GH: Week of May 27 Discussion

[cassadine1991]

that's right...

[ChitHappens]

Yeah, all I got from that was "poor Roger". !@#$%^&*] that RH ass licker! Roger signed on the dotted line WILLINGLY so that he could play Todd 2.0 and become GH's central character, AGAIN! During all this "controversy", he's chillin' until it's time to go back to work!

So what if his legacy is The Lovable Rapist!

[cassadine1991]

he should've stayed on OLTL, at least Todd had some redeeming qualities, guess he needs the money that bad

[rhinohide]

Don't we all? Lol.

No one loathes Ron and Frank more than I do. And I hate everything about ME, RH and KA being on GH. But even I know it's unreasonable to resent them for taking the best job they can find. I think they're sucking the life out of GH but I don't blame them for making a living.

[alexisfan07]

Watching now but I'm genuinely surprised and happy that Lulu wasn't raped. Yay! I see how/why Nik was shot now.

Hate Michael having to re-live his rape but I'm glad he had that line about Franco not controlling him anymore and having a bit of empowerment about it.

Finally seeing Emme bring it and some chemistry between Dom and her. Yay no more amnesia too.

[cassadine1991]

that's the ONLY silver lining in this [!@#$%^&*] of a soap now

[cassadine1991]

they certainly are and it definitely shows.. and RC and FV is totally loving to be having them so they can shove them down our throats..

but at least KA said she was more than ready to return to OLTL, and is still open, and also at least RH was a part of it (and I hope still is), but ME is a whole different story, personally I want McBain killed off

[cassadine1991]

this seems like BS explanation:

Rebecca Kivak I'm happy with it. If anyone can pull this off, it's RH. Give it a chance.

Rebecca Kivak If Todd, a rapist, can evolve into a complex character, so can Franco. RH is the man for the role.

Rebecca Kivak I can absolutely compare the two and I just did. I see similarities between the two roles. Roger Howarth's only been in the role now revealed as Franco for a few days - give it a chance to see what he and writers can do.

Rebecca Kivak Zach Fisher They are 2 different characters, but there are similarities between them whether you want to recognize that or not. Todd and Franco both started off as villains who have done some very dark things. We've only seen Franco as one-dimensionalbefore now, but I believe Roger Howarth can bring complexity to the role. If the character of Todd was written to feel remorse and seek a path of redemption, why can't Franco? You're not looking forward. They're not changing history - I for one never believed Franco raped Sam - I thought it would bring more horror to Jason and Sam if they thought that he raped her. What the mind fears can be more dangerous than what actually is. Franco played on that.

Rebecca Kivak Zach Fisher You're making all fair points, but I'm expecting this to be a complex process. If they do go about redeeming Franco, it's going to take a long time. No character has a reason to trust him right now. I am looking forward to seeing how the writers will tackle this. Good point about Luke - we know his history and all that has been done with his character since.

Rebecca Kivak All I'm saying is to keep an open mind. Some of the previous commenters earlier suggested no one liked the casting decision, but I do and I wanted to explain why. I'm really looking forward to how Franco's character development evolves.

Rebecca Kivak Enrique Victor Buenrostro Franco has barely begun to seek redemption - all I'm saying it's going to take time. The man's been revealed as Franco for 2 days.

Rebecca Kivak The ratings have gone up for GH since Ron Carlivati took over - I think this says a lot. This is a heck of a gamble with Roger Howarth, but it's one I'm not surprised RC is willing to take.

Rebecca Kivak It's brilliant because it brings in Franco as a legacy character (Quartermaine) - people usually want legacy characters. He already has many ties on the canvas that he has barely had a chance to explore. This can go in a lot of directions.

Danika Reilly I agree with both sides really, I see similarities in the two characters and so I get why they cast Roger in this role, but I also agree that Todd's remorse for being a broken man always made him the villain you hate (more because he always screws it up for himself by doing the things he does) and really love at the same time, whereas Franco is less redeemable to me as of yet, its going to take time and some special writing and by special I don't mean a rewrite of the past. Since everyone already speculated that he was Franco to me it would have been a better surprise in the end if we were all wrong so in some ways it feels like the ball has already been dropped, but I've seen worse than this over the years and like always for the love of my show and the characters I will ride it out and see what unfolds.

Cathy Bristoll McGowan I've said this before, the only ones who could even take on this ABC/PP characters-held-hostage mess are Ron and Frank. And RH is the only one who could take on the Franco character and try to flesh him out into a real Quartermain with staying power. I hated the idea of him bringing the vampires back, but look what he did with that? Made the whole ridiculous chapter in Port Charles a real life mental illness, and gave us a believable Lucy back in the process. My money is on Cartini.

Rebecca Kivak @Enrique No one is trying to minimize or mock rape here. Not at all. Correct me if I'm wrong, but it was revealed that Franco did not orchestrate the prison rape - rather the guy he hired went far beyond Franco's instructions and raped Michael. Did he put the guy in position to be in prison? Absolutely, and that's no easy pill to swallow. Also, I think you're missing something big here: the reveals mean that Sam wasn't actually raped. It was heinous and sadistic to allow her and Jason to think she was - no one's denying that. But it was an illusion Franco created, so it fits with his motive of creating illusions to terrify people. I for one am glad that the character was not actually raped. Hopefully this will allow her closure and the ability to heal in time.

Rebecca Kivak I'm not justifying these characters' heinous crimes - I'm sorry if that's how you are interpreting it. (Franco did not actually rape Sam, but he did put her through mental torture). I didn't like the Todd-Marty romance or whatever you want to call that, and what Ford did to Jessica, who was mentally ill, was inexcusable. But people in real life have opportunities to atone for what they did, and therefore I have no problem with writers trying to do the same for soap characters. Then it's up to us viewers to decide if it's enough - or not. The Franco storyline is just beginning, so there's plenty of time to decide.

Spin's Vixenella I agree very much with Rebecca Kivak on this issue. I honestly didn't want Roger Howarth saddled with Franco's baggage because I lived through the YEARS of story it took to get Todd Manning to the point where he could be accepted as a credible, viablecharacter and who could have romantic scenes where people were not screaming about him being a rapist. I just didn't want to go thru that again with trying to flesh out the character of Franco; however, in the past two days, it is clear to me, Roger is very comfortable in this role. I think he's even studied some of Franco's mannerisms because several things the past couple days have actually reminded me of the way Franco himself played this character.

I also remember the horrific things the character of Todd did on OLTL, and if you had asked me in the first few YEARS of Todd on OLTL whether the character could EVER be redeemed my answer would have been a resounding NO. The gang rape was brutal beyond words; in fact some of the most brutal scenes I have ever seen on daytime. The despicable way in which he lied & manipulated the situation througout the trial. He was UNrepentent in every possible way, and then the way he stalked, taunted, and threatened poor blind Nora. But, then we started to learn more about Todd what he himself had gone through growing up, and we saw him trying to be a better person. Even so, Todd still did some horrific, heinous things like selling Jack, even AFTER he had been "redeemed."

Yet, we were willing to sit back and WATCH Todd for YEARS and YEARS move thru his character progression. Can't we allow the same sort of patience for Franco, or at least give it more than 2 days before we declare Armageddon? That's what soaps are all about...fleshing out characters and understanding their complex motivations, emotions, & responses. That's what I love about soaps; we have the luxury of TIME to tell these complicated stories in a way that a movie or primetime never could. Yes, Franco is a sociopath, but in the grand scheme of things on GH, he's not that much more of a sociopath than most of the rest of Port Charles. Do I need to list the heinous things Sonny has done? How about Jason? How much more of a sociopath can you get than MURDERING ON COMMAND FOR A LIVING. Heck, from where I sit, Jason & Franco seem to have been in the same line of work. How about AJ? We've accepted the whitewash done on that character who kidnapped not 1, but 3 children, and shot his own father in the back, and please don't get me started on what Ric Lansing did to Carly in that panic room. And as for strapping people to a bomb, for the love of heaven, Anthony Zacharra strapped his own daughter to one.

To the best of our knowledge, unlike Todd & Luke Spencer, Franco has not raped ANYONE. And, let's be real for a moment, if it were not for Sonny & Carly's lying & shenanigans, Michael would have never been in prison in the first place leaving him vulnerable for attack. We knew from Day 1, the character of Franco was all about performance art & creating horrific illusions. What we have seen in the past couple days is more flesh added to the bare bones of this character. We've seen a little of the curtain pulled back from the illusions Franco created. So far, I have not seen his history re-written, a white-wash or even an attempt at "redemption." I've only seen additional information & motivation added to the narrative we already had about this very odd character. I don't think Franco will ever be leading the church choir, but I also don't think I know enough yet to decide yet whether he has any more blood or guilt on his hands than most of the other folks we know & love in Port Charles. I'm simply not prepared to make up my mind in 2 days on a story that may take years to unfold. I'm going to give this a chance, and see how it goes.

Spin's Vixenella Enrique Victor Buenrostro I note above you were thanking heavens for Days & AMC. If I am not mistaken there was a prison rape story on Days just today, and if there is anything darker or more heinous on daytime or primetime than the horrific story of Angie's' daughter Cassandra being kidnapped into sex trafficking, I don't know what it is.

Spin's Vixenella Enrique Victor Buenrostro I think what GH has said the past two days is THESE THINGS DID HAPPEN. They are addressing what Franco has done. How does adding additional information or adding a new perspective or twist on a previous story equate to "sweeping it under the rug," or pretending something didn't happen? I think GH was very up front in reminding us these awful things did happen, but they are now providing us additional info we didn't previously have. It's not like someone said, "Poof Franco's a Choir Boy."

[cassadine1991]

Spin's Vixenella Enrique Victor Buenrostro Perhaps you do need an extended break from GH. There's nothing wrong with that. You seem upset at Roger Howarth for having a job. Is it not the job you wanted him to have? I note you like Roger in the role of Todd. I frankly see little difference in the level of sociopath between the two characters. Are you angry that Roger might prefer to take a chance on playing the role of Franco, rather than going back to the role of Todd? I prefer him as Todd too, but I'm not going to thrash his performance in a new role, just because I might prefer him somewhere else. I'm going to see how this plays out on my screen before I make a snap judgement after 2 day

[Toups]

I don't think it's necessary to bring other people's opinions from FB or other message boards to SON. Like who cares what they say. They don't post here. If you want to reply to their comments, go to their FB page, go to those other message boards. I think it's pointless to post random people's opinions. Let's just concentrate on what our posters say here.

As for the state of GH, I agree that it's really bad right now. The new Llanview-3 characters are a mess. I think the show has way too many characters, too many storylines and that's a big reason why the show is so unfocused and there's no flow to anything.

[AdelaideCate007]

This mess with Franco is ridiculous as is them trying to whitewash him. Besides the fact that no one wants to see Franco and that madness again, them trying to turn him into a "good person" is a big mistake. This is where they go wrong with this [!@#$%^&*] because they constantly feel like they have to whitewash and "excuse" away these villains crimes to make them into "romantic leading men" and it's so much more than Franco.

Whoever those people are, they're not wrong about Todd. This is man who was a serial rapist, raped Marty once, would have raped her again if Luna hadn't stopped him, and tortured, stalked, and probably had every intention of assaulting Nora, not to mention numerous other crimes. Yet he was treated as a romantic hero on two separate shows that we're suppose to love and root for. Same goes for Victor who raped Marty. I think it speaks more to the state of the genre and what they think viewers will take and accept.

This is a show were Luke raped Laura and they became the biggest couple ever, Jerry had people killed and held hostage yet we're suppose to want him with Alexis, Ric did any number of things, and Jason and Sonny are nothing but thugs who routinely have people killed. This is nothing new for GH with them trying to say "oh oops no, you just look past that cause we want you to love this reprehensible man with _____". It's just that them trying to do it with Franco might be the straw that finally breaks the camel's back.

[cassadine1991]

I wouldn't be surprised if this leads to GH's inevitable cancellation

I'm sorry about that.. It just got me so angry.. this is the same BS Ron pulled on OLTL

[AdelaideCate007]

I doubt it leads to GH's cancellation. They've survived through worse and frankly more offensive stories. I do hope it brings up and sheds some light on some of these ugly stories that people seem to think soap fans enjoy when it's clear most don't.

[cassadine1991]

well from what I seem from the soap press and even Ron himself, they don't give a damn.. too bad Claire Labine is supposedly retired

[quartermainefan]

Dumbest rewrite and recast ever. Instantly absolved I guess is the intent but the whole thing is just ridiculous. Why not bring RH back next time as Manny? Maybe he can be a romantic lead next or perhaps RH can come back as Grant Putnam? There is nothing wrong with villains but the show always feels compelled to try and twist a villain into a normal person. Ric was perfectly fine in the panic room story and then they had everyone magically forget and be willing to be in the same room with him, and now here it goes again with Franco. I like RH but this was not the right role.