GH: Actor announces exit

[Vee]

Are we talking Brenda or am I missing something else?

[John]

I dont think VM wants to act much anymore

[Contessa Donatella]

Sure, I think that's obvious to everyone. But, not acting much might not count for GH if an opportunity were to arise. 

Please don't be coy. What? 

[DRW50]

I think it should be obvious, but then when I look at GH back in the day, if someone had told me that a hammy rapist and thug would be what pushed the show all the way into huge pop culture status, I wouldn't have believed them.

[Vee]

Whatever. She'd come back.

[Khan]

Bringing back Brenda/VM (and reuniting her with Sonny) is just part of it.  The bigger part is accepting that the "Carly/Jason/Sonny & Friends" contingent has finally played itself out and that the mafia needs to be deemphasized, if not eliminated entirely.  (And I ain't just sayin' that, because I happen to despise those characters and everything they stand for.  Facts are facts: Jason/SB came back and the ratings actually fell.  That ALONE should have been a wake-up call to TPTB.)

Edited June 27, 2024 by Khan

[Vee]

All true. But that's a sea change ABC and the show clearly aren't ready for.

[Khan]

And that's exactly why I have no hope anymore for GH.

Characters like Sonny Corinthos and Jason Morgan should not be on ANY show in 2024, and certainly not as heroes or even anti-heroes either.  If I were HW'ing this show, you better believe the Pikeman storyline would end either with a massacre - I'm talking shootings and bombings galore! - or with Sonny, Jason and their families forced into exile as members of the Federal Witness Relocation Program, hopefully never to be seen or heard from again.

Edited June 27, 2024 by Khan

[DRW50]

They have an out with Jason because they can say if they had immediately focused on the consequences of his return for his kids, Liz and Sam, instead of just Carly and his hiding out at a coffee warehouse, the ratings might have improved. Still, I have my doubts as to how true that is. Jason wasn't even on the show that long ago to where viewers were going to flock to see him back, and the emphasis on the aspects of his character that were never that popular or are played out can't help. 

I could probably agree with those who feel Jason should be a major part of the show, even if I have never cared about him, but there really is no reason for Sonny. His time has passed. No one out there is asking to see him date Maria Santos.

[Khan]

I'd probably feel the same way if I thought there was a chance that Jason could retrieve his pre-Jason Morgan memories and regain some measure of his humanity, but it's clear that SB isn't interested in that, so therefore, I think he can go, too, Q ties or no Q ties.

[DRW50]

That's definitely never going to happen, sadly, but with his kids and with Liz and Sam still being on the canvas, along with the Qs being more active (or their house is, anyway), I might be able to see the argument, even if I would still cut him. I just don't with Sonny. He is so painfully inert and the show is clearly flummoxed over what to do with him.

[Contessa Donatella]

I simply do not understand that people do not see that this is a very different Jason that has been & is being presented. He is not now a mob enforcer. I don't know anyone watching this show who can see him going back to the mob once this period is past. 

[titan1978]

Offer VM that Geary deal, he worked 6 months out of the year, it was only really visible onscreen during the summers due to pre-taping. The whole point of an ensemble is that characters should rotate in stories!

[Jdee43]

Let's get real, nothing is going to improve the ratings. At this point, the best they can do is produce the show with some dignity and artistic integrity. I haven't seen anything like that going on 12 years now. 

[titan1978]

That was also the prevailing attitude in 2012. And by the 50th and beyond, the show had its best ratings since the mid 2000’s. What made those numbers move (and spike a couple of times), was the reintroduction and investment of generations of General Hospital characters, being the actual focal points in the stories. The other aspect was Kimberly McCullough having a limited schedule, which forced them to drag out the Robin is alive storyline, and the culmination of that was a ratings winner.

The show hasn’t really been dominated by General Hospital actors driving their stories for at least the last 4 years. Fan favorites have been on contract and barely used compared to folks like Nina, Franco, Finn, even Drew, etc. And the lesson needs to be learned that Carly is not a character that brings them viewers, she can’t be the only game in town. 

I would argue that if they were telling a compelling mystery, had a couple actively falling in love with rooting value, and the stories were directly about the popular players they have on contract, we would be back over 2 million viewers pretty quickly.