GH: January 2024 Discussion Thread

[Contessa Donatella]

I admit that most of my focus was on Hayden Panetierre and on whatsherface, those two ladies were fine & sounded great too. 

[Vee]

He's no Hallmark Channel regular, that's for sure.

[Khan]

Frank Valentini basically took Mark Teschner's job away from him - but, hey, at least Mark's still getting a paycheck!

As soon as I remembered him from Lifetime's "My Crazy Ex," I knew Frank had screwed up again.

Boy, Patrick Mulcahey's got his work cut out for him, if he thinks he can work with Frank and whichever other C-list actors he chooses to cast for roles.

You know, I'm watching again Frank's Q&A with the press (which plays on a loop here at SON, if you haven't noticed, lol) and...I don't want to be the one to start any rumors or anything...but am I the only one who thinks the grind of producing GH is beginning to get to Frank a little bit?  He seems much more gaunt and more "out of it" than I've seen him in the past.

Edited January 26, 2024 by Khan

[David_Vickers]

Agreed. Co-sign.   Jonathan Jackson was a good kid and teen actor,  but the older he got, he got worse at acing IMHO, plus he looks so much younger than his age (or at least used to) he didn't seem right for Lucky any longer.  I thought Greg Vaughan (Eric on DAYS) was good as a mature Lucky.  I wish GH could steal him back, but do think Darin Brooks might be ok in the role, but like some others have said, might be better suited as Dillon, whom I think is also another missing character that should be on the show.

I do hope that Lucky, Lulu, Dillon all return.

[titan1978]

Well after years of mostly being left alone, he’s now got a network more focused on him. He more or less chose every HW since he took over GH (or with Ron, was happy to bring him with). Both regimes after Ron had zero power. I cannot imagine him bringing Mulcahey to the table.

Now we have new head writers, Roger Howarth was fired and Steve Burton is back. Frank is currently looking more like a managing producer than as in control as he was. I know the cast loves him. We just need a tighter show and he needs to start amping up the drama instead of being seemingly embarrassed by it.

Dead

[Khan]

Me neither.  Mulcahey's hiring had to have been ABCD's doing; and given Mulcahey's aversion to network/sponsor interference, I would not be surprised to learn that the network had to promise him some measure of creative control in order to get him to sign on, too.

I just hope the first check clears before Mulcahey is forced to quit.  #grabthatdough

Edited January 26, 2024 by Khan

[BetterForgotten]

I’ve always thought Valentini was a crap producer when it counts. He may be good at stretching a thin budget - but his tastes in actors, light design, and translating material onscreen has always felt cheap, lazy, and very hokey. 

For all her many faults, JFP was very good at producing the hell out of her material (when she had a budget to work with, or decent writers to work with). Wendy Richie may not have had a distinctive aesthetic style, but she was a master of translating material onscreen that felt like it had weight attached to it. 

[John]

However now a days its all about who saves the Networks the most $$$$$

[Khan]

In that case, maybe they should ask Ken Corday to produce the show.  I'm kidding.

[John]

Now we know Ken is nothing more than a figure head at Days

[ranger1rg]

I agree. JJ was OK on Nashville, but he wasn't in my Top 10 reasons for watching that series.

[John]

If Mulcahey and Korte than just build on whats going on now It will be major success.

[BetterForgotten]

I honestly wouldn’t mind Mulcahey and Koorte opening with a big plane crash that kills half the cast of existing characters. Didn’t Agnes Nixon do something similar when she took over AW?

Edited January 26, 2024 by BetterForgotten

[John]

Something like that yes.

Issue I have is that Daytime is not that great at special Effects. I'd rather have character driven exits, then possibly something that has no fallout

[ranger1rg]

We're all told ALL THE TIME that Frank Valentini is a miracle worker when it comes to budgets. Is this true, or is iT just that people keep repeating it and now everyone says it and repeats it and believes it?

Yes, GH has a bigger (more bloated) cast than the other soaps and yes, we see more sets. How does that translate into "Frank is a genius with the budget!" when we have no idea what his budget is compared to the budget on the other soaps?