Fylaki

YES

He was good then, maybe because he had an actual story, maybe because we had not yet entered the age of soap actors dictating character, maybe because Guza's man-crush had not yet reached epic proportions. And maybe because we had not yet reached what is clearly the golden age of Television. I have a theory that soaps use to have better writing because there were better writers available and because if you wanted to do serial drama, where characters grow and develop you needed to write a soap. There was no Walking Dead, Boss, Orange is the New Black, House of Cards, Breaking Bad or even Arrow and Gotham (or a dozen more) there were few nighttime shows where characters confronted issues in a melodramatic way. Now soaps are camp, all camp all the time. Guza was a better writer than Ron, but not as good as he thought he was and Ron is playing out his fantasies, in everything from Serial Killer Heroes (cause he thinks he's writing Dexter?) to smart mouthed entitled brats (Cause he thinks this is a Disney Channel show?) to kidnappings with no danger and no consequences (cause he's got problems???) to shirtless men with no substances (cause seriously who can blame him, shirtless women with no substances would appeal to me, so I can't judge) But writing for depth has moved to the night Which is why it is time now, before cancellation to launch General Hospital: Night Shift, with a five day a week 26 weeks a year run on Hulu or Netflix or whoever Disney wants to partner with. A serious soap for serious soap fans

Nik is an example of what happens when a character loses his foil. Nik was brought on to be a thorn to Luke and Laura and to allow Lucky and He to play at a second generation Cassadine-Spencer war, with the twist that they were brothers and loved each other. The Cassadines were also suppose to be far richer than the Q's and certainly Sonny. But Luke and Laura are over, Luke is no longer played in Nik's orbit (which is a shame one of the highlights for both TC and TG was the ambulance scene where Nik was shot. Another was when Luke pulled Nik into the family picture at the Second Luke and Laura wedding....Luke as a reluctant "father" to Nik is pivotal for the character) Lucky is gone and it seems as if the Cassadines are both poor and powerless. And so Nik has no purpose. TC has no where to go with the character the way he is now written. Ron tried to reach for the "Dark Prince" with Britt but failed epically. The highlight of TC return was when he first stumbled upon Robin but even that went to the way side in the silly "Held hostage at Windymere" story.

I can't blame MB for re-signing, nor do I blame him for Sonny, that is on the writers. Sonny could be an interesting and compelling character if the writers did not insists on making him the center piece of the show, and worse it's moral center. Sonny could pay for the murder of AJ, even if he avoids prison. But Guza-Wolf were in love with him and Ron does not have the talent so Sonny remains a plague

Gail and Lee may be the luckiest GH characters, off screen Ron cannot do them any harm I hope

I agree I can think of a number of guys, in fact BM may have made a better Lucky than he will Jason. TIIC just do not know how badly this show needs a real hero, a Robert Scorpio Type to lift it out of the pit it has become. Lucky done the right way could be that person. Flawed because of his addiction, wounded over Liz and Nic, Scarred by the loss of a child he considered his own, desperate to reach out and find the Father he remembers from his youth and yet despite it all always a hero, always doing the right thing, always looking out for the underdog. Allied with the son sof two of the most evil people in town (Dante and Nathan), seeking a relationship with his children and family (Liz, Lucas, Lulu), conflicted over his brother(s) and searching for love (Sam? Robin? Heck a good guy like Lucky may even make Sabrina interesting) Mentored by Mac and Anna with advise from Luke and Robert. Lucky could be just what the show needs (Think a younger version of Agent Gibbs) But with the need to paint the likes of Franco, Dr. O, Sonny and Jason (if he is indeed Jason M) as heroes the show just cannot have a "Good Man" outshine them. and so GH fails without a moral center. And the viewers know it that is why the ratings go up when they do General Hospital Espionage, because Robin, Anna and even an off screen Robert are heroes and people want to watch heroes. But Ron wants to make a Serial Killer a hero (as if this were Dexter without the balls) or continue Guza's Godfather/Tony Soprano rift (forgetting like Guza did that the Corleone and Sopranos were never meant to be seen as heroes) You would think that a show owned by a company that made billions doing Super-Hero movies would get the memo that people want heroes

And this is where the character went wrong> Back when Jason M first came about and all the way to the days of Taggert's anger Boy, a lot of folks wanted Jason Q "Back" they longed for the boy they had lost. Once Jason became part of the Unholy Trinity and Guza began his love affair with the character the drama of jason M/Q ended. Now every one treated Jason M just like Jason Q expect he was an even bigger hero. The story line could have been awesome and lasted for years, if they had stuck to their guns but the Holy Hitman just ruined the whole thing. Between SB continual decreasing ability to act and Guza's man crush the whole thing got silly and annoying. To me it was especially bad during the GV Lucky era. By all rights Lucky should be the shows hero. The skills of Luke Spencer, The heart of Laura Webber and the Police Training of Mac and Robert and Anna Scorpio should have put Lucky front and center, and when played by GV, who had the physical build (Though I am a JJ is Lucky guy forever) Lucky should have been the shows hero and moral center Instead he was played as a buffoon time and time again to satisfy SB's ego and Guza's crush. In fact I believe one of the reasons they have not re-cast Lucky is because even TIIC know that the character would need to be shown as the moral center of the show and as long as they want Sonny and Jason to be seen as heroes they cannot have a moral compass. They marginalize Anna by having most of her big adventures take place outside of PC. For all the work Anna has done as Police Commissioner, they could have left Mac there and let Anna be the WSB regional liaison or something. Lucky on the show would almost force a moral center. He may like Jason and may fondly remember Sonny from when he was a kid but the driving force would be to do good.

There are a thousand ways to have KMc both on and off the canvas without killing Robin or recasting. What sucks is Ron's fall back of kidnapping Robin. It would have been so simple for Anna to rescue Robin, and then Robin and Patrick could discuss how their marriage was over, as both have moved on, then a phone call from the New Head of the WSB (Robert?) asking Robin to head up the research wing of the agency and viola, a Robin one hour away sharing custody with Patrick of Emma and available when ever Ron and Kim want. So simple even a child could do it. Unless it is the petulant child name Ron

Sonny has a girl-child ?????? Oh wait....I recall dimly

I can see Larry as Monica's date but not as the power behind Fluke. Larry would never threaten to kill Ned. But more and more Fluke as Harlan Barrett, I can see. He would hate Sonny because of Brenda.

Does any one else think that Sonny could be compelling if he was just allowed to be evil? It is not that he gets away with stuff that bothers me, villains on TV, especially soaps always get away with things, it is that Ron and Wolfe continued the Guza Era white washing of Sonny into a "good mobster". Same with Jason. Jason as a brain damaged killer, corrupted by Mob Boss Sonny, whose family and friends still try to find the Jason Q they once loved, would have been a tragic character, Jason the borg or Jason the hero hitman were not. Sonny as a powerful crime boss whose web of lies effects all around him would be great. Sonny the Gummi Bear Mafia Head sucks (Not that I am saying SB or MB could have pulled off deeper....though MB might have years ago)

It cracks me up that they now claim that Sonny does not run prostitution rings because when he first came on he had a strip club, you know the one where he forced underage Karen to strip after getting her hooked on drugs. But Sonny does not run drugs or women and Karen did apologize to him for what she did (no lie it was on PC and I almost threw up)

Could Robin maybe lend the phone to Lucky?

This would make sense so it will never happen. I really do think that Ron and Frank see KA as their child. In fact she is listed on my Dish descriptions along with MB and BH as the stars of the show (Yeah I know). I think that ME/Silas is on the chopping black and maybe maybe RH but I think we are stuck with KA for the duration of the FranknRon regime

I cannot see Larry Ashton as Fluke, but he was a part of the Taub-Barrett Cartel so there is some history. I still prefer Damian Smith as Fluke, but I could get behind Harlan Barrett, especially if they do two things: One Get Michael Cole Back to Play Him and two set it up so that TG gets his wish to Play Bill Eckart by having had Barrett holding Bill all these years and now framing Bill so that every one thinks he is Fluke. I could get behind some scenes of TG playing Bill in jail trying to convince Luke that he was not the one who framed him. Then let Geary play both Characters as a kind of swan song before either retiring or becoming a kind of 'twisted' elder statesmen.

I actually think that Luke not being an alcoholic makes Jake's demise more tragic and allows for a more nuance play. They just dropped the ball badly. Luke's assertion to Lucky that he was not Tim Spencer (his father) right before he slapped Lucky (The same way Tim has slapped him) could and should have opened the door to some great characterization Luke is a not a rapist yet he raped the woman he loved Luke is not an alcoholic yet he killed his grandchild while drunk driving Luke would never hit his kids the way his father hit him yet he slapped Lucky Luke would never cheat on Laura the way his father cheated on his mother yet there is Ethan Luke Spencer could be one of the most deeply thought out compelling characters ever on TV, if only TG would let go of his ego and TAAS would hire a good writer. Perhaps Luke should have left the stage with Gloria Monty who may have been the last person to really understand the character.

Luke and Alexis back before Luke hooked up with Flea. He and Natasha had some great chemistry (still do but Luke has gotten far to odd)

I never thought about this with Dante. In the hands of a skilled writer he could US. He could be the voice/face of the fans, accepting things like people back from the dead, or switched babies, or imposter father-in-laws, with a shrug and grin and a smirk like "yeah I know this makes no sense just roll with it."

I never thought I would be saying this but: Sonny, Jason and Luke are not serial killers. Franco is a serial killer, some one who kills based on a psychological need to do and who enjoys the game of taunting the authorities by leaving clues as to who they are. Sonny and Jason are criminals, mobsters, working in organized crime who kill under a code, a twisted code but still a code. Innocents may get hurt and killed but they are never the intended target (one of the reasons street gangs like Bloods and Crypts are not Organized crime, innocents are targeted for initiation ) Luke to the best of my recollection has never killed any one expect a criminal or villain with two exceptions. He and Alexis accidentally killed Katherine (but she got better) when trying to get to Helena. He did run Jake over while drunk, but I have always felt that his justification of his drinking, especially his run down of Lucky afterwards about being free was meant as a way to show that he was a man who could not handle the pain of what he had done. The fact that the writers and TG have whitewashed that moment is a shame. A revisit of the Jake death, done in the same vein as the revisit of the rape would be better "One last Emmy" material for Tony than Fluke. But in any event other that that Luke is not a serial killer, in fact more often than not the people he has killed (Mikos, David Gray, et. al) have been villains

Lucky and Robin ; Rocky forever

And why do I care?

I rarely blame actors for the actions of their characters, there are some exceptions, like when an actor has played a role for a very very long time and so should have some input (TG and MB I mean you guys) but for the most part it's a job. I have had friends work in those silly chain restaurants where they sing miserable version of Happy Birthday, they die of embarrassment daily but at the end of the day its a pay check. For nearly twenty years I gave the same stupid campus tour twice a week at the college I worked at. My significant other at the time would periodically show up on the tour just to make fun of me, but again at the end of the day, we both liked the pay

I wonder, aren't they suppose to be great friends? Would Frank just take Ron's word? How much power, other than budget, does Frank have, can he change story lines? If he can that he is as much a hack as Ron for allowing some of the drivel on the air, and he like Ron is looking to make GH a spoof of all things soap

I think the entire Robin/Patrick plot lines boils down to a lack of respect for the intelligence of his viewers on Ron's part. His superior attitude and his need to make this show so incredibly simplistic speaks of the disdain he hold us in. Ron is in his own world writing General Soapdish and he could care less about the fans/viewers. A writer with respect could have written the same story with nuance that would allow us to see either Patrick or Anna seeing though Robin's story and covering for it. A simple phone call from Anna to Robert saying "I don't believe her, go find her." would have kept both Robin and Robert off screen for months while still allowing the viewer to think that something was going on. Patrick saying "I don't believe her motives, you should call Robert to find her. I've...my feeling have change but I still care deeply for her and she is Emma's mother." would have expressed respect for the characters and viewers but Ron believes he is oh-so-clever and that we are oh-so-strupid

I wonder to if the leeway given to the days writers varies from Head Writer to Head Writer, did Guza keep a tighter reign, as much as his stories were far to Sonny-Carly-Jason centric at least he did not have things happen off screen that we were suppose to find out later on, and I think he would have handled block taping better. We never would have had the three week lag between Maxie meeting Frisco at the Rib, to a conversation later on in another location. The next day would have picked up right there, block or no block.....now granted it would have picked up with Jason coming in and punching Frisco for leaving Maxie and Georgie, or Sonny reading him the riot act about what a bad Dad he was, but at least it would have picked up right there. Ron is to erratic, all over the place with what seems to be no direction and it shows in the daily writer. Do the writers get notes saying "Don't worry about explaining this, I already mentioned it on twitter"? Also how much input do the day-writers get? Can they say "Ron, This thing with Patrick and Robin, it's not a love story" or does he shut them down.