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GH: Discussion for the Month of April


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A lot of people love her. If I had not spent OLTL's last years doing nothing but seeing haha time mentally ill people, I might have more of a reaction.

This is also why, when people say that soaps should be more like reality TV, I think that they knock off reality TV in the worst ways. Reality shows are often about guffawing on cue at mentally ill people. American Idol even went so far as to beg viewers to laugh at people with physical handicaps, year after year after year. So now RC/FV have made an artform out of chuckling at the crazy. A gang rape victim is hilarious - let's watch her murder her therapist and do bird wings. A woman is almost raped by her father - she's 16 again, it's hot and funny. A woman is raped while believing she is 16 - that's just hot stuff, which man is she going to nail next?

And so on and so on. This is all RC knows how to write.

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I don't know, i'm just kind of in awe of how trainwreck-tastic this storyline is and it almost makes me think she is doing this on purpose. It's reminding me a lot of Laura Wright, but just more fun - with Laura it kind of feels like she is missing the point a lot of the time because of how earnest and tenacious her portrayal is. You don't think she gets why you are laughing or eye rolling at Carly. You want to laugh at her ridiculousness -or blow her head off- but you feel you aren't supposed to. Sullivan is completely different. Yeah I think we are supposed to feel bad for Kate's predicament but I definitely think we are supposed to see Connie as funny for better or worse so it makes me think Sullivan is purposely hamming it up. But yeah she should totally tone down "Kate" though.

I definitely think Sullivan has gone to the Lucci/Wright/Kate Collins school of acting

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Yes, there is nothing funny about mental illness. Whatever this story is suppose to be it stems from a traumatic experience in Kate's life playing this for laughs just cheapens that experience in my eyes. There are many people who are ashamed of their problems, who go through life hurting themselves and never seeking help because of the way society treats the mentally ill and this storyline just highlights the fact that we are suppose to laugh at crazy Kate/Connie who makes the funny faces. Not trying to be too heavy but sometimes I can't separate real live from reel life working in an emergency room doesn't help when you see the victims and survivors of these very things that are being made light of by the writers.

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I think she is a much worse actress than Wright, Lucci, or Collins. She isn't even playing a character. She is just doing a lot of crappy acting and people are pointing and laughing at her for her crappy acting. I don't think it's deliberate or some type of great acting choice. She is the Charity Rahmer of GH, with the added bonus that once again RC gets to let us know how much fun it is to teehee about mentally ill people.

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Was this writing similar in a OLTL storyline? I read on another board that RonC. did the exact same thing on OLTL not sure if it was the mirrors or what. Having mental illness hit my family I just can't laugh at it & like rape just don't find it entertaining...yes there are funny moments of course but IMO this whole thing is being played for giggles.

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I think it's all a matter of what you have a tolerance for. Reality TV pokes fun at real life issues that are comparable and viewers seem to eat it up. Me I think it's just being used to get a reaction and generate buzz which is how RC has operated as a writer for a while now. His stories barring a couple all pretty much fizzled. The mindset is on liners are buzzing about it so it must be noteworthy or popular without it ever translating to anything tangible like actual viewing numbers. give me a couple of DeNiro like mirror scenes and it's great.

Comparing Kate Collins to this limited actress though is a joke. What I actually liked about KC is she actually had some warmth and vulnerability about her which KS does not.

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If the show was treated as cheap trash, then I would get that, but it is often praised as the height of brilliance, phenomenal writing and acting, with people saying RC/FV need to "save" every soap, and give Emmys, and all the rest.

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Which I've been on record on calling BS, as GH hasn't been at the height of brilliance with phenomenal writing and acting or Emmy-worthy since Bill Clinton was in office. I'm well aware of that, which is my only expectation of this show is to be entertained by camptastic hot mess. Ron and Frank understand that perfectly, which is a main reason why I give them kudos.

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I get that, I just wish that this wasn't always in some sheen of critical acclaim or that the people involved saw it as trash. I'm not sure if they do. When Ron was at OLTL he was continually shocked that viewers did not see his work the way they were supposed to, especially his rape-is-love storylines.

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The thing is what RC is writing is not ground breaking or revolutionary or great or brilliant. I can respect that some find it entertaining. But brad bell has been writing B&B like this for years and I don't see him referred to as the man to rescue and save the soap genre.

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