Luke and Laura were married in “General Hospital” 40 years ago Today!!!

I stayed home from school to watch!

Tony Geary has a nice face but oy, that perm.

Think of Laura but laugh don't cry. I know she'd want it that way.

40?! How old does that make me? Don't answer.

Even odder than Laura eventually falling in love with her rapist, Luke, was that the song playing during her rape ("Rise" by Herb Alpert) became their "love theme." Simpler times.

I never got it. An 80's balding man perm?!

I agree with OP that this really was a television milestone. It was the kind of thing where, even if you didn't watch "General Hospital," you knew about it because Luke and Laura were everywhere. There was no escaping it. And yes, like R1, lots of people stayed home to watch the wedding because not everyone had a VCR yet.

It was all quite exciting! Especially when Scotty, who we hadn't heard from in over a year, suddenly reappeared as he was catching the wedding bouquet

R8, that would be Scotty, played by Kin Shriner, the finest piece of ass in daytime TV back in the '80s.

Was this the one with the exploding jet ski?

I don't remember the exploding jet ski. ( That may have been on the Guiding Light.) But I remember the Ice Princess and the Left-Handed Boy!

Oh, please. The exploding jet sky was how Jenny Gardner died on All My Children, back in 1984.

Scotty catching the bouquet starts at 49:40

I remember reading that Luke & Laura's fictional wedding drew in more TV viewers in the U.S. than Charles & Diana's earlier in the year.

How long would it take to watch every episode of GH ever broadcast on television? Is the footage available somewhere? I feel like I've missed out on decades of drama and adventure, as I've never watched this story. I did, however, get sucked into Guiding Light for a few years.

[quote] I remember reading that Luke & Laura's fictional wedding drew in more TV viewers in the U.S. than Charles & Diana's earlier in the year.

But wasn't the royal wedding at like 4 in the morning in the eastern US, even more in the middle of the night for others?

"Luke & Laura's Wedding" was to daytime what "Who Shot J.R.?" was to primetime. 1981 was a very soapy year.

And yes, I watched. Back then all kids were watching regardless of gender, race, or orientation. It was a phenomenon. Which is why it's so disheartening to watch GH now. It's like the frail, beloved aunt on life support and everyone is standing by keeping vigil.

The '80s and '90s were the apex for Soaps. Though they had been around and popular since radio began in the '20s, they didn't gain legitimacy until the Daytime Emmys were started in 1974. I remember the red carpet for the Daytime Emmys in the '80s and '90s being akin to the Oscar red carpet. They were also held in big theaters and drew in sizable TV viewers. When Susan Lucci finally won after 19 or so nominations in '99, that was a big pop cultural moment, I remember. It was everywhere on the news and people were happy for her. In the 2000s is when soaps began dying off. Why?

In the 2000s people started spending every waking moment staring at social media on their phone. They didn't have time to watch their televised stories any more.

The mob hitman who was sent to kill them was the hottest ass on t.v.

Less people are home to watch soaps. Internet killed regular tv.

Genie Francis had two gay men fighting over her and we all believed it.

R23, it was like every man in Oakdale fighting over Lily Walsh.

What happened to Luke and Laura characters? Didn’t she die? Haven’t thought of General Hospital in years but curious.

How was "Luke" even a thing?

God, he is ugly as fuck.

Were men that bad looking back then on soaps?

R20 you mean Hutch! He was hot!

There’s a audience for soaps , it’s just not M-F, for an hour during the afternoon on network TV.

NBC is using Days to prop up Peacock and is even creating shows and movies that are sort like the Salem version of the Marvel universe. The same could be done with GH.

Luke was a thing because he was unlike any other man in television. Tony Geary did a lot of ablibbing and Luke sounded a lot more contemporary than most tv leading men, and he wasn’t a knight in shining armor. Also, Gloria Monty revolutionized the way soaps were shot-the show moved and had pacing. At the time most soap scenes were a couple of characters speaking to each other over coffee, GH wasn’t like that.

Hutch

I was 9. I think it was the first time I had a deep sense of "none of these people are sexually attractive."

R29 - Scotty was sex on a stick. Laura was insane to pick creepy Luke over that hot lawyer daddy.

Here's a couple of years earlier when he married Laura before there was a Luke.

And here's hot young Scotty with hooker-nurse Bobbie Spencer. Zeman was channeling Magenta from Rocky Horror.

There's nothing more romantic than a November wedding! Just in time for sweeps!

What Tony Geary lacked in sex appeal, Kin Shriner more than made up for.

I would watch the fuck out of 1979-1984 GH.

We didn’t own a VCR but my grandpa did so he taped it. My mom would have NEVAH let me skip school to watch a soap, R1, you’re lucky!

I've always wondered if Kin Shriner is gay. I think he has a kid but to my knowledge has never been married or linked with any woman. On his Wikipedia page, all it says under personal life is "In 2019, he had foot surgery."

[quote]My mom would have NEVAH let me skip school to watch a soap,

R35 why not?

[quote]On his Wikipedia page, all it says under personal life is "In 2019, he had foot surgery."

He probably did.

Jonathan Frakes got fake married to Marina Sirtis.

Dee Dee Halls must have been unbearable to be around during this time.

I stayed up to watch Diana's wedding. It was in the middle of the night, on Pacific time. I think I fell asleep before it was over. I can remember seeing that enormous dress and wondering if it would get snagged on something and she'd fall over.

The Luke and Laura wedding was a huge deal. It seemed everyone in the U.S. was talking about it but I didn't know why. I never watched that show. Women were swooning over Anthony Geary abd when I finally saw a picture of him, I didn't get it. Seemed ugly to me especially with that hair.

[quote]My mom would have NEVAH let me skip school to watch a soap,

You don't tell your mother you want to skip school to watch a soap. You FEIGN an illness.

And, yet, they didn't make sure to have GF back from vacation and on canvas today. Considering the fact that the Cassadine family is being beefed up again, it would've been a perfect way to introduce a flashback to the wedding and Helena. I seem to remember that at some point they had Constance Towers reshoot Elizabeth Taylor's curse scene to use for a flashback.

It was a weird time in soaps. The ABC shows were hugely popular despite having the absolute worst actors.

R44 No. ABC was home to the most Daytime Emmy Awarded Actress Ms. Erika Slezak the Meryl Streep of Daytime.

^ Slezak won an Emmy for each of Viki's split personalities. It was in her contract.

Francis, who "dated" Shriner back in the day, says he was basically a man-whore on-set. There was a parade of young girls in and out of his dressing room at that time. Maybe she's bearding, but she honestly doesn't seem the type. She would likely not saying anything (as she did with Geary) than just make shit up. Still, the old gossip of close friendships between Shriner and Stamos and also Shriner and Warlock is hot.

R47 maybe bisexual?

1983 to 1993 (when I was 8-13) were the years I was watching GENERAL HOSPITAL. I still vaguely remember some of the characters and scenarios. For example, the Felicia-Colton-Ariel triangle. The Jason-Karen-Jagger-Brenda foursome. Holly shacking up with Luke's identical cousin and them getting shipwrecked or something. Also, Lucy being a surrogate to Scotty and his girlfriend. I thought that was so nice of her, because normally she was a total bitch. LOL! That storyline hit me hard, particularly when a very pregnant Lucy got snowbound in some backwoods cottage and died giving birth. I remember crying my eyes out in front of the TV when she was having a near-death experience, while the doctors were trying to resuscitate her. Obviously, she came back to life, but I was so worried and sad for her and for Scotty, who felt responsible. I think they may have previously been an item.

Needless to say, I used to look forward to the Daytime Emmys. However, when I entered high school, I became more of a cinephile and began paying attention to the Oscars and other film awards instead. Wow, I can't believe it's been nearly 30 years since I last watched GH.

[quote] Dee Dee Halls must have been unbearable to be around during this time.

When is she not?

[quote]1983 to 1993 (when I was 8-13) were the years I was watching GENERAL HOSPITAL.

Ten years pass but you only age 5 years? You truly are a DataLounger!

[quote] Genie Francis had two gay men fighting over her and we all believed it.

Kin Shriner is NOT gay.

He dates in Europe.

R51 Oh, shit! I meant 1988-1993. LOL

The "Liz Taylor Outtakes" from 'GH' should be required DL viewing. She was blitzed the entire time; between the crew being starstruck and her having to do a dozen takes, it's a wonder the eps got made at all.

Love those outtakes!

[quote]Ten years pass but you only age 5 years?

He was deSORASed.

Yes, R20, he was hot. I vaguely remember him wearing jeans, and he looked so good in them.

My mom said this show was so stupid and I believe it seeing ugly ASF Luke being a thing, Ice princess, weather machines! OMG my mom always had good taste in entertainment and she nailed this shit show.

Thanks for sharing your humorless cunt of a mother with us, R59.

Is Tony G gay?

People make fun of such things as R59 on daytime, but they don't care when Scandal and other primetime shows throw crazy shit at us.

R61 Yes. He's never publicly come out, more of a "hiding in plain sight" kind of thing. As Chrissy LeBlanc did for years.

I started watching ATWT during the Marland years, and was spoiled by how good the writing and acting were. When I saw GH and DOOL, I realized why the public always mocked soap operas.

R10, the exploding jet ski was on All My Children. The explosion killed Jenny of Greg and Jenny fame. Jenny was played by Kim Delaney…who has been sporadically on GH for the past year or so.

GH was fucking ridiculous. Stupid ass soap. There were far superior soaps. GH was low rent trash and that hysterical Ice Princess storyline was the most over the top. Makes DAYS look sane.

Poor Liz. Tony G was banging her so beastly every night she lost all focus.

R54 - Ha! Tristan Rogers always looks like he's this close to losing his shit over nonsense. He certainly didn't look like he was having any of that with giddy, drunk Liz and her 15 takes.

Constance Towers will always be THE Helena Cassadine to me. Imagine the presence an actress would need to make the public forget about Liz Taylor. She even uttered one of my favorite all-time lines from GH to Liz Webber...

"Three different babies from three different fathers. Why, you're just ripe for welfare, aren't you?"

The only good thing about this soap spectacle with the appearance of Scotty. The only interesting thing about it.

So Laura falls hopelessly in love with a man who raped her. Well, it can happen on a soap opera, I guess.

God, her wedding dress was awful. Totally unflattering, pure 80s excess.

[quote] God, her wedding dress was awful. Totally unflattering, pure 80s excess.

It was bright white to hide all the cocaine bags that Francis had sewn into it. The dress had a street value of $15 million.

[quote]So Laura falls hopelessly in love with a man who raped her. Well, it can happen on a soap opera, I guess.

True, though I wonder if even a soap opera would dare do such a storyline today.

Soaps are shit today. Horrific.

They don't even do rape stories anymore. Or abortions. Soap Operas are in a safe space bubble that makes them mainly unwatchable. Bring back the hot social issues and scandalous prurience of the70s-80s soaps.

I was in 9th grade, no VCR. I tried to fake an upset stomach/coming down with the flu so I could stay home, but my mom saw right through that crap. She knew nothing of soaps (worked full-time), but she was well aware of the wedding because of all the hype. So, I did the next-best thing I could. I LISTENED to it on my portable radio with TV sound! (see photo)

Because I played a varsity sport & had practice after school, I had a free period at the end of day (what would have been my PE class), which coincided with GH at 2:00 pm. I sat at a picnic table with a friend who watched GH, and within five minutes there were a dozen girls (it was an all-girls school) gathered around -- all of us staring intently at the radio in the middle of the table.

It was pretty funny, because when all hell broke loose, we had NO idea what was happening, or that it was Scotty! After catching the bouquet, he yelled: "There is no marriage!" None of us recognized his voice (some had probably never seen him), so everyone started asking, "Who is that?" -- and we didn't hear either Claudia or Amy gasp "Scotty!" After that, there's yelling and whatnot during the fight, but no one ever said his name!

It wasn't until the scene with Joe, Alice & the guest looking for ice -- who says "ex-husband" -- that we understood. And then we all erupted, simultaneously: "OMG, it's Scotty!!" Good times.

R75 Sounds made up

[quote] They don't even do rape stories anymore

Actually it's even worse. DAYS had a character fall in love with a serial killer, who has been reformed.

Liberals just love their criminals.

So did GH. Actually twice: Ava and Kevin, and then Liz and Franco. I think those stories even overlapped. In soaps. serial killers are as common as long, lost evil twins and split personalities -- which is to say extremely common.

Leap into a grease fire R78

Yeah, Anthony Geary had a silly perm, but SOMETHING had to be done about his hair. His hairline was fast receding; something had to be done to make what hair he had look fuller and bigger.

Did your soap have its own hit song?

And yet, it happened R76. WTF would someone make that up?

R78 what the hell? Brain dead zombie conservative alert.

DAYS ripped off GH big time in the late 80s with its super couples, campy comedy and non stop action adventure storylines

Even bringing on Genie Francis and Jane Elliott

It wasn’t until years later that I learned that almost all the big GH writers from the early 80s were now at DAYS in the mid to late 80s

In the 90s one of DAYS 80s executive producers went to GH and brought a ton of 80s DAYS actors with her (MBE, SN, MA, BW, WK etc)

The GH/DAYS rivalry kicked off in the early 70s when Denise Alexander left her hugely popular role as Susan Martin on DAYS to play Leslie on GH for a huge amount of money at that time and the rivalry continues today

DAYS was always GH’s sister soap despite being on different networks, although same day repeats of DAYS and the entire ABC Daytime lineup aired on Soap Net in the 2000s, not AMC or OLTL, who were sister soaps to each other, AMC and OLTL were cousin soaps to GH and by default, cousin soaps to DAYS

R85 here, in fact Parch and Kayla’s 1988 wedding on DAYS was the second highest rated soap wedding of the 80s after GH’s Luke and Laura and it’s couple was future 90s GH stars (Stephen Nichols and Mary Beth Evans) and it featured Laura from GH, Genie Francis as one of the bridesmaids (she was playing Diana on DAYS at the time) and it was written by former early 80s GH writers

R69 = Jasam stan

Was I the only one watching Texas at 3 pm?

R86, I think you meant Patch...

R85 in a way I think the riverly really continues because the current head writer of DAYS was of course the head writer of GH and was the first one to really bring back the feel of 80s GH and has shown a great appreciation of the history of both shows, and OLTL when he wrote it.

I very much doubt that is is a coincidence that on the anniversary of Luke and Laura’s history making wedding, DAYS actually had wedding. Though instead of Helena crashing it and cursing the couple they unknowingly had Satan performing the ceremony.

I grew up on Secret Storm, Love of Life, The Brighter Day, and Search for Tomorrow, shows that no one under 105 remembers.

I think Love of Life had just ended when I became aware of soaps. But don't even get me started on my SFT.

I would've killed to have been a fly on the wall when Mary "Stewart" first viewed the updated opening dominated by all the McClearys LOL. She wasn't having any of that.

R91 I remember some slut named Belle on one of those shows. My grandmother called her a HUSSY!

HUSSY!

[quote]I remember some slut named Belle on one of those shows. My grandmother called her a HUSSY!

I have no idea who you could be talking about, r94

A hussy on TV? Who's ever heard of such a thing!

R90 yes Ron Carlivati, OLTL’s last headwriter at ABC from 2007-2011 (and GH’s headwriter from 2012-2015) is DAYS current headwriter and DAYS co headwriter is Lorraine Broderick, who was the last headwriter at AMC from 2009-2011 when it went off ABC

Ken Corday scooped both of the last headwriters of OLTL and AMC up for DAYS

R97 He was smart. When OLTL was cancelled it and DAYS were the only two to have increased in the ratings that season. RC really had OLTL firing on all cylinders and it was better than it had been in a long, long time. Then on GH he brought back a sense of history and made GH remember that the show is named fucking GENERAL HOSPITAL. I've never watched DAYS until the start of the current Satan storyline, but I have read the history of the show for years and I love that he has continued his tradition of honoring the history of a show.

The history of a soap is the heart of a soap. What makes them special is that we have seen the story evolve over years and decades, of course you can add characters and stories, but you can't forget what has come before.

Tony Geary made the housefraus wet their panties but he never did anything for us gays. In the early 80s, I remember him on a big billboard in Chicago's New Town (East Lakeviw aka Boystown) featuring him advertising those hideous Members Only jackets that were all the rage around that time. There's a YouTube channel of old Chicago tv clips called 'Fuzzy Memories TV/'The Museum of Classic Chicago Television' that put up an AM Chicago (WLS TV) episode from 1981 where the show's presenter did a live broadcast at Northbrook Court with Geary on as the featured guest. The suburban ladies there to see him went nuts. (Watch it at link)

Miss Geary is wearing a pink jacket. He really was Hiding In Plain Sight.

I wonder if this was the event that disturbed Geary, where he first heard women saying "Rape me, Luke!"

Geary was disappointed that it was only the women wanting to be raped.

Genie was so beautiful. I always felt Tony was unattractive and seemed unhappy to me

Some straight women are blind if they found Luke attractive

I think Geary was going for this look but couldn't pull it off because he doesn't have the pretty face and thick hair.

Kin Shriner apparently has a girlfriend:

Kin back in the day:

I can’t begin to imagine the amount of blow on location during that wedding shoot. Tony Geary in particular always seemed gakked out of his mind in those days. Watch his Emmy acceptance speech and you’ll agree it’s a miracle he didn’t rocket straight through the roof of the Waldorf Astoria. I bet he was intolerable in those days.

Aren't Kin and Billy Warlock BFFs? Can you imagine the pussy these two used to get back in the day when they'd be each other's wing man on their pussy prowls?

I used to to LOVE the "Rape song". I called it Music to get raped by...Herb Alpert's Rise. I won a "Dance Contest" in the Oasis club in Wildwood dancing to the Rape song(I believe Summer of 1983) with a man named Warren from S Jersey.

WHET Mikey Webber?

Demi and Tony must have had the same dealer. Years before she met Ashton Kutcher, her cougar tendencies were on display on ET when she stuck her tongue down the throat of that wimpy kid who played The Virgin Logan’s ward, Jeremy.

Kin might be bi, then, but he is no stranger to cock.

Demi was gorgeous

Is there any direct conformation of Scott's gay side? Anybody out there ever claim to be an ex-boyfriend? Any reported sightings of him at Oil Can Harry's, Basic Plumbing, Rage, The Revolver et al back in the day trolling for cock?

When Luke and Laura started I hadn't been born, most of what I experienced of them was when they returned in the 1990s. My mother however was an avid watcher and while she enjoyed L&L's adventures after the rape, my mother could never understand why Laura would choose him over Scotty, just based on looks not even factoring in the rape. And, I have to say I agree.

Anthony Geary has to be one of the strangest looking men to become a sex symbol in the history of Hollywood.

The character of Mikey Webber, who was annoying moppet at best, selected to live with rich bio dad Derek Barrington and his new stepmom Lorena Sharpe (orphan Monica's cousin) when they moved out of town. I think it was either Kansas or Nebraska for some reason. It was part of a cast purge at the time that also saw Mikey's adoptive father Dr. Rick and bio mom Ginny (fan favorite) soon after move to NYC with their just born infant Rick Jr.

Years later, Rick was brought back for a wretchedly conceived story were he was reimagined as a serial pervert who had raped/molested teen queen Laura seemingly off camera. I think Francis said no, so the story was changed (and barely improved) so that Rick was now screwing some Nurse in the Webber's never-before-mentioned *second* attic when he killed the slut in front of a traumatized Laura. Now Rick was always kind of a rover, but he wasn't psycho about it. The story became a huge mess with it then implied that Laura killed the Nurse for some reason (Laura does accidentally kill a lot of people), and then later revised again so that Scotty, of all people, murdered the Nurse and then framed the love of his life, Laura, for it. None of it made a lick of sense and they dragged it out for a torturous YEAR. To add insult to injury, newly psycho Rick apparently was a danger to his grandsons so he was killed by Lucky and Nik who then dumped his body in the harbor. It was all a giant F.U. to long-time viewers and it ushered in Laura's last write-off when she went to the loony bin in a state of catatonia. I swear that writing room must be one huge drug den.

[quote] Anthony Geary has to be one of the strangest looking men to become a sex symbol in the history of Hollywood.

This might sound like snark, but honestly I think Gloria Monty was fashioning Geary in the mold of Old Hollywood sexy rogue movie stars like Clark Gable and Humphrey Bogart. I think most of us can agree that those men's good looks were highly debatable.

R117 At least they didn't have pube hair on their head.

I mean, even Roger Howarth in his early days had the decent looks of an Average White Guy kind of college jock. But yes, La Geary was always an odd bird in terms of looks (as seen here around 5 minutes in)

I bought the 45 of that song back when it came out and played it constantly that summer. Thanks for posting that video. Watching it, I realized that Robin Mattson (replacement Heather) looked almost exactly like a chubby-cheeked Madonna!

I’m not sure if this link will work or not but listen to Genie being very candid about dealing with Gloria Monty and that old tw*t JFP.

Sorry, R120 here. I referring to the video posted by R82.

I don’t know a single woman who watched the show at that time who liked Scotty more than Luke, despite the rape. You all fail to realize many people don’t choose someone to marry BASED ON LOOKS, especially in the 80s. Especially women.

R123 They weren't basing it on income or security either. Luke was hoodlum connected to the criminal underbelly of PC. Scotty wasn't a boy scout but his father was one of the most prominent people in town, and he was himself a lawyer or was about to be.

I'm sure Scotty had fans other than my mother.

For want of a better word, but Luke was cool. Scotty was a dullard. Nice looking, but boring. Luke may not have been much to look at, but he had charisma. Scotty/Kin was sadly lacking in that department.

I guess charisma is in the eye of the beholder, I have never watched a scene with Scotty where I thought he lacked charisma.

I guess Laura fell in love with Luke because she knew life with him would be a run of never ending excitement. Life with Scotty was orderly and predictable; with Luke you never knew what would happen. Luke was also very emotional (women love men who show emotion), always yelling and smashing things, whereas Scotty definitely was much more contained. So what if he'd raped her. Luke was FUN.

Scotty became quirky and fun as time went on. He was a bit of a milquetoast guy initially.

R128 Actually, he was a bit of a teenage delinquent, according to all the flashbacks they did on the Lee Baldwin tribute episode.

My favorite fleeting-moment in the General Hospi-tale video (at R52)....O'REILLY!!!

The prototype for Shane Donovan's "Miss Peach".

There was a soap called Search for Tomorrow???

Correction: I meant R82

Actually, it was called "THE Search for Tomorrow." All the P&G shows started off with "The" in their names, but it was eventually dropped to make them sound more hip and trendy. On principle, I stopped watching these shows the day each of them dropped "The" from their titles.

There are soaps from the past you still hear about sometimes, like Ryan’s Hope or Loving or Guiding Light etc. but never heard of those. I am curious now.

I wish there was a platform that would upload every episode to old soaps.

I never recovered from the cancellation of "From These Roots," the most intelligent and literate soap ever written.

My favorite old soap name was "Love of Life."

I'd kill to see an episode of "Where the Heart Is". From everything I read about it, it was very well-written and acted, with themes that were a bit too daring for its time.

TYATR was always better than THE General Hospital. Does anybody want to talk about Fat Ed Bauer from TGL?

R131 It was one of the first TV soaps ever made and it ran for 35 years.

Yes.

It was not called “THE Search for Tomorrow”. It was always “Search for Tomorrow”

Was “Ryan’s Hope” a very sweet soap opera? Their opening is very sweet and makes you happy and smile. Wtf.

The theme music is lovely.

Ah yes, SFT, I remember that old soap. It centered around the McCleary family.

Wasn't Scotty in law school when he and Laura were married? How boring.

Anthony Geary and Genie Francis were on the Oprah Winfrey show. Oprah asked if they'd ever "dated (that is, had sex)" in real life. They said no. "Never?", she asked incredulously. By way of explanation Geary said "Genie is a lot younger than I am." Or "I'm a lot older than Genie", I can't remember. But he made it seem like he was too old for her. Well, he WAS like 16 years older than her. But I guess he decided to say it was the age difference that prevented them from "dating' in real life because for him to say "I'm gay" would make all his swooning middle-aged women fans drop dead from the shock.

What about Luke's OTHER true love Holly? I thought Emma Samms was much more beautiful than Genie Francis; heart shaped face, huge brown eyes, rosebud mouth, luxuriant brunette hair. Of course she too was much younger than Geary. They later hooked her up with Tristan Rogers who was also old enough to be her father. She and Rogers DID have an affair in real life. I think she'd still attractive but he looks like an ancient old man now.

Genie Francis’ story about Jill Phelps at r121 reminds me of what Beverlee McKinsey told TV Guide when she left Guiding Light.

That woman really didn’t give a fuck about her actors unless you were a Friend of Jill.

I quit GH when Alan Quartermaine was killed off, shortly after AJ was killed off, and right before Emily was killed off. It was so unnecessary, decimating the Quartermaines. .

R126 - Agreed, although I do think Kin brought more quirks and charisma to the character as time went on and he aged. In scenes from the late 70s, with teen queen Laura, he was alternately pussy-whipped or busy mansplaining everything to her. I think when Luke caught fire TPTB saw what they had on their hands and Scotty was written more and more as a bitter jerk loser while Luke was romanticized. I remember as a kid being bewildered why everyone, even his dad Lee, simply could not understand why Scott would be angry that his wife dumped him for some weird-looking local gangster who raped her. That was always WTF to me.

GH (or maybe soaps in general) does this often. For years we have seen far better or at least more interesting and complex characters ruined on the shrine of Sonny Corinthos just to pimp him up. Rick, A.J., Taggert, Claudia, Faith, Mac, my God the list is endless.

Kin's girlfriend is named Trish Ramish? She sounds like a character from a Garry Marshall sitcom.

[quote] They later hooked her up with Tristan Rogers who was also old enough to be her father. She and Rogers DID have an affair in real life. I think she'd still attractive but he looks like an ancient old man now.

TR is 75 and AG is 74. ES is 61. A 13-14 year age difference is not that much as long as everyone is of legal age. And TR looks better now than AG then.

I will say I hate how far they have gone in making Scotty buffoonish and a joke to even the other characters. But, I like that last week Robert, Anna, Valentine, and Victor Cassadine all had to admit the ambulance chaser came up with a brilliant legal plan to free Victor. Why? All because he wants to save the woman he loves. One of the reasons I like him and Obrecht together is they are both kind of joke characters by this point, and you get the feeling that they can redeem each other, both among the characters and the viewers.

Most of all though, I am glad that Kin S. seems to have toned down that electrocuted squirrel hairstyle he has had for the last decade or so.

Emma Samms is a knockout

[quote] Emma Samms is a knockout

Well, she certainly put us all to sleep on the set of Dynasty if that's what you mean.

I know Kin (Shriner, Scotty) and asked him when did Scotty get so grumpy.

He says to me, "Well. this guy raped his wife..."

I'm glad they are keeping him around in Elizabeth's boys' lives, especially Cameron who looks like he could be his grandkid. Scotty got screwed by ABC twice over rape, first when they decided to make rape into a love story and then last year when they decided all rapists no matter how reformed had to removed from the canvas. Franco and Scotty had a great relationship and chemistry on screen. Also, how much you want to bet that little edict would be thrown out the window if AG called and said, "I'd like to bring Luke back for one last hurrah?"

I didn't watch Search for Tomorrow regularly, but as a DAYS fan, I caught a few minutes of it here & there. I think the McCleary Brothers were probably the best-looking set of brothers on daytime, no?

That's hilarious that they got rid of the rapists but Sonny -- who shot AJ because Ava told him to -- and Ava, who shot Connie because...I forget why...are still walking around PC.

B&B should have tried to get Jeffrey Meek for Ridge -- not Torso.

R154 Murder is fine as long as you don't rape the person before or after.

[quote] . A 13-14 year age difference is not that much as long as everyone is of legal age.

A 13-14 age difference IS quite an age gap. Just ask Charles and Diana. Their 13 year age difference substantially affected their relationship. I guess it would anybody's,

I know his hair wasn't all that strange at the time, but Geary was never physically attractive. That they tried (and succeeded at) selling him as a sex symbol still boggles my mind. Of course, I ony watched "Days" & "Another World", because we only had two channels (a local NBC affiliate, & Maryland Public Television).

Both Charles and Diana and Luke and Laura were wed in 1981 and neither marriage survived.

There was some article recently on L&L and some historian said the 'rape' was a last ditch attempt to raise the ratings. That is SO NOT TRUE.

Gh was in ratings trouble in 1977; Doug Marland and Gloria Monty came on in 1978 and got the ratings up. By the time Luke made the scene in December 78, the show was already No. 2.

The rape was Oct. 79.

Remember how the tabloids said that Geary and Elizabeth Taylor were having a hot love affair. One said she used him and tossed him aside; "chewed him up and spit him out" was how it was described. Oh my sides! But then Liz was linked to several gay men; Montgomery Clift, Malcolm Forbes. Seems like even gay men could not resist her seductive charms.

Those poor vets in the late 70s, John Beradino, Rachel Ames and Emily McLaughlin. Gloria Monty took them from leads to glorified extras. It must've been tough for them watch their show hijacked by Geary.

Why did Genie Francis hate playing Diana Colville on Days of Our Lives so much, she was on from 87-89 and they paid her a small fortune and promoted the hell out of her and she had great chemistry with Drake Hogestyn (John Black)

In fact Drake hosted the Soap Opera Digest Awards in 1994 and he had surprisingly good chemistry with his co host, THE Susan Lucci, their good dark looks complimented each other and they even got to act by doing a soap opera sketch where Drake and LaLucci had bed scenes together

Dee Dee Halls was probably furious

TGL was always better than GH. I loved Fat Ed Bauer! TGL was a soap for fat people!

Ish thish thread about me?

Please be sure to block R133. She's mentally ill.

You can ignore my suggestion, but you'll soon hear about clogged toilets at the studios and many people from another message board that none of us know or have ever met.

I think Genie disliked Days because they hired her without any concept of what to do with her. They tried pairing Diana and Mike Horton, then they put her with Roman after Deirdre Hall left.

And the character’s backstory kept changing too from what I recall.

R166 wasn’t she being chem tested on DAYS with Robert S. Woods, who played Paul for about a year on DAYS, of course he’s best known as Bo on One Life to Live, DAYS offered him a shitload of money to leave OLTL and move to the West Coast and he accepted

I remember Genie saying in an interview that she loved working with Bob Woods aka Woodsie, Drake and Arleen Sorkin (Caliope) on DAYS

Genie always comes off as never happy about anything. She couldn't even get along with Wendy Riche.

R168 Wendy was one of the producers on DAYS in the late 80s and Genie got along with her great on DAYS

So great that when Wendy went to GH in the early 90s, she brought back Genie and a SLEW of 80s DAYS actors over (Mary Beth Evans, Stephen Nichols, Billy Warlock, Matthew Ashford, Billy Warlock, Wally Kurth, also rehired Jane Elliott , who Richie worked with on DAYS, as Tracy etc) to GH

Wendy Riche never worked on Days.

R170 it was Shelley Curtis who was a producer on DAYS from 1983-1991 and then went to GH from 1993-2006, and immediately started bringing a lot of her favorite DAYS actors aka her pets over in 1993

What happened to David Mendenhall?

David popped up at onef the Gh past cast reunion fan events. Those things are a hoot because they have up to 50 plus past cast members from all eras of the show.

Not surprisingly, he didn't grow up to be a huge guy. Kids who look young and smaller for their age are often hired b/c they're older on the inside and can work longer (not by much) and can handle stuff that really young kids can't; look at Adam Rich on Eight is Enough.

[quote] Genie always comes off as never happy about anything.

Gurl, let's get a few boxes of wine and talk!

John McCook said on the Talk yesterday actors bitch about the writing and then when they get up on stage at awards shows what do they do?

They thank the writers.

[quote] Genie disliked Days because they hired her without any concept of what to do with her.

A lot of info is in the interviews she did for the TV Academy History thingy. Including about her time at DAYS.

I believe she said that NBC and DAYS hired her for her fame, and didn't have a character developed. (Not unlike Marcy Walker at GL.)

two days ago

Genie loved working at AMC. I think she was happiest there, and she probably did some of her best acting there. She and Jean LeClerc as Jeremy were a fairly popular couple. However, ABC wanted her back at GH, so she was let go from AMC. I believe they killed her off when she and LeClerc were doing a crossover stint on Loving.

It would have been a beautiful wedding...

.. had it not been for Elizabeth Taylor's CURSE!

Luke had a wicked sense of humor. I remember enjoying that. Truth to be told, his best pairing was Luke and Robert. Very engaging, off the cuff, and hilarious.

Was Genie AIDS phobic ? Is that why she had the falling out with Tony in the 90s?

R181 Was she not paying attention to her own show? None other than the good Dr. Steve Hardy condemned such thinking during the Stone Cates story.

R181 According to an academic book that was published a few years back, that was in fact part of it.

I don't believe that Genie was AIDS-phobic. For heaven's sake, she did plenty of kissing/love scenes with gay and out Jean LeClerc on AMC during the height of the epidemic in the early 1990s.

Some people blame her husband, but she allowed to happen. Genie does not get a pass, she knew what was up.

The book said it wasn't completely AIDS fear but that Tony was a man whore and that she didn't want to get STDs in general.

I am guessing she got some kind of canker sore or herp from kissing him in earlier times.

R Then it isn't that unreasonable, unlike AIDS many other STD's are easily passed by kissing.

But it is homophobic. She just assumes her gay co-star is disease-riddled whore, while her straight co-stars are totally disease free?

R188 I mean if she had already contracted one from him in the past, it's understandable.

In defense of Genie, if you've watched her interviews, every time there was some kind of conflict where she had to choose between the show and her husband/family, she chose the latter. According to all reports, she's still happily married. And he makes plenty of money to support all of them.

I think she made the right choices.

As for the show, she now comes and goes when she pleases. Obviously she eats whatever she wants. I still think she's beautiful. She's got a good life!

I could defend Sharon Gabet because that was in the 80 when AIDS was still fairly. This was the 90s, Genie should have known better.

Who can blame Gabet? The Edge set was a petri dish in the early '80s .

Beth Ehlers didn't like being on AMC and made no secret of it.

R193 and that is relevant to this particular thread.....how, exactly?

Didn't he rape her? Why marry your rapist, Stockholm Syndrome? The world was definitely different back then. I believe Francis ended up on Days of our Lives in a hideous story line with John. I loathed the character of John and his raspy-whisper mouth breathing line readings. He's still on the show , searching for his inhaler.

Genie loved working with Drake. but she never had to go head to head with Dee.

However, Dee's fans went after Genie. Went after her with fury.

Even though Dee had left the show in 1987, shortly before Genie started, they viewed Diana Colville as trying to break up Marlena and Roman (as Drake's character was called at the time).

[quote] That's hilarious that they got rid of the rapists but Sonny -- who shot AJ because Ava told him to -- and Ava, who shot Connie because...I forget why...are still walking around PC.

ABC should shit-can the Sonny character too. 30 years ago he arguably raped teen Karen after getting her addicted to drugs so she would perform at his strip club. Sonny was in his 30s and portrayed as, essentially, a low-level pimp and drug dealer. At the very least, he seduced a heavily "medicated" teen girl with daddy issues. Yeah, he's a hero.

[quote] But then Liz was linked to several gay men; Montgomery Clift, Malcolm Forbes. Seems like even gay men could not resist her seductive charms.

Liz did anal on a first date.

Genie loved her role on AMC/Loving, Ceara. She was very angry that she was fired from that role essentially to facilitate a return as Laura.

R197 That's right, he was supposed to be Roman resurrected, but turned out to be a priest...or was pretending to be a priest. I'm confused. I blocked out most of it. I just remember he handcuffed her to a bed and force fed her a donut. At that point my brain cried, "no more". I think he's a Dimera. God help us all.

[quote] The book said it wasn't completely AIDS fear but that Tony was a man whore and that she didn't want to get STDs in general.

Allegedly, Geary was do under-the-cover sex scenes buck naked. No modesty sock or underwear for him. I can easily see his scene partners getting skeeved out.

R201 He's been so many different identities and they have retconned the retcons too many times. He was Roman, John Black, a DiMera, an Alamain, and most recently the son of some weird martial arts warrior.

Geary's scary home perm is hilarious.

R203 his dad was played by Tobin Bell Jigsaw from the Saw horror movie series

Continuing DAYS habit of casting horror movie actors

Ceara was raped by her father.

Hash Geniesh had a DUI?

I want a love story between Fat Ed Bauer from TGL and Fat Laura from TGH!

No, no, no, no and no.

R208 - They already made several movies of that...

MARY!

So was Steve Burton fired?

R212 Yes he was. He is done at GH for now.

Steve Burton's departure is hopefully permanent this time

Trevor St. John is being rumored to replace him. I can't see him having chem with any of the other actors in Jason's orbit. Didn't everyone pretty much hate him over at OLTL because he was a raging diva?

When you look like him and are as talented as him, you can be a diva.

as who?

They tried to replace him before and it didn't work, why do it again. Just make TSJ, Steven Lars or a new character and then be done with it.

ABC really treated Genie Francis like garbage.

While Luke and Laura made the show #1, it was Laura’s pre-Luke storylines (David Hamilton and the Bobbie/Scotty/Laura triangle) that saved GH from cancellation and brought them from 10th to 3rd in the ratings in 1 year.

Also, Luke isn’t nearly as interesting without Laura around.

Despite that, Anthony Geary was valued, and Genie was considered disposable.

Genie’s never happy. Complains about JFP, but yet Genie returned to GH a few years later, with JFP still producing, and JFP got Genie her one and only Emmy. And Gloria Monty was correct. Genie was very second fiddle to Tony at that time.

Gloria Monty gave me Doris Belack vibes.

....

[quote]Gloria Monty gave me Doris Belack vibes.

Doris Belack played the Gloria Monty-like soap producer in Tootsie.

I wonder if Genie is waiting to return until Steve and Ingo left. Her vacation has gone on quite a while.

Genie obviously hates working. Doesn’t she get months off each year? And she complained about Tony.

Dante don't mention Lulu no more. The kids have happily moved on like the kids on Queens.

I read Genie will be back for Christmas. And yes, I think Genie cares about being safe from covid.

Is Genie at high risk for a bad outcome from covid because she's obese?

Remember when Genie the complainer said that some producer (Carol Scott)walked up to her and threw open Genie’s coat, looked at her fat thighs and shook her head and walked away? Classic stuff.

Genie reminds me of Bev McKinsey, another actress who had a short work schedule, months of vacation, and forced demands on her co-stars. These actresses simply did not want to work and they did not respect the time and efforts of their company of actors. JFP runs a tight ship with no room for people like Genie and Bev.

The truth is GH has never valued its actresses, except for Denise Alexander back in the 70s. Tony was the star and they used Genie as prop to allow Tony to shine, but Genie shot herself in the foot with her demands not to be paired with Tony in the 90s. She got tagged with being difficult and disposable.

Look at Laura Wright, she knows she's a prop, but she plays the game and is rewarded for it.

R231 I think it is interesting that GH not valuing its actresses seems to have started when a woman, Gloria Monty, was put in charge. It doesn't seem that GH devalued Audrey, Jessie, or Lucille prior to her arrival. Audrey and Jessie were the main two heroines of the show's first years and much of the story revolved around them until the late 1970s. And, in then they were joined by Lesley. The only male characters on the show that it seemed they really valued was Steve Hardy and Lee Baldwin. Other actors and characters came and went.

It’s odd that Genie loved her AMC time so much given Ceara was kind of a mess. She came on the canvas and flopped around for awhile. Was she a vixen? A vamp? A victim? She didn’t seem to have big chemistry with her male co-stars either. It was fun when they had Erica and Ceara cat fight.

When you think about it, La Looch had to play opposite a few big female soap stars who had huge success in other roles (Marcy Walker, Finola Hughes, Genie Francis) only to try and make magic happen on AMC. I would say Marcy Walker was the most successful given Liza’s return generated a ton of story for years.

GH had great ratings when Diana and Peter were the top couple. Loved Janie Dawson, too.

I stopped watching GH the day Valerie Starrett left and was replaced by that Brooke Bundy person.

I never accepted Bundy in that role. They were different as night and day. I LOVED Valerie! I was like 8 or 9 but I think she was my favorite on the show, Janie being a close second.

I remember Ray Gioradin as Howie Dawson. Good times

Judith McConnell talked about her GH stint on the Locher Room a few weeks ago. It didn't seem to be a very pleasant experience for her.

Judith McConnell liked to flash her tits while at GH. Craig Huebing got a boner.

(R240)

I only knew Bundy as Diana and she was a loss to the show; killing her just to have the twist be that it wasn't Heather?

From 1980 to 1984, GH lost Tracy, Laura, Diana, Lesley, and Susan and also Gina Dante and Nurse Dorie.

As great as the show was back then it was always giving me reasons to turn the knob to Texas or better yet, Guiding Light.

THE Guiding Light

R242 At least they held on to Monica, who has remained until today. She has always been my favorite leading lady on GH.

Charleson looks grotesque with all that plastic surgery, though not as horrific as Zeman.

R245 Both of their faces seems to have settled some now and they look more human. Zeman's however was atrocious, and still doesn't look good. Even more so, the fact that she was married to a plastic surgeon makes it worse, you would think she would know which doctors to use. If the ex-husband is the one that did that to her face I can understand divorcing him.

R244, Carly had NOTHING on Monica back in the day.

She knew Alan was the father of AJ and still let Rick believe the kid was his.

We waited from Christmas 1979 to August 1980 for this payoff and it was worth it!

How Denise Alexander wasn't nominated for an Emmy I have no idea. Leslie was great too.

As trashy as Monica could be she had more class in her pinky than Carly ever will.

Laura Wright can act circles around Leslie Charleson.

R248, excellent point and ITA

I suppose that's why we still cared for and rooted for Monica even though she did mean things to Lesley and Rick.

Monica truly did believe AJ was Rick's and she didn't find out the truth until she was in too deep.

People credit Luke for being the big star of GH but the show skyrocketed from like No. 9 or 10 to No. 2 in 1978 with the emphasis on Laura/Scotty/Bobbie and Lesley/Rick/Monica/Alan.

R249 Being a cunt isn't acting.

I could watch Laura Wright read the phone book, she is that good! Where is Charleson's Emmy?

I have 2 DUIs. Can I get a job on GH?

R252 So nice to see Wes Ramsey posting here. Can you really suck the chrome off of a tailpipe?

Imagine being married the utter hotness that is Jonathan Frakes (or was at the time) and having to cozy up to Anthony Geary on set. What a comedown.

The only thing more common than mixed-up paternities and back-from-the-dead surprises in Port Charles, is the never-end gentrification of the town's waterfront and the opening of a low-income health clinic. Good Lord, the latter two have been have been in development for the past 40 years and are still not finished. Yup, the show is correctly set in New York state all right...

R255 to be fair Genie married Jonathan Frakes (who appeared on Days of Our Lives too at one time) when she was just starting DAYS and her on screen partner was peak hotness Drake “smell the fart acting king” Hogestyn

Kristina Wagner says she is returning as well. I'm guessing the Valentine Cassadine story will be getting lots of attention.

I also saw she is returning. I hope it’s for more than just a day or two.

June Lockhart is also returning.

When is Lucille Wall's return air date?

June Lockhart is 96 years old. Is she going to give Bill Hayes of Days some competition for oldest living actor on a soap opera?

^Wouldn't that honor go to Dee Dee Halls? She's got to be at least 110. I mean, she looked 50 when she did Electrawoman.

Vee is trying to get Emma Samms back. Vee is in the biz, you know.

Will June bring Lassie with her to Port Charles?

Both June and Bill Hayes were born in June 1925 -- Bill on June 5, June on June 25. Would be pretty amazing to have two 96 year olds on soaps with an active storylines. Bill is doing quite well with his storyline fighting the devil.

June is still working. Not convinced she’ll be on gh but stranger things have happened.

Will someone tell pervy Soapsudz and weirdo Towelboy to stop being creepy at SON!!

R266 That was made in 2007.