GH In The News: The PC Press Club

[dubbel zout]

I think something as complicated as a soap has to have a head writer. There needs to be someone who decides what the stories are and charts out where they're going, and you absolutely have to have someone who has the final say on things.

 

I don't think Ron's problem is a lack of vision per se but an unwillingness to give stories the time to play out organically. He goes from plot point to plot point and fills in the blanks on Twitter. That's not how you write a soap. 

[Sake614]

I don't think a writer or showrunner or anyone else should engage with fans on message boards. Can you imagine that exchange? Everyone has different ideas of what they want to see, what a character would/wouldn't do, who should stay/go, etc. the exec could never get a cohesive view and would be even more hated by those whose opinions he didn't take seriously.

And how do the execs decide which boards to visit? Should they go to the SOC board? The Delphi boards? PTV? there must be thousands of message boards for each soap, and for each character/couple. Everyone wants what they want. Some absolutely love Franco, and Franco/Carly. Others adore sonny and want to see him on every day. There's a faction that thinks MSt is the best thing since sliced bread and is so thrilled to have her on GH that they'll buy anything her character does. Others love the hijinks and camp.

An occasional chat like they do on twitter, is fine. But to actively seek out fan opinion by openly visiting message boards is a huge mistake IMO. No matter what fans think, at the end of the day it's the writers job to write what he/she believes is compelling soap. If the ratings tank, then obviously something has to change. But as has been pointed out right here, the online community, though quite vocal, is not necessarily the voice of all fans.

Edited July 27, 2014 by Sake614

[Fylaki]

 

I think something as complicated as a soap has to have a head writer. There needs to be someone who decides what the stories are and charts out where they're going, and you absolutely have to have someone who has the final say on things.

 

I don't think Ron's problem is a lack of vision per se but an unwillingness to give stories the time to play out organically. He goes from plot point to plot point and fills in the blanks on Twitter. That's not how you write a soap.

Maybe then what is needed is both a Show runner and a head writer as co-equals: The Show runner who decides: This is where we are going, this is what characters are going to play into this and this is where we want to end up. And the writer who plots day to day where everyone is and weather that character would actually speak and act that way.

 

It just seems to be that more and more you are Right, Ron is moving from plot point to plot point and from stunt event to stunt casting without letting things grow slowly. 

[jennifer6973]

per a tweet I just saw from TV guide

 

Piper Perabo married Stephen Kay (Reginald) this weekend.

[Chairperson Meow]

I'll run the show. No seriously, I'd take the Night Shift dude.

[Fylaki]

Sir Rao. Oh that we could have a  little to SIR with Love.  Night Shift II was the best GH in years. Though as much as I am loath to admit it now, the first year of Ron's run was damn good (except for the intro of Sabrina and Felix) but here lately WHY??????

 

I've been reviewing my feelings about the show, in an effort to stay off the barge and I have to say that after going over in my mind (cause I's bi-polar and my brain works funky) every character and every plot, I have to admit it is not the characters or plots that are driving me nuts.

 

There have been plenty of times on GH where they have had characters I could not stand: Sonny for years now: Carly from the first time she flirted with Tony, Jake Meyer who for some reason I always thought was a dork.

 

There have been plenty of times on GH where they have had plots I could not stand: Like when James replaced Mac, or Connor replaced Nic, or anything to do with Decker and Dawn.

 

But this, this is different. I think what annoys me is that I get the feeling that neither Ron nor Frank care. Guza may have loved the Unholy Trio and St Jasus above Snarly and I may have hated them all, but at least I got the feeling he love them. He may have hated Lucky (esp GV's .)and all but destroyed my all time favorite character but at least i felt he loved the show. The same even applied to Wolfe (who when he first became a picket line crosser, a species I hate with a passion, was awesome) and all the other writers over the years,

 

Ron and Frank talk more often about how much they love the show, but I just do not feel that heart. They had it once, despite not having an actual funeral Edward's trip up the stairs with Lila was heart felt, so was JI last appearance with Emma.  Audrey looking at Steve's picture and Patrick speaking about the hospital brought tears to my eyes. The rain falling on Sam as the cure poured out of the sky was moving. Todd's obvious guilt over the death of Tia's real baby was awesome. Even Emma bursting apart Patrick and Sabrina to run to her mother

 

But from that moment. Right there. That Scrubs kiss to today it has been one long downward plunge IMHO, and what is missing is the heart, instead it is plot point and stunt plot point and stunt over and over again. 

 

Okay I'm going to attempt something, who knows maybe this will work: I am going to get off the Ron bashing wagon for a minute and say this: Ron most people here want this show to stay on the air as much or more than you do. Open not only your ears and mind but your heart. Look for that heart of GH that once you knew how to find. Go to the set (take the trip out of NY) and stand near those pictures we saw on the anniversary, the ones of  Lila and Edward and Amy and Lucille and especially Jesse and Steve. Look and find the heart.

 

Please

Edited July 27, 2014 by Fylaki

[ulkis]

Same thing with Karen Harris - brilliant writer, long history. Loved her work on PC too. But when Guza was dismissed and Garin Wolf was promoted she went on a fairly embarrassing Twitter whinefest about the new guy and how terribly misunderstood Bob was. I thought it was horribly tacky, and I mean, come on - I get that these people are friends, that they've worked together decades. I know they know the man better than we ever possibly could, but I also know that in this industry the relationships often (understandably) come first. Speaking as an audience member, though, the way I see it these are women who, IIRC, were both there under Claire Labine. They know what the show looked like then and how it ended up by the time Guza left. I think Bob Guza had a lot of brilliance in him, but he went sour years ago.

 

I think that was more about her not liking Garin Wolf than about Guza though. I forget whether it was her or Val Jean who warned people about him being much darker than Guza but one of them did, and whichever one it was, they were absolutely right. As much as I'm not a fan of Ron's campy style I shudder to think how the show would have been if Wolf had been allowed to continue his shit storylines that went at the pace of molasses. Add that he didn't participate in the writers' strike in 2007 (or quit the strike, whichever) and I can't blame her too much. I think if it were another person being promoted, she wouldn't've talked about Guza being so misunderstood.

Edited July 27, 2014 by ulkis

[jsbt]

I didn't think Garin Wolf was any great writer either, but I thought the way Harris publicly dogged him out and strenuously defended Guza was tacky.

[testardo]

Well, it also didn't hurt that these Three Stooges had history with each other long predating GH. In the '80s, Brian Frons was VP of NBC Daytime and (back when he had some hair) he made a guest appearance on Santa Barbara as...wait for it...God, when Mason/his split personality Sonny Sprockett was shot and went to heaven. JFP was the EP. and Guza was a staff writer (as were Patrick Mulcahey and Michele Val Jean, among others) at one point writing under Charles Pratt.

 

So, as you can see, the inbred nature of daytime employees and their buddy system goes back for DECADES. It's no wonder so many get away with so much even when shows turn to shit. Sadly.

frons still seems to think he is God. .Loved that we made his life miserable wanting Mary back.Plus

Harley Jane Kozak wouldn't come back. So I just shut the show off.I see Frons hasn't changed at all.

Edited July 27, 2014 by stacey
Fix quote issue

[Rick Kitchen]

I'm sure they all do, but really, there is no substitute for people working in physical proximity to each other when it comes to maintaining a free flow and cross-pollination of ideas.

 

The Hursleys used to live in Chico, California, north of Sacramento, and communicated by phone and mail.

 

 

Writing a soap has more in common with playing a SIMS game then writing a sit-com

 

I love this sentence.

[KerleyQ]

Okay I'm going to attempt something, who knows maybe this will work: I am going to get off the Ron bashing wagon for a minute and say this: Ron most people here want this show to stay on the air as much or more than you do. Open not only your ears and mind but your heart. Look for that heart of GH that once you knew how to find. Go to the set (take the trip out of NY) and stand near those pictures we saw on the anniversary, the ones of  Lila and Edward and Amy and Lucille and especially Jesse and Steve. Look and find the heart.

 

 

What frustrates me most about Ron is that he doesn't get this.  Most of the people who complain are complaining because they love this show, and they know what it's capable of, they know what he's capable of, what the actors are capable of.  They're not just trying to be mean and pick on him for fun.  (And, yes, there are some who are just doing that, but that's not all, or even the majority).  People are taking the time to reach out to him because they love this show, and they want to see it at its best.  I feel like asking him "isn't there anything you're a fan of?  Do you not have shows you watch that are usually good, but sometimes have a lousy episode, a disappointing story arc, etc?"   Being a fan isn't about blind devotion.  

[yowsah1]

Guza may have loved the Unholy Trio and St Jasus above Snarly and I may have hated them all, but at least I got the feeling he love them. He may have hated Lucky (esp GV's .)and all but destroyed my all time favorite character but at least i felt he loved the show. The same even applied to Wolfe (who when he first became a picket line crosser, a species I hate with a passion, was awesome) and all the other writers over the years,

 

Ron and Frank talk more often about how much they love the show, but I just do not feel that heart.

 

Whereas I feel the exact opposite - Guza never made any secret of the fact that he felt that writing soaps was beneath him, that he found soaps and their fans contemptible, and that he thought he *really* should be penning movies or prime time television shows rather than "wasting his talents" on a soap opera.  I didn't see any of Wolf's run or read interviews with him, so I don't know if he held a similar opinion.  But RC I am willing to cut a break because I get the feeling he really does love soaps - he might love the things about soaps that we here at PTV don't, or don't love as much as he does - camp, for example - but he loves soaps.  To me, the problem has never been with his motivation, or even his ideas - it's been his execution of his ideas.

 

Also, given the raft of newbies RC has brought onto this show, I am seriously starting to wonder if the long-held "urban myth" that soap opera writers get paid bonuses for bringing on new characters doesn't have some validity to it...

Edited July 29, 2014 by yowsah1

[Stinger97]

Also, given the raft of newbies RC has brought onto this show, I am seriously starting to wonder if the long-held "urban myth" that soap opera writers get paid bonuses for bringing on new characters doesn't have some validity to it...

 

Well it was always my understanding that the writers didn't get bonuses per se for creating characters, however a writer would continue to get royalty checks for characters that were created under that writer's regime that continued to appear after the writer was no longer writing. So, for example, I'd imagine Claire Labine receives checks in the mail every time Jax returns. But maybe this is all some urban legend and isn't actually how it works...

[Rick Kitchen]

One thing that I've noticed on Wikipedia is that when you look up a soap character, the article will tell you what producer/writer/etc. introduced the character.  And not just American characters, foreign soap characters, too.  I do wonder why, unless there's some sort of connection, like @Stinger97 said above.

[annabel]

I haven't figured out how how to quote on this tablet, but if Guza thought he should be writing blockbuster movies or awesome TV why haven't we seen any of that since he left GH?

Edited July 28, 2014 by annabel

[SomeJabroni]

Moved post to "GH Stars in Other Roles." 

Edited July 29, 2014 by SomeJabroni

[Fylaki]

 

Whereas I feel the exact opposite - Guza never made any secret of the fact that he felt that writing soaps was beneath him, that found soaps and their fans contemptible, and that he thought he *really* should be penning movies or prime time television shows rather than "wasting his talents" on a soap opera.  I didn't see any of Wolf's run or read interviews with him, so I don't know if he held a similar opinion.  But RC I am willing to cut a break because I get the feeling he really does love soaps - he might love the things about soaps that we here at PTV don't, or don't love as much as he does - camp, for example - but he loves soaps.  To me, the problem has never been with his motivation, or even his ideas - it's been his execution of his ideas.

I tend to think that it is more than execution. I almost feel as if Ron and Frank think we the viewers are so dumb that they have to keep everything simple

 

As to Guza saying he wanted to write prime time and thought soaps were beneath him, I've never seen it in print as a direct quote but even so:

 

There is a story in the Bible where two sons are asked by their father to work in the field: The Oldest says no way not me but then ends up going anyway. The youngest says of course Father anything you say and then ends up not going. And the questions is who then did what his father asked.

 

Guza may have said he hated soaps but he wrote them anyway. Ron says he loves soap but he is writing spoofs not soaps.

Edited July 28, 2014 by Fylaki

[Veronica]

I remember reading an article about Scott Egan (Sonny's old bodyguard, Johnny) with an interview done around the time of a FCW over a decade ago. NLG wanted Alexis to become a single parent since at the time, Alexis was written as being kind of terrified of children, and wanted a storyline that had her facing unplanned pregnancy & life as a single mother.

Originally Johnny was going to rape Alexis, and she was going to get pregnant as a result of that rape. MB actually stopped that storyline from happening (Sonny would never let Johnny live if he raped one of Sonny's friends), thus Sexis and Sonny as Kristina's father. IIRC, that was the only reason Sexis happened. Egan didn't particularly want to be part of that and Mo dragged him along to object to the storyline. Scott Egan got shown the door and NLG got Dobson. I can't remember if it was clear how NLG felt about the potential Alexis is raped storyline.

I will try to find the article to link it but it is at least a decade old so.

[Sake614]

I am seriously starting to wonder if the long-held "urban myth" that soap opera writers get paid bonuses for bringing on new characters doesn't have some validity to it

 

 

As far as I know, it's never been an urban myth and has always been fact.

[Sake614]

I loved that interview!

[testardo]

I remember reading an article about Scott Egan (Sonny's old bodyguard, Johnny) with an interview done around the time of a FCW over a decade ago. NLG wanted Alexis to become a single parent since at the time, Alexis was written as being kind of terrified of children, and wanted a storyline that had her facing unplanned pregnancy & life as a single mother.

Originally Johnny was going to rape Alexis, and she was going to get pregnant as a result of that rape. MB actually stopped that storyline from happening (Sonny would never let Johnny live if he raped one of Sonny's friends), thus Sexis and Sonny as Kristina's father. IIRC, that was the only reason Sexis happened. Egan didn't particularly want to be part of that and Mo dragged him along to object to the storyline. Scott Egan got shown the door and NLG got Dobson. I can't remember if it was clear how NLG felt about the potential Alexis is raped storyline.

I will try to find the article to link it but it is at least a decade old so.

I remember something about that also. I also remember reading an article about Guza saying he could take anything anyone had writen any popular story , couple etc and destroy it. Luke and Laura . were the first. The unholy three were trying to copy Santa Barbaras Mason and Julia's popularity AKA Dobson. Lane Davies played both roles . Lane has always been a fav of mine but turned out to be Zanders father. I had never seen such a stupid story on any soap before, before they made a mob don a hero. TIIC also had Jason kill Johnny also. Nice man he only killed the bad guys HA HA HA Scott Eagan made the rest of the guys on this show look ugly. He was adorable. I also read NLG wanted her character with the popular Sonny , so she tanked the Dobson storyline. I don't know if it was true but I didn't care because I didn't like Mason and Julia I was and always will be a Mason /Mary fan. Soaps do tend to try to take advantage of other shows with the same actors and It doesn't always work.

Edited July 28, 2014 by Lisin
Fixed quote formatting

[Veronica]

I'm not sure tanking the Dobson storyline was possible. Alexis having to dress up like a male butler in order to be near her baby, had nowhere to go but in the tank, IMO.

[KerleyQ]

Exactly.  Guza tanked the Dobson story the second he wrote it. 

[dubbel zout]

That story still gives me secondhand embarrassment for NLG. It was so degrading.

[GHScorpiosRule]

That story still gives me secondhand embarrassment for NLG. It was so degrading.

 

I'm so glad I missed it. All I remember was Ric taking Alexis to court--winning, and then for some reason I stopped watching. Don't recall why.

[jsbt]

I was under the impression the whole Johnny thing was a post-Sexis attempt to erase it.

 

Sexis definitely seemed like Jill and Megan McTavish's baby - not something they would have to be forced to do. It was classic JFP. "Frumpy" woman is sexually liberated by hot stud.

[Ladybyrd]

It took me years to warm up to Alexis since the Dobson storyline was going on right as I started watching. Those were dark days.  I will always maintain that 2003-7 were the show's worst years.  I may be mad at RC these days (my AJ!), but I think the show is pretty watchable day-to-day, and I only want to strangle about 22% of the characters.  In fact, if another child of AJ's would materialize at the Q doorstep, or have Michael change his last name to Quartermaine, all would be forgiven.  I don't ask for much!

 

I'm pretty sure I've seen multiple interviews with past HWs who said that they don't still get money for characters they created.  Damned if I can remember who specifically, though, or find the energy to go looking.  

[Veronica]

Here's the link to the Egan interview - http://www.eyeonsoaps.com/eganinterview.htm

[jsbt]

I'm a little dubious about his take and the timeline, but that's another story. Thanks for the link.

 

As for Dobson, I always was under the impression NLG got that as punishment for Sexis as well as her outspoken POV in the press. Guza came back just after JFP and Megan had them hit the sheets.

Edited July 28, 2014 by jsbt

[Ambrosefolly]

There is a story in the Bible where two sons are asked by their father to work in the field: The Oldest says no way not me but then ends up going anyway. The youngest says of course Father anything you say and then ends up not going. And the questions is who then did what his father asked.

Guza may have said he hated soaps but he wrote them anyway. Ron says he loves soap but he is writing spoofs not soaps.

 

I hope I don't go to hell for this, but in regards to Bible passages, I think Guva vs RC is less that more like the Prodigal Son: one son desires to leave and party away his money in foreign lands and returns when he is a failure in the world and the other son stays and toils for his father, but when the prodigal returns, the other son bitches that the prodigal  gets the party while he feels he never gets any appreciation. Moral of the story, both were equally rebellious  in their own way. I do apperciate RC love of soaps, but at the same time he doesn't love everything about soaps, like building relationships and giving people lives outside of them. He just wants to get on with the big, shocking moments but isn't interested in giving the audience much of reason to care for them. Robin reveal worked on a level because we saw Robin not only grow up, but her struggle to free herself from imprisonment. 

Guza did have moments of brilliance, but I could tell just about everyday he hated the soaps. He can absolutely hate his job, but I shouldn't be able to see this contempt on screen. The worst part, the people in charge like Brian Frons and JFP, encouraged the lucancy of having the show overly focus on small handful of characters instead of telling the story of General Hospital and the city that surrounded it. Even prime time doesn't give a constant tongue bath to the titular characters in the show, like Guza did with Jason.

 

I also remember reading an article about Guza saying he could take anything anyone had writen any popular story , couple etc and destroy it.

 

I thought he said he could take any character and turn them into an anti hero? Which illustrates Guza own deficit as a head writer.I think a moral character can go through a hard time, if their motivations are presented can even do some immoral things, but Guza would take it too far, especially when he needed to prop his chosen ones. I think Tony Jones is a good example of this: it was perfectly believable that he could embark on an affair with Carly, considering what happened with BJ and his troubled marriage with Bobbie, but when Carly started becoming popular, (I think at this point Guza had taken over), the show totally turned him into snidely whiplash and then never showed his rehabilitation (something Brad Maule disliked about his last few years).

[Fylaki]

 

I thought he said he could take any character and turn them into an anti hero? Which illustrates Guza own deficit as a head writer.I think a moral character can go through a hard time, if their motivations are presented can even do some immoral things, but Guza would take it too far, especially when he needed to prop his chosen ones. I think Tony Jones is a good example of this: it was perfectly believable that he could embark on an affair with Carly, considering what happened with BJ and his troubled marriage with Bobbie, but when Carly started becoming popular, (I think at this point Guza had taken over), the show totally turned him into snidely whiplash and then never showed his rehabilitation (something Brad Maule disliked about his last few years).

Soaps thrived for years on the Morally Ambiguous Anti-Hero: Luke was the first break out character of that ilk but really Tracy, Anna and Sean all fit that mode. So do Todd and even Erica Kane. The problem Guza had was that he refused to move his anti-hero from a villainous field.

 

So Luke quits the mob, falls in love with his rape victim and later has a emotional conflict with his beloved son, he opens a night club and plays on the dark side but always keeps a foot in the light

 

(and Luke I would argue loves Lucky over all, I would say even over Laura,.they can tell me what they want about Ethan being the favorite because he is most like Luke, but Lucky is his moral high ground: Ask me about Davon and Daniel at some point LOL)

 

Anna stops being a double agent and becomes Police Commissioner

Sean stops stealing Aztec Treasure and becomes Police Commissioner

Tracy goes from letting Edward die to doing anything to save him

 

Todd goes from rapist to publisher without ever being allowed to forget his past

Erica goes from home wrecker to cosmetic queen.

 

All of these characters keep thier rough edge the thing that makes them an Anti-hero

 

But

Jason stays a hit man

Sonny stays a mobster

Carly stays a bitch (sorry ladies)

 

In Ron's world as opposed to Guza, he does not even give us the Anti-Hero as central he gives us cartoon villains out of the Super Friends (He's taken the Legion of Doom thing to heart) who never ever pay for their crimes, unless you are Brit and she is I think written that way to show how inept she is compared to Dr. O

Edited July 29, 2014 by Fylaki

[Chairperson Meow]

It's really sad because the actress who played Brit had potential.

Where's the Ron who wrote the Todd reveal? No, not Special Needs Victor, but when they were at Vickerman and Todd revealed himself to his family.

I should have known. He had a handful of awesome and tanked a potentially kick ass story because he threw a hissy.

[KerleyQ]

Where's the Ron who wrote the Todd reveal? No, not Special Needs Victor, but when they were at Vickerman and Todd revealed himself to his family.

 

 

The Vickerman premiere is pretty much the story of everything that is wrong and right with Ron.  That premiere kicked ass on so many levels, not just the Todd reveal (which was the best part), but the OldManNate porn reveal, the movie itself, etc.  But, then things went nowhere. Ron writes a great big splashy moment, but he then loses interest once he gets to the big flashy moment he's been planning, and the stories involved just kind of fizzle out, because he's looking forward to his next big splashy moment in another story.  Or he just gets distracted by something shiny.  It's like he knows the main big story line points he wants to happen, but he never gets into how you get from big moment to big moment, so the stuff in between falls flat. 

 

What he doesn't seem to understand is that you then run the risk of people only tuning in for those big moments and then tuning right back out until the next one.  For example, when/if we get a big major reveal to the whole canvas that Sonny killed AJ (and Ava killed Connie), a lot of people who aren't watching on a daily basis might tune in to see the immediate fall out.  But, once that big reveal happens, and we get to see the immediate reactions, and then Ron completely tanks that momentum, they'll tune right back out.  And, pretty soon, more and more viewers are going to join that group, because it's really easy to watch that way in this day and age.  You follow along on message boards, Facebook pages, or Twitter feeds, and you know exactly when those big moments are happening, and you know whether anything that might interest you is going on in between those big moments.  And you can watch clips of the few things that interest you instead of watching a whole hour live or on your DVR.  

 

I don't doubt that Ron knows that there are people out there who tune in when they see that a big moment is happening, but I don't think he gets that those same people aren't sticking around much once it's over, and that it's probably mostly the same "new" viewers who are tuning in for each of those moments, and not whole new groups of viewers each time. 

[Chairperson Meow]

Exactly. I'm fully expecting him to tank the AJ reveal in lieu of the Jasus Fall Revival Project.

[Fylaki]

 

It's like he knows the main big story line points he wants to happen, but he never gets into how you get from big moment to big moment, so the stuff in between falls flat.

Which is why he needs a co-head writer to help move him from point to point. Only his ego will never allow it

[dubbel zout]

I thought Elizabeth Korte was associate HW? IMO, the dictate to include more connective tissue, as it were, has to come from the network.

[jsbt]

I have a hard time believing Elizabeth Korte is an actual co-HW. He is certainly never credited as having one in any press. I think she's more in an administrative position below Ron - supervising breakdowns, maybe. She has too many years with the show and far better dialoguing and also, is too enamored of Carly to let the character be shuttled off as she's been.

Edited July 29, 2014 by jsbt

[Chairperson Meow]

She may be Awesome Writer whom is caged, but comes out on rare occasions.

[jsbt]

I never associated her with that label back in the day, but times are tough, who knows.

[Chairperson Meow]

It's a sad day when I get excited to see a woman beat the crap out of a dude on my soaps.

Like, it's better than Levi verbally abusing Maxie.

[Cassiopeia]

 

the OldManNate porn reveal

 

The Old Man Nate porn reveal was one of the finest moments that has ever taken place on any soap.

[Sake614]

Valentini tweeted that someone doesn't make it out of today's episode and someone wrote back saying hopefully someone in the writers room.

In other news, NotRonCarlivati is in rare form today.

[yowsah1]

I thought he said he could take any character and turn them into an anti hero? Which illustrates Guza own deficit as a head writer.I think a moral character can go through a hard time, if their motivations are presented can even do some immoral things, but Guza would take it too far, especially when he needed to prop his chosen ones. I think Tony Jones is a good example of this: it was perfectly believable that he could embark on an affair with Carly, considering what happened with BJ and his troubled marriage with Bobbie, but when Carly started becoming popular, (I think at this point Guza had taken over), the show totally turned him into snidely whiplash and then never showed his rehabilitation (something Brad Maule disliked about his last few years).

 

I remember reading an interview with Brad Maule in (IIRC) SOW, shortly after he left GH.  He said words to the effect of, "Guza told me he would tear Tony down, but not to worry, he would build him back up again after.  He tore Tony down, all right... and he never bothered to build him back up."

Edited July 30, 2014 by yowsah1

[Chairperson Meow]

The destruction of Tony Jones was seriously one of the dumbest, cruelist things ever. Drove me into the arms of other soaps. Like Passions was better than GH at some points. Say what you want about James E Reilly, but when that man was on he was on and he may have had guts to do camp, but he also could write actual romance, redemption, villians, mysteries, and stories. He knew how to keep you hooked, no matter how crazy it was.

And satanic possesion and buried alive stories on Days, with portals to hell and witches on Passions. But I was hooked, dammit. Rarely did he ever give up and be like whatevs. Not even when they had a monkey nurse.

That is real working. Not this half ass hissy fits Ron throws.

[OnceSane]

 

Rarely did he ever give up and be like whatevs. Not even when they had a monkey nurse.

 

I've said it before, but, the orangutan was one of the best parts of Passions.

[WendyCR72]

 

I've said it before, but, the orangutan was one of the best parts of Passions.

 

And probably one of its best actors, too.

[OnceSane]

Word.  That orangutan was amazing.

[Chairperson Meow]

Didn't it get an Emmy nom?

Not so hot now are we, MB?

[NiqueAlexis]

That's funny.

[Sake614]

Oh dear lord, the GH FB thread is asking if people want Sonny and Carly back together. Guess we're headed down that path,,,