Nelson Branco Interviews Nancy Lee Grahn

And boy, does she DISH!! Not one to shy away from her left-leaning politics, she discusses them at length here. I enjoyed her talking about Twitter! I asked about her "Back Talk" project, which I hope moves forward soon. 
Check it out on  CTV Guide.

Nelson Branco Interviews General Hospital Head Writer, Bob Guza

BRANCO

Well, he's a tough nut to get out of his shell, but our own Canadian Wonder-Boy Nelson Branco got him to give an extensive interview for TV Guide Canada. Click on that link and read the article before reading my comments!


 It’s almost like love amongst the ruins. Love against the backdrop of violence, despair, and death ~ Robert Guza on GH's "Identity"

TVGuide.ca chose General Hospital head writer Robert Guza as daytime’s most powerful and influential player in 2010. At first I was questioning this...I guess it's my deep-seated feelings about GH in general, but then I realized it was true. He IS the most powerful player right now. (although Brian Frons deserves some credit for giving the green light for all this mayhem!!) Who else has had the mainstream press buzzing about Daytime?? Franco is the hottest guy in the movie, TV and art world lately. Yale has him... he'll be in "Eat, Pray Love" soon... PLUS he's got a real life art show in NYC.  Can't buy that kinda press, folks.

I'm not as enamored of Mr. Guza's story-arc style as Nelson is. As you all know, I find many too many holes in stories (you can drive a coffee truck through them), waste of characters and jagged time lines to be maddening. And although I'm not in a focus group, I think I can say as someone that has watched daytime for over *cough* MANY years and been on the Internet for 11, things aren't going very well in ratingsville for a reason. Huge stunts are great. Showcasing actors is wonderful...but on GH it's too often just bursts of greatness instead of building things slowly over time. Don't get me wrong, bursts are exciting and much needed but I do like a bit of filler that makes sense.

I can't imagine what goes into writing for a soap on a day to day basis. As much as I SAY I can write--I'm just a concept 'artist'!! I'm obviously not a fan of block-taping (which is used A LOT on GH) and I wish they'd use history more. I wish they wouldn't waste people like Jason Cook, Rick Hearst and Robin Christopher. I need characters like Helena to be on more often and to grow as the years go by, not just do the same thing over and over. Tony Geary's vacations are bumming me out. Bless his heart, but they are. LOL. I also wish Guza didn't have such a short attention span (he even admits this) and that stories would have a beginning, a middle and an ending. There have been far too many loose ends in the past couple of years to overlook. I won't count them now, but you know what they are.

Here's my biggest beef with GH and Guza: There are moments of greatness that can't be equaled on daytime tv. The actors of GH are not matched by any other cast. Put them together and you get gems...but gems do not a necklace make. They rattle around on the table--waiting to be put together. (how's that for analogies? LOL) Having greats come on for cameos (ie: Bradley Cole, Martha Byrne) and then having them languish in the background is heartbreaking. Older vets are pushed WAY back (John Ingle, Leslie Charleson, Ron Hale, Jackie Zeman) It leaves us all with a bad taste in our mouth.

Soaps are about history, rolling waves of stories and keeping the audience interested. If I'm only 'dazzled' once and awhile and not 'engaged' everyday, there's a problem. Vanessa Marcil isn't going to turn the tide unless the stories are top rate. Just sayin'.

Anyway, Awesome interview--you don't often get ol' Bob to open up. Leave it to a Canadian to do it. Did he offer him some Brador??