[GH In The News: The PC Press Club]

This part isn't directly about GH, but I saw an interview a while back with Sarah Polley, the Canadian actress turned writer and director. She had been an actor since she was a little kid. She was in One Magic Christmas with Mary Steenburgen, the Baron Munchausen movie of Terry Gilliam, played Ramona Quimby on TV and was in another Canadian series. Then she was in some good movies as a teen and young adult and looked set to endure as an in-demand actress, before she segued into behind-the-camera roles. 

She's very strong today in advocating for restrictions on the amount of time per year that minors can work as actors. She says she has never talked to a former child actor, either Canadian or American, who wasn't to some degree messed up by the experience (including herself).

It's almost a cliché, child actors coming to terrible ends or at least having difficult lives, but honestly, the more I hear from vets like Polley, the more I'm surprised the "good outcome" rate isn't even lower! I see from Sydney's credits that she's been in the business for more than ten years, so she had to have been very young when she started. I'd understand if she wanted to do something else with her life, even though I enjoyed her acting on GH. 

[GH History Lessons: Because History is Always Repeating Itself]

2 hours ago, jsbt said:

I still believe MVJ intended to either pair Liz with Sonny or make them siblings in 2000 though, lol.

"Siblings" is what I always heard. They would find out and decide to keep the knowledge between them for Liz's safety. Carly (who already disliked Liz over Jason) would keep getting more intensely anti-Liz from her incorrect assumption about the amount of time those two were spending together.

I don't know anything for sure, but that long-term plan would fit with the framework of what was going on in 2000, when Val Jean was writing so much.

But it was absolutely vital, for some reason, that Sonny have a sister. Liz! Gia! No, this new girl who drove into a tree! 

[Episode Discussion II: The TFGH]

I've heard that Sonya E. is really a lovely person, but I think beyond her being a large woman, there's something about her face that gets her cast in intimidating "hard-ass" roles. She's undeniably good at them. I've seen her in recurring roles on ER (that again) and Joan of Arcadia, maybe other things that aren't popping to mind. But she'll always be Rebecca De Mornay from Seinfeld to me. 

As far as how we're supposed to see Epiphany? I don't have a doubt in my mind. She 's supposed to be a salt-of-the-earth truth teller who speaks her mind and doesn't take any guff. If she approves of a character, we're supposed to, too. If she smacks someone down for getting too big for their britches, we're supposed to think they deserve it. I find Epiphany's characterization frequently obnoxious, but I think SE does her best with it.  

[Episode Discussion II: The TFGH]

ER did the "nurse wonders whether she should become a doctor" story twice, with Carol and Abby. "No" and "yes" were the respective outcomes.

In the GH version, Epiphany could be the new chief of staff by January.

[GH History Lessons: Because History is Always Repeating Itself]

I think it was the stolen test answers, rather than condoms, that Liz planted in Sarah's bag. Liz was forced into counseling for that (didn't Sarah and Nikolas tell her if she didn't see someone for help, they'd tell Audrey?), and she was still pissed off at them, so she wrapped a box of condoms up in Nikolas's sweater...somehow staging it for Sarah to find them and get freaked out. The condoms fell out of Nikolas's sweater in front of Audrey, and Sarah was all "This isn't what it looks like, Grams! We haven't even talked about having sex!"

IIRC, she was just peeved about Sarah's romantic success (she had had both Lucky and Nikolas pursuing her early on) and being negatively compared to Sarah in everyone's eyes. She wanted to bring her down. 

Then Sarah got written out, Robin left the canvas, and Liz had her three years or so as the angel of Port Charles, adored by all and in heavy story rotation. That lasted until the JFP/McTavish era. For whatever reason, those two didn't seem to have any use for her.

[Episode Discussion II: The TFGH]

53 minutes ago, sacrebleu said:

Well, if Nina did want to improve her chances at a custody hearing, filing while the kid's father is in jail on assault charges would be excellent timing. 

Oh, absolutely. I know she has plenty of stuff in her own past (which Michael and Carly will weaponize in a heartbeat), but she has an excellent case against Michael as a violence-prone douche. Can't you imagine a good "soap lawyer" quizzing him on that stuff?

Is it true, Mr. Corinthos, that you did time in prison for beating to death a woman named Claudia Zacchara? Do you also know the name Scott Baldwin? Did you assault Mr. Baldwin here at this courthouse on December 28 of last year? Mr. Baldwin is considerably older than you, isn't he? Was Mr. Baldwin trying to physically harm you?  

The Chase incident was just the two of them, and Chase would never tell Nina about it, but Michael has sucker-punched other people in public. There was Shiloh...twice, I think. (Pretty laughable, because as big a sleaze as Shiloh the character was, the actor looked as though he was more than a match for Chad Duell.) 

[Episode Discussion II: The TFGH]

4 hours ago, Auntie Velvet said:

I went on a little rabbit hole to see if LW's chemistry with the prince when she was on GL was as hot as I remembered, but look what I found instead -- her sparking it up with CW. It's time to just have Nina and Carly get a room already.

What a flashback.

I remember when LW was new to Guiding Light, still in her 20s. She wasn't new to daytime; she'd been on Loving/The City, but that was always the lowest-rated soap. The buzz surrounding her as Cassie was that she may not be long for daytime; she was going to get scooped up for movies or prime-time because she was a "new Meg Ryan." (The existing Meg Ryan was peaking. You've Got Mail, the last of her really huge rom-coms, was soon to come.) 

I don't know whether there's anything to this, which means it's shameless gossip-site stuff, but what I've read is that LW got taken under the wing of Kim Zimmer and took her as a model. KZ's philosophy, according to this telling, is that if you're in a scene, you have to own that scene. Go big or go home. Don't worry about overshadowing the other actors; it's on them to keep up. It's a performance style that may thrill the fans of that diva (or character), but others find it overbearing and too much.

I could believe it, comparing later LW to early LW. But then, LW in her "new Meg Ryan" phase wouldn't have been an obvious choice for Carly Corinthos.

[Episode Discussion II: The TFGH]

Of course Carly blundered into the undercover operation. See, stupid Drew, this is why when you were getting the calls and texts and she asked, "Aurora business?" you should have just said yes.  Or "something like that."  

Another scene of Sonny talking about his long-ago abusive stepfather with his new love interest. The character hasn't progressed much in 25 years, has he? Deke stories are almost a mating ritual. 

The best part of the episode was when Carly said that sometimes she sees a man in a black T-shirt at the Metro Court restaurant and she thinks for a second it's Jason. Like this is Vertigo. Maybe she'll give Drew a complete makeover. I can just see them at a department store, with Carly being rude to the saleslady. "These are all V-necks! They're all wrong." Drew, meekly: "Carly, these are fine. I like them." Carly: "No, they're not. Not a one of them is right. I know what kind of a shirt would look well on you!" When she's completely made him over to her satisfaction, they can have a 360-degree kiss bathed in green light.

[GH History Lessons: Because History is Always Repeating Itself]

Some of us were talking about Sarah Webber in the episode thread. Here's a look at the two versions of Sarah, for anyone who missed her and is curious.

From '97, the beginnings of the attempt to make Sarah and Nikolas happen as a popular young couple. Featuring Jennifer Sky and a young Tyler Christopher:   

Their chemistry stayed about like that. And that song came back a lot.

Still, I'm struck by how different the cutting and pacing were 25 years ago. We'd never get an entire song with a couple slow-dancing now, the hands over the back, the faces, close-up, medium distance with the crowd, etc. All the different stories of the day are chopped up into tiny fragments and stitched together.

For Sarah #2, I couldn't find the notorious porn-like Sarah/Lucky hook-up at the photo studio, but here (from '02) is Liz bitching them out on the hospital rooftop when she discovers their secret affair. Featuring Sarah Laine, Becky Herbst, and Jacob Young.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x_1dJjvUuso&ab_channel=traveshamockery

Sarah had been going to PC High in '97, so she had completed college and med school in under five years. I love soap time.

[Episode Discussion II: The TFGH]

1 minute ago, jsbt said:

I have never forgotten that weird porn-y scene where she photographed him or he modeled, or the other way around and she was telling him what to do - I don't remember.

I'm so glad that rang a bell with someone else. As I recall, that was when "photographer" was Lucky's thing (originally to get him into the Face of Deception story). He went to the studio and Sarah was behind a bright light, so at first he and we were hearing her disembodied voice giving him commands. It ended up with the two of them naked and going at it.

Sarah Laine played Sarah Webber like a Blade Runner replicant that couldn't pass the test. She would do "seductive" or "compassionate" or "concerned," but it was like there was always faulty code.

[Episode Discussion II: The TFGH]

1 hour ago, Cheyanne11 said:

I don’t remember Liz going to see her parents when Becky was on maternity leave—I remember they had her to see her sister (whose name I cannot remember) in California. (Edit: Sarah!  Man, that was driving me nuts that I couldn’t remember her name)

She's pretty forgettable. Sarah is the lamest of all canonical Webbers. Maybe it has to do with the two meh young actresses they cast to play her, but she didn't leave much of an impression either time. The first Sarah and Nikolas were obviously earmarked as the signature young couple. They even had their own song. Flop. The second time, she was an insta-doctor and she had a soapy "torrid affair" with the Jacob Young Lucky, complete with an arty soft-core sex scene with weird lighting...and still, when she left town shortly thereafter, it was an afterthought.

But that's my recollection too: Liz has visited Sarah, but not the folks.

[Episode Discussion II: The TFGH]

55 minutes ago, KittyQ said:

So, my recollections of Jeff Webber are from waaaay back and I think he was a reasonably nice-ish guy, at least as far as soap opera guys go. So why is Liz on the outs with him? Is it something so awful that her son would be afraid she's angry if he communicates with his grandparents?

Yeah, Jeff's time was pretty long ago. Literally more than 40 years (1976-81). 

I haven't seen today's show yet, but several months ago, Violet was pestering about why she knows Grandpa Gregory (Finn's father) but hasn't met Hayden/Liz's father. It came out that he's just a name to all of Liz's sons too, and they don't know why. Liz was weird and evasive and uncomfortable with the whole topic. Then when she was alone, she ripped up the photo of him that Aiden had printed out, and the creepy music was on the soundtrack. 

But we don't know any more than that yet. I also noticed that when Temp Monica was talking about him, they took pains to emphasize that her memories of him were from so long ago. 

[Episode Discussion II: The TFGH]

44 minutes ago, CeChase said:

I thought he and Britt were super hot when he first came on.   I see no chem with LW or Becky.  Maybe Kemo, but I would rather see him hook up with Britt for now.  I just can't stand how they are writing him.

They've also tried him out with Maxie, Portia, and Nina. I don't recall any one-on-one scenes with Ava or Madame Wu, but I won't be surprised if they've been crossed off the list by the end of March. 

It's been the most obvious chemistry testing since the first month or so of SWSNBN. She was getting put in scenes with every guy under 50 she wasn't related to, single or not, until they settled on AJ (for the short term). 

[Episode Discussion II: The TFGH]

8 hours ago, TVbitch said:

Step away, Drew, Liz is way too short for you!

When he said "My shoulder is always here," I was thinking, "Bring a stool so you can reach it."  

CamMat is flailing. Some of those supportive lines to Liz sounded so...oversold. The way he's playing this role reminds me of my friend's dog. He's the sweetest dog, but whatever person walks in is his favorite person. If someone else comes in ten minutes later, that's his new favorite person. They're all his favorites. CM is playing it as if he asked "So what's this character like?" and they told him "He's really nice" and that was the end of the discussion.

I'm not someone pining for a "Billy Miller version of Drew," because I never thought Drew was a clearly defined character in the first place.  He didn't know who he was, then he thought he was Jason for several years, then he was angrily insisting he was Jason for a while (something no one else on the show or watching the show believed), then he was support in the Cancer Boy story.  He was always weirdly uninterested in his past. Most of the character was just in how BM reacted to different co-stars. They had pretty much a blank slate here when recast time came, and...they've left it that way. 

On Monica: It's always a bummer when I like the temporary recast better than the full-time person, especially when I'm supposed to adore the full-time person because they're a vet, but what are you gonna do? I loved Holly Kaplan's Monica. If she were playing the role full time, I'd want Monica to be on four days a week. She's played one-episode parts on a ton of series, so she's obviously good at jumping right in.

[Episode Discussion II: The TFGH]

I feel like pre-Nixon Falls, Nina's big sin in the eyes of Carly and her circle was that she made a scene at the very dignified state funeral for that fallen hero, Sonny. While Carly was grieving. (Albeit much less than she would grieve for Jason nine months later.)

There was some other stuff like telling Wiley that she was his other mom's mom, yeah, but the funeral tirade was what got her on the shit list for all time. It was supposed to be the bride's special day, and no one should ruin that.

[Episode Discussion II: The TFGH]

1 minute ago, YaddaYadda said:

Michael anger always comes out as him shouting (and also stuttering for some reason) at someone.

Wow, he really was raised by Sonny!

[Episode Discussion II: The TFGH]

37 minutes ago, 30 Helens said:

I don’t think Ava will be fooled, but she will certainly be unforgiving if Nikolas actually gives in to temptation. Which he almost certainly will, because he’s Nikolas. Ava or no Ava, it’s always penis first with that guy.

And Nikolas hasn't been high on the GH totem pole for a long time, so you just know that if there's a potential for unflattering writing, he won't dodge any of it. I'd say Nem was the last time I sensed an investment in him. Afterward, whether it was Tyler, Marcus, or Nick Stabile, the character has had a whole lot of "thankless": not really a good guy, not really a bad guy, but usually ineffectual. When he schemes, he isn't any good at it. His stories are never really about him. 

I do like Marcus Coloma, but I feel that most of his best moments were early on. I loved him kicking the door in and walking in drenched with Ava in his arms to confront Valentin. Since then, he's mostly been "Ava's guy" and "Spencer's estranged father." They've dropped a lot of his other connections. He hardly has scenes with his BFF Liz anymore.

[Episode Discussion II: The TFGH]

2 minutes ago, Ambrosefolly said:

"GH tradition" post JFP. The Kiefer actor wasn't bad.

I did like him (Christian Alexander).

But what they were writing him to do, it's hard to come back from on a soap. Even 90210 sent Ray Pruitt/Jamie Walters packing after he physically abused Donna, and he hadn't been as much an out-and-out villain throughout.

[Episode Discussion II: The TFGH]

I don't think Esme is on a redemption path. With GH tradition as a guide, I expect her to get darker and darker in her deeds before dying, "dying," or being sent offscreen to hang with Heather Webber, "Liv" Jerome, and the other crazy-pants women who came and went. She strikes me as a classic soup-thickener type.

"Bad" youth usually has a limited shelf life on this show. Examples: Dev, Rafe, Kiefer, Logan, Diego, Kyle (the villain of the first version of this internet-sex story, with "Maximum Maxie")...

Admittedly, some of those were played by mediocre or worse actors who showed no sign of growth, and no one was sorry to see them go.

[Episode Discussion II: The TFGH]

They're awful in a very specific way. Michael isn't battering women or drunkenly groping servers, and Josslyn isn't a stereotypical rich "mean girl" driving her peers to eating disorders and mocking less fortunate people. They just think they're the center of the universe, expect deference and privilege, and see only their own side of something. When they hurt people, they always have a "good reason," and the other person needs to get over it. When they're hurt, it's inexcusable. "That was different!" is their mantra.  

It's no mystery how they got that way.  

I guess they're "well characterized." If you think Carly is insufferable, you think these two extensions of her are insufferable too. If you think Carly is awesome (and some viewers do), then you think Michael and Joss are the bright future of Port Charles and almost never in the wrong.

[GH History Lessons: Because History is Always Repeating Itself]

I haven't seen that Robin/Carly clip in a while. Carly is Carly, but I'm loving Laura Wright's hair. Was it a darker blond than presently, or was it a lighting issue? 

It seems to be a theme in Carly's catfights that she always starts in on the other woman for (some version of) acting perfect and better than her. She did it with Robin, she did it with Liz, she did with original Kate, and she's kind of done it recently with Nina. And usually I just feel that they really are inherently nicer than she is, so being "better" doesn't take a lot of theatrical talent. But the Carly fans buy into her claims of hypocrisy on the other woman's part. So I guess it's been a winning formula for decades of GH writers. 

I think my favorite Carly conflicts, though, are the ones with Ava. Ava will get laugh-in-her-face scornful and mock the shit out of her. She absolutely has Carly's number. Maybe because no one sees through a ruthless bitch like another one.

[Episode Discussion II: The TFGH]

1 minute ago, Grinaldi said:

I missed this. Who did she stab with a scythe?

Emily Quartermaine. Carly had been spiraling for a while, and Sonny was trying to manage it himself (because of course he was). The near-murder of Emily was what got him to admit it was time to bring in the professionals and send her somewhere. That's how they covered the gap between actresses when Laura Wright took over.

[Episode Discussion II: The TFGH]

1 hour ago, DanaMB said:

I just remembered we used to call her Toonces. Or maybe it was at TWoP. 

"Toonces" was my favorite of Courtney's many nicknames. "Steroid Barbie" was another memorable one at TWoP or SoapZone or both.

9 minutes ago, Grinaldi said:

I've been watching old clips from around Nina's intro and her antics with Franco. This woman thinks a court would grant her access to a child? She induced Ava by force and kidnapped her baby. I know everyone's a kidnapper on this show but jeez. 

But that last line is key. It's always at the writers' discretion whether characters' past deeds (especially those under prior regimes) complicate things for them in a real-life way. Carly has made smug remarks about Nina being one bad day away from a breakdown and a straitjacket. One of her own breakdowns included firing multiple shots into an occupied house, causing a car accident that resulted in loss of life, and (for the big finish) stabbing a woman with a scythe because she hallucinated another face onto her. I can't recall that whole saga being brought up in any proceedings involving Carly in the years since.

[GH History Lessons: Because History is Always Repeating Itself]

On 2/22/2022 at 1:01 AM, methodwriter85 said:

In any event, yeah. Like I said, there were some pretty hot and heavy B.I.'s about how CS and Jacob had a hard time filming fighting scenes because of how passionate they were. I believe it.

Their "rolling around on the ground" outdoor fight is legendary.

What's weird is that the writing didn't exactly help mitigate any awkwardness there might or might not have been. It was almost as though McTavish and her daily writers played into it. Those two were constantly hugging, mussing each other's hair, hanging out in intimate ways (like one sitting on the other's bed, etc.), and exchanging "I love yous." Much more than when any other two actors were Lucky and Nikolas.  

I never got into Nikolas and Gia. McTavish and JFP seemed to want for them to happen in a big way. Coltin's Nikolas was already a big strike where I was concerned (he's my least favorite of the three significant Niks by far), and Marisa Ramirez was pretty, but the whiny voice and constant bitch-face kind of killed my interest. I liked the second actress who played Gia, but the character changed a lot, and anyway, Nia was out and Nem was in by then. Gia mostly hung out with Zander.

[Episode Discussion II: The TFGH]

On the quality of the show right now: My yardstick for badness is "Is watching it feeling like a chore? Do I feel like taking a long break?" Because I have a few times. I'm actually interested in several ongoing stories right now, much more than I was in the Jean/Shelly years, or when RC was -- for some reason -- revisiting unfinished business from Port Charles. (That was also the era of pickle relish and The Chew.) 

But I agree that the pacing and cast bloat are problems. They start things and then don't follow up on them for so long that it's hard to tell whether the stories are on the back burner (of a stove that has like 28 burners) or they're dropped/forgotten. They've teased Esme and Ryan for what seems a dog's age, and it's only just now seeming to lead somewhere. Or Liz getting that message from her father, and the boys are asking why they never have any contact with him, and she throws the paper away and there's creepy music playing on the soundtrack, and...oh, well, on to other things with Liz. Forget about that thing we tried to interest you in with her father; someone is putting her wedding ring in her locker and cutting up her dress. (I'm guessing those stories aren't related, but who knows.) 

Then, sometimes when there is a lot of consistent attention to a story, it's the same dialogue day after day (Curtis's father, Carly venting about her marital problems).