GH: O’Connor/Van Etten OUT! Mulcahey/Korte IN!

[Vee]

Malone came back with Griffith simultaneously. The 'consultant' thing was basically just a courtesy, Malone was a co-HW within weeks. There was never any indication of Griffith having a breakdown at that time.

[dragonflies]

 

[Khan]

NLG's comments about working with CW/Nina kind of makes me wonder whether Alexis and Nina's working together at Crimson is something that Mulcahey and Korte have implemented.

[Vee]

You mean the Invader? I wonder, since I believe Carly just quit Crimson in record time. I was kind of expecting this Invader change with Nina to lead to Alexis quitting and heading back to the law (and I happen to like Alexis at the Invader, it's been a surprisingly refreshing change and given all her hijinks in the 21st century it did kind of make sense for her to suffer consequences to her profession).

[Khan]

Yep, lol!  I had Crimson on the brain!

Edited February 23, 2024 by Khan

[Liberty City]

Gives me continued hope about the upcoming change!! I need it NOW!

[Khan]

It's so hard NOT to get my hopes up about Mulcahey/Korte, you know?  Especially when Mulcahey's talent is so legendary, and almost any change in the HW'ing position could be viewed as a positive one at this point.  That's why I keep saying I'll go along with just about anything that Mulcahey wants or doesn't want to do, up to and including not making any drastic changes to the cast roster, so long as it's written with at least SOME intelligence.  It doesn't have to be brilliant; it just has to be better than the generic, uninvolving [!@#$%^&*] that Frank Valentini and his nominal HW's keeps foisting on this show.

I mean, when you've got even me wishing for a return to the "glory days" of Robert Guza, Jr....!

Edited February 23, 2024 by Khan

[Chris B]

Right before GH announced the HW change, I saw an article about the drastic revamp of UK soap Hollyoaks and that made me so excited for what might happen here. Hollyoaks was DEAD. Ratings were down, the quality was awful, it lost it's timeslot and was moved to a smaller channel. I truly thought it would be cancelled and then these new writers came in and in just a couple of months, the show is better than it has been in over a decade.

What makes the GH move so exciting is because it seems well thought out and planned. We know this was in the works for months and I'm curious who else was looked at for the job. I feel like they actually handled this the right way instead of what we typically see were the just rotate the same names in with no plan. The best example was Sally Sussman who Y&R interviewed and made start working less than a week later with no storylines mapped out.

With no soap doing a HW shift in so many years I'd given up on any real improvement. It felt like they'd each just ride out into the sunset. The fact that GH is not only making this change, but hired someone known for quality is impressive. I'm going to fully support them and hope for the best. If this works out I hope it motivates the other shows to make changes. The current state of US soaps is pretty shameful and it doesn't have to be that way. The numbers are still good compared to primetime and cable. You just need people who have talent and care. Hopeully Frank and the network let this team cook and don't shoot all of their ideas down.

[Liberty City]

I have severe PTSD from both that interview and that regime. I shutter at it.

But I agree: this is the first time a name we have not heard in a while ⏤ yet is a name we all wanted to hear ⏤ be associated with being brought on as a head writer. Plus, Patrick Mulcahey has history with General Hospital, so that is an even better situation than we could have asked for. I, too, wonder who else may have been considered. I am sure Elizabeth Korte was the choice, given AfterBuzz's report she came in as an interim choice while selection(s) were being made, and maybe that interim period made them believe she could stay on. Ultimately, I am happy to see a female name in a head writing position. And while not the name I would have wanted, it's nice to see, and feel like the right decision(s) are being made.

I'm most worried about Disney-ABC Television shooting things down as they've done for the past two or three regimes, but, I have some kind of faith, in knowing the kind of writer Mulcahey is (he is no "yes" man), that they know who they've hired and what's about to come. You don't hire THE Patrick Mulcahey and try to micromanage him. Let his wings spread free, and allow him to do what he does best.

[Mitch64]

Agreed...after GL and ATWT were cancelled I just gave up on soaps (well, not that I had any hopes on the last decade of both but I hung in there out of loyalty and an occasional flash of the old stuff) but I am going to start watching GH just because of Mulcahey...even if I don't like some of his story choices (the Buzz centric GL was annoying) his writing is still intelligent and funny and has heart. Hopefully it will work out, it would be nice to have a "show" again. 

[Contessa Donatella]

What we're seeing now is supposed to have been cherry-picked & tweaked by PM/EK. Then we have Jason's return date Monday which they wrote. And, supposedly that next day, Tues. is when their regular day-in and day-out begins. If this is accurate this is happening very fast, which I kinda think is a good thing, because fans are certainly tired of what was coming out of Dan & Chris & are SO READY for something new. 

[Sapounopera]

MVJ has exited B&B. Is she rejoining GH?

[BetterForgotten]

All she’s confirming is that she’s left B&B. She hasn’t responded to Tweets about re-joining GH yet.

She may wait until her final B&B script airs to confirm anything. 

[Contessa Donatella]

Or she may be waiting for GH to make an announcement. I believe she is a person who holds her cards quite close to her vest just as her usual M.O. 

[titan1978]

What excites me the most about Mulcahey/Korte and possibly MVJ is that the show might feel familiar again, it might actually elicit emotion again.

Frank has spent his entire tenure trying to keep the show alive, and I do appreciate what he has done. The show looks good IMO, it’s just boring/lacks emotion.

I know this is 2024, and nothing will compare to the best days of daytime soaps. It is a different landscape in every way. But I have sat through generic opening credits, total investment in his friends vs characters that should be here (Howarth and Easton), his diminishing returns on an ABC supersoap, and characters just blandly existing. He even changed the General Hospital font.

It is wild to me that we sat through several characters for his friends, and yet Adam Huss wasn’t given a real chance to keep Nikolas vital. Maybe it wouldn’t work- but the attempt should have been made.

It is beyond due for fans of this show to see something resembling GH.