5 minutes ago, titan1978 said:

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.

In fairness, that wasn't all Kimberly's fault. My understanding is the show drug it out longer even when she was available. There was no need for Robin to go back into captivity after being rescued in 2013, for example. They should've just bitten the bullet and written out Patrick and Robin then, but for RC plot was all. There's a reason one of the first moves done after he was fired in 2015 was to finally end that infinitely long storyline, bring Robin home and send the Drakes away.

19 minutes ago, titan1978 said:

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 noted that recently the show gained back 31,000 viewers & that happened to be a period when we'd had no Carly for 2 weeks followed then by 4 days of Carly with one of those days being a Jarly day. I cannot point to anything else that could account for us getting back those viewers. I suppose that it was both things, no Carly for a bit, then her return. 

2 hours ago, Vee said:

In fairness, that wasn't all Kimberly's fault. My understanding is the show drug it out longer even when she was available. There was no need for Robin to go back into captivity after being rescued in 2013, for example. They should've just bitten the bullet and written out Patrick and Robin then, but for RC plot was all. There's a reason one of the first moves done after he was fired in 2015 was to finally end that infinitely long storyline, bring Robin home and send the Drakes away.

Oh no doubt. I was referring to the culmination in 2013, when she interrupted the wedding. The rest was a waste of everybody. Although Robin and Patrick were still able to move the needle IIRC even after the 2013 climax. And I don’t credit that all to KMc, just the story that was centered on her. It made us wait for the reunion with her and her family. Anna and Robert’s reactions were as important to the audience as Patrick and Emma. 

Patrick, another male character Frank did not get or invest in. Didn’t he have an alcoholism/addiction storyline that played out mostly off camera. Am I remembering that correctly?

Tell an actual story with stakes and the fans of this show do check in to see what’s up. If the show is halfway decent, they stay for awhile. I did.

29 minutes ago, titan1978 said:

Patrick, another male character Frank did not get or invest in. Didn’t he have an alcoholism/addiction storyline that played out mostly off camera. Am I remembering that correctly?

Yep. Truly bizarre. JT was so checked out by the end, having spent the bulk of his last years onscreen with Sabrina. You could tell he was often miserable in his last year or two, having been reduced to a cipher.

I know that RC deliberately modeled Robin's 2013 return after Laura's return in 1981 - he had Robin lurking in town for weeks in disguise, etc. to draw it out in the same way. I could understand calling back to that classic story and milking the moment, but when it ended up becoming weeks of Robin, Faison, Obrecht, etc. all hanging out at Wyndemere with Faison dressed as Beetlejuice for Halloween it just got to be too much. In any event the wedding climax worked, and I can't fault them for that. It's the journey that Carlivati often mangles.

Edited June 28, 20241 yr by Vee

1 hour ago, Vee said:

Carlivati often mangles.

I would be fine with just this.

12 hours ago, Jdee43 said:

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. 

I would add that casting, quality of production, and buzzy plots would do very little to move the ratings dial while GH is the only soap on the network amongst a sea of talk shows and local news programs.  There's no lead in to promote the show, nor is there a destination for fans interested in ongoing daytime drama. 

Arguably, CBS still has a small block of soaps and long-running game shows, and NBC moved DAYS to streaming (in part) because it doesn't fit with the rest of their schedule.

Edited June 28, 20241 yr by j swift