How frustrating was it watching Labine era writing on Robin Unwrapped with the Stone episode? Just to hear the difference in the dialogue and see relationships with families made me want to scream knowing where things are now with this show.

I cried like a baby during the Stone death scene today. 13 years later and it still gets me--I was an angsty freshman in high school then. I am a 27 year old now. Perhaps it was the vino I was enjoying, but I like to think that the writing was emotional enough then to get me going.

And you're right. The writing kicked so much ass when Labine was in charge. I had almost forgotten about Sonny & Brenda's completely hot chemistry (how could I???) but there was a fantastic scene on the docks that reminded me of an era when Sonny made me swoon.

Also, did you catch old Carly on the rollerblades? Such a far cry from her character now. And Mac's perm was pretty rockin' too. And speaking of hair...how awesome did Robin's hair look during the Patrick episode? Ah, memories.

I KNOW! It was so refreshing to see something normal (with the exception of Lucy and Sigmund, of course). Even the ep with her and Jason wasn't so bad. But then I saw that Guza was on that one and it made me sad...

Don't let him back!!!

And man, I hadn't cried over GH in a while. Stone and Robin were awesome. Sigh.

I actually cried when they killed off Georgie -- which pissed me off no end because I felt so manipulated by Guza and didn't *want* to feel anything. Why should I reward his butcher spree by actually empathizing with *anything* in his stories. However, when Mac was crying and then again with Maxie, I felt myself tearing up. (Blast you, Guza! :::: shakes fist at Guza:::: )

I would seriously give any amount of money to tempt Claire Labine back into daytime. She is the best writer out there. Her storylines generally are great but the dialogue?? Oh my goodness, the dialogue hits you at gut level and brings out the best in even mediocre performers. I think it's because they can't help but feel her words, they are so good. (When even the ever-so-untalented and grating Kristina Wagner can make me sob out loud with "Not Barbara Jean!" :::: goosebumps :::: you know she was inspired.)

Why did she leave daytime? Anyone know what she's doing now? I mean, she was able to cross over through several shows and do a pretty great job. Maybe I don't remember the clunkers?

As good as it was to see Robin & Stone and Brenda and "Montauk Jason" it was almost cruel in a way to be reminded of how good the show was-- and could be. That's what gets me so frusterated, the show has so much potential, yet it still sucks... damn TIIC! I will say KMc rules (she looked so cute today) and even Guza can't wreck that, or atleast i hope not, even though i think he's trying... grrrrr

It's so hard to watch because he was such a great character on the show. When I watch their clips from 94-95, the way Labine wrote their love story was just untouchable. They could have an argument without Stone humiliating Robin (unlike Patrick under Guza's hand), and their emotion was so palpable. The actors of GH just shone back then. It really stinks to be teased with a time when I remember running home from school to see this show and now I literally FF on youtube. It takes me about 5-10 mins. to watch and episode.

15 minutes for me. I usually will stop FF'ing a couple of times on characters I don't like just to make sure nothing major is going on. And there never is.

You know, it occurred to me that if Guza had written Brenda, she would have seemed needy, pining after Sonny and offering to be his mistress. But something either about Labine's writing or the 2 actors just made me feel for Brenda.

One major plus that happened then was that Labine let romances build and really showed us the toll it took on the characters to not have what they want--that made it so we were just as happy as the characters were when they finally got together. Guza doesn't give characters what they want either, but Labine would've written Patrick as being heartbroken--not just someone who jumps in the sack with the first piece that rubs against him.

And lastly, did anyone else catch the conversation between Lucky and Luke about where people go after they die? That was also extremely touching. And you don't see that kind of stuff happen today. What made Stone's death resonate even more to me was seeing how it touched the whole community (conveyed through Robin being strong enough to call those who mattered most to Stone). Georgie's goodbye was mainly "Oh, hey. Poor George is dead. Now what about the text message killer? Will he get me next? Me me me me me! What, I'm supposed to grieve for more than 1 scene? Come on! What do you expect of me?" I think we got one good day of Emily mourning before Guza turned her into Nikolas's brain tumor.

Or Jason/Liz and Carly/Jax's excuse to have sex....

But I totally know what you are mean.....then nothing was in a vaccum. When BJ died...you had Tony's reaction...Bobbie's.....but also the conflicting emotions of Felicia, Mac and Frisco....

Contrast that to Tony's death and Courtney got the bigger funeral, his brother Frisco was barely mentioned and I know there were some viewers watching going "Why is Lucky, Lulu and Liz there? Why is Luke giving the eulogy? It's not like they are family or anything...."

I miss the inner connection....when a fandom didn't spring up online immediately after two random characters shared a random scene.

Hey, I heard GH was doing this storyline where a legacy character, who basically grew up on screen for years, is HIV-positive and also pregnant. That sounds like groundbreaking, must-see television. When are they going to start airing that?

</sarcasm>

One of the most memorable scenes that happened around Tony's death was Lulu, in front of Georgie, telling someone (Luke, maybe?) to stop arguing with Tracy because her Uncle just died.

I think that should have been my first clue that Georgie's character was going to be phased out.

Hindsight is 20/20 is it not?

As for when the Robin's baby storyline is going to start...my best guess is...as soon as Guza has Carly, Sonny or Jason (my money is on Carly or Jason) find out about it and weigh in with the opinion of Guza....

It's probably like job two on his list when he gets back from the strike.

So ways we will know Guza is back in full control and totally writing again...

- Lucky will once again loose his brains and be made to look like a moron
- Everyone who has verbally smacked Carly down in the last month will more than likely be struck by lightening or swallowed up as the Earth devours them whole.
-Michael's progression to full on MyKill will somehow be blamed on AJ.
-Whoever the TMK is...he'll be revealed to be in love with Lulu and her love will save the town!
-When Jason finds out about Robin's pregnancy there will be another discussion about what a great job he did with Michael and how he would the bes-*test*-('") father EVER, thereby continuing secret pain.

Again, you can't tell me Guza isn't scab writing this stuff under a pseudonym:

• Lucky accosts Jason (who rides a motorcycle and has for nearly a decade) about being the car driver who hit Sam.
  
• Rick, who hasn't had a major story in half a decade, is suddenly rushed into a nonsensical "truest ever love" story with a charisma-challenged second-tier actress (with a moustache!) simply as a tool for the *main* story, which will be Trevor vs. Sonny.
• The dialogue in this story is clumsy and inane. To wit, Ric telling his light-o-love, "You've never lied to me -- don't start now." Really Ric? You've known her a week. You don't even know whether she's cranky during her period much less whether she's lied to you.
  
• Lucky doesn't bother to ask Patrick the name of the doctor who performed surgery on Sam before spouting off to Alexis and Diane -- just writes it off sarcastically as "Some unnamed doctor and a man in a mask." (Although he apparently does check with him later on in the show.)

However, there are a few reasons to think the scabs (or Awesome Writer™) are at work:

• Spinelli called Mac, "Meritorious Mac, leader of the forces of good." If Guza was at the helm it would be "Muddling Mac, kingpin of the Keystone Cops" or some such nonsense.

Then there are the events that could point either toward Guza or Awesome Writer ™:

• On the plus side, Claudia got to nearly put her stiletto heel through the throat of some ass who mouthed off to her. OTOH, she had to sit through a meeting with smirking men who blatantly thought she was ridiculous (total Guza) and she had to be manhandled for the better part of a scene with some goon who is twice her size (definitely Guza) before she got the upper hand. I'm still not convinced we won't see Claudia in a tarp sometime in the near future.
  
• On the plus side, Maxie schools Spinelli on the down and dirty aspects (as well as the boring ones) of PI work. OTOH, she did so after turning on the lights to re-apply eye-liner. Riiiiight. Even Felicia wasn't that inept.

All in all, my money's on Guza scabbing.

™AwesomeWriter is a trademark of Serial Drama Ladies -- or it should be.

While I don't disagree there is a Guza feel to everything..I blame the outlines that he wrote...seriously he "closely" outlined Claudia's entry per Sarah Brown...so I think your guess about her being in a trap is totally accurate.

Then again I like to blame Guza for everything including socks going missing in the dang dryer all the time...

Floods, fire, famine, the situation in the Middle East, global warming, the fact that naturally curly hair will never EVER do the same thing twice (don't even get me started), deballing of Jax, moronification (don't know/care if it's a word-go w/it) of Lucky and all who don't kill people for fun and profit, Nightshit, dickification (see above about not knowing/caring if it's a word) of Patrick, whole town being assholes to Alexis and Robin, Rush Limbaugh, Paris Hilton, the reason there aren't enough maps in the world so that teenage pageant con-*test*-('")ants will know the difference between Iraq and South Africa........

There's more, I'm sure.
Marianne

-I actually really liked yesterday's scenes with Maxie and Spinelli. They were good foils for one another. Now if only they didn't throw in that inane black and white sequence. I could've done without that.

-I am completely convinced that the writers who come up with Sam's storylines are only trying to make different situations for her to cry about.

-I am disappointed in the state of Kate's hair. What is with the bang-a-palooza? Luckily I can see that Liz has been revolting against this new agenda lately.