Varni was at the (and posted pics of) the DaytimeUnites charity event for ALS on May 4 (organized by NLG with actors from all the soaps).   The ALS organization "ALS ONE" tweeted thanks to him.

Edited May 8, 20241 yr by janea4old

Varni has a full plate at ABC, so I do wonder what the extent of his contributions are. 

Edited May 8, 20241 yr by BetterForgotten

He was always over-talkative and overinvolved in the FV/RC years, and I always got the sense he was some underling the network had left to mind GH out of disinterest who thought he was Brian Frons or Les Moonves. I never thought he had much power in those days and I still don't think he did then, but I got a sense he could be a squeaky wheel in times of crisis and get his own way. Could be the same here, especially if he's moved up in the world.

Edited May 8, 20241 yr by Vee

How exactly are Heather and Laura related as Webbers?  Do they share a blood link?  I hope not, for Ace's sake.

And why is Steven Lars in prison? 

They need to bring back female doctors to the canvas like Lisa Niles and Britt Westborne.  Or a Faith Roscoe type!  We need some troublemakers doing entertaining shenanigans!

I did enjoy Eva LaRue's character upending Ava's status with Sonny.  That's the only good thing the annoying character has done so far.  It's remarkable how well Eva LaRue looks, just like the actresses playing Felicia, Anna, Lois, Olivia who all look so much like their 1990s selves.

Having said that, it's inexcusable how the actor playing Michael has gotten all flabby.  If John York (Mac) looks great shirtless, plus almost the whole male cast (Drew, Jason, Dex, Curtis) that's older than him, then he needs to lay off the alcohol and get back to the gym.

5 minutes ago, BrendaB said:

How exactly are Heather and Laura related as Webbers?  Do they share a blood link?  I hope not, for Ace's sake.

And why is Steven Lars in prison? 

They need to bring back female doctors to the canvas like Lisa Niles and Britt Westborne.  Or a Faith Roscoe type!  We need some troublemakers doing entertaining shenanigans!

I did enjoy Eva LaRue's character upending Ava's status with Sonny.  That's the only good thing the annoying character has done so far.  It's remarkable how well Eva LaRue looks, just like the actresses playing Felicia, Anna, Lois, Olivia who all look so much like their 1990s selves.

Having said that, it's inexcusable how the actor playing Michael has gotten all flabby.  If John York (Mac) looks great shirtless, plus almost the whole male cast (Drew, Jason, Dex, Curtis) that's older than him, then he needs to lay off the alcohol and get back to the gym.

Laura was adopted by Rick Webber. Rick is Jeff Webber's older Brother. Jeff was married to Heather. They share a son Steven Lars who went to jail because of a death in a hospital back in Memphsis.

20 minutes ago, BrendaB said:

Having said that, it's inexcusable how the actor playing Michael has gotten all flabby.  If John York (Mac) looks great shirtless, plus almost the whole male cast (Drew, Jason, Dex, Curtis) that's older than him, then he needs to lay off the alcohol and get back to the gym.

I'm not sure it matters. The biggest sex symbol in GH history was Tony Geary, who never spent all the time in the gym. JJY always looked great but was still never seen as being above a C-level by the show. Dex, Drew and Curtis are all disliked or non-entities for many viewers, and Jason was never popular with viewers because of his shirtless scenes - it was mostly down to his leading ladies and the idea pushed through Guza of how soulful he was.

I don't think Michael has ever been a compelling character. He was a suffocating plot device, and then under DG became a big overexposed ham, and under Duell has mostly just been there. 

If we're talking cosmetics, I'd say give him a new hairstyle. I don't really care about his body. 

If not for his being one of the only living Quartermaines, I would have killed him off many years ago. They probably should have done so and just sent Morgan packing rather than killing him.

1 minute ago, DRW50 said:

JJY always looked great but was still never seen as being above a C-level by the show. 

I don't know about that. I think Mac was definitely an A or B-list lead until 1997 or so.

8 minutes ago, Vee said:

I don't know about that. I think Mac was definitely an A or B-list lead until 1997 or so.

I probably would have ranked it as:

A-tier: Robert (until he was gone), Sonny, Luke, Jason (post-accident) etc.

B-tier: Ned, AJ

C-tier: Mac somewhere around or maybe above Tony or Alan (Jason was probably here pre-accident)

You could probably clump those together though.

Edited May 8, 20241 yr by DRW50

2 hours ago, allmc2008 said:

You guys were making me miss Drew Garrett. Damn, he was hot as hell.  Why was he replaced? I forgot, was it his Michael that was raped?

I thought it was the rape story and DG was problematic for some reason.  Like he was fired and MB was even mad about it.

I don't know why GH is bothering with Heather, a 60 plus character with a convulated backstory not played by the original actress with tenuous links to the current canvas.

If they want to reference the past there are plenty of other characters that could be brought on.

11 minutes ago, Paul Raven said:

I don't know why GH is bothering with Heather, a 60 plus character with a convulated backstory not played by the original actress with tenuous links to the current canvas.

If they want to reference the past there are plenty of other characters that could be brought on.

Feels like a case where some up high just love Alley Mills and don't want to lose her (probably also why she stayed on B&B so long). Nothing against Alley Mills, but Heather isn't worth it.

I would say Mulcahey, but I don't think he alone would have that power.

Edited May 8, 20241 yr by DRW50

8 hours ago, Vee said:

Which was what was baffling to me. On paper I thought the idea was fun and buzzy for the show, but it quickly became clear Franco just wanted to piss on the show and they just kept giving him more airtime and big setpieces because Guza and Phelps were starstruck. I'm sure people remember that big MOCA thing with Franco's weird-ass Hollywood friends and it was certainly more entertaining than a lot of the last decade, but let's at least have some self-respect, GH.

He was the perfect fit for Guza and JFP as like them (especially Guza) he saw himself as being above soaps and his delusions were much higher than his actual talent level. I wonder if they actually thought he was going to bring a ratings boost. They even hired his mother. Just a horrible man for a horrible era.

I remember when Wes Kenney arrived at GH he was shocked at how many actors were on contract and recurring and immediately began culling, saying it was impossible and unnecessary to try and tell effective story with that many people. Probably a budget thing also.

7 hours ago, Paul Raven said:

I don't know why GH is bothering with Heather, a 60 plus character with a convulated backstory not played by the original actress with tenuous links to the current canvas.

If they want to reference the past there are plenty of other characters that could be brought on.

They can always bring back Steven Lars (not Roger Howarth or Michael Easton) and pair him with someone interesting/important in order for Heather's story to make some sense. 

6 hours ago, DRW50 said:

Feels like a case where some up high just love Alley Mills and don't want to lose her (probably also why she stayed on B&B so long). Nothing against Alley Mills, but Heather isn't worth it.

I would say Mulcahey, but I don't think he alone would have that power.

With Robin Mattson gone, it is very difficult to care for Heather. Or even recognise the woman on screen as Heather. Nothing to do with the actress. 

1 hour ago, Sapounopera said:

With Robin Mattson gone, it is very difficult to care for Heather. Or even recognise the woman on screen as Heather. Nothing to do with the actress. 

The Heather problem, for me, stems back to the "writer" returning the role and turning her into a caricature, which is something he thinks he does well, and like most: he does not.