7 hours ago, DRW50 said:

I never notice that it looks like they were in separate shots.

They were. I think Jill's regime first had them matte'd together like that in late 2001. It was long overdue for them to be put at the end of the opening and I actually love that two-shot too, I just wish it had happened in a different regime (and Jill and Megan's reunion story for them was pretty lousy).

Edited 13 hours ago13 hr by Vee

17 minutes ago, DRW50 said:

I never notice that it looks like they were in separate shots.

IIRC for a brief time the overlapping shots were Scotty fading into Laura’s shot, then the overlap between Laura and Luke. It felt deliberate to me at the time because all three shots were slowed down just a little to make the overlaps noticeable.

10 hours ago, DRW50 said:

I know you've mentioned that before. It's always been interesting to me as I felt a real chill onscreen even by the time of Genie's 1998 return.

Part of the issue seemed to be what happened with her original waking up from being catatonic story. It was heartbreaking to watch and I thought beautiful for the most part. But both of them said they ended up feeling manipulated by what was promised versus what they got, including the wedding scenes which were not the original plan and both felt were kind of cheesy to just have her wake up and get married while Luke hid the truth from her.

Over the last few years I understand more of what both of them were complaining about. Genie felt Laura was too old to be an ingenue and that Laura had regressed repeatedly. And Tony was left kind of in limbo repeatedly when she left/and finally was by her account defacto fired by Jill. Genie was off living a life with her family and Geary was struggling to stay engaged at work and not very happy by all accounts.

Luke was often still in story, but the only time it was really meaty before 2006 was when they revisited the rape before her return in 1998. After she left in 2002 he was stuck doing stuff like the Heather Webber story and several things that involved him emoting towards or about a mop with a blond wig on it, and as the sole parent of their kids. And the grind of the material really took a toll on him. I’m not making excuses for his commentary btw, which was often just rude. I am just saying that with distance and looking at them as their real people I understand more of where both of them were coming from.

My issue with him is the fact that he acted like the Luke at the end of the show was the Luke that was there the whole time. Both of them (Tony/Luke) were older, bitter, and didn’t want to keep looking back. But we watched Luke evolve and also come crashing apart when he lost Laura. The stupid Rick Webber storyline was a huge part of why Luke became such a bastard, because he couldn’t save Laura from her own mind.

Once he was paired with Jane he hung on for dear life because he had a true partner again and IRL they were actually closer fiends than he had ever been with Genie. Both of them seemed really proud of what they had accomplished with L/L, even though it was also difficult in deeply personal ways.

I hated the 2006 story almost as much as they did. I agree with a lot of Genie's complaints. The 2008 stuff was much better. I thought the 2002 reunion farce with Sally Struthers as Jennifer (along with the horrific Endgame) was cartoonish, superficial and thrown together by Jill and Megan to try to save their jobs. It was far beneath the quality of material they'd been given in the late '90s, for all that period's flaws. I wanted Luke and Laura back together, but it was so badly done.

I don't think Tony and Genie were at each other's throats in the last years, or in '08 or probably much of the '90s. There were some difficult times. But I know Genie has said she spent time visiting with him in the last decade as well.

Edited 2 hours ago2 hr by Vee

10 hours ago, All My Shadows said:

Yep, it’s definitely still available through Roku and I think Pluto. I see ads for it all the time. Just turned it on, and yepppp, still showing episodes from “Season 58,” which is what…2020-2021? Who is begging to watch those again.

Every six or so months, they cycle through different episodes; I know Prime Video has it in their live channels, and for a while, it was airing the D.U.D. storyline and then shifted to Ryan Chamberlain, and now they're where they are at. It's all a cycle through, based upon what ABC had on their website for a bit of time.

Wally Kurth
https://www.instagram.com/p/DSV2sG9EtKI/

wallykurth
It’s been a tough year. We have lost another beloved actor from GH. I’m so saddened. I want to add my praise and deep respect for the one and only Tony Geary. He raised the acting performance bar in Daytime TV to a level I know I’ll never meet. As an actor who worked with him, I was always reminded of his skill, professionalism and integrity. He was the gold standard. And his 8 Emmy wins and countless nominations prove it. I wish I had had more scenes him - because he made me a better actor. He was funny, smart and opinionated. He liked to run his lines to learn them, which was funny to me since many of them were rewritten by him! He is terribly missed by all of us at GH. We will carry on. His spirit is always here in the studio. Sending my heartfelt condolences to his family and especially Claudio🙏❤️🫶👏👏 RIP Anthony Geary. #anthonygeary

Finola Hughes
https://www.instagram.com/p/DSWQ9QlEdrM/

finolafilona

Tony
The original. He took my breath away, so magical, creative, fearless. The thing of legend. So glad I spent time with you and Claudio in Amsterdam for a couple of summers. The best host, conversationalist, deep thinker, witty, kind raconteur. Deeply mischievous, naturally my kids adored you. Thank you Tony for the really, really good times, for sharing your heart and spirit. Claudio I love you, we send our hugs.
I’m always going to think of Tony out on the canals in his boat, slowly sailing through Amsterdam. GOAT 🕊️

Edited 1 hour ago1 hr by janea4old

Story by the incomparable Michele Val Jean.

1 hour ago, Vee said:

I don't think Tony and Genie were at each other's throats in the last years, or in '08 or probably much of the '90s. There were some difficult times. But I know Genie has said she spent time visiting with him in the last decade as well.

I don’t think so either. I think there was some stuff left unsaid between them and his general attitude towards doing the couple again caused some tension that really wasn’t about them as people, just his desire to move on. But they both have said many times around the 50th and when he retired that there was a lot of respect between them as actors and people, and even Geary has reverence towards the original run vs what he disliked from 1993-on.

They burned so brightly and that wedding was so indelible that it did stifle their characters. Especially as the legacy characters really became nostalgia fodder for the audience in the last decades. Imagine Erica Kane forever tied to Tom Cudahey? Erika Slezak faced a similar problem because after the 80’s revival of Nikki Smith, they just couldn’t stop themselves from doing DID stories on OLTL. Those three performers might as well be the logo for ABC daytime. Lucci gave a lovely statement about Tony as well.

As far as the public attention to Geary’s death, I am not really surprised. The one that surprised me was Jackie Zeman. It was sustained and had major media coverage. I loved Bobbie too, but to me at the time that spoke to the pop culture importance of the show during the Luke and Laura fever time period that was still more relevant than I thought. Tristan Rogers got that attention too. Geary is of course more sustained because he was Luke.

Edited 1 hour ago1 hr by titan1978

40 minutes ago, titan1978 said:

Erika Slezak faced a similar problem because after the 80’s revival of Nikki Smith, they just couldn’t stop themselves from doing DID stories on OLTL. Those three performers might as well be the logo for ABC daytime.

Yes, but tbf Erika also generally welcomed more Niki because she always had fun with it, whereas I thought the alters should've been retired for good after 1995 lol.

44 minutes ago, Liberty City said:

Story by the incomparable Michele Val Jean.

There's a much better quality version in the Classic thread.