GH History Lessons: Because History is Always Repeating Itself

[SlovakPrincess]

And you might be thinking: why was the WSB simultaneously convinced Robert was a terrible traitor for trying to help his wife AND desperate to force him back into being their agent?  

Why was anyone blaming Robert or Anna for anything when Faison and WSB just blatantly did horrible things to them and Anna hadn't done anything double-agenty in decades?  

Why didnt Robert just say to Anna "look, I don't know what Robin told you and I get that maybe you're pissed I didn't try to call you after everyone found out I was alive, and apparently nobody believes me because I'm acting silly with Luke instead of crying over my ruined life, which is maybe a fair point, BUT WTF STOP KICKING ME, CRAZY LADY!"

All good - and unanswered - questions.

Edited September 3, 2016 by SlovakPrincess

[SlovakPrincess]

To actually answer your questions, LeftPhalange:

Its unclear why Anna was mad at Robert, other than he had upset Robin when he returned and she didn't believe him at first.  She got over her anger fairly quickly, not because they had any heartfelt discussion about what had happened (although she said a few nice things that indicated she still loved him) -- but because the show wanted to move on to silly shenanigans.  The whole thing was so incredibly tone deaf.   In character, I think Anna would have felt terrible and blamed herself, though it was really the WSB that decided to ruin Robert's life for no reason and her bad past in no way explained why they would do that to him.

Duke  ... doesn't really fit into the story at all, except for whatever that lunatic Ron wrote to fit him into his Faison / Olbrecht fan fic.  

Duke was introduced 86, the year after Anna and Robin came to town.  He knew enough about Robert the first husband to be a bit (or a lot) jealous, but I don't know how much she told him about her past bad deeds.  He was dead before Faison hit town in '90 or so, when Anna's past was dredged up again.

Edited September 3, 2016 by SlovakPrincess

[UYI]

It should be noted that, when Anna turned up alive on AMC in 2001, Robin did ask, when they reunited, if that meant "Daddy" was still alive. Anna's answer? "I don't know." Translation: "AMC already brought back one dead GH character, bringing back two without the parent show's involvement might be overshooting a bit. The ball's in your court now, GH." I think a lot of people wondered after that if Robert really was dead for a few years afterwards, but obviously in 2006, that changed.

It is interesting how AMC was more interested in bringing them back than their own show was at the time, though. (Actually, no it's not--JFP and McTavish had just started there. Never mind.)

Edited September 3, 2016 by UYI

[cmahorror]

Robert figures out Robin is his daughter...

 

Fell into the rabbit hole but it is a wonderful one...

[HeatLifer]

48 minutes ago, UYI said:

It is interesting how AMC was more interested in bringing them back than their own show was at the time, though. 

KMc and Fin were SO good in those scenes. 

[ulkis]

9 minutes ago, HeatLifer said:

KMc and Fin were SO good in those scenes. 

I still get chills when I think of Robin fainting when she sees Anna, and I barely knew who Anna was at the time.

Edited September 3, 2016 by ulkis

[Harmony233]

Robin IMO always seemed to favor Anna over Robert and gave her more of a break.

[HeatLifer]

10 minutes ago, ulkis said:

I still get chills when I think of Robin fainting when she sees Anna, and I barely knew who Anna was at the time.

There's a part where Robin grabs Anna's ponytail and starts crying and my heart hurtttttts.

[Tiger]

IIRC, Felicia Behr wanted Fin back on GH then at least wanted the Anna & Robin reunion on GH, but Jill "declined" both.  

ETA: I have yet to understand why Behr called Phelps & McTavish's OLTL "unwatchable", fired them from that show, and then installed them at GH.  

Edited September 3, 2016 by Tiger

[UYI]

18 minutes ago, Tiger said:

IIRC, Felicia Behr wanted Fin back on GH then at least wanted the Anna & Robin reunion on GH, but Jill "declined" both.  

That's right, she would've been VP of ABC Daytime at the time; Angela Shapiro was ABCD President (before Frons). 

[cmahorror]

Robert and Anna try to explain to Robin why they didn't tell her they were her parents.

 

[Lillybee]

This  could be a bit off topic but I found out the origin of the coast of Bolivia. It seems back in the day, a congress man named Dan or Don Burton had a hard on about the Clintons and believed that Bill was importing drugs into the US and wanted to station a battleship at the coast of Boliva to catch him in the act/ It could be one of the few times that the writers were using history semi correctly.

[HeatLifer]

Was watching some stuff from 2012 and was reminded of this perfect callback for JnR's "final" scene.

Jason: I'm glad you're here.

Robin: Where else would I be?

Does anyone have any fave callback or parallel scenes? Off the top of my head, I liked how Jason and Claudia played pool when SJB came back.

[cmahorror]

Since someone mention this upthread, thought I post the clips:

 

The follow-up clip where she tells Anna her HIV status.

[ulkis]

Mac had to be the original Ethan lol. All those "Robbies". So annoying.

[ulkis]

Dominique is really annoying. "No wedding! No wedding!" is right up there with "no service!" Shaddup, lady.

[SlovakPrincess]

On September 3, 2016 at 1:07 PM, Harmony233 said:

Robin IMO always seemed to favor Anna over Robert and gave her more of a break.

Although, Anna probably put up with more of Robin's bratty preteen moments -- I know there were some door slamming / "I hate you, stop treating me like a baby! / You're embarrassing me, mom!"  moments between them.

The first version of Dominique did not work so well.  The recast was pretty good ... but then they gave Dom terminal brain cancer, so that was that.  

ETA: Anna twirling baby Robin around in their first scene together will always make me go "aww!" (That and Robert's face when he figures out what's going on).  

Edited September 5, 2016 by SlovakPrincess

[UYI]

2 hours ago, ulkis said:

 

Mac had to be the original Ethan lol. All those "Robbies". So annoying.

To be fair, Robin called Robert "Robby" before she found out he was her father. 

2 hours ago, ulkis said:

Dominique is really annoying. "No wedding! No wedding!" is right up there with "no service!" Shaddup, lady.

Isn't that when she regained her hearing? She was deaf at first.

And Shell Danielson's Dom had the benefit of being paired with Scott, and becoming friends with Julia Barrett and Lucy. 

Had Shell not left GH to write for Power Rangers (she left voluntarily, although she wished she could do both shows at once), Dom might have lived longer.

Edited September 5, 2016 by UYI

[SlovakPrincess]

The part of Robin's intro story that cracks me up (well, all of it is pretty ridiculous if you think about it) is that she was kidnapped from summer camp and deposited at Robert's house ... and apparently her summer camp suitcase had nothing but fussy little dresses and cardigans in it.

What kind of camp were Anna and Phillmena sending that kid to, anyway?  

[ulkis]

1 hour ago, UYI said:

Isn't that when she regained her hearing? She was deaf at first.

I don't think so, she and Mac were conversing and nothing seemed to indicate she was deaf.

"Mrs. Bobbie Meyer"? Wasn't she already married to Tony at that point?

Edited September 6, 2016 by ulkis

[Harmony233]

Yes the first Dominquie was deaf her hearing came back at Anna and Roberts wedding they actually had Mac mention this to Serena when she was blind for awhile.

Edited September 6, 2016 by Harmony233

[ulkis]

15 minutes ago, Harmony233 said:

Yes the first Dominquie was deaf her hearing came back at Anna and Roberts wedding they actually had Mac mention this to Serena when she was blind for awhile.

But no one was like, "Dominique! You can hear!" It seems odd that no one mentioned anything about her getting her hearing back.

Hee at this:

Scotty: I admit I made a few mistakes over the years.

Robert: Yes, I admit that too.

https://youtu.be/LkiXamRi_DQ?list=PL2A2BB7653BCA39D4&t=301

[ulkis]

Little Robin is annoying.

Anna's hair is glorious.

[HeatLifer]

Fin and KMc are seriously the most precious things ever. Post more!

[ulkis]

Despite Anna's yellow ensemble, I like Anna/Robert/Shawn toasting. And Anna and Shawn groaning at Robert's lone wolf move and it having turned out that was the reaction Robert wanted.

Robert didn't seem to sad that Holly Emma Samms left for dynasty died though.

[UYI]

If it's from 1985, it's because she wasn't dead yet--she went to England, then to Australia where Robert joined her.

He got sad in 1987 when she was presumed dead, though.

[ulkis]

Nope, the clip I posted is from 1987.

Anna: Until Robin leaves it's couch city for you.

Robert: did you know my chiropractor was able to retire to a private island thanks to this bloody couch?

1987 by the way is definitely Robert's best hair year so far. 1989 it gets slightly bowl-y and of course in 1991 it's full on mullet.

Speaking of mullets, I'm pretty sure that's 98% of the reason why I can't stand Frisco. It's mullet on top but it's too thin to sustain it and it's all lanky and stringy at the bottom. 

Edited September 6, 2016 by ulkis

[dubbel zout]

7 hours ago, ulkis said:

I like Anna/Robert/Shawn toasting

The show ponied up the dough to use music from Beverly Hills Cop, which couldn't have been cheap.Anna talking about how she didn't want one of Robin's godfathers killed is one reason why I found young Robin insufferable a lot of the time. The show was relentless about telling us who those frickin' guys were. It was always Godfather this and Godfather that. Ugh. KMc was mostly able to stay on the right side of obnoxiously precocious, but the godfather stuff did me in every time.

[HeatLifer]

I always thought this show was damn lucky to find kid actors like KMc and JJ. I can't even imagine any of the kids today pulling off the dialogue and material they had or having the same connections with adult actors they had.

[Oracle42]

Certainly not since FV took over casting 

[SlovakPrincess]

I think they mostly kept kid Robin from being too cloying, but I agree they weren't always successful.  (At least she was doing kid appropriate things, not getting involved in a creepy child love quadrangle).

There's a really funny scene from Robin's first day in PC, where Robert is clearly getting frustrated but still trying to be sweet to 6-year-old Robin.  All she can tell him about where she came from is that she lives "in New York City in a big building."  "What's the address?"  "I dunno, we just moved there!" "Well, what's the old address?"  "I forgot." "Well, what's the name of your summer camp." "That's ... hard."  "The name of the camp is hard for you?" "Yeah..."   

Edited September 6, 2016 by SlovakPrincess

[HeatLifer]

4 minutes ago, SlovakPrincess said:

There's a really funny scene from Robin's first day in PC, where Robert is clearly getting frustrated but still trying to be sweet to 6-year-old Robin.  All she can tell him about where she came from is that she lives "in New York City in a big building."  "What's the address?"  "I dunno, we just moved there!" "Well, what's the old address?"  "I forgot." "Well, what's the name of your summer camp." "That's ... hard."  "The name of the camp is hard for you?" "Yeah..."   

LMAO. I love this scene.

[ulkis]

14 minutes ago, HeatLifer said:

I always thought this show was damn lucky to find kid actors like KMc and JJ. I can't even imagine any of the kids today pulling off the dialogue and material they had or having the same connections with adult actors they had.

No doubt, but too much of any kid is annoying, not matter how good they are at acting.[/grouch]

[SlovakPrincess]

2 minutes ago, HeatLifer said:

LMAO. I love this scene.

It's even funnier when Felicia says "I don't think you're getting any more answers from her, Robert."   

And he goes "I haven't gotten ANY yet!"

I may have watched this clip eleventy million times ...

[ulkis]

Also watching these videos I can see how Frisco lost touch with his family. 

Edited September 6, 2016 by ulkis

[HeatLifer]

1 minute ago, ulkis said:

No doubt, but too much of any kid is annoying, not matter how good they are at acting.[/grouch]

I get you... partly. It depends who it is for me, I guess. I enjoyed Robin with Anna, Robert, Felicia, Frisco, etc, too much. I just thought she was able to connect with the adults in a way that most kids couldn't. Like, the way she could be snarky with Robert!? Like, what? I just remember her making him pancakes bc she thought he was too skinny. So hysterical.

[ulkis]

Just now, HeatLifer said:

I get you... partly. It depends who it is for me, I guess. I enjoyed Robin with Anna, Robert, Felicia, Frisco, etc, too much. I just thought she was able to connect with the adults in a way that most kids couldn't. Like, the way she could be snarky with Robert!? Like, what? I just remember her making him pancakes bc she thought he was too skinny. So hysterical.

I mean, I haven't seen much young Robin yet (and by young, I mean pre-teen. I was fine with the 13 year old Robin). Just the scene I saw was just Robin bouncing in going "are weee goiing to staay in Port Charrrles? Yaaaaay!"

I miss Kelly's. Why would Frank get rid of it? No sense.

[HeatLifer]

2 minutes ago, ulkis said:

I mean, I haven't seen much young Robin yet (and by young, I mean pre-teen. I was fine with the 13 year old Robin). Just the scene I saw was just Robin bouncing in going "are weee goiing to staay in Port Charrrles? Yaaaaay!"

I miss Kelly's. Why would Frank get rid of it? No sense.

Girl should have left PC when she had a chance, shit. But definitely start with the '85 stuff and the Asian Quarter storyline. 

Why does Frank do anything? Blah.

[Harmony233]

I'm sure the same was said of JJ but kmc had to know how to adlib with TR.

[SlovakPrincess]

Did TR really ad lib that much?  I would hope he might give it a rest for a child actor, lol!

[ulkis]

the more I see of old clips, the less my heart bleeds for Tony Geary. Not that it ever did. Last clip I watched was this

And it's like, "waaaaah, for about 5 years everyone in the country that I was awesome! My character got to do cool stunts and run around and got all the best lines and the girls and I got to ad-lib half the time!" Oh, the horror. I get that it's a hard fall from that, to realize no one gives a damn outside that character, but it works that way with primetime and movies sometimes too. And theater, as well.

Edited September 6, 2016 by ulkis

[HeatLifer]

21 minutes ago, Harmony233 said:

I'm sure the same was said of JJ but kmc had to know how to adlib with TR.

Yeah, they talked about that a lot in interviews. KMc never missed a beat with him, it was crazy. They had a ridic back-and-forth.

[Oracle42]

The more I watch of the 80s, the angrier I get about Ethan. Like, I'm sure TG was convinced that there was a nostalgia for Luke/Holly - Nope. The better man (and couple) won. 

Edited September 6, 2016 by Oracle42

[SlovakPrincess]

And yet, TG is part of the problem if he was driving "DARK LUKE."  

The character became popular precisely because he could be vulnerable and shmoopy over Laura, and do heroic things and care about the greater good -- all while doing it his own, anti-establishment kind of way and even though he sometimes just caused more trouble.  But TG seems to not understand any of that.

ETA: yeah, I don't know why they keep thinking fans want to relive Luke / Holly or thought Ethan was a good idea.  Holly was better with Robert.  And the audience didn't take to Bill / Holly, which was kind of the attempt at a revisit.  All they seem to be doing is ruining Holly more and more - poor girl really should have stayed dead.

Edited September 6, 2016 by SlovakPrincess

[UYI]

59 minutes ago, SlovakPrincess said:

I think they mostly kept kid Robin from being too cloying, but I agree they weren't always successful.  (At least she was doing kid appropriate things, not getting involved in a creepy child love quadrangle).

There's a really funny scene from Robin's first day in PC, where Robert is clearly getting frustrated but still trying to be sweet to 6-year-old Robin.  All she can tell him about where she came from is that she lives "in New York City in a big building."  "What's the address?"  "I dunno, we just moved there!" "Well, what's the old address?"  "I forgot." "Well, what's the name of your summer camp." "That's ... hard."  "The name of the camp is hard for you?" "Yeah..."   

They still gave her some pretty heavy stuff from an early age, though--the kidnappings, killing Filomena right in front of her, Anna's hostage story that would have been Robin's had it not been for censors' rules regarding kids in cages...most soap kids don't get that sort of stuff like she did.

Also, when did KMc first go on contract? I know she had to have shorter hours before she was 18, and by that time she was about to leave the show for NYU.

Edited September 6, 2016 by UYI

[dubbel zout]

1 hour ago, SlovakPrincess said:

The character became popular precisely because he could be vulnerable and shmoopy over Laura, and do heroic things and care about the greater good -- all while doing it his own, anti-establishment kind of way and even though he sometimes just caused more trouble. But TG seems to not understand any of that.

I think he understood it fine, but he was wrestling with the insane fame of Luke and Laura, as well as the dawning realization that he'd been typecast for the rest of his career. Crossing over to more mainstream work was really difficult back then; daytime was for losers who couldn't get "legitimate" work, never mind soaps were more challenging than anything else. So he had a lot of baggage he was carrying around for a long time. He also had a contract that allowed him story input and creative license (e.g., being able to improvise) that other actors didn't have, and he was indulged because of that. Then the writing took a nosedive, he was having health issues, the business changed, and he got very lazy.

Tl; dr: It was a combination of things, some of which are definitely TG's fault, and some of which definitely aren't.

Edited September 6, 2016 by dubbel zout

[HeatLifer]

In "defense" of TG on Luke/Laura, TG is far from the only soap actor who wanted to be free of a certain pairing. I actually think it's very rare to find actors who LOVE their pairing and only want to work what that one person in that way. Should TG have appreciated the popularity and the fans? Sure. Other than that, I never expected anything else from him.

Edited September 6, 2016 by HeatLifer

[ulkis]

11 minutes ago, HeatLifer said:

In "defense" of TG on Luke/Laura, TG is far from the only soap actor who wanted to be free of a certain pairing. I actually think it's very rare to find actors who LOVE their pairing and only want to work what that one person in that way. Should TG have appreciated the popularity and the fans? Sure. Other than that, I never expected anything else from him.

It's not just Luke/Laura though (which I think was just a shorthand for General Hospital in general, but it wasn't), but basically the whole "dark Luke" package.

25 minutes ago, dubbel zout said:

I think he understood it fine, but he was wrestling with the insane fame of Luke and Laura, as well as the dawning realization that he'd been typecast for the rest of his career. Crossing over to more mainstream work was really difficult back then; daytime was for losers who couldn't get "legitimate" work, never mind soaps were more challenging than anything else. So he had a lot of baggage he was carrying around for a long time. He also had a contract that allowed him story input and creative license (e.g., being able to improvise) that other actors didn't have, and he was indulged because of that. Then the writing took a nosedive, he was having health issues, the business changed, and he got very lazy.

Tl; dr: It was a combination of things, some of which are definitely TG's fault, and some of which definitely aren't.

Yeah, I could understand him being upset for a long time after that, but *still*, even as he left? That the show couldn't even do a montage? Silly.

Oh, the 80s. Luke ogling a naked swimming woman for about 10 minutes and then refusing to hand her her clothes after she gets out? Not a good look for him. Neither is that shirt.

[dubbel zout]

5 minutes ago, ulkis said:

That the show couldn't even do a montage?

Was that because TG wouldn't let them or Frank was too cheap to pay for it? Luke's actual exit, when he walks into the fog, had to be one of the lamest ever for a marquee character.

[SlovakPrincess]

Oh Lordy, 1982 Luke.   The oil scam story was miles better than the David Gray weirdness that consumed the first part of that year, but it didn't help that Luke was on the prowl only months after Laura "died."   

At least when Laura returns in 83, Luke sort of admits he got obsessed with Holly because he couldn't really deal with losing Laura.  Moving on so quickly didn't make sense otherwise.  

Luke can work without Laura, and if he had treated Tracy a lot better, I could have shipped them.  But I never really believed Luke being a miserable jerk created good drama and I never bought that he would be so impressed with Sonny (please, when you've had Robert as a BFF, Sonny would be such a let down).  

Edited September 6, 2016 by SlovakPrincess