Sunday, January 1, 2017

Sunday Surgery: The Year That Was


You've seen my Wub Awards for 2016 so I won't spend too much on this past year of GH. There was a show this week --shortened to 4 days. I'll comment on that too! 

Team Jelly has had time to weave their take into the canvas and shape the stories for the 900 characters on our show. It's been a long year and not exactly "Must Watch TV" for me.  Read the Michael Fairman interview with Frank and Jelly if you want to know why they did what they did. Or didn't do. 



I still have stuff left from Christmas and New Year's Eve to nosh on!! That includes Cranberry Muffins and coffee cake. 






This week had another Maxie "no wedding"--- and saw Nina and Valentin exchange vows. Valentin slipped right into Wyndemere like a new suit, didn't he? He even brought a new kid in to replace our Spencer! A girl who was told her daddy was Nathan, then Griffin. Who's mama was Claudette but is really Lulu. Follow all that? Exhausting. 



Hayden and Finn hold some attention, although the "are they dying story" is just duh... like either are going to die? I so wish the Liz/Franco/Hayden/Finn interactions would have continued and the focus had been on the Webber Sisters, not this and the stupid rape cage. (see below)



Franco and Liz story is seemingly stalled after the stupid "cage match" between Franco and rapist Tom.  Happy Holidays to us! Oh, now Tom is dead and Franco is of course, the suspect. Which is what happened during the hospital serial killer mess.  *sigh* Endless loop.




JaSam are all baby happy at the moment.  He's stuck looking for the bomber of Julian's car. They had a nice wedding this year.  They are having a baby. I guess they'll go on some adventures? Who knows. 



Sonny just ...well, Sonny.  He hasn't changed. Yes, he grieved Morgan but you know that isn't going to change much.  Carly's still going back and forth between loving her man and wanting him out of the mob. And....whatever.  Here we go again. 


Ava never got back custody of Avery even though one of the kids' of his primary caretaker BLEW THE HELL UP in a mob war. But you know...GH.  Avery is of course, a bright spot in this year. She's a twinkle of joy. Ava's also still trying to win Kiki's love and messed with Morgan's meds to 'save her daughter' from him. (see interview with Jelly above) . Ok, then! After Scotty and Lucy tried to blackmail her that thread seems to have been dropped like a hot potato. 

Speaking of Dropped, Kristina and Parker are just in a void...and Krissy moved to her own place so we probably won't see her hardly ever (like we did anyway). Too bad they didn't decide to have Molly and she live together like YA and start some fresh stories with them. But you know, GH. 



I want my Egg! I want my embryo! I want a baby--I want my daughter! I want custody!! Never ending loop of baby-obsession.




The kids on the show are invisible-- and only trotted out for plot points. Jake had the most lines this year as Cam and Aiden went into the coal mines or stayed at Gran's. There are SO many kids/babies on GH right now it's pretty laughable. More on the way! 



Somehow this paring which seemed so full of wonderful possibilities has turned into --well a BUS RIDE from PC to LA. Long, stinky and boring. 



New Year's Eve had a party at the Metro that seemed to center on Jordan, Curtis and Maddox. A triangle that languishes because they are written for so sporadically.  In case you missed it, Maddox told Jordan he loved her and she, him. 



Robin visited. I do like this. I don't mind her popping in--or Emma either. We know they are in Calfornia, they are talked about and kept on "canvas". It happens in real life. So I'm cool with it all.  It does seem like lately she's visiting Sonny a lot tho. I really hope she sees Anna this time around. 



Brucas had their wedding this year and....and.well, Brad was back to help with lab work and Lucas popped in this week to read some Chinese for Sam!! That's it. They weren't even on together. 




Julexis. OH Julexis. No one can tell me that the writers didn't intend for Julian to be written off after the brutal murder attempt. Nope. The viewers revolted and they realized how popular this couple really was. So? Well, change of course!! Only-- rewriting something that was that dark and profound isn't easy.  Almost impossible in my mind. BUT! Fans of Julexis seem to be ok with it so?? 




Bobbie has been on more towards the end of the year. She's back working at GH. Yeah. She's also getting on Nell's case so she's my champion.



Poor Nell. So drippy and one note. Certainly not the "Carly 2.0" story they were going for. Not even close.  



FACE OF THE WEEK:  Oh Poor "Someone stole my picture from the box of pain" Valentin!




PROP OF THE WEEK: "Caroline's Rattle". I'm still wondering if Carly managed to give up Nell for adoption right before she came to Port Charles or something. Just a thought.


Happy 2017..if you think it can be!  I would like to say I'm looking forward to it but... 

whatever will be will be! 



17 comments:

  1. All Truth! Especially the Julexis 180 lies...they always intended to use Julian to make Sonny look decent and to make him a hero - ick. It was probably written into Maurice's contract. I used to love Sonny now I hate him. And his war with Julian even when Julian tried to go straight made me hate him more. Wil was supposed to be written off by year's end...to make room for all the extra cast S/Ls that are going nowhere. I gave up the show back in May when I saw the writing on the wall..I've only returned for the rebuild. I'm ignoring all of Julian's dastardly deeds because they were insane and unrelated to the character I'd come to love. It's soap for goodness sake and all bull crap anyway. I just want the Julexis family (including Brucas) back and would love to see the original unrepentant Sonny back...with the cops actually working to take him down instead of kissing his butt. I'd like Ava to get shared custody of Avery - because two screwed up mobster parents have to be better than one. I'd like Carly to stop trying to be mommy to all of Sonny's "extra" kids as if any of hers turned out well. I'd even like another shot at CarJax, seeing as CarSon makes Carly into such a boring character. Sonny can go back to humping every leg in town. I'd like Kiki to get over Morgan and find a real guy worth loving. Finally, kudos for KevLar and Curtis two nice suprises this year.

    ReplyDelete
  2. I love your opinion as always! But i just saw an interview with William Devry in which he said he was told about the'turn' in Julian's story for 6 months! Jelly also pubicly said that when Julian tried to kill Alexis, that love story wasn't over! So you may not like the story(I do BTW), but this was all planned out!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Yeah I didn't mention much about Laura and Kevin, did I? It's a nice story-- I am so happy she's on the GH board now too!

    ReplyDelete
  4. Thanks Karen. Happy New Year!

    Not sure what happened to love in the afternoon. GH is still all about the mob.

    'I'm still wondering if Carly managed to give up Nell for adoption right before she came to Port Charles or something.' Nell should be Michaels twin. We'd get another Q out of it. Tracy could take her under her wing.

    Here's wishing for a smaller cast, good storylines and maybe new writers/producers this year.

    ReplyDelete
  5. There are so many stories coloring the GH palate, I'm surprised they aren't bumping into each other. Jasam isn't clicking for me. There isn't the electricity that once was. Finn and Hayden are interesting. Franco and Liz don't do anything. Although I like both actors, I'd like to see Liz with someone less scary. Pair her with a doctor and there would be more hospital stories and a little less crime. And for goodness sake age her children. Love seeing the old characters. It gives depth to the series. Hope the writers come up with newer stories this year.

    ReplyDelete
  6. While we are writing our wishes, I know this is trivial but I sure wish someone would give Franco A shave and a haircut! It would be so nice to see what he actually looked like when he didn't look like the street bum of Port Charles. Liz is so pretty and he is so disgusting. Sorry Roger just cut your hair! I honestly do not see the chemistry between Liz and Franco.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Don Holley said...

    I love your opinion as always! But i just saw an interview with William Devry in which he said he was told about the'turn' in Julian's story for 6 months! Jelly also pubicly said that when Julian tried to kill Alexis, that love story wasn't over! So you may not like the story(I do BTW), but this was all planned out!

    ** Nah, it wasn't. They've said in print several times, that they're just essentially making stuff up as they go along. Especially, details of things. They may say "things will change in the future", but when they say that, they don't know any details about how." They have a general idea of what they're going to do, but that's it. They don't fill stuff in, until about the last minute possible. The "Paul is a serial killer, but wait it was Heather who attacked Bobbie and Lucas" storyline mess in all details is a prime example.

    K.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Yeh I read that too...where they "throw ideas at the wall and see what sticks"

      Delete
  8. AMC GH said...
    While we are writing our wishes, I know this is trivial but I sure wish someone would give Franco A shave and a haircut! It would be so nice to see what he actually looked like when he didn't look like the street bum of Port Charles. Liz is so pretty and he is so disgusting. Sorry Roger just cut your hair! I honestly do not see the chemistry between Liz and Franco.

    *** Ditto. I don't see how she could be attracted to him at all. And then add in all the obsessive crap and the dog cage and she'd have to be an idiot to want to be with him and bring him home to her children.

    ReplyDelete
  9. I have to echo the comments about Liz and Franco. She needs someone normal like Griffin. I am very happy with the Kevin and Laura storyline and would love to see less of Sonny and Carly . I know-wishful thinking. There is absolutely nothing going on that is really intriguing.
    LindaV

    ReplyDelete
  10. I love the Kevin/Laura story line too.

    ReplyDelete
  11. Michelle Latta said...

    Underneath he's quite good looking

    ** I've always thought he looked better with long hair, particularly like his early OLTL days. He definitely could get rid of the facial hair, though. I've never really cared for the stuff on most anyone, except in a few rare exceptions.

    Yeh I read that too...where they "throw ideas at the wall and see what sticks"

    ** I know I've harped about it quite a bit in the past few months. It's just a big sore spot for me when I read/see people (especially media) praising Jelly for their writing, and claiming that they actually have been carefully planning things. Since it's VERY obvious that it is not the case, with things.

    K.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I agree, his early days as Todd the long hair was nice but now it's just greasy and add in the facial hair. But he also does look with short hair. I've dated men with long hair and they pulled it off but some can't.
      I agree about Jelly. Instead of doing what they are, they need to put more effort in. How GH gets best this or that as far as writing I just don't get....who they sleeping with haha! BUT the actors put their all in for sure.

      Delete
  12. I think if he's able to grow it out more, that would help. It's just in that "in between" stage right now, where there isn't much he can do with it, until it gets a bit longer. But, that's just my take. :) With Jelly it just boggles the mind. Especially since the were nominated for a WGA this year. And were the ONLY soap to be nominated. This is EXACTLY how they were doing things at Y&R a couple years ago. Some of the storylines (and storyline details) were VERY similar. The way stuff played out (or didn't and was just forgotten) was no different at all. And after they were given the boot, JFP brought in Chuck Pratt, and REALLY destroyed the show. Really, the actors have done the best they can with the crap. It's a hard business to work in, especially the way things are these days. So I definitely think the actors at least, deserve all the credit they get. As you can only do so much, with what's written on the page.

    K.

    ReplyDelete
  13. I haven't watched in months and have seen Nell just a few times on-screen. I just popped in here and saw that pic of her above-OMG the resemblance to SJB is crazy!

    ReplyDelete
  14. I don't mean to sound preachy or anything, but I'd spent a bit of time around soaps some years ago. Actually head writers just plan and outline the plots and storylines. They have to know the characters really well and see a direction many months ahead and how their stories will interweave. It can get pretty complicated. A continuity writer then breaks the story outlines into segments, adding scene setups, times, etc. Those segments are given to the associate writers who do the actual dialogue. Associate writers don't necessarily even live in CA; they can write a week's worth of scripts from anywhere. Their scripts go back to the continuity writer to put together, correct, coordinate, etc. More people are involved than just the head writers, but they have input, as does the producer. At least this is the way it used to be--the pace is so much faster now, there may be short-cuts and other ways of doing it. (I once knew of someone in Indiana who wrote soap scripts and sent them in.)

    I agree on Roger's long hair. Maybe because he's being some what Toddish now, they had him grow out the hair. But he looks so much handsomer in short hair and without all the facial fuzz. (I like him with Liz, though.) Most men do, but most wouldn't admit it. I don't mind Finn's facial hair, but really dislike it on some of the others.

    I, too wish to see more Laura-Kevin, but with a real story. And Anna, too. Genie and Finola are two of the finest actors in soaps. GH is so lucky to have them. And I like Curtis as the new boy on the block. Am enjoying the following of clues on the mystery--even Billy seems to be awake now when Jason and Curtis are sleuthing. I'm not sure I'll like where it is leading--we don't need more major villains on the show. Valentin is enough for now.

    I guess I'd like to see the pace upped a bit or more urgent.



    ReplyDelete

  Joss is shocked that Dex almost killed Cyrus. Nina leaves. Dex explains he did try to talk Sonny out of it but Sonny was insistent. He wen...