20 minutes ago, titan1978 said:

The last 12 months-ish have proven to me that Valentini does not wield the total control at GH that had been afforded to him before. I have no idea who the ABC brass is that has gotten involved, but it’s pretty clear.

Because Frank would have written out others to keep the budget good rather than choosing all on his own to get rid or Roger or Michael. He did it before with Genie (which backfired spectacularly). I could easily have seen DZ and most of the Black folks being offered recurring before either of those two were fired. Then PM lured out of retirement (which FV clearly had a hand in botching), and now JJ back? He’s under someone’s thumb at ABC.

Well-deserved for FV though.

The BTS plot thickens.

Vee is correct. I did say that I had been told that about Frank & these strong preferences he is said to have. (JJ for Lucky & JMB for Lulu) The other strong preference Frank supposedly has is to do with VM & that would be a story leading to ushering Sonny out. The thing is, I do not know if that means ushering Sonny out of the mob or out of the show. Is it a drastic change about the mob in PC or is it a simple retirement. At any rate, without a doubt if we hear that Vanessa has been hired we will know something is up! 

16 minutes ago, dragonflies said:

I will honestly be shocked if his return does anything for the ratings long term. 

I agree but there might be a short-term bump. 

and those short term bumps aren't doing anything for this show. 

Something has to give eventually or by this time next year they'll be lucky to still on the air

Relying on one actor's return to provide a sustained ratings bump is a fool's game. It's not going to happen. The only thing that has any hope of that is a larger systemic creative overhaul. Doesn't mean I can't be happy Jonathan Jackson is back, because he should be back so I am.

How many times have we said DAYS was off the air next year? And it's still here. So I am not predicting anything about GH's future.

13 minutes ago, dragonflies said:

and those short term bumps aren't doing anything for this show. 

Something has to give eventually or by this time next year they'll be lucky to still on the air

They are often ABC's best show but more often second to The View. They regularly beat Today3, TodayHoda, GMA3, NBC News Daily & The Talk. On occasion they also beat The View. People watching on the app, on abc.com & on YouTubeTV are not counted. Often, on Hulu they are #4. AFAWK ABC/Disney does not have any show they could put on in their place. I look at these factors every week & I do not see imminent danger. Obviously we all could & do wish that they would do better. But, why do you think they can't succeed limping along this way? 

18 minutes ago, dragonflies said:

and those short term bumps aren't doing anything for this show. 

Well they all can't be VM.

 

But bringing back from faves that the audience WANT to see and (hopefully) with good story is a start.

 

 

Wow I didn’t think he’d be gone so soon though the writing was certainly on the wall. I didn’t mind him as John on the show but these other characters were very forced and shouldn’t have stuck around as long as they did. Good luck to him but not sad he’s gone. They can off Chase next if we’re stuck with Violet.

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Edited June 26, 20241 yr by Maxim

52 minutes ago, Taoboi said:

Well they all can't be VM.

 

But bringing back from faves that the audience WANT to see and (hopefully) with good story is a start.

 

 

Exactly where I stand too. Not to mention he isn’t some rando like Jagger or Jackie Templeton- JJ’s Lucky walks in the door with story to play on the show in 2024, and connections everywhere on the show right now.
 

I have no expectations that his return drives a huge ratings bump. But consistent story with characters being used that have been neglected for a decade might bring us easily back over 2 million a week.

It’s been over a decade of many GH characters languishing in supporting roles or in stories they should not be in while the likes of Nina, Nathan, Peter, Finn, Franco, Hayden, Kim Nero, Julia etc were brought in and placed in the center of stories with actual GH characters supporting them. I am ready for this change.

2 hours ago, Vee said:

A few people have claimed [...] that Frank actually didn't want Lucky back unless he could get Jonathan.

That's possible.  But I suspect that Frank was in no rush to GET JJ back until everyone BTS began panicking about the ratings, forcing Frank to make some maneuvers he otherwise wouldn't have made - such as cutting ME loose - in order to free up salary and space for JJ.

If Frank actually allows JPS to be written out for good, with no hope of redemption for Billy Joel, then I'll KNOW someone at ABC is holding Frank's ass to the fire.

Edited June 26, 20241 yr by Khan

When Nathan Varni returned he announced that the priority was lapsed viewers. I think you can make a case that returns like Jason and now escalating, Lucky, are things that you could do to try to address just that. Of course, you can't just get them back. The writing has to make things happen. And no one character is going to have some remarkable impact on ratings but there's no reason to be dismissive of temporary bumps. We had one with Jason. We can have one with Lucky. 

BYEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE

2 hours ago, Vee said:

A few people have claimed that Frank actually didn't want Lucky back unless he could get Jonathan.

It's always been my POV they've held off recasting in the hopes of Jonathan Jackson's return. I mean, you don't just fire Greg Vaughan for someone, and then recast that someone again. Haha.

25 minutes ago, Khan said:

If Frank actually allows JPS to be written out for good, with no hope of redemption for Billy Joel, then I'll KNOW someone at ABC is holding Frank's ass to the fire.

Agreed. And I agree he was clearly in no rush to get JJ back. Until now.

Edited June 26, 20241 yr by Vee

According to Entertainment Weekly, his last day is TOMORROW!

They had no issue recasting Nikolas, or Jason for that matter. I think Geary leaving and FV/ABC not valuing Genie had more to do with no Lucky than just waiting for JJ. They used Liz to prop up his friends (twice), and had no issue dropping Francis until it bit them in the butt. That just says to me they thought that branch of Spencer characters was expendable. Maybe that’s too cynical but that’s where I am.

Maurice had a hand in DZ returning, and he’s barely been used compared to the other men in his age range.