Maura West has really been doing solid work considering she probably has no idea what the hell they are doing with Ava.

I am so disgusted by this turn with Anna. The Anna I grew up watching, the one that was my favorite character of all time on GH would make the hard choice to turn Valentine in. She would be conflicted, she would be upset, but she would make the hard decision. She would not behave as desperate about saving someone that has been betraying her. And he has been betraying her.

3 minutes ago, titan1978 said:

Maura West has really been doing solid work considering she probably has no idea what the hell they are doing with Ava.

Maura West can turn legitimate dogshït into gold. She is that fücking amazing.

26 minutes ago, titan1978 said:

I am so disgusted by this turn with Anna. The Anna I grew up watching, the one that was my favorite character of all time on GH would make the hard choice to turn Valentine in. She would be conflicted, she would be upset, but she would make the hard decision. She would not behave as desperate about saving someone that has been betraying her. And he has been betraying her.

I think we're sometimes too insta-reactive (like Twitter), so even though I'm infuriated with her choice period I keep hoping she will turn back from this and take him down. But knowing this show these last few years (where they tried to sell the audience on Peter/Heinrich being Anna's son with Faison, and had to retcon it away after heaps of backlash) I don't bet on it.

Edited July 17, 20241 yr by Vee

1 hour ago, Taoboi said:

I will always be for the Heather storyline because it was (under PM) giving an old school soap situation in that you got to see ALL point of views and there was no propping. It also gave a chance (as I've said before) of Heather being rebooted into a calmer, less-goofy, more cunning schemer again. But I trusted PM could do that. Now that he is out, I'm not sure if I would like the story to continue now. Moreso if it's more of the goofy. 

I honestly feel the same. re: Finn. Michael Easton definitely gave some good performances to the end of his arc though. But there has been all of us speculating about the BTS drama for months. In during that speculation, the idea was put forth that it seem clear it was not FV's idea to bring in PM so I would safely assume that the actual person who did also wanted FV's faves out and good writing to do that. Enter: Patrick Mulcahey. FV clearly did not take that well. So I feel He Who Was Behind It will keep Finn gone. We will see.

I think the idea of the Heather story is very juicy, especially considering Laura's role as mayor, but it ended up underscoring just how limited Laura's role is on the canvas as they couldn't or wouldn't figure out how to make her arguments for Heather more central to everything going on. This is where the lack of continuity and connection really comes into play as they didn't care enough to involve the characters who were directly affected by Heather's crimes, either because of laziness, or because they are hoping viewers will forget Heather went on a lengthy killing spree a whopping two years ago. Imagine if 30 years ago they had decided to do some type of story where Laura wanted to free Ryan, and Steve and Audrey just weren't involved. 

I do think the fans who speculated that Valentini fought hard to push Mulcahey out to try to save Easton's job might have a point, but the decision must have made to dump him around the time the decision was made to dump Howarth. 

 

Edited July 17, 20241 yr by DRW50

A key problem is that the story has been largely stalled out since March during which time Laura and Trina have barely been on for whatever reason, and Trina and co. were barely involved til recently and now Trina's mother is painted as the irrational one. There was a sensitive story potentially to be told with proper time and care given. But everything is about the actor guarantee/airtime shuffle in FV's world, and playing favorites.

1 hour ago, Vee said:

I think he was in the wrong place at the wrong time. Chavez had just left and Trina was in a natural mourning period, which would slow down story for her a bit at first. We had those very good scenes with Kevin, Marshall, Stella, etc. discussing the issues of Black medical misdiagnosis on one of PM's first unofficial days, then some very good stuff for Trina at Spencer's grave that was a whole-ass '90s-era monologue for Tabyana on par with Kimberly McCullough's classic stuff IMO. Then there was some solid material with Stella and Tracy forming a friendship. But beyond that? Not much.

PM has always been a fierce advocate for characters of color so I can't imagine it being down to him. I think it is the show and getting caught up with the struggles over the bigger, crazier stories and the BTS crosscurrents, culling the cast, etc. I think FV and possibly Korte have very little interest in Black story and possibly an active aversion to doing too much with them beyond C or B-roles at best; I think someone fears it is 'too edgy'. Even the Gio thing is in a very weird place and Trina has been re-relegated to mostly Joss' talk-to of late. There were rumors of a long-lost kid in his teens or 20s being cast for Justus Ward but that may just be fanfiction, and if it ever was real I doubt it's happening now. It feels like most of the powers that be want to keep the show safe, focused on a couple people, and mostly white and inoffensive.

in hindsight I might've just recast Spencer right away and pulled the Band-Aid off. Chavez will not be back for years at this rate if ever given his current career trajectory. Fans would've squawked about another recast but if you did it right they'd have settled. It's possible Giovanni Mazza could've pulled it off but we'll never know.

It's more noticeable than the show's longtime history of having no interest in black characters beyond tokenism because Trina had a hard-fought path to becoming one of the most talked about characters of the last few years...and instead of capitalizing on it, the show was so frightened and also so comfortable with the status quo that they went out of their way to puncture any of that momentum. And not even because some other interesting character had come along. That just exposes the game even more blatantly than they probably realized.

1 hour ago, DRW50 said:

One of the reasons it was so hard to believe Finn was actually leaving was just not believing Frank would let him go. I suppose Valentin is more popular than Finn, but it's why I am expecting any time to hear Easton is back.

Can you explain why they would've taken him off contract if they had a plan to bring him back? And, why would they have left him out of the 5 new group shots when they took an individual picture of him, which illustrates to us that he was present that day for the regular photo shoot. Just two items that suggest to me that they made a decision to cut Easton loose & they implemented it which they did quite well. So often it is ironic that a character will get their best writing in their exit story!

8 minutes ago, Contessa Donatella said:

Can you explain why they would've taken him off contract if they had a plan to bring him back? 

The same reason any show has taken an actor off contract and brought them back later on. Sometimes for financial reasons or pressure from up high it happens.

20 minutes ago, DRW50 said:

The same reason any show has taken an actor off contract and brought them back later on. Sometimes for financial reasons or pressure from up high it happens.

It's also what Frank did when his hand was forced to let go of ME the last two times. This time though, I think will stick. Finn was colossally unpopular by the end and an afterthought, and the network oversight has enhanced again in the last decade which is how Howarth lost not one but two roles as well. I was also surprised they actually went through with letting Easton go after Mulcahey quit, but the need for money for Jonathan Jackson fits this current moment and while I understand the suspicion I do think ME is probably done.

13 hours ago, DRW50 said:

I do think the fans who speculated that Valentini fought hard to push Mulcahey out to try to save Easton's job might have a point, but the decision must have made to dump him around the time the decision was made to dump Howarth. 

That doesn’t make sense to me because Easton was on contract, and probably a generous one in today’s climate due to how long he was with ABC. James Patrick Stewart is recurring and could just go away anytime as far as budget is concerned.

I wonder if Genie took her summer vacation, and if that has played a part in Laura’s story right now. She is too isolated without Nikolas and Spencer. Hopefully Lucky helps with that.

I think what happened is that nobody had a plan. And what plans they did try to make were being constantly undone by either ABC, Valentini, or both. And I think of Korte as an extension of FV here.

There has been talk that Genie's mom passed away a few months back and with GH taking July off I dont think we will miss Genie on screen just like last summer

28 minutes ago, titan1978 said:

That doesn’t make sense to me because Easton was on contract, and probably a generous one in today’s climate due to how long he was with ABC. James Patrick Stewart is recurring and could just go away anytime as far as budget is concerned.

I wonder if Genie took her summer vacation, and if that has played a part in Laura’s story right now. She is too isolated without Nikolas and Spencer. Hopefully Lucky helps with that.

I think what happened is that nobody had a plan. And what plans they did try to make were being constantly undone by either ABC, Valentini, or both. And I think of Korte as an extension of FV here.

I think there was a plan with the Finn exit story, as it progressed naturally through Mulcahey's tenure, alongside Gregory's exit (it might be the only story that did). What I'm wondering about is if Valentini was trying to get ABC to bring Finn back after his rehab stint, rather than permanently writing him out.

4 minutes ago, DRW50 said:

I think there was a plan with the Finn exit story, as it progressed naturally through Mulcahey's tenure, alongside Gregory's exit (it might be the only story that did). What I'm wondering about is if Valentini was trying to get ABC to bring Finn back after his rehab stint, rather than permanently writing him out.

I think that the fact that they took him off contract on March 8th & did take an individual picture of him but did not include him in any of the 5 group shots, points to the fact that they had a long plan in mind for an exit for him. I think they did a fair job of hints & telescoping their plans. and, as I have said, I think they did an excellent job on the actual exit. I can certainly imagine during the time when ME was essentially on recurring after so many years on contract, that Frank might've tried to get some leverage, some sway, in order to have his fave back after rehab. I don't think that's going to happen, but if it does, it will really tell us something!!! 

7.17.2024

HW: Patrick Mulcahey & Elizabeth Korte

BDW: Suzanne Flynn

SW: Scott Sickles

DIR: Denise Van Cleave