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

[SlovakPrincess]

Here's the episode I still remember, many years later, when Tiffany confronts Sean about his infidelity and then starts to miscarry.   Also watch Sean's face just fall at the beginning when he realizes she knows.  

People didn't take the usually cheerful Tiffany seriously - even Sean - so she was left out of the loop on whatever plan Sean had to help Felicia (this somehow led to him sleeping with the DA named Jessica, I can't remember why!), and when she started going through some serious shit of her own (dead sister, ugly custody battle over her orphaned nephew,  drinking problem), she didn't get the support she needed.   

 

[cleo]

3 hours ago, SlovakPrincess said:

Ooh, if you're going into the 1983 story blind, hopefully some of the plot twists will surprise you.  

Well I know some things but I don't know what I don't know lol. I knew/know: 

- that Luke comes back, just didn't know the details

- Holly and Robert get married (she is pregnant?)- I don't know much about Robert's storylines at all, or him and Holly so I'm interested in this bc Robert is the best lol. Holly meh. She got a little more tolerable when separated from Luke. I have never seen people with less chemistry in my life. 

But I don't know much else about what happens with Robert and Holly. 

- I do know who kills Susan Moore and have a rough outline of Jimmy Lee- love the Quartermaines. Like just that I guess he tries to get money from them?

I did see the return of Laura and the Cassadine- my viewing history is weird. I watched from 1994 to about 2002 on YT, not real time. 2002 was as far as I went bc that was as much of Jason and Carly as I could take. 

Then I went back and watched only the eps where Laura returned and Stavros came bc I was curious to see the start of the Cassadines. 

Then I went back as far as I could (78 ish) and started watching in order. 

83 to 94 is really a big blank though I know the names of the characters that come, - Anna, Felicia, Frisco, Sean. But I don't know anything about any of those storylines. 

 

 

[GHScorpiosRule]

1 hour ago, cleo said:

Well I know some things but I don't know what I don't know lol. I knew/know: 

- that Luke comes back, just didn't know the details

- Holly and Robert get married (she is pregnant?)- I don't know much about Robert's storylines at all, or him and Holly so I'm interested in this bc Robert is the best lol. Holly meh. She got a little more tolerable when separated from Luke. I have never seen people with less chemistry in my life. 

But I don't know much else about what happens with Robert and Holly. 

- I do know who kills Susan Moore and have a rough outline of Jimmy Lee- love the Quartermaines. Like just that I guess he tries to get money from them?

I did see the return of Laura and the Cassadine- my viewing history is weird. I watched from 1994 to about 2002 on YT, not real time. 2002 was as far as I went bc that was as much of Jason and Carly as I could take. 

Then I went back and watched only the eps where Laura returned and Stavros came bc I was curious to see the start of the Cassadines. 

Then I went back as far as I could (78 ish) and started watching in order. 

83 to 94 is really a big blank though I know the names of the characters that come, - Anna, Felicia, Frisco, Sean. But I don't know anything about any of those storylines. 

 

 

Robert married Holly because she was pregnant with Luke’s baby. She was going to be deported and they had just heard of Luke’s death. So Robert married her. It was a marriage of convenience. 
Holly lost the baby and she and Robert fell in love. Then Luke showed up alive.

[SlovakPrincess]

18 hours ago, cleo said:

Well I know some things but I don't know what I don't know lol. I knew/know: 

- that Luke comes back, just didn't know the details

- Holly and Robert get married (she is pregnant?)- I don't know much about Robert's storylines at all, or him and Holly so I'm interested in this bc Robert is the best lol. Holly meh. She got a little more tolerable when separated from Luke. I have never seen people with less chemistry in my life. 

But I don't know much else about what happens with Robert and Holly.  [...]

That's pretty much all I knew when I watched -- that Robert and Holly would get together and Luke would return.   My knowledge of the show was end of the 80s through the 90s etc., and later I went back to video clips of '79 or so out of curiosity and started watching from there.

 1983 is a year it really pays to watch full episodes, because a lot happens, and it's all connected -- and I wouldn't dream of spoiling it for you!!  Try not to skip too many scenes, just let the delightful insanity wash over you.  

There's Luke's story, a mayoral race, the Susan Moore murder (important because it's Robert's first big case as Commissioner and it gives him and Holly something to talk about and you can watch their relationship grow), and of course the larger mystery that takes up most of the year.  Also, the triangle with Celia Quartermaine, country boy Jimmy Lee, and Celia's uptight fiancee Grant --  Celia is annoying AF, but her story ties into the larger mystery so I'm sorry but you do have to pay attention to her, LOL.    

What they did so much better in the 80s was plan out a yearlong story with compelling, short-term supporting characters played by excellent character actors ... and most of them did not wear out their welcome after the story ended or return from the dead again and again over the next 30 years.  So you can have some fun guessing who might secretly be a baddie.  

Edited January 15, 2022 by SlovakPrincess

[cleo]

2 hours ago, SlovakPrincess said:

ry not to skip too many scenes, just let the delightful insanity wash over you.  

@SlovakPrincess thanks for the tip! Good to know. I do tend to skip an awful lot. I will likely skip Luke's on the mountain scenes. I don't care enough about him to watch him when he's not interacting with other characters. 

I tend to skip a lot of Leslie and Rick scenes, and a lot of Bobbie's. 

I'm really curious about Celia bc I know SW from Santa Barbara.

ETA so have you watched all of the 80s now? Kind of amazing so much of it is online. I wish other soaps were like that, 

Edited January 15, 2022 by cleo

[SlovakPrincess]

I started watching as a kid after school probably around the time Duke and Anna married, so that was late '87 or in '88?   And then watched pretty regularly through most of the '90s.  With the magic of YT, I have now gone back and seen end of '79 through summer of '85.   I've jumped around to see other clips, like the intro of child Robin, but in terms of trying to see the whole '80s saga, that's where I'm at.  

Luke on the mountain is unintentionally hilarious for 2 reasons: (1) there's a scene where the nice man Luke stays with has a heart attack, and Luke staggers over to try and help but instead falls on the guy and accidentally flips a table onto him for good measure; (2) Luke has this absolutely ridiculous daydream/waking nightmare of how he'll lash out at Holly if she has to care for him as a paraplegic (this is his fucked up rationalization for why he'll let her believe he's dead unless and until he can walk again .... Luke is insane and has weird, limiting beliefs about the disabled).      When Luke starts getting physical therapy, the therapist is a good and interesting character.  

Rick and Lesley don't do a whole lot in '83, except move teenager Blackie (young John Stamos) and some kid named Mikey into their home, and Lesley has a gambling addiction for about two seconds.  

ETA: Here's the clip where learning-to-walk-again Luke is so awful, annoying and self-pitying that he causes a man to have a heart attack and then flips an entire table onto said man.

 

Edited January 15, 2022 by SlovakPrincess

[cleo]

22 hours ago, SlovakPrincess said:

ETA: Here's the clip where learning-to-walk-again Luke is so awful, annoying and self-pitying that he causes a man to have a heart attack and then flips an entire table onto said man.

Ha! I don't think I could watch this for months- Santa Barbara did a very similar storyline. 

I assume Luke comes back and is pissed about Robert and Holly even though dude you could have told them you were alive. 

I don't hate Luke- he is usually entertaining. But he is also obnoxious/abusive.

[SlovakPrincess]

44 minutes ago, cleo said:

I assume Luke comes back and is pissed about Robert and Holly even though dude you could have told them you were alive. 

I don't hate Luke- he is usually entertaining. But he is also obnoxious/abusive.

Oh yeah, he's pissed!  You should definitely watch the Luke / Robert confrontation on the dock when it comes up ... both actors do a good job with it.    

 

In other news, I've started the '85 Asian Quarter saga (with much trepidation, as I'm afraid it will be stereotype city):

-  There's a really nice moment when Anna is saying bye to Robert and goes to give him a friendly handshake and he, instead, gently kisses her on the forehead and gives her a meaningful look ...  except she's back in 2-3 days instead of never seeing him again, so his "I'll never forget you!" face is hilarious in retrospect.    

- Anna is damn lucky Robin's kidnapper politely deposited her at Robert's house, because Anna flails around unproductively for most of her kid's 2 or 3 day disappearance.  (Robert and Robin seem to live 3 days of life in the time it takes Anna to live 2, so either the writers/editors goofed or Anna panicked herself right into a time warp).  

- Love how when Robert starts to figure out Robin's his, he blurts out "tell me I'm right!" to Anna.  He wants Robin to be his kid so bad, and that is literally all he cares about.     

Edited January 16, 2022 by SlovakPrincess

[Hiyo]

1993 to 1998 is probably my "Golden Era" of the show.

1991 and 1992 are all right, while I can't say the show was bad during those years, I can't say they were great either. There was some good stuff in there mixed in with some blah stuff as well.

[SlovakPrincess]

@Winston Wolfe mentioned in the episode thread that Tony Geary and Kin Shriner decided to do a real fistfight for this 1981 scene (Scotty crashing Luke and Laura's wedding) and somebody lost a tooth.  Best quality clip I could find --- start at 1:50 --- so we can all ponder which actor lost a tooth.

 

And just for fun, here's Scotty winning a fight with Luke the year prior (start at 13:27):

 

[NotMySekrit2Tell]

On 1/17/2022 at 1:49 AM, Hiyo said:

1991 and 1992 are all right, while I can't say the show was bad during those years, I can't say they were great either. There was some good stuff in there mixed in with some blah stuff as well.

1991-92 was Gloria Monty's return and the attempt to make the blue-collar Eckert family happen, right?

[Hiyo]

Yeah, overall, it didn't produce quite the results ABC was hoping for.

[GHScorpiosRule]

6 minutes ago, Hiyo said:

Yeah, overall, it didn't produce quite the results ABC was hoping for.

And then we got the return of Luke and Laura, and LUCKY in 1993!

I loved seeing them again, and how we saw Lucky trekking his way to Port Charles, which was SO NOT a small town! Hee!

And Stone! I will forever be bitter that I missed his introduction, as well as his and Robin's first meeting. I can't find it anywhere on YouTube.

But UGH, we also got the intro of Mooby.

Edited January 25, 2022 by GHScorpiosRule

[Hiyo]

Ask and ye shall receive...well, Stone and Robin's first meeting, anyway.

 

[GHScorpiosRule]

1 hour ago, Hiyo said:

Ask and ye shall receive...well, Stone and Robin's first meeting, anyway.

 

Awwww.....

So, since these are scenes clipped and snipped, I take it Felicia and Mac's wedding didn't take place?

Tiffany! Sighting!

[Hiyo]

The person who posted the video said this in the comments:

"Kevin's twin brother Ryan try to take Felicia's a hostage at Mac and Felicia's wedding"

You know, your occasional Port Charles wedding drama...

[GHScorpiosRule]

2 minutes ago, Hiyo said:

The person who posted the video said this in the comments:

"Kevin's twin brother Ryan try to take Felicia's a hostage at Mac and Felicia's wedding"

You know, your occasional Port Charles wedding drama...

Of course.

[dubbel zout]

12 minutes ago, Hiyo said:

"Kevin's twin brother Ryan try to take Felicia's a hostage at Mac and Felicia's wedding"

As one does.

[ouinason]

how is it that I remember seeing that wedding, but not the Stone/Robin stuff?  I admit, I didn't actually care about them, but you would think it would stick in my mind.

[SlovakPrincess]

Watch Carly in her first scenes on General Hospital ... as everyone in town immediately bends over backwards to help her find an apartment and job while she lies through her teeth to everyone.  It's almost physically painful watching Monica and Bobbie go out of their way to help her.  Especially since Carly lies about her mother dying of cancer to manipulate Monica after finding out Monica is a cancer survivor (Lois just blabs Monica's life history to Carly upon first meeting her -- Cripes, Lois was annoying).  

Also, this was the era of the Pepto-Bismal pink hospital ... hideous and claustrophobia-inducing!  

 

 

[SlovakPrincess]

Classic Carly:  Dr. Steve Hardy dies and Carly mopes her way over to Jason's place looking for sympathy ... because Dr. Hardy's death overshadowed everyone congratulating Carly on getting accepted into the nursing program.   

"The least he could've done was waited another day [to die]."    Ummm  .... what??  

 

[Hiyo]

Ah, Carly Roberts Caroline Leigh Benson Quartermaine Corinthos Alcazar Corinthos Jacks Corinthos...one of Port Charles' Primary Hosebeasts since 1996...

[SlovakPrincess]

On 2/3/2022 at 6:00 PM, Hiyo said:

Ah, Carly Roberts Caroline Leigh Benson Quartermaine Corinthos Alcazar Corinthos Jacks Corinthos...one of Port Charles' Primary Hosebeasts since 1996...

Hee!  

Revisiting some Carly 1996-2000 clips, I was really surprised by how much I enjoyed Sarah Brown's performance.  First, she's just really, really pretty -- with a young, doe-eyed Sarah Brown, it made way more sense that certain guys would fall for her "I'm so sexy but also vulnerable and I need money / help - you don't mind helping me, right?" act.  And it's fun in a sick sort of way to watch them goggle in horror the first time they displease her and her raging, untreated personality disorder is revealed.  

I could even sort of appreciate parts of the dreaded Baby Michael Saga, which was at least more grounded in reality than much of what this show did thereafter.  BUT this is when the unbearable Jason-propping began.  There's nothing new to be said about how AJ, Robin, Tony, had to be changed / tweaked in character so that Jason looked like less of moron for letting Carly lead him around by the nose ...

... so allow me to bitch instead about how annoying it is to watch Edward nonsensically give a shit about Carly's baby.  Like, why?  Edward's big thing was decreasing the pool of people clamoring for Q money.  He would've been more likely to illegally switch test results to make it look like Carly's baby was Tony's, to make sure Micheal (and Carly) had no claim on the Q fortune, or Jason's (since Jason had renounced the family and the money).  He should have been berating AJ for even being in this situation and trying to persuade him that Robin got it wrong / had been lied to / had no evidence to back her story up (and really, she didn't).   

Eh, I could just never get into John Ingle's version of Edward (obvi, not Ingle's fault, but still) ... David Lewis' version was such a magnificent bastard, and he was pragmatic.  

 

 

Edited February 5, 2022 by SlovakPrincess

[Hiyo]

Sarah Brown was great, and did a great job in the role, but I always hated Carly from day one. And it sucks that Robin, Tony, and AJ were thrown under the bus to prop up Jason, Carly, and then Sonny. Robin at least recovered later on, Tony and AJ, not so much.

Y'all remember when Monica had a dawtah (as SD pronounces it) named Dawn? Played here by a pre-Y&R Sharon Case...

 

[dubbel zout]

If Edward could have had endless progeny (which he kinda did, hee) without leaving them a piece of the ELQ pie, that would have been his ideal situation.

A businessman as shrewd as he was supposed to be would never had written a will that was so open-ended, but part of that is the writers using it as a plot point when necessary. And he would have said a lot of problems if he'd specified that any descendants born out of wedlock wouldn't be legit inheritors. That might have solved the Jimmy Lee/Austin issue, though of course this is GH, and estate law is at the mercy of the story.

[Hiyo]

Apparently Edward wasn't the one who wrote the will. His dad or granddad or some previous Quatermaine who made the money for the family wrote that in the will (descendants born out of wedlock wouldn't be legit inheritors), as a good chunk of Edward and ELQ's wealth was derived from trust-funds set up by a previous Quatermaine. Not to spoil things for anyone who hasn't see it yet, but it was a big plot point in the Who Killed Susan Moore storyline.

[SlovakPrincess]

Yes, the Q trust funds were a confusing, complicated nightmare, and 80s Edward was always suspicious of any Q cousin who might pop up to try and grab more of the fortune.  Literally any scandal in the family, and Edward was like “don’t let the cousins know!” 😂

He only liked Alex Q because she was going to help expand ELQ with investments in diamond mines (she was actually, unwittingly, investing in the Cassadine weather machine project and got frozen to death - oops).  He didn’t want Celia around at first either, but quickly realized she was an idiot and no threat.

[Hiyo]

Quote

He didn’t want Celia around at first either, but quickly realized she was an idiot and no threat.

She kind of was, in a way, for a short time, relatively speaking. If (only putting a tag in case people haven't see Celia's time on the show)

Spoiler

the trust funds were ever taken away from Edward's branch of the family tree, they would have gone to Celia's father. That's what set off the Who Killed Susan Moore story; Susan had found out that Lila had never divorced her first husband, thus making her marriage to Edward invalid and none of their kids any kind of legal heirs to the Quatermaine fortune. The Q's worked hard to make sure Celia especially never found that out, though Jimmy Lee, Edward's son, did...

 

Edited February 5, 2022 by Hiyo

[SlovakPrincess]

I dimly remember Dawn, and she was a character with potential ... unfortunately, she was recast in a short period of time for some reason, and then got killed off in what I recall was a completely unrewarding and baffling story choice.  

In that clip, though, she's very strong, LOL.  Just crushes her champagne glass in one hand when Alan verbally attacks her.  

[Hiyo]

Which if you think about it, Monica has had to bury THREE of her kids...how fucking depressing.

[SlovakPrincess]

All four of them at various times, sometimes more than once, if you think about it: Dawn, AJ, Emily, Jason and then returned-from-the-dead-AJ, and I guess returned-from-the-dead Jason is presumed dead again now.  

Just completely asinine.   

[GHScorpiosRule]

This should probably go in the unpopular thread, though I don’t think it’s unpopular!

I will NEVER understand the Hard On ALL show runners had/have for Steve Burton, which turned Jason as the “HERO” who can never ever lose, along with Mooby, because Burton is a mediocre actor at best, wooden, eye blinking Gumby at worst. Sean Kanan and  Billy Warlock were EONS BETTER actors.

It was the talent of Kimberley McCullough and Becky Herbst that made those two pairings work. He actually made an effort.

[SlovakPrincess]

2 minutes ago, GHScorpiosRule said:

This should probably go in the unpopular thread, though I don’t think it’s unpopular!

I will NEVER understand the Hard On ALL show runners had/have for Steve Burton, which turned Jason as the “HERO” who can never ever lose, along with Mooby, because Burton is a mediocre actor at best, wooden, eye blinking Gumby at worst. Sean Kanan and  Billy Warlock were EONS BETTER actors.

It was the talent of Kimberley McCullough and Becky Herbst that made those two pairings work. He actually made an effort.

Burton had his moments early on, and most of them were with McCullough.  Sometimes his deadpan stare worked brilliantly in scenes with Sarah Brown (I honestly LOL'd at his reaction in a scene where Carly explained her brilliant plan of getting custody of Michael for herself and Jason, the first step of which somehow involved her telling everyone Jason was scary and had kidnapped Michael).      But he was never exactly exciting, and he got progressively worse over time.  

As for Maurice Bernard ... hoo boy.  I'd forgotten that even by the late 90s he was struggling through some lines and doing this weird, unsettling laugh at odd times. 

Conversely, it's nice to watch the actors who started out not so good but must have really worked at it and taken some constructive criticism to heart, because they noticeably improved and ended up doing a great job.  I would  probably put Tristan Rogers and Vanessa Marcil in this category. 

[Ambrosefolly]

3 hours ago, GHScorpiosRule said:

This should probably go in the unpopular thread, though I don’t think it’s unpopular!

I will NEVER understand the Hard On ALL show runners had/have for Steve Burton, which turned Jason as the “HERO” who can never ever lose, along with Mooby, because Burton is a mediocre actor at best, wooden, eye blinking Gumby at worst. Sean Kanan and  Billy Warlock were EONS BETTER actors.

It was the talent of Kimberley McCullough and Becky Herbst that made those two pairings work. He actually made an effort.

I think it was mainly Guza's kink, which got worse when he teamed up with JFP. It worked in the beginning because Steve Burton was doing a good job of playing a completely different character and the Qs were reacting in a  believable way. However where it lost the thread, and it happened with Carly and Sonny, is it no longer was a morality play but villianize everyone to make the trios actions justified. Like I said before, all the terrible things Carly did when she first came on, I could understand and even sympathize because the show wasn't trying to justify it. There were times I would think, if I was in Carly position I might do what she did. When things hit the fan, there were some believable consequences. But Sarah Brown exploded and instead of Tony Jones being visibly broken and a shamed man, he became a crazed kidnapper so Jason can be the hero and Carly would be the victim instead of someone that purposefully preyed on a grieving father's insecurities. All of these actors, like Brad Maule and especially Billy Warlock, had to "fill in the gaps" as their characters would get further destroyed.

Edited February 6, 2022 by Ambrosefolly

[dubbel zout]

15 minutes ago, Ambrosefolly said:

I think it was mainly Guza's kink

Definitely. He dressed like Jason. It was kind of pathetic. I think Guza wanted to be Jason.

[Cheyanne11]

1 hour ago, SlovakPrincess said:

Burton had his moments early on, and most of them were with McCullough.

Very much so.  The scenes where she was contemplating going on the HIV drug protocol and when he took her to Yale were beautifully done.  But that was early in Jason Morgan's life, as it were, and it seemed he didn't age like a fine wine, rather became hard like stale bread.

[Hiyo]

Burton was good as Jason Quatermaine, and even early on as Jason Morgan. You can see him in this video here early on and he shows emotions, he even smiles and laughs. Somewhere down the line they decided that Jason needed to be an emotionless robot 90% of the time, and that just wasn't the best decision.

I think Guza's other problem was him trying to make this show the daytime Sopranos-lite, which also just wasn't the best decision.

 

Edited February 6, 2022 by Hiyo

[Semiglued]

19 hours ago, GHScorpiosRule said:

This should probably go in the unpopular thread, though I don’t think it’s unpopular!

I will NEVER understand the Hard On ALL show runners had/have for Steve Burton, which turned Jason as the “HERO” who can never ever lose, along with Mooby, because Burton is a mediocre actor at best, wooden, eye blinking Gumby at worst. Sean Kanan and  Billy Warlock were EONS BETTER actors.

It was the talent of Kimberley McCullough and Becky Herbst that made those two pairings work. He actually made an effort.

I despised Jason Morgan (I kind of liked Jason Q) since day one. He was bearable with Robin early on but I never enjoyed even one moment of Liason. I feel bad for the fans of that pairing because I’ve never quite seen a case of baiting like that, but I hated Liz when she was with or around him.  Somehow fans who hate Carly and call her on all her misdeeds give Jason a pass and I’ll never understand that. So happy he’s dead, hope it’s forever. 

[Hiyo]

Quote

I would  probably put Tristan Rogers and Vanessa Marcil in this category. 

Possible unpopular opinion here, but I liked scenes with Brenda and Jason M. It might help that Brenda interacted with Jason Q before the accident, or that Steve and Vanessa just had good chemistry together, but I usually enjoyed seeing the two of them together.

Edited February 6, 2022 by Hiyo

[ouinason]

Ahem.... I stanned for Brenda/Jason briefly.

I was young, ok?!!

[SlovakPrincess]

On 2/6/2022 at 9:09 PM, ouinason said:

Ahem.... I stanned for Brenda/Jason briefly.

I was young, ok?!!

I'm assuming you meant the Jason Morgan version, but just for fun ....   Preppy high school Jason Quartermaine!  Evil high school Brenda!   It's so early 90s I could die.  🤣

(As background, Jason is dating Karen, the red haired girl, but she also has feelings for Jagger, the dark haired guy that looks like he's WAY too old to be in high school.  Brenda was a complete psycho and also wanted Jagger -- some of the shit she pulled on Karen would've got her arrested today).

 

[ouinason]

Lol, yes, Jason Morgan.  HS Jason was before my time.  Or before my memory.  I remember a few brief scenes with him being a bit of a party pooper type and then the accident.

[SlovakPrincess]

I've had my issues with Felicia (mostly just finding her annoying starting in the '90s), but you have to love her in this 1985 scene at the end of Aztec Treasure (start at 5:27).     Frisco's "oh god" cracks me up every time.

(For context - Anna, Frisco, Felicia think Robert's dead and now they're on their own to get away from Sean's henchmen.  Anna's barely functional because she's so sad about Robert ... until Frisco gently reminds her she needs to save them all.  Then this happens.)

 

Edited February 8, 2022 by SlovakPrincess

[GHScorpiosRule]

The only memory I have of Jason Quartermaine was when he was talking to Monica after she told him and AJ about her breast cancer. And how he'd done research about her options.

I was never a fan of Burton's. The first time I saw him was on Who's The Boss? when he played a douchey frat boy type when Sam and Bonnie went on Spring Break, with Tony as chaperone. His "acting" left a lot to be desired then, too.

Like I said, he actually made an effort with Kimberly and Becky. Especially when Jason and Robin were falling in love and their first break up.

[UYI]

On 1/25/2022 at 9:43 AM, NotMySekrit2Tell said:

1991-92 was Gloria Monty's return and the attempt to make the blue-collar Eckert family happen, right?

She was fired in very early 1992 after Tristan finally quit over Finola's abrupt firing; Wendy Riche took over afterwards, but the Labines didn't start writing the show until late 1993; there were a few different head writing teams before that.

[UYI]

On 1/25/2022 at 9:51 AM, GHScorpiosRule said:

But UGH, we also got the intro of Mooby.

If there is one thing to hold against the Labines, it's that they expanded Sonny as a character; previous head writer Bill Levinson created him and, by all reports, had every intention of keeping him a short-term character.

OTOH, Claire Labine ended Karen's stripping story pretty quickly once she arrived, so at least there's that. 

[UYI]

On 1/25/2022 at 9:51 AM, GHScorpiosRule said:

 

And Stone! I will forever be bitter that I missed his introduction

 

I'll try to look for it for you--basically Jagger & Karen's entire love story from 1992-1994 is on YouTube, and that includes Karen's story when she was a stripper--she met Stone when they were both working at the Paradise Lounge for Sonny; I'll have to see if it's there and let you know. :)

[UYI]

On 2/5/2022 at 2:41 PM, Hiyo said:

Y'all remember when Monica had a dawtah (as SD pronounces it) named Dawn? Played here by a pre-Y&R Sharon Case...

 

There were actually four actresses who played Dawn--Sharon Case was the second Dawn. The fourth actress, Jennifer Guthrie, actually started to take off as Dawn, both as a character and paired with Michael Watson's Decker Moss (Lucy's cousin), but the character was killed off in early 1991, shortly after Gloria Monty returned to the show.

Dawn's memorial service, in fact, marked the final time original cast member Emily McLaughlin (Nurse Jessie Brewer) appeared on the show; she died shortly after that, and Jessie just...stopped showing up. John Beradino announced EMcL's passing at the end of an episode soon after, but Jessie was never given a formal send off, dead or otherwise, because pissing on GH's vets apparently goes further back than many realize, SMH. -_-

Edited February 12, 2022 by UYI

[Steph J]

1 hour ago, UYI said:

If there is one thing to hold against the Labines, it's that they expanded Sonny as a character; previous head writer Bill Levinson created him and, by all reports, had every intention of keeping him a short-term character.

I may sigh with frustration every time Sonny shows up today (so, every day, basically), and he's one of the reasons I gave up on the show completely for about 15 years, but Sonny in the '90s was a compelling character. I wouldn't have shed a tear if he had never come back after his departure in '97, but it would have been a shame if he'd been written out so early and we never got Sonny/Brenda.

[ouinason]

Absolutely.  If Sonny's character had ended in that departure, he would have been a cool character to look back on.  But, alas...