1. Do you still watch Port Charles? If so, what keeps you watching? If not, what was the last straw that made you stop?
Terry: "I tried to not watch from the start. I knew I didn't have the time to add a new soap, and the ABC station I watch carries it at an odd hour, in the early morning, so I didn't have a problem avoiding it. I see it sometimes, but I have never been caught up in it. I would pop in from time to time, usually by taping, but when it became clear that Lucy and Kevin were going to stay split up for at least a long while, I didn't even care to try to keep up. Given that I'm a 'Luke and Laura can stay apart forever' heretic on the GH side, I know that sounds crazy."
Arda: "I stopped watching it sometime last December. I had planned to stop watching it at the beginning of the year, but couldn't wait that long to stop. So I just stopped. The last straw was probably the mystery illness resulting from Chris tampering with the DL-56 formula (or the antidote to it?). But I'd been unhappy for some time and decided a half hour a day for something I barely tolerated was a half hour too much."
Judy: "I'm down to 'catch as catch can' with PC. That is, if I'm home from 11:30 to noon (which is almost never), I watch. The ESP psychic spy network story did me in. I just couldn't take the nonsense they were peddling as writing anymore. Prior to that, I thought PC had a good 'big picture' but marginal day-to-day writing. When the big picture went south too, that's when I bailed. (And this from the gal who liked the Casey the Alien schlock on GH back in the early 90s. It was, after all, our introduction to Cesar Faison.)"
Joan: "I'm back to watching regularly, but it's really a case of feeling I should. In fact, it seems mighty like marrieds who long for a divorce but feel they should stay for the sake of the children. If there is anything besides obligation that keeps me watching, it's probably the pleasure of some actors' work: Kin Shriner, Nicholas Pryor, Carly Schroder. I stopped watching because I couldn't stand to hear the same conversation recycled endlessly, and for a while it seemed that no one had a thought that did not go expressed--over and over again."
Amy: "I do still watch Port Charles. The most practical reason is because it's short. I hang on also for the characters from GH--Lucy, Kevin, Scotty. I also like its quirkiness--things like the fantasy episodes and Victor Collins! PC has been uneven, for me. We just passed through a slow bit after the General Homicide murders came to a close. But like GH, I like almost all the characters--some more than others, of course--and hang in for them even when the storytelling slows down. I think that the Scott and Lucy stuff is really dragging lately, but Lynn and Kin are delightful regardless."
Joan: "In answering these questions, I'm shocked to learn I really don't much care whether it lives or dies. How's that?"
Amy: "I think I would be initially sad if it folded, but would get over it quickly."
2. Who was or is your favorite character on PC? Least favorite? Favorite storyline? Least favorite?
Arda: "I liked the characters from GH--Lucy, Kevin, Scotty. Of the new characters, I liked Eve and Chris. I also liked Rex. My least favorites were probably Danielle, Jake, and Courtney. I felt lukewarm toward the Scanlons and the remaining interns.
Terry: "I love Lucy and Kevin. I love Scotty. (Yep, I lean toward GH alums.) I love Victor. I never warmed to Frank, from what I saw of him, and Mary Scanlon grates on my nerves. Lucy's miscarriage was on PC, right? I thought that was fabulous, and made a point to watch."
Amy: "Frank and Julie grated on my nerves, as did Mary--and sometimes Joe. I'm not a Scanlon girl, it seems! Karen has also been underused, and I want more of her relationship with Scott. Chris is finally getting some more airtime, which is as it should be. I'm not warming up to Dr. Locke, who's on every day, it seems, but I adore DV, and since he got back from Lucy-with-amnesia, he's not had anything to do. Just so they don't pack him off to jail suddenly like Rex. Sheesh."
"The GH-ers are my favorites, but I also adore Eve. And I think that's in part because she was immediately thrown in with the GH-ers. One of the problems I see is the disjunction between the GH-ers and the rest of the cast. When we started, there was some good blending going on. Now it's like the interns don't even live in the same town, unless somebody needs Scotty as a lawyer or Julie Devlin calls from the looney bin. The lighthouse crew is divided from the firehouse crew (though it seems like the current stuff may bring them back together) as well, and that's really been to the show's detriment, especially because they haven't tied either side in more closely with the interns. Everybody just stays at their house and those without family connections (or villainous designs on a family) are never on--Matt and Ellen being the primary example."
Joan: "This is hard, because with the exception of Carly Schroeder, I am disappointed in all my favorite characters. They are, in no real order: Victor, Serena, Scott, Eve, Kevin, Gail. Least favorite? Frank, DV, Neil, Ellen, Matt (and I was initially one of his biggest supporters!). Fave Storyline? How Serena lost her sight and got it back. Least fave storyline? Ellen/Sebastian."
Judy: "My favorite PC-original character is Chris, with Eve being a close second. I actually like Chris better than either Scotty or Lucy now (who used to be two of my absolute favorites, whether on PC or GH). The latter two have become so repetitive I can hardly keep from dozing off when they're on."
Amy: "I left out parts of the question! Let me try again. Fave Character: Kevin Collins. Victor's a close second. Least Fave Character: Ellen Burgess, recast. And Matt, lately. Neil too. *G* I am fondly attached to a lower percentage, but nobody truly grates on my nerves to the degree of say, Katherine Bell or Keesha Ward on GH. Fave Storyline: Actually, the opener--Rex Stanton kidnaps Serena. It was fun, even if it did have Danielle and Jake. Maybe a tie would be parts early on of the General Homicide storyline. It seems like starts are good, but payoffs aren't as good? Least Fave: Ellen/Sebastian. I agree with Joan."
"And let me be clear on DV. He's wonderful in theory, but hasn't paid off in practice because they haven't let him do anything. But Granville Van Deusen is delicious, whether it be in a suit or a Hawaiian shirt. I know Joan disagrees with me, and would point out that his dialogue isn't up to good villain snuff either. Faison he's not; DV would look something like Damien Smith, I think, if he were on GH (well, he'd look better, but you get my point). But for PC, he's neither campy like Rex nor hyperactive like Cooper. He's more traditional, I guess, and sexy. I prefer him to Locke, hands down, for more than the obvious reason. But I wish we'd get back to the stuff between DV and Lucy. That's what made him complicated and interesting, for me."
3. What has PC done exactly right, in the past or present?
Judy: "I loved the General Homicide story, and how it wove its way through the entire cast. For a while, PC was accomplishing what GH has been unable to do for years: involve a lot of characters in the same story, and allow them all to make their own unique contributions, rather than having the same Big Guns (like Luke, Sonny, and Jason on GH) save the day again and again. It seemed as if each plot twist in that story revealed something new and interesting about a different character, and spread the spotlight around nicely. I really liked that. I wish GH could do the same."
Arda: "I liked the General Homicide mystery, although I was disappointed in the aftermath. I really would have preferred to see Julie sent to an institution or killed off."
Joan: "They keep the history intact, for the most part. Even when they're not crossing over, the Baldwins usually remember pieces of their history dating back 30 years. They provide examples of committed parenting, even by psychopaths. Seriously, where else do despicable characters shine as parents, and fallible but lovable characters excel in at least this arena? It's encouraging."
Amy: "Interesting. Most parenting on GH is bad, no? Or flawed, at least."
Terry: "Early on, when I watched more regularly, they seemed to have the hang of the thirty-minute timeframe down pat. The half-hour seemed to go by quickly. Lots of things happened, but they didn't seem to be attempting to stuff an hour's worth of show into a half-hour. Half-hour shows have a rhythm all their own, and can be quite special (like Ryan's Hope)."
Amy: "I do like the rhythm. The stories move more quickly--or can. Like I said above, things seem to be bogging down right now. I wonder if it's the change in writers."
4. Where have they seriously missed the boat?
Joan: "They have strayed so far from their story bible it's ludicrous. PC was supposed to be centered on the hospital and that intertwining and interdependent lives of its young interns and doctors. Aside from killing off a big hunk of these, the closeness pretty much dissipated as soon as the interns got their MD degrees. Eve never works. Matt struggled to get respect and equal treatment, then poof! No problems and no edge, just grumpiness. What happened to Karen's commitment to research? Are they all primary care physicians now, or if not, what are their specialties? Is there a law that say that they can only treat family and friends and there are only 3 patients allowed in GH at one time?"
Amy: "Question: So...what about the next year's interns? I expected we'd get at least one new character--or at least a mention, or a walk-on--from one of the next crop. And so, what, do all of these people just get to stay indefinitely unless they die from a serial killer or a virus?"
Joan: "Perhaps the biggest blunder is that major characters spend all their time enmeshed in the problems of minor characters, and that really smart people are routinely made stupid. Kevin walks around hoping to find a clue, Lucy has regressed to years before she met Kevin (the older, smarter, better-dressed Kevin). The characters that got smarter (Karen) aren't given enough dimensions to make us care, while the character (Frank) with the most interesting potential storyline (the heartbreak of a man who is universally discounted as a loser by everyone except the son who doesn't know he's his father) has been painted so black for so long that I have no interest in rooting for him."
Amy: "So here's a side question: who's major and who's minor? For me, Lucy, Scott, and Kevin are major. The interns have all become minor. And then Courtney/Frank/Joe end up with massive screentime, while Chris Ramsey gets nothing. Maybe one of the problems I have is that the screentime doesn't seem proportional to importance? Or maybe I can't separate my personal fondnesses out of that equation."
Judy: "Almost everything they're doing now sucks *g*. They're isolating characters, repeating the same stuff over and over again, and concentrating almost solely on the sensationalistic, idiotic plots rather than the emotional fallout they should produce. I can accept bad plotting if I think there's going to be some sort of payoff down the road, some inkling that I might learn something about the characters involved. But when it became evident that I was going to be subjected to lousy plotting and little to no character evolution, I had to shut it off."
"If I could somehow program my VCR to record only the Chris/Rachel Locke stuff, I would. That's the only story that interests me right now."
Arda: "I can't provide specific examples, but I remember being annoyed with small crises that would erupt that would have no relationship to the overall arc of the story or contribute meaningfully to character development. I don't like to see characters move haphazardly from one crisis to another. In real life, we don't always have control over events. But a fiction should have order and elements that go together to make a coherent whole."
Terry: "They broke up my Kevin and Lucy before they ever got a big payoff--i.e., a wedding and/or a baby. I do not expect soap couples, even supercouples, to be permanent, but I do expect a big payoff somewhere along the line, to give fans a moment to cherish, a point to root for their couple to be able to recreate in the future.
Amy: "As you yourself said, this is interesting, given your take on L&L. The difference would be that we've had payoff after payoff with them? Now, here's my question, nineteenth-century novel person that I am. Is a wedding the 'big payoff?' Or would it have been a baby? etc. You see my point. For me, the big payoff for Kevin and Lucy could have been with Jasmine Island and them working it out after that. No?
"What I find interesting about that is that they've now turned Jasmine Island into something about Kevin and Eve--and Victor."
Terry: "Yuck. That's a shame."
Amy: "It really hasn't worked. I saw Kevin and Lucy's scenes there first off, and they floored me. These have been not so good. I feel like we're revisiting it--revisiting that private bonding--to set up Kevin and Eve for the audience in some way."
Terry: "Back to your question. I think, like in your nineteenth-century novels, the big payoff needs to be something traditional, a rite of passage. For me, it would have been a wedding (we got them to the altar, or almost to the altar, so many times without ever actually getting them married that it's a particularly significant payoff for this particular pair). A baby works, too. Either of those would tie them together in the eyes of the community in a definitive way that just having a private bonding experience would not."
Children forever link their parents in one way or another, even if the parents later split up as a romantic couple. To a lesser extent (these days), marriage creates an enduring bond. Lucy and Kevin split up, and she moved out of their jointly shared residence (didn't she? He still lives there, right?) It was painful, but it was relatively simple. Divorce means formal paperwork, signatures on forms, and the attendant soul-searching involved. It's harder to get out of a marriage, legally and socially, than out of a relationship without benefit of clergy. You'll notice that Laura and Luke are still not divorced, despite all the 'separate ways' they have certainly gone."
Amy: "Kevin is indeed still in the lighthouse, and Eve lives there now. But what of the failed wedding? That was pretty public and social (and now I'm really playing devil's advocate, because I see your point)."
"And is the difference something about Luke&Laura--or Laura's hesitation? Or the fact that Kevin and Lucy simply switched partners with Scott and Eve? It seemed more mutual, I guess, than Luke&Laura. But I agree that the breakup went over really quickly and smoothly to get to the couple we have now."
"Another question--or two."
"1) So why do Kevin and Lucy strike you this way, do you think, and not...oh, Sonny and Brenda? Investment in the characters? Or Luke and Laura? Because of investment in Stefan?"
"2) The follow-up question is: If you like the L&L breakup because of your investment in Stefan, do you think that fans of Lucy and Scotty would see this in the same light? Because in some sense, we're getting the payoff that's been delayed even longer for those two. Or does that side of things lose its impact because we haven't seen them together recently? Interesting, that, if Laura and Stefan, whom we *never* saw together before now, are more cheer-on-able than Scott and Lucy, whom we saw together for a lot of months/years. I wasn't watching then, so I can't make the comparison."
"And would you say that Lucy's very public support of Kevin-the-wacko-who-also-wrote-GHomicide doesn't count because it's negative? Lucy's made big shows of public connection where Kevin's concerned, but they're not the same thing. And the counter argument is that she's had a baby with Scott."
"And do you see any hope for Lucy and Kevin later because there's no big moment to recreate? Do you think that was the move to show viewers that we wouldn't be returning to that after the couples sorted themselves out into what we have now? Personally, I think that the tension--and therefore a lot of the interest--has gone out of that side of the canvas."
Terry: "Well, while I did initially say they needed the big moments to work their way back to, I'd like to back away just a little. Should Lucy and Kevin ever reunite, it would make the longlonglong-awaited wedding even more touching. But I do think that viewers were being led not to hold out for these four (Lucy, Kevin, eve, Scotty) to sort themselves back into their original configuration. It's easier not to restore them, because they don't have those ties to pull them back toward one another."
Amy: "Agreed. And I think that a lot of what we're seeing is telling the audience not to root for that."
Terry: "If Scotty had been an old lover of Lucy's but not the father of Serena, would they be together today? I don't think so."
Amy: "I think maybe yes. The miscarriage really rocked Lucy and Kevin, perhaps as much as the lying about Eve. But baby or lost baby aside, here are two people who've always had crappy timing, but who have always been drawn to each other. So I think that, like Laura and Stefan, Lucy would have to have dealt with that at some point, Serena or no. Of course, maybe that means that Scott should really be worried about Luke..."
Terry: "Oh, and thinking about the fact that these four used to be paired differently, I wondered if this quartet had any influence on Guza as he put together the mixed doubles on GH?"
Amy: "Hmm. It seems that swapped partners is a trope from just about everywhere, as Judy's piece in the Sept. issue would show. *G* But the tension is different from one to the other. It is a nice way, however, to tie more than two people together and alternate between pairs and groups. Of course, there is a 5th in there now...DV. *G*"
5. If you're still watching, what would be your dream storyline? Or what would you suggest they change?
Amy: "More DV. Seriously--wait, I was serious--I think that the integration has sucked recently, and they need to work on that. Chris and Eve barely see each other, there's no tension or interaction between the light- and fire-house gang, the Scanlons are isolated, etc. I see the potential for bringing things back together, what with the possible connections between Locke and Bordisso, etc. and the Julie's baby stuff. But it ain't there yet. That might mean that people could more easily fast forward the isolated storylines they didn't want to watch."
Joan: "I have no dream storyline. Isn't that sad? And I'd change pretty much everything except 75% of the cast. Get a new writer, go back to first principles and write better."
Judy: "Ditto. I also think that, in addition to the head writer, they could use better breakdown and dialogue writers, as well. Even when the head-writing was decent, I still used to cringe over some of the trite dialogue."
Amy: "I have to say that I'm not impressed with the new headwriter. Right now we're just spinning our tires."
6. How do you feel about the latest casting changes--new Joe and Karen, Rachel Locke, etc.
Amy: "Like 'em. I liked Karen better than Joe, and now I think I like Joe better than Karen. But Karen's always been boring to me because there's no tension in her family relationships--the thing I really like, I've decided, about characters. Joe, on the other hand, has been having some really great stuff with Frank, even if it's dragging on and on right now. And I'm surprised that Frank's even looking better now, given the new Joe. The physical size of the new Joe changes their dynamic, and that bothered me at first, but not any more. And I think the new Karen is just as good as the old."
"I haven't warmed up to Locke yet--her voice kind of lulls me to sleep (the character, not the actress--it's a gorgeous voice!) because it's so controlled and measured all the time."
Joan: "I think the recasts are good, it's the writing that fails. Rachel Locke is intriguing, but PC moves its villains too slow."
Judy: "I've only seen Rachel Locke a couple of times, but I really like her. I know the actress was on another soap for years, but I've never seen her before and I think she's great in this role. I know Amy has issues with her voice (the character's, that is, not the actor's), but I think it's perfect for the part. She's being intentionally vague with her level vocal inflections, exuding a sense of calm while hiding a maelstrom within. Great character. But she makes me wish all the more for better writing. She deserves a good story."
7. What kind of storylines do you think PC handles better: realistic (such as the medical situation with Neil), or adventure (such as the ESP storyline), or the really soapy (such as General Homicide). Or make up your own category, because I don't have time! *G*
Joan: "It does realism better than adventure, but if it had speeded up the General Homicide stuff I would have said that was great."
Amy: "I'm not fond of the adventures, so far. Stranded on a Greek Island, ESP, etc.--none of them have had any heart for me, they've just seemed contrived. I find myself irritated with Courtney most of the time, but in the medical story about Neil she's been really nice. Now, the mystery was good--the General Homicide stuff. Most of the 'secrets exposed' stuff has been good too. The romance has been pretty good--Scott and Lucy, Eve and Kevin--but with no tension there anymore, and with the Scanlon choice made with Karen, none of it curls my toes since DV and Lucy's scenes together..."
Judy: "Definitely not the ESP storyline *g*. I think they missed the boat not going for more realism, since the hospital setting is so ripe for it. Perhaps they need someone on staff who knows the medical field better (I volunteer!). General Homicide was the best thing they've done so far, primarily because of the reasons I stated above, in spite of the pacing (which was slow, as Joan said) and some of the far-out plotting connected with it."
8. If PC were to end, who would you want to take back to GH?
Judy: "Chris, Eve, Kevin and Lucy (with an occasional appearance from Victor). Scotty's a 'maybe' for me right now."
Terry: "Kevin, Lucy, Scotty (maybe), Victor, and Chris Ramsey."
Arda: "Lucy, Kevin, Scotty, Serena, Victor, Chris, and Eve. The problem, of course, is that GH doesn't do a very good job of keeping all of its current characters involved in stories. I originally began watching PC because I didn't want to miss out on anything related to GH. In my mind, watching PC would be almost like watching 1.5 hours of GH. After the first few months, however, nearly all connections between the shows were severed."
Joan: "Scott, Lucy, Kevin, Eve, Victor, Serena, Gail."
Amy: "At this point, Kevin and Victor would be top of my list. Then the Baldwins. I'd like to take Chris more than Eve, and I never thought I'd say that.
Terry: "Oh, yes, I shouldn't have forgotten the Baldwins. But then, Gail has popped up on GH already, so I guess I think of them as shared property to start with."
Amy: "Me too. There was a lovely bit of a story about Lee and a pulmonary embolus (blood clot in the lung--thanks, Judy, for the terminology!) recently and the Scott and Lee, Gail and Lee scenes were lovely. But I think Gail should get to treat somebody so we could see her more often. I always liked her 'beside manner.'"
9. If you could see a crossover from anybody on GH to PC, who would it be and for what storyline? Would it be a one-time appearance, or a few, like Mac with Kevin lately?
Amy: "Well, it certainly wouldn't be another one from Katherine Bell--what a waste! I do like the Mac and Kevin stuff. I also liked the Garcia stuff (they should have given him a storyline!!). And Luke's visit was nice. *G* For a one-time appearance, I might want to see a visit from Felicia, oddly enough, to have her back with Mac and Lucy at the same time--and Kevin. But I don't see that happening. For a handful of appearances, or participation in a storyline for a short while, I'm not sure. Though a fantasy of mine would be to see Faison stalking through the hospital back in the background somewhere--and maybe passing DV in the PC Grill or something. Ha!"
Judy: "[sniff] You're making me cry, Amy! I waited for years for Garcia to get a storyline, and now he's off to join the priesthood! *g*"
Joan: "Lucy and Luke and Felicia defeat Faison (but not too soon)."
Amy: "What, no Tammy?!?!?!?!"
Judy: "I think a conversation between Lucy and Felicia about the nature of obsessive men (i.e. DV and Faison) and the strain they put on their respective relationships might be kind of nice right now. (Even though DV is more obsessed with Scotty than with Lucy, but still...)."
10. And to round out the 10...well...make up your own damn question. *G*
Joan: "I have a question: Which character most needs major surgery? Lucy. At first I thought the dumbed-down Kevin did, but no, I'm going with Lucy. She has been regressed right past all that lovely insightfulness she gained during the Kevin years, at the same time she was forced to engage in petty and destructive behaviors she had shed long ago. Lucy 1999 never holds herself accountable for truly egregious behavior, and both she and Scott excuse or gloss over insensitivities the GH Lucy would have cringed over. It sounds cruel, but I can't wait for Lucy to lose Christina so that she can learn that the wages of tunnel vision and egotism are not the granting of one's heart's desire. When Lucy is written well, Lynn Herring is a dream. Lately, I have been fighting with my own hands in a stern effort not to fast forward."
Amy: "I got the feeling, early in the show, that we were revisiting things about Kevin and Lucy for the new viewers. I tried to make that transition to revisiting things about Lucy, but she hasn't progressed from that--I agree! So, is it something about needing that character type, and the writers not getting her? Because Eve has been completely white-bread for a long time, and she used to be much more interesting."
Arda: "Here's the big question. What impact did the creation of PC have on GH?"
Terry: "It's hard to say how GH would be different if PC had never been, but I have a few general ideas. I think there would be more time spent at the hospital on GH. I can't build a convincing case for this impression, since we still have lots of medical types on GH (Bobbie, Monica, Alan, Amy) and could easily build stories for them at the hospital. Oddly, we see more of Bobbie at the diner and of Laura and Stefan at the hospital. However, with shared sets, maybe they don't want to have to worry about conflicts? I just know that GH, the program, has less to do with GH, the hospital, than at any time I can remember."
Amy: "Nope. None of the hospital sets are regularly shared from GH to PC. PC has it's own 'in another wing' sets."
Judy: "But it's a shame, I think, that we don't see the hospital more on GH. I'm tired of the 'street-related' plotting wherein nearly every storyline (with the notable exception of the mixed marrieds) gets funneled back to the mobsters, leaving little room for any other characters to be developed. I'd like to have the hospital sets used more often so that characters like Alan, Monica and Tony can do something other than be satellites in the Juan story. But I suppose I'll have to wait for the next drive-by shooting before I see a medical story again *g*."
Terry: "I think without PC, Luke would have been stuck in that crypt with Lucy, not Felicia. I think without PC, Stefan and Kevin would have struck up an uneasy friendship by now. I think without PC, GH might have fewer newcomers, as there would be two more "major players," Kevin and Lucy, to accommodate and two more major actors to pay. I suspect there would be even rarer glimpses of the older figures who are backburnered, like Audrey and Gail."
Judy: "Agreed. Absolutely. After all, Lucy was a writer long before Felicia took up the pen. And it would make sense to me that she'd be a good candidate for the "Lila's memoirs" job, since she actually was a Q for a short while."
Amy: "I wonder. Why would Faison pose a threat to Lucy? That's the main logic with Luke and Felicia in the storyline. But the real connection between Luke and Felicia is different than that between him and Lucy. Lucy was never a part of the same kind of couple; she hasn't lost a child, except before birth, etc. The Luke/Lucy thing that bothers me most is that, when they faked Laura's death, Lucy dropped everything and became the woman of Luke's house there for a few days. When Lucky really died (well, sorta), she dropped by well after the fact to say, "Sorry pal." And leave again. Yuck."
"I am very sad that the Collins/Cassadine storyline didn't play out, and I would love to see Victor and Stefan deal with each other. And I do miss the interaction between Lucy, Luke, Sonny, Mike, and Jason at Luke's. Heck, I miss Kevin with just about anybody. He's too isolated, lately."
Judy: "And what a great relationship Stefan and Kevin's could've been! Listening to the 'dueling erudites' would be music to my ears *g*. For me, scrapping that storyline so that Kevin could go to PC was the most disappointing fallout from the Big Split. Just imagine (if Luke and Lucy were the crypt pairing), the wonderful conversation Stefan and Kevin could've had, commiserating over Luke's intrusion into both of their love lives (no doubt they'd be confounded over the attraction Luke holds for both women *g*). That's assuming Kevin and Lucy would still be together, of course."
Amy: "And Audrey and Gail haven't been on the screen but once a month lately as it is--save for the Lee story mentioned above. I wonder about the new people, though. That might be so, but the GH-ers were pretty established in relationships and wouldn't have been available for Jax or Sonny to date, etc."
Arda: "Kin Shriner had been gone from GH for a few years when he returned as Scott Baldwin on PC. Since the early Luke and Laura days, we haven't seen Scott and the Spencers interact. I really would have liked to see Scott interact with the Spencers during the revisit to the rape storyline."
Terry: "But to be honest, I don't imagine GH would be radically different. The interaction between the shows has been minimal, the major players from GH who crossed over permanently have been few, and the writing staff of PC seems pretty independent of the writing staff of GH."
Amy: "I don't either. There would have been different stories, perhaps, but characters would have taken similar trajectories on GH. Lucy and Kevin have taken different paths, perhaps, but I don't think their staying on GH would have significantly changed any storyline. We might have not had some things we have had, instead."