Thursday, December 22, 2011

2011 Wub Awards: General Hospital and Beyond

 What a year 2011 was for us soap fans. Not only did we see AMC end, OLTL will be done in January. The head writer for a decade at GH was replaced by a junior writer and then, the whole house collapsed. Brian Frons was gone, Jill Farren Phelps exited and we are looking at a whole new ballgame. Producer Frank Valentini and head writer Ron Carvaleti  are coming over from One Life to produce and pen our show after the deal fell through to bring soaps oneline.  What the heck MORE can happen? Although I count 2011 as one of the worst years in GH's history, the future is wide open for stories. The threat of cancellation looms large, but there is a window of time to at least look through and be hopeful for. Awards were difficult for me to do this year because of all the changes and story lines that made me insane. OLTL stands out as the stellar soap but the soap awards will be for GH only... I couldn't give EVERYTHING to One Life, you'd all kill me. I do have to say I loved the "Fraternity Row" episode/parody. Kudos to all involved. I haven't laughed that hard for a long time.
Kudos as well to all that stood to fight for the survival of soaps, no matter how loud or soft, we all made a stir and made the media take notice. 

Sit back, grab whatever libation you love and let's get those WUB Awards out!




BEST ACTOR: Jonathan Jackson. Yes, he cried a lot but he did it with such passion, especially when Jake was killed. Love this guy. Even his Oyrish sheeze was watchable. He will be missed. 



BEST ACTRESS: Kimberly McCollough who braved the waters of the Lisa-psycho storyline with grace and stellar acting. These last few weeks with her realization that her HIV status is growing worse have been amazing. She will be missed.


MOST IMPROVED: Nathan Parsons. Dang, that boy lit up the small screen in the latter part of the year for me. He was looser, charming and just plain fun to watch. Even skulking around Wyndemere chasing a lady in a white nightgown wasn't too horrible. He will be missed. (see a pattern here?)

SCENE OF 2011: I thought a lot about this.  One stood out for me above all others: Nikolas and Lucky's goodbye scene. Although Tyler didn't get a send off with the full cast (as it should have been), we did get a stellar farewell with his on stage brother, Johnathan Jackson.  In an interview, Tyler said they both improvised some of the dialog to fit their history. Their history. That's what soaps are all about. I love the fact the original actors were there to play grown brothers. The dialog was witty and filled with nostalgia.

WORST EXIT: I could pick Nikolas...or...Brenda..or Jax...since all were written out pretty stupidly. The prize however, goes to Lucky who not only left his kids 4 days before Christmas, he also left them with a mom that just checked herself in then out of a mental institution. But hey, like Ethan pointed out, she was "trapping" Lucky like Laura did to Luke. 
Oh hell no. Lazy, lazy writing and just plain terrible scenes on 12/21. Ruined just about everything for me about GH this year. Having his real life wife in the airport may have been 'cute' but it cut to the core everything that L&L2 history has brought.  Just plain wrong.

BEST COMEBACK: Monica. Of all the things Garin Wolf did wrong, he did this right. Monica was back and she found out about Jake. Yes, Jake was dead at the time, but hey, it's half right. 


WORST COMEBACK:  Kate. Not only wasn't the original actress asked back, but the 'reunion' was forced, stilted and way too soon after the Brenda-Factor.  To me, it was a disrespect to both the SnB fans and the SKate fans. 



FRANCO-FACTOR: Gets it's own award. How not to use an A-List actor! It should be in a handbook somewhere. Block taping for a few days, then inserting the scenes over 7 months is just foolish and non-eventful. NO suspense, and it fell totally flat, imo. This should have all happened within a month. And those camera-men things? Dumb.

SCREAMS DESPERATION: Killing off Jake to kick start a bunch of angst and non-stop Luke rehab discussion. 
SCREAMS MORE DESPERATION: Lisa Niles trying to inject Patrick with HIV from Robin. Just wrong on so many levels.   
 
STUPDIEST STORYLINE: You know there were so many to choose from, it was hard. Lulu dressing as a hooker to "find" Luke (in the old Spencer set no less) was just idiocy. 
RUNNER UP: Lady in the White Nightie Walking around Wyndemere in the winter--barefoot.  Excitement? Mystery? Uh, no.

BEST NEW PROP: Cupie doll on Luke's dashboard.  Loved it. Want it. 

WORST NEW PROP: Wind up baby. ugh. 

DISAPPEARING PROP: Asher's shoes with the fleur-de-lis on it. They were shown 2x for a reason--then the shoes AND he left into the storage closet. 

OVERUSED SET: The dumpster/alley set up in the bakery alley.



POWER COUPLE: The father-son  connection between JJ and TG? Amazing to watch...and the Jake scenes, powerful.  


MOST EPIC THING TO HAPPEN TO THE WUBS NET ALL YEAR?
shout out from Denise Alexander from "Pretty The Series" to all of us!! 

NOW THE PRIMETIME AND OTHER AWARDS!



Best Comedy: Modern Family
Fave Character: Brick, The Middle
Best Drama: Breaking Bad 
Fave Character:  Nucky Thompson, Boardwalk Empire 
Best Reality Show: Dance Moms, Hoarding: Buried Alive
Fave  Character: Lisa Vanderpump, RHOBH

Best Bizarre-Reality:   Charlie Sheen Rants on You Stream/Twitter. Epic. 
Obsession: Casey Anthony Trial
Best New Show: Once Upon A Time




BEST WEB SHOW: Pretty The Series...not only because our own Genie and Denise were on as guests, but because it's wacko and just plain a hoot to watch! "Don't make me take my earrings off"! 

Last but not least...here's Alberta's 2011 in a few photos that she had taken all around the USofA. Thank you to all her "handlers" and to the actors that posed with her. I think posing with Genie Francis was a highlight but meeting Bob the Badger on the set of GH, well that, took the cake! 

Thanks to all of you for making 2011 a great year. Had a blast on here and twitter. Here's to a 2012 not filled with too much real life drama.  Can we dare hope GH will be saved? Fingers are crossed.
By -
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7 comments:

  1. SusanDecember 22, 2011 at 7:33 PM

    Totally agree with everything you said about GH. Good job.

    ReplyDelete
  2. AnonymousDecember 22, 2011 at 8:21 PM

    You are dead on with JJ and KM - great actors who the audience felt were like family due to their roots on the show.
    The JJ and TC departure scene was also sublime, good choice there. Heartfelt, bittersweet, but with humor and history.
    OldSchoolGHfan

    ReplyDelete
  3. skeebobDecember 22, 2011 at 11:03 PM

    Great awards. I didn't even remember who Asher was at first, much less his footwear. That whole return-to-ELQ story had so much potential. So many characters could have been weaved into it.

    I'm sort of getting into Once Upon A Time. I was a huge Lost fan, and I started watching because they share some writers, but it didn't grab me at first. But it has picked up steam.

    Modern Family is still great, but I'm tired of Cam and Mitchell being pissy at each other every other episode. And Claire's arms freaked me out on the Christmas episode. Too skinny!

    Here's my abbreviated OLTL awards. I think the best episode was the porno reveal at the premiere of David's film. Best story was the two months or so that both Todds were on air. Worst story was how they wrote out Marty. That's one of the only times I think RC dropped the ball. But that's still one heck of a batting average.

    Thanks for a great year of columns!

    ReplyDelete
  4. soaploverDecember 23, 2011 at 2:37 AM

    Have to agree with skeebob on the OLTL awards--that Vickerman Premier show was an absolute scream and the entire episode had everything. Has to be their Emmy winner. Rex skulking around with a gun thinking to shoot Victor, the two red gowns of Dorian and actress, the poster (OMG that was priceless), John and Tomas getting at the truth on the sidelines, the title and cast list of Vickerman (FUN!), then the sudden porn movie, Hold the Diploma, the parents of Vimal practically fainting from shock, Nora with her hand over Matthew's eyes (or was it someone else--it went so fast), and then the sudden appearance of Todd and the big pronouncement... well. it went on and on--one hilarious surprise after another, drama, melodrama, with David and Dorian preening and the whole cast turning in superb performances. When it was over, I was exhausted and my face wet with tears from both falling out of my chair laughing and holding my breath in suspense.
    Actually there were so many great moments and other great episodes, but that one, well, I am so upset that I didn't save it. I watched it a couple times at least while I did have it.
    Loved the two Todds story, loved the arrival of Tomas and his pursuit of Blaire, I even grew to like John McBain this year, and found Roxy a delight.
    Best actors--well, Erika can still knock it out of the park and Jerry verDorn is wonderful. Florence is excellent, but occasionally too intense for me, Eddie (Matt) is about the best young actor around. I, too, hated the Marty story, but Susan H is a marvel of talent.

    As for GH, I pretty much agree, but so much was so bad it is difficult to remember the better stuff. Happy to see Monica, but the Qs have already been decimated and can never return to glory now. The writing for Luke simply gagged me, though TG is still the best daytime actor around. I think Julie as Lulu is really a good little actress, but again, the writing...
    And of course, JJ is the show's best actor, but soon gone. And his storylines were just dreadful and unremittingly sad. Rebecca H is also an excellent talent, and it has to be hard for her to pull off such a contradictorily written character.
    Love Alexis, but not much story there. I know Nancy is a fine actress, but she can only do much with what they give her.
    So hard to find much joy in this year's GH....

    ReplyDelete
  5. kdmaskDecember 23, 2011 at 9:12 AM

    Last year, NLG and Lexi Ainsworth got the best actresses award.

    ReplyDelete
  6. LindaVDecember 23, 2011 at 11:38 AM

    I agree completely with you on GH. Makes no sense to let the best actor on GH, and on all of daytime, JJ, go. Reminds me of when they lost Rick Hearst because they couldn't figure out what to write for him. I like Once Upon a Time, but I think American Horror Story is the best new show. Creepy but fascinating. And as always, you have the best GH blog, Karen!

    ReplyDelete
  7. FriscoDecember 23, 2011 at 6:03 PM

    Karen, if I could be so bold I will add a few of my own:

    Best Recast - Temp Maxie

    Worst Recast - NuKate. The actress is fine I just hate the character and anything to do with Sonny.

    Worst New Character - Comes down to Delores and Lady in White but as Lady in white has not spoken (nor gotten dressed) I think she wins.

    Best New Character - As I don't particularly like any of the new characters I am going to stretch the definition and give it to Monica; she was off scree so long she might be new to some viewers.

    Biggest Waste of Talent - NLG (Alexis), followed in second place by JE (Tracy).

    Most Over-rated Characters - Luke, Sonny

    Most Improved - NP (Ethan)

    Biggest History Rewrite - Luke and Laura Relationship

    Worst Storytelling - Franco storyline

    Best Storytelling - Q's Thanksgiving with different Jason daydream scenarios

    Worst Make-up - SR (Steve) spray tan

    Best Make-up - RH (Liz) in hospital with no make-up. Finally a patient who was not wearing full makeup with their hair done perfectly.

    Scene Stealers - Cameron, Emma, Diane, Coleman

    Most Exhausted Storyline - Sonny's Angst

    I will not mention my rage over the HIV syringe debacle. I only started watching again since I heard of the changes ot the top.

    ReplyDelete

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