General Hospital (Read 4,991 times)

[Tom Horton]

@karebr, Thanks. I wouldn't bother protesting at the studio but yes it would be completely pointless to try a Lucas recast. It wouldn't work and would only alienate more of the former viewers the show needs to win back.

It is interesting how differently you can view a show when you've watched it for decades as opposed to just a few years. At first, I didn't understand all the complaints I kept seeing from longtime viewers of GH because I was so fed up with Days and GH was like a breath of fresh air to me. It was interesting though to realize that they were voicing essentially the same frustrations that I have with Days so I could relate to how they felt even though I didn't see it for myself. I can't say that I ever liked Carly (and I've only ever known LW's version) but at least she intrigued me and I could appreciate the depth of a character who could make me want to hug her one minute and strangle her the next (which is why at first I just thought of her as GH's Sami), but with this exit story for Jax, I came to absolutely hate her. If Guza thought he would make Jax the bad guy and Carly sympathetic, he failed big time. It made me like Jax more and now I FF everything with Carly. Same with Sonny. I wasn't a fan but I tolerated him and there were even things I liked and appreciated about him but now I understand why so many fans of that show are angry and claim that he always gets away with everything and now I just want to see him crash and burn. I think I could even root for Anthony if he would go after Sonny directly instead of targeting everyone else in town. The point is that I finally saw what those longtime fans of GH had been saying all along and I'm very glad to see Guza gone. I also like the new direction that Garin Wolf seems to be taking and yes I would love it if it turns out that I can say the same about the new writers on Days.

BTW, I missed Sarah Brown's Carly but I was there for Claudia and loved her in that role. Oddly enough, I liked Claudia (I mean I like Vivian too so it's not that surprising). I'm glad to see the actress at Days and think she could be an asset if used appropriately (meaning that I hope Days doesn't overkill with a brand new character like they've done so many times before).

[karebr13]

Right now on GH I am so rooting for Anthony and Johnny to finally take down Sonny once and for all. I'm glad that you liked Claudia also. I loved her right off the bat and I hated that Sarah Brown decided to leave and Carly ended up being killed off. Carly and Sonny's behavior definitely had me rooting for Jax and I am so glad that on today's show that Jax came and took his daughter just so that Carly didn't end up winning. It seems like you and me definitely enjoy quite a bit of the same stuff on that show. Right now my favorite female character has to be Sam and I just love her and Jason together and absolutely can't wait until their wedding on Sept 26th which by the way happens to be the same day that Days is doing their reset. I probably should stop hogging this thread talking about GH since there are a lot of people on this board who probably have no idea what we are talking about. We definitely need to PM each other some time and discuss some of this stuff in more depth since we have very similar takes on both Days and GH.

BTW sorry everyone I didn't mean to go off on such a GH tangent in this thread since it was supposed to be about recasting Philip.

[karebr13]

Since I have been derailing a lot of Days threads lately by talking about General Hospital. I figured that anyone who is interested in having a discussion of anything to do with GH whether it pertains to storylines, individual characters or even behind the scene changes happening on the show that we could do that here so that other members who don't watch that show won't have to try to figure out what we are talking about.

I will start by saying that I am truly enjoying all the changes that have been made BTS with the new headwriter Garin Wolf. I have noticed an overall improvement on the show these past few weeks. I really like that we are seeing a lot more of the characters on screen and that the show is not just focusing on a few chosen ones. I was so happy when I started to see a lot more of the Quartermaine presence on the show. It is nice to see Monica, Tracy, Skye and Edward all back on and being shown more than once a month. I am really loving the Zachara's right now especially Anthony since he is always so entertaining to watch.

[Tom Horton]

It definitely sounds like we like a lot of the same characters on GH. I love Sam and Jason together also... Sam is just so calm, cool and collected (which is why she's such a good match for Jason). I like Johnny a lot, I've always liked Johnny. I didn't like Anthony before because he was so mean to his kids but now that Johnny has the upper hand I'm finding it easier to just sit back and enjoy his humor... and yes I'd definitely like to see him win out against Sonny.

Tracy is another one of my favorites and I really liked the relationship between Luke & Tracy. I'm glad to see more of Monica and Edward too (though I could have lived without Skye).

I was so happy today when Jax walked off with Joss. It made me so mad when Sean showed up at the end of Friday's show to stop him. It's a shame because I could have liked Sean (he's pretty hot) if they hadn't brought him in as yet another man to do Carly's bidding.

The scenes with Lulu, Maxie and Spinelli today had me cracking up. I thought Maxie and Spinelli made a cute couple but I wouldn't necessarily mind them in different pairings. However, I just cannot warm up to Matt and see nothing between he and Maxie. I've been enjoying her scenes with Spinelli/Jackal P.I. and really enjoyed her being jealous of Lulu today.

[karebr13]

Right now Sam and Jason are definitely my favorite couple on GH and even though I know there is no way they are going to be able to get married without some kind of major drama at their wedding especially since Franco will be back then, I do hope that they end up married somehow and finally get a child together that Jason can actually raise.

I don't know how you feel about Liz and Lucky but I would like to see them back together also because I am not liking Siobhan. I really like Liz with Nicholas but now he is gone and I really hope that he is brought back next year because I have always enjoyed the Cassadines especially with Luke in the mix.

I was never a fan of Carly and Jax together and always felt that it was a mistake to pair them since Carly works better in a pairing with Sonny. I really wanted to have Jax and Brenda together when she was brought back because there was always something cute and lighthearted with them as a couple and they had amazing chemistry their first time around. I have never ever liked Brenda with Sonny and was glad that she finally wised up and left him.

From the first time I saw Johnny I always liked him. He is real easy on the eyes to look at and him and Olivia were really hot together. There is just something about him that just makes me want to see him be the winner in the Zacchara/Corinthos feud. I definitely think alot of my appeal to Johnny is because of Brandon Barash.

Tracy has always been my favorite Quartermaine. I always loved it seeing her try to gain control of ELQ from Alan. They had a great sibling rivalry thing going and I hated when Alan was killed off. If Wally Kurth wasn't on Days playing Justin, I definitely would have loved to have seen him back as Ned on Days. I love the Tracy/Luke pairing but I will always have a special place in my heart for Luke and Laura because they had such a great romantic story that brought them together.

I'm not really a fan of any of Sonny's kids. I don't know why but I just haven't been able to warm up to Michael.

I really hope that Alexis gets a story soon because I have always really really liked her.

I'm not too fond of the whole Robin/Patrick pairing because I just find them very boring almost in the same way that I found Carrie and Austin boring on Days. I always wanted to see Robin follow in her parents footsteps and be more like them. It would be more interesting to see her in some kind of adventure storyline like Robert and Anna used to have back in the good old days.

I really like Maxie and think that Kristen Storms is so much better in that role than she was in the Belle role on Days. I love her with Spinelli especially since Spinelli has always intrigued me with the way he talked. I didn't like the whole jackal PI thing when it first started but now I am definitely enjoying it.

Dante and Lulu are really cute together and I am not sure how I feel about them as a couple yet. Somedays I really like them together and other days I would like to see Dante with someone else. Lately though Lulu has been really getting on my nerves with this latest storyline and I hope things change where I can somewhat like her again.

[Tom Horton]

I'm loving Liz and Lucky ... Elizabeth may not want Siobhan to die but I sure do and I keep telling the little leprechaun that everytime she whines about it. The Liz/Lucky/Nikolas triangle is what made me take note of how good GH is. I hate triangles; I mean hate them and was really turned off by that storyline at first but then the way it developed after the reveal I ended up loving all 3 of the characters and that never happens. I miss Nikolas. I didn't care for him with Liz and I hated Rebecca and Brooklyn but I like Nikolas himself. I would like to have him back on the show in his own storyline or with someone new and likeable.

I like Dante and Lulu. When they were first getting together I loved them, my feelings have cooled toward them since then but I still like them. The thing I like about Lulu is that she is a mixed bag. There are times when I really like and respect her but then there are times when she is just so whiny and desperate I can't take watching her. Overall though, I like her. I'm glad she gave up on the "saving Luke" plan. I like her better when she isn't in one of her martyr moods.

I like Michael and I like Abby and Michael. Ever since he went to work for ELQ though he is growing increasingly annoying because he is acting more and more like an entitled rich brat. I hate his attitude with Tracy (in large part because I like Tracy so much but still he's rude). I think Abby is picking up on his snottiness lately too and isn't liking it and of course that will lead to angst for them.

I hated Patrick when I first started watch GH and thought Robin was a complete bore. The Lisa stuff helped them a lot. I started liking both of them better and have even found myself enjoying their cutesy moments of late. I have a feeling that will wear thin for me in time, but right now I like it.

I like Alexis and all of her daughters. I want to adopt Molly! She is probably my favorite character of all on GH, which is strange I know but her little personality is just adorable. I so want Alexis and Mac to have more scenes together. I can't believe that the show only lets them have a few moments once a year or so (at the holidays it seems). That's so crazy to me. I think Mac is a hottie for an older man and there is something so warm and caring about him that I want to jump up and hug him everytime he comes onscreen. I've loved Nancy Grahn since her days on Santa Barbara and Alexis reminds me of all the things I loved about Julia Capwell.

[karebr13]

I have loved Molly ever since I first saw her. It is so adorable the way that she is always pushing Jason to be more romantic with Sam. I loved her outtake on what love should be apart and her mother/daughter relationship with Alexis is so great. I liked Kristina when she was in that whole Kiefer abuse storyline but now that she is all obsessive over Ethan who I think is a real hottie she is just getting on my nerves. I just love listening to Ethan's accent when he speaks.

I enjoyed Michael a lot better when Drew Garrett was actually playing him. I do wonder if Michael is going to end up taking over ELQ and brace his Quartermaine roots or if he is going to still end up trying to be apart of Sonny's organization.

The romantic scenes between Patrick and Robin have been really nice. I really liked Lisa when she was on the show. I loved the way that her and Patrick would talk about NASCAR since I am a huge fan of the sport.

I enjoy Steve and Olivia together but I would prefer to see her with Johnny though.

I used to like it when Coleman had his karaoke nights at Jake's and a lot of the cast would get up and sing and make fools of themselves.

Coleman is always a joy to see when he is giving advice to half of Port Charles's residents. Him and Kate had this really cute flirty thing going on that I liked.

I wish that the show would utilize Mac alot more. It would be nice to see him and Alexis have a real romance.

[Tom Horton]

OMG, I loved those karaoke nights at Jake. That was such a great way to have lots of interaction between different characters and interject some fun into the show. I also liked their football party at Patrick's that Coleman came to. Coleman makes any scene fun and it is very refreshing to watch a soap that has friendships (even friends of the opposite sex) between characters who do normal friendship type things together.

I am looking forward to seeing an Ethan and Kristina pairing sometime in the future. I don't blame the girl for crushing on him and he is so much more into her than he's willing to admit. I want a whole lot less of Sonny for a long while and with that I'd like for Kristina (and Michael for that matter) to get a chance to start experiencing life without his constant interference. She needs to become a stronger, more independent young woman before she is going to be ready for a relationship with Ethan or anyone else. Oh and I really liked Drew Garrett's Michael too. I'm okay with Chad in the role but I still don't understand why they felt the need to recast.

I like Johnny, Steve and Olivia all three and probably liked Johnny/Olivia a little better than Steve/Olivia but I haven't loved either of those romances. Olivia is beautiful but I don't understand how she gets all the romances and Alexis never gets any.... doesn't seem fair. Maybe there will be more balance on that front with the new HW also. The other balancing that I definitely want to see though is less Sonny, more Mac.

[karebr13]

It was just so awful watching both Carly and Sonny today. I so wanted Sam to smack the crap out of Carly for saying that she cares about Jason more than Sam does. Monica could have thrown in a few slaps too for putting Jason's life in danger. It is about time that the writers let Carly get her own life and leave Jason and Sam alone so that Jason can concentrate on his future with Sam. There was no reason why Carly even needed to pull Jason into this thing with Josslyn. She claims that she wants to get along with Jax and have him be apart of Joss's life but yet she couldn't even handle going to her house alone and confronting him herself without Jason being there.

I couldn't believe that Sonny had the nerve today to pull a gun on Edward since everyone knows that Edward has a heart condition and that could have killed him. Sonny just needs to stay out of this whole Joss mess and let Carly and Jax handle it on their own.

I am hoping with the new headwriter and all the changes being made that Mac is going to have some kind of storyline coming up soon especially since Franco will be back at the end of September. The Scorpios used to be one of the main families on GH before it became the Sonny Corinthos show. They really need to do some adventure stuff with Mac and Alexis where they are working on a case together because it would so cool to see them fighting their feelings for each but have to stay together to solve the case.

Maybe the new writer will bring back the karaoke nights again since a lot of people liked them and the cast always had a great time doing them.

[Tom Horton]

The karaoke idea is really a no brainer when you're fortunate enough to have so many actors on the show with musical talent. That's a unique asset that GH should really capitalize on - not overdo - just utilize on occasion.

I haven't seen today's show yet so I can't comment on that but I don't believe that Carly wants to work anything out with Jax. If she really wanted a compromise and to do what was best for Josslyn, she would have agreed to keep the child away from Sonny and Jason. That is all Jax wanted and it seems like a perfectly reasonable request to me. I don't understand how TPTB really thought they could sell that as Jax being "controlling" or "vindictive" ... keeping your children away from known criminals just seems like an obvious and wise parenting decision to me. And if I heard anyone bring up Jake's accidental death as "rationale" for why it was perfectly okay to expose Josslyn to known dangers one more time I think I would have damaged my TV. That was the most insane reasoning - it's like saying let all of the children of Port Charles play in traffic and run with scissors since apparently accidents are going to happen no matter what you do to protect your children, so why bother taking any at all. Carly is just a selfish witch. She was whining for months about how awful it would be for Joss to grow up without a mother (which was not Jax's plan at all) but could care less that Joss will now grow up without her father. Carly is an awful mother - that is one thing I completely agree with Brenda about and she was the only one who would come out and say it - and I think Joss would be a lot better off without her.

I was disappointed in Jason for going with Carly. I thought maybe when he told her that Sam came first and that she was going to have to stop just barging in their home that maybe he was going to stop asking how high everytime she says jump ... but no he just had to fall back into that pattern once again. Hopefully when he comes out of this that will finally start changing for real. And who does that anyway - I have a best friend from childhood but I don't just walk in her house - heck, I don't even just drop by without calling first and asking if it is okay - and that's why we're still best friends. I don't even visit my parents without asking first and I know they are going to always say yes. Carly is just a selfish witch in every way!

[karebr13]

Before I met my boyfriend I had a few male friends that I was very close with and used to hang out with all the time but after I met my boyfriend I chose to stop doing things with them all the time unless it was okay with them if my boyfriend would come along. My boyfriend didn't mind me hanging out with them alone because he knew that we were nothing more than friends but I chose not to out of respect for him. Every once and a while I will do something with them by myself but I always make sure beforehand that it is okay with my boyfriend to be alone with them. I would hope that my boyfriend would be the same way with me if he ever started hanging out with some of his female friends that he knew before he met me.

After what happened with Michael being shot by accident because of Sonny I figured that Carly would want for her and her kids to stay away from that kind of stuff. I understand that Sonny is the father of two of Carly's kids and he is always going to be a part of her life because of it but she also needs to take a real hard look at the lifestyle that Sonny choses to live. If I were her I wouldn't even want Sonny to be around his own kids because of the danger he poses to them let alone around a child that isn't even his. I will never understand why Carly even decided to let Sonny adopt Michael and even raise him when his real father as messed up as he was came from a decent family. Yes AJ had an alcoholic problem but maybe if Carly would have worked harder to let him be a bigger part of Michael's life than maybe he could have worked past his drinking problem. The Quartermaine's may have their flaws but one thing I have always loved about them is how important family is to them especially Edward.

I was so to the point last week with Siobhan where I wanted to throw something at the TV with the way that she kept talking to Liz like it was her fault that Jake died and that Lucky took the drug case.

While I may not have agreed with Jason giving up his son so that Lucky can raise him, I do give him credit though for wanting to put his son's safety first even though Jake still ended up dieing. At least Jason thought that it was safer for Jake to stay away from him. I just hated that Jake had to be killed off the show though just to save Josslyn. I think that I would have rather have seen Joss die instead since I never wanted Carly to have a kid with Jax. I like Jax having a kid of his own but I wish it was with someone else like Brenda.

One really good thing about GH is that with their hospital stuff at least they try to incorporate some realizem in the scenes unlike Days. While I didn't like the fact that Matt was questioning Elizabeth today about what happened to Siobhan at least he looked and acted like a more professional doctor than every single doctor on Days.

[Tom Horton]

The craziest thing about Carly's stance in the custody battle is that just months earlier she was planning to have Jax adopt Morgan because Sonny's life is too dangerous for him, then suddenly they divorce and it's perfectly okay for not only Morgan but baby Joss who has no relation to Sonny at all to be around him. Ordinarily I've thought of Guza as a smart writer whether I shared his preference for certain characters or not I thought he at least did a good job of writing consistently and staying true to character personalities and histories but the custody storyline was just shoddy writing IMO. None of it made any sense to me and it seemed like all the characters were being skewed just to sell the unsaleable notion that Jax was the bad guy in all of it. I wonder if Guza already knew he was being replaced when he put that stuff together, at the very least it seemed lazy and worse it made me think that maybe Guza was the one being vindictive.

I give Jason a lot of credit for giving up Jake. I think it was the right thing to do and shows the difference between Jason and Sonny/Carly. Jason was willing to do what was best for his son even though it was very painful to himself. Sonny/Carly claim to love their children but they are extremely selfish and would never be willing to do what was best for the kids if it cost anything (like Carly's unwillingness to do something as simple as rearrange her schedule so that her young daughter wouldn't have to be exposed to criminals 24/7).

Josslyn didn't have to be written as needing a transplant so I don't look at it as Jake being killed off for Josslyn, I see it as TPTB wanting to kill off Jake. It did lead to some excellent scenes for Luke and Lucky (as well as other characters) and set a lot of stories into motion that wouldn't have happened otherwise but I have a suspicion that maybe at least part of it was a message to the Liason (Liz/Jason) fans to give it up. I might like Jasam but I don't ship any couple on GH. Even as a general audience fan of GH, I find the Liason fans quite obnoxious and they are THE reason that I've never spent a lot of time at any of the GH discussion sites. I can deal with Jasam splitting at some point but the Liason fans have turned me completely against that pairing and I hope they are never revisited. Hey, it's a Days site, GH fans are fair game(besides I think we're the only two people reading this thread anyway .

[karebr13]

I don't go on any of the General Hospital message boards either. Every once in a while I will check out spoilers on the daytime royalty board but other than that I try to stay away those boards as much as possible. I have noticed however that you are right and that are a lot of rude Liason fans on the boards. I can just imagine how pissed off they will be if Jason and Sam actually end up having a child of their own together since the writers decided to kill off Jason's connection to Liz when they killed Jake off.

I may ship couples but I don't mind seeing my favorite couples ripped apart from time to time and put into temporary short term pairings with other people as long as the pairing works. Every good soap couple needs some angst to stop them from being boring and the easiest way to do that is to break them up and have them work their way back to each other.

I usually am more a fan of individual characters than I am of couples. I need to be able to see my favorite characters be able to stand alone before I can enjoy them in any kind of pairing. GH is really good at really defining how their characters should be and they don't change how their characters should be acting just so that they could be in a plot driven storyline instead of a character driven storyline. That is the worst thing about Days right now. I'm not sure on any given day how any character is supposed to be acting because it changes on a dime every single day and it is so hard to get attached to any character on the show.

[Tom Horton]

I agree that the inconsistentcy of characters is one of Days' biggest problems and and that character driven writing is GH's main strength. You are so right that there is no way to connect to a character you don't understand and no way to understand a character who changes everyday .... and what is the point in having a soap opera about characters that the audience can't connect with.

[phloefansince2000]

I love GH! I've been a fan since 2002 and when I first started watching Sonny and Alexis had a one night stand and she got pregnant but Ned claimed the baby because Alexis didn't want Sonny to know he was really the father I got HOOKED!!! GH is my fav soap because it has everything great writing acting and really hot guys Jason sonny Johnny ethan and Michael! LW was the best Carly but I also liked Tamera Brau. But yeah GH is the best soap out there to me!!