3 hours ago, carolineg said:

It's definitely an excuse to bring in some stunt casting.  It's just doesn't fit the classy vibe that Deception at least wanted to have.

Anyhow, I get the feeling at this point, no one gets Lucy or understands the character.  It is obviously is all in flux now, but Lucy's not stupid or entirely oblivious and that's how the last few shows have portrayed her.

I think we all knew this was exactly what Ava was going to do with the pills.  I guess it just the first genuine sign that Ava is up to no good.

 

3 hours ago, Khan said:

TBH, I don't care very much about Gregory's health either, but only because I know that, in real life, ALS is incurable, so I know already how his story will end.  (If I've said it once, I've said it a hundred times: don't give your soap opera character(s) a disease that isn't curable or treatable, lol).  But I do get what you're saying, @Vee.

I hear what you are saying about real life diseases, but I do appreciate the approach that is being taken since the change in headwriters. I think showing someone who wants to have a say in how they live their life as well as how they handle their medical care is interesting. Gregory asking Finn for help with editing his article and then resigning from the paper were some of my favorite scenes so far. Unfortunately, anything else that has asked Michael Easton to do any sort of emotional work has been a struggle. 

I am curious if they will take this anywhere dramatic like having Greg making the choice of having the right to die and the potential family conflict if Tracy sides with Greg and the boys are determined to keep their father in their life. 

3 hours ago, titan1978 said:

IIRC Blaze agreed to be the Face while also opting out of stuff like personal appearances. The Momager made a big deal about it. I knew when it happened that Sasha was going to be back hawking Deception on that show.

I wish Lucy had a real friend or confidant on the show that is not Scotty. Maybe rekindle her friendship with Felicia? Because I would like a scene where Lucy admits her bulldozing has more to do with her inability to deal with her life outside work, and her overbearing nature with Deception is because that’s all she has as a legacy. She is desperate for the name Lucy Coe to have some kind of meaning. They could even tie it in to her reaction to Bobbie’s death, and how much an entire community grieved for Bobbie and how little Lucy feels her absence would even be noticed.

Speaking of which, where is Felicia? For the faults of Chris and Dan and Frank V, I hope the new regime recognizes the show was saved by weaving those legacy and fan favorites back onto the canvas. I don’t want a Frons level show again where we only see Carly getting story and a rotating cast of youngsters.

Give me a real story for Liz, for Laura, and Anna. Not just rotating them into other people’s stories. When PM was on Guiding Light, it was an ensemble and nearly everyone had something to do. Portia could also use something deeper than Trina’s mom. And just like several other times on this stupid show, where is Trina and why won’t they use her as a lead?

Given Lucy's history with Bobbie, that would be a powerful moment of reflection that Lucy used to be very good at. Given how much of Lucy's humanity came from her relationship with Dominique, if himbo Cody has to stick around it wouldn't upset me too much if Lucy started to try to mother him a little bit in only the way Lucy could.

i'm hoping to see some real stories develop for the characters you've listed. I've been impressed with what I've seen of Brook Kerr as Portia in the hospital setting. I am looking forward to how Portia will handle the Heather Webber conviction issue when it eventually goes to court.   

1 hour ago, carolineg said:

Got it.  This seems to fall under a promotional thing though?  Anyhow, I found it weird they didn't at least try to get ahold of her.  It feels like Blaze would have done it, but I know it was all to get Sasha back.

To expand upon what @titan1978 said, Natalia specifically nixed the part of the contract that required Blaze to be a spokesperson for the company. She could appear in the advertising, but couldn't be forced to make personal appearances due to issues of exposure. It would have been interesting had Blaze showed up because it would have pissed off her mother and then her mother could have fought whoever she thought was behind the decision. 

Whether or not Blaze is in a position yet to defy her mother seems up in the air. 

20 minutes ago, Khan said:

Why do I feel like TPTB (including the new Co-HW's) are overlooking a potentially good storyline where Cody and Sasha are named the Faces of Deception?

Has the show ever had a male Face of Deception? Or for that matter, has any show had a cosmetics company develop a make up brand for a male clientele? In real life, I know the brand War Paint was a thing a few years ago, but I'm not sure how that panned out.

6 minutes ago, ranger1rg said:

Can't disagree with any of that, especially regarding Home & Heart and Soap Twitter.

If we're getting more Morgan and Luna, then Frank needs to move to Grey Gardens. I appreciate Morgan Fairchild and I love her politics, but she's not needed on GH. Frank is such a wizard with the budget, yet he spends money on these two?

I have my doubts there is anything Frank wouldn't do to keep employing the OLTL cast (like Batten) at this point. Only #MeToo has kept Todd Manning from Roger Howarth's umpteenth contract return, and then there's poor little Patrick Gibbons' recurring role as the boy scout Wyatt when all that poor non-acting teenager wants to do is go play hockey back home.

If Sasha and H&H (or ME) finally exit, then we'll know something has begun to really start to change.

4 minutes ago, dc11786 said:

i'm hoping to see some real stories develop for the characters you've listed. I've been impressed with what I've seen of Brook Kerr as Portia in the hospital setting. I am looking forward to how Portia will handle the Heather Webber conviction issue when it eventually goes to court.   

BK/Portia is so much stronger and more committed onscreen than DT/Curtis it's depressing. I would cut him in an instant and free her up for a new man, because she has carried a lot of material over the last few years and her reward for it is just more Curtis and Marshall.

I do think Easton has made a real effort with the Gregory stuff, particularly of late. I just am tired of watching him onscreen and I think the majority of the audience is as well. The weary look in Liz's eyes in their 'romance' of late also screams "you again?"

Edited April 16, 20241 yr by Vee

11 minutes ago, Vee said:

and then there's poor little Patrick Gibbons' recurring role as the boy scout Wyatt when all that poor non-acting teenager wants to do is go play hockey back home

LOL!!

Speaking of OLTL, I'm genuinely surprised that Frank Valentini has yet to find a way to bring Andrew Trischitta (ex-Jack) onto GH.

Just now, Khan said:

Speaking of OLTL, I'm genuinely surprised that Frank Valentini has yet to find a way to bring Andrew Trischitta (ex-Jack) onto GH.

I think poor Andrew (who did improve a bit on OLTL 2.0 with actual rehearsal time) is a teacher or something now. Probably for the best!

Quick question: why is it called "Home & Heart" and not "Home & Hearth"?  And is it just a shopping network, or do they air other kinds of programming, too?

24 minutes ago, dc11786 said:

Or for that matter, has any show had a cosmetics company develop a make up brand for a male clientele? 

IDK whether this counts, but I do remember AMC's Erica Kane launching a "Man of Enchantment" campaign for her cosmetics company way back during the Clinton administration.

Edited April 16, 20241 yr by Khan

3 minutes ago, Khan said:

IDK whether this counts, but I do remember AMC's Erica Kane launching a "Man of Enchantment" campaign for her cosmetics company way back during the Clinton administration.

Am I crazy or was Charlie Brent the Man of Enchantment?

1 minute ago, Vee said:

Am I crazy or was Charlie Brent the Man of Enchantment?

I think that's how the brief Charlie/Erica romance started!

Circling back to GH re: these crossovers, I still can't get over how the strike business with Martin (remember him?) being married to Blair from OLTL went absolutely nowhere. He has some big dumb secret about getting alimony from her and does Lucy ever find out or learn that the Deceptor was apparently stolen from Blair by him? I don't recall so. Pointless.

34 minutes ago, dc11786 said:

 

To expand upon what @titan1978 said, Natalia specifically nixed the part of the contract that required Blaze to be a spokesperson for the company. She could appear in the advertising, but couldn't be forced to make personal appearances due to issues of exposure. It would have been interesting had Blaze showed up because it would have pissed off her mother and then her mother could have fought whoever she thought was behind the decision. 

Whether or not Blaze is in a position yet to defy her mother seems up in the air. 

Has the show ever had a male Face of Deception? Or for that matter, has any show had a cosmetics company develop a make up brand for a male clientele? In real life, I know the brand War Paint was a thing a few years ago, but I'm not sure how that panned out.

Yeah, that makes sense about Blaze.  I listened to what Maria  Natalia said, but I still think it would have been more interesting to have Blaze step in and let the chips fall where they may with her mother.  I have defended Sasha for years, but I am over her and don't think she's in any way right to be a brand spokesmodel.

Jagger (ASJ, obvi) did the boxing campaign with Brenda, but that's the only male I can recall being in campaigns for Deception.

I hope they step it up with Natalia being the momager from hell tbh. That could be fun and actual conflict vs. the magic of Sasha, and it would give KM bigger story than waiting for this baby to either pop or preferably die.

I thought JY's wooden Lucky might have modeled a little in the early 2000s, but I may be totally wrong.

52 minutes ago, ranger1rg said:

That's entirely possible, but I'd expect more and better from a writing team that threw out the planned Jason Returns story.

Slight correction required here. PM & EK didn't toss the D&C script. The decision to toss it was made simultaneous with the decision to cut D&C loose. So, that decision was made by either Frank or Frank & whomever else was involved in making the decision to fire them & change HWs. At that time EK was tasked with beginning a new Jason Returns script from scratch & PM joined her, sometime fairly quickly. And they also began cherry picking scripts to tweak & their own new stuff. There's no way they had the luxury of creating a bible, as has been said here recently. 

There is no doubt in my mind that the new writers did not have to submit a story bible beyond fix the Jason return. My feelings from the start were that May/ Summer was going to be a better indication of new story directions. March was the Jason umbrella and setting that story up on its feet, while exploring the rest of the canvas. I think some of the starts and stops have been that way under Valentini anyway, dictated by how he manages the budget.

I can imagine Korte being asked what she would do with the story as the Jason expert, and using that opportunity to pitch a return to the GH that she loved. I still hope we get an interview from EK/PM at some point to hype their vision. 

The network was clearly game for a change- look at the exits of Howarth, the rumored exit of another, Burton’s return, luring Patrick Mulcahey out of retirement. Sometime during the strike somebody at ABC started paying real attention to the show again above Frank. Be that Varni or someone else. All of a sudden we had that ABC special that they rushed into production too.

I have no doubt Frank Valentini is still very much the EP here. But his show is starting to look and feel like GH did before his time, including stronger day to day writing and way less focus on his friends from OLTL. 

1 minute ago, titan1978 said:

I have no doubt Frank Valentini is still very much the EP here. But his show is starting to look and feel like GH did before his time, including stronger day to day writing and way less focus on his friends from OLTL. 

I'll agree with all of that. I'm going to be very curious to see how May and the BLQ/Chase wedding stuff goes, even if I find him infantile and boring for her. I expect fireworks next month at least, possibly in conjunction with that wedding. And I hope Drew and Nina kick it up in and out of bed and the office. It's very strange to be suddenly invested in those two of all people.

15 minutes ago, carolineg said:

I have defended Sasha for years, but I am over her and don't think she's in any way right to be a brand spokesmodel.

Me too! But a year of terrible stories and the last two days in overalls have left me beyond numb to poor Sasha. Time to cut that character. Let her get an amazing job offer from Home and Heart that takes her out of Port Charles and we wish her the best!

Just now, titan1978 said:

Me too! But a year of terrible stories and the last two days in overalls have left me beyond numb to poor Sasha. Time to cut that character. Let her get an amazing job offer from Home and Heart that takes her out of Port Charles and we wish her the best!

If this was really PM's Santa Barbara, Comet the horse would trample her to death.