First Impressions: Vanessa Marcil Giovinazzo's Return to GH as Brenda

I loved what there was to see of her but I know there is much more to come. My heart was racing like it did in high school when I used to run home to see my Sonny and Brenda and it was fantastic to see her in the credits so soon. I love the fact that she is still a model. The irony there is that Brenda plays like she is strong but underneath it all she is so so vulnerable. GH just became my new favorite show daytime or nighttime!!!!

I am thrilled for all of the fans who feel the way shede80 does. For their excitement and gratification I am pleased. Because I have never been anything LESS than honest I will tell you it was another "So what?" moment in a history of them for GH in my eyes.

I have been waiting for Brenda's return as a reason to tune back into GH. While it was great to see her on screen again, it was ridiculous that for 55 minutes all we saw was the back of her head. Give the audience a little more credit than to think we would be surprised when her face was finally revealed!

Must say, the best part of the episode was actually the Carly/Lulu daydream scene!

It was okay....I knew they weren't gonna show her till the very end of the episode because it makes for a great cliffhanger. I thought it was stupid when that guy tried to kill her...what professional assassin tries to kill someone with 3-4 bodyguards surrounding her? That was just a minor specific glitch, but other than that...it was okay. It'll be better once she's back in Port Charles and in scenes with those other characters we love.

Great to see Vanessa back but unfortunately as long as Guza & Co. are in control of the writing on this show it will be as memorable as her 2002 return and that was a catastrophe... what a waste of a beautiful , talented actress.

I stopped watching GH in 2008 after 30+ years but did tune in to see the "Brenda's Men" episodes yesterday, it was like watching a close friend die a slow death in 3 hours, GH is a shell of its former self.

Welcome Back Vanessa, buckle your seat belt it is going to be a very bumpy ride!

She looked sort of like a robot, but that's okay. It's good to see her again. Let's hope Guza and Company don't do to her what Carruthers, Frons, and Pratt did to Rebecca Budig.

In many ways, I see Rebecca Budig and Vanessa Marcil as the same kind of forces in their respective shows.

Good luck to her, I will be watching closely!

Angrierblackerman---

I do see the parallels between Rebecca Budig and Vanessa Marcil, but I was FAR more excited about Rebecca's return, personally!! It was like Christmas morning when I read that she was returning!!!! And yes they did write her a crappy story!! It was atrocious. I remember Brenda's story being SLIGHTLY better, from what little I actually saw.

First impression? I'm guessing that Brenda has a drug problem because of the shaking hands and searching for something on her dressing room table action. And then her lack o reaction to the attempt on her life and glazed look in her eye, screams that she's self medicating to compensate for something post-traumatic.

If I were to be skeptical, I would say that might be more interesting than what the writers have in store. But lets be hopeful.

What was weird about the back of the head treatment is that normally that would be how they would build up to the reveal of the character using a stand in actress Perhaps for the week leading up to a Friday cliffhanger. But in this case it seems to have been VMG throughout, at the very least her voice.

I agree that I loved the Carly vs LuLu daydream was awesome. Hats off to Julie Marie Berman for her teary eyed shock to Laura Wright/Carly's tearing into her. It looked very real.

RE: I thought it was stupid when that guy tried to kill her...what professional assassin tries to kill someone with 3-4 bodyguards surrounding her? That was just a minor specific glitch, but other than that...

BRACE YOURSELF.....It's gonna go downhill pretty f***king quickly considering who the writer and Exec Producer are.....

Well...her big ass heels could kill a wild animal.

I love that soap writers continue to believe, going back to Erica Kane, that models are shorter than 5 9 let alone shorter than 5 5.

I agree with the "So what?" comment. I like VM, and two months ago I was looking forward to her return. But after all the damn promotions, teasers, and trailers I feel like I have been watching her for months. So when they finally showed her face at the end of the show, for me it was like "Who the hell cares, we been knew it was her!" This was her first episode back, and I already feel like this comeback ain't what people were expecting due to the greatness that was implied in all those trailers. It's sad, because what should have been something great is probably going to be ruined by Guza's writing. Also, I agree with those who loved the Carly/Lulu dream. Man, how I wished that wasn't a dream.

I have ALWAYS seen parallels between Marcil and Budig. Both are terrific actresses who the networks seem to place all their hopes and dreams on. But both are a bit overrated also I think.

I loved when Greenlee returned, but now the show is destroying the character again by saddling her with Ryan. It's the same tripe from 555-5555 that caused me to leave the show...Ryan-Kendall-Greenlee regurgitation...

But back to Brenda...I hope and pray that her storyline is a heartfelt one. I enjoyed the mini "Brenda-thon" actually.

Very sad, but, oh, so TRUE!

Well my water didn't turn to wine while I was watching so I say it was a disappointment.

Yea, sorry, one person is not going to save a show let alone the entire soap genre.

Anyone who said VMG would save daytime was mistaken, but she will most definitely save GH and that is all I care about quite frankly. To all the naysayers we shall see what happens when the ratings hit the street; the girl has that it factor that makes people watch.

I'm a new viewer to GH so I am anxious to see what they do with the character. Most GH fans that I know speak very highly of VMG. I'm willing to see what the hype is all about.

As a long time viewer of both AMC and GH I can honestly say there are huge differences between budig and VMG. VMG has been in numerous successful pairings - she had a decent fan following with Antonio, then she and Sonny became pretty much a supercouple, surprisingly then Jax came along and they were equally as popular and then finally she had the faux marriage to Jason that had some calling for them to be paired. Plus she had enormous chemistry with her two on-screen best buds Lois and Robin. In a nutshell, VMG had chemistry with virtually everyone she shared a scene with - the only person she had zero chem with was Ricky Martin's Miguel.

Budig has stayed popular on the strength of ONE Pairing - her wonderfully delightful relationship with Leo. She had more fizzle than sizzle with Scott Chandler back in the day, she bombed with the latin dude they brought in, the pairing with Jake was so-so at best and Rylee has been about as exciting as watching paint dry. She even made my yummy David seem old and dull. I love her bff relationship with Kendall but I think thats mostly because I love AM and her character. Even her so called rivalry with Erica seems like Greens is desperate to sit at the big kids table and is failing miserably.

Honestly, where I could NEVER imagine anyone else playing the role of Brenda, I actually preferred SS's version of Greenlee to Budig's. SS had a rough start but honestly I thought her version had more heart and more depth.

If nothing else, VMG brings another "big player" to the table to force more balanced storytelling that is not focused on the trinity of Sonny-Carly-Jason. There is another star in the orbit. Jonathan Jackson had a similar effect with making Lucky become a more compelling character. As Guza's muse, VMG has a more amplified version of this effect.

It's the only reason I watch GH!

I hope she will have more than a sliver of a story, I give it a month, no more!

BTW, 2 years later and with a HD TV, some people don't look so good, and some still do! LOL Brenda still look gorgeous.

Why did Burton exercise so much?

timepass - I'll take a stab at answering your question about Steve Burton even though I don't know him personally. I think he exercises so much because a) he thinks it's healthy and he enjoys it b) he thinks a "hit man" should be muscular and c) he wants to look good if GH asks him to take his shirt off.

Thanks sassysdreams!

If he likes it good for him, me not so much!

I was just happy to see that she went in the credits behind Kelly and next to Ingo. :

I think Steve looks perfect !!!!
it is his choice and if he enjoyed it good for him, it doesn't really matter, because he looks good....

I was happy that they didn't change much the credits they put her after jax and didn't hurt the main leads..
and good for them to putting her that fast.. not like the old one when it was never changing...