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That Paul story is a great example. They covered multiple angles because Bell embraced the format (I mean you could argue he was part of the foundations of the format). That luxury is time. It’s the double edged sword- they have all this time to kill, and they are also blessed with that time to make fully realized stories/characters. Even Monty’s GH took time compared to now, and they were considered fast paced!
They were also not afraid to cover controversial topics. Although Bell often told stories with poor people from a kind of paternalistic and simplistic angle. Almost all Cricket’s summer stories reek of those tropes, and so does April.
It’s just striking how far we have fallen. I know the American audience is deeply divided, intolerant, and vocal about it from all ideological directions. But we had Kish, and Lulu having a teenage abortion, ATWT’s gay characters, and now I don’t think any of those stories would be told as fully or even at all.
I don’t know, we had stories well into the 90’s and early 2000’s that showed characters with more normal jobs, having money troubles, and layers of wealth. Adam Chancellor/Palmer were more monied than Erica, who had more conspicuous wealth than Brooke. I think it’s beyond the Reagan thing. It’s like they just decided nobody cares about that or it’s too close to reality so they just don’t mention it.
It’s lazy/convenience based writing. I think Valentini is so afraid of the show seeming boring or old fashioned by showing all those details and taking time that he just dropped them. Like you said, it’s easier when anyone can jump on a plane at any time to move the plot along. It’s also easier to puzzle piece the episodes together when they don’t have a bunch of details to keep track of.
Even if we accept in 2026 Victor would probably be a billionaire, and Jabot might be worth a billion, that doesn’t mean the Abbots should all just be rich, or that nobody on the show isn’t directly tied to someone ultra wealthy!
It’s a shame. We have several doctors including a trans woman co-chief of staff and they avoid her almost completely, and the rest of the hospital is just there as a place to have scenes. Liz is the head nurse and I think she’s used worse than Jessie was by Gloria Monty in the late 70’s/early 80’s, before she was too ill to be depended on.
About the working class characters, I know Valentini came up under OLTL Rauch, and that kind of stuff was not his vibe. But even with him you still had Wanda running the diner, like Ruby on GH. Viki and Dorian lived in houses so pretentious they had names, same with Erica on AMC. But we also had people living at the Pine Cone Hotel, and Angel Square. Marlena had a spacious home with Roman and then a penthouse. But she wasn’t living in the Kiriakas mansion. And Carrie/Austin/Sami lived in a perfectly believable apartment complex with roommates. There used to be layers!
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titan1978 ·
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