General Hospital: July 2023 Discussion Thread

[titan1978]

Thank you for contributing to this. I am shocked at how willfully obtuse soap fans are being about her comments (other people like Warren Leight have also called them scabs), and keep throwing around Fi-Core like it is the same thing as an exemption or waiver. They can either choose to be full union members or they can continue to work by not being full members, designated as Fi-Core. It’s because of a legal ruling that said people that do not want to be in the union don’t have to be- they do, however, benefit from the negotiated contract and must pay fees to their union because of that. The actors on daytime must work if the show remains in production. No writer has to write for them.

If soap fans want to celebrate these folks as keeping their beloved shows in production that is their choice. It doesn’t change the fact that they are scabs and Fi-Core is working through a picket line, and these striking actors and writers have every right to call them out.

Because legally they are required to, due to the fact that they benefit from the negotiated contract when not on strike. It was a legal challenge involving non-entertainment unions that was considered a huge win for unions, because they may not have to be full members, but they have to pay for the benefits the collective bargaining wins for them.

Edited July 26, 2023 by titan1978

[dragonflies]

Thanks that makes sense

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[Contessa Donatella]

There's only 4 left. Between 1946 & now there have been 84 televised soaps. I remember 57 years of soaps. I just don't see a way not to support Fi-Core status even if it is flawed. Even if it is a necessary evil. Which I believe it is. It comes down to this. The stakes are simply too high. 

@titan1978  I absolutely positively agree that they are scabs & can be called scabs. That is definitional. What's a scab? Someone who crossed a picket to work for pay. 

Edited July 26, 2023 by Donna L. Bridges

[LeClerc]

Am I missing something? Aren't the only Fi-Core writers working on soaps right now Josh Griffith, Michael Minnis (and someone else?) at Bold, and possibly Sheri Anderson at Days?

So everyone else writing these shows -- i.e. the majority, as I assume each show has at least 5 people writing -- are non-WGA members (production staff, network execs, etc) or union members who have not gone Fi-Core and who are writing scripts in the shadows. 

I remember during the 07-08 strike, Michelle Patrick (who was working at AMC at the time of the strike) was quoted in an article as saying she had been contacted by another show to write for them anonymously. She said no, but I'm sure there were other writers contacted who said yes. And same thing this time. 

[titan1978]

@LeClerc there have been reports this week that General Hospital is hiring what ABC is calling “temporary writers”. That’s why it flared up.

Edited July 26, 2023 by titan1978

[Contessa Donatella]

It's always going to be galling for some non-soap fan to say they didn't even know the shows were still on the air.

It's always going to be galling for some non-soap fan to suggest that people stop watching.

I don't have some reservoir of respect for people who don't know diddly about soaps.

But, everybody else, soap fans, yes, I respect all the differences of opinion, even if I'm being called obtuse. 

#Fire Albert Alarr NOW

So, I think Ava should knock the daylights out of Betty! Anyone else?

Is it me or are Chase & BLQ critically confusing? Sometimes they are so sexy & other times "luke cold". 

So, Nina having a successful visit to the gatehouse? Calm before the storm? 

How does Carly have any money to redecorate or rehab or whatever Kelly's? 

[~bl~]

Aren’t the striking writers losing health insurance and those who are ficore are able to still get it? I recall people using that reason in the last strike as why at least one soap writer (Fran Myers) did it for the insurance. That may have just been a rumor, though we do know her late husband was battling cancer.

[Liberty City]

No. That photo was taken in January 2018, and has been in the opening rotation since the black opening in 2018; her shot is one of the ones that has never been updated since the slideshow opening debuted.

[BrendaB]

Wow.  So yesterday and today's episodes had much better pacing and I liked characters that I normally dislike:

The Ava-Sonny scenes...finally the Nikolas twist is coming closer! 

The Cody-Dante-Sam scenes (what a perfect group of friends acting normally in that age group).

The Curtis scenes...finally the character has gotten some meaty material and the actor is doing a great job with it.  Hope they have him find solace with someone other than Portia!

Willow remains boring as ever, but that final Michael scene where he's saying how lucky he is was sweet.

[lucaslesann23]

Absolutely felt the same way

And that Abbott Elementary actress... I agree, I never got what she said that was so terrible. Scabs should be referred to as such. She didn't say anything negative about the shows or the cast.

[Contessa Donatella]

She is simply misinformed. She said repeatedly that Fi-Core writers are allowed to write on nonniuion shows & not allowed tow rite on union shows. 

[lucaslesann23]

Oh yeah, that stuff and her saying soap actors don't do 90 pages a day, I stopped defending her. But her initial statement wasn't worth that reaction 

[Contessa Donatella]

Yes, I wish that she & they had never gotten going with each other. Oy vey y'all. Hopefully tomorrow they will not start back up with each other. 

I am at a loss for today because Hulu never put it up! Hate when that happens. But my idea for Curtis would have been that he'd lose his voice not his legs! Imagine if he couldn't speak! Yeah? 

[Paul Raven]

Re Fi Core

The writers are striking during Summer when networks are in rerun so no scripted shows are being affected. Of course later on it delays the start of new fall season episodes. And no primetime shows would dare take on fi core writers. The publicity and backlash would be too great.

But daytime is a different scenario,with  soaps are on air everyday and immediately affected which is where fi core comes into play. Those writers are settled into soaps, with no possibility or intention of moving on, so their status doesn't matter to them in terms of career. And I'm sure the understanding is that they will be looked on favorably in the future in terms of securing future gigs on the soap.

Didn't this happen last time? Writers who went fi core stayed employed and worked alongside writers who had been striking?

[Contessa Donatella]

2008
Richard Alan Alexander
Rick Davis
Thomas E. Eberhardt
Dena Higley
John Ridley
John F. Smith

2007
Cita Maria Arena
George Clooney
John F. Cosgrove
Paula F. Cwikly
Jeanne Marie Ford
Mark Christopher Higley
Meg Kelly
Marlene McPherson
Terry A. Meurer
Shawn Morrison
Michelle Poteet Lisanti
Darrell R. Thomas
Gary Tomlin
Garin Wolf
Janeen A. Vogelaar