3 hours ago, BetterForgotten said:

It’s been 2 months into this regime - they’ve made strides, and the day to day writing is a lot better. However, the overall plotting isn’t that different from what came before. The Jason return story was all they had for any momentum, and that’s starting to lose steam. It’s painfully obvious that most of the supporting stories are not working or are just boring (Deception nonsense, Sasha’s career rotation, BLQ’s wedding preparations, Blaze’s homophobic mother, etc.). The material itself isn’t great or that compelling, despite the day to day execution being more thoughtful.

However, they’re handicapped in a lot of ways too. Starting with the bloated cast and an array of characters I have little faith that the average viewer gives a crap about. That, by design, is what they have to write this show around first and foremost. Deadweight characters are what Valentini and ABC have injected into this show for over a decade and any set of writers have to write around that.

So, yes, while I do see positive changes, I can also see why viewers aren’t drawn to tune in as well. Sad to say, unless they’re diehard soap fans like us on this board, the average viewer will remember the plot over some great character moments that happened on a random Tuesday. 

When a show is hollow, as all the soaps are now, then you are more likely to only watch for a certain character or couple. This has been true for a long time - you could even argue GH helped cement this as the norm with Luke & Laura - but it hurts when they are in a rebuilding period, or as much as they can even be allowed to rebuild. The other problem is, as others have mentioned, the need for your favorite character to be in the right and behaving the way you want them to behave. I've been guilty of that myself with characters, if I think the story is repetitive, degrading, and so on, but I do think the show has made efforts in trying to move forward some characters, like Nina. Yet a lot of her fans just seem to be completely repulsed. 

17 minutes ago, DRW50 said:

I've been guilty of that myself with characters, if I think the story is repetitive, degrading, and so on, but I do think the show has made efforts in trying to move forward some characters, like Nina. Yet a lot of her fans just seem to be completely repulsed. 

That's because they're mostly Sonny/Nina fans. And stupid!

I think that Lucy should be forced out as the head of Deception and Maxie should take charge of the company. I am done with the Lucy character, and she should be retired from the show.

12 hours ago, BrendaB said:

Wow.  Today's episode was all set in the Quartermaine estate + the hospital.  When was the last time that's ever happened?  It's nice seeing the Q mansion full again with people.  I like that they made the cook a character finally and Cody's always great.  They need to give him more to do.  Even though they recast Maxie's daughter and Elizabeth's youngest son with likely more seasoned actors, I think I preferred the previous child actors.

Seeing the '90s ABC soap actresses playing Lois, Lucy, Tracy and Olivia in scenes together in 2024 was so fun!  Having the Allie/Carly's portrayer on there would make it a proper The City reunion! 😍

Willow & Michael are annoying with their privileged non-problems.  They need to send them on a long off-screen vacation!

The new writers want a Quartermaine revival.

6 hours ago, Vee said:

That's because they're mostly Sonny/Nina fans. And stupid!

I actually can understand Sonny/Nina's fans frustration.   I don't know why you'd be a Sonny/Nina fan in the first place, but they really just fizzled out lol.   It ended and they barely share scenes at this point. Nina has gone in an entirely different direction and it works for the character.  I would suspect these Sonny/Nina fans are more Sonny fans than anything else.

19 minutes ago, Aragorn said:

I think that Lucy should be forced out as the head of Deception and Maxie should take charge of the company. I am done with the Lucy character, and she should be retired from the show.

I don't know about going that far but I do think they are heading in the direction of diminishing Lucy's role considerably & Maxie stepping into a leadership position. 

19 minutes ago, Aragorn said:

The new writers want a Quartermaine revival.

Yes, some things are on the rise & some things are definitely not. 

Rising: Team Q, Team Jason, Team Maxie, Team Kids, 

Falling: Team Cassadine, Team Sonny, Team Lucy, 

And a whole bunch of question marks!

Edited May 3, 20241 yr by Contessa Donatella
typo

52 minutes ago, carolineg said:

It ended and they barely share scenes at this point. Nina has gone in an entirely different direction and it works for the character.

Same goes for Drew and Carly (or at least that's how I see it).  They hurried up and broke up those two pairings, lol.

12 hours ago, Soapsuds said:

On the ratings thread for last week. Someone asked if we should be worried about GH and Errol said yes. 

Ah.  Okay.

Sigh.

I hope ABCD doesn't take that as a sign that they need to change HW's again.

18 minutes ago, Khan said:

Same goes for Drew and Carly (or at least that's how I see it).  They hurried up and broke up those two pairings, lol.

Totally true.  I always considered Carly/Drew as a C level pairing that no one was invested in lol.  I know Nina/Sonny have like 5 to 10 vocal fans.😂

7 minutes ago, carolineg said:

Totally true.  I always considered Carly/Drew as a C level pairing that no one was invested in lol.  I know Nina/Sonny have like 5 to 10 vocal fans.😂

Very funny. 

Drew & Carly definitely a stopgap couple. 

Nina & Sonny, well Mo counts for a lot & then Nina fans were for whatever Nina was doing that week. I don't see anyone pining for it. Fans are engaged in Nina & Drew, some hate it & a great many are loving it even if they think it's perverse. Similarly, Sonny fans are absorbed in what in the heck is up with Ava, although I've seen a fair amount of people wondering why Sonny didn't bed Natalia. When Ava & Sonny hit the sheets, I think those people will be sufficiently distracted. 

Also though many people felt like they saw real electric current flow between Drew & Jordan. 

Brick & Jordan is really beneath contempt. 

13 minutes ago, carolineg said:

Totally true.  I always considered Carly/Drew as a C level pairing that no one was invested in lol.  I know Nina/Sonny have like 5 to 10 vocal fans.😂

That’s been the case with every Sonny pairing post Brenda and post SJB/TB Carly if we’re honest, lol.

 

Just now, BetterForgotten said:

That’s been the case with every Sonny pairing post Brenda and post SJB/TB Carly if we’re honest, lol.

I think OG Kate came closest to something bigger - no one was more surprised than me that that worked. Then Guza (or someone) killed it in the crib to advance the Dante saga with Olivia in Kate's place, needlessly IMO.

13 minutes ago, carolineg said:

I know Nina/Sonny have like 5 to 10 vocal fans.😂

Gee, that many? 

But seriously.  I'm kinda surprised how quickly they moved Carly and Sonny out of Drew and Nina's respective orbits.  Even if Sonny/Nina and Drew/Carly were dead-end pairings, you usually expect the writers to keep Carly and Sonny in play at least for a little while - and even tantalize the audience with the possibility of Carly and Sonny getting back together themselves - while they create a new pairing (in this case, Drew and Nina) out of the ashes of two old ones.  But it's almost like Sonny/Nina and Drew/Carly have been erased from GH history, with Sonny moving onto Ava, and Carly being tested with John and Jason.

9 minutes ago, Khan said:

But it's almost like Sonny/Nina and Drew/Carly have been erased from GH history, with Sonny moving onto Ava, and Carly being tested with John and Jason.

It is indeed. And it would be nice to see that kind of speed applied with so many other things on the show.

I'll admit I am waiting for an inevitable Sonny/Nina scene again sometime, just to see how the new team handles that dynamic. Which never made much sense to me beyond "Maurice enjoys Cynthia's company".

What I'll be amazed by is if they let it get as far as Sonny having another foolish mob wedding to Ava Jerome. And they should tbh. A fatal mistake he made with Claudia before and is completely inclined to repeat, because in the years since he has learned very little and he proved that many times, starting with letting Brenda walk out. And Ava is a lot smarter than Claudia.

Edited May 3, 20241 yr by Vee

10 minutes ago, Contessa Donatella said:

Very funny. 

Drew & Carly definitely a stopgap couple. 

Nina & Sonny, well Mo counts for a lot & then Nina fans were for whatever Nina was doing that week. I don't see anyone pining for it. Fans are engaged in Nina & Drew, some hate it & a great many are loving it even if they think it's perverse. Similarly, Sonny fans are absorbed in what in the heck is up with Ava, although I've seen a fair amount of people wondering why Sonny didn't bed Natalia. When Ava & Sonny hit the sheets, I think those people will be sufficiently distracted. 

Also though many people felt like they saw real electric current flow between Drew & Jordan. 

Brick & Jordan is really beneath contempt. 

I just know from Sonny/Brenda fandom that people loved Brenda when she was with Sonny but the minute VM left it was "KS's Kate is the BEST THING EVER".  It's not the female these fans care about-it's whoever is up Sonny's butt at the moment.  There's a very specific group of Sonny Fans First that appear to like any pairing he has.

Nina is such a mess of a character I am going to assume most her fans just really like Cynthia Watros's work and not anything to do with Nina as a character.

9 minutes ago, BetterForgotten said:

That’s been the case with every Sonny pairing post Brenda and post SJB/TB Carly if we’re honest, lol.

 

TRUTH.

7 minutes ago, Vee said:

I think OG Kate came closest to something bigger - no one was more surprised than me that that worked. Then Guza (or someone) killed it in the crib to advance the Dante saga with Olivia in Kate's place, needlessly IMO.

Loved OG Kate and Sonny.  As a Sonny/Brenda stan that says a lot.  It was tragic when Olivia took over the Kate role.   And then Kate was recast with Kelly Sullivan.

5 minutes ago, carolineg said:

And then Kate was recast with Kelly Sullivan.

Where's that gif of petrified Kate running up the stairs when I need it, lol?

13 minutes ago, Vee said:

What I'll be amazed by is if they let it get as far as Sonny having another foolish mob wedding to Ava Jerome. And they should tbh. A fatal mistake he made with Claudia before and is completely inclined to repeat, because in the years since he has learned very little and he proved that many times, starting with letting Brenda walk out. And Ava is a lot smarter than Claudia.

I wouldn't mind a foolish Ava mob wedding tbh.  Idk, it gets tricky with actors leaving and all that, but Sonny would have never let Brenda leave.  And when she came back to offer a reconciliation if they moved to Rome he would have jumped on that.  Because he's spent the last decade make dumb decisions and having other kids.   But on the flip side Brenda should run screaming away from the mess that is Sonny's life and never think about him again so whatever.  

4 minutes ago, Khan said:

Where's that gif of petrified Kate running up the stairs when I need it, lol?

The scene of Kate remembering her rape lives rent free in my head (not a good thing).  Because the whole scene was so disturbing.

On a much brighter note, there is a scene where Sonny is visiting Bensonhurst sitting on a stoop and is all messed about Brenda leaving him and a man puts change in his coffee cup because he thinks Sonny is homeless and it's hilarious.😂

Edited May 3, 20241 yr by carolineg