GH Writer Addresses Michael Shooting

''General Hospital'' head writer Bob Guza Jr. talks about the soap's decision to have 12-year-old Michael take a bullet as a result of all the mob violence that's infected Port Charles in recent years

By Abby West

On last Friday’s (April 4) General Hospital Michael Corinthos III, the 12-year-old son of local mob kingpin Sonny, was accidentally shot in the head, stunning even hardened GH fans, who are no strangers to gunplay on the ABC soap. Mobsters have fought over the apparently perfectly-positioned territory in the show's fictional town of Port Charles, NY for years. Still, even on a show known for violence, the shooting of a child is a risky move. But head writer Bob Guza Jr. says it plays into a larger theme he wants to promote. Read More

Enough said......

BULL-CRAP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

''We've been accused before of glorifying violence,'' Guza says. ''But we always try to show the consequences.

What a bunch of BS!!!! What consequences? More people getting shot? That's what he calls consequences? Please!

''I like it from an emotional standpoint. I also like it from a responsible standpoint,'' Guza says. ''Twelve-year-olds shouldn't be picking up guns; I don't care if your father is a gangster. And if they do, there's got to be a consequence. We make directly culpable the people who love him most.''

So to punish Michael, you have him get shot in the head from a mob hit?

I so hate Bob Guza's upside down world. When is he going to get fired?

Here's a beautiful rant for Serial Drama: http://serialdrama.typepad.com/serial_dram...f-mor.html#more

If I were a soap writer and trying to think of a way to do something regarding the above complaints, the last thing I would do is write a story where a child is shot in the head. I don't know, maybe it's because I'm in my right mind, but my first instinct is never, "You know what we don't see enough of on TV? Kids getting shot. Daytime needs some more of that". Maybe this is why I have a blog and am not in charge of running General Hospital...

But luckily for us, Guza explained it all to Entertainment Weekly. My attempt to understand these words after the jump!

''We've been accused before of glorifying violence,'' Guza says.

Where would anyone possibly get that idea? Maybe from the fact that the show's hitman is always right? Or the repeated "Sonny is a good man" mantra? Or the fact that Sonny and Jason are the undisputed stars of the show? Liz remarking that being a cop is just as dangerous as being a hired killer? The show's heroine, Carly, repeatedly looking down on Liz and Kate because they can't handle the rigors of mafia life? The REPEATED flashbacks of Emily being brutally strangled? Should I keep going?

''But we always try to show the consequences. We do deal with mobsters. We can't just have them importing illegal tchatchkes from the Far East and getting a slap on the wrist. You've got to deal with the fact that they kill people and people are killed all around them.''

Um, up until this point in time, have Jason and Sonny ever faced consequences for anything? Sure, Jason went on trial for a few murders, but he was never convicted. And yeah, he can't go public with the fact that he's Jake's father, but Liz is totally on the case making sure that Jake knows the glory of Jason. And Sonny...has been shot a bunch of times, like he told Michael, but, much like 50 Cent, he takes a licking and keeps on ticking.

''I like it from an emotional standpoint. I also like it from a responsible standpoint,'' Guza says. ''Twelve-year-olds shouldn't be picking up guns; I don't care if your father is a gangster. And if they do, there's got to be a consequence.''

This man is actually disgusting. Michael was foolish enough to get a gun because he saw Sonny and Jason use violence FOR YEARS in order to "protect their families" and exert their power in town, and because he did that, he deserves to be shot? What the fucking fuck, fucker?

"We make directly culpable the people who love him most"

Look, I'm all for Sonny, Carly and Jason having to deal with enormous guilt for the myriad ways in which they screwed this kid up, but (a)I don't believe for a minute that this will happen in an emotionally satisfying way and (b)did they have to shoot him? Couldn't they have just had him get kidnapped or something? This show's violence is appalling to me.

''It will play out for months. It's a major, major thing. And the ripple effect to the emotional lives of the characters is going to go on for maybe years,'' said Guza. ''You're going to see relationships shatter, new relationships forged out of grief and a need to understand the un-understandable. That's the only way you can justify doing it. The way it would happen in real life, it would have that kind of ripple effect. We tried, in our way, to duplicate it on the show.''

I...I don't even know. Is this going to be like the huge umbrella story dealing with the fallout of Georgie's murder? Or Emily's murder? Well, technically, I guess it will because those, too, eventually became about the mob...you know what, I'm too irritated to even go there.

''We're not going to make them all go in the garment business."

??? How utterly random. Is the only alternative to a life of crime becoming a tailor?

"That is not what this story is about,'' Guza says. ''The show is about romance during wartime..."

THE SHOW IS ABOUT A FUCKING HOSPITAL AND THE PEOPLE IN A SMALL UPSTATE NEW YORK TOWN, YOU FUCKING SADISTIC HACK OF A BASTARD. AND ALSO, HIRED KILLERS ARE NOT THE SAME THING AS SOLDIERS, YOU DUMBASS.

"...we have the highest stakes possible because people can be killed. We're not going to ignore that. We're not going to go away from that. But we're going to make them very, very aware of the consequences and make them try to deal in nonviolent ways.''

Oh, death has "consequences". Like being brought back from the dead to become a serial killer? That kind of consequence? Or like how Emily's death led to Jason leaving the mob in heartbreak feeling guilty over his role in his sister's death, and the murder of the police commissioner's daughter completely changed the way Port Charles operates. EXCEPT THAT NONE OF THAT HAPPENED. Because this show is HORRIFIC.

I feel like crying and going all Vito Corleone, "Look what they did to my show!" How are Guza, Brian Frons and Jill Farren Phelps still employed? Please help me understand.

The bolded part is just great.

"Violence is nothing new in Michael's life. Just recently, the boy (played by Dylan Cash since 2002) bought a gun and bullets off of street peddlers and accidentally shot his father's girlfriend. He ran away without calling 911, only to return later and have everyone, including the victim, forgive him. He was never made to admit his guilt to the authorities or get therapy."

That storyline was actually written and played out while Guza participated in the 100-day writers' strike, but when the scribe returned, he decided that the best way to address the fans' unhappiness about the lack of real repercussions for Michael's act of violence was to have Michael take a bullet himself. Of course, it doesn't hurt that it's all in time for May sweeps.

''I like it from an emotional standpoint. I also like it from a responsible standpoint,'' Guza says. ''Twelve-year-olds shouldn't be picking up guns; I don't care if your father is a gangster. And if they do, there's got to be a consequence. We make directly culpable the people who love him most.''

This here just perfectly summarizes what is completely and utterly wrong with GENERAL HOSPITAL.

Edited April 8, 200817 yr by YRBB

but when the scribe returned, he decided that the best way to address the fans' unhappiness about the lack of real repercussions for Michael's act of violence was to have Michael take a bullet himself. Of course, it doesn't hurt that it's all in time for May sweeps.

Thanks for sharing!!!!

This is the biggest illustration of how ridiculous this plot point is. Instead of dealing with the ramifications of Michael's actions in a realistic way, he decides to have him shot to tug at the viewers' heart stings and side step the real issue of violence. If this were about taking a look at the effects of a violent lifestyle, it would conclude with Sonny and Jason realizing that the sacrifices they've made to be in the mob are far too great and the safety of their loved ones is the most important thing and there'd go the mob. Instead he decided that shrouding the issue was a much better solution.

I personally don't have an issue with the mob on GH but they need to have it as another part of the landscape instead of it swallowing the landscape. And they need to either say it's a bad thing and act accordingly or say it's not such a bad thing and be consistent about that. The problem is that they want to portray it as not such a bad thing but then invoke the dangers of it for shock value, when it suits them or as in the case of Jason and Elizabeth, use it as a way of stalling.

The show is about romance during wartime, for lack of a better term.

I know he's got to be joking about this because this show has very little in the way of any kind of romance. Ghost Emily is not romantic and a sex scene here and there is not romantic either. I thought the soap opera was supposed to be an escape from the drama of life to romance and adventure. I specifically thought GH was supposed to center on the lives of the medical staff not lack of wartime romance but I guess I have that confused.

LMAO...his delusion is astounding!

LMAO...his delusion is astounding!

It really is, isn't it. Boggles the mind.

A campaign should be launched against ALL of them, Frons, Guza and JFP. Send it to the HEAD of ABC... send a bajillion letters if you have to...

but then again it wouldnt make any difference.

Guza need to be fired... Like yesterday... Talking about delusional...

I have no words to describe this hack and delusional psychopath. I wish he would put himself on GH as a character so Jason can blow him away.

I know I'm in the minority but I like Guza. At least he's consistent. And I'd rather have the devil I know then the devil I don't.

People the viewers really need to take action at this point. This is just ridiculous that this bloodthirsty neanderthal continues to be allowed his path of destruction,

I've always been a Bob Guza fan myself, but some of his choices lately have even had me going "what da hell"?