GH History Lessons: Because History is Always Repeating Itself

[dubbel zout]

I liked Chloe, too. It was a relief to have someone who was genuinely nice for a change.

I hated how they killed her off, though. Another really unnecessarily violent ending for a young woman.

[TeeVee329]

I did think Chloe was getting more interesting when they put her with Stefan, but she was also, like, having visions or something?  Which kinda smacks of a show not knowing what to do with a character.

15 minutes ago, UYI said:

I think Jax/Skye is generally considered to be the best couple to come out of that era, too (JFP/McTavish, that is). 

I've always really liked Jax and Skye.  I really think he's the one who got away for her, and that she was one of his few pairings that had minimum entanglements with Sonny.

[Asp Burger]

Who would have guessed that 20+ years later, the "gold-digging psychotic" who "give(s) women a bad name" would be the pillar of the community, and the one reading her for filth would be a disbarred alcoholic pariah? 

One of NLG's great scenes, though.  

 

Edited December 31, 2020 by Asp Burger

[TeeVee329]

Just wonderful.

Went looking for another Carly drag and came up with this:

Laura Wright's face when Michael calls her "Carly" is perfect, you can almost see Carly's theoretical soul crack.

[UYI]

Since Sean & Tiffany's exit came up in another thread but I can't find those scenes on YouTube, I just wanted to say this here:

The scene where Tiffany says goodbye to Robin, crying and calling her "my baby" chokes me up every.single.time. I had a specific group of my parents friends who I grew up around/was around as a young child, too, where I was really the only kid for a long time, and I TOTALLY relate to that scene on that level. In a weird way, that was the scene that transitioned Robin from her circle of friends and family she had as a child to the ones that she would have as an adult, even more than when her parents "died". 

Edited January 12, 2021 by UYI

[TeeVee329]

I couldn't find the entire scene, but even this tiny snippet of Kiki getting demolished by Michael Quartermaine for all her hypocritical lying really fills me with joy:

Michael's ice-cold yet completely justified "I don't love you" is just the best.  Suck it, Keeks! 

Edited January 12, 2021 by TeeVee329

[Asp Burger]

There was Zander discussion in the "News" thread about the character's romantic history.  

I'm sure mileage varies, but the only one of Chad Brannon's romantic pairings in 2000-04 that really worked for me -- and it really was one of my favorite GH "young love" stories -- was Amber Tamblyn's Emily.

I never saw whatever people were seeing with him and Tams's Carly. I might have bought puppy love on Zander's part, but it was hard for me to see Carly ever reciprocating. Jax was the guy I wanted Carly to have a Sonny-enraging affair with at that time. This would have been early 2002, when she and Jax were business partners in Club 101. So I was a Carly recast or two premature on the CarJax.  

The Robyn Richards Maxie...ew, I just wanted that shipping to stop, given that she was about 15 and he was an adult. And the other Maxie, the busty one who said "exspecially" all the time, was terrible.  

He and Gia #2 (Andrea Pearson) had nice friendship chemistry, but I wasn't rooting for more between them. A site with Zander's character history says they did eventually become lovers after their respective breakups with Nikolas and Emily. I don't even remember their making it to bed.

Becky Herbst has chemistry with almost everyone, but I didn't see it with Chad. However, she may just have been following the red arrows of the writing marking him as the undesirable choice. Same with Natalia's Emily.

I can't remember what I thought with anyone else he might have been chem-tested with, e.g., Big Kristina, Faith, or Courtney. Courtney actually shared her first scene with him. He tried to help her when he found her stranded by the side of the road, and she threatened him with a tire iron.

Edited February 12, 2021 by Asp Burger

[ffwbe]

6 hours ago, Asp Burger said:

There was Zander discussion in the "News" thread about the character's romantic history.  

I'm sure mileage varies, but the only one of Chad Brannon's romantic pairings in 2000-04 that really worked for me -- and it really was one of my favorite GH "young love" stories -- was Amber Tamblyn's Emily.

I never saw whatever people were seeing with him and Tams's Carly. I might have bought puppy love on Zander's part, but it was hard for me to see Carly ever reciprocating. Jax was the guy I wanted Carly to have a Sonny-enraging affair with at that time. This would have been early 2002, when she and Jax were business partners in Club 101. So I was a Carly recast or two premature on the CarJax.  

The Robyn Richards Maxie...ew, I just wanted that shipping to stop, given that she was about 15 and he was an adult. And the other Maxie, the busty one who said "exspecially" all the time, was terrible.  

He and Gia #2 (Andrea Pearson) had nice friendship chemistry, but I wasn't rooting for more between them. A site with Zander's character history says they did eventually become lovers after their respective breakups with Nikolas and Emily. I don't even remember their making it to bed.

Becky Herbst has chemistry with almost everyone, but I didn't see it with Chad. However, she may just have been following the red arrows of the writing marking him as the undesirable choice. Same with Natalia's Emily.

I can't remember what I thought with anyone else he might have been chem-tested with, e.g., Big Kristina, Faith, or Courtney. Courtney actually shared her first scene with him. He tried to help her when he found her stranded by the side of the road, and she threatened him with a tire iron.

I agree with you though I also thought he had decent chem with NL’s Emily. He was a great actor and he had great non-romantic chem with a lot of his costars but I didn’t see it romantically with all of those other women either. The set-up with Carly and Zander was particularly terrible since it was clear she was still in love with Sonny and was just using him. Even if they had chem (which I didn’t see much of), I couldn’t get past that part since Zander didn’t deserve it. Not surprisingly, she forgot he existed as soon as she got back together with Sonny, so much for that close friendship. 

[Asp Burger]

I hate starting sentences with "In fairness to Carly," but I was skimming recaps of that year, and I had forgotten how she went to bat for him when he'd worn out his welcome with Sonny. Pratt/Guza had Zander acting childish and jealous over Jason's being back and reclaiming the position of Sonny's top stooge in town. He tried falsely claiming that Jason was making the moves on Carly, which was the last straw that got him fired, and then he started threatening to get revenge by selling information to Sonny's enemies. Carly did try to be a voice of moderation with Sonny in this period: Zander was just upset, give him time to cool off, etc. And she went looking for him and tried to talk him down.

I don't think Carly was done with him until he started throwing in his lot with any Sonny foe who would have him: Roy DiLucca, Luis Alcazar, Faith Rosco.

[Ambrosefolly]

But that is the pattern with Sonny & Carly. Once Jason gets back involved, his replacement is quickly shown the door and is expected to just give everything back to Jason. It doesn't help that Jason acts like an ass about it.  If Zander was feeling particularly destructive, he could told the cops about Sonny kidnapping AJ. These people do so much for them, but when Jason shows up, they start giving them the cold shoulder. 

Edited February 12, 2021 by Ambrosefolly

[Lobsel Vith]

On 2/12/2021 at 4:32 PM, Ambrosefolly said:

But that is the pattern with Sonny & Carly. Once Jason gets back involved, his replacement is quickly shown the door and is expected to just give everything back to Jason. It doesn't help that Jason acts like an ass about it.  If Zander was feeling particularly destructive, he could told the cops about Sonny kidnapping AJ. These people do so much for them, but when Jason shows up, they start giving them the cold shoulder. 

Unfortunately, and the show continues with that awful trend through different regimes.

I remember a fan fic that once touched on trying to fix both Stefan's last OOC appearance and Zander's villainous turn, having it that Zander was actually working for Mac (saying he recognized he screwed up and now wanted to be a hero to his unborn child), and kept filling Mac in with explanations for the things he'd done on an unofficial basis, since Mac wanted to figure out who the cops were who were working with Faith. It does make me think that trying to rectify some of the damage done by Guza isn't necessarily impossible, although you'd need writers who care enough to do it.

[Cheyanne11]

The original Lazy Susan of Death:

When the LSD kicks in:

 

[dubbel zout]

"Heather's LSD Boomerang" is one of the most awesome titles I've read in a while.

[Asp Burger]

It was mercifully kept offscreen this time, but Nikolas's strike force invading the safe house where Florence was being held -- and the way he was getting progress reports on it via phone -- reminded me of the unintentionally funniest thing I've ever seen on GH. Remember the time Sonny sent ninjas to kill AJ? Alexis appealed to Sonny's better nature and got him to call them off at the last minute. They tried to make it suspenseful by showing the ninjas advancing on the Quartermaine house and getting as far as a window (or maybe a door with glass panes) while Alexis pleaded and Sonny dithered back at the penthouse. "Good" times.  

It was funny because it was so un-mob-like. When I think of contract killing, I usually think of one guy in a suit with a gun, not a team of assassins clad head to toe in black. I know Jason was off the show at that point, but did it need to be a group undertaking? Had they made it into the house, were they going to take him out with samurai swords and nunchakus?

[tessaray]

I've had GH back on my dvr for a couple of months now. I was vaguely aware of some recent plots like Nelle, Shiloh, Drew - at least the highlights of the memory stuff, so that's okay but could someone fill me in on how Laura connected with her biological brothers?

[Asp Burger]

19 hours ago, tessaray said:

could someone fill me in on how Laura connected with her biological brothers?

Some of the show's law-abiding types (Jordan, Curtis, Laura, etc.) were digging into Cyrus's past and found out he had an account with a medical supply company and was paying for the upkeep of a person named "Grey" (or "Gray") who was in a long-term facility in Vermont.

Around the same time, Cyrus was doing his usual thing of publicly approaching Laura and being all solicitous, offering any help he could provide re: Lulu. Lulu had been injured by a bomb Cyrus had ordered planted in a public place, but he genuinely seemed not to have wanted Lulu to be one of the casualties.

Cyrus's comments showed suspiciously deep knowledge of Laura's background. At first, she thought he had just been looking for blackmail info on her. 

Long story short, Laura discovered that the "Grey" person was Florence Grey, a bedridden elderly woman who is the widow of Laura's biological father, Gordon Grey. Martin was visiting Florence at The Facility that Cyrus Found, and Laura was there at the same time. Laura learned that Martin was her half brother. Then Cyrus walked in and made some remark about how he knew Laura would follow the trail of crumbs he had left for her, and "Welcome to the family." She's been dealing with her good and bad half brothers ever since. 

Edited May 7, 2021 by Asp Burger

[tessaray]

Thanks, @Asp Burger - my first memories of GH had Laura as a troubled teen and lots of angst with Lesley, David Hamilton, etc.  I don't recall any discussion of her bio father but when there's no internet and you can only watch during the summer or on sick days, you miss a lot. 🙂

And of course, with retcons you're often left scratching your head anyway. 

[nilyank]

This was Connor Olivera and how it was revealed that Sean was his dad.

 

What I loved about this clip is how non-soapy and really happy Tiffany is for Sean finding out about his long lost son.

God, I loved them.

[DanaMB]

2 hours ago, nilyank said:

This was Connor Olivera and how it was revealed that Sean was his dad.

 

What I loved about this clip is how non-soapy and really happy Tiffany is for Sean finding out about his long lost son.

God, I loved them.

Mac’s old accent. I forgot how bad it was. 😂

[UYI]

Cari Shayne (Karen) shared this on Twitter today:

And someone tagged MB in this post, too. Kind of weird to think Sonny was in town at the same time as Sean & Tiffany for two years, but there you go.

 

[Jaded]

Who was the guy with long hair in that 2nd clip?

Good lord it's a disgusting disgrace that Sonny is still on GH and that it's centered around his family pretty much. I always wonder if it would have turned into "General Mobspital: if The Sopranos had never existed. I've never been ever to be a real regular viewer of GH because of my dislike for Sonny. I share mental health issues with MB and really tried to be more sympathetic towards him due to that. After hearing how he whined about his character being backburned during ReRon's tenure I gave up  especially since the show was more enjoyable in some ways without Sonny on as much along with Mo's poor mumbly line reading.

For the record Luke was never a favorite character either especially considering the way Laura/Genie were trashed to keep Tony Geary happy. 

Due to how old I was when I first started to really pay attention to GH I never really got to see John Reilly as a regular on the show. I became more familar with him due to his roles in other shows like BH 90210, Sunset Beach, Passions and when he'd pop up in episodes of TV shows. I always like him as an actor and have enjoyed what I've seen of him in old GH stuff that's online along with occasional appearances on GH after leaving.

[Asp Burger]

The Sopranos first aired in 1999, and it wasn't huge right out of the gate. The first season averaged about 3.5 million viewers per episode, which was impressive for pay cable but not close to the numbers of big network series like ER. Concurrent with that first season, before The Sopranos could have been influencing GH's direction, GH had quite a bit of organized crime story. There had also been quite a bit before 1999:  Sonny and Stone, Brenda and the wire, Jason reborn as holy hitman. 

However, a little later in '99, The Sopranos was nominated for and won a number of Emmys for that first season (a shock at the time). Then it became a smash. The return of Guza and Pratt in 2002 coincided with The Sopranos' peak of popularity. 

So I think it's a little of "A and a little of "B." There were already mob elements in place, and Guza liked telling those stories, and this other show's zeitgeist moment emboldened him and other writers to devote more and more of the show to the mob. I think it also influenced the direction of Carly, who really turned into a Carmela type in the Tamara Braun years. 

When I look at the GH episode summaries from 1999, there was more of a mix. There was mob, but there were other things that didn't have anything to do with it. 

Now The Sopranos is long gone, but unfortunately, to a lot of remaining viewers, Sonny and the mob are the GH they know and expect.

Edited May 24, 2021 by Asp Burger

[GHScorpiosRule]

28 minutes ago, Asp Burger said:

The Sopranos first aired in 1999, and it wasn't huge right out of the gate. The first season averaged about 3.5 million viewers per episode, which was impressive for pay cable but not close to the numbers of big network series like ER. Concurrent with that first season, before The Sopranos could have been influencing GH's direction, GH had quite a bit of organized crime story. There had also been quite a bit before 1999:  Sonny and Stone, Brenda and the wire, Jason reborn as holy hitman. 

However, a little later in '99, The Sopranos was nominated for and won a number of Emmys for that first season (a shock at the time). Then it became a smash. The return of Guza and Pratt in 2002 coincided with The Sopranos' peak of popularity. 

So I think it's a little of "A and a little of "B." There were already mob elements in place, and Guza liked telling those stories, and this other show's zeitgeist moment emboldened him and other writers to devote more and more of the show to the mob. I think it also influenced the direction of Carly, who really turned into a Carmela type in the Tamara Braun years. 

When I look at the GH episode summaries from 1999, there was more of a mix. There was mob, but there were other things that didn't have anything to do with it. 

Now The Sopranos is long gone, but unfortunately, to a lot of remaining viewers, Sonny and the mob are the GH they know and expect.

The difference between then and now is that in past years, the mob/mafia/goon elements were portrayed and treated as the Bad Guys they were, and the police were viewed as the good guys and not key stone cops and were able to go after them and even get some thrown in jail. The mob was not the "moral" center of the show, as Guza's second and last turn, followed by all other show runners to the present, who continue to portray them as the "heroes" they so aren't.

[Asp Burger]

When the OLTL Three were hastily written out in 2013 because Prospect Park had the rights to the characters, did other characters mention any of them by name? I know that we had laughs over Carly's multiple frantic mentions of "Michael's girlfriend," but I can't remember if Todd and McBain got the same immediate un-personing. 

[UYI]

On 5/24/2021 at 7:13 AM, Jaded said:

Who was the guy with long hair in that 2nd clip?
 

Det. Alexander Garcia, played by George Alvarez. He later played Father Ray Santos on Guiding Light.

Garcia was only a recurring character, but he DID have a clear crush on Lily pre-Clink! Boom. 

[jsbt]

On 5/28/2021 at 7:38 AM, Asp Burger said:

When the OLTL Three were hastily written out in 2013 because Prospect Park had the rights to the characters, did other characters mention any of them by name? I know that we had laughs over Carly's multiple frantic mentions of "Michael's girlfriend," but I can't remember if Todd and McBain got the same immediate un-personing. 

I don't think they did get mentioned by name again, but I could be wrong. I do remember a lot of talk of both PP and ABC being disallowed to mention their respective characters by name onscreen, which PP promptly violated by having Natalie (John's ex) mention Sam by name on OLTL 2.0, lol. (Todd alluded to Carly without mentioning her name.) The shows were good but PP management was never big on rules or the letter of the law.

Edited May 30, 2021 by jsbt

[Melgaypet]

19 hours ago, UYI said:

Garcia was only a recurring character, but he DID have a clear crush on Lily pre-Clink! Boom. 

He was crossed over to Port Charles occasionally, I guess when Mac wasn't available or the writers weren't allowed/didn't want to use him. I remember him during the General Homicide storyline, generally being exasperated by Kevin's investigation.

[Jaded]

On 5/29/2021 at 8:23 PM, UYI said:

Det. Alexander Garcia, played by George Alvarez. He later played Father Ray Santos on Guiding Light.

Garcia was only a recurring character, but he DID have a clear crush on Lily pre-Clink! Boom. 

Thank you for answering! 

After looking him up I do remember his GL character even though I was far from a regular viewer. I remember seeing his picture in the soap mags during his GL days and thinking he was cute

Edited May 31, 2021 by Jaded

[Chanandler]

I finally found a playlist containing the original “Faison poisons Tiffany” storyline Here. There are a lot of missing/removed clips but the meat of the storyline is still there.  The poisoning storyline starts about halfway down the page with this clip.
 

Edit: Oops! It’s this one. The first one was just Faison threatening to deal with Sean and Tracy trying to get Sean to back off Paul Hornsby, who is a major player in this storyline. Here’s where things really begin.

Edited June 9, 2021 by Chanandler
Wrong clip.

[UYI]

Ladies and Gentlemen, Emmy winner Stuart Damon. He won the same night as Susan Lucci. RIP.

 

Edited June 29, 2021 by UYI

[Ambrosefolly]

You mean an old person can still carry a storyline that is relevant and age appropriate?Who would have thought.

[UYI]

2 hours ago, Ambrosefolly said:

You mean an old person can still carry a storyline that is relevant and age appropriate?Who would have thought.

"I got to play the oldest, fattest drug addict in the history of television, and for that, I thank Wendy Riche and Bob Guza." LMAO! XD

Edited July 2, 2021 by UYI

[methodwriter85]

So I guess this is relevant again now.

It's such a bizarre situation because I really think Frank hoped that Nicholas Betchel was going to hit a growth spurt and he'd be able to film him against Cam/Joss/Trina and not look 13, but with them going off to PCU I think it was inevitable they had to bring back an older looking Spencer. Nicholas Betchel can still believably play 8th grade and they had to recast if they're going to have the character running around PCU. (That we'll never actually see because the show can't afford the set. LOL.) 

It's also funny to realize that Hannah Nordberg and Eden McCoy are the same age. Also that Cam has to be one of the least SORASed soap characters, like ever. His on-screen birth was in 2004 and his SORAS birth year is 2003.

If they gave a damn they would try to bring Emma back, but since that likely means SORASing I'm okay with them not doing that. Emma can happily live her life offscreen like Serena Baldwin.

Anyway, re-watching Spencer of the Opera makes me realize that his current plan to destroy Ava is toooottttalllyyyy in line with his character. LOL.

I wonder if the show will go with the established Cam/Spencer/Joss backstory or they'll retcon it? Are they going to know Spencer? 

Edited July 6, 2021 by methodwriter85

[dubbel zout]

7 hours ago, methodwriter85 said:

I wonder if the show will go with the established Cam/Spencer/Joss backstory or they'll retcon it? Are they going to know Spencer? 

I think they'll know Spencer. It's no accident he's shown himself only to Trina, who has plausibly never seen him. I think Spencer is supposed to be in school in France? Nik doesn't even know he's back in town, though Nik is a terrible parent in general.

[tessaray]

I feel so sorry for those who stayed during the Spencer years. Just watching the clips was so painful. 

[methodwriter85]

54 minutes ago, tessaray said:

I feel so sorry for those who stayed during the Spencer years. Just watching the clips was so painful. 

There was one episode (I think an April fool's joke episode) where the end tag is just watching Nicholas Betchel running around a room being a kid and Billy Miller picking him up. That kid was adored. That must have been one awkward call with Frank.

Edited July 6, 2021 by methodwriter85

[UYI]

2 hours ago, methodwriter85 said:

There was one episode (I think an April fool's joke episode) where the end tag is just watching Nicholas Betchel running around a room being a kid and Billy Miller picking him up. That kid was adored. That must have been one awkward call with Frank.

It was at the end of the live week they did in May of 2015. 

Edited July 6, 2021 by UYI

[jsbt]

I said this elsewhere, but I thought Nicolas Bechtel was unbearable during most of his run on the frontburner when he was little. Some soap kids can handle that kind of work and focus; he couldn't. They seemed to barely have him restrained and were all just charmed by whatever he would do while rolling. I remember some of us watched his primetime work at the same time, like when he was on Grey's and they tried to get him to cry in a scene with Chandra Wilson, little dude was dry as a bone.

I don't watch much these days, but I catch clips here and there and I did see some of Bechtel's recent returns when they pertained to Laura or Nikolas, since that's family stuff I was interested in. I thought he had actually improved considerably as a teenager, and he was able to summon up emotion and pathos with his scene partners and not just mug for the camera through his lisp. But I also know he's getting other work and would not be back on a contract. I'm glad he's improved as a performer, but it took ages and they should've recast with another teen a long time ago as opposed to FV just indulging him at every turn. Hopefully the new dude isn't a block of wood.

(The little girl playing Emma was awful too. Don't get me started on that previous Cam)

Edited July 7, 2021 by jsbt

[methodwriter85]

On 7/6/2021 at 11:15 PM, jsbt said:

 I thought Nicolas Bechtel was unbearable during most of his run on the frontburner when he was little. Some soap kids can handle that kind of work and focus; he couldn't. They seemed to barely have him restrained and were all just charmed by whatever he would do while rolling.

Yeah, they literally just had Nicholas Betchel run around a room once during the GH live week in May 2015. (Thanks for reminding me of what episode that was, UYI!)

On 7/6/2021 at 11:15 PM, jsbt said:

But I also know he's getting other work and would not be back on a contract. I'm glad he's improved as a performer, but it took ages and they should've recast with another teen a long time ago as opposed to FV just indulging him at every turn. Hopefully the new dude isn't a block of wood.

He should have been replaced in 2018-19 when they were ramping up the current teen storyline. NB is only two years younger than Eden McCoy and they had to insert a line about her babysitting Spencer at one point when they were supposed to all be the same age as per the tween scene of 2014.

I do remember all across the board everyone haaaaaaattttteeeedddd the Phantom of the Spencer storyline. It was just too much. The hate comments were hysterical, though. I think there was one joke that Frank Valenti was going to have Spencer and Emma act out the Graduate next. lol

They technically should bring back Emma but I don't know if they want her to come back or not- honestly given the way this show works they'd write her as a shrewish bitch that Joss can't stand and we're supposed to agree with her.

 

[jsbt]

Eden McCoy is a temp recast that only hung around because she is white, blonde and Frank sees Kristen Alderson circa 2008 when he squints.

[jsbt]

Anybody else do a spit-take at this shit?!

2007: Dillon is investigating the murder of Rick Webber, probably on some Lulu mess. Alan rather comically assumes Monica killed him, but Monica and Alan casually start discussing how Monica had resumed her affair with Rick in the summer of '02. Say what?! I've never seen this before but I was watching in 2002, and I am 99.9% certain this resumed affair never actually happened.

Edited July 8, 2021 by jsbt

[GHScorpiosRule]

6 hours ago, methodwriter85 said:

They technically should bring back Emma but I don't know if they want her to come back or not- honestly given the way this show works they'd write her as a shrewish bitch that Joss can't stand and we're supposed to agree with her.

Emma did return a couple of years ago? For a very short visit just to prop Heinrik. But alas, as adorable as Brooklyn is, she was wooden as the proverbial wood. Emma was still sweet, but didn't interact with any of the other teens that I can recall.

[methodwriter85]

53 minutes ago, GHScorpiosRule said:

Emma did return a couple of years ago? For a very short visit just to prop Heinrik. But alas, as adorable as Brooklyn is, she was wooden as the proverbial wood. Emma was still sweet, but didn't interact with any of the other teens that I can recall.

She's very pretty but also looks her age of 15 so I hate to say it, but recast.  I remember when the show tried to bring back Robyn Richards when the "22-year old playing 16" actress failed, but she just wasn't much of an actress.

Although maybe don't bring Emma back, because I'd hate to see a SORASed Emma come back and NuSpencer go into crazy stalker mode. Please don't, show.

Too bad the show doesn't have the budget to build a teen scene around Jake because Hudson West is actually quite good and he looks like a mini-Ryan Gosling.

6 hours ago, jsbt said:

Eden McCoy is a temp recast that only hung around because she is white, blonde and Frank sees Kristen Alderson circa 2008 when he squints.

She also bears a striking resemblance to Laura Wright's real daughter so I'm sure that helps.

Hannah Nordberg is a really good actress so I wonder what might have been, but Hannah's doing pretty decently for herself. I'm convinced she's destined to play Reese Witherspoon's daughter in something.

Edited July 8, 2021 by methodwriter85

[jsbt]

Robyn Richards had her less than great moments but Brooklyn Silzer (or whoever) makes her looks like Jodie Foster.

[Ambrosefolly]

1 hour ago, jsbt said:

Robyn Richards had her less than great moments but Brooklyn Silzer (or whoever) makes her looks like Jodie Foster.

I liked Robyn Richards and was pretty upset when Kristen Storms took over for Maxie. It took me two years to warm to KS. I think some reviewers were right to say she acted like it wasn't acting, some what natural, and she did phenomenal with Chad Brannon when Maxie was helping Zander hide from the cops (because of Courtney and Jason, never forget). I was mad that she rarely got storylines but Natalia Livingston (who was a terrible Emily) got storyline after storyline.

[UYI]

On 7/8/2021 at 10:07 AM, methodwriter85 said:

 I remember when the show tried to bring back Robyn Richards when the "22-year old playing 16" actress failed.

 

Ah, yes, Danica Stewart, who then went on to do Passions. IIRC, even fans of that show thought her acting sucked, and if you aren't good enough for Passions, well...

[methodwriter85]

2 hours ago, UYI said:

Ah, yes, Danica Stewart, who then went on to do Passions. IIRC, even fans of that show thought her acting sucked, and if you aren't good enough for Passions, well...

Pretty much the best actor to come out of the show is Justin Hartley. I mean, he's really gorgeous and all that, but there's a reason he's never been nominated for a Primetime Emmy on five seasons of This Is Us.

Anyway, I do remember Robyn when she got let the first time basically bemoaning the fact that child actors on the show tend to get an increase in storylines when they hit 15/16. It is true- Laura (being statutory raped instead of raped raped), Robin (the beginning of the Stone storyline and her AIDS poster child storyline), Lucky (his Elizabeth love story which eventually led to him confronting his parents about Laura's rape rape) and Emily (drug addition and rehab) are probably the prime examples. And I guess Joss, who got the Oscar storyline that year as well. I'm sure Molly, Kristina, and Michael got those as well, but I honestly just never cared about their respective teen scenes such as they were. (There will never be anything like the Robin teen scene or the Lucky/Emily one again.) 

You guys all KNOW they wanted to do that with Nicholas Betchel but alas he's just too short and young-looking to pull it off.

I kind of hope they'll decide to build it up a teen scene around Hudson West once they phase out the current one. It could be soon- college often gets fast-tracked on soaps and they often just graduate the characters to the 20-something scene after a year or two of college. I think the One Life to Live early 2000's college scene with Jessica and Natalie is the only one I can think of where we actually see them go from freshmen to Graduation Day.

 

Edited July 11, 2021 by methodwriter85

[UYI]

9 hours ago, methodwriter85 said:

 I'm sure Molly, Kristina, and Michael got those as well, but I honestly just never cared about their respective teen scenes such as they were. 

 

Lexi Ainsworth DID do a good job with the storyline where Kristina was being beaten by her boyfriend, Keifer, IMO.

Speaking of which, her firing in 2011 was widely given the old "storyline-dictated" reason at the time, but I distinctly remember a direct quote from Kimberly McCullough in SOD calling it bullshit (well, she actually used the word "baloney", but anyway, lol), because she felt what they were actually trying to do was something they nearly did to herself around 1992-1993: recast the character so they were old enough to be convincing as a romantic lead. Obviously, unlike in the case of Lexi, Kimberly was able to survive and thrive on the show and avoid being cut. 

(KMc also once told a story about how she was nearly recast even earlier than that when she was somewhere around middle school age--between 1989-1990, I'm thinking--and Finola Hughes, who was still on the show at the time, put a stop to that, saying that the interaction between a young pre-teen girl and her mom was needed and was real--she was also young enough that an older teenage Robin at that point would have aged her up, too, but still)

The irony, of course, being that while Kristina WAS recast with Lindsey Morgan from 2012-2013, they eventually brought Lexi back anyway (and, unlike in the case of RR's return, they actually kept her). Go figure.

(Not to mention everything involving Robin: There were people who thought that Kim and Steve Burton had chemistry when she was as young as 14, but held off because of the age difference, and wound up pairing her with Stone, even though Michael Sutton is even older than her than Steve is--and I could go into the whole "Robin is actually supposed to be older than both AJ AND Jason" thing--because God forbid an older woman get involved with a younger man too often, hence why she and Lucky probably never got any tease--but I've said enough for one morning.) 

Edited July 11, 2021 by UYI

[dubbel zout]

20 minutes ago, UYI said:

Lexi Ainsworth DID do a good job with the storyline where Kristina was being beaten by her boyfriend, Keifer, IMO.

That story was pretty good (grading on the GH scale, of course) until Sonny made it all about him.

[nilyank]

On 7/6/2021 at 7:13 AM, dubbel zout said:

I think they'll know Spencer. It's no accident he's shown himself only to Trina, who has plausibly never seen him. I think Spencer is supposed to be in school in France? Nik doesn't even know he's back in town, though Nik is a terrible parent in general.

On his phone, there is a picture of Spencer with Nikolas and Laura. Since Nikolas rarely goes to visit his son, I just assumed it was from Spencer's graduation. Spencer clearly looks over 18 so I am sure that Nikolas can't even be bothered to know where his son is. He probably assumed that Spencer took his trust fund and decided to travel.