titan1978

The comedy of KT trying to return as Britt! She wanted off and to be killed because she didn’t want to play just another character on the show, she wanted to be one of the leads. And Burton’s firing was the catalyst.

Much like Patrick Drake, Dante did not fare well under Frank and Ron. Ron just doesn’t know or doesn’t care to write a complex male who isn’t a villain or villain adjacent. Now if they like how the man looks without his shirt on, they at least let them blandly carry on. Nathan for example. And yes, as we have discussed, there was a concentrated effort on the show to shift Jason into the lead character, and slightly downgrade Sonny those last few years of Guza. Carly was still in the mix, but Guza never centered Laura Wright like he did SJB or even TB. She still ate the show alive as far as appearances though. Franco was obsessed with Jason and Sam, not Sonny. I hated almost all of Guza’s work from his 2002 return to his firing. But I have never denied it was strongly written. It was just too bleak for me, and it got increasingly sad watching them (Guza/JFP) dismantle the show. I would pop in for weeks and then not watch for a couple months, etc. And as annoying as I found their run, it wasn’t generic. Luke, Maxie, Sonny, Carly, Jason, Liz, Lulu, Dante, Robin, etc they all had their own voices in the scripts. Even a returning character like Laura or Brenda still had their own specificity. I have come to appreciate that when compared to the totally generic show we got once Carlivati was fired. I love how both of them had matured, but the same issues will always break them apart. It has been consistent since she wore the wire. They are toxic for each other, and yet they cannot fight the pull for long. He wants power, now that he has it he wants it even more. And she wants his passion to be for her, for that to override everything else. These are fantastic scenes for both of them.

Nobody had the choice, but had they stayed as Todd, McBain, and Starr, I think they would have been more successful. None of the new roles worked as well, and the show still trying to make them work was a disservice to everybody.

The story with Heather’s murder hip is yet another stalled story that doesn’t work. It’s time to move forward or drop it (which I would prefer). The argument was stupid, Portia and Laura are both being wasted. As far as Portia’s argument goes, I get her feelings because of Trina. What I don’t get is the constant reference to family. They are barely connected, and if Laura was going to interfere in a legal matter for her family I would think it would be for Nikolas. This also is a place Sasha has a natural fit to be included in story and isn’t. Are they laying the groundwork for dealing with Monica? That scene with Trina and Joss about who is in charge of the house. The scene the day before with Tracy and the terribly named McConkey. I wish LC was in better health.

I loved him as Ben, and what I have seen of his Joe Kelly. Ben/Val and Abby/Gary were my preferred partners for them. They really missed an opportunity with those cable stations and Ben considering how important cable news became. I think there was way more ground to cover there with he and Abby at odds than an affair with Cathy or whatever the hell that last season story was for him.

What a great time to reveal she craves attention so much that she faked her cancer. That was probably the greatest board generated plot about GH and I am still here waiting for it to be used by the show. A modern day early Karen Wolek (without the deep bench of talent both on camera and bts).

Didn’t she cheat on Chase after bonding with Michael during the fake relationship story? Drew could go either way. He is more of a cypher than a character at this point. My feeling about the chaos bts is that all three of them are responsible. Mulcahey is a character based writer, and most of these characters were generic at best. Korte has been on the teams that stripped most of the personality from the show. And Frank manages the show in a way that makes storytelling difficult. What has played out onscreen has been challenging due to all three and the nature of a shotgun wedding. I feel for Maurice. Sonny is supposed to be volatile. If he cannot play that (and shouldn’t be forced to) then what are we doing with Sonny anymore? He clearly needs a character reset that makes him less intense. I know he has threatened retirement for a couple of years, but based on what I have seen from State of Mind he also spirals when he doesn’t have work. The truth is that the Sonny’s meds situation and Pikeman should have been moved into another phase, and both were just stalled out and spinning wheels. Same with the stupid Heather Webber story. Instead the show has focused on Finn’s family, Drew, and Blaze. No wonder the ratings have yet to truly stabilize.

This has been such a strange way to tell this story. There was room for anger at Ava and still the greater emotional issues- Blaze has a mother that does not support her being a lesbian and actively has tried to keep her from being public about it/just living her life. They have the right idea- this should be an umbrella story that touches many corners-Blaze/Kristina, Natalie, Sonny and Alexis, Deception, and Brook Lynn. But they have chosen to focus the crux of the story around Ava’s actions instead of Natalie. It would have been interesting for Aiden to be a fan, and see this fallout and start having a hard time too, which adds Liz And her family to the umbrella. Instead it’s about Ava being a bumbling villain.

I am drawing a blank. When did this happen and what characters? It’s disgusting! They used to be able to do this! Even something as grounded as BJ’s heart had Bobbie’s affair with Damian being exposed by Tony as she was being wheeled in to the ER.

Ava is suffering from unintended consequences. That doesn’t mean that Natalia isn’t also facing consequences. I actually like that Ava reading the comments made her both feel for Blaze and also selfishly rush to ensure her own protection. Also- go to any famous LGBTQIA person’s comments. It’s filled with attacks from bots, from Christian conservatives, and often from our own LGBTQ people being misguided keyboard activists. I think there would be calls for Kristina to resign. The problem with the center is that it wasn’t established yet so any stakes there are moot.

I think that aspect is very plausible, especially because she was doing it for her career instead of out of a need for safety. An argument could easily be made that Kristina’s advocacy is performative, and this proves it.

This has been a fascinating, and heartbreaking time to watch the show. What I am left with as Mulcahey’s credited days are numbered is a lot of questions, and a show that is largely full of stories that are not working, but are at least filled with actual human emotions. We all knew where this Kristina surrogacy story was headed from day one. It’s been filled with one cliche after another. But it has also allowed for real emotion to play out. Mansi and NLG made those scenes yesterday count, in a story I wish had never happened. The show needed a long term villain- their Roger Thorpe if you will. Moving Ava into that role has been good for her and the show, even if the BTS machinations haven’t allowed any of her scheming to become clear. Having the revelations come out while trying to sign those contracts that Natalia has been so awful about is good soap. The show has zero stories going on that I love. But I can still watch it because at least the characters have something to do and emote besides regurgitating the plot. Maybe if Valentini’s starts and stops were not happening and hindering all of these stories, they might have been better? Whatever the next phase is, they desperately need an umbrella story that they let run every week for at least 3 months. No one month this set of characters dominates, then disappears again. And they are wasting time and resources not using Trina as a young lead, and her mother should be in story too.

I like Gio, he’s kind of just there but at least they are not trying to make him angst ridden when it doesn’t suit him. But there have been a couple of times when he is just smiling away that I expect him to flash a package of Mentos, the fresh maker!

I appreciate how well done the scenes with Finn and Violet were with him saying goodbye. Everyone did well in those scenes. My only issue is once again, even though it has been sped up, we have seen every step in a Finn story. It’s the only set of stories being told with any care, from the wedding, Gregory’s death, though Finn leaving for rehab. Everything else is plagued with starts and stops, and details just dropped in exposition instead of showing the other stories. One thing I have hated during the last few years is that if a story isn’t working for Frank, they just ignore it. I fear the last few months with Sonny are headed there. The town pariah, Molly carrying around poor old Cyrus’ statement declaration, his meds, whatever was happening with Ava…that is a lot of plot to just disappear.

I also think fans believe their corner of the internet translates to more of the fandom than it does. There is a huge difference between Jackie Zeman saying people were throwing tomatoes at her in the grocery store when Bobbie was mean, and posting how annoying Carly is. What happened to people like her and Fulton was visceral. Zeman could laugh about it, Fulton seemed less amused. Many of us have bitched about Sonny for decades. Decades! But the truth is he is popular with the greater audience. I have seen posters here and on other sites complain about Luke and Laura for a long time. People post things like they weren’t an actual cultural phenomenon. Feelings are not facts. Everywhere I turn online where people talk about soaps there are fans that think GH should rehire Roger Howarth and hope Finn is back soon. I have never wanted anything less than either of those. To me, they are symptoms of the problem, not a solution. And yet they have plenty of fans clamoring for them to return. Based on things I have seen them comment on, LW and Burton are aware that enough of the audience would like more balance. So they have some idea.

They had more heat!

I would be fine with just this.

Oh no doubt. I was referring to the culmination in 2013, when she interrupted the wedding. The rest was a waste of everybody. Although Robin and Patrick were still able to move the needle IIRC even after the 2013 climax. And I don’t credit that all to KMc, just the story that was centered on her. It made us wait for the reunion with her and her family. Anna and Robert’s reactions were as important to the audience as Patrick and Emma. Patrick, another male character Frank did not get or invest in. Didn’t he have an alcoholism/addiction storyline that played out mostly off camera. Am I remembering that correctly? Tell an actual story with stakes and the fans of this show do check in to see what’s up. If the show is halfway decent, they stay for awhile. I did.

That was also the prevailing attitude in 2012. And by the 50th and beyond, the show had its best ratings since the mid 2000’s. What made those numbers move (and spike a couple of times), was the reintroduction and investment of generations of General Hospital characters, being the actual focal points in the stories. The other aspect was Kimberly McCullough having a limited schedule, which forced them to drag out the Robin is alive storyline, and the culmination of that was a ratings winner. The show hasn’t really been dominated by General Hospital actors driving their stories for at least the last 4 years. Fan favorites have been on contract and barely used compared to folks like Nina, Franco, Finn, even Drew, etc. And the lesson needs to be learned that Carly is not a character that brings them viewers, she can’t be the only game in town. I would argue that if they were telling a compelling mystery, had a couple actively falling in love with rooting value, and the stories were directly about the popular players they have on contract, we would be back over 2 million viewers pretty quickly.

Offer VM that Geary deal, he worked 6 months out of the year, it was only really visible onscreen during the summers due to pre-taping. The whole point of an ensemble is that characters should rotate in stories!

Did I hear Steve Burton say “new head writers” and then follow that up with Korte is still there and knows Lucky. Does that mean new writers are in place? I mean he could have misspoke, but it was an interesting way of describing head writers and Korte separate from that.

They had no issue recasting Nikolas, or Jason for that matter. I think Geary leaving and FV/ABC not valuing Genie had more to do with no Lucky than just waiting for JJ. They used Liz to prop up his friends (twice), and had no issue dropping Francis until it bit them in the butt. That just says to me they thought that branch of Spencer characters was expendable. Maybe that’s too cynical but that’s where I am. Maurice had a hand in DZ returning, and he’s barely been used compared to the other men in his age range.

Exactly where I stand too. Not to mention he isn’t some rando like Jagger or Jackie Templeton- JJ’s Lucky walks in the door with story to play on the show in 2024, and connections everywhere on the show right now. I have no expectations that his return drives a huge ratings bump. But consistent story with characters being used that have been neglected for a decade might bring us easily back over 2 million a week. It’s been over a decade of many GH characters languishing in supporting roles or in stories they should not be in while the likes of Nina, Nathan, Peter, Finn, Franco, Hayden, Kim Nero, Julia etc were brought in and placed in the center of stories with actual GH characters supporting them. I am ready for this change.

The last 12 months-ish have proven to me that Valentini does not wield the total control at GH that had been afforded to him before. I have no idea who the ABC brass is that has gotten involved, but it’s pretty clear. Because Frank would have written out others to keep the budget good rather than choosing all on his own to get rid or Roger or Michael. He did it before with Genie (which backfired spectacularly). I could easily have seen DZ and most of the Black folks being offered recurring before either of those two were fired. Then PM lured out of retirement (which FV clearly had a hand in botching), and now JJ back? He’s under someone’s thumb at ABC. Nina and Maxie have had the most improvement by far. I have grown to like Nina, and that’s all CW and Mulcahey. Has any ABC actor logged as many hours as ME in the 2000’s? He was heavy on PC, felt like the only man used on OLTL, and all his wasted frontburner time on GH.

Especially with characters that are, at this point, expendable. That’s not just Guza though, that’s just good soap writing. If we could have an accident that made Violet mute, and hit another one of the kids giving them temporary paralysis, we would be on to something, maybe Rocco (who I liked and we haven’t seen enough of). One story creating more story. Is his abrupt exit a death?