest of the show a footnote, whereas in reality L&L was the crown jewel amongst a host of very strong stories and characters. There is a reason the silly General Hospital pop song features all those storylines too.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Members

Watching the Nurses' Ball tribute (not great, but better than it could have been, especially in clip selection), I wonder if they already knew. I guess they must have. I didn't notice how Jackie had to hug Laura Wright so tightly at the end due to emotions. Reminds me a bit of the incredibly poignant moments with Don McLaughlin in ATWT's 35th anniversary party for Nancy and Chris.

Please register in order to view this content

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Members

I think it was just meant to be the show showing solidarity with Jackie, who they probably knew was fighting cancer. But the show itself seems shocked by her passing.

I have seen the 1994 saga with Bobbie's family so many times so I have definitely dug back into some '96 and '98 episodes with her and Sarah Brown, Brad Maule, etc. in addition to my late '70s/early '80s binge - I haven't seen most of the Bobbie/Tony/Carly story in decades. I may have to find the great episode in that flashback, where Bobbie counsels Liz after her rape.

Edited by Vee
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Members

I have a feeling Frank knew, the cast regularly praises him as a great, involved producer so I wouldn't be surprised if she informed him of her illness.

 

Edited by Darn
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Members

I do get the feeling very few knew (reminds me of Elisabeth Sladen).

I wasn't a big fan of any of the stories themselves but I'm tempted to look for the scenes where she lays into Laura for faking her death in early '97.

GH may have been wrapping up, rather than bringing Bobbie's brother in, if not for the initial success of the Bobbie/Scotty/Laura triangle, along with other plots around then (especially the Heather saga, which powered the show for a number of years). L&L are just easier to write about, the "hook."

Edited by DRW50
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Members

To me the scene I posted a little earlier with her confronting Luke, while very dark, is some of her (and Tony's) best work and why I've always said that in those years you could've put the show on at night without it doing any brand damage to the primetime line-up. For me, anyway, it was often that good.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.



  • Recent Posts

    • Or Megan is shot by mobsters as retaliation for Dave's unpaid gambling debts.
    • Finland seemed such an odd choice for a location shoot. ATWT went to Greece and later Spain while GL had Tenerife and there were others in that timeframe. But Finland not being a known tourist destination or offering the tropical/sunny atmosphere usually associated with location shoots seems off brand. Maybe they were negotiating a deal with a tourist association and it fell through.
    • I was talking about 1986, but the glimpses of 1982 are about the same. 
    • I skimmed some of the 1982 synopses; Steve was planning on an opening an office in Finland, and I think Jim went there as part of the preparation. That probably was a big issue; AW had already gone to San Diego that year, with Rachel/Steve/Mitch. And to upstate NY with Pete and Diana. I wonder if upstate was as expensive lol  AW in 1982 has always fascinated me, because of how messy it was 
    • That makes sense. What a messy time for the show. And any changes they made were mostly for the worse.
    • The transition from Neal to Adam was very abrupt, and to be honest my theory is that the character of Neal was designed so that we think he is super shady but then it turns out that he was on the side of good all along so Neal could have seamlessly become a hero of the BCPD with no need for Adam. I don't know whether Robert Lupone was hired on a short contract or if he was fired from a longer-term contract because they decided they wanted someone who was more of a leading man type, but I can imagine a scenario where Charles Grant did both the undercover Egyptian treasure/flirt with Victoria and the straighter-arrow day to day police investigation. But in my imagined scenario the MJ prostitution plotline probably doesn't exist and instead he probably continues a relationship with Victoria. The story seems very odd to me. I assume that David Canary would have been included only because a plotline where Steve is going to Finland in which only Rachel is seen in actual Finland seems unlikely. The synopses explicitly mention that Alice can't go with Steve but would whoever was playing Alice at that time have had the kind of clout to get the remote cancelled? It also strikes me as unlikely that production would have approved the expensive location shoot and *then* cancelled it only because of jealousy. It seems more likely that they rejected it because of the expense but then the jealousy part got added to the gossip speculatively, possibly because while it was being worked out they justified not including more castmembers because of the expense. 
    • My comment has nothing to do with cast resentment, but does relate to the Finland location shoot: It may be a coincidence, but Jim Matthews died in Finland in 1982.  Hugh Marlowe's final episode was in April 1982, but the character probably didn't die untll May or June. (I'm unable to find the character's date of death, only the date of Marlowe's final episode). SInce Jim and Rachel had very little interaction after around 1975, it is unlikely Jim's death in Finland had any connection to Rachel's potential visit, but the choice to have Jim die in that location at that time is a head-scratcher.  I'm sure the writers sent Jim on an extended trip (and off-screen) because of Marlowe's illness.  But Finland seems like a strange choice considering the (then) recently cancelled location shoot.  
    • I totally understand your sloths concern about it and I agree with you. Let’s hope the show plays it’s cards right.    Further comments about the last few episodes: - I liked that one of the attendees was filming the scene. That’s realistic. I wonder if the writers will follow up with that.  - Martin and Smitty trying to drag Leslie out was very heteronormative, so perfectly in line with them two as characters lol.    As for the future: it’s obvious the Duprees will come to accept Eva one way or another, but the rivalry with Kay should be here for the long term   On the topic of acting: the only bad actors I’m seeing are Ted and Derek. Tomas hasn’t proven to be either good or bad, so far, but he’s certainly mediocre and uncharismatic. He sucks the energy out of the scenes and I don’t see any couple of women ever vying for him. 
    • I’m trying to think which actors VW were working with at the time, and none of them had been there for a while. Even like Mac and Ada didn’t have that big of a part in Rachel’s storyline.  And Jamie was involved with all that movie stuff.
    • Brooke did ads before ATWT too. That probably helped get her the job. After ATWT she seemed to branch more into hosting, along with ads.  I think I saw Kelley in an ad or two, but you're right she wasn't on as much. 
×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

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