Well this is whiplash.

I am so confused as to how we got here. How do you hire a new headwriter team with no story to tell? I know Y&R did it a few years ago but that was weird and should’ve remained an outlier. Jason returned with nothing to do, he barely interacts with his family and friends. I hate the guy but for viewers who tuned in to see him, this is not what they want to see. There isn’t a single story on the show that has forward momentum, there is nothing to anticipate.

So it’s been clear to me for a few weeks now that behind-the-scenes drama was causing the show to basically be in a holding pattern. That’s why we have had several episodes dedicated to things like Sasha being a cook and Gregory repeatedly going in depth about his illness with anyone who will listen.

I feel sad for the show because this was their last great hope (that they didn’t give a chance because of what appears to be egos).

I will miss the characters speaking more intelligently and judging Sonny for his crimes. What’s the over under on Sonny being the patron saint of Port Charles again?

someone said watch the scenes go back to being super short like they were pre PM lol 

3 minutes ago, Vee said:

It has felt very similar from the beginning. And I say that as someone who found a lot of improvement in the show and that the glimmers (I think) of what PM was trying to do mostly worked.

 

3 minutes ago, DRW50 said:

I think the days of soaps being that level of competition to each other, or anyone else, are long gone, although if it gives ABC an excuse to pull the plug and put on GMA Part 394 they might try. Ideally I would have thought that they brought Mulcahey in and made some other changes, like dumping Howarth, because they knew they had to shape up with a new soap on the way, but clearly that isn't the case. 

Good a writer as Mulcahey is (even if not necessarily as headwriter), he alone was never going to be enough to genuinely fix the show. I guess that will never happen, but if it does, it's going to take a big turnover. Not Korte, Von Etten, or other grinding mediocrities waiting out the clock.

I’m curious. PM isn’t naive to the current realities of soap. What made him come out of retirement for this? Could have been money but soap HW gigs are tough. 

I guess it's time to trot out Megan Ward's terrible acting as Ghost Connie (sorry, I loved her in the 2000s but every appearance she's made since in this role has been dreadfully bad) to make Ava cry and weep and do penance for her natural self once again so they can reset the character to 'kind of nice and friendly with everyone, actually.'

As much as Patrick loves this genre & as fascinated as he was with Carly & Jason BITD, I think there's your reason he was willing to give it a go. I mean, why wouldn't he? If it didn't work out, he could always quit, right?

3 minutes ago, Darn said:

I will miss the characters speaking more intelligently and judging Sonny for his crimes. What’s the over under on Sonny being the patron saint of Port Charles again?

I do suspect part of the disconnect re: how Kristina, Joss, Anna, Laura, etc. suddenly came to various different mindsets or realizations about Sonny may have been the product of a guy who hasn't worked on this show in decades. But honestly it needed to be done, and it would've been awkward and clumsy no matter how they were going to do it after 20+ years of Sonny worship across the whole town. So I was mostly satisfied with the handling of it despite people like Kristina having slight amnesia (and Kristina has always been a daddy's girl, so I could buy her denial). And I appreciated the scenes with Molly, etc. unpacking their pasts with the mob. But, here we are!

I do think the lack of momentum in the Jason/Pikeman SL is down to a) the FV guarantee shuffle and b) possibly actively sabotaging the show, lol. I suppose next we'll also get Valentin's teary confession and blaming it all on Jennifer Smith or something, so FV can keep Primetime Royalty JPS for yet another season to tickle the ivories and weep.

1 minute ago, Vee said:

I guess it's time to trot out Megan Ward's terrible acting as Ghost Connie (sorry, I loved her in the 2000s but every appearance she's made since in this role has been dreadfully bad) to make Ava cry and weep and do penance for her natural self once again so they can reset the character to 'kind of nice and friendly with everyone, actually.'

I really have been out of the loop. I didn't even know that was a thing. 

They probably deserve Broadway legend Kelly Sullivan.

Ava is one of many characters on this show where it just seems like she exists for the sake of a few thrown together scenes to appease her Twitter fans rather than actually going anywhere. I guess that's the future of the show, for worse or worse. 

1 minute ago, DRW50 said:

I really have been out of the loop. I didn't even know that was a thing. 

Yeah, she shows up every now and again for Ava's (or when he was alive, Julian's) regretful reveries, wearing the same dress Kelly Sullivan's Connie got killed in complete with gunshot wound. I think the last time she popped up was in Julian's death spiral along with Ghost Duke. Let's just say MW's return performances left a lot to be desired.

I think Ava is a great villain and should be allowed to be that. It's when they tried to rehab the character and make her buddy-buddy with Carly, Sonny, Nina, etc. that it doesn't work and is just an excuse to keep Maura around. I expect we'll be going back to that.

God only knows how all of this is affecting the whole cast and crew... things like that and changes so abrupt for sure can make people... metaphorically speaking... dizzy and just... unmotivated. 

Not surprising but I wish he had been given more time. I’ll probably tap out on the show.

3 minutes ago, DRW50 said:

Ava is one of many characters on this show where it just seems like she exists for the sake of a few thrown together scenes to appease her Twitter fans rather than actually going anywhere. I guess that's the future of the show, for worse or worse. 

You didn't think the scene between Nina & Ava wasn't top notch writing for both actresses?!!! Well, I did. 

So we can expect Laura to adopt Heather as her new mother, they'll be singing Kumbaya before we know it 😂🙃

11 minutes ago, Darn said:

So it’s been clear to me for a few weeks now that behind-the-scenes drama was causing the show to basically be in a holding pattern. That’s why we have had several episodes dedicated to things like Sasha being a cook and Gregory repeatedly going in depth about his illness with anyone who will listen.

And now we know why everyone in PC kept changing jobs.  Those was likely the only ideas that PM could get past Frank - and now that he's gone, all Frank/EK/CVE have to do is have everyone say, "You know what?  I think I'm better off going back to my old line of work!"

Those Tracy/Gregory scenes were pretty good, though. I'll miss that level of intelligence.

2 minutes ago, dragonflies said:

So we can expect Laura to adopt Heather as her new mother, they'll be singing Kumbaya before we know it 😂🙃

Not necessarily.  The last several HW'ing regimes seemed to prefer Heather as a recurring psycho.  Chances are, we'll find out that Heather hasn't really changed her ways, poisoned hip or no poisoned hip.