Dateline Port Charles

It seems we're locked up again.

Previous thread:

What's with the RIP? I don't see any news about that.

Steve Bond the actor didn't die, the character of Jimmy Lee did. His son Austin said he bit the big one six months ago. To be honest, I would have rather had hot silver daddy Steve Bond back than his oddball spawn with the Hitler hairdo.

Sorry for the confusion, I needed to throw something together quickly when I noticed that the old thread locked up!

Thanks, OP -- that's what I get for not watching GH for the past million years or so.... Bond was hot, glad he's OK.

Bump, so people can find us today.

(The other thread locked before I could post a link)

Steve Bond must have given the show a very firm No in order for them to kill the character off.

Then again, they could have easily recast Jimmy Lee if he was essential to the story and they are already talking about Alan again

[quote]Steve Bond must have given the show a very firm No in order for them to kill the character off.

Yes, no one ever comes back from the dead in Port Charles.

Thanks for the new thread OP!

How did crippled Chase even get to the pool? Who was his caretaker? Did Willow just dump him at the Metro Court pool and then go home to play in the Q pool with Nina and the kid?

What in the hell did Kelly Monaco do to her face?

Does the Chase actor wear a hairpiece?

R10 She looks TERRIBLE. And what’s with her line delivery? It’s like she ran a marathon before her scenes. Is it drugs?

Anyone have any details about the return of AJ and why they killed him off so soon after bringing him back? I've gone down a GH rabbit hole on YT and loved this era(before the writer went crazy) and love that Sonny and Carly were finally painted as villains(until MB complained )

Steve Bond let himself go. Gay Frank did not want him stinking up the screen looking like the guy who was on Beauty and the Beast years ago so he had Jimmy Lee killed off.

Why is GH rebooting the low rated Ryan’s Hope when they could add characters from the more popular AMC and OLTL? Victoria Sleestack is appalled! Viki and Dorian should be folded into GH and thrown in Erica Kane. So many missed opportunities.

I hate to be nitpicky, I understand why Ryan's Bar looks like a postage stamp, but the sign on the door is inaccurate. Ryan's Bar Est. 1975. I get why they have it as 1975, but Ryan's Bar was around way longer than 75.

Does the mob princess not have a private pool back on the compound? Come on Sonny, your step daughter has to hang out at moms job.

Joss has big jugs.

NuSpencer is a dick. He reminds me of one of those Eurotrash aristocrats who is secretly a serial killer.

In loving memory of Beatrice LeSeur!

Makes zero sense. Jimmie Lee had that kid off-screen with Charity Gatlin. after his time on the show ended in 1986. The actor playing him looks to be around 50 or so.

Maybe that's why they gave him the stupid hipster haircut, to try and young him up a little.

OP, you keep hitting it out of the ball park with your thread intros...and great find for the Steve Bond pic.... I agree about Jimmy Lee possibly not being dead, and I also suspect it'll be revealed that Jimmy Lee married Charity because she was pregnant with Alan's child. So after years of trying and coming close, Franco truly will be a blood brother to Jason.

As for Roger Howarth, I used to enjoy him, but, man, so fucking lazy. Every character is Todd.

NuSpencer is just as annoying as OldSpencer.

NuSpencer and Trina are the only teens I like. I liked Cam until he became a Franco cheerleader.

R24

I’d rather have the oldSpencer though

NuSpencer looks like a man compared to little boy Cam.

Finola was on Kelly & Ryan this morning. Fin brought her son along and Wow did Ryan have the hots for Fin’s son. He is good looking but jeez Ryan. You’re old enough to be the kids father. Keep your boner in check.

For all his shenanigans, old Spencer at least had some semblance of a conscience. Nik, Laura or even Uncle Sonny would give him a good talking to and he would see the error of his ways and apologize. The new one reads as amoral and devoid of empathy, a malignant narcissist.

[R18]

Looks to me like the actress might have purchased some implants. Now that would make for an interesting soap storyline.

R30 I rather see Harrison getting penial reduction surgery.

Joss has the fake titties.

Wardrobe needs to be shot for what they made Sasha wear today. She looked like twenty pounds of sausage stuffed into a one pound casing.

They should have spent their time fitting Aunt Stella with a muzzle.

I can't stand NuSpencer, or NuNikolas. I don't care how fucking drunk he is, I wish they'd bring back Tyler Christopher. We watched him grow from being a conflicted edgy kid to a sexy, sometimes dangerous man. He was hot with every woman they put him with. I don't think Nikolas even has a penis.

I don't think THIS Nikolas has a penis.

Bloated roided up TC wasn’t sexy.

[quote]Bloated roided up TC wasn’t sexy.

Amen to that!

TPTB blew it with Coby Ryan McLaughlin, he should have been NuNik.

NuNik doesn't look old enough to have an 18 year old son.

steve bond played the "jungle boy" in the mike henry in his last movie as tarzan, "tarzan and the jungle boy" which was a extremely homoerotic movie with the scenes of the two if you know what i mean?!...

he also starred in "malibu express" one of those andy sidaris soft porn action flicks.. his first appearance in that movie in a very small snug green bikini! HOT!....

and his storyline with old enough to be his mother charity on general hospital and she seduced him as much as he seduced her with his looks and body was kinky hot!

I've been rewatching OLTL starting in 2007, before watching my nightly dose of new GH. It is great to see OLTL before GH, again. I have to give it to FV, he is good at his job. I'm sure GH's yearly budget is drastically less than what he had at OLTL in 2007, but visually its not that different. For one thing, as much as we made fun of under attended "non-wedding." FV seems to have understood the need to keep extras in the budget, unlike, Y&R. At least when GH shows the hospital, Metro Court, Kelly's etc. There are people there, unlike Y&R where it sometimes looks like the characters are living in a large city where they are they only people.

In the case of the comically under-attended dual wedding of Maxie & Peter / Anna & Finn, Covid restrictions probably had a lot to do with it. The silly part is that they could have written around it by saying they really wanted something small and intimate, but NO, they had to blather on about having a guest list of 200 or some such which made it all the more surreal.

Is the pool supposed to be outside or inside? It has windows like it’s inside but Joss was applying tanning lotion like they’re outside…

The pool seems to be on the rooftop of the Metro Court. Rooftop pools typically have high glass or plexiglass partitions to protect from the wind, but are open to the sky.

Not only to protect from the wind but also to stop jumpers.

Someone needs to arrange an accidental "jump" for Gladys and Aunt Stella both. Or maybe instigate a catfight between the two of them that ends up in high-altitude freefall. Win-win!

Aunt Stella is such a vile nasty old cunt! Go jump off a roof Stella. Please!

Has Jason been shirtless at the rooftop pool?

r48 Thankfully no.

Steve Burton can cum in me, anytime!

How long until Alexis is released from prison?

I wouldn't mind seeing JPS at the new pool....

...And get into a catty bitch-off with Spencer. Valentin is the only one that can outsmart and outsnark him.

Steve’s body doesn’t look terrible. It’s that face.

R47 I actually enjoy these short visits from Aunt Stella, between her work on the sitcom. She is a total throwback type of character, a battleaxe. The Brit soaps have kept that archetype on theirs, but we haven't. From what I've read Aunt Stella is very much like Audrey's sister was in the earlier days of GH.

I love Aunt Stella. Love that she still pops back into town.

Stella is often the voice of the audience, saying things the audience is thinking about situation.

I love Aunt Stella. Even without her own storylines, she is always moving plot along.

I think every show needs a town busy body and a town snob. Sometimes that character can be both the town snob and the town busybody.

Aunt Stella can go the fuck away. Can’t stand her.

I think her type of character is a very outdated archetype. The bitter old spinster who has to go around finger-wagging and tongue-clucking at everyone else because she never had happiness in her own life.

R60 It isn't outdated because those people still exist, in real life.

No, mostly on DL. :)

Old scrotum face Stella isn’t like able. Phoebe Tyler was like able and funny. Big difference. Stella’s just a miserable old nosy busybody.

We can't be expected to care about a death of a character who never once appeared onscreen (meaning Thomas).

I have to post this because it's so strange. I just took a nap and had a sex dream about Maurice Benard. What in the hell. He showed me his cock and let me touch it. It probably happened because right before my nap I was watching an old Sonny/Brenda clip from the 90s. Ugh. Can you believe that. Of all the soap people to have a sex dream about.

r65

he was hot back in the day... don't be ashamed

Were Sonny & Brenda GH’s last big supercouple?

R67 The funny thing is I preferred Jax coupled with both of Sonny's BIG loves, instead. Jax and Brenda and Jax and Carly, are most much, much better than the Sonny pairings. If Sonny wants another Emmy real bad, have Sonny develop homosexual feelings for Jax and they have an elaborate Mafia late in life coming out storyline.

Watching mid-00's OLTL, GH really fucked up! If they were going to bring on a Todd, and subject us to him "playing" several different characters, why couldn't we have gotten TSJ. He is still just about the sexiest man I've ever seen on TV, daytime, primetime, etc...

I remember, I had the chance to meet him at a meet and greet, but I didn't go because I couldn't figure out how to hide my hard on.

[quote]If Sonny wants another Emmy real bad, have Sonny develop homosexual feelings for Jax and they have an elaborate Mafia late in life coming out storyline.

Yeah, dat might not work out so well.

I was a big OLTL fan so I watched when they had the characters crossover to GH which occasionally I now watch. So have I lost count or has RH now played 4 different characters on GH in the span of about 8 years? Whose dick has he been sucking?

Sorry, just realized I said Emmy real instead of reel, in R68, attack me now.

Jax and Carly better than Sonny and Brenda?? On what planet?

R73 To me Jax and Carly or Jax and Brenda was better, than Sonny and Carly or Sonny and Brenda.

On what network is OLTL on before GH? I wouldn't mind seeing some of it myself.

Are lucky and Elizabeth & nik and Emily not more recent than sonny and Brenda?

That’s without venturing into dangerous territory of Jason and Sam & Elizabeth and Franco…

R75 I've been watching on youtube. Some guy has almost all episodes from 2006-end. But, for some reason he replaced the theme song, with the AMC theme, I hate it but I just fast forward.

[quote]GH’s last big supercouple?

Foster and Annabelle

Steve & Audrey.

The last supercouple was Heather and her BLTs.

Jessie Brewer and her blue sweater were a supercouple.

Other than Luke and Laura, GH was never a supercouple show.

^Bullshit! Frisco & Felicia, Holly & Robert and I could go on and on. GH invented super couples!

r83

after F&F, H&R... I can think of SOnny and Brenda, Sonny and Carly(maybe), Liz and Lucky but then I'm stumped

R83 I would also add Robert and Anna and Duke and Anna, and to me Monica and Alan.

R84 Patrick and Robin were big for several years in the '00s.

[quote]^Bullshit! Frisco & Felicia, Holly & Robert and I could go on and on. GH invented super couples!

Yeah, but Days sort of made it an artform. Frisco and Felicia and Holly and Robert were popular couples. I would argue if they deserve the term supercouple. But all this stuff is subjective.

r85

I would give you Duke and Anna

Speaking of Heather. Has anyone told her her son is dead?

Well, that responsibility would belong to Scott, and right now he's busy yodeling down Liesl's canyon.

LOL, R89. That is so true.

Are they rewriting this dumb Hayden storyline? We know Nik was behind the shooting. We saw the hit man too IIRC.

So what was Spencer pen-palling with Ryan about last year? Is he a secret serial killer fangurl? It brings to mind that nerdy kid (played by David Krumholtz) who was Wednesday Addams' boyfriend at camp who had the collection of serial killer trading cards.

I have no clue who the person of interest for both Spencer and Ryan could be.

How did my martini glass get empty?

So, Peter- alive or dead? Who would have an interest in absconding with his body? Isn't thawing and reviving frozen people a Cassadine specialty? It is Helena's lab after all, complete with a coffin-sized freezer that just happens to be still running...

[quote] Is the pool supposed to be outside or inside? It has windows like it’s inside but Joss was applying tanning lotion like they’re outside…

Isn't General Hospital set somewhere near the New York/Canada border (Buffalo)? How many months of outdoor pool can they get there? An indoor pool for a luxury 5-star hotel would make more sense.

Have they shown the Alan Quartermaine tribute yet? Haven't watched regularly in years, but I def want to tune in for that. Last episode I tuned in for was for the tribute to Sean Donely.

[quote] Steve Burton can cum in me, anytime!

I'm sure he'll be thrilled by the news.

[quote]Have they shown the Alan Quartermaine tribute yet?

Not yet. I'm sure whenever they do schedule it, there will be lots of advance publicity, just like there was for the Sean Donnelly episode.

[quote]Isn't General Hospital set somewhere near the New York/Canada border (Buffalo)? How many months of outdoor pool can they get there? An indoor pool for a luxury 5-star hotel would make more sense.

Yes, Port Charles is in upstate NY. I think its about where Rochester is located IRL.

They can likely get year round use of the pool by saying Carly installed a retractable canvas roof for use in the winter months. That roof would be similar to the roof that Days has on Horton Town Square, the outdoor shopping plaza that never seems to get rain or snow.

I was thinking it could be something like a clear greenhouse roof that would let the sun in but keep the elements out.

If Peter is still alive then LW's power at GH knows no bounds.

I hope he's not, I know I'm in the minority but I don't like the actor.

[quote] They can likely get year round use of the pool by saying Carly installed a retractable canvas roof for use in the winter months. That roof would be similar to the roof that Days has on Horton Town Square, the outdoor shopping plaza that never seems to get rain or snow.

Or Sonny just made God an offer he couldn't refuse. I used to howl how so many of these soaps are set in Northern cold climates yet everyone is always walking around in shorts and sundresses in the winter. It's so obvious the production staff only know California. This is further evidences by how it never rains either.

I guess we're going to get a Spencer/Joss/Trina triangle.

R101

I wouldn't say you were in the minority regarding Peter. With the exception of actress Laura Wright (Carly, his real life FWB), I'm pretty sure the actor and character are thoroughly disliked by the majority of viewers. And not disliked in the "oh he's a villain" way, but disliked because he's a terrible actor playing a terribly written character. But he is cute, and Wes Ramsey did play gay in the 90s mini-classic Latter Days.

Plans change all the time on soaps, but I glad we've gotten Britt around longer than it seems was originally planned

They've given her a lot of great material and she's been playing the hell out of it all

I don't have a feeling about Peter one way or the other, but I just remember how much fans hated Franco and then were pissed when he was killed off. So I think fans are fickle. They hate a character until they don't. It's weird.

I actually like Wes Ramsey's acting. Peter has been a mess of a character since the beginning.

I'm a couple of weeks behind and I just noticed that while Sonny was rushing Lenny to the NYC hospital he stopped for a dye job on the way. She shoe polish look is back. Did they think no one would notice.

As for Peter, I never had any doubt that he was alive. So much for Finny and Liz's medical skills in detecting a pulse. I wonder how many of their patients were buried alive.

I believe he will be back because they will never fire that actor because his wife's balls are too big for them to piss her off.

If Peter is indeed alive then how embarrassing for a doctor and surgical nurse. I’m sure there’s a stupid explanation coming up. But no way is Wes gone for good.

I can't remember, did Valentine see Sonny at the hospital?

No R110

I’m not quite sure why everyone thinks Peter is still alive though, it’s quite possible that someone else moved the body or disposed of it like for example Robert… No body no crime

r112, I hope you are right and Peter is dead-dead as I don't like the character or the actor.

Although I doubt they will give Robert the honors of disposing of him what with Tristan Rogers' real life unfiltered opinion of the Peter character getting him into hot water.

....and speaking of Tristan being unfiltered, he was on SB's podcast where he was asked a bunch of questions, one of the questions was "What were you happy to leave behind from the 1980s?" His answer: "My wife." LOL. Tristan is in his 70s and just says what is on his mind.

A weird outlier thought: Liesl certainly has the evil genius superpowers to pull it off, plus, as former Chief of Staff, a thorough knowledge of the inner workings of the hospital. Her motivations are many, her long-held deep hatred, revenge for killing her best friend Franco, and here's the weird part- what if she wanted his body because, as Britta's half-brother, his tissue might be useful in developing a gene therapy treatment for her Huntington's? The baby Louise would have been a better candidate, but, since she is presumed missing, she settled for the next best thing.

r114

that makes sense

I have been going down a GH youtube hole and have a question

When Nikolas was introduced and was interacting with his newfound family, DId he have a relationship with his aunt Amy? Did Lulu or Lucky either?

Can someone explain how Helena had a lab in the basement of GH? I must have missed that storyline.

[quote] If Peter is indeed alive then how embarrassing for a doctor and surgical nurse. I’m sure there’s a stupid explanation coming up. But no way is Wes gone for good.

Both Lesley Webber and Jake Spencer-Webber were declared dead at GH, only to then return alive years later. I wouldn't go to GH for a flu shot.

Oh, and I forgot A.J. Quartermaine's second death was declared at GH. Guess what happened?

[quote] No body no crime

While a nightmare to prosecute, you technically don't need a dead body to charge someone with murder. Or even convict.

[quote] Can someone explain how Helena had a lab in the basement of GH? I must have missed that storyline.

That's truly a plot best left forgotten. When Helena resurrected Stavros (the first time), it was through blackmailed Tony Jones. This was a highly clandestine project, conducted in her secret highly efficient operating lab 30 STORIES beneath GH. Bwaaaaahaaaahaaaa.

I loved Constance Towers as Helena, and God damn it that woman deserved an Emmy every year she was on for playing that nonsense with a straight face. Her stories were always the wackiest.

[quote] When Nikolas was introduced and was interacting with his newfound family, DId he have a relationship with his aunt Amy? Did Lulu or Lucky either?

Nikolas was introduced as the last resort savior since his blood was the only one that could save baby Lulu from a terminal disease. He and Lucky were like oil and water and fought (literally) frequently. I don't remember Nik and Amy, but I think she accepted him as her nephew. Luke was apoplectic about Laura's bastard child (he was a total jerk, and even tried to murder the kid). The early years of Nikolas, Stefan, and Helena were excellent. Then it went to shit.

I remember a few scenes with Lucky and Amy and *maybe* baby Lulu but nothing with Nik.

I don't think there were many scenes with Laura and Amy

But wasn’t the entire Jake death story retconned R118? It wasn’t really Jake even though Liz and Lucky saw him and Liz even told Jason he was just being kept alive on a machine? Still such a dumb story.

No, but one of my favorite Amy / Laura scenes was when Laura returned from the dead (what, for the 3rd or 4th time) after faking her death. Amy did not know it was fake and when Laura came to GH to apologize, Amy bitch-slapped her and ripped her a new one. Good for Amy!

R126 I remember that, my mom was like she would've slapped her hard enough she'd wished she was dead.

[quote] The baby Louise would have been a better candidate, but, since she is presumed missing, she settled for the next best thing.

I hope you mean her fetal tissues, because Liesl wouldn't do anything to hurt Maxie. However, she would gladly keep Peter on ice and do experiments on him.

r126

nice! any link to vid by any chance?

Drew Cain took Peter August and is holding him captive or Alex Devane isn’t really dead either and is holding him captive. Or whoever took his remains threw his down the same endless hole that Stavros went down

[quote]The early years of Nikolas, Stefan, and Helena were excellent.

I recently watched that story again on YouTube. It was almost too perfect. It was some of the most engaging soap opera, I had ever watched. And it was so gothic and Genie had insane chemistry with Stephen Nichols. Your heart would break for all them. Luke and Lucky were jerks and you understood why, but you could see the pain of Laura trying to balance these two sides of her life. And try to make it make sense to Nicholas why she left him. They fucked it up by saying that Stephan was Nicholas' father and some other bad choices, but the beginning was pure magic.

List all the characters on GH who have come back from the dead.

[quote]Or whoever took his remains threw his down the same endless hole that Stavros went down

Well, Stavros came back from that endless hole. So, Peter could too.

Perhaps Helena is busy resurrecting Peter right now. It's already been established that Helena and Peter knew each other.

[quote] List all the characters on GH who have come back from the dead.

It would be easier to list all those who didn't.

[quote] Perhaps Helena is busy resurrecting Peter right now. It's already been established that Helena and Peter knew each other.

Helena is also "dead" -- she was poisoned by Nikolas years ago. But if they recast, I would enjoy seeing Helena rebuild Peter into some kind of horribly disfigured, mumbling Frankenstein monster.

It's Surprising that Brendas son Alec hasn't been mixed into the Teen Scene yet.

Well, the Casandra Pierce plot threads are still out there dangling.

Perhaps Helena's memories were transferred into Cassandra the same way they transferred Drew Cain's memories into Franco.

Too bad Dr. Rolf is a Salem character and not a Port Charles character. He has experience doing that, transforming Steve Johnson into Stephano DiMera. And Hope into Princess Gina.

Wasn't there a Casandra who was supposed to be Laura's daughter and Nicholas' twin? Or am I confusing that?

r137

I think they retconned that into Helena's(!!??) daughter when Helena shot and killed her

Yes, 80 year old Helena supposed had a 20 year old daughter, but shot her in cold blood, ending that storyline.

speaking of retcons, Anyone know what the original plan was for Valentin? EVen Helena was scarfed of him

[quote]"The baby Louise would have been a better candidate, but, since she is presumed missing, she settled for the next best thing." [reply] I hope you mean her fetal tissues, because Liesl wouldn't do anything to hurt Maxie. However, she would gladly keep Peter on ice and do experiments on him.

The umbilical cord or cord blood is considered the richest source of high quality stem cells (they are often saved and frozen for this very reason), but in the event that is not available, regular blood or tissue samples could be useful. Of course, GH could make up their own convoluted procedure with different rules to better fit their narrative needs.

I’m beginning to think this entire Hayden shooter story is being rewritten so that it doesn’t look like half the town let a black dude sit in jail.

Howarth's ugly really shines in scenes with Swickard.

Other than the Colton Scott(Stephen Martines)/Jacob Scott sex stories(which I will admit are hot even if they may be fiction), what are some other stories about the 2nd Nikolas? Did Genie and Tony like him? I just watched a scene where he meets Stavros and damn he was a bad actor... I can only imagine those scenes with the real Mik, Tyler C... I do wish Tyler would straighten up and return

Genie said in an interview with the official Emmys site that Nik no. 2 wasn’t her “favorite person.” This was a really good interview actually. It’s long but worth the watch.

Not a huge Genie fan, but I do agree that was a terrific (albeit long) interview. Pretty candid.

r146

agreed... she was pretty honest. Not a lot of nice to say about the 2nd Lucky and Nikolas

Colton Scott (Or however he spells his name or whichever alias he's using now) is a scam artist. He was a shady user before GH, and has gone downhill since. I think he either went to or is still in jail. Sounds like a straight-up sociopath.

The actor who played Lucky #2 wasn't a bad actor per se, just terribly miscast. He was surprisingly prissy and effeminate at a time when Lucky was being built up to be an action hero, the heir to Luke's classic derring-do stories. Probably the most repulsive story GH ever did was when Luke and Lucky shared a girlfriend, a hooker named Summer, who resembled Laura. WTF??

R148 Funny, I've always found Jonathan Jackson prissy.

r149

in the 2ns and 3rd round I would agree but not in his 1st go round. I just watched the Genie interview and a lot of the ice princess 2.0 and I love that Laura accepted Ethan as a Spencer... that is just so Laura while Luke HATED Nikolas... Ethan... another FU to Genie and Laura

Jonathan Jackson (Lucky 1.0) was awfully weepy in later returns. But I always thought of him as more of an overly sensitive Alan Alda-type than necessarily prissy. Jacob Young (?), Lucky 2.0, was constantly preening and precious. That was a little different. Of course super-hot Greg Vaughan was the only one who looked like he actually wielded a penis and could do action/adventure. Unfortunately he wasn't the best actor and looked dumb as a box of rocks. Hot though. Definitely the hottest of the three Luckys.

It was incredibly stupid to make Ethan Luke’s son. They let TG get away with murder over there.

When Jacob Young came in and took over playing "Lucky", all I could think of was, "Really? He was secretly kidnapped and held by Helena for a year but somehow he managed to get his hair bleached?"

I think it was more frosted than bleached... although my first thought was that, oh my, Helena brainwashed him into being a homosexual. Well, they were on a Greek island after all.

I heard that there was a rumor claiming that several actors on GH didn't get along with Greg Vaughan and couldn't stand him because he allegedly came across as a pain in ass bts and that they were glad when he was no longer on the show.

I want Tyler back! His Nikolas has the chemistry with all the ladies…would love him back with Liz. When will we get a proper Lucky recast? I’d take Greg Vaughan back and write him like Lucky this time.

Valentin is way too skinny to find sexy.

Tony Geary didn't like Greg Vaughn, but I assumed that's because Vaughn wouldn't let Geary touch his pee-pee.

I just discovered a weird factoid when looking at one of our older threads:

[quote]Dmitri Cassadine is still alive and assumed to be living in Brazil.

For whatever that's worth. It's something they could always pull out of their ass if they need a new villain or person to blame for something. If they don't want to bring Helena back from the dead, they could always say Dmitri is carrying on in her place.

[quote] Valentin is way too skinny to find sexy.

Yes! Thank you. He's a good-looking guy, and a wonderful actor IMO with a nice singing voice, but for God's sake eat a cheeseburger. He looks woefully scrawny and it's hard to believe he was ever some marauding sea pirate in the Caspian Sea. He looks more like a personal shopper at Bloomingdale's.

R154 HA! I originally wrote "frosted" but I thought it was too old of a term so I replaced with bleach. It was a great storyline, "Endgame". Totally ridiculous, bought it utilized practically all the major characters at that time. I think Laura had 3 men in love with her, (Luke, Stefan, and Scottie had returned); But it was a shame watching those two incredibly weak actors playing Lucky and Nic while thinking how much better it'd be if J. Jackson and T. Christopher were still in the roles.

I wanted Cassandra Pierce to be the real "lost" daughter of Helena and the ne villain on the show. Jessica Tuck almost has the same nuanced smirk perfected by Constance Towers, and they bear a similar enough resemblance to pass for mother-daughter. But nope. The writers just went and fucked it all up by creating a torrid past love affair between Cassandra and Valentin. Which, in itself could have still worked since they were not originally blood-related, but they the writers went full-on crazy and claimed Valentin was no longer the illegitimate son of Mikkos, but now the illegitimate son of Helena (what, did she forget?) and thus undermined all of his backstory. Ugh. No wonder I keep quitting this show.

I've long held the theory that Cassandra was chosen to get memory-mapped with Helena's brain waves. It makes sense for so many reasons. I've also long suspected that Cass and Peter were in league together. Both have been shown many times speaking on the phone to some other mystery person on evil deed business, yet it's never been revealed just who they were working with.

So, there's another potential suspect in the "Who took Peter" case, along with potentially undead Alex Devane.

What I found interesting was that it was reported that the last time Jonathan Jackson returned, he and Tony spent most of their time rewriting their scenes.

For years I wanted them to bring back Faith Roscoe.

Cynthia Preston was a good bad-ass mafia widow. I liked her love affair with Ned, of all people.

Granted the writing on the show often sucked (like most soaps, particularly daytime), but I can't help but think that Geary must have been the biggest pain in the ass on set. Chronically unhappy, always demanding script changes, special accommodations, smoking stinky cigars on set, and frankly often looking hygienically challenged. The cast always say how much they loved Tony but I don't know... he sounds awful to me.

ANYONE remember the GH storyline from the year 2000, where old horny man-eater (able to get any man she wanted even at her age! laugh) try to blackmail Jax (ingo rademacher) into her bed for "one night of perfection" and then she would give him her pharmaceutical company and the medication to keep Chloe from going blind!

kinky sexy stuff seeing helena seducing jax, alot of sexual innuendo dialogue, heavy making out as well... stupid writers, though, in that NO WAY, NO HOW would helena be stupid enough to let jax handcuff her to the bed after she told him where to find the medication and pharm company contracts!

they should have had the two have sex and the next morning, while jax is in bed "sleeping"... chloe calls the yacht wondering if helena has seen jax and helena telling her "why yes, darling, he's right here in bed with me, but he's sleeping, should i have him call you when he wakes up?" and then hang up the phone and with a wide super grin of deviousness and sexual conquest and power trip she puts her arms over her head and rests against the bed headboard, then the camera pans over to jax on his side, his lower half covered with a white sheet and in camera close-up, he opens his eyes as he was awake during the phone call after all, and the look on his face is shame, disgust, embarrassment, anger and yet also a touch of sexual satisfaction because old broad helena was/is indeed very very experienced in the art of male pleasure even at her age! laugh!

that's how the scene should have ended, with jax (ingo) finding another way to get the medication for chloe...

ingo rademacher at the time was drop dead gorgeous at age 29! constance towers was literally old enough to be his grandmother because she was 67 at the time! that's a 38 year difference! when she was 50 he was 12! seeing those two make out heavily a few times was dirty hot!..

You intrigued me R166. So I scooted off to Youtube to try and find it. No luck, but I found this gem instead.

My favorite Helena to Liz quote has to be (paraphrased):

"Look at you, Liz. Three babies from three different fathers. Why, you're ripe for welfare."

LOL

^^ That comment would never pass muster in today's delicate climate!

Now I've spent the last hour going down a Helena YouTube rabbit hole. The lines they gave her. And the way Constance delivered them was perfection.

someone mentioned the memory swapping stuff... Did it ever tie into Todd and Victor jr from OLTL? Didn't Irene give Victor jr Todd's memories the same way?

Was Carlivati still on board when the Memory Mapping sl was created?

It sounds like something ReRon would do

I think the show was setting up a younger Helena storyline with Cassandra Irina. Whether she was going to be Stefans or Mikkos daughter or even Lauras. But the problem is the the actress couldn't act very well. It was lazy to just kill her off...LINK and scene between Helena and Cassandra. She strongly resembled LuLu 1......

You just know Willow will be killed off sometime within the next two years, (assuming GH survives).

The show must now be improving in the ratings

That pool set couldn't have been cheap and they're now putting more than 1 or 2 background actors into more scenes

Absolutely DELISH scene with Ginny Blake and Bobbie Spencer. Judy Chapman makes it a campfest with all her "baby doll" talk. I love this!

R177 Whoa! I stopped watching GH sometime in the early 80s. I remember Jackie Zeman left for what turned out to be a brief period, and during that time it had gotten godawful, and it was many years before I turned it back on. I missed Judith Chapman completely. She was great!...Thanks for posting.

It's funny how Laura never talks about her other brother Rick Junior---who is Rick and Ginnys son. .....And her stepbrother Mike...

When they wrote Laura off in the early 2000s, they brought back Rick and rewrote his history. (Mike, Ginny, and Rick Jr. no longer existed). They turned him into a villain he never was! It was awful. Genie Francis was quite upset and had every reason to be. Whoever was at the helm, completely destroyed two focal characters. The show never fully recovered.

When I watched, Rick Webber was a true blue decent man. Kind hearted, incorruptible- a rock of decency.

For them to do what they did to that character years and years later was so dumb.

By the way, Rick and Ginny's son Mike was one of the worst child actors I've ever seen. I'd actually seen him in movies (Over the Top) and weekly TV shows (he was Elaine's kid on Taxi) and he wasn't as bad. But he was not able to keep up with the soap schedule or something.

Remember, Rick and Lesley also had Blackie (John Stamos) who went to prison for accidently murdering Lou (Rose Kelly's daughter.)

The murder of DL Brock (Joe from Rhoda!) by Ginny Blake, and he subsequent framing of Bobbie, was the highlight of the years I watched (1982-1988)

Me and my sister used to imitate DL Brock. We'd snap our fingers dismissively and yell "Ya WALLOW in it, BABY!" Haha.

This 17 minutes is well worth watching.

Robyn Bernard is just SO insane in those scenes. Hahaha.

Can someone tell me which clip Genie stays the stuff about the Luckies?

r184

it's in chapter 3 but it is very brief

now down the rabbit hole of the return of Duke/Faison... why did Duke's return fail so badly? Same question with AJ

They made the mistake of making returned from the dead AJ the town punching bag, again. The Pickle Lila garbage didn’t help.

The AJ thing didn't work because of behind the scenes stuff. Ron had a full 2 year story plan. It even included AJ and Carly in some kind of Alan/Monica type relationship. It all fell apart when there were some people who weren't happy . So Sean had to go and then the other dominoes started to fall. Egos. Egos. Egos.

They didn't seem to have a long term plan for Duke. Bringing him back from the dead seemed to be it. Duke didn't seem to have an agenda upon his return such as getting revenge on those who held him captive. Or righting the wrongs he'd done while in Port Charles before. He was just there. He and Anna got sort of got back together, but again, they didn't really do anything with that. Romance wasn't Ron's strong suit.

Perhaps if they'd created a love triangle with Anna torn between Duke and someone else, it could have worked, but Anna wasn't involved with anyone when Duke returned.

R188

Isn’t That is around the time when sonny actually started paying for some of his crimes and finally went to jail so I can’t imagine who complain LOL That shit got shut down quickly if I remember correctly R189

Wasn’t she with Luke around that time?

R190 she was but from what I remember Anna and Luke were not that popular, the fans really seemed to think that if he wasn’t with Laura he had to be with Tracy not anyone else.

During their scene together at the pool on Thursday Cameron and Spencer looked like the before-and-after of one of those “milk does a body good” commercials from the ‘80s.

Yes, "the fans" demanded that Luke only be with Tracy, not anyone else

[quote] The show must now be improving in the ratings

The last published ratings showed GH has 2.1M viewers, about 400K more than DOOL which is on life support. Even Y&R can't hit 4M anymore.

Valentini is a genius when it comes to being a bean-counter although I think the man is devoid of a single creatively artistic thought.

[quote] Absolutely DELISH scene with Ginny Blake and Bobbie Spencer. Judy Chapman makes it a campfest with all her "baby doll" talk. I love this!

Judith Chapman as Ginny Blake Webber is one of my all-time favorite characters on GH. She was amazing in maintaining a constant line between love to hate her/hate to love her. And those eyes!

R167... unfortunately, that dirty hot attempted seduction blackmail of jax by helena for 1 night of sex is NOT available anywhere online (i.e.youtube, et) . THANK GOD THOUGH i knew of the episode/episodes and i recorded it! still gets me off 21 years later!....

speaking of helena and lucky, i always wondered why they didn't have helena have lucky as a boy toy in her bed? what too young? The powers that be seemed to write ole ole cougar 24/7 horny powerfult but evil helena at being able to get any man she wanted no matter their age, looks or body!...

[quote]Valentini is a genius when it comes to being a bean-counter although I think the man is devoid of a single creatively artistic thought.

That's true for all bean counters, not just Frank. Bean counters lack any artistic creativity. A bean counter's creativity is his/her ability to find ways to keep costs down.

And I agree, Frank is an expert with the budget at GH. Does an amazing job.

[quote]The last published ratings showed GH has 2.1M viewers, about 400K more than DOOL which is on life support.

From what I'm reading, Days is doing very well in streaming, first on the NBC app and now on Peacock. Days brought people to those sites, who often stuck around and watched other things.

In fact, NBC Universal recently moved Days exclusively to Peacock to get more people signed up for Peacock. Only reason I have the Peacock app is so I can watch Days on my iPad.

So, in that way, Days is more than paying for itself as a loss leader.

Say what you will about FV but I love that he trolled The Staff by naming the crazy hospital "Miscavige", after the dear leader of her "church", LOL for days.

[quote] They didn't seem to have a long term plan for Duke. Bringing him back from the dead seemed to be it.

Even worse, they suddenly added a kid to Duke's history. But the kid didn't show up until after Duke died, rendering the whole exercise pointless. At the time, I thought the mother would be Camella (the nun who was in love with Duke in established backstory), but nope -- they just said it was some rando woman who was also dead. WTF? Are these writers anti-narrative?

Following the cancellation of OLTL and AMC, it was widely believed that GH would be canceled soon. So, in 2012, during Ron and Frank's first year, they were focused on keeping the show alive.

Part of their plan was to revive old characters and correct some of the egregious mistakes the JFP-Guza-Frons regime did to the show. Bringing back Duke was part of the plan. They also brought Anna back to town. Later they brought back Lucy , Nikolas, Bobbie and Laura.

I honestly don't think they had a long term plan for Duke other than to bring him back from the dead and create some buzz for the show. What to do with Duke after the initial return, they'd figure out later. Sort of like how Brad Bell signs big names actors to appear on B&B and then can't figure out anything to do with them.

[quote] Robyn Bernard is just SO insane in those scenes. Hahaha.

Benard was insane in most of her scenes. Have you forgotten Laurelton? Or when she suddenly developed hypoglycemia which for some reason lead he to have psychotic breaks of singing?

The return of Duke (a character I never really cared for) started off good with him being impersonated by Cesar Faison in that crazy death mask. I can still remember the scene with Robert threw hot fondue on Duke (Faison) and his face literally melted off like it was scene from The Devil's Rain. But it pretty much went to shit after that with Duke turning into Sonny's newest butt boy. There was a second glimmer of interest when they brought back Olivia Jerome (she was terrific) but that story immediately went sideways and made zero sense in the end. To me this has been the problem of GH for decades (since Claire Labine) -- exciting and interesting promise of a story only to fall apart soon after. The show is nothing but first acts.

There was gossip that Anthony Geary demanded stuff in the Spencer/Cassadine feud storyline be changed, and that he was jealous of the Stefan/Laura pairing.

Whore Spencer showing off his Nipples......Video......TRINA needs to go away. She has absolutely no place near the Cassadines or Qs....And who the hell cares if SHE thinks Nick and Ava should be together.?....This is what happens when a CHEAP day player (Trina) is put into other peoples storylines.

Is Spencer the new Dev?

R206 = No. But I'm pretty sure he is the new Oscar. Nobody can ever match the blatant femininity and bad acting of Girly Dev.

I'm stunned to say that Marcus Coloma seems to have improved since the arrival of NuSpencer.

Two years of working opposite Maura West didn't do much to improve his performance, but with the arrival of a teenage son, suddenly Coloma seems to have upped his game. Go figure.

That's not to say he'll be winning an Emmy anytime soon. Or even getting an Emmy nod. But he does seem to be doing better in scenes with everyone since the arrival of Nicholas Chavez as NuSpencer.

Here's something unpopular. Frank and Ron really worked to save GH and they did a good job. Ron wasn't perfect, but he knew the show and it's history and he really tried to correct some of the show's more egregious mistakes. He probably needed a break or a writing partner towards the end but, like him or not, the way he was taken down was just wrong on so many levels.

I like much of Ron's work. Think he's doing a great job on Days, which is a much better fit for his storytelling.

I liked much of what Ron did on GH, but his last 18 months were less than stellar. While I don't like the way he was ousted, in the long run it was for the best for that show. That said, we don't know how many warnings Ron got along the way, how many times Frank may have told him the cast and crew were unhappy with things. If he did get such warnings, Ron's ego probably wouldn't allow him to hear it/process it.

In the long run, Ron's ego is his worst enemy. He definitely needs a co-HW or an assistant or someone who can give him a reality check.

[quote] From what I'm reading, Days is doing very well in streaming, first on the NBC app and now on Peacock. Days brought people to those sites, who often stuck around and watched other things. In fact, NBC Universal recently moved Days exclusively to Peacock to get more people signed up for Peacock. Only reason I have the Peacock app is so I can watch Days on my iPad.

The Days spinoff miniseries is exclusive to Peacock.

I wonder how GH does on Hulu. They are the number one reason I keep that service.

Ron's OLTL was some of the best soap writing I have seen in many years.

[quote]That said, we don't know how many warnings Ron got along the way, how many times Frank may have told him the cast and crew were unhappy with things. If he did get such warnings, Ron's ego probably wouldn't allow him to hear it/process it.

I think that is a fair point. My only issue with that is how far does a writer have to go to feed egos? I think Ron wanted to write the show he watched when he was a teen. The actors wanted the show to be Guza Hospital. I guess it was doomed to fail.

I’m not sold on the Valentini is the ONLY one who is good at budget. Ginger Smith did a great job with the AMC reboot on Hulu. Frank has outlasted his welcome. Another producer, who is good with a budget, can bring in fresh ideas. It’s time.

I still think ABC made a mistake by keeping GH over OLTL. OLTL got messy at the end with the Todd Twins and the endless widowhood of Vicki, Nat and Jess. But that was fixable. I think ABC would have a much better show on their hands than the Sonny Port Charles Show they are stuck with now. No Offense but OLTL just had better actors..

Ken has also basically said that he still really needs people to watch the show live, if they want to help keep Days on air r198. Several years ago Days was it was alleged that Days was almost on the brink of getting cancelled because of all the crap Dena Higley, Josh Griffith and later Ryan Quan did when they took over Days.

As far as GH goes,there have been rumors claiming that ABC doesn't want to go through again another backlash like they did,when they cancelled OLTL and AMC and replaced them with even lower rates shows.

R216 = That was the surprising thing---OLTL was HIGHER RATED than GH but GH is what ABC kept. Rumors at the time was that GH had a lower budget and that is what made the difference. ABC also thought Katie Couric was going to be a daytime hit and peel away viewers by going head to head against The Talk (which never happened)..

QUESTION = Any Theories = I wonder why the Daytime Soaps aren't on any streaming service?....All of those potential subscribers. Not just the ABC soaps but the Proctor+Gamble shows ATWT and GL going back decades. Primetime Knots Landing has never been even released on DVD. Even Aaron Spelling had the soap Sunset Beach and NBCs Santa Barbara was full of camp and won lots of Emmys. ...What would be the downside to companies who own the shows and not trying to make a profit off of them in 2021--especially since there would be no production costs at all?

R218 Supposedly one of the factors is music licencing and the money that would have to be paid out to the music artist(s) and or their estates. Another factor is the fees they would probably likely have to pay to actors.

R219 = Thanks for answering....WoW....So all of those thousands of hours of quality tape are just reduced to being viewed on grainy Youtube clips? That's kind of sad.

[quote]especially since there would be no production costs at all?

While there are no production costs, per se, there are costs associated with digitizing the episodes -- transferring it from analog to digitial. That would not be difficult, but would be time consuming.

Also have to pay residuals to cast and crew, something that would have to be negotiated.

Music rights would also have to be paid and if they can't get the rights to a song that aired during an episode, then they have to find an appropriate substitute.

And some songs just can't be substituted such as Herb Alpert's "Rise" playing during the scene where Luke rapes Laura. Fans would cry foul and raise holly hell if that wasn't there. Ditto Christopher Cross's "Think of Laura" for scenes when Laura returns from the dead.

P&G has zero interest in their canceled soaps. They are not going to revive them or re purpose old episodes for the 4 queens out there who think there is still an audience for them.

A lot of those early daytime shows are lost to the ages. I don't think networks and producers even thought about preservation until well into the 80s. Most everything before 1980 is gone, baby, gone. Dark Shadows and Ryan's Hope seem to be the only exceptions -- both on ABC.

SoapNet had that very same format (reruns of popular old soaps) along with some related, original programming. It had a good run (2000-13), but ultimately was knocked off the air. Apparently its demise was linked to the decline in viewership and programs for daytime TV. It hasn't gotten any better in the last eight years.

That said, I hate that Knots Landing never got a full DVD release or is available for download/streaming. WTF?

Ah yes. Soapnet. They ran Another World and it got a ZERO rating for them. No wonder the network folded. No one wanted to see old soaps. They were ok with same day episodes (pre Hulu and streaming) but the old soap reruns got a zero rating.

Some soaps have archived all of their episodes, while others only have a limited archive. Basically, every episode of every soap since 1980 is stored somewhere (although there may be a few missing episodes here and there).

As for pre -1980 episodes, here's a run down of the status of each soap:

P&G soaps -- episodes only began being archived in 1979. Before that, tapes were erased and reused due to the high cost of video tapes. Some scattered pre-1979 episodes do exist.

ABC soaps -- complete episodes from 1978 forward; a warehouse fire destroyed all the earlier tapes, although some scatted pre-1978 episodes do exist.

Dark Shadows -- all episodes archived.

Days of Our Lives -- all episodes archived.

The Doctors -- all episodes archived.

Ryan's Hope -- full archive. While the ABC warehouse fire destroyed ABC's copies of Ryan's Hope, Claire Labine kept her own personal archive that was nearly complete; some missing episodes were found stored in Ireland where the show ran in syndication.

The Young and the Restless -- all episodes archived.

Unknown status -- Love is a Many Splendored Thing, Secret Storm, Love of Life, Where the Heart Is, Return to Peyton Place, How to Survive a Marriage, Bright Promise.

Since many of the soaps were syndicated in other countries, some of the 1970s era tapes may be stored in warehouses in other countries. However, to my knowledge, no one has ever searched terribly hard in other countries for those tapes.

Aunt Lez - shut the fuck up, asshole. You do not know everything.

Get rid of Frank and clean house. Bring in the kid who wrote GH: Night Shift.

Oltl should have been saved. It was the most fun and had the best characters! GH tries to be too realistic and is mob centric that it can be a bore.

Not here for Marcus as Nikolas. He doesn’t have the dynamic with the cast that Tyler did. It’s not doing Maura any favors being saddled with his Nik

This thread is getting close to the point where they usually get paywalled, so I've started putting together the next one. In case I don't get the link up in time, the thread title is going to be "Dateline Port Charles: The Purloined Peter"

[quote] Ah yes. Soapnet. They ran Another World and it got a ZERO rating for them. No wonder the network folded. No one wanted to see old soaps. They were ok with same day episodes (pre Hulu and streaming) but the old soap reruns got a zero rating.

There is a major difference between a channel like Soapnet where you had to remember to tune in at a certain time every day to rewatch a classic soap storyline and a streaming service where you can binge them and watch on your schedule. I think people would be much more likely to do the latter. I've been watching mid-00's OLTL on youtube, and I watch about a weeks worth of shows at a time. The entertainment industry is focusing on niches right now and soap fans are one of the last untapped niches.

Is it really possible they are heading toward an Ava-Spencer liaison? It makes sense from a dramatic tension POV (Ava has been far too nice for too long, and it would blow up her relationships with Laura, Trina, etc.), but it's much ickier than the Morgan situation (Spencer was literally a little boy when she screwed him over the Nik/Valentin situation).

Speaking of that, are we supposed to have forgotten that Valentin attempted to murder both Nik and Ava? They love to remind us Ava has killed.

Spencer as Lolita! I love it. Seducing Ava would certainly be a foolproof way to put the final nail in the coffin of her marriage and ruining her reputation on top of it would be the icing on the cake. Problem is, it would totally blow up his chances with Trina. How would Ryan react to it, I wonder? Breaking up the marriage might be a goal he and Spencer share, but I doubt he would much care for befouling his goddess in the process.

R231 Yes, you’re supposed to forget it. Like we’re supposed to forget everything Dr. O did but enjoy scenes of her and Anna being friends.

Re Ron -

His first few years at OLTL, GH and so far at DAYS were somewhat more positive than negative.

Most HW's can do some good resetting a show and within the first two years the fresh energy can help. It's after that when fatigue sets in or you have a HW dealing with a cast full of demands, or a network with limitations, when things either get truly weird or start repeating themselves.

Even if it were possible, I cannot imagine that there's an audience (even by niche standards) who want to watch 54 years worth of As the World Turns or 57 years of Guiding Light. Even binge watching, that would take what -- a decade of near-constant watching? Guiding Light has 2,500 episodes! I'm currently binge-watching Dark Shadows on Tubi, about 1-2 episodes a day on my lunch break (about 22 min each) and I'm starting to get tired of it less than half-way through its five year run (about 500 episodes so far). And that's with the intentional hate-watching for LOL bloopers and mistakes.

[quote] Guiding Light has 2,500 episodes!

GL had 16K + at the end. I'd be happy with a certain era. They have almost everything since 1979 and I'd pay to watch that on demand.

[quote] Get rid of Frank and clean house. Bring in the kid who wrote GH: Night Shift.

That person would never do it. Their 1997 salary is probably now what they pay any and all writers and a few PAs too.

R235 = It's not about "watching every episode". It's about have the choice to binge watch storylines. You can fast forward thru anything you don't want to watch. How many times have DL said they fell down the Soap Rabbit Hole?...Also SoapNet RE-AIRED Knots Landing. Falcon Crest. Ryans Hope. And classic retro episodes of AMC, OLTL, GH, etc....Surely those music rights were settled years ago?

A modern audience would find the lengthy scenes and drawn-out pace of creaky old soap storytelling EXCRUCIATING.

Sure, a few eldergays and grannys would have nothing better to do than binge those dinosaurs, but younger viewers would not even bother.

And truthfully, I think many posters here who claim they'd love to relive those soapy glory days are deluding themselves. They, too, would realize you can't go home again.

Classic opera is a very niche market, I totally get that. No one wants to watch episodes of Another World from 1967, except me and a handful of other die hards. But (and it's a big but) are classic episodes of daytime soaps anymore niche than some of the shows on those vaginal mesh/St. Jude's kids channels? Is an episode of Mannix or Canon or Barnaby Jones of any more value than an episode of Edge of Night or GH from back in the day?

And on a final note, Frank gets a lot of shade, but GH looks damned good. The sets look good. He's got a pool set so he can show pretty naked boys, and from all accounts the cast and crew love him. ABC would be fools to get rid of him.

I think Frank is doing a great job. Writers are doing a good job too. GH these days is by far the best of the four soaps still on the air.

R240 What would be great is if someone at these companies would go through and make condensed cuts of specific storylines, cutting out the filler. People might watch say 14 hours, instead of six months or more of a whole show, of pure Josh and Reva, Luke and Laura, Alan and Monica, Vicki and Dorian, hell they could do one for each of Erica's husbands, etc...

SoapNet (which was owned by ABC) was airing episodes back to 1979. There wasn't anything about paying actors for re-runs back in the 1970s. Surely the number would nominal at best since the actors were already paid for their work. Something was probably added to contracts in the 1980s (when VCRs came along) but that would not be a lot of money. I still don't see the downside. ......And R240 that works both ways. Where is Ron going to go if he left? Nowhere. The Bells (BB YR) and Corday (Days) are not stepping aside for this clown...It's GH or retirement. Who cares about the sets when the writing sucks?

Next thread:

[quote]Who cares about the sets when the writing sucks?

When the writing is good, no one cares about the sets. But it's nice when shows have decent sets to enhance the story. People used to trash Days for shitty sets, but Y&R has the worst on daytime. They're the #1 show and can't afford anything. CBS must be paying Sony next to nothing to air that show. Don't get me wrong, Wyndemere is definitely no longer Wyndemere, but it's close enough for a show with half the budget it used to have. I have issues with the Q mansion, but it looks nice. And he has extras. I had no idea how much I missed extras.

I get the points made above.....above editing a storyline down or not drudging through the slowness.

BUT

I also think the Doctors disproved that. Now, it was a 30 minute show, but especially during some very good years, it was just as good to watch 45+ years later.

Not every season/era is the same, but there are stretches I would totally watch sequentially.

I would rewatch GH in the first couple of years of Gloria Monty when Doug Marland was HW. Every episode from that era I've ever seen is just so compelling. I'd love to see how it played out.

I'd also watch the Marland era on GL from the beginning to end, Jan. 1980 to late 1982.

[quote]

Thank you, R236. I did a quick google check and got 2,500 episodes. I thought that had to be wrong but went with it anyway because I figured the internet knew better than me! LOL! Dark Shadows amassed something like 1800 episodes in 5 years so clearly 2,500 was wrong.

[quote] Is an episode of Mannix or Canon or Barnaby Jones of any more value than an episode of Edge of Night or GH from back in the day?

No, but that's not the point. People can watch an episode of Columbo or Streets of San Francisco for whatever reason (nostalgia, special guest star, etc.) and walk away. I don't think anyone is going to say, hmm, I really want to watch episode #10,547 from Guiding Light and just that. In other words, there's no commitment to stand-alone reruns. This is why sitcoms and episodic dramas (like cop shows) get rerun while soap operas get dead and buried. It's a commitment that most people will not make. Imagine trying to watch Coronation Street from the beginning, or would you just randomly watch episodes out of sequence?

The writing isn't horrible. Today's episode, for instance, was good ole fashioned soapy goodness.

[quote]would you just randomly watch episodes out of sequence?

I would, but I love old soaps. Not everyone else would and I get that. I guess my original point, that I didn't state clearly was, that I hate to see soap episodes devalued. I am a big fan of going to the Paley Center and watching old soap episodes, sometimes the context is missing because you're in the middle of the story, but it doesn't matter to me. A good episode of television is a good episode of television. Someone mentioned The Doctors, the Retro repeats started in the middle of a story, but it was all still very good and you can get a general gist of what's happening and why.

I still can't believe ABC paid Katie Couric all that money.

[quote] I still can't believe ABC paid Katie Couric all that money.

Just a reflection of how out of touch the studio heads (and Hollywood in general) are.

I WOULD MOST DEFINITELY watch "old" soap operas from the 1980's and 1990's because at least 1) they showed the handsomest actors in speedos and bikini's and 2) they showed pretty sexy soft porn sex scenes!

that's enough for me! laugh! no need for any other storylines for me!

Frank definitely needs to go. Shit like that new Cameron Mathison interview — “I suddenly had three days a week available in my schedule so I called Frank, kissed his ass and got offered a contact! — is one of the many reasons.

Frank is long overdue to get fired.

I'm not a Cameron Mathison fan, but a lot of people do like him. Signing Cameron could pull in some viewers.

Frank hired CM and then immediately called Budig to return.

I think Frank and his budget skills are what is keeping GH on the air sadly

[quote]I think Frank and his budget skills are what is keeping GH on the air sadly

Sadly?! Sounds like you'd prefer GH to be off the air than have Frank there with his budget finesse. .

I say bravo for Frank and his budget skills! HURRAH!

Of the four soaps still on the air, right now GH is the best, both in terms of production values and storytelling.

[quote] Of the four soaps still on the air, right now GH is the best, both in terms of production values and storytelling.

Yep. Shiniest turd in the bowl.

GH is the one that still remembers how to be a soap sometimes. Sometimes.

YR is so boring and so confined, because half its cast will have a shit fit if the writers do anything different, so nothing ever happens.

DAYS is some kind of weird fever dream. The fact that the guy who killed half the town is the show's romantic lead isn't even the weirdest thing about it these days.

B&B is still an incestuous mess and has told the same Wyatt/Liam/Hope/Steffy story for a hundred years.

Most of them are so low budget and SO afraid of scaring off any existing fans that they just do nothing.....just sit like a turd in the bowl, as R261 so eloquently expressed.

TR just tweeted — and deleted — a reply to a fan thanking them for trying to write in to get him more airtime. He said, “Thank you but we’re dealing with politics and egos over here.” Frank is really pissed about his comments.

JFC, Frank

r264

a contract role? Who could that be?? We always hope it will be a legacy that should be on canvas but it never is

Newly British Jeff Webber?

oohh could he be the NuRobert since TR is persona non grata? DOOL swapped a British accent for an Australian with NuEJ

I think the fans would protest if they recast Shaughnessy as Robert.

He might be another unknown Scorpio brother, but I seriously doubt they'd have him playing Robert.

R268 Yeah, I would imagine they have learned something over the way they treated Genie the other year...if they recast Robert the fans will ignite.

I would just like to post this as a #TBT. I really miss these kinds of scenes on soaps. Fun, warm....with actors who had chemistry