Definitely. GH feels extreme with so many offscreen kids in Port Charles. There’s no need to have a gazillion baby stories, but they are easy to get approved, as writers have shared. Yet now we have all of these randy, rough-and-ready AARP cardholders mingling in bars away from their young kids, who are being raised by offscreen nannies, I’m assuming, or offscreen older relatives. (Or to bring it back to Y&R, sent away to boarding school like Johnny and Katie.) They expect we’ll be so caught up in their “scintillating” stories of the moment that we won’t remember these people have LARGE families they barely see, not even at holidays.
For Y&R, it feels like budget mode has made them hone in on “comfort food” and “what works,” which apparently is familiar faces locked in a state of perpetual adolescence. Their attempts at featuring the kids have been fully half-assed. Seriously, what on earth did they have planned for Moses? Was it surprising that he disappeared after that “exciting” non-story he had? Charlie and Mattie? Reed? Fen? Ana? Allie? What even was that characterization of Noah? Creeping on a lesbian and skulking around town in a leather jacket (when Rory Gibson has a body like this he loves to show off)? That’s how you introduce a potential leading man? They weren’t even trying.
Even Faith, a character we have known for years on the show, has just experienced significant trauma. Yet the show has not explored the aftermath and emotional impact on Faith. This seems like a missed opportunity, especially since Sharon also has a complex history of trauma and probably feels a lot of guilt. Sharon helping Faith deal with the aftermath could have been an engaging story arc about intergenerational trauma. However, instead of developing this story, the show sent Faith away and we’re back to another boring business story with Sharon inheriting Cameron Kirsten’s company.