4 hours ago, Khan said:

I'm a big Douglas Marland fan, as most everyone here knows, so I should be used to a storytelling style on a soap that involves a large number of characters.  Yet, there are so many characters and storylines right now on GH that I'm struggling to keep up with. 

That’s because from what I have read and the limited ATWT I have seen, Marland was also recapping the stories constantly by having new characters find out what was happening. It added to the small town feel that soaps do so well and kept all the stories alive each week.

What we have here so far is better day to day writing and lots of character work, coupled with the starts and stops of Frank’s production style on the show the last few years. For me it leaves things disjointed, and so I am sometimes not sure what characters know what, and often things are either cut or skipped over to keep a story alive after not really visiting it for days or even weeks. Cody being a prime example- we know the real world reasons why it has stalled. We don’t know the in universe reasons because all the old team cared about was the start and climax, and always a meandering middle.

If I was watching just this week, I would think the A story is Sonny’s crimes and mental instability. I’m not sure what the B and C stories are. Dex trying out for police? Jason and Carly? Maybe Nina/Drew was B and Dex C? The problem is the momentum and movement was in Jason’s return and Valentin is the head of Pikeman. And that’s barely been addressed since. But we are seeing nearly every step of Dex trying to win Joss back and become a cop.

5 hours ago, carolineg said:

He wanted to inherit a necklace and I actually don't know how that ended.  I think Holly/Robert did something with said necklace, so I don't think there is any inheritance. 

IIRC the diamonds on the necklace were the Ice Princess cut up. And Victor ended up with it for his new weather machine? It was very convoluted. Cody just wanted the diamonds, I don’t think he was connected to the 60th anniversary story with Holly trying to get it and also Victor.

I don’t know what happened to it after they saved the day and Victor was killed. And Britt was also involved?

5 minutes ago, titan1978 said:

That’s because from what I have read and the limited ATWT I have seen, Marland was also recapping the stories constantly by having new characters find out what was happening. It added to the small town feel that soaps do so well and kept all the stories alive each week.

What we have here so far is better day to day writing and lots of character work, coupled with the starts and stops of Frank’s production style on the show the last few years. For me it leaves things disjointed, and so I am sometimes not sure what characters know what, and often things are either cut or skipped over to keep a story alive after not really visiting it for days or even weeks. Cody being a prime example- we know the real world reasons why it has stalled. We don’t know the in universe reasons because all the old team cared about was the start and climax, and always a meandering middle.

If I was watching just this week, I would think the A story is Sonny’s crimes and mental instability. I’m not sure what the B and C stories are. Dex trying out for police? Jason and Carly? Maybe Nina/Drew was B and Dex C? The problem is the momentum and movement was in Jason’s return and Valentin is the head of Pikeman. And that’s barely been addressed since. But we are seeing nearly every step of Dex trying to win Joss back and become a cop.

IIRC the diamonds on the necklace were the Ice Princess cut up. And Victor ended up with it for his new weather machine? It was very convoluted. Cody just wanted the diamonds, I don’t think he was connected to the 60th anniversary story with Holly trying to get it and also Victor.

I don’t know what happened to it after they saved the day and Victor was killed. And Britt was also involved? 

 

Edited April 22, 20241 yr by titan1978

Marland’s rules are a joke! He broke them. He introduced several new characters upon his arrival to ATWT. He didn’t wait 6 months. I hope Korte and Mulcahey get things going soon. GH is boring!!! 

Staying on topic of GH, lol at the board spammer making it all about herself, as always, and trying to be the center of attention. ( I know something you don’t know.) lol Frank Valentini has always demanded loyalty and a leak proof environment. This is not new. 

Edited April 22, 20241 yr by TEdgeofNight

2 hours ago, titan1978 said:

If I was watching just this week, I would think the A story is Sonny’s crimes and mental instability. I’m not sure what the B and C stories are. Dex trying out for police? Jason and Carly? Maybe Nina/Drew was B and Dex C? The problem is the momentum and movement was in Jason’s return and Valentin is the head of Pikeman. And that’s barely been addressed since. But we are seeing nearly every step of Dex trying to win Joss back and become a cop.

I blame the FV actor guarantee shuffle. As I think others have noted, he began this process of the constant actor merry-go-round at OLTL with RC and brought it to GH where it became much less manageable, especially with a bunch of recurring/veteran subplots that would rotate, disappear and reappear for weeks on end. I think that's a big part of what is often at play.

6 hours ago, titan1978 said:

That’s because from what I have read and the limited ATWT I have seen, Marland was also recapping the stories constantly by having new characters find out what was happening. It added to the small town feel that soaps do so well and kept all the stories alive each week.

What we have here so far is better day to day writing and lots of character work, coupled with the starts and stops of Frank’s production style on the show the last few years. For me it leaves things disjointed, and so I am sometimes not sure what characters know what, and often things are either cut or skipped over to keep a story alive after not really visiting it for days or even weeks. Cody being a prime example- we know the real world reasons why it has stalled. We don’t know the in universe reasons because all the old team cared about was the start and climax, and always a meandering middle.

If I was watching just this week, I would think the A story is Sonny’s crimes and mental instability. I’m not sure what the B and C stories are. Dex trying out for police? Jason and Carly? Maybe Nina/Drew was B and Dex C? The problem is the momentum and movement was in Jason’s return and Valentin is the head of Pikeman. And that’s barely been addressed since. But we are seeing nearly every step of Dex trying to win Joss back and become a cop.

IIRC the diamonds on the necklace were the Ice Princess cut up. And Victor ended up with it for his new weather machine? It was very convoluted. Cody just wanted the diamonds, I don’t think he was connected to the 60th anniversary story with Holly trying to get it and also Victor.

I don’t know what happened to it after they saved the day and Victor was killed. And Britt was also involved?

 

A massive cast is why I found it hard to follow the history of ATWT as opposed to the smaller and orbit structured cast of Y&R. ( Plus classic ATWT youtube videos artificially full episodes instead of individual story line playlists which also makes the show harder to follow).

As others have said, GH does not have a proper timeline for the beginning middle and end of storylines, they start, drop off, Pick back up, and end at random times. It's good that GH is more of an ensemble now than under Guza, but the way they show a structure. Now it's hard to figure out which storylines are central.

IMO Bill Bell was the best at storyline structure. His stories had clear starts, climaxes and endings, with great filler to keep things going. Everyone didn't interact with everyone, so there wasn't character connections all over the maps to confuse the viewer.

Edited April 22, 20241 yr by Planet Soap

11 hours ago, Khan said:

As much as I think EK/PM are doing fantastic jobs as Co-HW's, I still believe the time is now to start pruning this cast - and yes, that includes the recurring and off-contract players - and start zeroing in on those who are grabbing the most attention.

I think we have to remember: Patrick Mulcahey is someone who worked with Douglas Marland, and may be trying to work within Marland's soap rules. I don't expect major changes in terms of cast pruning until the end of 2024. I suspect they'll weed out some immediate exits (some of which I am seeing) before things actually happen.

7 hours ago, titan1978 said:

IIRC the diamonds on the necklace were the Ice Princess cut up. And Victor ended up with it for his new weather machine? It was very convoluted. Cody just wanted the diamonds, I don’t think he was connected to the 60th anniversary story with Holly trying to get it and also Victor.

I don’t know what happened to it after they saved the day and Victor was killed. And Britt was also involved?

 

I think Britt also was making a claim of ownership on the necklace and was fighting Cody on it.  After she died I guess that claim didn't matter.  I really don't remember what happened to the necklace after Victor was killed either.  I *think* he might have had an attack of conscience and just dropped the whole thing because I don't think Cody has a legitimate claim if he's not Leo's son.  Not positive though.  Someone who was paying more attention than me might know better.

1 minute ago, carolineg said:

I think Britt also was making a claim of ownership on the necklace and was fighting Cody on it.  After she died I guess that claim didn't matter.  I really don't remember what happened to the necklace after Victor was killed either.  I *think* he might have had an attack of conscience and just dropped the whole thing because I don't think Cody has a legitimate claim if he's not Leo's son.  Not positive though.  Someone who was paying more attention than me might know better.

It was extremely convoluted. The necklace had remnants of the Ice Princess imbedded in it. So, in that sense it dated back to 'Luke & Laura Save the World with their friends'.

It turned up in contemporary time when Valentin was impersonating a Frenchman & Jennifer Smith got the drop on him. And, then it came back up when Cody Bell was trying to make a claim & perjured himself to try it because he knew he was not old Leo's son. And he had to be to get the inheritance. So now he doesn't want to get in trouble over his perjury or worse, a charge of fraud, etc. 

I cannot remember how Britta came into it, but you're right, she did. 

Now Victor wanted it & got it having to do with his cockamamie plan to save half the earth by killing half of it. No idea what happened to it. 

40 minutes ago, Liberty City said:

I think we have to remember: Patrick Mulcahey is someone who worked with Douglas Marland, and may be trying to work within Marland's soap rules. I don't expect major changes in terms of cast pruning until the end of 2024. I suspect they'll weed out some immediate exits (some of which I am seeing) before things actually happen.

I doubt he is working totally by them if he is at all tbh. Even Marland didn't; several characters were gone from ATWT quickly, and the Snyders and Doug Cummings came in very fast.

I do think the show is much improved day to day, but I also think changes have to happen faster. Hopefully May is the start of that. I don't think the cast should look like this by the end of the year at all.

5 minutes ago, Vee said:

I doubt he is working totally by them if he is at all tbh. Even Marland didn't; several characters were gone from ATWT quickly, and the Snyders and Doug Cummings came in very fast.

I do think the show is much improved day to day, but I also think changes have to happen faster. Hopefully May is the start of that. I don't think the cast should look like this by the end of the year at all.

Oh, I don't think he's working them word-for-word, but he's probably working more-so alongside them for a 2024 adapting, because I think even Marland would have adapted himself at some point for the modern times.

I do believe May Sweeps will wrap a lot up, and allow for the summer months to change for a productive Fall Sweeps. As I've previously stated, the storylines the new regime have begun feel like they have direction and intention, and the ones they've inherited feel lost. It's a mix-match.

Mulcahey also spent years working at B&B. And even though I don’t watch that show, I follow the major goings on here. So he also has experience working in nonsense.

2 minutes ago, titan1978 said:

Mulcahey also spent years working at B&B. And even though I don’t watch that show, I follow the major goings on here. So he also has experience working in nonsense.

And tbh, Santa Barbara was often nonsense kept together by strong day to day writing and climactic episodes as well. Mulcahey said his two stints on GL (first with Marland and then with Curlee) was the only time he felt like things fully clicked where for an extended, but ultimately unsustainable amount of time. 

Incidentally, since I'm catching up a bit on last week following some IRL distractions I wanted to say last week's Maxie/Felicia scenes continued a trend of being much more sharp and interesting and showing KS engaged again. She's come a long way in the last month-plus with the writing change.

Edited April 22, 20241 yr by Vee

51 minutes ago, Vee said:

She's come a long way in the last month-plus with the writing change.

I agree!  I just wish her character wasn't saddled with so many kids.  It's like watching Doris Day in "With Six You Get Eggroll."

2 minutes ago, Khan said:

I agree!  I just wish her character wasn't saddled with so many kids.  It's like watching Doris Day in "With Six You Get Eggroll."

I've said it a dozen times, but it is ludicrous that Maxie has one child, let alone three. She has never been a character built for that. It was very realistic when she was just fobbing off Georgie (an accidental child) on Mac and Felicia for years. Two more is insane. But that's the way the show has operated for years - babies, babies and more babies in lieu of story, because it eats up airtime and is 'safe'.

Just now, Vee said:

I've said it a dozen times, but it is ludicrous that Maxie has one child, let alone three. She has never been a character built for that. It was very realistic when she was just fobbing off Georgie (an accidental child) on Mac and Felicia for years. Two more is insane. But that's the way the show has operated for years - babies, babies and more babies in lieu of story, because it eats up airtime and is 'safe'.

I shouldn't say this, but I think we're long overdue for another school bus accident like the one that killed B.J.