GH: May 2024 Discussion Thread

[Vee]

It's nothing to apologize for lol. I don't think any of us are arguing that except for his skill with budgeting FV is long past his creative prime. And yes, you're absolutely right. There isn't any forward thrust to a lot of GH over the last decade - just getting through the day, with occasional jolts of energy when it comes to the faves or pageantry specials FV enjoys (like the Nurses Ball, which has gotten more and more painful and cringe in recent times with the threadbare budget).

[Khan]

 

IOW, you're saying that Frank Valentini is playing it safe and has been for quite some time.  Which is a real good way to kill any soap opera even as you think you're doing the opposite.

You know why Norman Lear named his second company "T.A.T. Productions"?  Because, it was short for "Tuchus Affen Tisch," which is Yiddish for "putting one's ass on the line."  That's what Frank's gotta do.  He's gotta put his ass (cute as it is!) on the old line.  He's gotta stop playing it safe and instead play the hell out of every scene, regardless of anything, including where it lands on the makeshift "Wheel of Fortune" wheel that has become GH's taping schedule.  Lord knows I hated JFP's overall approach, but at the end of the day, her scenes had energy.

Well, I know how much you enjoyed the last years of OLTL on ABC, and I don't wanna take that enjoyment away from you, or from anyone else.  I know a lot of people would disagree, but I felt the "soul" of OLTL had evaporated long, long before the network finally pulled the plug on it.

And please do not get me started on the Nurses' Ball, which ceased being relevant the day a dead body turned up in the middle of the festivities.

Edited May 6 by Khan

[John]

I hope we do get an interview with  HW's Patrick Mulcahey & Elizabeth Korte soon. I am excited to hear their ideas for GH in their own words.

[Khan]

When Al Rabin and Shelley Curtis left DAYS, they took the heart of that show with them.

To those who, like MB, want to make excuses about budgeting, consider this: SFT's original sets were essentially black-painted screens, with window frames held up by wires to suggest windows; and when they needed bushes to suggest an outdoor scene, they tied twigs to music stands.  Yet, I'll bet that if you were to ask someone who was around then, they'll tell you that watching just one, 15-minute episode of SFT was more thrilling than watching an entire week or month of GH today.

Edited May 6 by Khan

[Vee]

To be more accurate I enjoyed the last years of OLTL, but they were full of flaws and many highs and lows. Do I think OLTL was still a very active, vital show at the end on the network and am I grateful for that? Yes, and I thought the final episodes were a shining example of that right down to both the happy endings for some characters and the cliffhanger - I feel ending a soap opera on a definitive 'end' for the show itself is a fundamental betrayal of the longstanding comfort and the social contract with the audience, who need to believe that world and those stories go on. Did I think the last year of OLTL was very good? No lol, it had a ton of terrible stories as well as some good ones, but they wrapped it up fairly well in the last 2-3 weeks.

We will agree to disagree about the NB. I don't think I can argue with anyone about it having a certain element of cringeworthiness, because it always has had that but I still think it's a tradition to uphold. That said I'm not exactly crying tears about not seeing it this year, because I think the truly cheap presentations of it with the mortifying nurse numbers, autotuned songs, etc. in the last decade-plus have often just not been worth it. Give it a break and bring it back with something a bit less tacky. As far as you can with the Nurses Ball lol.

Edited May 6 by Vee

[TEdgeofNight]

@Khan I find myself agreeing with you in your discussion with others about Frank Valentini. He’s outlived his creativeness on GH. It is possible to make a better show with the current budget. And, there ARE other people out there like Shelley Curtis who could bring a fresh vision back to GH after having been away for years and still manage the budget. Frank isn’t helping GH. He’s padding his retirement. ABC needs to step in and replace him. I feel that Frank outlived his usefulness years ago. GH has a new headwriting team. It’s time for a new EP to get that team moving GH forward. 

[BetterForgotten]

She was directing at B&B before the pandemic hit, but stopped after they came back.

She’s still very close to her GH folks. Both Vanessa and Maurice hung out with her and Wendy Richie last year at Maurice’s birthday party and posted about it. This is from Vanessa’s Instagram post last year.

https://www.instagram.com/p/CpS9VeSvimE/?igsh=NjJ4ZGgzMHU4cm9s

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[Liberty City]

Shelley Curtis, per IMDb, last served as co-executive producer on the 2015 film The Morning After. And she directed two handful of episodes of Bold from 2016 to 2020 (last credited episode was March 10). I'm disappointed Ginger Smith did not do more after All My Children. I thought she did an amazing job adapted a model of the American daytime soap and transformed it into something new and fresh. It had edge and as she promised, it wasn't our mother's soap opera. I thought Jennifer Pepperman did fine with One Life to Live, but I was less impressed with that reboot than I was the former.

I adore Frank Valentini at General Hospital, but even I'm beginning to think a change may need to happen. However, I do worry about it, too. I think Valentini is becoming more of a "yes man" to Disney-ABC Television⏤whose hands have been pulling the puppet strings for far too long at this soap (dating back to the Shelly Altman & Jean Passanante era)⏤and I worry bringing in another executive producer could push Disney-ABC's controlling agenda.

Facebook posters are deranged cyber bully grannies/gays who need to be off social media.

[Maxim]

A-B-S-O-L-U-T-E-L-Y! 

AMEN!

[titan1978]

@Khan Critical analysis should always be welcome here. We are clearly fans of the genre here, not just specific shows anymore. I love GH, but I have felt the lack of emotion onscreen for most of FV’s tenure.

I have been commenting for years that it feels like FV is almost ashamed to let the show be a soap. It is often produced in a way to avoid passion. And it is hard to overstate how damaging recasting ME and RH several times instead of trying new actors has been for the show- maybe those characters could have worked without the shadow of using the same performers over and over again. Instead we have dead zones where they tried to reinvent them every few years.

The last writers had several stories that should have been better onscreen and I felt the production failed them many times. Ryan Chamberlain being back and killing people being a prime example. The stop and start of Trina/Spencer being another, especially when you consider how much the actors did in the moment to make something come alive (Trina jumping into Spencer’s arms comes to mind).

Shelly Curtis learned the right lessons from her showrunners. I would welcome her back in any capacity to GH.

Edited May 6 by titan1978

[Contessa Donatella]

Shelly Curtis, I have no doubt, would be very very welcome either at GH or at DAYS. When I or others talk about a time when it seemed there were more women in power behind the scenes on our soaps, things were better. 

[Contessa Donatella]

Well, I've said it before & I am sure I will say it again, but all FB posters are NOT the same, no, not at all. For just one example, there is a GH FB group that I have tried & I cannot stand it!!! It is impossible. Half of them are crazy. And, the admins have a mechanical censor that refuses to let you post. It declines one's posts & you say, what is going on? And, the regular posters there say to change something, anything, add a period, put in an extra space & resubmit & it will post. Like I have time to do that? That's nuts. 

But, my forum is not only sane. We have a good time. So, it's according, 

Meanwhile I found the picture I was looking. for It's from the NJ event Saturday before last. And it shows how tall they are, which we were talking about. 4-27-24

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Edited May 6 by Contessa Donatella
typo

[carolineg]

Off topic, but Wendy Riche looks amazing for her age.  

In regards to Frank, I tend to agree with mostly everybody and think he's at the very least lost creative steam.  His bias for certain actors and characters annoys me to no end.  And the useless, bloated cast doesn't help.  BUT I do think he's well liked by most, easy to work with and does enough to keep the show's lights on.  I think it's time for a change although I need to give PM/EK a few more months to see if they can turn this show around.

[BetterForgotten]

Wendy Riche herself has said Shelley was her right hand, as she had no previous experience producing soaps, and having Shelley’s support and expertise meant the world.

Shelley credits Gloria Monty for teaching her how to produce love scenes with passion and how to edit them successfully. For those that haven’t seen, it begins like 13:37 in:

 

 

Edited May 6 by BetterForgotten

[Khan]

I agree, and I think it's great that he's so easy to work with, too.  Actors especially need a producer who is attuned to their needs.  But it doesn't seem as if all that admiration for FV has resulted in an emotionally charged show.