30 minutes ago, BetterForgotten said:

Back when Wendy Richie and Guza had their power struggles, I blamed Wendy and thought she was burnt out. But I was wrong once we got to see Guza’s true intentions at play in subsequent years. 

"Guza unleashed," with no one for him to answer to, was dark, ugly and misogynistic af.  But it also was a helluva lot more entertaining than everything that came afterward.

1 minute ago, Khan said:

"Guza unleashed," with no one for him to answer to, was dark, ugly and misogynistic af.  But it also was a helluva lot more entertaining than everything that came afterward.

Agreed - also, at least he had great taste in Scriptwriters who could ground that sh!t and make it work somehow on a day to day level. 

19 minutes ago, TEdgeofNight said:

Frank Valentini needs to be fired. Today. That b.s. that the enablers have been spewing for years has got to stop. He’s good with a budget. lol He saved GH and can manage a budget. 
Well so can others! I’m glad Mulcahey was fired because he cannot headwrite a soap but Frank needs to also be fired. He’s burned out. Time to go Frank. Someone else CAN do your job. 

If DAYS can still limp along with a budget of belly button fuzz and couch pennies, then anyone can EP GH and bring it in under budget. 

LOTD goes to Sonny: Let me go! Let me go! I'm gonna kill you both! I'm gonna put a gun in your heads! 

Runner-up to Olivia: "Always good when a wedding is over & no one is in custody."

40 minutes ago, Khan said:

"Guza unleashed," with no one for him to answer to, was dark, ugly and misogynistic af.  But it also was a helluva lot more entertaining than everything that came afterward.

THIS.  

I really get everyone's criticisms with Guza.  You all make valid points and I don't disagree.  There were serious issues with the show when he was in charge.  But it was more entertaining and more memorable than anything we've had in the last 7 or 8 years.  I am not saying GH should re-hire Guza, but at least the man knew how to write a sweeps event even if the main players were generally Sonny, Carly, Jason.  

There has to be some middle ground between Guza and CVE that's entertaining while being thoughtful and character driven.

51 minutes ago, BetterForgotten said:

If DAYS can still limp along with a budget of belly button fuzz and couch pennies, then anyone can EP GH and bring it in under budget. 

And Days still manages to have legit cliffhangers everyday as well.  Even if they are stupid lol.

8 minutes ago, carolineg said:

I really get everyone's criticisms with Guza.  You all make valid points and I don't disagree.  There were serious issues with the show when he was in charge.  But it was more entertaining and more memorable than anything we've had in the last 7 or 8 years.  I am not saying GH should re-hire Guza, but at least the man knew how to write a sweeps event even if the main players were generally Sonny, Carly, Jason.  

I haven't rewatched, but one of the reasons I stopped with GH regularly in the early '00s was because I genuinely thought 1999 and 2000 were two of the dullest years I'd ever seen on a soap. The closest might have been ATWT and GL in their real doldrums around 1994. If I had to see one more person wandering around the docks looking bored or one more slo-mo shootout for Emmy submission or one more "it's my house/I bought it for you" or Ned going on about "gatekeeping" or Emily berating everyone over the glory of Jason I might have lost my mind.

I imagine "Guza unleashed" was more exciting for people, but when the excitement mainly involves which young woman that month is going to be murdered (or raped - or raped and later murdered), in-between mob fantasies, Jason harems, Tony Geary jerkoff material and speed running through vet corpses...I just don't want to see it. 

I do know if people have watched on a daily basis in recent years they might miss those days more. 

Edited May 17, 20241 yr by DRW50

That was a horrible cliffhanger today. Are we still supposed to believe that Sonny can beat up a man half his age? Maurice’s acting was so bad. 

Edited May 17, 20241 yr by BetterForgotten

4 minutes ago, DRW50 said:

I haven't rewatched, but one of the reasons I stopped with GH regularly in the early '00s was because I genuinely thought 1999 and 2000 were two of the dullest years I'd ever seen on a soap. The closest might have been ATWT and GL in their real doldrums around 1994. If I had to see one more person wandering around the docks looking bored or one more slo-mo shootout for Emmy submission or one more "it's my house/I bought it for you" or Ned going on about "gatekeeping" or Emily berating everyone over the glory of Jason I might have lost my mind.

I imagine "Guza unleashed" was more exciting for people, but when the excitement mainly involves which young woman that month is going to be murdered (or raped - or raped and later murdered), in-between mob fantasies, Jason harems, Tony Geary jerkoff material and speed running through vet corpses...I just don't want to see it. 

I do know if people have watched on a daily basis in recent years they might miss those days more. 

Again, that's fair.  I was a Sonny, Jason, and Carly fan back in 99/00.  In fact, I am pretty sure I enjoy Sonny, Carly, Jason still more than most on this board even though I absolutely see their faults and can realize they are over played.

I still stand by the fact GH was pretty solid for me until 2003.  

Guza was left to his own devices for far too long and I did disagree with a lot of the material he put out.  I still knew he was capable of more if reigned in and I am not sure CVE and EK are.

12 minutes ago, BetterForgotten said:

That was a horrible cliffhanger today. Are we still supposed to believe that Sonny can beat up a man half his age? Maurice’s acting was so bad. 

Dex was not fighting back. I think the line was meant to be "I'll put bullets in your heads." Mo said "a gun".

13 minutes ago, carolineg said:

Again, that's fair.  I was a Sonny, Jason, and Carly fan back in 99/00.  In fact, I am pretty sure I enjoy Sonny, Carly, Jason still more than most on this board even though I absolutely see their faults and can realize they are over played.

I still stand by the fact GH was pretty solid for me until 2003.  

Guza was left to his own devices for far too long and I did disagree with a lot of the material he put out.  I still knew he was capable of more if reigned in and I am not sure CVE and EK are.

That's fair. It's very dull to hear someone say, "Oh you were wrong about material you enjoyed," and I definitely don't mean to come across that way. I do remember how in the '00s the show managed a number of very strong scenes.

26 minutes ago, BetterForgotten said:

That was a horrible cliffhanger today. Are we still supposed to believe that Sonny can beat up a man half his age? Maurice’s acting was so bad. 

You're spot on with both statements.

Edited May 17, 20241 yr by Soapsuds

12 minutes ago, DRW50 said:

That's fair. It's very dull to hear someone say, "Oh you were wrong about material you enjoyed," and I definitely don't mean to come across that way. I do remember how in the '00s the show managed a number of very strong scenes.

Oh, you definitely weren't coming off that way!  

Most of the time even if I enjoyed periods of GH I find myself nodding my head knowing I can understand why others didn't.  If you were looking for a Quartermaine, reality based, hospital focused soap, GH was not the place to look for it in the 2000's lol.

10 hours ago, titan1978 said:

 

I am just so irrationally disappointed.

I feel that. 

On 5/15/2024 at 9:42 PM, carolineg said:

The comments on here probably skewed me a bit because I was expecting awful things from Kristina and Lois.  And when I watched I didn't think either were that bad.  Everyone looked surprisingly decent or good although the weird fabric loops/straps hanging off of Olivia's dress had me on pause but LLC always looks good.

I am not getting Brenda vibes at all from Brook Lynn's dress lol.  If they didn't go with the whole Lila dress thing I would have loved Brenda sending some dresses from Cartullo for Brook Lynn as a shout out.

So true. LLC always looks good so I was loving the loops. 

 

lol. See? I see that as another lost opportunity as soon as I read this. All the drama over BLQ and the dress and not one Brenda mention. lol. Cuz you know her and Lois be talking every other day. 

 

On 5/15/2024 at 9:51 PM, DRW50 said:

That was a Senate campaign. Ross ran for mayor in 2002 or 2003. I think that was the campaign Danny tried to buy for himself, or something - I don't remember.

Thank for the clarification.

 

I wonder going forward if that will still go on or be a dropped plot. 

 

 

What always got me was Guza could do emotional material that was sad but not misery at one point. Laura waking up for the wedding anniversary was a month of very wonderful story. While it had a sad ending, it wasn’t the same kind of sad the whole show fell into.

I finally got Anna back on GH and she was reduced to an Eli Love groupie.

For me, the pairing of JFP (who has no problem killing off beloved characters), Guza, and Frons was just too much. A different EP could have maybe helped balance that out a bit, and I wouldn’t have been so inclined to stop watching during those days.

I will never deny he and his team were strong writers. They were. I just didn’t enjoy what they concentrated on all that much.

This is slightly off-topic, but with primetime dramas seeing cuts in episode guarantees for contract players/series regulars, I'm surprised we're not getting that more and more in daytime, especially since GH, in particular, is just a never-ending revolving door of contract handouts. More people are on recurring, sure, but it's wild on the contract side.