Jump to content

Type keyword(s) to search

GH In The News: The PC Press Club


  • Reply
  • Start Topic

Recommended Posts

Guza, back then, was very, very, very easily better than Megan McTavish (and so is Ron, at his worst). Megan and Jill took what had been one of the most cutting-edge shows on daytime apart in under a month. They made it beyond dumb.


Trust me, McTavish would have gotten there. I'm pretty sure there were plans to get rid of Jackie Zeman/Bobbie under her tenure and replace her essentially with Melissa Bedford, played by that actress from Another World.

 

There were. Bobbie was going to turn nuts over Roy DiLucca and his old flame Melissa - who Jill quickly positioned as the show's instant new star couple - and be shipped off to Ferncliff. Tony Geary stepped in to stop it.

 

Jill was so hot to hire the extremely mediocre Jensen Buchanan again she even got ABC into legal hot water with CBS over it, because Buchanan was still appearing as Vicky Hudson on ATWT.

Edited by jsbt
  • Love 1
Link to comment

Jill tried very hard to add Kale Browne to the show in some way. She couldn't get him onscreen again, but she saw to it that he was the voice-over artist for the show for years. He did all the recast announcements, and also was the (more present than ever) television or hospital intercom voice guy.

 

Supposedly there was some story where she tried to get Kale on as a priest in some mob caper with Alexis and, I think, Ric, but that never materialized to my knowledge. Someone at ABCD allegedly disliked Kale as much as the audience, which is why he was immediately fired from OLTL the minute she left. From what I understand, Jill's creative power beyond her specific production duties was at a very low ebb after she and Megan tanked the show. Guza took over and took most of the creative control; she was there to do little more than faciliate him and Frons, which is IMO a fate she totally deserved after what she did to GH, OLTL, etc. But I will defer to others on the later years, since I watched less and less as time grinded on.

 

The only time I can recall where JFP took more overt control (beyond a few hires of FOJs, mostly her guys, in guest slots, recurring bits, etc. - John Bolger as Mayor Floyd, Mark Pinter as Agent Rayner, and a few others here and there) was during the writer's strike of 2008. Guza took off, Jill was alone with the scabs, and all of a sudden Jill's pal Rick Hearst had a major, saccharine love story with an overnight dayplayer, and Sarah Brown's Claudia was reviving the cheesy color and clothes-themed introduction material Jill used to love on her old shows in the '90s (as well as with the Angel character - Claudia and Angel shared a fascination with the color red, I believe). It was like Jill had time-warped back to 1994.

Edited by jsbt
  • Love 1
Link to comment

There were. Bobbie was going to turn nuts over Roy DiLucca and his old flame Melissa - who Jill quickly positioned as the show's instant new star couple - and be shipped off to Ferncliff. Tony Geary stepped in to stop it.

 

Taking my follow-up question to the history thread.

Edited by TeeVee329
  • Love 1
Link to comment

The only time I can recall where JFP took more overt control (beyond a few hires of FOJs, mostly her guys, in guest slots, recurring bits, etc. - John Bolger as Mayor Floyd, Mark Pinter as Agent Rayner, and a few others here and there) was during the writer's strike of 2008. Guza took off, Jill was alone with the scabs, and all of a sudden Jill's pal Rick Hearst had a major, saccharine love story with an overnight dayplayer, and Sarah Brown's Claudia was reviving the cheesy color and clothes-themed introduction material Jill used to love on her old shows in the '90s (as well as with the Angel character - Claudia and Angel shared a fascination with the color red, I believe). It was like Jill had time-warped back to 1994.

 

Angel had a fascination with the color white.

 

From what I understand, JFP and Kale Browne briefly dated around the time he joined OLTL in 1998, shortly after he divorced Karen Allen (yes, THAT Karen Allen--Marion in Raiders of the Lost Ark and Claire in Scrooged). Really, Kale? The adorable Karen Allen to a woman who often looks like she has an electrocuted dead cat on her head? Alrighty then.

 

Needless to say, they didn't last, but I guess Jill just couldn't let go, hence Kale's neverending voiceovers on GH (a real life Jason & Carly? Oh, I'm bad.).

 

Also, just to clarify up above, JB's helicopter thing was only on AW, after she moved to Vermont. Still pissed off her costars, though, IIRC.

 

 

  The writing went up on the wall when Guza took the one thing that McTavish had done right - CourAJ - and promptly wrecked it.

 

 

 

I'm sure Jax & Skye fans would say they were the best part of the McTavish era. ;)

 

Of course, they were destroyed even faster than AJ & Courtney once Guza came back. 

Edited by UYI
  • Love 2
Link to comment

The only FOJ that I actually like are Hillary Brown (Nora OLTL)

 

Hillary B. Smith was and is no Friend of Jill.

Angel had a fascination with the color white.

 

No, she was into both. Angel wore all white after her husband died at the hands of her father, Sorel, to signify mourning or something. After she killed him she dramatically unveiled herself in red at his funeral, to signify 'new life.' It was meant to be some very big deal.

 

That's Jill and Megan for you, folks. She did some sort of similar clothes/color fetish with Claudia during the writer's strike, and I remember stories of the same sort of schtick at GL and AW.

Edited by jsbt
  • Love 2
Link to comment

I'm still waiting to see if Kathy Griffin will put her in her next special for cutting her short during her Emmy speech. (Funny, that's happened to Jill before--shall I pull out the clip?)

 

I still remember the deafening silence after Jacob Young called JFP "an amazing woman" during his Emmy speech for GH in 2002. He saved himself once he thanked Tony, Genie and Becky. So funny. 

  • Love 1
Link to comment

Someone at ABCD allegedly disliked Kale as much as the audience, which is why he was immediately fired from OLTL the minute she left.

 

The rumor I heard was that he used his position as favorite to throw his weight around, and made many enemies that way.

 

I'm sure Jax & Skye fans would say they were the best part of the McTavish era. ;)

 

Of course, they were destroyed even faster than AJ & Courtney once Guza came back. 

 

Two things McTavish did right!  :)  That Guza promptly shat upon.  >:(

  • Love 1
Link to comment

The rumor I heard was that he used his position as favorite to throw his weight around, and made many enemies that way.

 

Tim Stickney (R.J. Gannon at OLTL) made a few vague comments about KB here and there. All I know is someone made a point to have him fired and replaced immediately. Laurence Lau was good in the role, but Sam was a part that did not work.

 

I liked A.J. and Courtney, but I couldn't stand Skye on the show at that time or with Jax. Their relationship worked better for me in recent years, with a lot of time passed and subtler writing (and minimal airtime for Skye on GH, frankly; I can only take her here in doses).

Edited by jsbt
  • Love 2
Link to comment

In backstage omg I can't believe you are that age and happy birthday, Roger Howarth turned 46 today.

Damn. Dude still looks smoking hot, especially when you consider he was super duper fine covered in rain with the beard of sexy during the Lurking Tour of 2011. Happy Birthday, Roger. May you get a better role! Keep on being sexy though! Meow!

Link to comment

They can fix Rafe. Easy peasy. We never saw Rafe's life till he hit PC. Just say Caleb hid him and switched the babies. Allison went crazy. Boom. We get a good young actor temp in the role. Better yet, let ME reveal he's always been Caleb. Then Ron gets Nina redeemed and ME goes out with a bang.

The very fact that scenario even has to be created indicates to how badly TIIC screwed up. As it stands on the show, Jimmy Descheler's Rafe is the son of Caleb and Allison, so if they are getting a bit of grief, I hope they are learning from it. There was nothing really wrong with Rafe's backstory, it was the writing and the acting that was the problem. While the writing won't be fixed in my lifetime, they could have auditioned replacements for JD

 

When she said the emphasis was in turning the scripts in on time instead of getting them right, that says it all. And the fact that they have only five days to write instead of seven. When the show feels slapped together, it's because it was.

There budget cuts I understand: sets, wardrobe, the block taping.  I think things like 7 days to turn in a script, rewrites to get scenes right, the ability to do a retake and even an on site acting coach are things shouldn't be slashed as deeply as they are from the budget. 

  • Love 3
Link to comment

 

There budget cuts I understand: sets, wardrobe, the block taping.  I think things like 7 days to turn in a script, rewrites to get scenes right, the ability to do a retake and even an on site acting coach are things shouldn't be slashed as deeply as they are from the budget.

 

Can we throw in a medical consultant?  Because, a show called "General Hospital" should AT LEAST get the medical jargon/procedures right.  (Legal should as well, especially if your head writer is a lawyer by education who likes to remind fans of it from time to time.)  And yes, Patrick and towel baby, I'm looking right at you.

  • Love 2
Link to comment

The very fact that scenario even has to be created indicates to how badly TIIC screwed up. As it stands on the show, Jimmy Descheler's Rafe is the son of Caleb and Allison, so if they are getting a bit of grief, I hope they are learning from it. There was nothing really wrong with Rafe's backstory, it was the writing and the acting that was the problem. While the writing won't be fixed in my lifetime, they could have auditioned replacements for JD

 

I haven't read anything anywhere that indicates they are getting any sort of significant backlash from killing off Rafe.

  • Love 2
Link to comment

I think what happened to Rafe and Alison was a horrible waste of potential and history (starting with the casting and the story). But no, I am not particularly interested in seeing them spend time undoing it - Rafe was such a damp squib footnote of a character. It was bad, it's done, let's move on.

  • Love 6
Link to comment

I agree with jsbt.  But the state of that age group (and really, the Michael/Morgan/Kiki group as well) needs to rectified.  It's like Ron's skipping over any development there to focus on the kiddies and that is all backwards.

Edited by TeeVee329
  • Love 1
Link to comment

I think they need more romantic options for the set than Molly and TJ or Lauren for both Corinthos brothers. I don't care how much Ron wants Lauren to happen. TJ needs to be mixing up with the older characters. I suspect he'd make a great friend for Morgan. And damn he needs a friend.

Ron is too stubborn in what he wants to make good decisions.

Link to comment

 

Ron is too stubborn in what he wants to make good decisions.

In fairness to Ron, he is left holding the bag from Guza making all of the younger set related via Sonny. Further the fans clamoring for "Vets" have filled up some slots that may have been used for younger folks. As much as I like Scotty, Lucy and Kevin, the truth is Serena and Christina are needed more. Now granted some of Ron's deadwood (Sabrina and Felix)  or "forced" Legacy (Nathan, Britt and even Brad) could be done away with but with over 50 characters now, where would a younger set fit without eliminating some of the older characters?

  • Love 1
Link to comment
Further the fans clamoring for "Vets" have filled up some slots that may have been used for younger folks.

 

 

I blame the fact that they have chosen to bring on new characters who are mostly in their 40s instead of focusing in on younger characters.  In place of Nina they probably could have hired a few actors who could be in Morgan/Michael/Kiki age range.  They could have sorased Spencer/Joss/Emma/Cameron instead of using kid actors in a painful kiddie quad.  

 

The other problem to me is that they need to stop trying to one-up Y&R and sustain ratings by stunt casting. 

Edited by ch1
  • Love 1
Link to comment

speaking of Molly and TJ I find it kinda weird they haven't gotten a bigger story since their teens and all lol.Not that I'm interested in a bunch of teens but once upon a time GH wrote terrific teen stories.Jagger/Karen,Stone/Robin,Liz/Lucky,Emily/Zander and even georgie/Dillion.

Link to comment

In fairness to Ron, he is left holding the bag from Guza making all of the younger set related via Sonny. Further the fans clamoring for "Vets" have filled up some slots that may have been used for younger folks. As much as I like Scotty, Lucy and Kevin, the truth is Serena and Christina are needed more. Now granted some of Ron's deadwood (Sabrina and Felix)  or "forced" Legacy (Nathan, Britt and even Brad) could be done away with but with over 50 characters now, where would a younger set fit without eliminating some of the older characters?

 

I thinks it's somewhat unfair to say the "vets" are taking younger characters spots,except for FH, none of the vets are on contract and are not seen more than three times a month on average (through August  the actors playing Scott & Lucy had 26 appearances for the year, the actor playing Kevin, 15).  The Spencer & Emma actors have more air time than the vets.   On the other hand, Nina, Dr. O, Silas, Franco, Julian, Ava, Jordan, and Shawn all occupy spots that could have been given to younger characters.  

Edited by LegalParrot81
  • Love 3
Link to comment

To be fair, Shawn was there before and introduced as a teacher and guardian to TJ so had he stayed that, he would definitely hold a spot. He could be a professor. Jordan as DEA agent, TJ's mom, and Anna's friend/confidant has a place. Silas and Britt as doctors definitely have places on General Hospital. Julian is a legacy character. He was there long ago. And is Sam's father, Lucas' s father. Roger Howarth should have been Stephen Lars, but with all the rumors of Ron wanting James Franco back, I suspect he's getting De Franco'd. Sabrina is a nurse and could fit in with Micheal/Morgan who seem to revolve around one useless character.

  • Love 1
Link to comment

To be fair, Shawn was there before and introduced as a teacher and guardian to TJ so had he stayed that, he would definitely hold a spot.

 

 

No, he wasn't. He was introduced as the Balkan's henchman, whose sole job was to kidnap Brenda. It was LATER that we learned he was a teacher. Waste of space.

  • Love 2
Link to comment

To be fair, Shawn was there before and introduced as a teacher and guardian to TJ so had he stayed that, he would definitely hold a spot. He could be a professor. Jordan as DEA agent, TJ's mom, and Anna's friend/confidant has a place. Silas and Britt as doctors definitely have places on General Hospital. Julian is a legacy character. He was there long ago. And is Sam's father, Lucas' s father. Roger Howarth should have been Stephen Lars, but with all the rumors of Ron wanting James Franco back, I suspect he's getting De Franco'd. Sabrina is a nurse and could fit in with Micheal/Morgan who seem to revolve around one useless character.

 

Everyone has a different POV, I didn't think Shawn was necessary before RC and company moved in and I still don't.  I don't see him adding anything to the canvas. Perhaps the relentless propping and "isn't she wonderful" ad nauseum completely soured me on the character of Sabrina.  I also don't see the necessity of the character. 

 

Legacy of course, is determined by everyone's individual definition, but I've never seen Julian as a legacy character.  Victor Jerome showed up and was on the show 2 years, Julian was originally on the show for about year and a half.  That's also why I don't see Patrick as a legacy character.  Noah was only around originally for a little under two years. To me, a legacy character is Lulu whose family, be it L&L or Bobbie or Ruby, have been part of the show for 30+ years.  Liz, as much as I find her blah, is a direct descendant of an original family.  Michael & Morgan are both connected to L&L, Bobbie, Ruby, Sonny, so they, to me are legacy characters.  Just because someone appeared for a couple of years two decades ago does not turn them into legacy, imo.

 

Different strokes.

Edited by LegalParrot81
  • Love 6
Link to comment

I think TJ is definitely needed as he makes Molly seem more like a person, and the actor is talented. (I forgot about the Balkan) Shawn as a teacher would make sense, but yeah, he could reunite Jordan/TJ and be expendable. However, he's played by a good actor in a cast lacking in diversity. Jordan should imo be revealed as Keesha and TJ as the son of AJ, which would make him a legacy character and give a much needed Q. Also with Jason reentering the canvas, it adds weight to Jason's past and the AJ reveal. It also adds conflict to Sonny and his relationships, as Molly will be pissed he killed her boyfriend's real father.

I'd rather see Julian than Sonny imo because I've seen Sonny win for too long over everyone. He's destroyed every family and he appeared out of thin air. So I am cool with a guy from the 80s screwing up Sonny's life for a bit.

I do believe there were rumors that Maurice didn't like Ted King.

  • Love 1
Link to comment

I heard Steve and Mo didn't like Jennifer Carly, the forgotten Carly. Also heard that Steve's wife didn't like him doing love scenes with KeMo. And of course Monavie. I'm not even touching that one.

 

Maurice loved Jennifer Branson aka Carly #3. He lobbied for her a lot but obviously it didn't help.

  • Love 2
Link to comment

There were rumors that Robin Christopher did not like Maurice Benard because of something that happened when they were both at AMC in the early 90's.  

 

From what I understand, Mo hit on Robin when they were both on AMC, and she turned him down cold, which he didn't take very well. 

 

I'm assuming this occurred WAY before he met and married his wife Paula, who I will say he seems very devoted to.

 

Speaking of which, Paula is supposedly the one who thought Soily would be the next great love story, so...yeah. 

Edited by UYI
Link to comment

Oh ok. Well which one was the Carly he and Steve didn't like?

 

 

To be honest, I don't know if there IS a Carly he and Steve didn't like, at least the same one. That said, Steve didn't want Jason paired up with SJB's Carly by the time she left (because she smoked, IIRC?), and Mo allegedly threw a hissy fit backwards because Tamara Braun liked working with Ted King more than him. 

  • Love 1
Link to comment

Also heard that Steve's wife didn't like him doing love scenes with KeMo.

 

That's hilarious if true because I believe it was Steve's wife that told him to call up KMc in 2005 to get her to come back.

Mo allegedly threw a hissy fit backwards because Tamara Braun liked working with Ted King more than him. 

 

TB had so much more chemistry with TK, so maybe Mo was threatened....Ha.

Speaking of which, Paula is supposedly the one who thought Soily would be the next great love story, so...yeah. 

Now I know who to blame for that one!

  • Love 1
Link to comment
Oh ok. Well which one was the Carly he and Steve didn't like?

 

 

To be honest, I don't know if there IS a Carly he and Steve didn't like, at least the same one. That said, Steve didn't want Jason paired up with SJB's Carly by the time she left (because she smoked, IIRC?), and Mo allegedly threw a hissy fit backwards because Tamara Braun liked working with Ted King more than him.

 

Yeah, I don't think Steve or Maurice had any particular dislike of any of the Carlys, but apparently they and Sarah Brown gave Lisa Vultaggio aka Hanna aka Mrs Jonathan Jackson a hard time because of her acting. You may be thinking of that Grrpants.

  • Love 1
Link to comment

^^^Which, like I said before, must have been VERY awkward once JJ not only returned to GH, but their son Titus began playing Aiden. Because you know both of them were probably on set on the days their son was working. 

  • Love 1
Link to comment
TB had so much more chemistry with TK, so maybe Mo was threatened....Ha.

I think MB did feel threatened. TB and TK were smoking together, and Carly and Lorenzo were a good couple.

 

I don't blame SB for not wanting to kiss a smoker. It really is like licking an ashtray. Yuck.

 

Was it Chad Brannon who got a talking-to for tonguing? I think it was BH who complained. She was pretty young when Liz and Zander were together.

  • Love 1
Link to comment

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Restore formatting

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

×
×
  • Create New...