GH: Jackie Zeman passed away

[DRW50]

The moment where she told Luke that Lucky was dead was extremely chilling. In the long run, that story, Luke lying about her child being dead, was a mistake, because the show had to quickly reconcile Luke and Bobbie, and the show had to get Bobbie and Carly involved with each other, but Guza didn't care about taking time with the proper beats. That one moment, however, I immediately thought of when remembering Bobbie's definitive moments.

This has already been posted before, but I think it may be the earliest, or some of the earliest, existing available footage of Jackie as Bobbie. Her scene starts about 4 minutes in.

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[BetterForgotten]

The veteran cast, though often overlooked and disregarded by TPTB at GH always seemed so close. I know there’s been pics of various get togethers with them (featuring Jackie) over the years. Definitely keeping them in my thoughts today.

[Cat]

This is a complete shock. Jackie Zeman was a literal force of nature, I grew up watching her as Bobbie. One of those characters that becomes the unofficial heart of the show. I, too, often felt like the Bobbie-Carly SL was somehow cut short in order to shift Carly into the mob orbit. The decision taken to make that happen was so crazy to me, as Bobbie at that point had become one of GH's fortysomething matriarchs, and her work during BJ's Heart had solidified her status IMO as one of GH's most compelling actors. These type of female characters were what soaps had been built on for decades.

I'm glad JFP did not manage to exile her completely from GH. Such a loss.

[depboy]

As I do my damnedest to try to reconcile the fact that Jackie is no longer with us, there is an earlier clip (though the quality is rough) on YouTube from 1977 where Bobbie (still called Barbara here) meets Lesley and Rick. Time stamp is 11:50 when she enters the scene.

 A true light in the world, GH has lost a true icon and another piece of it's heart.  

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Edited May 11, 2023 by depboy

[BetterForgotten]

After the reveal, Carly and Bobbie’s reconciliation did feel very rushed and abrupt.  Definitely think they could have stretched out that reconciliation a little more and made that relationship more complicated than it ended up being. Still, I did love those scenes where Carly first calls Bobbie “mom” - I think it may have been when Tony kidnapped Michael and Robin? 

There were also some great scenes between Bobbie and Tony I haven’t seen in a long time where she lays into him about suing her for custody of Lucas. 
 

 

[Faulkner]

I was going to say earlier that she’s one of the last of that kind. Those types of characters drew me into soaps (Nancy Curlee’s GL had so many of them with Vanessa, Holly, Maureen, Nadine, et al). Working mothers who balanced family drama, career, romance, etc. In the past 25 years, those characters have become eternal teenagers (like LW’s Carly), complete raging hot messes, targets of abuse from their kids (Felicia), or gargoyles like Hogan Sheffer’s Barbara on ATWT. Bobbie was so grounded and relatable in the ‘90s. Soaps now longer valued those characters starting somewhere in the late ‘90s.

[DRW50]

Thanks. I watched those all through years ago but forgot they went far enough for early Bobbie.

I think she may have called her "Mom" around the time she told her the truth, but I can't remember. 

The whole thing bothered me at the time because they threw Carly so much into just chasing Jason and never wanted to develop her relationships with the Spencers. 

This was also around the time the show decided to just focus on Bobbie having sex all the time with Jerry, then Roy - it never felt like the layered character Bobbie was all the way up to that point.

Edited May 11, 2023 by DRW50

[j swift]

I highly recommend following Adam Ghani on Instagram who has been posting the most marvelous clips in her honor.  https://www.instagram.com/adamtghani/

 

 

[Vee]

I've been slowly poring over this very early stuff but I'd never seen this, thank you so much.

[Faulkner]

His account is wonderful. It’s an unfortunate coincidence that he randomly posts a clip of someone just days or even the day before they pass unexpectedly (it happened with Jerry ver Dorn and Liz Hubbard and just happened with JZ and someone else recently I believe).

Edited May 11, 2023 by Faulkner

[Khan]

If that's the case, then Brenda Dickson better watch her back, lol.

[Vee]

Per the IG above, the clip shown of Jackie with Kin is one I've never seen and is absolutely incredible. The entire gala shown there (with many vintage clips from many shows) is on YT in high quality, but I hesitate to link to it as it is a recent upload and I don't want someone getting copyright struck - follow the TV show's name and you'll find it.

[BetterForgotten]

There was so much more they could have done with Stefan and Bobbie. The relationships with Jerry and Roy were horrible and felt extremely generic. Wendy Riche tried to keep Bobbie as a vital part of the canvas, but it was obvious Guza had given up on her and TPTB at ABC didn't have much interest either (and this was long before JFP came in). 

In retrospect, I overlooked so much at the time because Sarah Joy Brown was just so f.ucking amazing and her performances were largely what kept my interest for much of that time. 

[Vee]

I really liked Bobbie with Julian Stone's Jerry at the time, though that was apparently a hire Guza hated. I was happy with them together, but I also haven't seen much of that romance in decades lol. But I never got over them dumping Stefan and Bobbie.

[DRW50]

I liked Julian Stone, and didn't mind the pairing either, but I think it was where Bobbie started getting moved further and further out of a central role.