1 minute ago, ranger1rg said:

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?

 

If GH were not on or under budget I think he would have been replaced

Michael Easton is especially awful in these courtroom scenes today. Also, can Michael E. Knight and that awful Cajun accent go already? 

12 minutes ago, BetterForgotten said:

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?

Um, no. AFAIK Agnes never did that anywhere & I know that no one did it at AW. Agnes created the Alice-Steve-Rachel triangle, created the second raven-haired troublesome daughter/put upon mother duo of Rachel & Ada, made use of some of the Matthews family & I believe got rid of some of the Gregory family that not-really-a-writer James Lipton created. 

Dumping recurring characters makes no sense. They are paid per episode and their pay for each episode is low. Yes Finn has been the least effective of mE's roles and if he left I wouldnt mind

1 hour ago, Khan said:

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

Teschner still gets his hand on in some casting (like Tabyana Ali, Avery Pohl and Nicholas Chavez, IIRC) and has been name-checked more than once in recent years, in fairness. But a lot of final decisions, I think, have been all Frank and it's often showed since he took over.

4 minutes ago, John said:

If GH were not on or under budget I think he would have been replaced

That's not my point, though.  EPs are fired when ratings drop. I don't believe any network watches a budget get out of control for months and then says "You know what? This guy can't watch money."

And sets? That hotel room in Paris for Sprina looked nothing like Paris. It wasn't remotely French or European. I guess we're lucky they piped in the cheesy French music.

 

1 hour ago, Khan said:

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.

When he went up at the Daytime Emmys it was notable. They had just had a monstrous taping schedule of the primetime special and the JackieZ Memorial week back to back & shortly after the Friday night of the Emmys Frank found out he had covid. So, what you're saying you see, yeah, me, too. It appears to be wearing him down. 

55 minutes ago, ranger1rg said:

That's not my point, though.  EPs are fired when ratings drop. I don't believe any network watches a budget get out of control for months and then says "You know what? This guy can't watch money."

And sets? That hotel room in Paris for Sprina looked nothing like Paris. It wasn't remotely French or European. I guess we're lucky they piped in the cheesy French music.

 

Budget is part of profitability, so I think that does play a part. And these changes we have been seeing since Howarth was let go signify to me that the ratings decline has finally gotten ABC’s attention over Frank producing the show well and under budget.

I think a huge part of why he remains is his consistency, coupled with they don’t have anyone ready to take over. He is also the last home grown executive talent for these shows at ABC. I imagine he has relationships above him that are good.

Who would they install that could run the show well right now? Tomlin is no spring chicken, and his tenure at DAYS looked cheap as hell. JFP is retired, and I doubt ABC would go there. Lisa De Cozette passed away. Shelley Curtis would be interesting but I doubt she wants the headaches. Riche could come back but does she want to?

This industry failed with nurturing talent for future generations, and now we’re only left with people 60+ who can run the day to day operations to keep things afloat. Hence why people like Frank and Josh Griffith just linger on - there are very few people of an active age left to replace them. 

15 minutes ago, titan1978 said:

Budget is part of profitability, so I think that does play a part. And these changes we have been seeing since Howarth was let go signify to me that the ratings decline has finally gotten ABC’s attention over Frank producing the show well and under budget.

I think a huge part of why he remains is his consistency, coupled with they don’t have anyone ready to take over. He is also the last home grown executive talent for these shows at ABC. I imagine he has relationships above him that are good.

Who would they install that could run the show well right now? Tomlin is no spring chicken, and his tenure at DAYS looked cheap as hell. JFP is retired, and I doubt ABC would go there. Lisa De Cozette passed away. Shelley Curtis would be interesting but I doubt she wants the headaches. Riche could come back but does she want to?

I just do not believe there's no one else who could run GH. I'm guessing there are MANY people who would take that job and do it well. The problem is that GH -- and every soap -- lives in this world where they look for replacements only in the soap world.  Who gets notice? People fired from other soaps. People who have been around for decades.

Regarding the budget, I will agree that Frank produces the show well. Under budget? We don't know what that means, because we don't know the budget he's been given.

How did that story of Agnes killing off the Gregory family on AW begun?

Alex was killed in an offscreen car crash. That was it. The rest were just written out.

As for GH having more sets,maybe it's simply that the available studio space is larger so the sets themselves are bigger and there's space for more of them.

Does GH still do daily set changes ie a crew comes in each day to erect sets?

Do we know the taping schedule? One of the actors talked in SOD a few months ago about going in the afternoon and taping into the evening, which I thought was a big no these days due to overtime payment issues.

1 minute ago, Paul Raven said:

How did that story of Agnes killing off the Gregory family on AW begun?

Alex was killed in an offscreen car crash. That was it. The rest were just written out.

As for GH having more sets,maybe it's simply that the available studio space is larger so the sets themselves are bigger and there's space for more of them.

Does GH still do daily set changes ie a crew comes in each day to erect sets?

Do we know the taping schedule? One of the actors talked in SOD a few months ago about going in the afternoon and taping into the evening, which I thought was a big no these days due to overtime payment issues.

Sets in LA can be kept up. Sets in nYC had to be taken down & stored which also cost the NY soaps money

1 minute ago, Paul Raven said:

How did that story of Agnes killing off the Gregory family on AW begun?

Alex was killed in an offscreen car crash. That was it. The rest were just written out.

It's one of those persistent errors it seems impossible to wipe out! I doubt anyone knows where it began. Errol would likely say that it was something some brand new intern wrote on their first day.

Gotta admit, I kinda liked the twist today with Finn and the malpractice suit. 

I have mixed feelings about Nina and Valentin possibly teaming up though. It could be good if someone doesn’t interfere again lol

And yeah, Spencer looked hot. 

2 hours ago, BetterForgotten said:

This industry failed with nurturing talent for future generations, and now we’re only left with people 60+ who can run the day to day operations to keep things afloat. Hence why people like Frank and Josh Griffith just linger on - there are very few people of an active age left to replace them. 

In fairness, GH has invested in (or was pushed to accept) some young writing talent (largely of color, I think) who are on staff now. I don't know which ones are really skilled. There's also the Cullitons' daughter, I believe. Who may well be talented, I have no idea, but the fact that so much of the industry is a very closed fiefdom for family and friends to subsidize their futures is more highlighted than ever.

Edited January 27, 20241 yr by Vee