General Hospital March 2022 Discussion Thread

[carolineg]

I think the recast has been good.  TA seems capable and I think it will work out.  Obviously, I need to see more of her and time will tell.  Tbh, SM as Trina never set the world on fire for me though.  I thought she was good, but I didn't think she was the find some people did on here.  My hope would be Trina's story moves more coherently now that they have an actress that is available full time.  

[Vee]

She was solid and charismatic, but neither Chavez nor SM were without their green issues onscreen. People on Twitter especially (which I don't use) get high on hype quick.

[Faulkner]

I’m willing to be patient. I’m terrible warming up to recasts in general, even good ones, but TA has had trial by fire. She’s had to navigate some heavy scenes, and she has a naturally soft presence while SM’s self-possession jumps off the screen. The writing for her has been schizophrenic, though, and that’s not her fault. She’s just playing what’s written. 

[carolineg]

Yeah I get it.  SM definitely was charismatic and likable.  I prefer Trina to most all the other teens and her and Chavez had chemistry.  I am not trying to knock her really.  I just don't think she's a Jonathan Jackson level find lol and I have no problem with her being recast.  I'd rather that than Trina disappear.  I guess my overall point was I think TA is decent and will only get better.  I don't feel like I have seen enough of her yet to make a really solid judgement.

[John]

I like Sprina but some Sprina fans losing their shyte over Spencer asking why did you do it. Spencer knows she is innocent and I am sure will be a big part of proving her innocent. Some fanbase members really jump off when they dont hear what they want 100% of the time

 

LOL

[Vee]

I think she's pretty good so far. But yes, none of these kids are Jonathan Jackson level talent lol. I said that about Chavez when he started and it was the Wicker Man for me!

Edited March 30, 2022 by Vee

[Faulkner]

I think Chavez is legit good now. I find him captivating and not just because he’s cute. SM, while not as technically great as some (even though I think she improved a lot), had a lot of presence and star quality, which at times I’ll take over technical prowess. But I hope TA really thrives. I liked what I saw yesterday with Maura.

[Vee]

He has improved a lot, definitely.

[carolineg]

I think part of my problem is none of this teen set has ever really gelled for me.  I think Chavez and SM were the standouts and Lipton can do good work.  Obviously the main problem was building this set around Joss/EM, who at her best is blandly adequate.  Chavez is someone I could see being a lead for years (but I doubt he will stay that long), but no one has given me the star power KMc, JJ, AT, VM, SBu, RH, TC etc did from the jump.  That's probably more on GH than the actors, but the teen set has had either extremely adult stories or really chaste ones.  Even this sex tape isn't the scandal it should be.

[Vee]

I think Lipton was the breakout star (and is the best actor) until he got chained to EM as her new accessory sans Oscar, and for a time he picked up bad habits from Roger Howarth, etc. He's circled back around again for me and is good now. I think he is still the most technically capable of the youth set and I suspect he'd have chemistry with TA just as he did SM. But his role today is simply to be Joss' white boyfriend.

FV will never give up on building the teen scene around a young white blonde who superficially resembles Kristen Alderson, based on youth demos from over a decade ago. Eden is passable but could do more as a rich bitch than a central heroine, if you had to keep her which you don't. Then there's other kids they could bring on - Emma (NOT with the kid who's been playing her), Alec Barrett, Lila Rae Alcazar, etc. Hudson West (Jake) could also easily come up from the background like Kimberly McCullough once did as a junior character and I think he's at least as good as she was back in '92-'93, and technically better than most of the older teens, but it's more likely Frank will foolishly fail to secure him and lock him down and he'll be recast.

I think the extremely bland and generic at best writing for the kids is a huge factor. If you had Karen Harris, MVJ and Labine or Guza's crew writing for these kids we'd potentially be in a very different place with how we talk about all of them and the raw talent therein. Frank doesn't take those risks, and neither does the network anymore.

Edited March 30, 2022 by Vee

[Faulkner]

 

Huge. We used to have layered writing and longer, more complex scenes that would really challenge/stretch the young actors and force them to step up, plus a lot of backstage support that just can’t exist anymore. Just very sad.

[Vee]

It reminds me of the PP soap casts' exulting about having rehearsal time again. It certainly made a huge difference with the OLTL youth set.

[carolineg]

I would love Joss to have some rich bitch characteristics.  She's the most boring parts of Carly and Jax.  I always thought Joss should be a bit of a schemer like her mother and she can always grow out of that like Brenda and Liz did.  

I don't understand why they haven't brought Lila Rae, Alec Barrett, or Emma back.  I do think they are waiting on the OGEmma actress to be older tbh.  Alec and Lila Rae would be fairly easy to bring back even sans their mothers (although it would be stupid not to bring VM and RC back).  Alec/Lila Rae could both be staying at the Quartermaines for the summer or something and fall in love with each other and it could be drama.  I still think it would be cool if Alec was gay, but it would probably fall more in line with the show to pair him with Joss/Lila Rae for the mother catfights.

I don't understand why the teen set/Frank/the network doesn't take any risks with them.  They don't act like teens at all.  I am glad they didn't do the teenage pregnancy route with any of them, but the Joss/Oscar stuff is what really set the tone for this group to be lame and deal with really heavy adult problems.   That story easily could have been tweaked to make Oscar Alec instead and might have been poignant with Brenda/Carly/Sonny dealing with that as well with the Stone stuff coming full circle.  If Frank would have went there, even if it was a bit shoddily done, the story would have been remembered and probably set those teens up much better for the future.  

[Vee]

IMO they don't take risks because for the most part, ABCD is simply marking time keeping this show on the air and keeping it functional. They have no investment in it beyond basic sustenance, and so they choose to simply cater to a shrinking, aging FB audience - keep it middle of the road, keep it running until they can cultivate a replacement. It's the same thing with Y&R at CBS IMO.

Frank, who simply wants to keep the show on the air at any cost (while also playing his favorites), will go along with that because he knows they can't afford to lose any numbers, ergo why take risks or jeopardize the things on the show he is invested in? So instead we get things they know the network will greenlight and FB won't complain about: Tame teen stories, and more and more babies. (Supposedly the #1 thing the network will always rubber-stamp storyline-wise) Even Ava, Carly, Nina, Liz and Sam are all civil or even friendly to each other now. Why??

It's sad because there is potential here on GH, more than a few years ago.

Edited March 30, 2022 by Vee

[Forever8]

I remember hearing a rumored storyline was that a few years back that Josslyn was somehow going to get involved with Dustin making it a "Hot for Teacher" story, but I think ABC shut that down allegedly.