Episode Discussion II: The TFGH

[Cheyanne11]

Carly really enables Joss's bad behavior, which, quelle shock.  Pardon me while I roll my eyes at her telling Shrew Jr. that she was 'right about Sonny,' when she's backed him and his illegal dealings for 20 years.  They can both take several thousand seats.

[Sake614]

I loathe Joss but she wasn’t wrong about Sonny. The problem is that she only sees Sonny as filth since he returned from NF and took up with Nina, and then ordered Dex to kill a Cyrus. If NF never happened, Sonny would still be her stepfather and ‘uncle.’  She’d still be threatened people with his name and would immediately (and smugly) call Diane if she got into trouble with the law.  So while she’s right that Sonny is a murderer and a mob boss and all that jazz, she KNOWS damn well that her mother was up to her eyeballs in that world for years, as is Jason. So either you hate them all or you hate none of them. There’s no cherry-picking which mob is ‘good.’

kristina, OTOH, is supposed to be at least or close to 30 (I presume) and is certainly old enough to just let a kid go off on whatever tangent she wants without a confrontation. She doesn’t have to like what Joss is saying, but she also didn’t have to get up in her face over it. 

[ByaNose]

So Cameron Matheson can’t act without extending his arms out or placing his hand on his heart. I wonder if he did that on AMC too? I’m guessing they were chem testing him Jordan. She deserves better they look good together looks wise. He looks great with his scruff but he’s just a good looking soap and Hallmark actor who can’t really actor. He’s sort of like Ryan Paevy. Although, I think Ryan Paevy was a better actor and had the great pairing with Kirstin Storms. It does crack me up thought that the minute it was announced that Steve Burton was returning they dropped the Drew and Carly so fast it made your daytime soap head spin. And, here they spent (and, wasted) all that money on a remote in Florida that was really California for the great love affair that was (not) Carly and Drew. LOL!!!!!

[jsbt]

NuNuJordan absolutely cannot act under any circumstances so I wouldn't wish her on CM even at his worst, and I've seen his worst more than once. The idea of Drew and Jordan paired together makes me want to seek an airlock to hurl myself out of into the cold, heartless void of deep space, and unfortunately I am living on Earth.

This show needs to start purging dead weight, and there is a ton of it starting with Sofia Mattsson, Tanisha Harper, Chad and Katelyn MacMullen, Donnell, Contest Winner Temp Molly #7 and so many more. I appreciate how much care has gone into improving the writing and making me care about characters and scenes I generally do not give a hollow shit about. Now it is time to start exterminating many of those characters with extreme prejudice and repopulating the show with far more interesting and/or talented people. That probably includes both Drew and Nina AFAIC, but they do have considerable chemistry and spark unlike almost every other couple currently paired up on-camera so I will be willing to give them a little time.

Edited April 7 by jsbt

[Sake614]

I have no issue with nunununuMolly or Catelynn. I think both are fine, but catelynn especially needs better writing and to get the hell away from Chad. She was FIRE with  Josh Swickard (Chase) and more than held her own against JPS and MSt, later CW. It wasn’t until Willow fell in love with Mikey that the character started going downhill fast. I also used to love Donnell, but that was mostly Curtis’ friendship with Billy Miller’s Drew.

ITA about Tanisha. she’s a very pretty woman but a lousy actor. 

[jsbt]

I just can't see any purpose for Willow or Michael remaining on the show at this time. Chad has been spent for years and looks it, and Michael needs a break as a character. And yes, Willow has inappropriate chemistry with every older male Michael is related to by blood or deep family ties. But both Willow and Sasha are the epitome of the FV casting/character philosophy of recent years for me: Vaguely nice, inoffensive young white women who smile a lot, speak largely in Chicken Soup for the Soul platitudes and have no real purpose on this show but just want to marry, have a baby and/or find their biological mom. I would write them out and divorce them offscreen, she's had some smarter moments lately but short of fucking her husband's Uncle Drew I never need to see Willow again.

Molly and T.J. have been irrelevant since before Tajh Bellow was cast, sadly. There has been no investment in them and still isn't. They're tired and Molly needs a long break AFAIC. I've enjoyed her smarter scenes lately with her mother and her sister re: alcoholism, the law and the family's past with Jason and Sam but the actress still comes off like someone's relative they got into wardrobe in a pinch and I want this surrogacy story to die in a fire. They are barely C-story and have been for years, so why not just write them off? Why keep pretending there is a purpose?

Swickard still comes off like an overgrown boy to me. I do not buy him playing dress-up at the PCPD at all. He's a hot body but he has all the stature of a golden retriever onscreen AFAIC, and every story he or BLQ are given are about stupid misunderstandings, Big Boy Chase getting mad if Brook cuts his meat for him or whatever, or FV finding another excuse for JS to sing or wear leather. Granted, Ryan Paevey was embarrassing in entirely different ways but again, that's all the FV male aesthetic for you. And Donnell has not bothered acting on-camera since at least 2016, unless Laura is there.

I'd just flush a ton of these people, because they're so colorless lol. I don't mean ethnically though there certainly is that, I mean in terms of any actual personality or core. Too many of them are functional, inoffensive widgets as characters. One of the only ones I'd salvage is Cody and that's because he is a charismatic swinging dick working in the Q stables you can apply anywhere. But if they keep insisting on him and Sasha having the same conversation they've had for over a year then he can go with her. There is so much institutional inertia at the show in the last near-decade where they refuse to let go of any of a half dozen or more tired or boring contract players because it seems like it would be Frank admitting defeat or risking rocking the boat he controls so tightly. And I hope that changes.

Edited April 7 by jsbt

[Cobalt Stargazer]

I have a genuine question, because I don't know enough about the industry - why does GH have such a large cast? Even outside of wild cards like Easton and Howarth being given umpteen characters each, they do have a pretty deep bench when it comes to people who can or do have story. I'm sure it has a lot to do with the insistence on Carly/Sonny/Jason being the sun around which everything else revolves, and yet.

[jsbt]

1 hour ago, Cobalt Stargazer said:

I have a genuine question, because I don't know enough about the industry - why does GH have such a large cast? Even outside of wild cards like Easton and Howarth being given umpteen characters each, they do have a pretty deep bench when it comes to people who can or do have story. I'm sure it has a lot to do with the insistence on Carly/Sonny/Jason being the sun around which everything else revolves, and yet.

I don't know that anyone knows. But again, to me it speaks to FV being unwilling to cut anyone or anything he crafted himself because he's kept such a tight grip on the creative focus since RC was fired, and losing people or shaking anything up would either admit weakness or upset what he seems convinced is a delicate balance for survival via blandness. It took the Jaws of Life to extricate Howarth, Wes Ramsey or even Gladys from the show.

[Daisy]

58 minutes ago, Cobalt Stargazer said:

I have a genuine question, because I don't know enough about the industry - why does GH have such a large cast? Even outside of wild cards like Easton and Howarth being given umpteen characters each, they do have a pretty deep bench when it comes to people who can or do have story. I'm sure it has a lot to do with the insistence on Carly/Sonny/Jason being the sun around which everything else revolves, and yet.

 

i honestly don't know. like they could cull a good chunk of them, have some others come in and out when needed, tell a little story here, and keep the main focus on the main group of people. 

a good part of it is, they simply don't know when to let people go.  like what is the point of Sasha? and I don't even mind her. but she came in to con Nina. that failed. she decides to bond with Nina. cool. they don't make it that she's actually Nina's daughter but someone messed up a test or something. She really doesn't advocate (passionately, draw sides) with Nina vs. other people. Her best friend in the whole world barely has time for her (great one that Willow). and now she's wearing overalls and slinging hay with Cody (okay?). 

same with Cody. like. I do get they probably had to withhold some action on his storyline since JJY is battling cancer. but like the fact that he exists at all still annoys me. (and I'll even say it's not even the whole aspect of giving Mac a biological child of his own or it being a boy. i'm fine with that and how they did it) but it really just felt like a huge HISTORY lesson dump since Dominique and Lawerence are long since dead, Serena is off saving whales (since her actress retired from acting) and other than Cody punching out Scotty - there's no real real "drawing" at heart strings or anything. so like. Why? 

i've said before, if it were me i would legit wipe out the majority of the 25-30 crowd and just start a bit over. (you do need some legacies, so I'd actually keep Michael, but i've been campaigning for AJ's secret children for a while now, so that could be the lifeblood of the Q's) and bring in some law abiding people and just phase out the kissing of the mob backside crew. 

[jsbt]

9 minutes ago, Daisy said:

i've said before, if it were me i would legit wipe out the majority of the 25-30 crowd and just start a bit over. (you do need some legacies, so I'd actually keep Michael, but i've been campaigning for AJ's secret children for a while now, so that could be the lifeblood of the Q's) and bring in some law abiding people and just phase out the kissing of the mob backside crew. 

Exactly. I would nuke almost everyone in that age range short of Cody and BLQ. And if Setton doesn't want to play sexy storylines anymore she can dip too. I agree the Dominique thing is egregious with Cody, though. There is literally no window of time when that is remotely possible that I know of, because AFAIK Mac and Dominique's entire relationship was depicted onscreen in just under/over a year and she didn't exactly take off for an extended period during that time (at most she was gone weeks). I'm all for making him Mac's son, but the Dominique shit is for the birds.

Michael I would bring back in a couple years, recast. But he needs a break.

[JMO]

I'm not convinced that the cast is any larger than it was back in the 80s--and back then, the hospital and Kelly's were also well-stocked with extras.  If they downsize, I hope we'll get some extras back, because it's hard to call GH a busy hospital when there is one nurse and one doctor present most of the time, and I don't know how any of the eating/drinking establishments stay open when they have only a table or two filled at a time.

I'm wondering if what needs to be culled is the number of storylines.  Back in the day, there was a strong cast of intermittently seen characters, some aging out of more hefty roles in the past, and it made sense to see them but not focus on them.  They filled specific roles in stories (medical specialist, attorney, social worker, media) and they occasionally got something meatier with a regular, but they didn't merit their own full storylines.  What we see now is that everyone gets a storyline, but that storyline may not be revisited for days or weeks at a time.  Writing can solve that.  Too much culling may create its own problems.  

[tessaray]

49 minutes ago, JMO said:

What we see now is that everyone gets a storyline, but that storyline may not be revisited for days or weeks at a time.  Writing can solve that.  Too much culling may create its own problems. 

I agree with most of your post but I'm not sure writing can solve the problem of block taping, which is why so many storylines are siloed. And block taping is what keeps the show on budget and alive. 

[TVbitch]

A lot of the characters are very bland. They keep having to put them in mortal danger, baby drama, or some other crisis just to juice a story out of them because their basic personalities and relationships on their own aren't interesting or magnetic. Back in the day, a rarely seen character with no story like Coleman had more charisma than some of these leads!  

[JMO]

2 hours ago, tessaray said:

I agree with most of your post but I'm not sure writing can solve the problem of block taping, which is why so many storylines are siloed. And block taping is what keeps the show on budget and alive. 

What I mean by having the writing address it is that, for instance, Stella doesn't need her own storyline about a possible romance with Marshall.  Let her appear when her family is featured, or when you want her to perform her role at GH.  Sasha could have shown up now and then when Deception was featured without having her own storyline about what to do with her life.  Even Felicia, who is a long time favorite for me, didn't need her own "patient advocate" storyline.  She could show up for Maxie, or Anna or Robert, as needed, until or unless there's a good, bigger story to be told (like Mac's new found son).  Focus on a few stories at a time, maybe slowly advance a character here and there, and change the focus when a story inspires it. 

I don't know that this would be inconsistent with block taping, but I realize the actors have to be on board with this, and some of them wouldn't be.  But many have other jobs and other interests, and are okay with intermittent appearances.   

Anyway, just a thought. 

Edited April 7 by JMO

[Sake614]

1 hour ago, TVbitch said:

Coleman

(Sigh) I miss him so much!

[Winston Wolfe]

11 hours ago, jsbt said:

NuNuJordan absolutely cannot act under any circumstances so I wouldn't wish her on CM even at his worst, and I've seen his worst more than once. The idea of Drew and Jordan paired together makes me want to seek an airlock to hurl myself out of into the cold, heartless void of deep space, and unfortunately I am living on Earth.

From the second I first saw NuNuJordan, my first thought was, "Well, she's pretty, can't act a lick, but could always be a stunning model." And as cringe-worthy as a potential pairing with Drew is, would we really rather see her with Brick????

As a fan of Hallmark movies, I've got to stand up for Ryan Peavy - he was sub-par on GH, but has actually become a very competent romantic lead on the Hallmark Channel. Check out "A Timeless Christmas," he was very, very good in that.

Re: the Bloated cast - about a third of the cast could be culled and no one would miss them. So many, like Sasha and Cody seem to serve absolutely no purpose at all. Blaze and her Mom don't seem to be destined for a long stay unless the Mom is paired with Sonny, which will probably happen. And why the heck is Lois still hanging around???  As another poster stated, doesn't she have a job? A home of her own? Come to think about it, I haven't seen Ned in ages.

Think it all boils down to this: too many characters, not enough stories, even with the better writing these days.

Edited April 8 by Winston Wolfe

[Mirabelle]

I feel Cody should be scheming to get money whether it's by marrying into it or trying to con someone out of it. It'll make things more interesting when Mac finds out Cody is his son*.  

 

*There's still time to pivot! Make him Katherine Bell's kid with a dude who is not Mac. 

[GHScorpiosRule]

1 hour ago, Winston Wolfe said:

And as cringe-worthy as a potential pairing with Drew is, would we really rather see her with Brick????

Why not? Since she’s now showing contempt for law enforcement, what with her attitude toward Jagger last week. And then praising Drew for not punching Jagger.

[Cheyanne11]

1 hour ago, GHScorpiosRule said:

Why not? Since she’s now showing contempt for law enforcement, what with her attitude toward Jagger last week. And then praising Drew for not punching Jagger.

Because then we'd be subjected to more Brick and nobody wants that.

[Winston Wolfe]

40 minutes ago, Cheyanne11 said:

1 hour ago, GHScorpiosRule said:

Why not? Since she’s now showing contempt for law enforcement, what with her attitude toward Jagger last week. And then praising Drew for not punching Jagger.

Because then we'd be subjected to more Brick and nobody wants that.

Except for Stephen A. Smith.

[GHScorpiosRule]

43 minutes ago, Cheyanne11 said:

Because then we'd be subjected to more Brick and nobody wants that.

Oh right. Never mind.

1 minute ago, Winston Wolfe said:

Except for Stephen A. Smith.

I’m hoping we’ve seen the last of him.

[mbluecpa]

On 4/6/2024 at 5:54 AM, CeChase said:

I was afraid my ears would start bleeding during those Joss scenes yesterday.  They really have turned her into a mini-me.  And I'm sorry but the actress brings zero nuance to the character. 

Joining a few others in agree with this.  After Joss walked into Bobbie’s and in fact before she said a word, I made sure to have the remote handy; I watched about the first 10 seconds of bitching and was done.  As someone else noted above, the writers have really doubled down on the mini-me here - and now without Joss and Dex banging twice a week to give us some variety.  🙄 

Tracy’s birthday cake just disappeared from one day to the next, so I’m hopeful they stick with the story begun with her visit to Terry.  The writers have really started to expand Tracy’s “reach” out of the Q mansion and I’m hoping that continues.

I thought Agent Cates’ line to Drew about him and Jason with Carly and Sam: “both of you were married to one and involved with the other” was gold. 

Edited April 8 by mbluecpa

[jsbt]

8 hours ago, TVbitch said:

A lot of the characters are very bland. They keep having to put them in mortal danger, baby drama, or some other crisis just to juice a story out of them because their basic personalities and relationships on their own aren't interesting or magnetic. Back in the day, a rarely seen character with no story like Coleman had more charisma than some of these leads!  

Exactly. What defining characteristics do Willow, Sasha, Molly, T.J., Jordan, Curtis, Chase, Dex, Blaze, etc. have? Chase's pecs aren't a personality! Even BLQ is hard up, and Drew veers between vaguely amiable, occasionally charming when Cameron hasn't shaved or outright psychotic.

6 hours ago, Winston Wolfe said:

From the second I first saw NuNuJordan, my first thought was, "Well, she's pretty, can't act a lick, but could always be a stunning model." And as cringe-worthy as a potential pairing with Drew is, would we really rather see her with Brick????

I'd rather see her fired, which she should've been before her first day aired.

Edited April 8 by jsbt

[Grinaldi]

I'm not quite as ready to wield a hatchet willy-nilly as a lot of you folks. But I definitely think Jordan serves no purpose now and can easily be killed off or sent back to her home planet. And Sasha is pretty pointless now as well, but at least SM can modulate the inflection of her voice. Why is Cody in a bland romance with her when he should be acting like the shirtless stable boy trope he is. He should be running grifts or seducing one or more people in the Q mansion. (Hoping the Tracy finds him shirtless scene last week may be the beginning of someone getting her groove back if you know what I mean.)

We are never getting rid of Michael. He was already a main character when he was a zygote. And he has too many ties to various threads of the canvas. I think Willow's backstory could make an interesting character and KM has talent.  But he or Willow need to screw somebody else. As has been discussed, there's very little fucking on this show, and less still non-monogamous fucking. Blow that marriage up. Have Michael cheat and unleash Dark Willow who teams up with Nina to get sole custody and burn Michael's (and Carly's) world to the ground. Or have Willow take an interest in the stable boy who wasn't raised by gangsters and megalomaniacs.

As for TJ and Molly, they can stick around as doctor and DA. They're decent talk-tos for their respective clans. And you need folks in those slots anyway. 

But we also need new blood. I understand Carly Schroeder has retired. But she's not Susan Flannery. Someone else can play Serena. My pitch, bring her back with a surprise husband she met while doing charity work in Africa: Lucky Spencer.

But as many have said, the biggest problem many of our newer characters have is that they are bland, vaguely good people with very little personality who get along with everyone (even Nina for the most part!). The show lacks antagonists, particularly minor antagonists. There's usually a Big Bad, but where are the adulterers, the homewreckers, the schemers, the cads, the prejudiced old biddies that piss everyone off? A lot of our current batch of Lost Characters could fill those slots. And if they can't, put em on the plane Agnes Nixon used when she took over GL from James Lipton and have them all go down over the Andes or whatever. With one glaring exception*, the actors aren't the problem, their past stories are.

*All right, yeah, Josh Swickard probably falls in this boat, too. He's loads better than Jordan 3.0, but he's not selling cop and was only hot with Brooklyn when they were benignly scheming over BaileyLu.

[CeChase]

Tanisha is so beautiful that I haven't noticed she can't act.  I guess I'll take everyone's word for that.   Speaking of not being able to act, Eden isn't getting enough heat.  I used to really like her, but they have turned her into a one-note banshee just like mom.  Friday's show as the last straw for me.  Absolutely zero nuance or vulnerability or layers.  She's fast becoming my second instant fast forward actor on the show.  Mommy is number 1.   Eden is a perfect example of a young person who stayed too long on daytime.  And picked up the worst habits.  I think it's because she molded herself on Laura.  Laura has a few more layers she can play, but she is often much more one note than anyone really wants to admit.  

I have no problems with cast cuts, but I really think they have wasted Cody.  He's hot and should have been the town bimbo causing trouble of the SEXUAL kind all over town, and certainly within the Q mansion.  They really screwed the pooch with that character.  Not the actor's fault.  But it happened.  

Edited April 8 by CeChase

[lilabennet]

I want some characters axed (not literally...or maybe, hmm...) but then I want new characters brought in, so I guess that won't help much with this bloated cast.  Specifically, I think they should bring in Tommy Hardy aged up to Elizabeth's age and with kids her kids' ages (been pen pals online all their lives off-screen).  I want them to focus more on the hospital and a new doctor from a legacy family could do it.

[Daisy]

9 hours ago, Grinaldi said:

My pitch, bring her back with a surprise husband she met while doing charity work in Africa: Lucky Spencer.

LOL i read this and I just thought of Denise Huxtable bringing her brand new husband from Africa. but i do agree with you. a lot of the actors of characters we could have are retired but they treat them like they can never be replaced again. screw that. replace them. 

I am on you with the Dark Willow. 

I still maintain we need AJ's secret kids here. my issue is that there is very little "Quatermaine" at the Quatermaines. it's way too full of Sonny/Carly bootlickers  and I feel Tracy needs some reinforcements. (and because Tracy is in her twilight years i think it would be good if you have a child of AJ's and her reflect on why she [Tracy] and AJ didn't really get along - because they realised they were the the same side of the coin - the afterthought child, and instead of combining forces they often and constantly butted heads

I am also with @lilabennet we need more hospital stories and a firm legacy character at the helm of it all. Elizabeth isn't enough. (she's a great start but not enough)

[Grinaldi]

4 hours ago, Daisy said:

am also with @lilabennet we need more hospital stories and a firm legacy character at the helm of it all. Elizabeth isn't enough. (she's a great start but not enough)

I agree wholeheartedly. My whole Lucky pitch is you explain his absence by saying he was secretly in med school and didn't want anyone to know in case he failed. But now he's back, in scrubs and leading hospital stories with Liz.

[lilabennet]

Lucky can stay gone as far as I'm concerned.  Abusive POS.

[Mirabelle]

6 hours ago, Daisy said:

LOL i read this and I just thought of Denise Huxtable bringing her brand new husband from Africa. but i do agree with you. a lot of the actors of characters we could have are retired but they treat them like they can never be replaced again. screw that. replace them. 

I am on you with the Dark Willow. 

I still maintain we need AJ's secret kids here. my issue is that there is very little "Quatermaine" at the Quatermaines. it's way too full of Sonny/Carly bootlickers  and I feel Tracy needs some reinforcements. (and because Tracy is in her twilight years i think it would be good if you have a child of AJ's and her reflect on why she [Tracy] and AJ didn't really get along - because they realised they were the the same side of the coin - the afterthought child, and instead of combining forces they often and constantly butted heads

I am also with @lilabennet we need more hospital stories and a firm legacy character at the helm of it all. Elizabeth isn't enough. (she's a great start but not enough)

Did Steven Lars get sent to jail? Shouldn't he be out by now?

[nilyank]

17 minutes ago, Mirabelle said:

Did Steven Lars get sent to jail? Shouldn't he be out by now?

Maybe he did but has been avoiding Port Charles because his mother and biological siblings were killers and he didn't want to be grouped together with them.

[racked]

2 hours ago, Grinaldi said:

I agree wholeheartedly. My whole Lucky pitch is you explain his absence by saying he was secretly in med school and didn't want anyone to know in case he failed. But now he's back, in scrubs and leading hospital stories with Liz.

The fact that the only Spencers currently on the show are Carly and her kids is criminal. So long overdue for Lucky to return. 

[jsbt]

I would bring on Christina (whatever you have to call her to differentiate her from Kristina, assuming there's an actual good story or partner out there for Mansi), Lucy and Kevin/Scott's foster daughter by Julie Devlin and Chris Ramsey from PC. The daughter of a noted serial killer IIRC, who would be a troublemaking, buzzworthy writer with a media profile and a following, leveraging her family's many dramas for press. You could play the classic sibling light/dark stuff with her and eventually also bring Serena, the sunny heiress as a contrast. It's a shame Carly Schroeder is likely off the table now but there's always other options. And those are characters you can clearly delineate with actual personalities vs. whatever or whoever Willow, Sasha, etc. are.

With Lucky I'd inquire about JJ and only recast if Jonathan makes it clear any kind of arrangement for some kind of sweetheart deal (like the nonsense they currently allow JPS to do) is absolutely impossible. Then I guess I'd pull the trigger. But it is absolutely time for both Lucky and Lulu to be back.

Edited April 9 by jsbt

[Grinaldi]

Hell @jsbt if we're bringing in Christina Baldwin let's bring her biodad too. Chris Ramsey is exactly the kind of non-evil schemer this show needs. I know Nolan North does a lot of VO work so he's still in the business. 

[Asp Burger]

On 4/7/2024 at 2:36 AM, ByaNose said:

So Cameron Matheson can’t act without extending his arms out or placing his hand on his heart. I wonder if he did that on AMC too?

Yeah, he's always been big on the gesturing (although I don't know if I'd say it helps him successfully act). I first saw him as Ryan on AMC more than 20 years ago, and I remember his acting when the Gillian character was shot and it was hopeless for her. Some other desperate character needed Ryan to sign off on donating one of her organs (heart, maybe?), and he was all "No! I won't kill Gillian! She might come back to me!" 

His big move during that storyline—from the shooting through the formal grieving process—was to knit both hands together behind his head, elbows up in the air, and make drumming or massaging motions on the back of his head with his hands, while wincing.  

He was so OTT with this manic, caffeinated portrayal of grief that it defeated what should have been a sad story, for me. It started to get funny, then tiresome.  

On 4/7/2024 at 12:11 PM, Cobalt Stargazer said:

I have a genuine question, because I don't know enough about the industry - why does GH have such a large cast? Even outside of wild cards like Easton and Howarth being given umpteen characters each, they do have a pretty deep bench when it comes to people who can or do have story.

I think it has to do with the scarcity of daytime dramas. If there were still, say, eight of them in production instead of four, some of these actors would be on other shows. That's especially true of daytime veterans such as West, Easton, Watros. Kelly, Setton, and Howarth, all well known from canceled soaps.  

Now there just aren't as many places for them to go. I get why they say yes to a regular gig, obviously. On the part of Frank V. and ABC, I think it's just about trying to hold on to what survives of the soap audience, with a point of view that a new familiar face or different face could make the show more appealing to someone.

On the other hand, I do count 31 actors in this intro from 2000. Not that all of them were being written for regularly.  

 

Edited April 9 by Asp Burger

[jsbt]

10 hours ago, Grinaldi said:

Hell @jsbt if we're bringing in Christina Baldwin let's bring her biodad too. Chris Ramsey is exactly the kind of non-evil schemer this show needs. I know Nolan North does a lot of VO work so he's still in the business. 

I don't think North is remotely interested tbh. He is an incredibly huge star in triple-A gaming now and IIRC has spoken less than favorably about his soap past more than once. But sure, I'd be happy to see him show up and cause trouble in a guest stint.

Edited April 9 by jsbt

[mostlylurking]

On 4/7/2024 at 5:01 PM, TVbitch said:

. Back in the day, a rarely seen character with no story like Coleman had more charisma than some of these leads!  

I had the hugest crush on Coleman!

[Ambrosefolly]

12 hours ago, Grinaldi said:

Hell @jsbt if we're bringing in Christina Baldwin let's bring her biodad too. Chris Ramsey is exactly the kind of non-evil schemer this show needs. I know Nolan North does a lot of VO work so he's still in the business. 

Correction: Frank Scanlon (the since passed Jay Pickett, who filled in for Lorenzo Alcazar and played Detective David Harper) is Christina Baldwin biodad. Chris Ramsey married her bio-mom in a bid for her to get custody as Lucy Coe and Scott Baldwin had adopted her. 

But yes Chris Ramsay would be excellent. While I often wished he would they would bring him to General Hospital, I felt that previous regimes would butcher the character since the previous regimes never understood nuance when it came to, well, anyone and often thought their "excellent" writing could have someone do something shitty but could redeem them. Like that time Luke ran over Jake but taking Aidan to hospital made up for that. (No joke, that was Luke's redemption)

Edited April 9 by Ambrosefolly

[jsbt]

49 minutes ago, Ambrosefolly said:

Correction: Frank Scanlon (the since passed Jay Pickett, who filled in for Lorenzo Alcazar and played Detective David Harper) is Christina Baldwin biodad. Chris Ramsey married her bio-mom in a bid for her to get custody as Lucy Coe and Scott Baldwin had adopted her. 

Right you are - that's my bad. I forgot all about poor Frank.

Drew and Nina sure got to it faster than I expected! I'm here for it.

Edited April 9 by jsbt

[ffwbe]

Something weird is going on with the show. The episodes keep fluctuating between greater than I’ve seen in this show in years and I don’t want to ffw a single scene but are followed up with episodes like today which was worse than anything Chris/Dan came up with during their whole run. I can’t figure out why the quality is so inconsistent 

[jsbt]

The conspiracy theory will of course be that Liz Korte is somehow hijacking the entire show from day to day, just like she magically erased Jason and Elizabeth's supposed hot new storyline according to the latest fan canon. But I really don't buy that, frankly. I'm sure some of what has been said about Korte's preferences over the years has a degree of truth, but people have been blaming her for everything short of 9/11 since well, 9/11. I know, I was there. And I'm not some big Carly stan; I think the writing for her over the last decade is generally pretty awful and she's often totally unbearable to watch. Today sounds like a messy and frustrating day for that sort of pet peeve stuff too - I've only seen part of it so far. But Korte's name has been on a lot of stuff over the last few weeks, months, years, decades and I just don't think it's ever that simple BTS. Fans prefer to create very binary heroes and villains when division of labor and writing at a show is often much more nuanced.

As for what I have seen of today, I will say I thought the Drew/Nina sex scene was both hot and pretty charged up dialogue-wise. I haven't seen a GH scene like that in a hot minute, this show has been so tame and sexless for so long. It helps that CW and CM both come from one of the last generations of soap actors who knew how to fuck onscreen. When you've got Twitter stans wailing and rending their garments over 'porn dialogue' it's a good day for me.

Edited April 9 by jsbt

[Daisy]

9 minutes ago, jsbt said:

, I will say I thought the Drew/Nina sex scene was both hot and pretty charged up dialogue-wise. I haven't seen a GH scene like that in a hot minute, this show has been so tame and sexless for so long.

they had sex?!?!

dang. lol i hope someone posts that up. 

[YaddaYadda]

I hate Nina/Drew on principle, but that may have been the hottest thing the show has done in a long time.

Stepford and Blowfish go out, head to Nina's hotel, then get pissy and uppity when Nina dares. Assholes, go elsewhere. Order your chocolate soufflé to go and eat it in the car. Also, Michael was never down with Willow being a nurse. She opened the door and he swooped in like the rancid seagull that he is.

Jason holding a torch for Carly. Really? Did he leave Carly more money than he left his sons? Because that was my understanding of the way things were divided. 

Ava is one step away from twirling her mustache of evil.

[KittenPokerCheater]

Just now, YaddaYadda said:

that may have been the hottest thing the show has done in a long time.

Yes.  I was pretty impressed. Well done show.

Not sure how I feel about Carly/John.  But at least it wasn't another Jason/Carly scene.

[Daisy]

5 minutes ago, YaddaYadda said:

Jason holding a torch for Carly. Really? Did he leave Carly more money than he left his sons? Because that was my understanding of the way things were divided. 

 

1/2 to Carly, 1/4 to both his kids. just keep on showing how much you value your children, Jason

[perkie1968]

I did not have Drew and Carly having sex on her desk on my bingo card for today.  Although Drew is probably a huge upgrade from Sonny.  Those abs alone.  

[GHScorpiosRule]

28 minutes ago, YaddaYadda said:

Jason holding a torch for Carly. Really?

🤢🤢🤢

[YaddaYadda]

21 minutes ago, Daisy said:

1/2 to Carly, 1/4 to both his kids. just keep on showing how much you value your children, Jason

Carly is the definition of a kept woman. Bounces from one dick to the next like no biggie, but insists she's doing it on her own. 

Diane can miss me with blaming Nina for everything and skipping over the shit Carly pulled.

[ffwbe]

MW must be bored out of her mind. She spends like 90% of her scenes standing off to the side while Sonny talks to someone else 

[CeChase]

They said that about porn dialog because Nina is so hated.  I honestly don't know if they will be able to keep her on the show.  The last time I saw this level of viciousness it was after Val slept with Dante, and we see what happened to her. 

Then there is the added fury over Nina and Drew being so hot, while Crew flopped and had zero fire.  So they are off the rails.  Off. The. Rails.

This is why I worry that Cynthia will not be on the show by the end of this year.  I have seen this song before.