He's made some mistakes (Anna/Faison) but Van Etten is incredibly funny on a public twitter account he probably shouldn't have, and I did see improvement in the show when I last looked in. He has some of Carlivati's wit but more humanity and depth day to day, and more nuance. I remember the rumor that he was next in line for the revolving door of HWs at OLTL 2.0 in '13 before Prospect Park finally went down. He also has an existing outside career as a novelist. There's real potential in his work, it's just a shame it's stuck on a bargain basement version of GH.

 

I think Frank micromanages a ton of the show, and I would like to see what Van Etten could do without him and possibly another much more seasoned co-writer. Preferably someone from the longtime writer corps of '90s-2000s GH, or even Karen Harris, who is almost certainly not coming back.

Edited May 19, 20187 yr by Vee

5 hours ago, titan1978 said:

We had the show they wanted to write.  It had Laura running for office and lots of other things going on that people were enjoying and investing in.  Then the network creeps and Frank undid it all and you can see they have been bland and treading water trying to get back in gear for months.  It reminds me of Passanate’s placeholding style of writing soaps.  Nothing going on, and way too many characters people are clearly not tuning in for.

 

Do none of these people remember when Guza, JFP and Wolf had driven the show into the ground, and Ron and Frank brought back vet after vet and the ratings started to go up?  They had their best numbers in 10 years and every day I saw a character I loved, even if the show was a sloppy mess.  It was a mess I recognized and wanted to check in to.  I’m not watching for Finn, Nina, Franco, etc.  I even don’t hate Peter and Valentin.  But without a Spencer there, the Cassadine’s are pointless to me.

 

I couldn't like this post more. All truth.

The Nurse's Ball has been a joke for a while now. Characters like Mac and Felicia who were around when Stone passed and have supported Robin for years should be present. No need for Mr. Marbles to be here, but Mac should be.  

 

I hate the "blue lighting special". Why can't Frank fix the lighting?

 

The Red Carpet bit was awful. Between Franko's hamming it up and Nina making faces behind character's backs (not to mention handsome but vapid Nick Viall), it's just pathetic.  Where's Donny Sheldon?

 

 

On 5/19/2018 at 9:10 AM, KMan101 said:

 

Thank you!

 

Of course he is. I think I actually remember reading that before and just forgot. lol.

 

Zzzz. Lawd.

 

I don't think the writers are the real problem at the moment. Varni and Frank are. I really think Van Etten and Altman want to write a different show and I see glimmers of a GH I'd watch. I was kind of all in for a few months until February this year. Then it shifted and not for the better.

I was shocked to see Lucas playing doctor this week. About time! Why they don't use him more in this role instead of a dayplayer is beyond me. I was also shocked to see Brad.

Agree.  One of the budget techniques I think BB and YR have used is to really keep the casts small, that is those who appear more than once a month.  Days and GH still fill the screen with lots of day players to make budget and while it can be more interesting to have an episode with 14 or more characters, it never lasts and the recurring characters disappear and beats are never played.  Just cut down big time on the recurring list and add to the contracts players per show minimums and tell a few good stories at a time. Someone intervened in the GH writers' plans in Jan/Feb when they got rid of Genie and switched gears.  It felt like an intervention.  

Slash the cast-- free up money by dropping Howarth, Stafford , Easton, Devry and Erin. There would be plenty of $$ without these wastes of space.  Maybe then we won't have blue screens and they can afford Genie Francis.

21 minutes ago, slick jones said:

Slash the cast-- free up money by dropping Howarth, Stafford , Easton, Devry and Erin. There would be plenty of $$ without these wastes of space.  Maybe then we won't have blue screens and they can afford Genie Francis.

 

+10000

3 hours ago, slick jones said:

Slash the cast-- free up money by dropping Howarth, Stafford , Easton, Devry and Erin. There would be plenty of $$ without these wastes of space.  Maybe then we won't have blue screens and they can afford Genie Francis.

 

See, that would make too much sense!!

Nurses Ball 2018-Day 4  

The reviews for this year's Nurse's Ball have been uniformly negative, but personally, I liked the Nurse's Ball alot less last year than this year.  Now that GH has fallen to last place, I am wondering if there might be some changes in writing and production staff behind the scenes.  Could this be the last Nurse's Ball if the show doesn't get cancelled altogether?  With ABC, it is hard to predict.

I hate to say anything positive about Sonny, but it was cute when he sang with Mike.

 

Ava looked fierce but that performance... no thanks. Lame performances all around. I miss Magic Milo. Why was Liz not in the closing number? I noticed that she and Franco disappeared after the first day (not complaining about Franco's absence).

I waited for someone to post Ava's performance and was looking forward to it. What a disappointment. Maura was stiff and nervous. She should have rocked that song. 

7 hours ago, ChitHappens said:

I waited for someone to post Ava's performance and was looking forward to it. What a disappointment. Maura was stiff and nervous. She should have rocked that song. 

 

On Sunday, May 20, 2018 at 2:23 AM, slick jones said:

I hate the "blue lighting special". Why can't Frank fix the lighting?

 

Reminds me of something that would happen at K Mart. 😂

1 hour ago, amybrickwallace said:

 

Reminds me of something that would happen at K Mart. 😂

 

1 hour ago, amybrickwallace said:

 

Reminds me of something that would happen at K Mart. 😂

On 5/22/2018 at 8:01 AM, AlexElizabeth said:

I hate to say anything positive about Sonny, but it was cute when he sang with Mike.

 

Ava looked fierce but that performance... no thanks. Lame performances all around. I miss Magic Milo. Why was Liz not in the closing number? I noticed that she and Franco disappeared after the first day (not complaining about Franco's absence).

 

+1

 

I saw that Carlivati tweeted a cap of Ava.