General Hospital (Read 4,999 times)

[karebr13]

The thing that is the most ridiculous about the firing of Lexi Ainsworth is that she is an emmy nominated actress and has proven time and time that she can handle some really meaty material when given to her. Hopefully GH will end up regretting their decision to get rid of her since she is a very beautiful young lady and very talented and will go far in the business and in a couple of years she will develop into a very sexy young lady.

One of the biggest things that has always drove me nuts about GH is that whenever they feel the need to take a character in a new direction they recast the character instead of giving the current actor a chance. They did the same thing with the Michael character when they replaced Drew Garett with Chad Duell. DG was very talented and he definitely could have handled the material that CD has gotten but GH decided that they wanted someone new and more experienced to play Michael for the whole prison rape stuff.

I will give GH credit though with the fact that at least they are not afraid to get rid of actors and characters when they are not working out the way that they like unlike Days. I really wish that Days would take a real hard look at all the characters and actors that they currently have on the show and do some more cleaning house. There are few characters that don't even need to be on the show right now and a few actors that are just bringing the show down. In fact there is a certain young actress and character that should have been written off the show right after she started because the character is really hurting the show right now with the way that she has to be the main focus of every single family and storyline on Days and she has totally ruined every single character that I love that has had to interact with her. I would love for Days to get rid of some people to free up some money and bring back some characters and actors that I truly care about instead of creating all these newbie characters or bringing back characters that I was happy to see leave the first time around.

[Tom Horton]

^^^ Amen and Hallelujah to that last paragraph Karebr!! ITA!! GH may be screwing up with the Kristina recast but they get a whole lot of others things right and Days should take notes. I'm so frustrated that even with the supposed "reset" Days still doesn't understand the root of the problems. It is exactly what you said - Days won't get rid of the problems and then multiplies them tenfold by making successful characters/actors take the background or worse take a fall in hopes that maybe the audience will come to like the problem child just because the vet is written as "bad/wrong/absent". No one is going to suddenly like Melanie just because sweet, smart Nick is turned into a violent addict - they're going to be even more pissed because Melanie is responsible for him being gone. Since Days can't seem to grasp that this "strategy" has never and will never work, I'm sure they also won't understand that the message they send to the audience each time they pick a new character over a vet character is that they are choosing new viewers over longtime viewers. Not only do I find that insulting as a longtime viewer but it's monumentally stupid. No daytime soap opera in 2011 is going to entice enough new viewers to thier show to ever offset the lost of current/previous viewers.

I can tolerate a Brooklyn on GH because I've learned that GH is never going to let an annoying little twit character take over and ruin storylines for other characters. They test out newbies and keep the ones that work, like Ethan, Johnny, Dante, etc. and get rid of ones that don't like Brooklyn, Maia, Rebecca, etc. Days makes their audience resentful of new characters before they hardly get a chance just because of the way that they treat vet characters and their fans. New characters aren't innately bad they just have to be treated as "new" and "potentially temporary".

Not sure if you noticed the ratings from last week but even with the 200,000 viewers gained last week after the much hyped "reset" episodes, Days is still in last place. I will be surprised if Days even manages to keep that 200,000 in months to come as the dust settles and newness wears off. Days has gained that many in a week before and lost them all (and sometimes more) by the next week. Time will tell but I don't see Days having a significant upswing in the ratings without making a lot deeper changes to the show. Unfortunately if Days follows their usual pattern, they will blame it all on the returns... which with the exception of Jack didn't do anything for me either (because TPTB chose the wrong returnees) but the returnees weren't there when Days fell to last place. IMO, Days should take a long hard look at 4 relatively new characters who were (and are still) leading in episode counts.

[karebr13]

You are so right Kazz. I actually hate Melanie even more now than I did when she was first brought on. I hated that Nick ended up going crazy over over her. I hated that Philip and Chloe ended up being the ones who cheated after Melanie wanted to be with Nathan on her wedding day just so that Melanie could come out like she was the innocent victim over Philip cheating on her and conceiving Parker with Chloe. Stephanie became really pathetic trying to hold onto Nathan. Nathan looked really pathetic using Stephanie while he wanted Melanie. Maggie's relationship with Melanie was so much more important than Maggie's relationship with Nathan who is actually related to Maggie. After Philip and Parker left Salem, Victor was more concerned over the fact that his own son hurt Melanie by having a baby with Chloe than he was over the fact that his son and grandson just walked out of his life and left Salem. The more the writers try to get me to like Melanie the more I end up hating her. I just don't like it when my favorite characters have to be ruined just so that Melanie can come off looking good. I also hate that so many legacy characters have been lost because of them being stuck in storylines with Melanie. I honestly would much rather have characters like Philip and Stephanie who are legacy characters on the show than someone like Melanie. Even Chloe deserves to be on the show over Melanie since she is a veteran character. I was totally insulted when Melanie was turned into Carly's daughter just so that Carly could have a reason to kill Lawrence and come back to Salem and Vivian would follow her. There was no need to change Melanie's paternity when it would have been better to just not have Melanie have any ties to anyone in Salem. Not every single character on a soap has to be tied to a family in town. Nicole and Chloe aren't related to any of the core families on Days and they are actually more interesting characters than Melanie. On GH I am loving the fact that Sean Butler isn't tied into anyone right now because at least there is a lot more that can be done with his character than Melanie's character on Days.

One of the things that I really liked on GH is that with Dante they didn't come straight out and make him Sonny's son. We got to see the character being developed first. There was also a sense of mystery surrounding the reveal that he is Sonny's son. The same thing can be said about Ethan. It took a while before we found out that he was Luke's son. Maya was supposed to have a sister that was supposed to be brought to town with her but the writers decided to bring Maya on first and test the waters with her before introducing us to her sister and since the Maya character wasn't working out the way that she was supposed to it was easier for GH to get rid of the character since her family wasn't brought on with her. The same thing worked with Brooklyn when she was brought back to town without her parents. One of the other things that I have noticed about GH is that when new actors are hired is that they don't always start out with a contract which makes it easier to replace an actor that doesn't work on the show and to get rid of a character that is not working.

I saw the increase in ratings but like you said that is not a big enough increase for Days to feel like they are doing something right. There are a lot of viewers out there that are pissed off with ABC for cancelling AMC for the Chew and are just watching Days to give them ratings in hope that ABC will cancel the Chew and bring back AMC. Also there are viewers that haven't watched in a while that just tuned in to see the reset and returns. I'm sure that Days after a month or two will end up losing all the viewers that they gained back again since the reset is not living up to the hype that it received. The production and dialogue on the show may be a little bit better but the storylines are still really boring and recycled. Most of the returns have left me feeling disappointed. Days really didn't need to bring on so many returns at one time. It would have been better to spread them out over a six month time period. I'm glad that GH didn't go out and bring back all these old characters from the past. As much as I loved characters such as Robert and Anna I just feel like they are not needed on the show and it would be stupid of GH to bring them back just to bring back old viewers. GH does a real good job of using character histories in their storylines. Right now Laura isn't on the show but the viewers are being reminded of her relationship to Luke and Lucky and Lulu and the Cassadines.

Today's episode of GH was a little boring and I really didn't find anything to enjoy about it but at least it usually only ends up being one episode a week that I usually find boring with GH. The rest of the time I find something to keep me interested in watching.

[Tom Horton]

Today was boring because it was full of Sonny/Kate and Carly/Sean ... but like you said, at least it's usually just a day a week that is like that and the rest of the week is generally good. When Wolf first took over it seemed like they were going to make bigger changes on GH and I was looking forward to a lot less Sonny and a lot more of everyone else. Alas that hasn't happened as much as I would prefer but at least the storylines with all of the other characters are interesting.

GH just needs a few tweaks (like less Sonny) to be a better show. They really don't need to bring back lots of vets (unless it happens to fit for a particular story) because they haven't systematically exchanged half of the longtime cast with brand new ones the way that Days did. That's why the under 40 part of the cast is so collectively awful. It is ridiculous that Nicole and Sami are the only remaining vets in that age group ... Brady, Will and Abby at least are vet characters but they are played by newer actors (though Eric Martsolf was a welcomed recast IMO), but that's it. All of the legacy characters and experienced actors in that age group were removed one by one: Lucas, Philip, Chloe, Shawn, Belle, Stephanie, Nick, Chelsea, Max ... and replaced with ones like: EJ, Rafe, Melanie, Nathan, Dario, Arianna, Taylor, Quinn .... It seems abundantly clear to me why Days is in last place.

I think Days was counting on picking up a lot of the AMC viewers but I don't think that's going to happen or at least not in significant numbers. You presented the most likely reason why they might tune into Days, to protest the cancellation of AMC but they don't have to tune into Days to accomplish that goal. I know myself, I'm recording "Price is Right" because that is the show that comes on opposite "The Chew" where I live (and I don't like game shows, I just want Brian Frons fired). If GH is cancelled, I'm not going to go back to Days (unless they manage to make the changes I'm hoping for) and I'm definitely not going to start watching one of the CBS soaps ..... nor any of those stupid talk/reality shows that Frons thinks "today's women" want to see. Plus, there are a number of AMC fans who adamantly dislike James Scott and wouldn't want to support the soap that is heavily featuring him when they could make the same protest point by watching one of the CBS soaps (that seem more similar to AMC to me than Days anyway). Perhaps once Days' latest experiment fails and they realize that the AMC & OLTL viewers aren't coming, they will finally start to value their longtime viewers.

Based on what we've seen happen with previous cancelled soaps, I don't understand why Days would expect to gain new viewers. The viewers of cancelled soaps don't appear to translate into gains for any other soap or other daytime show. Looking at the ratings patterns, it appears that when a soap is cancelled, they just stop watching anything in daytime. That should be a huge wake up call for networks that they think soaps are passe and that they can make higher profits with cheaper shows. My bet is that soaps is what got people to watching daytime TV and then they just stayed tuned for whatever came on after it... once the soap is gone, they just don't bother tuning in at all. Sort of like when a hospital or university closes in a small town and that snowballs into the closure of smaller businesses and employers, which leads to even more businesses closing...

Along that line of thought, "The Chew" has awful ratings and it has been lower each week. Last week it came in at a 1.5 in Households and .9 in the target demographics. Frons et al are trying to spin it as being higher ratings than "The Talk" and claiming that it doesn't matter because it's cheaper, yada yada yada but that's total BS. They can't possibly be happy with those numbers and that makes me very happy. I get angry everytime I see ads for that show because all I hear is Frons' condescending remarks about soap fans and his archaiac beliefs about what "today's women" want to see. I want it to fail miserablly and for the one that starts when OLTL ends to do even worse.

[Kpatch]

I don't watch GH, but I was in a doctor's office yesterday and GH was on the TV in the waiting room. I must have heard Jason's name 100 times in 2 minutes.

Then there was some guy spewing venom at some woman in a coma. After he left the room, they showed a close-up of the woman and I said to myself "She's going to open her eyes" and sure enough, she did! I laughed out loud upon seeing that. So predictable. The other people in the waiting room thought I was nuts and they were glad I'm under a doctor's care. LOL. Just kidding, but I did laugh out loud.

[ghoulgirl]

What is the chew? I keep hearing about but am totally lost

[Tom Horton]

The "Jasons" were Carly's scenes and that's about the way she sounds to me most of the time and why I find her such a bore. The "venom" scene was great though. If you knew the story behind that you would have been saying "Go Patrick!" like I was.

[Tom Horton]

@gg, sorry I had to go back to work and couldn't answer your question sooner. "The Chew" is a cooking show that is now airing on ABC in place of "All My Children". Soap fans are boycotting the show because of AMC and OLTL being cancelled and also because of Frons' comments about how soaps are for older women who stayed home with the kids and today's women want shows that help them "better themselves" by learning to look pretty and take care of their man (not his exact words but that was the gist of it). His basic attitude is that soaps are for the old and uninformed and that his concept of the way women have "progressed" is that most work outside the home now so of course they feel guilty about neglecting their families and will want to spend their free time learning all they can about cooking and homemaking. Not only does he clearly have no respect for the soap genre or realize that smart, educated, successful career women enjoy soap operas but he assumes that all any woman ever cares about is getting and keeping a man and living through her children. In addition to their complete ineptitude at "winning friends and influencing people", Frons and Corday voice the same neanderthal viewpoints on women and soap opera fans. Neither of them get that most of the target audience are working women (and men) who want to be entertained at the end of a stressful day and the reason most of the ones who choose a soap opera for that entertainment do so is because it is something comfortable and familiar that gives them a sense of connection to more carefree days and to family members who first introduced them to the show. No talk show is ever going to be able to compete with that.

[ghoulgirl]

Wow. He sounds like quite the jacka$$.
Glad to hear the ratings for The Chew aren't doing so well.

[Tom Horton]

I was so excited when Luke showed up all Clint-Eastwood-like to claim "his wife"... and so sad when he left like he did. I'm looking forward to seeing if he goes back in; I can't imagine he will leave Tracy alone with Anthony like that after overhearing Anthony's threats. I did enjoy the part where he was telling Anthony that open hostility means that Tracy likes him and Anthony replied "that's what I've been saying." Oh and I LOVED Tracie's smile when she first saw Luke. That was sweet.

[karebr13]

The Tracy, Luke and Anthony scenes were definitely my favorite part of today's show. I was so sad for Tracy when she saw that Luke wanted a divorce. I hope that Luke comes back and saves Tracy from Anthony too.

I also really liked the Robin and Patrick scenes in the limo where Patrick told Robin that he wanted to take her on all 3 trips even if it took the rest of their lives to do it.

[Tom Horton]

^^^ The Luke & Tracy scenes were so good that I nearly forgot about the Patrick & Robin ones. I agree that their senes were super romantic - the sort that good soaps are made of. I like Patrick so much better than when I first started watching the show but his birthday surprises for Robin blew me away. He even swooned me!

I also like that Jason and Sam are getting to enjoy a long honeymoon before whatever Franco is planning for them next ruins it.

ETA: Did you notice how hurt Luke looked when he was telling Tracy that she couldn't possibly need him for anything because no one needs him. He looked like he was about to cry. The jerk, he so deserves what everyone is saying to him but I still felt bad for him when he said that.

[karebr13]

I totally forgot about the Sam and Jason scenes today. I actually really have been enjoying seeing them on their honeymoon. I liked that they are actually talking about having a baby. It is nice to see a married couple actually want to have a child instead of just getting stuck with having one by accident.

Patrick has always been a real romantic and that is one of the only things that I actually do enjoy about him. I'm not usually one for big over the top romantic gestures but he definitely got me smiling with his birthday gifts for Robin.

I am trying so hard not to feel sorry for Luke since it is his own fault that his life is the mess that it is but Luke just has this way of making me feel pity on him. Luke really doesn't deserve to have his family take him back so easily after what he did to them by running out on him but I can't help but want everyone to forgive him.

[Tom Horton]

I don't usually go for the big gestures either but this one meant a lot because it was all about what Robin wanted and it means more than Patrick spending money on the gift, he will be spending time away with his wife doing something that's important to her ... and I get the impression for Patrick that taking that much time off from work is a big deal for him. I think it's because we know what a Type A personality Patrick is that makes this choice of gifts so special and touching. It wouldn't have had the same meaning if it been another couple or if they hadn't put in the groundwork to establish Patrick's personality with the audience.

Luke really is a selfish jerk. I was ready for a break from him by the time he left last time because Anthony Geary and the writers were doing way too good of a job of depicting the typical addict behaviors of blaming others to detract from his own behavior. And yet, when he came back I can't lie, I was happy to see him. I guess that's why I like he and Tracy as a couple so much. She's a total witch 90% of the time but I just adore her.

[Sparkster]

I just cannot abide this chick that is playing Maxie while Kirsten Storms is out! I'm sorry but everytime I see her I go, "who the hell is that?" and then I remember that she's playing Maxie and I want to just gouge my eyes out!! Wow, SOOOOOOO bad.

Did Lisa really need to be resurrected? It's getting old. The only thing I enjoyed was her shoving Anthony into the water. Kinda funny. But now, I want him to get some Zacchara revenge on her butt! ;D

The whole Franco thing is getting tired too. Can't they finally catch him or kill him or something? It's just like the Lisa thing....same story, different day. Enough already.

I liked the Luke, Tracy, Anthony scenes too. Am I weird if I'm liking the chemistry between Tracy and Anthony? LOL. I don't want them to "go there" with them but the banter between the two is fun for some reason.

So are they setting up a Matt/Liz pairing? I'm sure Liz/Lucky are endgame but I like the flirtatious nature between Matt and Elizabeth. I don't think Matt/Maxie really works for me. I don't think Jason/Kirsten quite bring the same chemistry they had as Shawn/Belle on Days. And with this temp Fake Maxie I just can't watch them.

One more thing....I don't like the new Kate. I'm not sure what it is but I just don't really like her.