GH: Mulcahey OUT!

[Liberty City]

I feel like he was pushing Ava in an origin direction, almost like how she was in the beginning. And I was okay with it. But, it's also... alarming, because it could have ended poorly for both Ava and Maura West.

Him going to Kevin and BOOM suddenly being level-headed again felt... so off, especially in comparison to the past when Sonny had gone off his meds. It's clear, to me, Mulcahey wanted Sonny unhinged and Maurice Benard denied it. Could THAT be what got him out of the writers' room?

[Contessa Donatella]

I saw some idiots on Twi/X opining that "Patrick Mahoney" [sic] was going to kill Ava off & thank goodness CVE wouldn't do a thing like that, I had no problem pointing out their errors - both of them, PM was NOT offing Ava, no way, no how. 

[Taoboi]

I know @titan1978  had a really good theory on how they felt PM would have written Ava out of the hole she was being written into. I honestly believe PM was not going to write her out. Punish her like the villains of old yes, but write out no. He gave her wiggle room to redeem herself.

 

Very off. re: Sonny. But did Maurice Benard really deny it?

[Contessa Donatella]

You are correct. I know this. He was NOT going to kill off Ava. No, he had a plan. 

What? Did Mo deny what? He's said some rather interesting things of late. A bunch of us have a theory, that they are positioning him to write him off. Maybe he & Brenda on the island, in which case we would see them, at times. But, maybe literally writing him off the show completely, Sonny & Brenda ride off into the sunset, forever. Many people think it is significant that Vanessa is doing a zoom with Lois & then for the big GH fan weekend, she is doing an event with Mo. @carolineg are you reading this? 

It is interesting to many of us that Mo likes bipolar being part of his character & often in his storylines. But, there is now a problem. Acting these storylines is kicking up his anxiety. And, anxiety is like his x axis while bipolar is his y. 

I'm sorry to go on & on about this but it is something I think about & talk about with others & also something I know a bit about, being bipolar myself. 

 

[Liberty City]

I am sure Ava could have been written out of the corner... but who knows what could've happened.

No, he confirmed he told Valentini he'd have to be recast if the story didn't end, because he'd have to check himself in somewhere. It's insane.

[carolineg]

I don't think Mo/Vanessa/Rena having an event for GH weekend means much.  They all seem to be very good friends IRL and know the event would have a decent fan draw.   It doesn't take a lot of effort to do a fan event and Vanessa does seem to really appreciate her fans.

I personally don't think they were ever going to write Mo out completely.   If they were Brenda/Sonny would be the obvious, easy option.  Have Sonny leave with her, but leave it open to come back.  

IMO, there are many obvious ways to mention Brenda by name with the Deception and Jagger stuff.  They don't.  She's sometimes very vaguely referenced.  This is probably the best time in the last decade for Brenda to come back and there doesn't seem to be much interest.  Basically,, I think MB needs or wants are separate from any sort of Brenda come back.  It would be FV's last available option. 

[Contessa Donatella]

On this one point, I disagree. Not that it wouldn't be a last resort option for Frank, of course, that is absolutely so. 

Where I disagree is in this idea of a Mo departure being separate from a VM return. No, I think they are totally intertwined. 

[titan1978]

Yeah, I saw Ava as this show’s Roger Thorpe. Even after being shot, he still operated outside the lines and never really got caught. Punished? Yes. His relationship with Hart, losing out in business, broken heart, etc. but never sent to prison for real. I don’t think they were going to get rid of her.

My concerns for Maurice stand. He feels he can only act if he uses method acting. He cannot handle drawn out emotional material anymore. He has said this many times in the last few years on his YouTube show. He also claims he is close to retirement, and yet when he has too much time off or backburnered he has mental health episodes. This started with COVID and has continued. I do personally think the show has a responsibility to acquiesce to his health needs. But so does he.

So that leaves the show in limbo. He resists trying anything new, and also resists being moved away from the central figure of the show. Even Tony Soprano got great mileage out of therapy, and they just dropped that potential with Kevin (so far). Something needs to happen for both him and the show to be at their best.

[carolineg]

Perhaps?  It's a sad state when the only use for Vanessa/Brenda is to usher Mo off though.

[Contessa Donatella]

Hmm, it's my understanding that in fact that is the case. I don't see it as sad, just as one operating factor. At least VM/Brenda has that as this huge bullet point by her name as opposed to them having absolutely no use for her. 

I do get that this seems odd to you. You see more value in VM/Brenda. 

[Khan]

As one who lives everyday with depression and anxiety, my heart goes out to Maurice Benard and his struggles with bipolar disorder.  Those who are fortunate enough not to live with psychological issues don't fully understand how debilitating our conditions can be; preventing us, in many cases, even from being able to support ourselves financially or maintain close relationships with others.

At the same time, however, TPTB's job is to entertain the viewers, not make life easier for MB.  If he can't or won't play a storyline that would make sense for Sonny given his circumstances at that moment because of the risks it would pose to his mental health, then he needs to consider retirement and explore new ways in which to express himself as an artist.

Edited August 26, 2024 by Khan

[Liberty City]

I don't think anyone is talking down on Benard nor his struggles. I feel for him and what he's endured in his lifetime but, as you brought up: if he cannot or will not play a storyline, or ANY actor for that matter, then they should reconsider things a bit. Especially since this is not the first time Sonny has gone off of his meds. He's done it before. It makes me feel like he's always approached them about Sonny going off his meds, or he's been asked if he's okay with it, and this wasn't OK'd with him. And either way, he's an actor who provides a job. And I'm all for people being comfortable with their job, but what I'm not okay with is providing an ultimatum (which is ultimately what I feel Benard did in the end).

[DeliaIrisFan]

Last night I watched parts of Friday's episode on Hulu out of curiosity for Lucky, and then I read the comments in the GH thread.  And I realized I'm even more non representative of someone who's going to watch a daytime soap on a daily basis now than I thought when I last posted in this thread last week.  If the ratings had actually dropped dramatically enough that GH was in (more) danger—and if these changes buy them more time—then I genuinely wish them luck (although at this point the industry is kind of the boy who cried wolf).  Clearly Mulcahey was never going to be compatible, although why they didn't stick with what was "working"(?) is mind-boggling.

That said, it's not for me, and I don't get the plaudits at all.  The dialogue has deteriorated even more than it had by the time PM's name was still in the credits but he clearly wasn't around to edit scripts, which I don't get - wasn't Korte the script editor in the Labine era?  There may be more drama, but none of it is compelling to me because a) we've seen it all before and b) like on most of the remaining soaps, we've established that no GH plot development—no matter how decisive or what viewers saw with their own eyes—is lasting.  I'm not sure how or if I could ever invest in an entire story from start to finish again at this point - but maybe some scenes at least, like I did this spring.

The stuff at the graveyard was dreadful all around in my book.  I will acknowledge that the direction of Kristina's pregnancy story when Mulcahey was around seemed regressive, and for all I know, maybe that was entirely his vision.  As much as I love a lot of material he wrote, he wrote some of the key scenes of some of soaps' most notorious pre-millennial pregnancy stories (although wasn't he at least gone by the time Sonny shot Carly while she was in labor?).  This story just seems like all of the ugliest parts of the previous six months dialed up a notch—Kristina loudly declaring "my baby" in front of anyone who'll listen without a second thought, TJ and Molly both policing her pregnancy decisions and the story outcome essentially justifying that judgment—now in the key of gruesome and morbid.

As for Lucky, I realized I didn't even care what this cliffhanger would lead to today...been there, done that (for all I know, his captor is working for Faison, who's somehow in league with Pikeman or whoever).  I was actually hoping Lucky would have scenes with characters he knows, which again could have been interesting to me than how he got into/will get out of this latest jam.

Anyway, it was a surreal blast from the past for me to watch GH regularly again, after all this time, in this year when I definitely needed some escape.  Over and out.

Edited August 27, 2024 by DeliaIrisFan

[titan1978]

I do too, and it sucks. I have a lot of empathy for Maurice. I truly do think the show needs to step in for his health and  have the conversations that he maybe doesn’t want to have. Which is Sonny needs to evolve, and that means different kinds of stories. Even if he resists them.

I know that Valentini forces him to keep dying his hair and MB would prefer to not do that anymore. Stuff like that is ridiculous. Let the man go grey.

[Vee]

Lord. That explains a lot and I agree. Reminds me of FV's obsession with having lots of blondes at OLTL, and making Kassie DePaiva keep her hair super blonde vs. dark blonde/auburn (along with other actors, I suspect).