Ghosts of GH Past Viewing Party: '80s, '90s, And All Eras Of Non-Suckitude!

[cleo]

@JMO thanks yeah I would watch when Tiffany came on the scene more.

@Palimelon yeah all that later year bs I avoided. The baby stuff - puke- and yep the bits I saw with Tony were just awful. I could buy the affair but that's about it.

[Dr.OO7]

On 7/2/2024 at 3:23 PM, Palimelon said:

I still hate the way Tony was thrown under the bus just to prop up Carly and Jason.

So did I. It was despicable. Guza's return really ramped up the "good=bad, bad=good" mentality. 

[Palimelon]

A slice in time of what was happening on this show in 1986. Anna and Robert fighting crime! The original Edward Q! The mob before Sonny came to town! Frisco as a cop! Jimmy Lee, the forgotten Quartermaine! Lila's relish! Duke! Monica and...Sean?

 

[JMO]

SOOOO much better then!

[cleo]

I'm in the middle of that- first time I've watched Duke and Anna. The first few weeks the Duke character just seemed way over the top and smarmy. I think I'm about 6 weeks after his introduction now and it's a bit more toned down.

I miss Robert.

[Palimelon]

Duke and Anna sometimes on paper don't make sense to me, but the actors sell it quite well via their chemistry.

[Katy M]

On 8/1/2024 at 11:36 AM, Palimelon said:

A slice in time of what was happening on this show in 1986. Anna and Robert fighting crime! The original Edward Q! The mob before Sonny came to town! Frisco as a cop! Jimmy Lee, the forgotten Quartermaine! Lila's relish! Duke! Monica and...Sean?

 

I liked John Ingle, but I loved loved loved David Lewis.  

[dubbel zout]

John Ingle's Edward could be a bit too twinkly, whereas David Lewis really nailed the cutthroat side of the character.

[tessaray]

It's not exactly an era of non-suckitude but the streaming GH channel on my Roku is interesting since I missed the whole Dawn of Day era. Cult stories aren't my thing yet there on my screen is Billy Miller, Leslie Charleson and original Molly and Kristina. Chase and Willow are together and even kind of hot. Joss and Oscar aren't even annoying, though the fact he's at deaths door helps.

[JMO]

I've been watching the older episodes on the ROKU channel, too.  They're only six years old, but I was almost entirely fast-forwarding at that point, or deleting episodes entirely, so a lot of it is new to me.

I am struck by how exquisitely creepy Jon Lindstrom makes Ryan Chamberlain.  It reminds me of the time he was stalking Felicia way back when.  I didn't care for the later, crazier version of Ryan, but this one is delicious.  

I'm also struck by the younger actors playing out Oscar's terminal illness.  They really handled these stories so much better, even just a relatively short time ago.  

[cleo]

I'm really enjoying the Mr. B storyline. Kind of a surprise, bc I don't typically like the adventure stories. I just don't really buy Burt would break bad so hard that he is willing to kill Frisco and Felicia. But the actor does a good job- that was the other thing, I wasn't sure the actor could pull it off, but he is ok. 

I continue to loathe the entire thing with Alan pretending to be dead and skip a lot.

Lucy has kind of disappeared now that the thing with Kevin is over, I'm hoping there are some clips of her character's storylines as it starts to pick up. 

On another note- I watch old movies and recently saw the Apartment. DL is in it- I recognized it as Edward right away- not bc of his appearance, but his voice and mannerisms are distinctive. It was fun seeing him younger. 

 

[Palimelon]

Quote

I continue to loathe the entire thing with Alan pretending to be dead and skip a lot.

Older stories like that always made me wonder why the show seemed to mostly forget Edward had another child. I'm surprised they never brought back Jimmy Lee. I would have liked to see him and Tracy interacting together.

[JMO]

I just need to gush on the Ryan/Kevin serial killer story again, as it's playing out on this new GH channel.  I know how it all turns out, and yet the suspense, and the tension and the urgency of the denouement have me completely caught up.  Even the background music contributes, rather than today's overpowering and overly obvious choices.  So many characters are in real or perceived danger, things start closing in on Ryan from all directions at once.  Jon Lindstrom has amazingly fine tuning to portray Ryan impersonating Kevin by being just a little bit 'off' in nearly every scene.  

That they managed to keep the slow dying of Oscar story going at the same time---which I think was pretty exquisitely done--is amazing.  I could have lived without Dawn of Day, but given the Nvidia story (The Vow) from a year or two ago, I guess it wasn't really as crazy as I thought.  Or maybe both of those stories were.

[cleo]

Still watching the Mr. B story but man I'm enjoying it. I'm at the part where Anna and Robert finally believe Duke and bust him out of jail with Frisco and Felicia helping. Random thoughts: 

-It's hard for me not to compare this with all the much hyped Luke and Laura adventure stories, but I think this is much better than anything like the gold finger statue or whatever that was; just the history and interaction with Robert, Anna, Duke, Sean, Burt, in this story is just so much more interesting. I'm also finding it better than the Asian Quarter story

-I think all the actors are great, Ian Buchanan is a bit of a weak link for me- just compared to the others; but I just can't really get into the Duke/Anna romance, Anna and Robert just seem to have better chemistry to me (I also always preferred Robert and Anna to Robert and Holly)

-Finola Hughes reactions to Burt after finding out were great, kind of the disgust and anger and trying to half mask it when they were still pretending, and sort of failing was really well done. I've always felt - so far anyway- that she could do a lot more than the character she was given. In some stories I feel like they limit Anna for long stretches. I can't really explain it. 

-Why is Sean so cool? I have no idea lol, he just is. The scene where he knocks out the truck guards, sticks them in a closet somewhere and then puts his sunglasses on lol. 80s cool.  Man I miss the 80s.

I will be sorry when this storyline is over.  

Edited February 20 by cleo

[Francie]

On 2/19/2025 at 6:09 PM, cleo said:

Still watching the Mr. B story but man I'm enjoying it. I'm at the part where Anna and Robert finally believe Duke and bust him out of jail with Frisco and Felicia helping. Random thoughts: 

-It's hard for me not to compare this with all the much hyped Luke and Laura adventure stories, but I think this is much better than anything like the gold finger statue or whatever that was; just the history and interaction with Robert, Anna, Duke, Sean, Burt, in this story is just so much more interesting. I'm also finding it better than the Asian Quarter story

-I think all the actors are great, Ian Buchanan is a bit of a weak link for me- just compared to the others; but I just can't really get into the Duke/Anna romance, Anna and Robert just seem to have better chemistry to me (I also always preferred Robert and Anna to Robert and Holly)

-Finola Hughes reactions to Burt after finding out were great, kind of the disgust and anger and trying to half mask it when they were still pretending, and sort of failing was really well done. I've always felt - so far anyway- that she could do a lot more than the character she was given. In some stories I feel like they limit Anna for long stretches. I can't really explain it. 

-Why is Sean so cool? I have no idea lol, he just is. The scene where he knocks out the truck guards, sticks them in a closet somewhere and then puts his sunglasses on lol. 80s cool.  Man I miss the 80s.

I will be sorry when this storyline is over.  

Man, I loved that storyline. I was legit shocked with Bert was revealed to be Mr. B. And that ending -- with the band playing and Bert walking along, kinda like a dead man walking, trying to talk his way out  -- I don't remember it frame for frame, but I do remember getting chills watching it live. 

That might be my third favorite storyline after the first Faison storyline and the Snowman storyline.