Soap Opera Digest "Just My Opinion" One Life to Live

[ChitHappens]

VH, you and a few others are really causing me to regress. I was making lots of progess and have not referred those 2 dumbasses as a "two headed..." in quite some time.

GH is still a mess because it's written so poorly, and I don't care how many characters from the past are resurrected (the 18-49 demo has proven that it's not enough). GH is so choppy, and not only do I believe the script writers don't communicate, I'm not sure they've ever met. The show does not flow well at all. It's a convoluted plot pointed mess! Perhaps if that Queen masquerading as a head writer would put more effort into the show and not Twitter, things might be different.

I almost wish Hensly was right in that OL would return so that FRon can go and "write" that show and leave GH to someone who can write and are not distracted by that dead POS, OLTL (the Llanview scenes were embarrassing).

Now, please stop saying foolish stuff and let me get back to my progress.

Good morning, BTW.

[chicklitsandfantasies]

People keep saying GH was the worst of the bunch by the time of the cancellation announcement but in reality it was still ahead of the two soaps that got canceled.

[OldGHFan]

OLTL may have been better than GH when it was cancelled, but it the show was still about OLTL in it's last days. It didn't have a bunch of AMC characters eating up airtime. Honestly, I will probably always resent the OLTL characters a little even though I liked OLTL. GH is my show and I want to see GH vets back. Characters like Blair and Tea keep coming back when instead I want to see characters like Holly, Laura and Brenda. Oh well. My show is better with Cartini involved so I'm willing to stomach the OLTL characters. It's better than Sonny, Jason and Carly 24/7.

[ChitHappens]

Of course, you have to realize it's an opinion and not a fact by any stretch of the imagination. Cartini's claim to fame was The Resurrection Of Gigi Morasco, something that should have gotten their guild memberships revoked!

[VirginiaHamilton]

Good morning to you, CH.

I've always been consistent on this board when it comes to discussing who sucks and who doesn't on GH, so I'm not sure why what I've said is any cause to backslide on any progress. Frankly, if the horrendous previous regime hadn't done everything in their power to screw this show up, then there wouldn't have been a need for Cartini (or their decision to bring old-school characters back and build them back up from the destruction that they underwent in the last era) in the first place. Ditto for the OLTL presence, whom I'd still rather see over the shitty GH characters that continue to exist (in spite of superior characters like Robert, Anna, AJ, Faison, Duke, Felicia, Nedley, and soon-to-arrive Lucy enhancing the show by their sheer presence) and the Gummy Bear Mob (who has even less of a place or purpose on this show than the scant few shots of Llanview).

I've said it before and I'll say it again: if Wendy Riche and Claire Labine were to reunite tomorrow and declare that they wanted to steer GH in its twilight years, I'll gladly cross over to your side of the pond and tell Cartini to pack their things and go.

[marceline]

True. But at this point, isn't it all kind of a moot point. It's like comparing Miss America to the runner-ups. In the end they're all the same plastic, vapid Barbie dolls.

[Vee]

Please, people gave up on GH's writing years ago. That's not news and it wasn't before the cancellations. Guza's GH had long become a joke - and Wolf was possibly even less received. Whatever we want to call GH today, fine writing was not exactly considered one of its saving graces prior to 2012.

[VirginiaHamilton]

For the record, I don't believe that Cartini is above criticism and have no problem with viewers basing their criticism of the team on their own (lack of) merit.

I simply call bullshit on the sudden praise of Guza/Frons/JFP's GH in light of Cartini's tenure, as it reeks of pure revisionist history (as there are countless complaints about the former regime throughout various forms of media that prove my point).

[ChitHappens]

What sudden praise? That's not true. You guys are equating "Cartini suck" with "Guza was the best". Don't blame that on the rest of use. I can speak for myself that I'd take Guza back in a heartbeat. Take the cast as it currently is (less the new people at the hospital, KS' Maxie, Starr and John) and give it to Guza and Jill (and deprogram them of only 3 characters). With the exception of James E. Reilly, I don't think anyone is as bad as Cartini.

[chicklitsandfantasies]

I'm not talking about the writing. Which there was no fine writing on AMC or OLTL either. I'm talking about the ratings where prior to cancellation GH was beating OLTL and AMC while those two soaps kept fighting each other for the same spot.

[doolfan]

I don't understand why people don't like Cartini at GH. It is 100 times better than when Guza/Wolf wrote the soap. It has humor, suspense (The friday cliffhangers) and the vets back. Robert, Faison, Anna, Duke, Felicia, Lucy, Tracy, Monica and the Q's wouldn't be getting ANY airtime if Guza/Wolf were still in charge. People have been praising GH on twitter and facebook and articles on TVguide and everywhere else and the ratings have gone up. GH is now the #1 show in all of daytime in Women 18-34 and #2 in Women 18-49 with ratings at 2.8 million viewers for the week and on certain days about 3 million. I like how OLTL fans used to spin that 2.6-2.7 million viewers as a ratings Renascence but when GH fans brag about the ratings bumps they get told it dosen't matter and the ratings aren't increasing. It's bull.

[chicklitsandfantasies]

Because the writing is not good and the stories do not flow. It's plot point and nogstalgia that people are tuning into. I don't care how much of a bump they got in 18-34 in the past month. The show is not well written.

[VirginiaHamilton]

I mean the sudden praise that is upholding Guza as a wonderful Bill Bell-caliber dramatist upon Cartini's arrival (and going forward to the present) instead of the hack that I remember him being rightfully called (as I know I didn't imagine myself agreeing with these scores of viewers for years on end), which is why I equate (most of) the Cartini bashing with "Guza is the best" and refuse to give it any serious consideration.

While I'll certainly agree with you in dumping Minnie Mouse Storms (as I vastly prefer her replacement) and can't comment on the hospital scene (as I haven't seen any scenes beyond the crisis-of-the-week), I have no problem with Starr or McBain being here (as the former is a lot better than the shitstain that is Krustina [the other young adult ingenue] and the latter isn't made out to be the Keystone Kop that poor Mac was destroyed to be under showkiller Guza's poison pen).

Simply put, Guza/Frons/JFP were the festering canker sores on the ass of this show and are absolutely responsible for the utter annihilation of what was once a top-quality soap opera.

[doolfan]

One thing that drove me crazy with Frons/Guza/Phelps/Wolf is that instead of writing a character off and having them leave town their solution was to just kill off the character for shock value (Alan, Emily, A.J., Claudia, and so many more). All it did was cause GH to continue it's fast fall in the ratings. I don't care what anyone says, GH probably would have never reached that all time low of 2.2 million viewers in the summer of 2011 had Guza/Phelps been let go sooner. They killed off Alan and ratings dropped to 3 million. They killed Emily and ratings went below 3 million. Also, to all who said the show is not well written I repsectfully disagree 150%. Guza couldn't write a good story either, anyone remember the Balkan story? There were so many huge gaps and holes in that story and it drug on for a good while. Carlivati has actually given us interesting stories Faison/Duke, Anna, The Q's fighting for ELQ. The thanksgiving episode was one of the best in GH's history and you can bet that if Frons/Guza/Phelps/Wolf were in charge that episode would have featured an explosion or shootout or gangster story and a character would have died for shock value. Also, Carlivati is giving us back Lucy Coe!!! and The Nurses' Ball! You can bet that wouldn't have happened under the old regime either. Carlivati really would get my praise if he brought back Bobbie, Laura, Brenda, Scotty as well and wrote Good stories for them like he has for the other vets.

[VirginiaHamilton]

To add to this, I've also seen Ron being compared unfavorably as a plot-point writer as if showkiller Guza was all about the hearts and minds of GH characters during his shiteous reign. For every plot-point that Ron has written on both soaps, I can easily cite twice as many Guza shitastic plot-point writing examples that had zero respect for the show's history.

Now, I'm not willing to presume that Ron will do right by each of my favorite GH characters (that'd be JJ Lucky, Robin, and Brenda, though I'll gladly credit him for paying a lot more respect to Robin in her cameo appearances than Guza has had in his entire run) before seeing how he handles each case (since Lord knows I've got my own issues on how he's handling my Todd, his Shorty, and McBain), but I certainly hold him in higher esteem for purposely ignoring some of the fuckery that Guza has written while getting rid of the dead weight - much to the improvement of this show.