I struggled with putting this blog post into a different one all together--separate from Surgery. Then, I thought what the hell--let's try to combo this together. We can review the show and I can give my two cents about the light blub moment I had this week.
Light bulb moment being that production is totally screwing with the flow/tempo of the show--NOT the writing. See, I usually bitch about the writing. It was so evident this week however that it was production messing with my story that I went "AH HA!!" Yes, I do have problems with the stories but, maybe if they weren't all spread out and they could contiue uninterrupted, they'd be better.
Strangely enough, ratings are at a big high. This thrills me to no end. Seriously, I love this damn show-and like a sports fan I love it high OR low. Hell, we lasted through some pretty low lows and we're still here. We don't just go to church on Easter, no sir--we are there every damn week!!
On that note, Let the bitching begin.
Case in point: AJ's story. This is when the light bulb grabbed me. It wasn't that the writers didn't WANT to tell this story (Connie's murder, AJ's reuniting with Michael, the Liz romance-- and his subsequent drinking), it's that the actors are pulled in and out for 'breaks' and we're left with giant gaping holes. AJ was front-burner and Connie got killed. He went to jail...then...nothing. FOR MONTHS! NOTHING!! Then, the trial starts after we stopped giving a damn--and he's sentenced. Another couple of weeks go by-then we see him all angsty and drinking-- THEN NOTHING! Oh, there he is, weeks later, still on a bender and having flashbacks to Connie's murder!! WHO CARES ANYMORE??!! Who can care about AJ's drinking, guilt and destruction when we didn't see him for ages?? Rumor has it that SK is leaving and this is AJ's exit story. IF it is his exit, it was a waste to have him back. AJ could have been a "rise from the ashes' story. Could have.
Another example: Tracy and Luke. Luke's back for a hot minute (I think he had to come back for like a day, tape and leave for vacation again) and Tracy is-- I don't even know. Trapping raccoons. I get that the rotating actor/story bin saves money but damn, this is just confusing and maddening.
Ok, on to this week's stories. We had the 'Sabrina situation' . -- Robin talking to Liz (and there's another puzzler--POOR LIZ!!) Felix being a buttinski. And, strangely, I don't care. Because of the choppy story of Robin's return, it feels so 'off'. Anna's not around her daughter anymore-- she's in "police mode" now, and I wonder when she'll find out about the pregnancy. Block taping at it's finest. Finola is around the people in the Jerome/Carly/Franco case at the moment, not in Scrubs orbit.
What else happened? Oh, yeah..Carly's still tied up. Luke's going to go "missing" (cue vacation time). Laura Wright tweeted that she's on 3 week hiatus. I'm sure she taped all of her gagged scenes together and they'll insert here and there. Heather has just been used one note too many. Same MO..same stupid plastic knife. I can't figure this storyline out. With all the crap going on with the Jeromes, why have THIS inserted into there? To keep Franco in the mix?
Speaking of Franco-- one aspect of the show I love is his therapy sessions with Kevin. Unfortunately they are few/far between and inserted when Kevin is on set. Kevin, Lucy and Scotty appear to be some kind of production trap to get us to think "oh fun..vets having sex and a story", only to be disappointed when we only see them 1x a week in fits and spurts. I'd love it if they had a weekly Kevin/Todd scene. Sort of like the Sopranos did. That would mean having JL on more. Not sure that will fly.
Bobbie's back--yeah! I like JZ so you haters can all go to He-double L! I first saw her as Lana on OLTL-- and then she came to GH. I also think she looks better and has added to the show a lot. Now Lucas is back. I'm wondering if they'll have Lucas Lulu scenes. Hmmmmm. Anyhoo, I'm glad this is happening. I do wonder what relatively newbies think; many have no idea who he is! You can tell he's a good actor just from the first second of his first scene. Let the story unfold.
The mob.. another I DON'T care. Jeromes/Corinthos? YAWN. Yawn Yawn.. whatever. The shooting? Max wasn't seen for literally what? 6 months--gets shot--everyone is upset, he wakes up and...
and..
and...
yah. He and Milo are off somewhere, doing something. Things I like about the mob stuff is not really "MOB STUFF". I like that Sonny and Olivia are together without stupid lovey-dovey drama. They just are. They are a good team. Olivia makes a great mobular gal. I also like the vibe between Sonny and Ava. Zowie. We do know that Maura has chem with the door, but it's right in your face with MB!
OH, wonder when we'll see TJ again. Or Molly. Their 'stints' are over at the minute. NEXT!
Liz and Nik were on for a hot minute. Another puzzler of story boarding. If Liz isn't on that much, and hardly sees Nikolas--should we care about them? Britt's obviously off for awhile, so let's stick these two in a scene to remind people about Liz' caring about Nikolas. (now that she doesn't care that much about AJ?)
Homage to the glorious breakfast laid out for the Qs! Look at the cuts on that fruit!
SCENE OF THE WEEK: Loved this--the dialog, the pace and the actors together. Like I said above, I think a weekly therapy session would be awesome.
FACE OF THE WEEK: This needs to be a poster somewhere!! Sonny telling Julian to leave the office. Such a great scene too. I loved it. Sonny was at his finest.
WORD OF THE WEEK: Assphat ..who knew Morgan could use such sophisticated slang when describing Franco? heh.
Jelly Donut Jelly on the knife is a runner up--- because you know that jelly substance was used a LOT during those knife scenes.
So, that's my thoughts for the week. Sorry the blog is so dang long. I so want to really love the show--and I do love bits of it. As a whole though, I'm not feeling the drama flowing and the integration I'd like. They might be saving money filming this way, but it's just not working for me. Obviously it's working for most viewers, so maybe I should just shut up. LOL. (Ok, I heard that!))
Shirley Jones and Donna Mills are coming-- and Victor Cassadine. I'm so happy the Cassadine story is picking up but does anyone else get the feeling this cast is so bloated we just can't get them all in?
:raiseshand:
There are way too many storylines, its become confusing!
ReplyDeleteGH is not working on any level for me...and sadly I don't think it will improve. Although I'd like to blame RC (I don't like his writing style)...I don't think it's his fault. I really think it's about ABC saving money any way that they can. As a result we see unsatisfying, shallow stories that don't make me feel anything because we don't see actors for days, weeks, months at a time....Regardless of who is writing the show, I think ABC has set up production parameters that are impossible to make work within this genre of story telling...I'm glad ratings are high...I just don't know how they are and how they will stay that way.
ReplyDeleteAbsolutely agree.
ReplyDeleteYou should never say "sorry" for writing a long blog. Love the longer entries!
ReplyDeleteThe actors who play Franco & Kevin used to be on As The World Turns together as Paul & Craig. As did Ava. So I think Roger H already had a chemistry built up with both of them, which might be why their scenes usually work so well.
Heather telling Carly that she didn't spoil The Purge for her on Friday's show was such a weird line that it cracked me up.
I really enjoyed this last because stories that I do care about are back on again. Like that AJ is starting to remember what happened the night that Connie was murder, like that we are finally getting to Silas’s dark past, and love the Scotty/Lucy/Kevin triangle. Even though I’m not afraid that Carly is going to die & am loving all the character interactions surrounding the story line - Kevin/Franco, all three Corinthos boys, Anna/Scotty,etc. Kiki was even enjoyable this week because of all the RH/KA scenes.
ReplyDeleteI do 100% agree with your light bulb moment though. The writers tend to get a lot of grief but they had a HUGE cast to write for, actors bouncing in and out, etc. The block taping is a lot more noticeable than it should be.
I believe AJ’s story line was placed on hold because GH finally got KMc back for an extended period. While I enjoyed most of Robin’s return, I think it was dragged out a little more than it should have been. Plus if they can mention Jason as much as they do they could have mentioned AJ while he wasn’t on scene. (They need to stop mentioning Jason)
The pacing for GH was pretty good in 2012 and not so good in 2013. I’m hoping it can get back on track in 2014. They need to let story lines play out instead of the stop and go we get. I think the writers and fans would be much happier with that.
Well, there may be stuff to complain about, but I am SO HAPPY that we still have our show, and that SOOO many vets are back, I'll take what I can get.
ReplyDeleteThis is turning into a retirement home for unemployed actors.
ReplyDeleteTrue Confession: I have only skimmed the last couple of weeks. I agree that the choppiness is messing with the show big time. Sorry Port Charles! I'll try to do better if you will! ;)
ReplyDeleteOldSchoolGHfan
PS I'm a huge Heather fan from way back but they are kind of overdoing it with her this time around...Still much love for Robin Mattson though! She is one of the great wacko villianesses of soap history.
I had NO idea Jon, Roger and Maura were all on ATWT together!!
ReplyDeleteGH is very choppy. There are way too many characters and storylines. There is a way to fix it... have less actors who work more.
ReplyDeleteSabrina and Carlos can go. Let her have a miscarriage and go off into the sunset with Carrrrrrrlos. We don't need another baby storyline with Patrick. We just did that.
I love the vets like everyone else, but pick a couple of them and write them stories, instead of hauling them out for a day once a month. Keep Lucy and Kevin and (of course Anna) and send everyone else packing. We never see them anyway. Us the money to keep the core cast on more.
GH was doing better before they had all these rewritten OLTL characters. The entire Franco mess is a disaster, They rewrote the whole character down to his parentage. Taking everything that made him interesting away. Now they have nothing for him to do, because he (supposedly) is not a psycho anymore. they have to have Heather kidnap Carly to give him a story. Trying to force the audience to accepting Carly and Franco together. (Yuck). Franco and Heather need to go.
Kiki is useless. She spends more time with Franco, than her own father. Michael and her are tedious.
I just do not care about Silas or his comatose Nina. Get rid of him. If AJ had a wife stashed somewhere that I would be interested in, but Silas, not so much
This new cop is cute but you would think that somewhere in Hollywood you could find a cute guy who can actually act. I know he is getting between Lulu and Dante, but Milo already did that and would have been a better choice to create conflict between them.
We have seen every mob story known to man over the last 15 years. So one more doesn't excite me. Unless Sonny comes out the loser and Julian becomes the mob boss of PC. AND Sonny needs to have an affair with Ava. That would set off fireworks.
I want GH to be good I want to love to watch it every day. It is just not there right now.
Ron is writing stories for characters that HE cares about - Franco and Silas and Julian. But not stories about characters the fans care about. - AJ, Liz, Anna, Robin, Alexis any Q still around. That is the disconnect.
Maybe this upcoming story with the Cassadines will be good, all I hope is that someone does not rise from the dead to star in it. Mire Nik without his shirt is never a bad thing.
Do not spend money on Donna Mills and Shirley Jones. IT is a waste, I'm sure there are other actresses who can do the parts and cost less.
Do not get rid of AJ use him!!!!!!! AND LIZ and the Q's.
How long is the Lante baby story going to take. Of course Ben is going to need some sort of transplant I'm guessing the way they are going that May sweeps is the soonest that something will happen.
I find myself FF most of all the shows. Which I guess is better than a few years ago when I wasn't taping ( showing my age..I mean recording) GH at all, just reading recaps. There is just no story that is grabing my attention.