GH In The News: The PC Press Club

[Sake614]

yeah her interview made it sound like it was a fait accompli.

 

we’ve done our work with Jonathan Jackson, It was just amazing. I didn’t get a one-on-one scene with Jonathan, which was very disappointing

 

[Box305]

I'd like to knock Carlivati and Valentini's heads together. 

[SlovakPrincess]

I vote for Genie Francis to take over writing the show!

Great interview. Love that she mentioned Sally/Max the hit man from the Left Handed Boy story - that was a cool twist. And love that she totally called out some of the sexism on the show.

I'm still not leaving the Barge though ... unless we find out Lucky and Robin are in fact being held somewhere together and developing a romance ... and Laura and Anna end up teaming up to rescue them in the fall! I don't know if Laura and Anna ever interacted, but they should be friends. (At this point, Show is going to have to do something majorly cool and satisfying like that to win me back ...)

[TeeVee329]

I don't know if Laura and Anna ever interacted, but they should be friends.

 

They met for the first time when Laura was last in town.  Recall Laura spotted Anna and Luke grossly kissing on the docks, not realizing that their romance was thankfully over.  They later crossed paths at the Quartermaines, introduced themselves, and said they had only heard good things about each other.

 

I could definitely get on board with Laura and Anna as friends, especially if Laura advises Anna to cut all ties with Sloane.

Edited June 18, 2015 by TeeVee329

[HeatLifer]

JT tweeted out an interview he did with Brooklyn Silzer for SOD and this BL quote about her favorite scenes has me crying. These two and their desperation for Kim to save them. Heh.

I like the scenes where we're just talking together about Kimberly and the divorce because it's sad that she left and that you guys got a divorce. I miss Kimberly so much. I hope she comes back. She needs to come check on me sometimes! Jason and I talk about that a lot; about how much we miss her and how sad it was to see her go.

Edited June 18, 2015 by HeatLifer

[SlovakPrincess]

Yeah, maybe Laura can advise Anna thusly: "look, going temporarily insane and killing someone is awful - trust me I've BEEN there! Twice. But, still, you could do so much better than Sloan!"

[TeeVee329]

Another good interview with Genie Francis, this time at TV Line:

 

http://tvline.com/2015/06/18/general-hospital-luke-laura-reunion-genie-francis/

 

I'm reeealy curious to see these scenes of Laura and Holly digging into the Ethan stuff.

[ulkis]

so are we still sure that Genie doesn't have one-on-one scenes with Jonathan? Cause she says she didn't have one on one scenes with *Nathan Parson* in that interview.

[dubbel zout]

Here is the interview where she says she doesn't.

[GHScorpiosRule]

Great. The following had me seeing red on Genie's behalf-that her return, or her willingness to come back to do this story, was contingent on Anthony Geary's seal of fucking approval:

 

TVLINE | How did you find out about Anthony Geary’s decision to leave General Hospital?

The producers called me. I mean, I knew it had been talked about a little bit in the press here and there. I never knew when [it was going to happen]. I know he’s been talking about leaving for more than a couple of years now. But I didn’t really know when.

 

TVLINE | What was your first reaction?
I was like, “Really?” [Laughs] “Really really?” And they said yes. The next question I had to ask was, “Are you sure he wants me to be there?” Because he’s been very vocal about not wanting it to be Luke and Laura reuniting. My next question was, “Is this what Tony wants?” And they said, “Absolutely.”

 

Me: Really? Fucking Really????!!!

[dubbel zout]

Given the writing, I don't blame her for asking if TG were okay with it. In this particular case, it might have given her some reassurance that TG wasn't going to play games with Luke and Laura being together. Anyway, I can't imagine TG would have said no under the circumstances—he's not such a Luke/Laura hater that he wouldn't realize the audience needs to see them together one more time.

 

GF has gotten screwed over enough by TPTB and Laura's return stories that I think she was just being prudent. It's smart.

[ulkis]

I don't think it was contingent on Geary's approval per se, I think Genie was just asking because she didn't want to be in an uncomfortable environment if Geary was in fact not okay with it.

 

Not that that makes it less annoying.

Edited June 18, 2015 by ulkis

[Mrs. Stanwyck]

I read it as GF being respectful of AG.  I think she knows that TPTB are going to do whatever story they want, regardless of how the actors feel about it.  Since this is AG farewell tour, I don't think she wanted to "horn in" on his final story arc if he wasn't onboard with it. 

 

I sort of view it as if I had a friend who was retiring and he wanted a simple, intimate party with just the five people currently in his department but the executive decided it should be a big blowout with hundreds of people.  I don't think I would want to attend the party if I knew it wasn't what my friend wanted.

Edited June 19, 2015 by Mrs. Stanwyck

[Francie]

I'm legit concerned Dillon's movie will be a thinly veiled roman à clef of what Ron would be doing with OLTL right now.

In all seriousness, how did this show -- or OLTL for that matter -- wind up in the hands of (perpetual) junior high school boys?

 

Who the fuck thought that this was the direction in which daytime should go?

[GHScorpiosRule]

I know, but that's what it sounded like. I admit, I'm bitter, and well for a lot of years, Geary has been know to say the viewers needed "to be challenged",  that he's so sick and tired of the "Luke and Laura" thing, etc.

 

I don't blame Genie for being prudent. I'm not blaming her for anything in this at all; I just thought that MAYBE the stupid idiots wanted her back, without it having anything to do with Luke, but as Laura, and she could say under what terms she'd be willing to come back.  That said, I know she'd have come back to usher Geary out, because how can you have Luke leaving, without Laura involved in there somehow? Does that make sense?

Edited June 18, 2015 by GHScorpiosRule

[ulkis]

In all seriousness, how did this show -- or OLTL for that matter -- wind up in the hands of (perpetual) junior high school boys?

Who the fuck thought that this was the direction in which daytime should go?

 

Frons?

Edited June 18, 2015 by ulkis

[TeeVee329]

I was actually thinking Dillon's movie will be an anvil about him loving Lulu or something.

Frons?

 

He certainly let Guza do whatever he wanted for years.  Ditto Chuck Pratt on AMC.  It's not just Ron.

[annabel]

Frons would NEVER have put up with this ELQ stuff though. He hated business stories, thought they were boring and uninvolving for the audience or some such whatnot, which was why there was so little ELQ, BE (OLTL) and Chandler Enterprises (AMC) during his tenure.

[ulkis]

Frons would NEVER have put up with this ELQ stuff though. He hated business stories, thought they were boring and uninvolving for the audience or some such whatnot, which was why there was so little ELQ, BE (OLTL) and Chandler Enterprises (AMC) during his tenure.

 

Unless you were a female in tight dresses I guess, which is why we got so much Fusion on AMC.

[TeeVee329]

Or - I just thought of it - maybe Franco and Dillon will collaborate because they're both artistes.

 

See? You have me doing it too!

 

 I actually had a horrifying thought that Nina will up and decide she wants to be an actress.  Cue the jazz hands.

Frons would NEVER have put up with this ELQ stuff though. He hated business stories, thought they were boring and uninvolving for the audience or some such whatnot, which was why there was so little ELQ, BE (OLTL) and Chandler Enterprises (AMC) during his tenure.

 

But even if he did, Guza wouldn't have written an ELQ business story.

[dubbel zout]

Guza wouldn't have written an ELQ business story.

 

Unless there was a mob shootout in the ELQ offices, that is.

[Francie]

I feel like Guza and Frons were more like high school boys.  All about being cool in black leather jackets and staring at girls with big boobs.

 

Meanwhile, Ron and his cronies giggle at the word boobs.

[jsbt]

I agree with ulkis, I don't think it was contingent on Tony's approval. I also don't think Tony would ever have said she shouldn't appear.

 

I hesitate to quote ol' Jamey Giddens again, and I think his knowledge and respect for GH pre-Guza is very selective sometimes, but he did mount a rousing defense of Genie and Laura's place on the show in a recent DC podcast - it was a little disconcerting to hear some of my own thoughts coming out of his mouth. We said a lot of the same stuff and he's right on that Luke would never have been Luke without Laura. He did also claim outright that GF and TG don't like each other, etc etc., but I find that hard to buy today. I don't think Tony and Genie are BFF, and I know for a fact they have had some rough straits, not all of which are Tony Geary's fault. But everything I've heard, in the last few years at least, is that they are in a pretty decent place these days. That's something Genie's recent interviews in the last week also seem to imply, along the same lines of what I've heard about their current relationship since 2013 - rough times in the past, mutual respect today. I hope it's true.

 

And yeah, I do still hope they reunite them. Fuck it! Let Laura get back with Luke and he keeps their place out of town while she runs shit in PC. I don't give a fuck! Do it! What's Tony gonna do, pitch a divorce treatment to the network? It's not 2001!

Edited June 18, 2015 by jsbt

[Oracle42]

But even if he did, Guza wouldn't have written an ELQ business story.

Didn't Jax have business stories during early Guza?

[kristabell]

Frons?

It's not just Frons; and it's not just ABC. The same half dozen writers have been turning soaps into a misogynistic, removed-from-any-real-world-issues or sensitivity genre for quite a while now.

[jsbt]

It's not just Frons; and it's not just ABC. The same half dozen writers have been turning soaps into a misogynistic, removed-from-any-real-world-issues or sensitivity genre for quite a while now.

 

I think it's more like an even dozen or more, and a lot of producers and writers. Men and women alike. Jill Farren Phelps near the top of the list.

[HeatLifer]

Gag me.

http://abc.go.com/shows/general-hospital/news/bonus-video/150517-father-of-the-year-patrick-drake

[Sake614]

Gag me.

http://abc.go.com/shows/general-hospital/news/bonus-video/150517-father-of-the-year-patrick-drake

Oh please! I don't dispute that Patrick is a good father, but 'Robin keeps coming and going'? Seriously show? Robin was KIDNAPPED. And TORTURED. And kidnapped AGAIN! She didn't leave of her own volition. And if Patrick engaged his brain for 10 seconds he would have put it all together by now.

[HeatLifer]

Oh please! I don't dispute that Patrick is a good father, but 'Robin keeps coming and going'? Seriously show? Robin was KIDNAPPED. And TORTURED. And kidnapped AGAIN! She didn't leave of her own volition. And if Patrick engaged his brain for 10 seconds he would have put it all together by now.

That was also the part where I was like, "REALLY, show? REALLY?" It's almost like they can't differentiate between Kimberly and Robin. They wrote the story!!! Robin.is.a.hostage. Yet it's poor Patrick! Having to sleep with Sam in the meantime! How devastating! Poor Emma! Who doesn't give a fuck where her mother is because she always has a new mommy waiting! Yay!

[backhometome]

I thought it was a cute article. I personally think Patrick is a really good father. 

[HeatLifer]

I just think a "good father" would try to contact his daughter's mother, but that's just me. Lol.

[Tiger]

I thought it was a cute article. I personally think Patrick is a really good father.

I think Patrick is an amazing father, compared to Sonny, Lewq, Jewelz, and Nik . . .

[backhometome]

Yeah, that's what I mean compared to the rest of the dads on the show he is good. 

[Sake614]

I thought it was a cute article. I personally think Patrick is a really good father. 

 

I agree he's a good father. I just took exception to the article's description of Robin 'coming and going.'

[Ambrosefolly]

In all seriousness, how did this show -- or OLTL for that matter -- wind up in the hands of (perpetual) junior high school boys?

 

Who the fuck thought that this was the direction in which daytime should go?

Because Wolfe was worse? Because Guza turned GH into Sopranos:all the time? 15 years this show has been declining with barely an upswing.

[dubbel zout]

Yeah, that's what I mean compared to the rest of the dads on the show he is good.

 

You always have to grade Port Charles parents on a curve. Except for Mac, of course. And maybe Jax.

[Pete Martell]

Frons would NEVER have put up with this ELQ stuff though. He hated business stories, thought they were boring and uninvolving for the audience or some such whatnot, which was why there was so little ELQ, BE (OLTL) and Chandler Enterprises (AMC) during his tenure.

 

Sadly I'd have to agree with him...

In all seriousness, how did this show -- or OLTL for that matter -- wind up in the hands of (perpetual) junior high school boys?

 

Who the fuck thought that this was the direction in which daytime should go?

 

Valentini had been at OLTL for ages and was a company man, known for getting it done cheap. Ron had been a writer at OLTL for around a decade and also likely came cheap. 

 

They got transferred to GH because they were likely already under contract and ABC was planning a quick can of the show at that point anyway. 

 

For all the soap "press" hoopla over Ron Carlivati and how he revolutionized and honored daytime and he's everything Agnes Nixon and Doug Marland and Bill Bell could never be, the only reason he or Frank have ever had employment is because they are cheap, cheap, cheap. 

 

If GH ends tomorrow, Frank will likely just go direct, and Ron would be lucky to pen scripts for David DeCocteau projects.

[jsbt]

If GH goes soon - and I am not at all convinced it will - I think Sony would go after Frank very quickly. They're going to need someone to bail out Y&R when the Pratt coup is over. They hired Jill to cut the show down and make it snazzy, peppy and cheap (and she hired Captain Nashville Steve Burton), then they got dazzled by Chuck Pratt who is not at all cheap and is now EP. I don't think FV would meld at all with Y&R, but then what has for the better part of a decade?

 

I can understand why they brought the guys to GH. I just don't think they have any interest in doing anything but keeping it afloat until they can make new viable programming. If they did they would have brought a co-writer in to at least backstop Ron over a year ago. I don't think that will ever happen.

[Francie]

I don't know about Sony wanting Frank.  I see him directing shows at ABC Family.

[aA0009]

I enjoyed Luke and Laura more than I thought I would.  Luke was less bombastic, and Laura seemed to fit in better than she did in her last return, for some reason.  I did think it was funny that the old Diner had been abandoned and untouched since they were last there 25 years ago. 

So we've had Luke's childhood home, abandoned, intact, after his childhood trauma 50 years ago....

We've now got the Diner, abandonded, intact, since he and Laura were last there 25 years ago...

Makes me think that Luke leaves such a bad odor behind that people get one whiff, they hold their breathe, lock the door and turn away from the place as if it's a Plague House.

 

 

LOL, that's been Geary's contribution since he took over Luke's storyline direction (bad odor stuff). Now that the jerk is finally leaving I hope tptb had a stern talk with him and forced him to treat GF with dignity and forced him to interact with Laura in ways more realistic and consistent with personality and history. And I haven't been a L&L fan for years but at least recognized their brilliant chemistry that somehow crumbled when Stefan Cassadine showed up. Ahhh, if only SC was here to enjoy the final break. Nicholas appears to be channeling the master.  

 

I've read lots of criticism of GF performances but honestly, how to react to this hostile Luke. Must be difficult and she probably doesn't know quite how to play it. She obviously wants to inject "love" for the fans and what she feels Laura would be feeling but it's a difficult choice when Geary is snarling at her. I hope GH rewards her for the emotional beating Laura has had to take.

[Box305]

 

For all the soap "press" hoopla over Ron Carlivati and how he revolutionized and honored daytime and he's everything Agnes Nixon and Doug Marland and Bill Bell could never be

 

Who the hell said this and what drugs are they on?

[ulkis]

no one actually said that, PeteMartell is just using hyperbole to describe how over the top the praise for Carlivati/Valentini has been in his eyes

[Box305]

no one actually said that, PeteMartell is just using hyperbole to describe how over the top the praise for Carlivati/Valentini has been in his eyes

 

Ah, okay. I shouldn't post before I've had my coffee. 

[testardo]

LOL, that's been Geary's contribution since he took over Luke's storyline direction (bad odor stuff). Now that the jerk is finally leaving I hope tptb had a stern talk with him and forced him to treat GF with dignity and forced him to interact with Laura in ways more realistic and consistent with personality and history. And I haven't been a L&L fan for years but at least recognized their brilliant chemistry that somehow crumbled when Stefan Cassadine showed up. Ahhh, if only SC was here to enjoy the final break. Nicholas appears to be channeling the master.  

 

I've read lots of criticism of GF performances but honestly, how to react to this hostile Luke. Must be difficult and she probably doesn't know quite how to play it. She obviously wants to inject "love" for the fans and what she feels Laura would be feeling but it's a difficult choice when Geary is snarling at her. I hope GH rewards her for the emotional beating Laura has had to take.

 

 

I feel the same way. T G must make it diffacult for the fans that were actually L&L fans. Saw the chemistry between them, and to have Tony say they are wrong. yea that makes you want to watch the show. I didn't watch during the rape and the run away, but when they returned in the plane and the pink convertible with Lucky I thought they had a great on screen chemistry. Genie was forced to return but she still made me believe, Tony now makes me watch Genie soo I can see him GO !I love< Not ! watching  actors who bite the hand that feeds them. TG is sooo full of himself he actually turned me against Luke.  Sure he said he loved her and their family but I gagged.

[Pete Martell]

no one actually said that, PeteMartell is just using hyperbole to describe how over the top the praise for Carlivati/Valentini has been in his eyes

 

I actually do remember seeing posts three or four years back about how superior Ron was to Marland, although I may have just eaten some bad chicken earlier that day...

Edited June 20, 2015 by Pete Martell

[kristabell]

I don't know about Sony wanting Frank.  I see him directing shows at ABC Family.

I agree. Also, though I see a lot of complaints about Y&R storyline-wise (I don't watch, so I really can't comment), their ratings keep going up. I'm not sure why they would want to bring FV on, whether he's cheap or not, when he hasn't proven able to do the same.

[aA0009]

I feel the same way. T G must make it diffacult for the fans that were actually L&L fans. Saw the chemistry between them, and to have Tony say they are wrong. yea that makes you want to watch the show. I didn't watch during the rape and the run away, but when they returned in the plane and the pink convertible with Lucky I thought they had a great on screen chemistry. Genie was forced to return but she still made me believe, Tony now makes me watch Genie soo I can see him GO !I love< Not ! watching  actors who bite the hand that feeds them. TG is sooo full of himself he actually turned me against Luke.  Sure he said he loved her and their family but I gagged.

 

Well, since TG has been able to carry on and win awards as Luke without GF AND create another successful relationship (Tracy), he dumped GF big time. I believe TG and GF had a personal falling out in the 90's. Geary got her fired from another ABC soap so she could return to GH as Laura because Geary couldn't do Luke without her. Subsequently GF's much publicized rant against being forced back to GH and criticism of drugs and emotional abuse when a teenager on the show probably hurt her with the GH crowd. The writing for Laura has been next to awful. I bet TG's capable to doing much to save his financial a##.

[IWantCandy71]

I just don't believe, and never will, that TG has that much power. And if Frank or anyone else ever bowed to TG if he DID say he didn't want Genie back, that's 100% on them. I think what TG has said is he doesn't want to do LnL again, I don't believe he ever said he didn't want GF as a person back. But again, at any point, TPTB had the authority to tell TG to shut his mouth and take a seat. And if TG didn't like that, well, he should have been reminded the door swings both ways.

 

 I also believe GF is a bit of a passive agressive person in interviews. I think she deliberately makes comments that she knows will stir people up, and there's just no reason for a grown woman to behave like that.  In one recent interview with TV Line (I think is who it was, I have tried to find it after reading some of it and cannot find it) she said how she was all "oh he wants me back?" and she knows darn well those kind of comments stir up crap. She knows saying things like that feeds into the conspiracy and paranoia of some people that TG is out to "get" her. It's all so ridiculous.

I find the whole issue tiring, myself, and I'm just ready for TG to leave so maybe the idiocy will STOP.

[hypnotoad]

 

AND create another successful relationship (Tracy),

 

I'd argue that the Luke/Tracy pairing is far from successful unless you mean two characters who share screen time because 'pairing' as in love? I don't see it with those two at all - no matter how many times TG insists Tracy is the love of Luke's life. TG and JE don't have a bit of romantic chemistry that I can see.

 

I watched those Luke and Laura scenes this week and whether TG likes it or not - in my opinion he and GF have chemistry. They just do. It doesn't seem to matter how long it is between scenes together - they click. Certainly the scenes this week were ones of a couple that used to be in love but both actors shined.

 

I am a sucker for a pairing on a soap that has real chemistry.

[dubbel zout]

I'd argue that the Luke/Tracy pairing is far from successful

 

It could have been successful if the writers hadn't had Luke constantly taking advantage of Tracy and Tracy putting up with it. It's hard to root for a couple where things are so unequal.

Edited June 20, 2015 by dubbel zout