GH: Mulcahey OUT!

[reallyhateskateonlost]

I can't keep up.

Don't like Tracey being "nice." 
Laura and Anna suddenly want to get Sonny.

The Heather thing.

 

 

 

 

[John]

Tracy is mellowing

Anna, Laura etc should never be kissing Sonny's ass

The Heather story is a head scratcher

[vetsoapfan]

He really was. Ideally, I'd like to see him as "lead script writer" at a soap with a strong, capable head writer at the helm. If PM could write two-three scripts a week and edit the others, that would be great.

The mob garbage has been  overplayed and beaten into the ground for 20+ years, as you say. It's tedious and creatively bankrupt. The criminal element on the show needs to be laid to rest.

The GH cast is top-heavy and bogged down with a huge number of irrelevant and/or burned out characters who need to be pruned away, pronto. I've entertained myself more than once by taking cast lists of the various soaps and crossing out the names of all the characters whom I feel could/should be shown the door.

ITA, but when I voice this opinion, I'm always told that I'm dreaming in Technicolor, and might as well dream about having Henry Cavill, Chris Evans, Chris Hemsworth, Theo James, Tom Ellis and Jamie Dornan as my personal pool boys...because that's about as probable, LOL

That's the problem: we speak out and clamor for quality material because we DON'T WANT hordes of more viewers to stop watching.

[BetterForgotten]

Also, I guess this explains why no one at the show was talking to the press. No one wanted to stand behind what showed up on screen (even if there were improvements), nor did the ratings provide a safety net for them to do so regardless.

Also, @Contessa Donatella, I guess your sources were right about the BTS turmoil and FV hating to produce PM’s “longer” scenes…

[ranger1rg]

This deification of Patrick Mulcahey is too much for me.

Great scriptwriter? Yes -- we have proof of that. We do not have proof that he's a great head writer or even a capable one. We do have evidence that GH -- in my opinion -- is not working right now.

I have no idea of story direction or story existence. I have no idea of what's going on with all these "career changes," especially for the women. I have no idea why this cast is still beyond bloated.

Is PM to blame for any of that? I don't know, but I can't give him credit for any good changes and blame others for everything that's wrong. How does he get credit for a sensitive, nuanced Tracy and no blame for a former cover model who becomes a cook?

A huge chunk of audience has left since PM started, and we all know that heads roll when that happens. If Mulcahey was the writer fighting Valentini, Korte, Van Etten, Varni, and everyone else, then it's obvious he's the one to go.

No, I don't know or have any hope the show will be "good" without him, but I do know it isn't good with him. "His stories haven't started yet" doesn't work for me. This transition has been a disaster.

I don't put stock in ANYTHING actors said about PM, or in anything they'll say about the new team. It's all transactional for them, and they want to keep their jobs. They say what they have to say to remain employed.

Mulcahey was never going to have control over Valentini and Korte, who have been at GH forever. We thought he'd be the GH savior, but he wasn't. Is that because he wasn't given enough  power? Maybe, but that's irrelevant. Expecting a 70+ year old  guy to work miracles within a structure like the one at GH was never going to happen.

[vetsoapfan]

So do I. Daytime TV is awash with  executives who don't seem to understand soaps, and who micro-manage the genre out of sheer ignorance, making the same destructive choices their predecessors have made for four decades. Add the inexplicable habit of recycling "talent" that has failed before at other shows...and we have a recipe for disaster.

I'll give credit where credit is due: Bobbie's farewell episodes were handled much better than I thought they would be.

Ditto. She may not be Ron Carlivati bad, Chuck Pratt bad, Dena Higley bad, but being "less bad" than notoriously awful writers doesn't mean she's good, either.

[Errol]

https://www.soapoperanetwork.com/2024/05/patrick-mulcahey-out-co-head-writer-general-hospital
 

TLDR: Elizabeth Korte, who became co-head writer alongside Mulcahey, will assume sole head writer duties following Mulcahey’s exit.

Although reports indicate Van Etten is replacing Mulcahey as the show’s new co-head writer, sources tell us that is presently not the case, and Korte will retain sole head writer duties.

 

[BetterForgotten]

Thanks, @Errol!

I am going to infer that Mulcahey saw all the crap he had to put up (and the people involved) and jumped the first chance he got. Feels like he left in his own accord, or did ABC outright fire him? 

[Maxim]

I am one of these people who truly believes PM would have made an amazing head writer IF he was truly given the chance. Was he? I can't say for sure, but from what I am reading... I am starting to think he was doomed from the start.

Just as people can speculate that he would have never been good HW... I think this toxic ego driven environment would make even Chekhov struggle to write.

And how can we judge PM as a head writer and say the show was not better or good with him in it... When he was not really IN IT. I am asking myself this rhetorical question. Not wanting to start an argument.

I am of course basing all this on what I'm reading here and also common sense with how this situation has unfolded.

I see people writing RIP GH on social media. This makes me sad. I know GH will not die from this... But...  

[DRW50]

I think GH has long had some weaker actors compared to other soaps, but the difference in earlier years was the structure could support them. You haven't had that structure which was a part of keeping GH going up to the '90s. I don't think most of the younger cast are any more dull or wooden than, say, Jon Hensley (as I saw him mentioned) was for years and years when he was younger, but current GH is not close to what ATWT was in the mid/late '80s and early '90s, so the likes of Dex or Joss stand out more.

[Contessa Donatella]

Just when I would have preferred to be wrong! 

If we break it down ... 

A struggle behind the scenes ... 

Varni & Korte stand with Frank. 

Patrick stands alone (unless there was someone unknown from either ABCD or Disney). 

Someone or something prevented suitable trimming of the cast. 

Patrick was (I was told very reliably.) struggling with the size of the cast. 

Disagree over scene length.

Disagree about other unknown elements of writing & production. 

Patrick & Elizabeth would have been together on Jason, Carly & angst. 

Dan & Chris had left a huge mess to be cleaned up. 

Neither Patrick nor Elizabeth have HW experience when it comes to either big stories or to long story or even to an umbrella story. <--- Here they are so vulnerable. 

But, Chris is bad at that, too!

If we sum all this up & add in a huge dash of stuff we don't know about what you have is the clusterfuque someone mentioned, last week I think it was. 

Okay, finally got an "impeccable source" to talk to me & they say it was a firing. 

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 Also said "THIS IS SUCH A MESS!"

Edited May 16, 2024 by Contessa Donatella
crap, who cares

[John]

I wonder if Patrick had an out in his deal after 3 months that he could walk if he wasnt happy

[BetterForgotten]

It must have reminded PM of 1994 GL all over again. He’s already been in this situation, sadly.

It makes his quote about Wendy Richs and the honorable woman she seems to be all the more significant now:

 

[AbcNbc247]

What a mess.

I really hope we get an interview from somebody, anybody about this. 

There’s definitely a story behind all this, both behind the scenes and what we were seeing onscreen as well. 

[DRW50]

I wonder how much Korte has written the stories all by herself this whole time, with Mulcahey mostly just writing certain angles or scenes. 

Regarding The Gates - looking at the track record of soaps in the last 30+ years, it's not much to hope for. The only thing I want to believe is TPTB will be patient with ratings and that they will trust Michele Val Jean. And I know that's a lot to ask, but it's all we have.