The Quartermaines: Like, 85% Dead

[WendyCR72]

You whippersnappers can just zip it! (Says this grumpy 46-year-old. Shakes fist for emphasis*) Back in MY DAY we listened to music on CDs - and CASSETTES! And we LIKED IT, DAMN IT!

Sound old and crabby enough?!  :-P

[UYI]

8 hours ago, WendyCR72 said:

You whippersnappers can just zip it! (Says this grumpy 46-year-old. Shakes fist for emphasis*) Back in MY DAY we listened to music on CDs - and CASSETTES! And we LIKED IT, DAMN IT!

Sound old and crabby enough?!  :-P

I still get CDs tbh. I had an iPod for a few years, but when it stopped working I just gave up. And I'm actually old enough to remember cassette tapes in the 90's! They existed concurrently with CDs for at least a few years! :)

But anyway.

[dubbel zout]

8 hours ago, WendyCR72 said:

You whippersnappers can just zip it! (Says this grumpy 46-year-old. Shakes fist for emphasis*) Back in MY DAY we listened to music on CDs - and CASSETTES! And we LIKED IT, DAMN IT!

Sound old and crabby enough?!  :-P

EIGHT-TRACK TAPES, people.

[statsgirl]

Records.  The small ones where you had to put the funny plug in the middle so you could play them.

And the Columbia classical music collection where a different classic record came each month.

I remember my great aunt watching GH as our house the days she picked my brother up from school and brought him home, back in the Jesse/Audrey/Steve days. Back when there was no way to record an episode or catch up on it so that if you missed it as it was airing, you missed it forever.

Edited November 25, 2018 by statsgirl

[UYI]

Alan & Monica's very short second wedding, 1991:

[Neptune]

[Neptune]

Looking back, Sean Kanan calls GENERAL HOSPITAL’s A.J., the character he last played in 2014, “a romantic whose aspirations and dreams were crushed.” Try as he might, Alan’s son never did live up to the Quartermaine name and legacy, which was a huge weight on his shoulders. “It fermented his becoming cynical about life and feeling like he was this self-fulfilling prophecy of failure... and that fueled his alcoholism,” the actor suggested to Soaps In Depth. “I don’t feel like the character ever really got a fair shake.”

https://www.abc.soapsindepth.com/posts/general-hospital-catching-up-sean-kanan-170010

[dubbel zout]

2 minutes ago, Neptune said:

“I don’t feel like the character ever really got a fair shake.”

AMEN. AJ became the scapegoat for everything. That's not interesting to watch.

[Mrs. Stanwyck]

It could just be a coincidence but when I saw the picture accompanying that article, I noticed AJ is sitting of the edge of the sofa while Sonny is standing.  I feel like they did everything they could to show that AJ was less than Sonny and that included making him smaller so he didn't tower over Sonny. 

I will never not be sad that they squandered the story potential of having a competent AJ on the canvas.  When SK returned, after the stupid fat jokes and panic attacks, I felt like the character could be moving forward.  He developed a relationship with Michael and had started something with Elizabeth until they blew that up.  Think what possibilities there would have been if Drew (as Jason) formed a real brotherly relationship with AJ.  When Jason finally came back, you could have had Drew/AJ on one side and Sonny/Jason on the other.

[dubbel zout]

7 minutes ago, Mrs. Stanwyck said:

I feel like they did everything they could to show that AJ was less than Sonny and that included making him smaller so he didn't tower over Sonny. 

Then when Billy Warlock took over, they had Sonny physically menace him because MB finally was taller. Ugh.

The treatment of both the character and the actors who played him was cruel for so much of the time.

9 minutes ago, Mrs. Stanwyck said:

When Jason finally came back, you could have had Drew/AJ on one side and Sonny/Jason on the other.

Drew/AJ would still be the losers, though.

[Mrs. Stanwyck]

I have zero doubt you are right but at least AJ would have someone in his corner.  We would finally have gotten Jason apologizing to AJ for keeping Michael away from him  - even if the words came from someone who turned out to be Drew, I would have enjoyed hearing it.  

[IWantCandy71]

I honestly think AJ was just the new Q generation Tracy. Tracy wasn't around for much of the Carly/AJ/Sonny stuff, and the Qs always have to have a black sheep/loser around who gets blamed and chastised for everything. With Tracy gone, AJ became the one who could never do anything right. I always hated that Tracy and AJ weren't closer, but I guess it's because they saw the worst parts of themselves in the other. And, for the longest time, Tracy did not like herself, much less love herself, no matter what she might say out loud. So she certainly would not want to bond with AJ and be reminded of their similarities. I did like that Tracy bonded so well with Michael, Chad and Jane had a nice, warm chemistry (but then JE had it with the majority of the younger cast).

[ch1]

On 3/18/2019 at 11:03 AM, Mrs. Stanwyck said:

It could just be a coincidence but when I saw the picture accompanying that article, I noticed AJ is sitting of the edge of the sofa while Sonny is standing.  I feel like they did everything they could to show that AJ was less than Sonny and that included making him smaller so he didn't tower over Sonny. 

I will never not be sad that they squandered the story potential of having a competent AJ on the canvas.  When SK returned, after the stupid fat jokes and panic attacks, I felt like the character could be moving forward.  He developed a relationship with Michael and had started something with Elizabeth until they blew that up.  Think what possibilities there would have been if Drew (as Jason) formed a real brotherly relationship with AJ.  When Jason finally came back, you could have had Drew/AJ on one side and Sonny/Jason on the other.

His return in the beginning was so freaking good.  The way they blew it up still pisses me off.

But hey at least you get the 50th year of Sonny and....Franco.

Its sad that the actors who played AJ cared way more about him then the writers ever did.

[dubbel zout]

54 minutes ago, ch1 said:

Its sad that the actors who played AJ cared way more about him then the writers ever did.

I feel this is true of most of the actors on the show, especially the non-leads and recurring actors.

[TeeVee329]

On 3/18/2019 at 11:03 AM, Mrs. Stanwyck said:

He developed a relationship with Michael and had started something with Elizabeth until they blew that up.

Oh it pains me to think of Quiz, I really was digging them together.

[dubbel zout]

Well, AJ was fat and deserved nothing good in his life, you know.

[ch1]

14 hours ago, TeeVee329 said:

Oh it pains me to think of Quiz, I really was digging them together.

One of AJ’s best scenes was with Elizabeth outside of Nic’s hospital room.  It was just a nice scene that could have led to a really nice story but nope.  AJ can’t be part of anything good.

AJ is the epitome of not being able to have nice things.

[Hiyo]

Ah, the good old days...

[teenj12]

A wonderful scene by Jane Elliot as Tracy, after the death of Lila Quartermaine. A scene that up until now I had only heard about and not seen in its entirety:

Scenes as powerful as this are rare on the current day show sadly.

Edited February 29, 2020 by teenj12

[dubbel zout]

I hated then, and I hate now, Tracy saying, "I want my mommy!" I have no problem with the sentiment, it's the use of "mommy" that feels totally out of character for Tracy. Even a deeply grieving and angry Tracy.

3 minutes ago, teenj12 said:

Scenes as powerful as this are rare on the current day show sadly.

I think Willow finding out that Wiley isn't her baby, and realizing hers is dead, is on par with this.

The show definitely shies away from big emotional scenes these days. It's usually a part of Emmy bait stories than a more organic reaction.

[teenj12]

3 minutes ago, dubbel zout said:

I think Willow finding out that Wiley isn't her baby, and realizing hers is dead, is on par with this.

The show definitely shies away from big emotional scenes these days. It's usually a part of Emmy bait stories than a more organic reaction.

Oh yes, Willow's actress did a terrific job with that scene.

I just wish we got more of these moments in the everyday fabric of the show instead of like you said, being reserved for Emmy bait.

[sppa125]

 

[Mirabelle]

Stuart Damon and Amber Tamblyn had such fantastic chemistry together. He also seems to have adored her in real life and thought highly of her abilities - he was very complimentary of her talent in an interview I read. 

Probably my favorite "big" scene of them together.

 

 

Edited June 3, 2020 by Mirabelle

[methodwriter85]

I'm not wild about Amanda Stetton's version of Brooklyn, but damned if I wasn't disappointed they didn't make her pregnancy real. Wiley being the only bio Quartermaine child is annoying. The Corinthos/Jerome clan is allowed to have like a billion kids but they can't let Ned be a grandfather?

[Melgaypet]

I was relieved they didn't write in Setton's pregnancy. In theory, I understand and agree that the Quartermaines need repopulating. But in practice I am all babied out on this show.

[slayer2]

On 7/15/2018 at 8:06 AM, sunnyface said:

The acting.

I think CD is a fantastic actor, it's always been the writing that's the issue for me.

[Laina]

Emily, Tracy, Dillon, and Monica are the only Q's I actually like.

I just wish they hadn't killed Emily. Still miss her character. She made Liz somewhat bearable.

[methodwriter85]

On 1/20/2024 at 3:50 PM, Laina said:

Emily, Tracy, Dillon, and Monica are the only Q's I actually like.

I just wish they hadn't killed Emily. Still miss her character. She made Liz somewhat bearable.

I really think they should have kept the temp Brooklyn. 

[ffwbe]

11 hours ago, methodwriter85 said:

I really think they should have kept the temp Brooklyn. 

Same here. I know they wouldn’t fire AS while on maternity leave but the temp recast made it so obvious how much of a miscast AS is and how BL could be a likable lead with a different actress in the role. Instead, BL became another Michael 

[methodwriter85]

13 hours ago, ffwbe said:

Same here. I know they wouldn’t fire AS while on maternity leave but the temp recast made it so obvious how much of a miscast AS is and how BL could be a likable lead with a different actress in the role. Instead, BL became another Michael 

And then there's Amanda Setton's beliefs. It's great that she believes in modest dress and not playing love scenes, but it feels ridiculous for her to be a romantic soap lead, then. I had a lot of residual goodwill for her because of One Life to Live and Gossip Girl, but come in. She would be better off as a bitchy boss character in a Hallmark movie who steals the ideas of the plucky lead. 

Edited March 28 by methodwriter85