GH: New Return Promo

[Sylph]

I'm gonna watch to see how much she'll bomb. Probably she'll bring an increase, although who knows, and then people are gonna turn on it like they did on every single storyline that aired ihe last [pick a number] years.

[JackPeyton]

Fact is, people will place blame at her. After last time when she brought in the 1mil or however many it was, anything less than will be thought of as a bomb, because people will refuse to acknowledge the fact that the amount of viewers are just not the same as they were then. Not to mention the amount of online fans and people who watch on soapnet are not counted. Viewers get their shows several way now, but thats an overall raings issue and i could go on for days about the outside and ineffective system.

All i care about is Brenda/Sonny. Although, i will love her current boyfriend because i have had a crush on brad Rowe for at least 10 years.

But yes, between matt/maxie/lucky, brenda, and craycray lisa i will be watching gh for as long as i can take it.

I hope for the best, but i am expecting the worst.

[Angela]

I do think Vanessa Marcil is great, when I say this is not going to be 2003 it's that it has been such a major downwards spiral in quality. 2003, was a downward spiral but this is significantly worse. There's almost nothing appealing to Sonny anymore. Jax is Carly's long-time dog, etc.

So GH had 2.8 million viewers this past month, right? Did they? Given that non-Marcil fact, I give Vanessa 2 months of keeping GH at nearly 3 million (maybe a bit over) and challenging Y&R in 18-49 demo but not beating them. The first few weeks of this story (the Angelina Jolie/Brad Pitt phase) reads really dull and contrived to me though except for the S/B flashbacks which they'll probably have a lot of.

[bellcurve]

If "The Talk" moves into Y&R's timeslot, then the 18-49 Female(not to mention the #1 household ranking) will be a free-for-all.

[bellcurve]

It's not enough to bring back this beautiful, exotic woman...there has to be story there too, you're absolutely right.

Guza's biggest mistake is not playing other stories around Brenda's return. The next two weeks are gonna be like an hour-long B&B...with other characters not in scenes with Brenda basically narrating and recapping events we've seen before involving her and teasing what is coming up in the next scene. That does not excite me at all.

I know people have complained about how overcrowded GH's cast is, but an hourlong soap(IMO) was designed for feature more stories and more CONTENT, instead of the same four characters. It seemed like Guza was finally turning the tide, but if this Brenda sh*t dominates the airtime, I'm not sure how many people(including myself) will want to stick around. Even if it does look pretty.

If Brenda's story is the ONLY story on the show, then it better be the best damn story in daytime.

[Sylph]

How can you care about Brenda & Sonny when

I love this post! I really think you've written a balanced post that puts things as they are.

[DRW50]

I think the biggest mistake if there is one is thinking that her return means it has to be about Sonny and Jason. Jason as a character is pretty much done and the deadpan stuff he did with Brenda has been used up over the years. And everything with Sonny and Brenda is dead and buried and was long before she left even the first time around, in 1998.

If they are bringing her back to prop their fading names, then it's not about her. Just as JJ was supposed to be a huge boon to GH and take them back to the glory days, and whatever happened to that? He's wandering around, utterly pointless, like a rejected Robert Pattison impersonator.

Obviously Marcil is a bigger name than JJ ever was but that doesn't translate to a good show or to a show which many of Brenda's fans gave up on ages ago.

[bellcurve]

That's what Marcil wanted. She doesn't want to build a family around her(i.e. her sister, Julia). She wants to build a family around the men in her life and quite possibly the only female friend she won't steal a man from. She didn't even mention the Q's, who took her in. She mentioned that Jason, Jax, Sonny, and Robin were her family.

[DRW50]

I wonder if she has actually watched the show over the past seven years. These characters are just worn down to nothing and they tend to sink anyone who gets in their path, unless it's some kind of conflict, like Dante could have been with better writing and no Franco.

All of her relationships with these men were empty stunts even before she left the first time around. People at the time put up with that because it was still playing on what they already knew but why should they care now? Clink boom has been done over and over, so has Jason snarks at shrieky women who don't like him but secretly do, and Sonny's long string of brunettes, and so on.

[Angela]

Has there been talk of that happening? That would be nuts.

ETA:

I disagree with you on the timing, but that is basically the GH she's coming back to - where everything and every character she is connected to has been over-cooked then left out to spoil/rot for years.

[bellcurve]

Nope. Just an educated guess, based on how much the network is backing Chen's project and how The Talk is supposed to somewhat compete with The View. The Talk can't compete with the View at 2PM. Can it compete at noon? Yes.

[Sylph]

Spot on. It is a sad day for daytime when this opportunity will be completely squandered. As you point out, instead of using her as a glue to connect the various pieces of the canvas, Guza will just shamelessly shove her down people's throats and throw a bunch of compelling characters under the bus for her. It will create a boomerang effect and he'll anger more fans than he'll please.

[Angela]

But rather predictable, if I could define the last 5 years of daytime particularly it would probably be with the phrase squandered potential.

bell, thanks. I don't see it happening. Who would have thought The View could challenge Y&R in demos years ago? I think they'll just try to copy the formula of The View and gain earned success. At worst borrowing, I could see them putting it around Y&R's timeslot but not in it.

[AMCDYNASTY]

The promo is great. Can't wait for Brenda!!!!!

[jjjg]

She does semi-consider Jason a Q. Remember when they married and she went straight to tell them and show the flashbacks. She's one of the few people who knew Jason Q that Jason has let into his life and he cares about.