GH: June 2024 Discussion Thread

[Vee]

At this point I absolutely believe that Ron's ego re: his writing was so great that if he could've he would've had Franco laugh off the murders, as TSJ's Todd did the re-rape of Marty and other misdeeds on OLTL (until they had to bring Roger Howarth back and make TSJ into a totally different character). Instead they actively tried to ignore them, when if you absolutely had to have the Franco character it could've been doable to put them on someone else. But no, they just quadrupled down til the network finally stepped in.

Supposedly they turned down Tom Hardy and other possible characters for Roger because they weren't 'edgy' and Todd-like enough. What a waste.

Edited June 15, 2024 by Vee

[Antoyne]

I was so infuriated that literally no one gave a flying f.uck that Sonny tried to murder Jax. And Carly and Sonny just got away with it and it was fine. I believe this was one of those times I had to stop watching. 

[titan1978]

IIRC that was when I noticed what an ass Greg Vaughn had. He was always hot, but the blocking of that scene really drew attention to it.

I also forgot about this!

When she was actually let go, I thought she was probably expensive and JFP/ABC needed to cut the budget ASAP. Vanessa had been expensive, JJ wasn’t cheap, and the show blew those returns and didn’t get the ratings they thought were going to come. Same with all their wasted time with James Franco.

[Vee]

They'd also (allegedly) been covering budget overages at GH with money from OLTL for years. And I don't think any of that (or the MOCA remote with Franco) was cheap.

[Errol]

Interview - Maura West

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[Errol]

Interview - Mark Teschner

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I was going to ask Maura about some rumors, but I thought it would have been a little messy on my part. However, if you watch this video, you might notice she and I had that conversation without having that conversation. Does that make sense?

[depboy]

Perfect sense.  Maura is so classy!

[Liberty City]

YES YES YES!! And she's amazing at having her poker face and having fun. Gives me hope... plus, not going to lie, her face at you mentioning The Gates was something, too!

[carolineg]

I had no idea about that.  Interesting.

If you add in the fact Guza hired Brad Rowe, Adrienne Barbeau, and Daniel Benzali for the Balkan story I am sure GH was over budget.  None of them are uber famous and pricey, but they also were probably more expensive than your average soap star as well.

That MOCA remote looked very expensive and I still can't tell you the point of it.

[Vee]

There was also the CGI experimentation on GH in those years in the late 2000s (Jason boating to Wyndemere, IIRC). The gossip went, in those days, that FV's OLTL staying under budget and turning a profit was helping to shore up the other two financially struggling shows which ABC valued more. AMC moved to L.A. because it was no longer financially sustainable on the East Coast.

[Contessa Donatella]

I was trying to catch something that was said to the effect that GH had been running overages which they covered with revenue from OLTL. (Supposedly.) I also had no idea that this kind of chicanery was going on behind the scenes in ABC soap accounting. Shades of GL & John Conboy supposedly overspending his budget & thereby digging into future Ellen Wheeler's budget. This should not have happened on any soap, anywhere, anytime. 

[Liberty City]

It's a shame that move did not happen sooner, because I feel like the move was a smart one for the product of the soap.

[carolineg]

This was quite unforgettable for mostly the wrong reasons lol.

Still very puzzling they canceled a soap making money with good buzz, but I guess GH was much more "worthy" in ABC minds although I am sure it would have been canceled after the 50th if not for a ratings surge.

 

[Vee]

OLTL was the black sheep despite being the daytime workhorse. That was all there was to it AFAIK, at least all I ever heard. The story went that Frons went to the mat to save GH, but had to sacrifice Guza to do it.

[Contessa Donatella]

Another thing that has been long said about that day when Frons announced the cancelation of AMC & OLTL is that they wanted to cancel GH also but they did not have a show ready to put in its place. I have no idea if this lore has any basis in fact.