GH: March 2025 Discussion Thread

[ranger1rg]

I do hope we get back to discussing all the soaps.

I understand and like the excitement over BTG, and reading all the comments has been entertaining. Still, I hate to see the GH and DAYS boards go almost dead like the YR board.

[Liberty City]

I can say: GH has become such a tiring chore to watch and follow, and it felt like that even prior to Beyond the Gates' premiere. But that soap's premiere really did point out the glaring issues this soap has been battling for too long.

[Khan]

IMO, GH is in the same boat as Y&R.  It's coasting on the fumes of what worked 20+ years ago.  But what's ironic here is that you'd think a show with 435 regular cast members wouldn't feel as creatively spent as GH does these days.

[John]

This is what I'm afraid of

BTG is such a breath of fresh air

Someone I say either CBS or P& G or both is gonna end up messing with it

[CrazySexyQ]

Agree.

I'm proud of myself for limiting my rage posting on BlueSky. Just being frustrated with this show is too much energy. The last time I enjoyed it was when Tracy lit into Carly and Sonny a few weeks ago and got through to Jason. Bless the soap Gods for Jane Elliott. It didn't matter to me that Tracy kidnapping Willow's kids made no sense. Tracy and Ric are the few bright spots. 

Willow and Drew are dull as dishwater. If she had a spark of life, she could be karma against Carly in human form. Monica/Carly 2.0 before the writers worship at Carly's feet.

The writers have gone out of their way to make the characters so hollow and generic; Trina has gotten it the worst. She's a ChatGPT of what some folks think a Black girl should be. Y'all won, GH. I stopped caring because the show clearly doesn't care.

Kristina is badly miscast. She's a one note shrew always japping at Ava who shouldn't be begging for spare change. Lulu is a shrew too but AH gives her a certain charm and charisma. 

Jason is far too old to pretend to be someone's daddy. This story was fresh in 1997 when Michael was born, but it's buried in cobwebs now. They can't make fetch happen with Sasha. 

I don't think GH is suffering because of the Gates. It's just sterile to watch. 

[Liberty City]

Those scenes were good, but there's only so many times Jane Elliot can show up and save the day. The continued oversaturation of the gruesome threesome (Carly/Jason/Sonny) is overkill at this point. There's little consistency or direction, and it shows in the material these actors are being able to play every single day.

The block-taping is also something that is becoming glaringly obvious. One day, Brennan is clean-shaven, and then the next day he's got a full goatee. It's that kind of taping that is blatantly lazy (to me). There is zero creative direction from anyone on this soap, and it's shameful because they had the talent in their cast to pull audiences back in.

[carolineg]

I think eventually the excitement of BTG will die down and this thread will go back to normal.  The Days thread has always been kind of dead.

It's not really a chore for me to watch, but I often multi task while watching even more so than I do with Days.  But I have basically been bored with GH since 2013 and still watch lol.

Yup.  It's strange a show with so many cast members like GH has so few interesting ones.  Or something interesting happens and you don't see the character for a month and forget.  You can basically drop 425 of the cast members and add 5 or 6 better ones and the show would be fine.

[CrazySexyQ]

Very true about Jane Elliot. It shouldn't rest on her shoulders. I think it's more her than the writing that makes Tracy one of the few standouts.

Do you know if block taping is why JJ couldn't film the Lucky/Cyrus/Liz scenes? His return has been a total flop. But it would've been nice to see him in those confrontation scenes. 

[Liberty City]

Things have been a genuine struggle for me since their return from COVID, as with most soaps, that I felt didn't even try to take the downtime to reset and move forward fresh.

Elliot's presence is a great comfort to see. It really is.

As for the block taping and Jonathan Jackson, I only know what's printed in the media press, and that's what I do my best to stick to. That being said, Jackson's return as Lucky for me has left much to be desired, especially as someone who is not a Jackson fan.

[Soapsuds]

You pretty much described GH.

 

Today's show was boring for the most part. Not even Jane Elliot could save today's stale episode.

[carolineg]

Jane Elliot is worth every penny.  I just think the show is at the point where solid performers (and returns like JJ) can't save the show.  I am not even sure Queen Vanessa could save this mess.  The cast needs to be cut, the focus needs to be more dialed in on storytelling and things actually need to happen.  All the momentum the show had with Willow/Nina/Drew/Michael has just been lost at this point-and that was clearly the most interesting story.  The show looks decent, they have a talented cast, but the writing is almost always in neutral instead of kicking it into high gear.

[DRW50]

Other than certain golden periods, I think GH's cast has often been better than the material they're given. The '60s stuff is obviously much better than anything on the show in recent decades, but when I went back to watch some recently, I did wonder how much I would want to sit through extended hesitancy, Jessie's husband woes, collective misery and a sea of dead babies if not for the performances. 

It's just there's not much to do now when the show feels so dead and is clearly only on because ABC still wants the space to fill. There's no love and no care. No effort made to try to find a character or a suitable story. And as mentioned before, the show often seems conflict-averse, aside from Kristina and Sonny screaming at everyone, or maybe some of the Drew hate. 

I think many were moving away even before BtG, and they probably won't be back. The ratings may hold up but conversation was not going to. 

[AbcNbc247]

I’m hoping it’ll get a revival once the new writers work starts airing 

[Vee]

The bottom line, and it was long before BTG premiered. Though I think it is also potentially suffering because of a multicultural audience getting frankly slapped in the face by the imagery on a show that centers them.

GH drains most characters (especially minorities) of any real life, personality and idiosyncrasy. Why would I go back to watching rice cake five days a week? I've tuned out on GH many times in 40+ years of watching, and it's easy for me to do it again.

Edited March 4 by Vee

[Vee]

Speaking of getting attention, I went to YT and y'all weren't kidding on these master shots of Gio in bluejeans. 

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 No one caught that, or did they choose it? Any port in a storm, eh, GH.

GIovanni Mazza is definitely much more confident and assured than he used to be on top of his cast chemistry and fun attitude. But I am still not coming back to the show rn, lol.

Edited March 4 by Vee