General Hospital: August 2023 Discussion Thread

[Liberty City]

From Soap Opera Network's report (July 10, 2013

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As much as fans love a good catfight onscreen, yesterday’s social media drama between “Days of our Lives” Jen Lilley (Theresa Donovan) and “General Hospital’s” Kirsten Storms (Maxie Jones) proves that real life catfights take the cake!

Lilley, who filled in as Maxie when Storms was on medical leave in 2011-2012, took to Twitter to write about her new “DAYS” character, stating “I feel like Theresa could kick Maxie’s ass with one hand tied behind her back.” Storms caught wind of the tweet via a fan and responded with “Maybe her Maxie. But not mine.” That set off a firestorm between the two actresses in which Lilley revealed that she helped keep Maxie from being killed off when Storms wasn’t well enough to return. And, as if the drama wasn’t hot enough already, Farah Fath (ex-Mimi Lockhart, “Days of our Lives;” ex-Gigi Morasco, “One Life to Live”) jumped in to fan the flames.

Hoping to put an end to the situation, Lilley clarified her first statement with a longer message: “Please untag me if you are posting negative tweets. This whole thing has been blown way out of proportion. I simply wrote a tweet, which was only intended to be funny regarding my portrayal of two characters. I wasn’t commenting about Kirsten or her performance as Maxie at all. Those who follow me or have even read one article of mine know that I would never say something negative about another person, especially not Kirsten Storms. Life is too short to be mean-spirited.

“I am sincerely delighted that she is well enough to resume her rightful place a Maxie Jones on ‘GH.’ And I am having the time of my life as Jeannie Theresa Donovan on ‘DAYS’; there’s no place I’d rather be. But even if I didn’t have a job, i would be happy for her. Good health is worth more than any job, and there’s no role in the world worth being bitter over.

“All I meant was based on what’s written, I think Theresa is one tough cookie. The fact that I need to even clarify this is beyond me. Some people live to make mountains out of molehills. If you are a fan, I am asking you to help extinguish this rumor mill and respond with grace and love. We can’t control how others respond, only ourselves. Choose love and grace. If haters will hate no matter what, then lovers should love no matter what.” ❞

Here's the timeline of Lilley's tenure as Maxie:

• Illness sidelines Kirsten Storms, forces Maxie recast (September 14, 2011)
• EXCLUSIVE! GH'S STORMS RETURNS (January 9, 2012)
• HUGE GH NEWS! (January 20, 2012)
• KIRSTEN STORMS BACK TO GH? (June 22, 2012)
• Emotional Jen Lilley thanks fans for support (July 22, 2012)

The next day, July 23, it was announced Storms was back as Maxie.

[Aragorn]

I enjoy seeing Kristina more often. She needs to stay in circulation. She should be on as much as Michael and Dante.

[carolineg]

Thanks!  That's what I was thinking of.  I remember FF just jumping in for no reason lol.  I don't really think what JL said was that bad.  It was dumb, but I don't really think she had ill intent.   I wonder if the show was really going to kill off Maxie.  I know the show had little regard for Felicia back then, but it would have been pretty savage to kill of both Felicia/Frisco's kids.

[Liberty City]

Well, Lilley's arrival came around the time of Robin's death, and Maxie being sentenced for the death of Lisa Niles. And it would have been a savage decision to kill off Maxie, but they've made more savage decisions.

[carolineg]

I have often thought Maxie should have been killed off over Georgie, as I liked LL and thought Georgie had more potential.  Honestly neither of them should be killed off, but if I had to choose it would be Maxie over Georgie.  I know this is a show that killed off the entire Q family, but that would have been nuts to kill both kids of a popular supercouple.   

[Liberty City]

Georgie > Maxie, definitely.

[titan1978]

After years of watching Bob Guza’s GH, there was no way he would have kept Georgie over Maxie. If anything, I think characters like Georgie and Courtney have Pratt written all over them. Same with Dillon. Courtney being the worse example. So I think Georgie would have been removed eventually anyway out of disinterest during his tenure. 

People that were baseline just nice, normal folks Pratt likes to put in extreme positions, like Allison and Billy on Melrose Place. Guza would rather explore the darkness within each character, and the ones not being subjected to that had an edge or were sarcastic and cynical. Brenda, Robin, Maxie, Lulu, etc.

[Vee]

I don't think Dillon and Georgie have anything to do with Pratt. Guza was clearly enamored of Scott Clifton/Dillon and therefore kept trying to put him with anyone but Georgie, because yes, in his second run he did disdain most 'nice' characters. That couple was an unexpected major success for the show, and any time 2000s GH came across an unexpected success (Julie Berman, etc.) they would try to mold it into or around the characters and concepts Guza preferred - Berman's Lulu and JT's Patrick become BFFs with Carly, Dillon becomes a surrogate son to Luke, Dillon is slowly moved away from Georgie towards Lulu, etc.

But Pratt was no better. Most of the characters he crafted or adored were dated, camp primetime soap stereotypes, including his conception of Courtney, the kung fu kickboxing blonde champion and Faith, the blonde evil mob whore who humped her criminal rivals to death like Famke Janssen in Goldeneye. All of Faith's popularity as a character came in spite of the atrociously broad writing for her and was due to Cynthia Preston's talent. Reese was almost certainly another Pratt concept, and probably the last.

Billy and Alison became afterthoughts for MP in later years, as Pratt became more ascendent at that show. Nice characters like Georgie are no different, and Pratt was never the prime mover at GH.

[carolineg]

Yeah, I could see Georgie being phased out, but she could have gone to college or something instead of being brutally murdered lol.  I can definitely see Guza being bored with Georgie, although at the very least she had an endgame pairing with Dillion and you could have split some of Maxie's stories with her, so Maxie didn't end up having the life experiences of someone twice her age at 35.   I think just the fact that Maxie was part of such an iconic story made her much more important to Guza

I absolutely think your point is correct, but GH really wasn't thinking about the future when they killed of viable heroines like Emily, Georgie, and Courtney (no loss at all to me, but she was Sonny's sister and Spencer's mom).  Now we end up with Willow and Sasha as our heroines instead. 

Billy and Alison not ending up together is probably my biggest disappointment from MP, but that's for another thread.  Billy ended up with Alyssa Milano and Alison is just drinking somewhere in Atlanta.  Awesome.

[Vee]

LOL we'll never get over that.

I have expounded at length in the past on how and why I would bring Emily and Georgie back even just as a special event and then quickly usher them offscreen again, just to have them available for potential future use with recasts - Lindze Letherman still looks great in her various ghost appearances in the last decade but I am pretty sure she is fully retired from acting, sadly. And had an anniversary been pending I would've tried to convince Amber Tamblyn to make an appearance as Em, and IMO she might've done it. But now I think the best thing is to bring one or both back, usher one out but maybe keep an all-new Emily (a doctor, a Quartermaine) around.

[titan1978]

Add me to this list. Infuriating and it felt like disdain not only for them but for people that had watched the show forever.

[carolineg]

All the MP reboot had to do was give me a throwaway line about Billy/Alison living happily ever after and I would have been satisfied.

Anyway, I think Emily would be so easy to bring back with the Helena of it all.  You can just hand wave that all and move on. 

[j swift]

If we can somehow find our way back to discussing current events....

I find myself drawn into the Pikeman mystery, and I enjoy the pacing.  I mean, it is true that plots only really move during sweeps on GH, but I don't mind a story lingering for a few months.  It is not as if it was ever forgotten, and it is a true umbrella story that weaves its way into every other plot.  The current generation of soap fans would have ripped their hair during OLTL's Jenny's baby switch story which went on for more than a year.  But, I prefer it when a soap puts relationships first, and the mystery is more of a backdrop.

Confession:  I really only watch GH during sweeps, and then I keep up with the summaries online in the intervening months, so that might affect my acceptance of the pacing issue, but it has me guessing and wondering. 

Currently, my theory is that Valentin is a red herring and one of the casualties of Anna's obsession will be her relationship with him.  I also tend to overcomplicate these soap mysteries, but I can't help but think that there's a clue in the name, because Pikeman doesn't seem very Russian.

Edited August 9, 2023 by j swift

[SteelCity]

I've said for years Emily could have been brought back, with Nikolas' baby having escaped from Cassadine Island. Though with so many kids on the show, that aspect is passed. Emily could still easily come back though which not much truth stretching.

[carolineg]

At the risk of offending posters with talk about something not currently happening on the show, I would say Emily is actually one of the easiest characters to bring back.  There is probably even a way to retcon the Rebecca nonsense and say that was Emily all along.  The baby stuff has probably passed, and I would love to move her away from Nik as well.  I'd find a good recast and do a soft reboot on the character.