GH: Marlena on mob war

[Sylph]

On the General Hospital Horizon: A Fast and Furious Mob War

For over a decade now, we've all complained loudly about General Hospital's emphasis on violence and mob wars. Even so, despite our bitching and moaning, many of us still watch the show. Now it looks like our loyalty will be rewarded with yet another mob war that Port Charles mafioso Sonny has been loudly saying will break out between his boys and that of mob boss Anthony Zacchara. The latter is a character we've never heard of and still have not seen. How fierce is this Zacchara? Upstate New York mini-don Sonny quakes in awe when he speaks of him, as if Zacchara were as powerful and lethal as Don Michael Corleone and Don Anthony Soprano rolled into one. And if you've been watching GH the last two weeks or so, you know that signs are everywhere that this war will be fast and especially furious. Let's examine the apocalyptic build-up that GH has been giving Mob War '07:

1. Consider the speed and the ferocity with which GH is introducing the latest mob war. In just under a week our attention was diverted from Jason and Elizabeth's adulterous love and Jax' absurd male rape to the anticipated arrival of Zacchara. Tough guy Sonny rarely trembles at the prospect of danger. But lately he's been as girlishly panicky as Olive Oyl. Upping the stakes all the more, Sonny says this new mob chief is famed for striking at the women and children of his enemies. There is no badder bad guy.
2. Trevor Lansing (Stephen Macht), the rude, hatchet-faced lawyer of mob boss Zacchara, came to town to renew old relationships and revive sticky family ties. It turns out that Trevor is also Sonny's hated step-father! Not only that, but Kate, the old girlfriend Sonny seems to be in love with now, is also Trevor's long-term lover! Every single day for the last two weeks or three weeks, Trevor ran all over town, snarling at everyone, even threatening to kidnap his granddaughter Kristina, daughter of his biological son Ric. And were you watching the day the pock-marked geezer got a juicy eyeful of the comely young Sam?
3. Before Trevor could take a steam at his new hotel, Sonny and Carly's nanny, Leticia, was found murdered. Did you see the chilling scene in which Michael, Sonny and Carly's grade school age son, demanded Sonny get revenge for the crime? Sick, sick, sick, Mr. Guza! Not more than three weeks into the story, Sonny ordered Jason to do a hit on Trevor!
4. For their safety, Sonny and Carly sent their kids away to Sonny's private island, and Alexis secreted Christina off to Nicholas' castle. Normally meek mother Elizabeth, determined to protect mob enforcer Jason's son Jake, was seen loading a gun.
5. And the most important clue ensuring a big, big war: Sam whipped out a bikini and celebrated her new terrace hot tub over at her place. Now, Sam always sports cleavage or exposes some other part of her anatomy in those cheesy keyhole hot tops she and Carly tastelessly wear. But showing Kelly Monaco in a bikini? In a hot tub? Monaco is a former Playboy Playmate! Of course, in the story she did this to seduce Lucky, but it's not hard to pick up GH's message that luscious Sam could be this mob war's atom bomb. Jerry Jacks (whose side he is on?) sure got an eyeful when he ordered her to seduce Trevor.
6. This week ABC announced that Bruce Weitz will come to town next month as Anthony Zacchara. Weitz won an Emmy for playing Belker, a police detective who barked at people on Hill Street Blues. Like Stephen Macht, he is 60ish and has a character actor's face. Isn't this strange? Most soap villains these days look like matinee idols and are no older than 45. Best example: Paul Satterfield, who played villain Spencer Truman on One Life to Live years after he played Paul Hornsby on GH. So why did GH hire more than middle-aged craggy-faced Weitz and Macht? Not just because Tracy could use age appropriate dates! I conjecture that these two excellent actors, expert at portraying fear and terror, are going to helm a super-violent, end of the world mob war, which by my calculations should flare up by November sweeps, which is, wow, only six weeks away! Does this cataclysmic war reek of sweeps or not? Aha! These days soaps practically have to top themselves to maintain ratings. Remember the very successful Metro Court terrorist siege staged for a sweeps earlier this year.

As for me, I'm still hoping Genie Francis will come back for November sweeps as she did last year. As Laura, she brings back romance, tenderness and mother love to GH. But all signs point towards mayhem, with plenty of guns, rampant criminality and lots of violence this November instead. It's General Hospital! You're still watching, aren't you?

[R Sinclair]

TOO EFFIN' FUNNY!

[applcin]

Um, actually, no. Dropped it a long time ago. Only watch it now when the Scorpios or Laura make appearances. Pure nostalgia for times before Sonny/Jason took over and the world revolved around them.

[Ryan]

I love Marlena.......she nailed it right on the head.

[stenbeck212]

Interesting points. Of course Bruce Weitz' age could be an unconsciously chosen characteristic JFP uses to distinguish Zacchara as someone to be feared and loathed. Nobody's introducing characters over 50 for their romantic possibilities. I didn't see Michael express a thirst for blood, but I did see Sonny order a hit on Trevor. That scene was quite sickening. It played out more like a perverse temper tantrum no grown man should be having.

[dawn9476]

Trevor was never Sonny's step-father. Adella and Trevor were never married.

[Dr. Jay S.W.]

Sonny's stepfather was Duke. I always thought it was Trevor.

[Y&RWorldTurner]

You know what I don't get? The [!@#$%^&*] POINT! They portray Sonny as the good guy, who does nothing wrong and his business is selling COFFEE. Um, sorry, but if you're selling COFFEE, why all the violence and mob wars? Does Guza think that less of his audience? Don't answer that, I already know the answer.

God, I wish Claire Labine were still writing GH, you know, she did CREATE Sonny. Yes, he was a sketchy character even then, but he was written with charisma and he wasn't a poor imitation of Tony Soprano. GH tries so hard to court a strong male audience but it never works. Give it up GH!

Claire Labine and Wendy Riche must be so disappointed that all the hard work they poured in GH and all the characters they created have been shot to hell.

[Ryan]

Claire & Wendy were the perfect team. *Sigh* I wish they would return.

[dawn9476]

It was Deke, not Duke.

[Tishy]

Great article, and oh so true. Loved the part about Sam...truly made me giggle

[RuAsRuAnAu]

Guza isn't the only one who thinks little of the audience. Even Ron Carlivati is a member of the "Treat The Audience Like Sheeple".

Do you want a person in their 70s to HW a 5 ep per week TV series? GH, or any show, especially GL & DOOL, can't afford to lose any more of their male viewers. If GL has no male viewers, they'd be off the air by now. Without it's massive lead in male viewers, Y&R would NOT be #1.

Labine & Riche aren't the only former writers & producers that are disappointed with their respective shows. I think the most disappointed is Agnes Nixon (AMC 2005-present; OLTL 1999-present). Does anyone see Juliet Law Packer & Richard Backus ever returning to ATWT? Pamela Long, Nancy Curlee, Stephen Demorest & Lorraine Broderick to GL? Broderick to AMC?

Will Deke return to GH? I hope so. What about GH's law enforcement/mob centered characters from the 1980s/early 90s?(Robert Scorpio, Anna Devane, Frank Smith, Damian Smith etc) You can't have a mob presence without law enforcement/political characters. Mac Scorpio should run for mayor of PC. He'd win!

They need to return GH to its roots, so going back to the debuts of most of its current characters will help. Too bad PC killed off Karen Wexler. She was tied to Sonny in 1993. !@#$% stupid, PC!

I like how they have a character who plays the Mayor, like they did with Luke Spencer in the 1980s. More, John Bolger, please.

[dragonflies]

:lol:

ROFLMFAO :lol:

[applcin]

No, he was a poor imitation of Michael Corleone, right down to the name, the looks and the first wife getting blown up by a car bomb.

[MichaelGL]

GH is a complete and utter trainwreck. Has been for years when they decided to link each and every single character to the mob and throw morals out of the window. Sigh such wasted potential on a soap that has such an amazing aray of characters past and present. I'd love to helm GH.