GH History Lessons: Because History is Always Repeating Itself

[SlovakPrincess]

On July 30, 2017 at 11:54 AM, Chairperson Meow said:

 Micheal exists in the way corn flakes were supposed to stop masturbation when they were invented.

 

 

[Record scratch sound]

Wait, what now?  LOL

[Chairperson Meow]

On ‎8‎/‎20‎/‎2017 at 10:18 PM, SlovakPrincess said:

 

[Record scratch sound]

Wait, what now?  LOL

Yeah.  It was believed in Ye Oldie Times that sexual desire and masturbation were an illness/sin.  People were committed for such things.  The inventor of cornflakes made them for that purpose and gave them to patients in a sanitarium.   To bring it back on topic, Sonny needs to eat more cornflakes so that things like Soily don't happen again,

[garnet207]

   Graham crackers were also invented for the same purpose, FYI, so Sonny could also add those to his diet as well (preferably before Josslyn or Emma are legal age).

[Asp Burger]

Monica and Ned lovin' (Original-Recipe Ned), and Monica's later confession to the assembled Qs. Alan does not take it well.  

Kurt McKinney definitely was assigned a "type" on daytime, wasn't he? His other famous daytime pairing was on Guiding Light with Maeve Kinkead, who was also about 15 years older than he.  

Edited August 30, 2017 by Asp Burger

[SlovakPrincess]

Lila:  Blackmailed?!!!!!

Me: Lila, your family was blackmailed at least once a year in the 80s.  Settle down.

 

Tracy looks really pretty here.

I actually liked this version of Ned ... the WK version has always been too smug for my taste, although he worked better for the bigamy storyline years later and the general direction they wanted to take Ned in.

Edited August 31, 2017 by SlovakPrincess

[dubbel zout]

Monica's dress is SO '80s. Hee. I love JE with a bob.

Was that Larry behind Tracy?

[Asp Burger]

Yeah, that was Larry.  

Monica's whole look in that confession scene was unfortunate. Going by her alone, I would have thought a great deal more time separated that clip and the earlier one, where she and Ned were sexing it up at Green Meadows. 

Where the second clip is frozen for the preview is my expression when watching General Hospital.  

[ulkis]

At 4:16:

 

Nikolas: I trust you, Uncle. I also know you. Everything, Everyone is a tool to you, something to be used or controlled. 

Stefan: Well, that's not very flattering.

SN's delivery is hilarious.

And then Nikolas goes on to say:

Nikolas: It's how you are, even with me. The difference is I know I'm being manipulated, Bobbie doesn't. So I have to make sure she's not hurt.

Stefan: because she's your friend?

Nikolas: Because whatever it is you're doing, is for me.

If this was written by today's GH writers, Nikolas would be telling Stefan well gee he can be manipulating sometimes but his goatee is so cute so whatever, plus so-and-so is meaner, so there!! 

Edited September 3, 2017 by ulkis

[WendyCR72]

Found this on another board. Apparently, Sherilyn Wolter visited Emma Samms in her home in England. I think both ladies still look good.

[Neptune]

what happened to Stefan?

[ulkis]

16 minutes ago, Neptune said:

what happened to Stefan?

He went crazy. He wanted to arrange a marriage for Nikolas because he had borrowed money from someone and they were threatening Nikolas because they hadn't gotten the money back, and he figured Nikolas marrying a rich woman was the quickest way to get it. So he tried to kill Emily, I think he tried to rape someone else, and Luke eventually killed him. They later tried to retcon it as a suicide (by Stefan leaving a note saying he purposely goaded Luke into killing him), but no one, show or audience, really bought it.

Edited September 3, 2017 by ulkis

[dubbel zout]

1 hour ago, ulkis said:

SN's delivery is hilarious.

SN got some legit funny lines. Oh, for the days when the humor was intentional.

[Asp Burger]

Stefan's 2003 return was weird. It was as if Pruza had "Stefan character assassination" on a list of unfinished business. From the first day, they set about deflating any excitement that existed over Stephen Nichols's return opposite the original Nikolas. The Stefan/Nikolas relationship was nasty and oppositional from the start, in a way it had never been before. Stefan was mixed up with the Alcazar organization, so a character who had never been part of the mob story suddenly was. He tried to kill Emily (and did kill Summer); he got his face disfigured in a fire (15 years before Ava Jerome) and skulked around the tunnels of Wyndemere in a mask like the Phantom of the Opera; he tried to rape Lydia, and then he was murdered by Luke after being put on trial via reality TV by Luke and Dillon.  

He was written not like someone with history and a fan base, but like a short-term villain, and not even a formidable one. An inept, sleazy one. He even got mocked by Sonny, to Jason ("No wonder Alcazar's still breathing," as if Stefan had a long history of being bumbling and ineffectual).  

[Asp Burger]

Loosely related (just because we mentioned Lydia): If you've ever wondered what a saxophone suffering from dysentery sounds like, check out the very end of this scene.  What a horrid music cue. 

[SlovakPrincess]

As always when watching Sam clips, I think what a shame it is that KM's natural cuteness is wasted on this bitter, brittle drip of a character.  

Sam has had some good moments, but even when she got to be a bad girl, she was rarely a FUN bad girl.

I feel like this show has been stuck in ladies-smirking-and-scowling-at-each-other mode since the Robin and Carly fights became so repetitive and unpleasant in the late 90s.

[HeatLifer]

2 hours ago, SlovakPrincess said:

Sam has had some good moments, but even when she got to be a bad girl, she was rarely a FUN bad girl.

I blame Jason. Sam became the victim of the Carly and Liz syndrome. Eventually, she turned into the "Why can't you just love ME and want ME and put ME first! Love me the way I want you to love me!" woman.

[SlovakPrincess]

Just now, HeatLifer said:

I blame Jason. Sam became the victim of the Carly and Liz syndrome. Eventually, she turned into the "Why can't you just love ME and want ME and put ME first! Love me the way I want you to love me!" woman.

Yep, Jason has that effect.  Usually because he knows what Carly is all about ... and still lets her intrude on his life and pick fights with the women he actually wants to be with.   

I wil never understand why the show holds him up as the epitome of manly heroism.  He couldn't even set boundaries with his boss (Sonny) and not-even ex (Carly)!  In real life, he'd be called a wimp.

[ulkis]

5 hours ago, SlovakPrincess said:

As always when watching Sam clips, I think what a shame it is that KM's natural cuteness is wasted on this bitter, brittle drip of a character.  

I don't see it much myself (on-screen), but I think that KeMo's natural cuteness must shine through for a lot of people though, otherwise she wouldn't have so many fans.

[dubbel zout]

It's hard for me to see any natural cuteness in KeMo when all Sam does is sob and grovel. I really don't understand why the show has to be so depressing and morose all. the. time. Intentional humor and lightness isn't a bad thing!

[ulkis]

I don't think it is though. We've got Man Landers for instance lol. I just think KM either gets dramatic material, she plays it low-key or both. She has gotten a few light moments here and there though.

[dubbel zout]

Drunk!Sam and her air quotes was definitely a highlight.

[Asp Burger]

Whenever I see a really old clip, it reminds me that I couldn't stand pre-Jason Sam either. There's one where she shows up at Jax's in a dumb-looking outfit and plops down on the couch and basically says she's moving in, and he owes her because something something Dead Man's Hand.  

[SlovakPrincess]

Who's the genius who thought it would be a good idea for the characters to go around saying Dead Man's Hand for the entirety of that story?   Like, I know it's not an actual hand ... it just still sounds stupid.   

Although, I guess there were a lot of silly-named plot devices in stories over the years ... Ice Princess, Prometheus Disc, etc.

[WineCheeseChocolat]

Since BW AJ was in that clip above, I watched a few clips from the McTavish era of early 2002s. I know a lot of people hated that time but I liked it. TB Carly got a backbone, a business and fun flirtations with people besides Sonny and AJ got to get some digs in against Sonny and had the brief but cute marriage to SWSNBN before the creepy strip club story and St Jasus.

Anyway, that brings me to my question. AJ got SWSNBN Rosie the puppy, the cutest golden pup.  Was there ever any resulution as to what happened to Rosie? She was super cute!

Also, who the hell was Lydia? The name sounds familiar but her exact role on the show is escaping me.

[WineCheeseChocolat]

Also, I vaguely remember DMH but does anyone have a synopsis of it? Jax was after it, Luke was after it, Sam blew into town and was after it. Jax and San had a thing until the DMH caused the death of Jax's father and he dumped her and she slept with and got knocked up by Sonny who may or may not have been married to Carly at the time so Jason claimed paternity. That's what I remember.

[WendyCR72]

1 hour ago, WineCheeseChocolat said:

Also, who the hell was Lydia? The name sounds familiar but her exact role on the show is escaping me.

Lydia was the heiress whom a suddenly crazy, desperate Stefan wanted Nik to marry since the Cassadines lost their fortune or something.

[Asp Burger]

3 hours ago, WineCheeseChocolat said:

Anyway, that brings me to my question. AJ got SWSNBN Rosie the puppy, the cutest golden pup.  Was there ever any resulution as to what happened to Rosie? She was super cute!

Also, who the hell was Lydia? The name sounds familiar but her exact role on the show is escaping me.

Lydia was brought on as Wendy mentioned above, and she ended up with AJ the one time they wrote him off with a happy ending, in 2003. The two of them fleeced the Quartermaines and skipped town, and were last shown lounging on a beach or by a pool or something, celebrating their big score.  

Lydia was played by two actresses. No one liked the first Lydia. She was...well, one has seen prettier women as young female characters on soaps, and there was no spark to her performances. A very drab presence. The second one was more popular, was in about three times as many episodes, and is better remembered.  She was in the role when Stefan kidnapped and tried to rape Lydia and all of that. That second actress also has stayed in acting longer.  

The adorable Rosie was one of the few good things about SWSNBN. She disappeared without explanation shortly after Journey got started. I seem to remember a scene in which SWSNBN was telling a traumatized Michael a story about "Wonder Rosie," who would put on her cape and fly over Port Charles, making sure little boys like Michael were safe. Steve Burton was standing there in the doorway listening, looking at SWSNBN with an expression that we were supposed to read as "Wow, she has such a great heart and is so good with Michael, and I think I'm falling in love," but...you know. It was just that one Steve Burton expression. Eyes wide, lips slightly parted, a blink or two.  Anyway, that may have been the last mention of Rosie.  

[UYI]

I've always wondered what happened to Robert's dog, Friday. He appears a lot with Robin after Robert & Anna were presumed dead in 1992, and I guess at some point he disappeared, and never got to see Robert again, even after he turned up alive. :(

Also, I asked this question in the Scorpio thread recently and no one answered me, so I'll ask it here: has anyone here ever read Robin's Diary, which was published during the AIDS storyline? Is it any good? 

[stlbf]

1 hour ago, UYI said:

I've always wondered what happened to Robert's dog, Friday. He appears a lot with Robin after Robert & Anna were presumed dead in 1992, and I guess at some point he disappeared, and never got to see Robert again, even after he turned up alive. :(

Also, I asked this question in the Scorpio thread recently and no one answered me, so I'll ask it here: has anyone here ever read Robin's Diary, which was published during the AIDS storyline? Is it any good? 

I have a copy buried somewhere. I remember liking it when I read it. But it has been decades, so I'll have to find it and reread it.

[WineCheeseChocolat]

AJ and SWSNBN at the Jax/Carly club opening, back when SWSNBN had a backbone and was all "you're not the boss of me, big brother!" to Sonny.

And Sonny's rage...LOL, so over the top. 

I didn't like Zander as a mini-Sonny, but I did like the Zander/Carly tease. Zander was pretty rough around the edges so I thought he was better suited with Carly than Emily.

I know those years weren't the best of the best but the best were before my time and the late 90s-mid 2002s were better than anything that came after.

Edited September 24, 2017 by WineCheeseChocolat

[Asp Burger]

There was a blind item back then (early SWSNBN) about a West Coast star who did not want to appear in scenes opposite a new "bombshell" because she "overpowered" him, and he liked to dominate the scene. Blind items are blind items, and back then there were more soaps, but a lot of people guessed MB and ALW, during CourAJ.  

ETA: The date on the club-opening clip above is off by a couple years. March 2002 rather than 2004.

Other ETA: I'd forgotten about Tamara Braun's habit of standing while holding her back, like she had the sciatica.  

Edited September 25, 2017 by Asp Burger

[SlovakPrincess]

Gotta love these nitwits standing around going "ooh, how will Sonny react to his sister arriving with AJ!"   Like, just enjoy the party people!!   Sonny's always throwing fits, so who cares?

 Every time I watch a Sonny clip I start internally screaming into the void: "but he's boooooorrrrring!!!  How am I the only one who sees this?!"

Other than jealousy and being petty, why did Sonny call Jax Candyboy?

[dubbel zout]

Because Sonny thought Jax was a lightweight playboy.

[Asp Burger]

Ew, I just watched that clip from 2011 where Sonny walks in on a Kristina/Brenda conversation and flips out because Kristina says she wants to look "hot" for Ethan. He says it isn't a good idea to tell your father you want to look hot for "another man." Like it would be a good idea if she said she wanted to look hot for him? 

I must have missed this scene the first time around. I'm sorry to have corrected that.  

[bannana]

Why was/is Courtney so disliked? 

[Asp Burger]

Courtney was one of several new or returning sisters during the 2000-01 years. Suddenly, Taggert had a sister, AJ had a sister, Alexis had a sister, Sonny had a sister, Liz had a sister (recast). Predictably, Courtney was one of the two longest-lasting of those characters, because Sonny.  

She did have fans, but she has always been disliked on PTV and its predecessor, Television Without Pity.  This is my attempt at the anti-Courtney précis, and anyone else can feel free to modify or add to it.  

She initially was a somewhat promising character because she was written as resentful and more than a little grossed out at Sonny's controlling behavior (e.g., interrogating her after a date with AJ as if she were a four-year-old who had been touched inappropriately in daycare). She did not bow down to him and Carly, and she tried to see AJ's side. Then the writing did what it always did with AJ. He was made responsible for her descent into the seedy underworld of stripping. Since that was not enough character assassination, they gave Courtney a stalker and revealed that AJ was orchestrating it to make himself the big hero.  

The actress was said to be a favorite of Brian Frons's (the president of ABC Daytime in those days). He said once in an interview that he watched some very ordinary scene of Jason and Courtney on the docks and that was what he wanted to see more of; their chemistry just leaped off the screen at him. So he got a lot of the blame for the Jason/Courtney pairing, the trashing of AJ/Courtney, and the trashing of Liz/Jason.  When Guza and Pratt created a short-term (unrequited?) love interest for Courtney, and named him "Brian," there was a lot of giggling.  

Once Courtney was firmly in the Sonny/Carly/Jason fold, she became insufferable to a lot of people. She thoroughly recanted all earlier attitudes. She was on constantly. She toed the mob party line. She and Carly were besties. Her only conflicts with brother dearest were when she had relationships with his true love (Jason) and later his enemy (Jax). And it was one of those things where the other characters were always telling us what a great person she was, what a wonderful heart she had, but Alicia Leigh Willis's performances were at odds with it.  She always came off more like she was when the character was first introduced, kind of hard-bitten and obnoxious, rolling her eyes a lot. Also, she had this weird propensity to get into car accidents, practically every time she got behind the wheel, and she shot a cop and got away with it.  

The short version is that she made a quartet out of a trio that was already eating the show. She was getting "golden girl" writing, being a new character who was constantly featured and always coming out on top. They moved her around a lot in front-burner romantic pairings, so she cut a wide swath in only four years.  

My own feelings: There are other characters I have disliked just as much, some of them still around, but I never liked her after CourAJ ended, and I have never missed her.

ETA: Wow, I wrote all that and I did not even mention her falling face-first into wealth (from rescuing a rich old woman's dog from the hotel fire, I think?) and ascending to the presidency of My Foundation®.  

Edited September 27, 2017 by Asp Burger

[UYI]

That dog was Rosie, who you had just spoken about the other day! :)

[Asp Burger]

I don't think so, UYI. Rosie was the one AJ gave her in puppy form when she was newly on the show, and we saw Rosie grow up (although for all I know, they used six different dogs in an animal version of SORAS). Rich Old Lady's dog was just some day-player dog, right? 

[UYI]

Maybe, that was honestly before my time. For some reason I always thought Rosie was the dog she got after the hotel fire. I didn't realize there were actually two dogs.

[dubbel zout]

3 hours ago, Asp Burger said:

Rich Old Lady's dog was just some day-player dog, right? 

Yes. Rescuing ROL's dog in the hotel fire was how SWSNBN got enough money to start My Foundation®. And let's not forget she became Diego's foster mother, because it's entirely possible for a 24-year-old to have a teenage foster son.

[nilyank]

But ahe didn't actually save the dog. As she was going the stairs in the building, she left him tied up on thw stairwell as she went chasing after Jason.

 I think the dog got itself freed and found her later thus making it appear that she save the dig. When she did not.

[statsgirl]

Didn't Courtney also adopt "a boy" who was practically an adult?

Watching that AJ/Courtney club opening scene, I'm struck that MB was handsome MB. But his acting tics still annoy.  Now he just looks like an  unshaven wino with the same tics.

The writing is terrible though.  Everyone acts like Sonny is the scary omnipotent guy (much like they're doing with Valentin) and every single person goes up to Courtney and tells her how bad AJ is and how he's going to ruin herself.  OVERKILL.

[UYI]

40 minutes ago, statsgirl said:

Didn't Courtney also adopt "a boy" who was practically an adult?

 

That was mentioned in one of the above posts; it was Diego. 

[Jazzy24]

10 hours ago, bannana said:

Why was/is Courtney so disliked? 

Cause she became a Carly/Jason/Sonny worshipping slag, brother fecking, AJ hating, Jax betraying POS. 

 

Courtney was awesome when she came on and was paired with AJ. Her and Billy’s AJ had great chemistry and I absolutely LOVED their story. It was so realistic and so good. Pairing her with Jasus, making her Cujo’s BFF and Sonny’s sister killed her for me. Also betraying Jax. 

 

May she burn burn in hell for eternity. HATE. 

[dubbel zout]

3 minutes ago, Jazzy24 said:

Her and Billy’s AJ had great chemistry and I absolutely LOVED their story. It was so realistic and so good

It was decent up to the point where AJ had a drunk driving crash and she had to strip (as one does) to pay for the damages or whatever the threat was. UGH.

[TeeVee329]

Ugh, that story.  And that's when Coleman first showed up, right?

I didn't mind SWSNBN at first, but once AJ was destroyed to put her with Jason and she was firmly up Carly and Sonny's asses, I was done, though I do remember kinda not hating her for a bit during the early part of her storyline with Jax.

[nilyank]

Quote

It was decent up to the point where AJ had a drunk driving crash and she had to strip (as one does) to pay for the damages or whatever the threat was. UGH.

For no reason. Although the Qs disowned AJ for staying married to Courtney, they would have paid the damages to Coleman so he wouldn't go to jail. She could have asked Sonny for the money or told Colwman that she was Sonny's sister.

But she had too much pride for that and wouldn't tell AJ what she was doing for him. When Sonny found out,  he offered the money to pay Coleman but she refused. The only thing that she accepted was Jason acting her bodyguard at tge stripclub. 

Idiot.

[Asp Burger]

Oh, memories. ALW was awkward as all hell in those stripping scenes, and to be fair they acknowledged it in-story (I think Coleman was shown giving Courtney tips...I mean, "pointers" ), but she was made the sensation of the club.  Of course, it was a pretty sad collection of strippers. They were mostly older and/or less attractive than ALW. The clientele probably just was grateful for fresh meat, even if she moved robotically and it was all over her face that she hated doing it.   

Those other women were all very sweet to her. There was a scene in which Carly threw a...wedding shower for her? Was that to Jason? Or did she ever get far enough along in a pregnancy to have a baby shower? Anyway, whatever the occasion was, Carly threw Courtney a shower, and it was when Carly and Sonny were still together, because it was at the penthouse. Most of Courtney's "friends" who showed up were her former coworkers from Coleman's, and they were as nice as could be. I will never forget how disdainful and haughty Carly acted to the strippers. She behaved as if she had been born into royalty, and these low-class skanks were defiling her palace, and she had to bear this burden because she loved Courtney so much. It is one of my indelible memories of the TB Carly. Bitch.

And for all the fun we have with "SWSNBN," Courtney loved "Coleman's girls" right back, in that scene. She did not forgot where she had (recently) come from. 

[SlovakPrincess]

10 hours ago, nilyank said:

But ahe didn't actually save the dog. As she was going the stairs in the building, she left him tied up on thw stairwell as she went chasing after Jason.

 I think the dog got itself freed and found her later thus making it appear that she save the dig. When she did not.

So ... she actually damn near killed the dog?

[Asp Burger]

The Saga of Skippy (Rich Old Lady's dog). It's confusing, and I'm not sure if everything is included in the clip below.

As nearly as I can tell, SWSNBN leaves the dog tied in the stairwell so she can more effectively help the panicking ROL get out, but she promises to go back and get him. The women get outside safely, and SWSNBN goes back for the dog, after telling ROL that if she sees a guy named Jason, she should tell him Courtney is looking for him, loves him, blah blah blah.  

SWSNBN goes back inside and frees the dog from the stairwell, and then instead of going back down the way she came, she runs around inside the hotel, now carrying the dog, looking for Jason. She goes into one of the suites and lets the dog drink from an ice bucket filled with water. Jason and Brian find her. Jason decrees that they have to all go to the roof, where they are more likely to be rescued, because now it's not safe to try to go down; fire has engulfed lower levels. Eventually they encounter Sonny, and he yells at SWSNBN that when she shot Brian, she was protecting her husband, and the only bad thing is that she didn't finish the job.

Then at 1:06:15, Skippy (sans SWSNBN) is just running into Rich Old Lady's arms outside. How he got away from SWSNBN and the rest of her group, and made it down the stairwell that Jason had just said was too dangerous, I have no idea.

Maybe it would make more sense if I forced myself to watch the entire first hour, but I can barely do that with a new GH.  

Edited September 28, 2017 by Asp Burger