There actually was a long break between when JJ left and Jacob appeared on screen. About 10 months passed between when JJ’s last day and JY’s first. And a whole year between when Lucky last interacted with Luke and Laura and when they found him.
So GH handed the timing well. Tony and Genie just always considered the role unrecastable.
The writing for Jacob’s Lucky sucked. Nobody seemed to know what to do with the character without JJ. Also Jacob, at the time, wasn’t very good. But being on GH helped make him a much better actor. He went on to play the son of another iconic soap character, Adam Chandler on AMC, and he was extraordinary in that role. He was part of a long tradition of recast Adam Jr, but his is the definitive version. Leaving GH was great for his career.
Also, to be fair, Jacob did win an Emmy as Lucky. His reel that year was good. It wasn’t really reflective of his general work, but he picked shows where he was really good.
Unfortunately both Genie and Tony have been known to cause problems on set. I think because they were once considered THE hottest thing in all of Daytime and got comfortable acting in ways many actors never would get away with.
But it’s common. Lots of actors who become the stars of their show act out.
Can you replacing someone as popular as JJ in a role and being faced with pages of dialogue, little prep time, and then the hostility of iconic talent at the beginning of work? It must have been a nightmare for Jacob, They probably shouldn't have replaced JJ without significant absence of the character, but they might have already committed the story to Lucky, and they needed the character. In any case, it was not up to Genie or Tony. Their job was to roll with the punches and not make things difficult. Having a tantrum on the set is immature and unprofessional.
Both Tony and Genie have been vocal in the past about being strongly against a Lucky recast.
Genie also commented in an interview specifically about not liking Jacob in the role (long after he was off the show). She caught some flack on the message boards for it.
Tony has also said that his relationship with Genie was like a marriage, with its ups and downs.
One thing about the story is off though. Jacob neither had pages of monologues when he started on GH nor did he work with Tony and Genie. He only worked with Constance Towers when he started, and Lucky wasn’t saying much. And even when he started working with Tony and Genie Lucky wasn’t talking to them. So either he’s confused about the timing or a lot got cut.
https://twitter.com/ChadamHypeMan/status/1269452836196278272
If you can't click the video, its Jacob Young talking about his first day on set as the (first) Lucky recast. Tony and Genie got into a big argument on set because she didn't want to work with him, ending
with Genie storming off the set. Hadn't heard that story before!!!
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