18 minutes ago, carolineg said:

The whole Jason return went off the rails very quickly.  Whether it was the BTS changes or lack of plan, it's been a flop.  As Vee stated, the show is paying Steve way too much money to be supporting.  It seems like Steve is finally at a place where he is willing to play stories out with his family and the show is wasting that potential to bring on Britt.  There is no way that Britt/Jason leading the show will bring viewers in.

It's a shame because this pairing will eventually flop too since Britt has the depth of a puddle and is an all-around unlikeable character.  I still think Jason is way less played out than Sonny or Carly and that there are other options for him.

And it's a fatal oversight too because I am pretty sure CVE is among the big Britt stans BTS that tried to push her as some faux gay icon, lol. Someone there will not get it til it's too late.

On paper I think Carly should be the least played out of the whole tired trio, but Carly has been cruising in bad stories and dead or afterthought pairings for years and while Laura always works hard she can't elevate true mediocrity BTS to greatness. If A.J. was back it'd be another story and could change the game for her, but they don't want to do that. Or if Sarah or Tamara came back, but neither is happening.

I think Jason will always be something to merely tolerate for me, but the Q family stuff is where he excels now. Sonny at least could have Brenda potentially change his paradigm. But the only one I'd have a real investment in again with the right material is Carly. She's just so adrift and is being dragged down by the same stuff as the other two.

1 hour ago, Vee said:

And it's a fatal oversight too because I am pretty sure CVE is among the big Britt stans BTS that tried to push her as some faux gay icon, lol. Someone there will not get it til it's too late.

On paper I think Carly should be the least played out of the whole tired trio, but Carly has been cruising in bad stories and dead or afterthought pairings for years and while Laura always works hard she can't elevate true mediocrity BTS to greatness. If A.J. was back it'd be another story and could change the game for her, but they don't want to do that. Or if Sarah or Tamara came back, but neither is happening.

I think Jason will always be something to merely tolerate for me, but the Q family stuff is where he excels now. Sonny at least could have Brenda potentially change his paradigm. But the only one I'd have a real investment in again with the right material is Carly. She's just so adrift and is being dragged down by the same stuff as the other two.

Agreed about Carly.  With all the talk about how much this regime loves Carly the writing is giving her very little.  She's basically a supporting character in other people's stories with a C pairing that gets 10 minutes every 2 weeks lol.

Jason is probably my least favorite out of the trio, but I still have some affection for 90's Jason, so I'd be adaptable to a good story for him.

14 hours ago, cassadine1991 said:

What’s it going to take for a regime change to happen on this show

A miracle. 

2 hours ago, carolineg said:

The whole Jason return went off the rails very quickly.  Whether it was the BTS changes or lack of plan, it's been a flop.  As Vee stated, the show is paying Steve way too much money to be supporting.  It seems like Steve is finally at a place where he is willing to play stories out with his family and the show is wasting that potential to bring on Britt.  There is no way that Britt/Jason leading the show will bring viewers in.

It's a shame because this pairing will eventually flop too since Britt has the depth of a puddle and is an all-around unlikeable character.  I still think Jason is way less played out than Sonny or Carly and that there are other options for him.

I completely agree. Steve Burton came back so much refreshed and with story options. And he STILL has story options so it's a shame these folks go with the most illogical ways possible to not play with them. 

 

I was just thinking of this this weekend when I was watching Alexis/Drew scenes in my catch-up. It's sad that Drew is so much of a prick that he's been going against Sam's wishes and did in fact separate Scout from Danny and Rocco. And his even ignoring Rocco and even using 'not really her brother' made me side-eye sooooo hard. But then again, this is the man who will now use a kid to keep a couple apart so...I should not be surprised.

 

But out of the three, I feel he has options still. From the aforementioned Liz connection to his rivalry with Drew (or Ric) to his refreshed links to the Qs. I'm sure we both could come up with ideas easily based off of just that. 

15 hours ago, cassadine1991 said:

What’s it going to take for a regime change to happen on this show

We had a friggin' regime change... but TPTB just sucked. Argh.

2 hours ago, carolineg said:

Agreed about Carly.  With all the talk about how much this regime loves Carly the writing is giving her very little.  She's basically a supporting character in other people's stories with a C pairing that gets 10 minutes every 2 weeks lol.

Jason is probably my least favorite out of the trio, but I still have some affection for 90's Jason, so I'd be adaptable to a good story for him.

They have put Carly in such a box to the point where it now feels like a coffin. Laura Wright has always had a very strong presence, but she doesn't really have any interesting relationships left with her family or with her ex-lovers, and she is surrounded by wealthy and powerful people so that means the story I wanted to see (her losing everything and having to rebuild) wouldn't work now. 

I don't even know what you could do with Carly anymore. 

It would be extremely crass, and the show wouldn't be able to handle it but the only thing I could think of is if she gets some kind of brain injury and becomes a different person. 

I know they did that with Jason, but at least that would be some dramatic irony and he'd be around to see how it feels on the other side.

Edited August 11Aug 11 by DRW50

10 minutes ago, DRW50 said:

They have put Carly in such a box to the point where it now feels like a coffin. Laura Wright has always had a very strong presence, but she doesn't really have any interesting relationships left with her family or with her ex-lovers, and she is surrounded by wealthy and powerful people so that means the story I wanted to see (her losing everything and having to rebuild) wouldn't work now. 

I don't even know what you could do with Carly anymore. 

It would be extremely crass, and the show wouldn't be able to handle it but the only thing I could think of is if she gets some kind of brain injury and becomes a different person. 

I know they did that with Jason, but at least that would be some dramatic irony and he'd be around to see how it feels on the other side.

I'll be honest and say I actually don't know what I'd do with Carly.  Most of you guys are much more creative than I am.

The only thing I can think of is something traumatic happening to her or someone around her and then leaving town for 6-12 months and coming back reset as a character.  Perhaps with a new love? Because when she's on the show Carly talks about changing and being out of the "life", but immediately reverts back.

Credits for Monday, August 11, 2025:

Created by: Frank & Doris Hursley
Executive producer: Frank Valentini
Head writers: Elizabeth Korte, Chris Van Etten
Writers: Suzanne Flynn, Charlotte Gibson, Cathy Lepard
Director: Denise Van Cleave

34 minutes ago, DRW50 said:

I don't even know what you could do with Carly anymore. 

It's not that hard to figure out for me. I'd take away some of her money/support system for a time somehow (there's always a way, relatives aside) and bring back A.J. I'd also bring back Sarah Brown if I could get away with it, though probably not. Laura does a good job.

29 minutes ago, Vee said:

It's not that hard to figure out for me. I'd take away some of her money/support system for a time somehow (there's always a way, relatives aside) and bring back A.J. I'd also bring back Sarah Brown if I could get away with it, though probably not. Laura does a good job.

I'd always be glad to see Sarah.

Maybe regarding money, they could do a story that a lot of "rich" people go through where her money is all tied up, she has bad investments, and she has to keep up appearances. She might end up going into debt, and if they want another story about a mysterious rich person taking over the city like Stefan back in the day, he or she might end up taking over her properties.

13 minutes ago, DRW50 said:

Maybe regarding money, they could do a story that a lot of "rich" people go through where her money is all tied up, she has bad investments, and she has to keep up appearances. She might end up going into debt, and if they want another story about a mysterious rich person taking over the city like Stefan back in the day, he or she might end up taking over her properties.

That is a good idea. I do think they could always tie it into Sonny finally getting some kind of takedown and a move into white collar crime/business a la Victor Newman, which is inevitable if you want to re-pair him with Brenda for good and change that paradigm and downshift from stories centered around Maurice (which I do). Sonny could end up on the streets/MIA for a number of months after a blowout with Ava or whoever else - it would be six or more if it were up to me - before resurfacing, but Carly could get hit with RICO violations again as part of that. And/or her businesses get tied up or stolen out from under her by whatever villain of the moment, her own latest rash actions to protect herself/Sonny alienate her from people after blowing up in her face, or maybe Michael and ELQ are unable to help her due to the scandal (possibly Tracy forbidding it).

Carly goes to ground and maybe gets away from town a little herself for awhile, maybe takes an offscreen break too like caroline said. Refuses to take help from more people partly out of pride or from alienating some of them, or not wanting to get Michael in deep further or maybe they're not speaking. Maybe he's had some other setback/trauma that makes that situation worse (since he clearly has PTSD onscreen from the fire), or maybe the whole A.J. thing has already reared its head again with him back, and that old resentment over his (then real) death and the cover-up Carly was involved in at the time.

When she comes back, still in a bad way (maybe drinking), it's Sarah. If there's any way the network would go for that it's that she's probably cheaper than Laura now, lol. I would let Carly get at least some of her money and trappings back eventually - I don't think the money or her being nouveau riche is the problem so much as the entire town being wired to be Carly's friends and family these days. She's on good terms with almost everyone and is just a heroine in staid story. That has to change. But it would all probably inevitably lead back to another marriage of convenience for her and A.J., only this time they do fall in love.

Edited August 11Aug 11 by Vee

Broken record here, but the show’s biggest challenge at the moment is that its three most dominant characters in terms of screen time/episode count (Carly, Jason, Sonny) are just going through the same repetitive motions again and again.

Pretty good episode today. I loved the Cody and Tracy scenes--those two really bring out the best in each other. And even though they were full of cliches, I enjoyed the Joss and Vaughn scene. He's the first guy I've seen Joss have real chemistry with, and their "undercover" scenes reminded me of the kinds of scenarios the show used to write for its 1980s supercouples like Frisco and Felicia. 

3 hours ago, Vee said:

That is a good idea. I do think they could always tie it into Sonny finally getting some kind of takedown and a move into white collar crime/business a la Victor Newman, which is inevitable if you want to re-pair him with Brenda for good and change that paradigm and downshift from stories centered around Maurice (which I do). Sonny could end up on the streets/MIA for a number of months after a blowout with Ava or whoever else - it would be six or more if it were up to me - before resurfacing, but Carly could get hit with RICO violations again as part of that. And/or her businesses get tied up or stolen out from under her by whatever villain of the moment, her own latest rash actions to protect herself/Sonny alienate her from people after blowing up in her face, or maybe Michael and ELQ are unable to help her due to the scandal (possibly Tracy forbidding it).

Carly goes to ground and maybe gets away from town a little herself for awhile, maybe takes an offscreen break too like caroline said. Refuses to take help from more people partly out of pride or from alienating some of them, or not wanting to get Michael in deep further or maybe they're not speaking. Maybe he's had some other setback/trauma that makes that situation worse (since he clearly has PTSD onscreen from the fire), or maybe the whole A.J. thing has already reared its head again with him back, and that old resentment over his (then real) death and the cover-up Carly was involved in at the time.

When she comes back, still in a bad way (maybe drinking), it's Sarah. If there's any way the network would go for that it's that she's probably cheaper than Laura now, lol. I would let Carly get at least some of her money and trappings back eventually - I don't think the money or her being nouveau riche is the problem so much as the entire town being wired to be Carly's friends and family these days. She's on good terms with almost everyone and is just a heroine in staid story. That has to change. But it would all probably inevitably lead back to another marriage of convenience for her and A.J., only this time they do fall in love.

Those are great ideas, incorporating Sonny's decline and reformation, along with an AJ return. This could also put use to the story they did nothing with about Carly being reported to the feds by Nina. 

Maybe have somebody embezzling from various rich GH characters too and that could be used as part of an umbrella story.

51 minutes ago, prefab1 said:

Pretty good episode today. I loved the Cody and Tracy scenes--those two really bring out the best in each other. And even though they were full of cliches, I enjoyed the Joss and Vaughn scene. He's the first guy I've seen Joss have real chemistry with, and their "undercover" scenes reminded me of the kinds of scenarios the show used to write for its 1980s supercouples like Frisco and Felicia. 

I'm glad when the show remembers Tracy and Cody. That and Tracy's bond with Stella were my favorite parts of Mulcahey's brief return.