GH: May 2024 Discussion Thread

[janea4old]

Fyi, yesterday May 4, there was a "Daytime Unites" charity fan event
to raise money for ALS research.
Organized by Nancy Lee Grahn who has a friend living with ALS. The emcee was Genie's husband Jonathan Frakes who recently lost a Star Trek friend-colleague to ALS.
With participation from actors from all four soaps.
Info and pics on separate thread here:
https://boards.soapoperanetwork.com/topic/66570-daytime-unites-may-2024/

Edited May 5, 2024 by janea4old

[Khan]

Granted, I know less than nothing about these things, but I feel like if GH simply were to pare down the number of (recurring and contract) cast members and storylines, the rest soon would fall into place.  You really don't need a cast of thousands anymore on these shows, when 15-18 regular, on-contract cast members would probably do.

Edited May 5, 2024 by Khan

[Vee]

Oh, absolutely. But it's FV's halfway house at this point. I hope that can change.

[Contessa Donatella]

Thank you. I'm no longer at all confused. I'm so sorry you've had personal experience with it. I don't know what they've got planned but I feel an apprehension that it is impending, or even looming, which apparently you also feel. I think the wedding is next week & it's to be 3 days. And, I just have this bad feeling that something or even some things, plural, are gonna happen. Sonny loses it. Gregory dies. Someone shoots someone else. Kristina loses the baby. None of that is spoiler. It's not even really spec. Just dread/anticipation?

[Khan]

Even if it doesn't change, or change anytime soon, I could learn to love the super-sized cast, but only if they learn how to juggle actors' guarantees better.  Either craft more umbrella storylines that draw in more characters, or take a page from the final, threadbare season of KNOTS LANDING and make those gaps where actors suddenly disappear and reappear without notice work for the storytelling.

Edited May 6, 2024 by Khan

[Khan]

I, for one, would like to know why.  Why does he always keep so many actors on the payroll when there's only so much airtime and budget to play with?  Even his longtime mentor, Paul Rauch, wouldn't have thought twice before jettisoning large groups of characters, so why is FV different?  Does he hate to see anyone out of a job?

I hesitate these days to criticize any soap, for a number of reasons, but when it comes to GH and FV...?  I think it's great that, by all accounts, FV is terrific to work for - not to mention, he's also easy on the eyes, lol - but I just don't understand him as a producer.  More specifically, I don't understand his vision, or know if he even HAS a vision (beyond sluggish storylines and bloated casts with bland leads and overly precocious child actors). 

Like another poster said, he keeps the trains moving on schedule, but we don't need Mr. Conductor from "Shining Time Station" to produce GH.  We need someone with creativity and verve, and for me, those qualities just aren't there. 

Even when Elizabeth Korte and Patrick Mulcahey write great scenes, they still land with a thud on screen, because FV adds nothing besides turning the cameras on and off.  A great or even good soap opera scene should kick down the [!@#$%^&*] doors like a rock star; but at best, a great or good scene on GH merely nudges you awake with its' elbow.

GH needs a leader - be it a HW, be it an EP, be it both - with an Elton John or Mick Jagger-like attitude to the work.  Someone who's gonna give us balls-to-the-wall soap opera - even with no budget! - because they know that all the network can do to them is fire them.

Edited May 6, 2024 by Khan

[Vee]

I think all we can do is accurately critique a soap because we care for it and cheer it on when it improves or makes real strides. GH is in a very in-between place right now for me, but it's also the most engaged I've been in years. I don't pull punches because I think it deserves more, but I also am willing to talk about what I think really works or really doesn't day to day.

I think FV probably does hate seeing a lot of friends, etc. out of a job, which is odd since he also has a rep for being a total iceman when he wants to be to many people. I think he's in love with actors when he's in control of them, and when he's not the problems begin. (Melissa Archer told a story on Twitter recently about him calling her in during contract negotiations in the Higley years and pleasantly informing her she'd never get work in LA so why not just stop fighting and re-sign? When she kept pushing they began running the character down onscreen.) But the truth is almost all people are nuanced, all are more than one thing. He did a wonderful thing for the show at large in 2012 by saving it (as well as for John Ingle personally that same year), and I think its simple televised survival and keeping the trains running on time is his first priority, whatever the actual day to day quality. The second is his personal preferences, social connections, etc. And I think both factors are interfering with the quality in their own ways. He's said to be a good director, but that is not the same thing as having a vision. And I'm not sure there is money or time at ABC for a vision now. I think he and Ron had one in 2012, however deeply flawed - keep the show alive, keep the spirit of the lost ABC soaps alive with various crossovers, fuse them together, etc. But these days I think it's mostly just keep GH on, keep the show unproblematic and utilize/employ his preferred people and favored actors or kids as much as possible.

I would love to see someone with vision come in who can also keep the show's budget healthy. I don't know that anyone can. But I agree with much of what you're saying. I remember well when FV was interviewed in the mid-2000s by Logan or someone, during the Dena Higley interregnum at OLTL. The fans hated the show at the time, Logan or whoever the reporter was hated it, the cast hated it and we learned many years later from Erika Slezak that FV hated it too - hated Dena's work, hated that she never wrote a long-form bible he could plan for, etc. But when repeatedly pressed in this interview on the lessons he had learned from the difficult year for the show or what he had to say re: fan complaints over Higley and her stories, FV never wavered or gave an inch to criticism. He said they were pleased with the stories they were telling and looking forward to next year. That's his public face and it's never going to change, because IMO he is always about survival.

Edited May 5, 2024 by Vee

[Sapounopera]

Way too many characters. No real umbrella storyline, everyone is just doing their random thing. 

Joss has no personality. She is just a young blonde, like all these girls on Days of Our Lives.

I love the Davis girls dynamics.Thanks to the recasts. 

I love Laura, Tracy, Alexis, Maxie, I adore Liz. I am ok with Jason. 

Having Willow work at the hospital was the best thing for the character. She was part of an interesting group/set for once. She looked good in blue. 

I am bored with Sonny, Dante, Lucy, Lois, Sascha, Cody, Drew, Nina, Curtis, the Chase/Gregory/Finn/whatever his name is/father. 

Carly slowly turning into Ruby at Bobbie's. 

The show could use some interesting younger characters. And some structure. The hospital, the mob, Deception, the hotel, the Qs, way too many tiny, different shows. 

[Contessa Donatella]

I just finished watching the latest Steve/Bradford podcast. Kirsten was their guest. Almost at the very end she relates that things have recently changed for her, for the better. Then, she takes us back to her surgery, which she was terrified about, thinking she wouldn't survive but not talking to anyone about it. She says her recovery was about 2 months but that she did not bounce back mentally. She says she was constantly getting notes that they didn't like the clothes she was wearing but she wasn't comfortable with herself & so she wasn't comfortable with the clothes she was supposed to be wearing. (Implication here is that she did not wear those clothes & instead wore her own clothes.) 

She goes on to say that maybe we could all forget that Maxie. 

She & Steve & Bradford all talked about being excited when they get their scripts & said there's a new energy at the studio & expressed their pleasure with the new writing & the new writers. 

This echoes what fans said that in NJ last weekend LW, CW, Taby & Finola all talked about the new writing & the new writers & how optimistic things are from their perspective. 

Mo has been posting about the show, he who usually posts about SOM or bipolar but never or rarely about the  show, saying more general positive things, that he's enjoying what's happening & teasing that there's so much to come. He also said he prefers his hair gray & not dyed black. 

[Errol]

Nielsen accreditation loss is meaningless. The networks use Nielsen even more now. While the article linked is undateted, it is likely from 2022. Even more meaningless.

[BetterForgotten]

Exactly, @Khan! That’s been the problem with this show (and all soaps tbh) for a long time. Shelley Curtis touched on this in her State of Mind interview with Maurice. Maurice tried to make an excuse about budgeting for soaps today, but Shelley wasn’t having it. She was clear that the people producing soaps today don’t know how to produce them with emotion and skill, and that shouldn’t take an extreme budget to do. What should be core scenes end up feeling like a deflated ballon. Soap producers today lack the basic understanding of how to milk the emotion and deep meaning out of scenes that need it when they’re tasked with translating them to the screen.

In an ideal world, Shelley would still be producing this show. She said everything in a few seconds that I had been thinking for years. She also really seems to love GH in particular. 

But, alas, we seem stuck with Frank “budget extraordinaire” Valentini…

[Vee]

What is she doing these days? I am reminded of when Ginger Smith and Jennifer Pepperman were speedily promoted from within to run the PP soaps. I have no idea what Smith is up to now (she did a very good job with AMC 2.0) but Pepperman is now riding high producing for pro wrestling, which isn't far from soaps. Curtis is of course leagues above both.

And the thing is, Frank is not a neophyte. He has seen it all before he became EP but he also does know how to produce for drama and emotion, because they did it a fair amount in his tenure at OLTL with scenes that stuck in the heart and mind and yes, at GH early on. But I feel like the last decade in particular has largely been about just basic subsistence, survival and not rocking the boat or jeopardizing his own position. There feels like there's little passion left for anything but his personal friends and favorite things - not much for the show itself, outside of special occasions like Jackie's death. I would love to see an EP change, I just fear the only way that happens is if ABC kills the show while doing it.

Edited May 6, 2024 by Vee

[Contessa Donatella]

Yes, I knew that the accreditation issue was old news. I find it remarkable that as far as I am aware there was no notice of it by fans. 

The person who sent me the link alleges that CBS & NBC now care only about Total Viewers, not who is watching, not when. I couldn't see where that link proved anything. 

Thanks for looking at it. 

[allmc2008]

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[Khan]

Well, to be fair, I wouldn't ever badmouth my own show to the public either, lol.  I might say, "Well, yes, we've experienced some ups and downs - not everything worked as our team had hoped - but we're confident that our show remains in a very healthy place."  But even I wouldn't have told Logan or whoever, "That Dena bitch couldn't write her way out of a paper bag," lol.

It doesn't take a budgeting whiz to have a producer or head writer with vision.  It just takes someone who can answer one, very simple question: What is this show about?

I'm reminded all the time of Al Rabin, who, as DAYS' EP, always asked after every scene, "What have we shared with our audience?".  He, along with his team (including Shelley Curtis), understood that it isn't about how much money you throw at the screen - although, for sure, you make every penny you use count - but about finding the emotional thread in every storyline, in every episode, in every scene. 

It doesn't take a lot of money to produce the kind of heart-stopping drama that was Rabin and other EP's trademark, and it doesn't take a lot of time either.  But it takes heart, and that's something that I've never seen in FV's work, either on GH, or even (sorry, @Vee) on OLTL.

Edited May 6, 2024 by Khan