4 minutes ago, titan1978 said:

I have been thinking the same thing. They were pushing it hard too. The only other thing I can think derailed them was losing Maxie, and they only wanted the story in the first place to put Maxie and Lulu against each other.

Agree. I don't think the show was skittish about Lulu being violated AGAIN, but moreso the story was a dead end because KS couldn't continue. If the show cared about optics they wouldn't pretend embryo thief Britt has some sort of claim or bond to Rocco.

The whole impersonation-rape storyline idea on soaps has really bothered me ever since Victor Newman paid a Jack Abbott look-alike to pretend to be Phyllis' husband and have sex with her for weeks or months. It was so gross. So I started looking up the real-life laws on it.

Edited 22 hours ago22 hr by janea4old

Yeah the Lulu-Cassius thing was likely stopped due to Maxie no longer on canvas. Sad the show wouldn't care about Lulu being violated more than once. But whatever the reason, I'm glad it's (hopefully) done.

5 minutes ago, carolineg said:

Agree. I don't think the show was skittish about Lulu being violated AGAIN, but moreso the story was a dead end because KS couldn't continue. If the show cared about optics they wouldn't pretend embryo thief Britt has some sort of claim or bond to Rocco.

I think both can be true at this point, which is where I think titan may be coming from as well. Britt is a different story because Chris Van Etten is all in on her lol. Also, what happened with Britt and Rocco (as well as Lulu and Valentin/Charlotte) pre-dates the current network regime.

They went out of their way to be careful with Laura when Ryan was impersonating Kevin, so allowing it to happen with Lulu really stood out for me as how little they care about what they do to her. Ryan faked being sick, busy, anything to do more than just kiss Laura. And even that they limited until they “broke up”. At the time I thought maybe Valentini had learned his lesson after what happened with Todd and Marty when she had amnesia. But I guess not enough to stop it before it started.

2 minutes ago, titan1978 said:

At the time I thought maybe Valentini had learned his lesson after what happened with Todd and Marty when she had amnesia. But I guess not enough to stop it before it started.

"Todd"/Marty was utterly stomach-turning, explicit and drawn out, but it was also almost 20 years ago. I was pretty disgusted re: Lulu and Cassius as well, but I do think there's a huge difference in how GH and the network approached that brief detour recently vs. Todd/Marty (or stuff like the Connie DID rape mess in 2012) simply because this time it was offscreen and then pretty much came and went.

That is interesting about Laura. But what I think is also notable is that IIRC they let Ava be romanced by Ryan around the same time, not knowing who he was. I assume they went to bed more than once, I wasn't watching for a lot of that period. Ava is a darker character with a very ugly history. But they did play the beats when she learned the truth.

(As a side note, to this day I wonder what happened at OLTL. Susan Haskell was vocally against Todd/Marty for many years and has never spoken too much since about the story as it unfolded after the fact in '08. There were rumors in 2011 that they initially tried to secure Roger Howarth in 2008, which would've possibly been a typical Ron Carlivati twist mid-story, proving TSJ's "Todd" to not be Marty's original rapist after all and a pawn himself, not that I find that much more palatable given the situation with the bedridden and amnesiac Marty. We know Susan left the show the final time unhappy with other story a couple years later in '11. Did both Ron and Frank really have any plan for the fallout after '08? Because it didn't show onscreen; it was abhorrent and destroyed what was left of Todd's character, and nothing fixed any of it in any small way until Roger Howarth returned.)

Edited 22 hours ago22 hr by Vee

7 minutes ago, Vee said:

hat is interesting about Laura. But what I think is also notable is that IIRC they let Ava be romanced by Ryan around the same time, not knowing who he was. I assume they went to bed more than once, I wasn't watching for a lot of that period. Ava is a darker character with a very ugly history. But they did play the beats when she learned the truth.

I honestly cannot remember if they slept together or not. But as you said, it was a violation of Ava either way and they played her side out when it was all revealed.

As far as OLTL, I agree it was awful in its own class. They had been trying to make a romance out of Todd and Marty since both of their first runs on the show. Considering their history it was always just a gross idea. As far as Susan goes, who knows? Maybe she just wanted to work. Maybe they told her it would play out differently than it did? I would like to think she was always as appalled as Roger Howarth was by the notion.

Edited 21 hours ago21 hr by titan1978

Just now, titan1978 said:

Maybe they told her it would play out differently than it did?

That's my strong suspicion. And she didn't need to work as Mrs. Thorsten Kaye; she wanted to come back to acting. She was thrilled about her latest Emmy the following year obviously. But to my recollection while she continued to do the daytime rounds until sometime in '11 she hasn't ever said much about that specific story, at least not after "Todd" and Marty went to bed.

I was watching GH only sporadically in recent years so I missed that Ryan had impersonated Kevin with Laura and he did that with with Ava? Or maybe I did see it but chose to block it out. It's all just so eewww.

42 minutes ago, Vee said:

I think both can be true at this point, which is where I think titan may be coming from as well. Britt is a different story because Chris Van Etten is all in on her lol. Also, what happened with Britt and Rocco (as well as Lulu and Valentin/Charlotte) pre-dates the current network regime.

Both things probably are true. I guess we haven't gotten to the end or climax of the Cassius story to see how it plays out. I am not sure if Lulu will have much of a say though because she rarely gets much perspective.

In case anyone missed it, Sheri Anderson did a long interview on Michael Fairman yt, June 11, in which she talked about GH, Days, and soap writing in general. There's a whole section in which she discusses writing Luke raping Laura. That she was ordered to write it, why, what was cut, the aftermath, etc. She says that for years, she had defended the longterm Luke&Laura arc; but now simply says it was rape and it was wrong. That's a very poor summarization -- she goes on for a long time about all of it, and it's better to hear it directly from her in her own words.
There's an entire thread on her interview:
Link to Sheri Anderson June 2026 interview thread

Edited 21 hours ago21 hr by janea4old

2 hours ago, titan1978 said:

They went out of their way to be careful with Laura when Ryan was impersonating Kevin, so allowing it to happen with Lulu really stood out for me as how little they care about what they do to her. Ryan faked being sick, busy, anything to do more than just kiss Laura. And even that they limited until they “broke up”. At the time I thought maybe Valentini had learned his lesson after what happened with Todd and Marty when she had amnesia. But I guess not enough to stop it before it started.

Yeah, I remember seeing that and thought that was well done that Laura never slept with Ryan. I had also hoped Lucy would figure it out.

The fact that Dante and Lulu have never reunited while Fathan has already moved on to Joss shows how little they care about Lulu. And that is just a waste since she primed for good dramatic stories if they would just use her. And of course Laura.

8 hours ago, carolineg said:

I feel like I learned nothing from new from the reunion, but I have watched every episode of SH ever lol. Amanda and West also seemed completely high. I guess they have a bonus episode next week because Peacock promotes Summerhouse not Days.

But anyhow, back to GH. lol

Other than the timeline we didn't. lol. But like I said. I enjoyed everyone dragging them to the point they clearly had to be on drugs. They do have that bonus episode so that Linds can really go in since Andy clearly didn't want to hurt his current cash cow.

But yeah...lol. Back to GH where I am caught up to last Monday. Incoming message.

3 hours ago, alwaysAMC said:

I love Summer House!

Like restaurant/industry reality tv...I am a sucker for things set around NYC so I feel that. It just fell off for me due to a busy schedule. But I check in from time to time. And I respect Kyle made a brand for himself. My coworker was shocked when I told her he was the CEO of Loverboy. Apparently, she loves it. Who knew?

13 minutes ago, Taoboi said:

Other than the timeline we didn't. lol. But like I said. I enjoyed everyone dragging them to the point they clearly had to be on drugs. They do have that bonus episode so that Linds can really go in since Andy clearly didn't want to hurt his current cash cow.

But yeah...lol. Back to GH where I am caught up to last Monday. Incoming message.

Like restaurant/industry reality tv...I am a sucker for things set around NYC so I feel that. It just fell off for me due to a busy schedule. But I check in from time to time. And I respect Kyle made a brand for himself. My coworker was shocked when I told her he was the CEO of Loverboy. Apparently, she loves it. Who knew?

Loverboy is actually pretty good! I can get it from my local Trader Joe's and I'll pick that over White Claws when going to a pool party. I've been really impressed with Kyle post-separation. But ok, back to GH haha :) \

I really really want to go to the GH fan event in October, but I don't want to go alone. I'd love to meet Laura Wright. I wish Maura or Cynthia were going. Or MEK!

I actually heard Loverboy was awful so good to know. I've always meant to try it. I'll have to check Trader Joes the next time I am there.

10 hours ago, Taoboi said:

Yeah, I remember seeing that and thought that was well done that Laura never slept with Ryan. I had also hoped Lucy would figure it out.

The fact that Dante and Lulu have never reunited while Fathan has already moved on to Joss shows how little they care about Lulu. And that is just a waste since she primed for good dramatic stories if they would just use her. And of course Laura.

Correct about Dante/Lulu. Without Maxie, this would have been a good opportunity to put Dante in the triangle with Fathan/Lulu. Dante getting jealous, causing strain with his friendship with Nathan, slowly realizing he still in love with Lulu, etc. You could have easily replaced Maxie with Dante in this. Like @Vee and @titan1978 said the optics aren't great, but I still think the show plain hates Lulu lol.