GH: RIP Leslie Charleson

[Contessa Donatella]

I'm not sure that these writers are up to writing it. But it might go something like this.

Lucas & Isaiah invent a new gamma knife brain surgery technique. Brad could help since maybe a device would have to be created.

Jason agrees to the surgery. Successful, of course.

Now is the tricky part. As has been alluded to, he won't be Jason Morgan any more but he also won't revert to Jason Quartermaine. A new being, with a whole new way of looking at the world. But, he will retain Jason Morgan's life experiences. Some things might change, like he might not compartmentalize so easily. Your guess is as good as mine about whether this Emmy role story is gonna happen. 

[Planet Soap]

The AJ paternity triangle IMO was Alan & Monica's best story. They were at their most vicious and ruthless.

What I find interesting about the Qs is that their machinations were comic relief in the '70s and '80s. No matter how vicious Monica and Alan were to each other, especially during the AJ birth story, there was always comedy drama.

When the '90s rolled around, under Riche, their drama took a serious tone. Viewers were given a complex psychological examination toxic relationship that headed a dysfunctional family. 

The scenes  surrounding AJ's drinking, Monica's cancer, Jason's personality change and their pairs various affairs were serious in tone. No wonder Emily was hesitant to get adopted by them, she witnessed so much trauma.

Boy who didn't read Sonny the riot act. Were everyday people willing to talk to Tony Soprano or Michael Corleone like this? 

[DaytimeFan]

First Alan, then Bobbie, and now Monica.

For me, they were the big three GH characters. And now they are all gone to history.

Rest in peace, Leslie. May her memory be a blessing.

[Vee]

They weren't written as horribly toxic under Labine, IMO. There was a very heavy dose of comedy in their scenes to offset the darker or more serious stories. They were portrayed as a loving family despite all the dysfunction, at least that's how I remember it.

It wasn't until the Guza years that the narrative became all about the toxicity, yet oddly enough even then into the late '90s and 2000s many, many Q scenes remained heavily comic. Which made it bizarre when you would still constantly have scenes with Jason, Carly and Sonny grousing that the Quartermaines were too dangerous and cutthroat for Michael to be raised around. How dangerous could they be with that comedy music cue playing over another round of "This is My House/I Gave It to You," the cozy mixed marrieds shenanigans with Jax, Chloe, Ned and Alexis where they all looked to be having the time of their lives, or the Reginald follies? The content did not match the intent, so the Qs remained beloved because most of their scenes simply were not dark. Even as late as the late 2000s you'd have regular comedy with Tracy and Edward clucking over Luke, Dillon, Maya Ward, whoever.

I would certainly call the Quartermaines dysfunctional, and toxic to a degree. The affairs, power games, etc. are in their DNA. But unlike some other soap clans who shows pretend are still warm or loving or a strong brand, the Qs actually are genuinely loving despite their dysfunction because of that comedy throughline that lasted so many years.

Edited January 14 by Vee

[jcar03]

Yeah, they use IMDb all the time for their episode count in those articles.  IMDb is missing tons of episodes at one point they only had a couple thousand added in.

[titan1978]

They were the constant frontburner characters for my first 15 years or so watching, and they were beloved for a reason. Robert, Frisco, Anna, etc came and went. But those three were always there, more than holding down the fort. Each one of them still vital when the show stopped caring about them. Stuart Damon alone had years left as Alan with plenty to do. I am happy I got to watch them, some of the best in daytime!

[Khan]

What I love best about that scene between LC and Maurice Benard was how LC was able to convey Monica's anger and grief over the many losses in her life - an especially bitter pill for her to swallow, considering how Monica had never had a family to call her own before she joined the Quartermaines - without resorting to histrionics.  She raised her voice, yes, but never to any ear-splitting decibel.  She simply looked MB in the eye and told the truth.  That's how it done, ladies and gentlemen.

[Planet Soap]

I can agree that the love and the comedy always remained. Quartermaine stories were never HBO level dark. 

But I definitely felt like their dysfunction was presented more serious and emotionally layered in the 90s than the 80s. 

I would also agree the Jason & Carly's logic for keeping Michael away from the Quartermaines was illogical. Jason and Sonny legit kill people and are always dodging bullets and bombs.

The most the Quartermaines would do is lie and backstab. (Ignoring the time Alan tried to kill Monica and Rick, lol). Thats why I'm glad Drew (of all people) recently told Carly her decisions back then were self serving. 

Edited January 14 by Planet Soap

[Khan]

 

Which is why I never understood why so many BTS - including Gloria Monty! - hated the Quartermaines and wanted them removed from the show.

[Contessa Donatella]

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1968, Lesley with Donna Mills, LIAMST

[DRW50]

@gimmetoo Thanks for the obituary. As said in the thread, these details are often off. I read one obituary for Leslie that claimed she was on LIAMST from 1967-1973. That clearly is not true, but AI or whoever just looked at the show's lifespan and put the date. 

I think it's down to not being serious enough and being too difficult to categorize. If you want a streamlined family, you can't go with the Quartermaines because they were a hydra. 

Monty wanted to make the show serious and topical. Guza hated soaps, hated light or comedy or complexity, and wanted to focus on his favorite thugs to emulate the primetime and film work that he chased. 

One of the reasons Leslie probably never got an Emmy was because she was not the type of actress who wove her arms around in hospital chapels or beat her arms against the family crypt. She underplayed the pain, which always made it hit much harder. And it was so true to the character, who had to put on armor to survive her painful upbringing. You could pan a lot of writing choices, but you always felt Monica was Monica. I give a lot of that credit to Leslie.

Guza had too much contempt for them to properly write toxicity. Instead, we'd have the comedy, which was often written in a condescending way, we'd have unbearable Emily endlessly telling them how terrible they were and how wonderful Jason was, along with Ned endlessly smarming to Alexis about being the "gatekeeper" as if the family were all pathetic and waiting for his guidance. 

One of the main reasons I was so repulsed by the tone of that era was the scene where Jason - even as we repeatedly had to hear about how dangerous and damaging the family were - read a bedtime story to Michael in the Q sitting room while using Michael's stuffed animal to cover his bleeding from a gunshot wound. The way that scene shattered the lie told day in and day out was insane, yet no one who ran the show even saw it.

It's a miracle the family even survived the '00s. I'm just glad, even if she wasn't given the best, that Monica did. And as mentioned, for all my criticisms of Valentini, I'm glad that he was so respectful toward Leslie. I think of those last scenes and then I think of how JFP treated Anna Lee in a similar situation, and it's night and day.

Edited January 14 by DRW50

[Vee]

The lovely scene a day or two ago with Tracy and Stella (their Mulcahey-era friendship suddenly remembered) about Monica seems like it was teeing this up, too. I do wonder if they deliberately asked Jane to stay on in recent years in part because they knew Leslie didn't have long. Leslie was a fairly active and regular Q presence in the late '10s and very early 2020s from what I can recall (agan, credit to Frank and the show), and Tracy has picked up the slack since her injury and illness. Stella even says the Qs will live on through her when Monica goes.

This clip is lovely - I think this may be Monty II, and one of her wiser choices (reuniting Alan and Monica for good post-Lucy).

Edited January 14 by Vee

[DRW50]

That's a lovely clip. Thanks. 

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[Planet Soap]

I don't get it. Why so much contempt from one of the best families in daytime? The Q characters  had range. Drama, comedy and topical issues. Not to mention their stories having a family mixed with doctors and businessmen opens the possibilities for a range of soap stories. 

Overall Leslie was great as Monica. Growing up on 2000s GH I assumed she was just a regular soap matriarch...just one of several fading characters like Bobbie & Tony that used to have alot to do. 

I had no idea she was this gritty female lead that had several affairs and did so much great material like the cancer story.

Edited January 14 by Planet Soap

[bongobong]

RIP to a great actress. She must be in the running for most all time appearances on the show. I'd guess the top 3 would be her, Zeman & Bernard in some order