General Hospital: January 2023 Discussion Thread

[Vee]

Thanks for the clips, folks.

[carolineg]

I don't understand why Joss just doesn't take a few minutes to BREAK UP with her boyfriend.  Yeah, it's sucks to have to break up with someone, but this story would be a lot better if she wasn't a fickle cheater.  I could understand more if Joss was torn or the stakes were higher and they were in a more serious relationship, but she's not torn and they are just teenage sweethearts.  Cam will get over this lol.  And I still don't think it's written like Joss is doing anything wrong or that she is an ungrateful whore, but she is.

I don't think Britt is the worst character, I just don't get the fanfare.  I have liked her at different points and I did like her with Jason for that brief period, but I don't think she's that special to have such a long send off with montages and a party that lasts for days.  Perhaps if people knew she was dying, but she's just a 40 something girl having a birthday party  To me it's like Gabi on Days getting a sendoff like this.  Gabi is a marginally important character and has gotten a lot of story, but she's not that important in the scheme of things.  That's how I feel about Britt.

Well, now I know Cam is not the hook, but I had a moment thinking it was possible before the Heather reveal.  He was a firestarter as a child....

[j swift]

I've read and understood a lot of the reasons to dislike the characters of Joss and Brit, but I am surprised that Chase still gets a pass.

From his cringey singing to his lame relationships, this character is a dud.  First, Willow marries him out of pity, then he's angry when she cheats, then, Brook Lynn tries to get him to be a successful pop star, and he's angry when he can't be a cop.  This character is a whiny punk who inherited none of the charisma genes from either of his parents.

[AbcNbc247]

It was written terribly. 

I probably wouldn’t have had a problem  if she and Dex thought of Cam, tried to stop at first, etc. but they didn’t. They were laughing like it was nothing. Cam may as well have not even existed. Idk why today’s soap writers think that portraying their characters and storylines like that is a good idea. It’s ruins the character 

Maybe I’m getting too personal about this but I really, really hate when awful people get rewarded for their awful behavior 

Chase isn’t an awful POS, like Joss

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Edited January 4, 2023 by AbcNbc247

[carolineg]

I feel like Chase always gets the short end of the stick story wise to be honest.  Kind of like Cam, he tends to be an afterthought.  I thought Willow/Chase were actually a cute pairing before Michael had to be the designated winner.  Chase/Brooklyn had some fans until the pairing moved at a snails pace. I agree that the popstar story is a dud and I do think Chase is very similar to Griffin and Nathan as a character as well.  Believe me, I would question Chase getting a week long send off with montages too lol.  I can only speak for myself, but I don't think the show is making Chase into a character he's not the way it does with Britt or Joss.   

 

I don't think you are taking it personally.  It's not a good look for a character that is supposed to be our young female lead especially when the Cam/Joss pairing had such a build up for so long.  Joss is 'supposed' to be a good person and nothing about her behavior suggests she's thinking of anyone but herself in this.  She's not feeling guilty or taking responsibility and it's a weird way to have Joss/Dex start a romance to root for. 

[AbcNbc247]

 

Judging by the previews, they’ll probably have her feeling guilty today but I’m not going to care. The damage has been done.

The writing just wasn’t there and I don’t think Eden has the capability to enrich Joss with those subtle nuances that would make Joss look like a good person who did a bad thing, instead of a bad person who did a bad thing. 

Edited January 4, 2023 by AbcNbc247

[carolineg]

I have never been super impressed with Eden aside from the fact she looks like she would literally be Jax and LW's Carly's child.  After the Oscar story they probably should have recast.  To be fair to her though, I am not sure Joss was ever written to have nuances lol.  Joss is always right.  I am not sure she is written or directed to be wrong.  Obviously EM could rise above the material, but Joss in general is very one note.

[Darn]

There are a ton of notes to play here and it's downright bizarre that it's not in the writing. Cam and Joss were friends years before becoming a couple. This should be destroying her inside but they're not writing her as tortured at all. It feels like someone just decided they looked hot together (and they do, I can't even lie) but why not play all the beats?

[Vee]

That's how they've done it for years with these couples. It started in the Frons/Guza era and it's gotten worse. Lipton is one of the top talented young people on the show and Cameron is beloved by fans from a very beloved family/parent, but Frank is focused on the latest stud. Whenever that happens the audience favorite gets run down for the new white flavor of the month. Remember when they tried to put Brando over? Me neither but it happened.

I'd say it's shades of Matthew on Frank and Ron's OLTL where allegedly teenage Eddie Alderson may or may not have been told that if he didn't put on like 10-30 lbs of muscle like the Fords that he couldn't have a frontburner story with Kelley Missal, but it's not as extreme as that old rumor. It's still shitty. The next move will be to try to make Cam less and less sympathetic.

She was a temp who Frank kept because she was white, blonde and under 20. He thought he finally had his Starr Manning redux. She is marginally fine but not good enough. But he doesn't care. He wants a white teen princess to lead that canvas and that's what he thinks will keep getting the youth demo. He is operating off a 2008 mindset where Starr and Cole on OLTL are the apex of young-skewing ratings success (they weren't).

Edited January 4, 2023 by Vee

[Forever8]

I think one of the reasons why we don't get Cam's POV as much is because William Lipton is on recurring as he goes to college, though they always make it sound like Cameron is taking care of his four and eight-year-old brothers as a reason why he and Joss were growing apart, even though they're more like 16 and 10 by now.

Then again, this is the same character who didn't get to meet either one of his grandparents on screen.

Dex is in a long line of Frank's specific young white male casting, i.e., Brando and the Ford Brothers. He's attractive, as is Montone, who gets our young heroine to do something unusual and then makes them realize they're not right for each other, i.e., Langston and Ford and Starr and James. I do hope, however, that they will eventually bring on a young adult Emma or Lila Rae for a future romance with Cameron. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited January 4, 2023 by Forever8

[Darn]

Yeah I've been watching a ton of GH from 2005-2019 the past week or so and the writing is so skewed (also Sonny/Carly/Sam/Jason went through more story in 10 years than other characters have in 40) and the last decade has hot a lot of interchangeable himbos. Chase, Griffin, Brando, Dex (who I assume will be revealed to be the long lost child of *pulls name out of hat* Jimmy Lee Holt? Sure why not.

Aaaand right after typing his name I decided to google him and apparently Austin was already revealed as his son. A nearly 60 year old long lost kid. This show's desperation to make EVERYONE related to tie to HISTORY is absurd.

Speaking of skewed writing I'm not crazy about the writing for Spencer and Nikolas. It's so lopsided in Spencer's favor. You see this when a show becomes enamored with a performer. Nichola Chavez is great but need Nik be so weak-willed and pathetic to facilitate this story? Spencer's constantly talking down to him and Nik takes it every time. He's got a lot to apologize for but I don't know, he just reads as pathetic with scene after scene of Spencer berating him.

[Vee]

I don't think there's anything wrong in theory with RH coming on the show playing a long-lost Q or a doctor. It's what he should've done to begin with if they had to have him on GH (though I did not hate Todd's stint), not three characters in. And people have been asking about Jimmy Lee's brood for decades. It was an obvious avenue. I just don't care about it three characters in when Howarth, Easton, etc. have been receiving preferential treatment for over ten years and given multiple roles on the same show back to back.

It's stan stuff. Yes, Chavez is talented but they are writing to the fans and also perhaps because they may have hated Coloma BTS at this point. Which, fine, but it can be a bit more even-handed.

Edited January 4, 2023 by Vee

[Darn]

The idea is fine but they clearly didn't have a plan for Austin other than making sure RH could pay his mortgage. 

[Vee]

They really do not, and watching him try to romance Kirsten Storms is nauseating. She's too young, no matter how rundown and beaten by life she looks.

[carolineg]

I thought the plan was to pair Austin with Britt, but then they hired Cody for whatever reason and now they are both pointless.  Tbh, it would have made more sense to pair RH's Franco with Maxie if FV wanted that pairing because at least they had a romantic history with JF's Franco.