5 minutes ago, DRW50 said:

It was a good thing for GH to have the injection of more vocal and passionate fans that Sprina brought, and I don't think they ever went to extremes, but the genre is so tired and fearful now and I think a vocal fan response is just too much for them.

I loved Sprina but GH got boxed in by the fandom. Spencer didn't need to be killed off. He was a rich, nepo baby and could've easily gone to Europe. But the writers would've been met with intense backlash if he had broken up with Trina which would've been normal in the real world. Instead, the show foolishly killed off Nikolas' son, a Cassadine heir and Trina is just there now.

Edited Monday at 07:34 PM2 days by CrazySexyQ

1 minute ago, CrazySexyQ said:

I loved Sprina but GH got boxed in by the fandom. Spencer didn't need to be killed off. He was a rich, nepo baby and could've easily gone to Europe. But the writers would've been met with intense backlash if he had broken up with Trina which would've been normal in the real world. Instead, the show foolishly killed off Nikolas' son, a Cassadine heir and Trina is just there now.

I know many of their fans also hated Gio. I don't think they are the reason why the show never did that pairing, but I do think many weren't going to want to see her in a new relationship. Many at the show clearly wanted to minimize her anyway and it's easier to minimize someone when you know some (not all) of their fans are attached to the pairing rather than the character.

Just now, DRW50 said:

I know many of their fans also hated Gio. I don't think they are the reason why the show never did that pairing, but I do think many weren't going to want to see her in a new relationship. Many at the show clearly wanted to minimize her anyway and it's easier to minimize someone when you know some (not all) of their fans are attached to the pairing rather than the character.

100%. I can't agree with this enough.

Trina isn't a character anymore. She's a plot point and if she's written out this year, most will shrug. The writers don't care about her. A stronger story would've been Trina feeling jaded after her first love left and not that overwrought ending.

Speaking of Gio, he and Emma are cute but safe. I don't hate or love them.

I get where you are coming from @DRW50 but my argument would pretty much live and die on these shows are a business, and already have a toxic online fandom, and if I was the network I wouldn’t care if dealing with that is a hassle to the producers of a show that the network owns. I would want the viewers.

I do know there are real world implications for the talent that does deserve consideration and they should feel safe at work and IRL in relation to that work. But the show and genre is leaving money on the table that was their bread and butter, when shows like Bridgerton and Heated Rivalry show that diversity isn’t even the hindrance because there is a large audience hungry for romance and sexuality.

Without spoiling anything, there is a scene in Heated Rivalry that hinges on a kiss, and the cameras swooping around several characters that the kiss is important for. It’s 100% filmed in that epic romance way that shows about gay men’s sexuality are not represented often, and that’s part of why it has a huge crossover audience. As a gay man, I totally get our sexuality being used as the lure in media that caters to straight women can be problematic. But I can also take a step back and see that sometimes the conceits of the genre do some dictating here. And as a lifetime lover of soaps, in six episodes they captured something soaps build towards for longer because they have the luxury of time.

I feel the same way about the dwindling audiences for Marvel and DC comics over the last couple of decades. They are embarrassed by the conceits of a genre that is supposed to be catered towards juvenile readership (I am speaking about superhero comics by the largest publishers here, not comics as an art form) so they have made them almost totally for their older audience first, and lost the cyclical nature of their mostly turnover readership as it existed for decades.

Credits for Monday, January 5, 2026:

Created by: Frank & Doris Hursley
Executive producer: Frank Valentini
Head writers: Chris Van Etten and Elizabeth Korte
Writers: Ryan Quan; Steve Rosenberg and Cathy Lepard
Director: Gary Tomlin

LOL at them using a manual check-in/check-out paper log at a motel in 2025.

22 minutes ago, CrazySexyQ said:

I loved Sprina but GH got boxed in by the fandom.

I don't think they were concerned about that, or about whether people would accept a recast. I think they just wanted it over and Spencer gone if Chavez wasn't going to re-sign, because Sprina becoming popular and the show's flagship young couple was a nightmare for FV that the show was clearly deeply uncomfortable with, as it did not fit their priorities either for young couples or re: diversity. Chavez leaving just gave them the convenient excuse. Unless something dramatically changes BTS at the show you won't see Spencer back til Trina is gone.

I don’t think they were boxed in either. They were perfectly willing to push Esme and continue trying to tie her to Spencer before they decided to kill the whole story. Chavez was inconvenient for Valentini/the factory production because of his outs. And the racism was apparent too, even if they don’t realize they were doing it.

Chavez was popular right away with both Trina’s, and they sidelined his character several times like they did Gio after the paternity reveal, where his story would disappear for weeks. And I assumed at the time it was budget to hold time for using him a lot later in the year.

1 hour ago, Vee said:

What titan and I are talking about is the show itself. I've watched the entire series, and you know me well enough by now to know what I do and don't have time for. It is pure romance, as he says. It's also refreshingly frank and explicit. Anticipating what some of the audience may or may not do in future in social media bubbles is not my problem, and not in my interest as a viewer of Heated Rivalry. I'm not watching the audience, I'm watching the show. The show exists independent of them, I watch it and it's quality work. It has been a success because of its quality, not just because it's explicit.

Daytime may be afraid of their viewers and unwilling to bother pushing the envelope vs. just going along to get along, but it made that kind of effort in the past and it should again. HR and other recent successes in the same wheelhouse (homo or hetero) prove they are dividends to be found, whether it's with Gio/Emma or whatever else.

Jacob did it for the right reasons.

24 minutes ago, Vee said:

I don't think they were concerned about that, or about whether people would accept a recast. I think they just wanted it over and Spencer gone if Chavez wasn't going to re-sign, because Sprina becoming popular and the show's flagship young couple was a nightmare for FV that the show was clearly deeply uncomfortable with, as it did not fit their priorities either for young couples or re: diversity. Chavez leaving just gave them the convenient excuse. Unless something dramatically changes BTS at the show you won't see Spencer back til Trina is gone.

8 minutes ago, titan1978 said:

I don’t think they were boxed in either. They were perfectly willing to push Esme and continue trying to tie her to Spencer before they decided to kill the whole story. Chavez was inconvenient for Valentini/the factory production because of his outs. And the racism was apparent too, even if they don’t realize they were doing it.

Chavez was popular right away with both Trina’s, and they sidelined his character several times like they did Gio after the paternity reveal, where his story would disappear for weeks. And I assumed at the time it was budget to hold time for using him a lot later in the year.

Very good points. Even though the Sprina fandom was vocal at times, the racism and the writers' refusal to commit were always hard to overcome. Chavez leaving gave them their way out (and I'm so glad he left to pursue his career) but the show was always allergic to Sprina. I also expect a Spencer recast once Trina is gone, and he'll be paired with Joss.

As for today's show, the tension between Willow and Michael is crackling. They're finally interesting after a much-needed recast. I wouldn't mind an Alan and Monica reunion of sorts between the two. They should plot to kill Drew once and for all.

And it's about time someone got concerned about where Anna is!

20 minutes ago, CrazySexyQ said:

Very good points. Even though the Sprina fandom was vocal at times, the racism and the writers' refusal to commit were always hard to overcome. Chavez leaving gave them their way out (and I'm so glad he left to pursue his career) but the show was always allergic to Sprina. I also expect a Spencer recast once Trina is gone, and he'll be paired with Joss.

Sad we have to have such low expectations, and not likely to be proven wrong.

Good luck with yet another pairing she will tank.

Shame becuase Eden McCoy is gorgeous and yet I found the pairing of Joss & Dax so boring and mundane.

It's unsurprising but still a pity about today's developments, as I was just getting used to the adorable new Ace. He may suddenly be the whitest child this side of the Third Reich but he's sweet and actually smiles and reacts to people, unlike that miniature sphinx who played Lulu for her first five years on the show. Even Wiley has only recently stopped constantly giving that dead-eyed paste eater stare! Thus ends Aryan Ace's World Tour into my heart, while Jon Lindstrom joins the opening credits on Beyond the Gates. Kevin and Laura can divorce any time, I'm good!

Edited Monday at 10:26 PM2 days by Vee

6 minutes ago, Vee said:

It's unsurprising but still a pity about today's developments, as I was just getting used to the adorable new Ace. He may suddenly be the whitest child this side of the Third Reich but he's sweet and actually smiles and reacts to people, unlike that miniature sphinx who played Lulu for the first five years on the show. Even Wiley has only recently stopped constantly giving that dead-eyed paste eater stare! Thus ends Aryan Ace's World Tour into my heart, while Jon Lindstrom joins the opening credits on Beyond the Gates. Kevin and Laura can divorce any time, I'm good!

LMAO! So funny... and I thought the same thing about Jon Lindstrom and his positions on GH and BTG today.

3 hours ago, BadBoy93 said:

Shame becuase Eden McCoy is gorgeous and yet I found the pairing of Joss & Dax so boring and mundane.

So boring and forgetful nobody can seem to get his name right. I see him called Dax all over the internet, instead of Dex.