GH: Discussion for the Month of April

[Y&RWorldTurner]

I think most people acknowledge that GH sucked for years before Cartini got there, the problem lies in the show still sucking with Cartini being there, despite what people in the soap press like Nelson Branco and the hacks at Daytime Confidential want to claim.

Cartini didn't ruin the show, for me at least, it's just complete horrific viewing in a whole new way with them at the helm.

At least I could count on GH for good directing and sometimes realistic dialogue before. Those little details used to mean a lot to me as a viewer. I can't say the same anymore in regards to the show...

[Skin]

GH is a cesspool of a show so I imagine being the show runner for it would be a thankless role. All you really have to do is look at the cast and see how useless most of the characters are in terms of role and importance. This show has nothing to honor since all of it's meat has been carved out under Guza. There is nothing there to write. It's little wonder why Cartini had to borrow characters from OLTL to balance the show in some way because there is so much that has been lost under the Guza years. It was either bring on crossover characters with established history or flood the canvas with new character from the beginning - either one would have been just as unagreeable to the GH audience. That being said I don't understand what everyone is complaining about, it's not as if everyone was loving Maggie Memphis, Cooky Connie, the Mobbets, Liz's Boyfriend #53, Shawn from Days of Our Lives and Bensonhurts Ho #95. These are the people Cartini is expected to weave story for, I can't blame him for bringing his toys from OLTL over. Why? Because all of those characters I just listed are useless caricatures that amount to nothing. Thank Wolfe and Guza for that, Cartini just inherited a sucky show.

[OldGHFan]

I don't think Cartini sucks. I do think they're better than Guza and Phelps - but not by much. My biggest problem with them is that they seem to care more about OLTL characters than iconic GH characters. Frankly, I'm pissed how they wrote Robert and Holly. If someone took over OLTL put Viki and Clint 6 on the air for a mere 6 episodes and wrote them out of character and then announced a bunch of GH characters were coming to Llanview, you'd be resentful as well.

[frequentsoapfan]

A good showrunner would find a way to fix this show and a good headwriter would write fresh stories using the cast they have instead of bringing on characters form his other show and trying to recreate stories from that show.

[JaneAusten]

No question GH was gutted but there is option 3. Bring back GH characters.

My problem with the crossovers is they have added no diversity and are playing with the same group of overexposed characters. McBain is a Jason clone because Easton is just another plus 40 low energy actor and Starr/KAs weaknesses have been exposed without the supporting cast she had at OLTL. I'll say what I said ages ago, crossovers is a great idea but use them to diversify your canvas. I'm not seeing that at all. Don't just bring over names. That's all Y&R had done for years. Bring in components or types of characters missing on the canvas.

[DRW50]

There is no reason why Carlivati had to recycle OLTL stories, and incredibly bad ones at that. There is no reason why Carlivati had to kill a child for comic relief. GH is rotten to the core, but those decisions have nothing to do with inheriting a bad show. For all the talk of how this had to be done to cause drama, the Paula Deen/Anthony Bourdain feud has far more drama and depth. The only time I hear anyone praising this story, beyond people who already love "Cartini", is when someone goes on about how they can't wait to laugh at Connie again.

[Skin]

I don't even care about Cartini's version of GH but I think people need to come off it. GH has been bad for ages and has destroyed itself from the inside out for years upon years and it passed the moral event horizon awhile ago. You are expecting Ron to perform quality miracles at this point and that just isn't going to happen - ratings wise or show quality wise. The best you can hope for is that he runs this show under budget, builds up hype and runs this show for as long as possible.

Not really. [!@#$%^&*] is still [!@#$%^&*] even if you make [!@#$%^&*] pie. A pig is still a pig, even if you put lipstick on it, etc.

[DRW50]

I don't think anyone expects quality miracles. Shows with even less of a budget, like the last year of GL, had better writing than this.

If the only way you can get hype is to spend 4 days a week laughing at a woman who killed a child, and repeating tacky paternity switch stories, then you shouldn't even be a writer.

And how much money does it cost to go on a soap board or Wikipedia and learn that Anna had already lost a child? Or that Maxie is not Mac's niece? Or that Luke and Anna met in 2006?

[Skin]

And where would they fit in? Luke doesn't even fit in this show anymore and he has been on it for years. Anna doesn't make any sense and she is being completely torn apart as a way to fit in and find relevance to stay on the show. The same would likely happen for Robert and Holly. GH has lost it's core identity long ago and the ramifications are still felt to this day. The vets stick out like sore thumbs and it's clear that they don't really have a place on this show any longer and that is something Guza implemented by killing off all the characters who were tied together to them. GH doesn't even have any of it's legacy characters anymore because they ruined them and destroyed them. GH killed/axed/removed all of it's characters who had ties and history to these characters and now we are seeing the side effects from that because these vets have no connections to anyone onscreen.

The reason why that has happended is because GH has no other stories to play other then the mob. GH's focus is/has been the mob for years now. There are no stories on GH that are viable other then that one because that is the card they always play 10 out 12 months. They killed/shipped off all the other characters who have meaning to the show who were not mob centered (Emily, Nikolas, Lucky, Ric, Robin, etc). Carly, Jason and Sonny are the only characters on this show who have story at this point in time, the rest are all just fillers to fill time. That's why you have such heavy centralization on one storyline - because that is the only story there is/has been for years now.

[Cheap21]

They did bring back old GH characters and they are contiinuing to bring on more.

[JaneAusten]

Not only that but continuing bad stories that were running under Guza and Wolfe. Franco for one. For months boards and bloggers have complained about this story. He's added no value to the show, has not improved ratings, the buzz is non existent, and he's not on canvas and fans have hated that story from day 1 so rather than dropping it it continues with a worse stench than it had under Wolf. And don't get me started on who killed Lisa. NO ONE CARES. I was actually interested in the crossovers until guess what, they come on to support the same overexposed characters that have gotten story for years.I'm just missing the improvements.

[Skin]

GH is not going to improve - no matter who writes it. That's the point. There is no way to fix it without completely rehauling it and that's not going to happen at this point. The only way to fix GH is to kill the mob (Sonny) and that's not happening. We've reached the terminally ill point in this show, in fact we reached it awhile ago. It's like trying to give the medication after the infection has spread threw out the entire body and the organs are shutting down.

[JaneAusten]

Well we agree there. It's the other poster who is insisting the show was saved due to vast improvements and ratings increases due to Cartini neither of which has happened.

[DRW50]

I think a show can still have good writing in its last year. I've seen many shows have that in their last year. I just don't think RC can do it. He couldn't at OLTL, (the last few years were a huge mess, and that was long before PP), and he hasn't here, IMO. He writes in archetypes and parodies, not in humanity or storytelling.

[frequentsoapfan]

While it was unclear what happened to Lisa's (Brianna Brown) seemingly sympathetic partner in crime Terrell on "General Hospital," we can tell you what his portrayer Khary Payton has been up to. In addition to voicing characters in video games ("Batman: Arkham City," "Spider-Man: Edge of Time") and cartoon series ("G.I. Joe: Renegades," "Young Justice"), he has been cast in the NBC pilot "Go On."

The pilot is about a charming sportscaster who finds support from the members of his mandatory group therapy meetings as he tries to move on from a loss. Written by former "Friends" scribe Scott Silveri, "Go On" also stars Matthew Perry, who played Chandler on the popular sitcom.