Spoilers and Speculation: Clink Boom and Cheese Fondue

[ulkis]

Why I think Valerie might still be pregnant:

 

http://fyeahgh.tumblr.com/post/127576576781

 

Her looking right at them while she holds a baby. siiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiigh.

 

If they are going to do it, they need to rip off those "I didn't know I was pregnant" shows.

 

"Dante . . . I went to the bathroom . . . and all of a sudden, a baby came out!"

[TeeVee329]

I took that picture as more of an anvil heralding the reveal.  "Look how happy Lulu and Dante are!  Maybe they'll talk about using that other embryo and having a little girl!  But uh oh, here comes the news about Dante's ONS with Valerie!".

 

At least Lulu and Dante seem to have realized that a mobster's wedding is no place for their child.

[WendyCR72]

Why I think Valerie might still be pregnant:

 

http://fyeahgh.tumblr.com/post/127576576781

 

Her looking right at them while she holds a baby. siiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiigh.

 

If they are going to do it, they need to rip off those "I didn't know I was pregnant" shows.

 

"Dante . . . I went to the bathroom . . . and all of a sudden, a baby came out!"

 

No. No. No. No. No. No. No more damned babies. No.

[sunflower]

 

The discussion about whether y'all want the show cancelled is off-topic for this thread. Please keep the conversation about spoilers and/or rumors. Thanks.

 

Where can we talk about it?  The problem is the spoiler thread is the best place because we don't have to worry about spoiling people about upcoming stories that make certain posters, me included, wish the show would be cancelled.  That's why it's easy to go off-topic in this thread.  Should we just have a disgruntled viewer spoiler thread?  Thanks.  

Edited August 27, 2015 by sunflower

[LeftPhalange]

Why I think Valerie might still be pregnant:

 

http://fyeahgh.tumblr.com/post/127576576781

 

Her looking right at them while she holds a baby. siiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiigh.

 

 

I bet she's thinking about how she get herself another ride on Dante's dick. 

[dubbel zout]

I don't think they have the guts to do a total reset. If they can't (or won't) get rid of a bunch of actors, get rid of their characters and give them new ones. Beef up the hospital side of things—make RoHo play a doctor. MS can be head nurse. Donna Mills can be a patient in the ICU whom no one can save; her end is nigh. Lauren trips and bumps her head, putting her in a coma. She goes off to the Facility that Jax Found for a nice long nap. Morgan gets caught in the crossfire of a gunfight between Ava and Sonny, and Sonny accidentally, and fatally, shoots him in the chest. Ric and Scott decide being defense lawyers is more fun than going back and forth with the mayor as DA, so they join forces as the sleaziest law firm ever. Because they still hate each other, and are sleazy, they also sabotage each other's cases.

 

The show needs to go down swinging. Things are so boring right now I can't even get worked up at how bad they are. (Of course, if the show doubles down on the rage-blackout-inducing stories of Olivia and her baby or the Valerie/Dante/Lulu/Dillon quad, that's another kettle of fish.)

 

---------------

 

I think that anvil of Lulu and Dante with Avery will tie into their embryo, too. I also think Valerie is pregnant. When Dillon was teasing Lulu about it, Valerie was sitting in the interrogation room with her hand on her stomach. I know that was also to fake out the audience, but that's so the classic sign of a pregnancy. And given that any woman of childbearing age has to get pregnant sooner or later, I can see the new HWs thinking another baby is exactly the ticket to boost ratings. Except, no. Babies are the last thing this fakakta show needs.

Edited August 27, 2015 by dubbel zout

[LeftPhalange]

I don't think they have the guts to do a total reset. If they can't (or won't) get rid of a bunch of actors, get rid of their characters and give them new ones. Beef up the hospital side of things—make RoHo play a doctor. 

 

They better not even think about giving RoHo yet another character. Get his ass out of here and ban him from the premises.

[dubbel zout]

I bet his contract is pay or play to some degree, and I can see Frank not wanting to throw away the money. As as long as we're stuck with him, why not make him a slightly more tolerable character until his contract expires? They don't have to renew it.

[LeftPhalange]

Don't the actors playing new-ish characters have contracts that allow them to be written out after every 13 week cycle? Wasn't ME still under contract when Silas was killed off?

[dubbel zout]

I don't know if more established actors can negotiate a different contract or not, but I imagine they can at least get better guarantees as far as money goes, i.e., if they are let go before any outs, they get paid until that out expires. 

[Francie]

I bet his contract is pay or play to some degree, and I can see Frank not wanting to throw away the money. As as long as we're stuck with him, why not make him a slightly more tolerable character until his contract expires? They don't have to renew it.

The only way I'd accept Roger Howarth on this show until his current contract runs out is as a dead ghost doing snarky commentary.  Preferably as a dead murder victim. And nobody even cares about his death or who killed him. 

Edited August 27, 2015 by Francie

[rur]

They better not even think about giving RoHo yet another character. Get his ass out of here and ban him from the premises.

 

If he and MS have to stay until their contracts run out, put them both in a hospital for the criminally insane. We can see them for 30 seconds at a time plotting escapes so they can meet their minimums, but they get foiled each time by major characters from GH: Espionage! or GH: Medical! or GH: Quartermaine! story lines.  In each case, it is made very apparent that the folks in the storylines just happened upon them while dealing with other business (because otherwise they would have been given no thought at all) and they are immediately returned to the hospital as a public service. 

[IWantCandy71]

I have the perfect third character for RoHo to play. He can be a recast Reggie the butler for the Q's. Complete with faux pony tail (or not). It's perfect, because it's a recurring role, which works well for both the audience and Roger, and he gets to play a character totally different from either Todd or Franco.  He can come back, needing a job, and the Q's of course give him one. RoHo can do silly and comedy and it'll be more acceptable because his character is SUPPOSED to be that way. More importantly, if he's gone for weeks or even months at a time, what of it?

He likely won't actually get a storyline of his own, he'd mostly be comic filler.

He could flirt with JE, because I think Reggie kind of had a bit of a crush on Tracy. And when RoHo leaves the show for good, they can do a "Pygmalion" type make over (a story the original actor always wanted to do with JE) and have him become a gentleman, inherit some money, and leave town.

It's really a win win win, all the way around. The biggest win being for the audience that he's not on eating airtime. Again, also equally good for RoHo, as he can do all the outside projects he wants.

[Dandesun]

And what is RoHo doing on the show that's so unbelievably amazing that it warrants all sorts of gymnastics to keep him around? He's snarky? Is that it? He's pretty to look at?

 

I've been a fan of the guy for a long time but there just doesn't seem to be anything going on that justifies keeping him around. Why, exactly, can't this guy be let go? When did he become such a sacred cow?

[jsbt]

It's really a win win win, all the way around.

 

Is it? He'd still be on the show.

Edited August 27, 2015 by jsbt

[IWantCandy71]

They bring back, and keep, actors all the time who are far less talented than RoHo. I can take or leave RoHo, I'm not making a suggestion to keep him around because I can't bear to see him leave. I was simply responding to the subject of a hypothetical third character.

But I think *everyone* jumps hoops to justify those they want to keep around, and those they don't, they won't even bother trying to justify their existence, even if there might be a reason.  I can think of several actors who have come back to this show just this year that weren't needed, and  have no doubt someone would argue that they are needed.

It's a YMMV thing.

[Dandesun]

Yes, I understand that... but there's 'this character isn't needed' vs 'we need to come up with as many different characters for this one actor to play one after the other after the other in order to keep him around.'

[Francie]

And what is RoHo doing on the show that's so unbelievably amazing that it warrants all sorts of gymnastics to keep him around? He's snarky? Is that it? He's pretty to look at?

 

I've been a fan of the guy for a long time but there just doesn't seem to be anything going on that justifies keeping him around. Why, exactly, can't this guy be let go? When did he become such a sacred cow?

I honestly think the only one who can answer that question is Frank Valentini. 

[IWantCandy71]

Has there been some announcement there's going to be a third character? Because if not, I guess I don't get it. By my recollection, they didn't have Roger play Franco by choice-it was because he couldn't play Todd due to the Prospect Lawsuit. But that didn't nullify his contract with GH, did it, as an actor? Wouldn't they have had to either use him as a new character, or buy his contract out? Because that's the way I understood it, and if that's true....they were doing the most financially sound thing at the time-they weren't doing it because they WANTED to.

 

And yeah, that makes all the difference.

Edited August 27, 2015 by IWantCandy71

[Dandesun]

From what I recall, KA specifically said that they all got new contracts with the new characters. At that point, it was a complete pissing contest between GH and PP/OLTL. After PP folded what was the point in putting so much damned effort into holding onto those three? They've got one left at this point and he's still a character that is utterly pointless to GH history no matter how many retcons they use to tie him to Scotty.

 

Kill him off and then reveal that Heather was lying about his paternity so Scotty can say 'Thank God!!' and if they want Scotty to have a kid BRING SERENA ON! Stop just making up random kids for him out of nowhere and use the one the audience actually knows he has! Bring Christina too, I guess. I know it's a shock but people should be able to exist on this show without having sprung from Sonny's decrepit bloodline.

[Francie]

Has there been some announcement there's going to be a third character? Because if not, I guess I don't get it. By my recollection, they didn't have Roger play Franco by choice-it was because he couldn't play Todd due to the Prospect Lawsuit. But that didn't nullify his contract with GH, did it, as an actor? Wouldn't they have had to either use him as a new character, or buy his contract out? Because that's the way I understood it, and if that's true....they were doing the most financially sound thing at the time-they weren't doing it because they WANTED to.

 

And yeah, that makes all the difference.

 

When Easton, Howarth, and Alderson first came over to GH, ABC knew that the characters were allowed to be used by a one-year license.  Thus, unless the executives at ABC were absolute and complete morons -- and having drafted my fair share of contracts, I truly and absolutely mean that  -- their contracts with ABC or GH would have lasted only one year.  If they did have multi-year contracts, the only way to make them workable would have been to have had a provision in them that automatically ended the contracts upon revocation of the license.  To think that ABC would not have had that caveat is unthinkable.

 

Then again ... I have seen some seriously stupid things in my day.

 

But in any case, the issue of ABC losing the licensing rights was well in their contemplation when Howard, Easton and Alderson came over. There's no reason why they should have been stuck in a situation where they had to keep the actors but dump the characters. 

 

There's other reasons to think that they were truly fired, given how SAG rules work. 

 

I think that Frank got hard-headed and insisted on them staying.  Ron and he were happy to have the idea out there that GH was obligated to keep the actors. That way they could duck criticism. But they deserve it. Kiki, Franco, and Silas were vanity projects for Frank and Ron, nothing more. They were not making lemonade out of lemons, as shown by the fact that, years later, we are still stuck with those horrible characters.

 

I likewise refuse to believe that their 'outs' were for a year or more. Even at 6 months, take the hit and dump the characters. There's no point in lowering the ratings -- and thus the advertising rates -- by featuring 'walking dead' characters who we know are going to leave when their contracts are finally up.

[Kitty Redstone]

If he and MS have to stay until their contracts run out, put them both in a hospital for the criminally insane.

 

She could just go back to being in a coma.  That way she can't flail around repeating her lines and making stupid faces.  While she lays in the hospital, in the background, other stories could be going on around her until her contract runs out or she's fired.

 

If RoHo can't be fired, I co-sign the idea of him as a murder victim turned snarky ghost.

 

I'd also love to see Scotty and Ric as sleazy law firm partners who sabotage either other. 

Edited August 27, 2015 by Kitty Redstone

[IWantCandy71]

Thanks for the explanation. I mostly avoided all the Prospect talk when it happened. Knowing that makes me wonder though, what exactly happened that culminated in Easton being fired? I didn't read any of the interviews, because at the time I thought he left voluntarily.

[LeftPhalange]

Even if Ron and Frank were *forced* to keep RoHo they didn't have to make him Franco. He could've been anyone. They chose this. 

Edited August 27, 2015 by LeftPhalange

[TeeVee329]

Kill him [Franco] off and then reveal that Heather was lying about his paternity so Scotty can say 'Thank God!!' and if they want Scotty to have a kid BRING SERENA ON! Stop just making up random kids for him out of nowhere and use the one the audience actually knows he has! Bring Christina too, I guess. I know it's a shock but people should be able to exist on this show without having sprung from Sonny's decrepit bloodline.

 

All of this.  And then have Scotty tie one of those MIB memory erasing thingees to a selfie stick and have him paint the town of Port Charles "forgetting Franco red".

Thanks for the explanation. I mostly avoided all the Prospect talk when it happened. Knowing that makes me wonder though, what exactly happened that culminated in Easton being fired? I didn't read any of the interviews, because at the time I thought he left voluntarily.

 

I think ME/Silas was the sacrifice they had to make to keep pushing Franco and Nina.

[magnolia11]

I think ME/Silas was the sacrifice they had to make to keep pushing Franco and Nina.

 

There were rumors that Ric was originally supposed to be the murder victim, but that was nixed by higher-ups who thought it would be a bad idea to kill off another actual established GH character after all the blowback they got when Duke was killed off.  So Silas was sacrificed instead.

Edited August 27, 2015 by magnolia11

[jsbt]

I have no indication that ABC was forced to rehire these guys. They wrote the OLTL characters out and could have let the actors go. They chose to immediately bring them back as new people to make a point to Prospect Park for 'stealing their property,' and they chose to make Roger Howarth play Franco. They had other options, either to have him play someone else or to let him go. I also have no indication of a third character.

 

As for Michael Easton, they re-signed him to a new contract against all odds earlier this year when Silas had already exhausted story and been phased out of the regular rotation. Obviously, FV at some point decided even his ego re: OLTL wasn't worth it anymore, since nothing changed for the Silas character, and finally he decided to give up and let him go at the end of some contract cycle. Probably to free up money for Rebecca Budig.

Edited August 27, 2015 by jsbt

[Oracle42]

Weren't the Serial Killer and We Never Cared originally supposed to bond over Ric's dead body?

[jsbt]

Yeah, originally the murder mystery was Ric.

[TeeVee329]

Are we supposed to pretend to be surprised tomorrow when it turns out it was Donna Mills who killed Silas?

Edited August 27, 2015 by TeeVee329

[yowsah1]

When Easton, Howarth, and Alderson first came over to GH, ABC knew that the characters were allowed to be used by a one-year license.  Thus, unless the executives at ABC were absolute and complete morons -- and having drafted my fair share of contracts, I truly and absolutely mean that  -- their contracts with ABC or GH would have lasted only one year.  If they did have multi-year contracts, the only way to make them workable would have been to have had a provision in them that automatically ended the contracts upon revocation of the license.  To think that ABC would not have had that caveat is unthinkable.

 

Then again ... I have seen some seriously stupid things in my day.

 

But in any case, the issue of ABC losing the licensing rights was well in their contemplation when Howard, Easton and Alderson came over. There's no reason why they should have been stuck in a situation where they had to keep the actors but dump the characters. 

 

There's other reasons to think that they were truly fired, given how SAG rules work. 

 

I think that Frank got hard-headed and insisted on them staying.  Ron and he were happy to have the idea out there that GH was obligated to keep the actors. That way they could duck criticism. But they deserve it. Kiki, Franco, and Silas were vanity projects for Frank and Ron, nothing more. They were not making lemonade out of lemons, as shown by the fact that, years later, we are still stuck with those horrible characters.

 

I remember reading news stories at the time Prospect Park was launching nuOLTL that some sort of an agreement had been reached with Prospect Park where the actors could do their stints at nuOLTL and then come back over to GH when nuOLTL wasn't filming and continue playing their characters there.  I believe that was one of the points of contention of the lawsuit, that GH supposedly wasn't playing by the rules set down and were launching plotlines for the characters that the nuOLTL people couldn't make work with what they had planned.  (I remeber this because I was one what seemed like 3 posters of TWoP at the time who was skeptical that the GH and nuOLTL people could carry off the level of close coordination needed to hand stories back and forth to each other.  And as it turned out, they couldn't).

[Tiger]

If Roger Howarth really is some great talent, they should kill off Franco ans have him play random one-day temp recasts as needed.

For example, one day he could play Epiphany Johnson, and the next day play Spencer Cassadine, and then the day after that play Judge KFC.

[kristabell]

I remember reading news stories at the time Prospect Park was launching nuOLTL that some sort of an agreement had been reached with Prospect Park where the actors could do their stints at nuOLTL and then come back over to GH when nuOLTL wasn't filming and continue playing their characters there.  I believe that was one of the points of contention of the lawsuit, that GH supposedly wasn't playing by the rules set down and were launching plotlines for the characters that the nuOLTL people couldn't make work with what they had planned.  (I remeber this because I was one what seemed like 3 posters of TWoP at the time who was skeptical that the GH and nuOLTL people could carry off the level of close coordination needed to hand stories back and forth to each other.  And as it turned out, they couldn't).

The 3 OLTL characters (actually 7 if you count Cole, Hope, Blair, and Tea) were licensed back to ABC for a year. Part of the lawsuit is that ABC did not abide by certain terms (such as not killing off characters) and that they failed to coordinate any stories with PP during that year (which they were supposed to have done.). ABC and FV gambled that PP would not be able to get up and running in time, the characters would revert to ABC, and they wouldn't have to worry about having broken the terms of the contract. They were wrong. PP originally offered for the three characters to go back and forth between the two shows, but RC/FV did not want to relinquish any control over the characters to PP. I.e., they didn't want Todd married to Blair, John married to Natalie, Starr doing whatever. So ABC nixed the cross-overs.

If Roger Howarth really is some great talent, they should kill off Franco ans have him play random one-day temp recasts as needed.

For example, one day he could play Epiphany Johnson, and the next day play Spencer Cassadine, and then the day after that play Judge KFC.

Or, they could let him go and the money and air time could go to GH vets and established characters.

[ulkis]

Apparently it will turn out that Madeline overpowered Silas. Come on. I know Silas is spindly, but Donna Mills is still 70 compared to his 45. And I was someone who defended Obrecht overpowering Robert but this is ridiculous.

[Badsamaritan]

Apparently it will turn out that Madeline overpowered Silas. Come on. I know Silas is spindly, but Donna Mills is still 70 compared to his 45. And I was someone who defended Obrecht overpowering Robert but this is ridiculous.

Wasn't he found face down? I remember a pic somewhere that he was when Neens was talking to his dead body. So why wouldn't they just say Silas made the mistake of turning his back on her & she stabbed him? Just silly. And for no good fucking reason.

[Tiger]

Apparently it will turn out that Madeline overpowered Silas. Come on. I know Silas is spindly, but Donna Mills is still 70 compared to his 45. And I was someone who defended Obrecht overpowering Robert but this is ridiculous.

O and Mags must be in the same Zumba class as Hells.

[TeeVee329]

I don't remember Obrecht overpowering Robert.  He shoved her away from Robin, and when his back was turned, she jabbed the syringe into his chest.

 

That said, I would laugh my ass off if the scene showed Michael Easton getting overpowered by Donna Mills.  That's some funny shit.

[ulkis]

http://tvsourcemagazine.com/2015/08/general-hospital-spoilers-august-31-2015-edition/

 

I like the Jordan/Dante spoiler

 

ETA: Maxie audition for Dillon's movie? What? And how will Nathan take that?? Um, what would it matter to Nathan?? They really have gotten out "I Love Lucy" scripts for those two, haven't they?

Edited August 28, 2015 by ulkis

[mybabyaidan]

Too much Carly/Sonny/Morgan but I'll take that over Franco/Nina/Madeline any damn day.

 

Sam has been stuck in the same spoiler purgatory for 100 years. Sigh.

[BestestAuntEver]

Or, they could let him go and the money and air time could go to GH vets and established characters.

**blink blink----blank stare---blink blink**

~GH and ABCD execs response to thought and logic

Well, I'll safely be on the barge for the foreseeable future.

Edited August 28, 2015 by BestestAuntEver

[TeeVee329]

The headline for me is that Anna's back.  But with her, comes Sloane.  Ugh.  I hope her and Sloane discussing their "relationship" is her putting him in check that they have none, end of.

 

I hate everything about TJ and Sonny's relationship.

[SlovakPrincess]

The thing is, she may come back and the ratings won't improve. And the network will be all, "see, vets aren't that important." But it won't at all be because fans don't love FH, it's that they hate how the Anna character has been written for the last year or so and can't bear to see her with Sloane and / or not looking for her kid.

Edited August 28, 2015 by SlovakPrincess

[ulkis]

Too much Carly/Sonny/Morgan but I'll take that over Franco/Nina/Madeline any damn day.

 

Sam has been stuck in the same spoiler purgatory for 100 years. Sigh.

 

I used to think that, but between BC and Morgan getting handed some "wah wah he has a brain disease*" story, I think I may hate seeing Morgan almost just as much. Which is sad but here I am.

 

*If his brain disease were actually that he literally did not have a brain, I'd be on board.

[Donny Ketchum]

Even if Ron and Frank were *forced* to keep RoHo they didn't have to make him Franco. He could've been anyone. They chose this. 

Ron had a whole list of characters he wanted to make him.  Franco wasn't on said list.  It was the network that pressured him into making him as such.

[jsbt]

I don't believe that at all. Yes, other characters were considered, but a (ridiculous) determination was made internally that only Franco would be "dynamic" and dangerous in the same manner as Todd.

 

And I don't believe this was an order from the network by any stretch of the imagination - firstly, no one is left at the company with this kind of arcane GH knowledge that would have led them to that character, nor would any of them (IMO) have an interest in recasting a major celebrity or in utilizing a serial killer as a leading man. That kind of bugshit arrogance is all Frank and Ron - 'we can make any rapist/murderer work!' Whichever man first came up with it, though, everything I've seen suggests that GH making Howarth play Franco was a deliberate choice they dove into head first and with great commitment. Right to the end, Ron was saying he didn't care what the audience thought because he liked Franco and Carly, and did some of his last press calling Franco an unlikely hero for Nina in this murder mystery.

Edited August 28, 2015 by jsbt

[Badsamaritan]

I do see one interesting thing from the spoilers, no Jiz scenes. Unless they're gonna throw them in as a surprise, this may be part of the tweaking they're doing. The relationship certainly hasn't brought in the eyeballs and I'm pretty sure BM is so over playing second fiddle in his own story. Believe me, Billy, I'm right there with you.

[LeftPhalange]

 

Lulu suggests that Maxie audition for Dillon’s movie. How will Nathan take the news?

 

Why would talking tree care ab...nevermind. I don't care. 

 

 

Jake and Sam continue their investigation into Nikolas and the ELQ takeover.

 

This is shocking. 

[ulkis]

Ron had a whole list of characters he wanted to make him.  Franco wasn't on said list.  It was the network that pressured him into making him as such.

 

Where did you hear this? Ron said several times at the time when they brought him on as Franco that that was the character they picked because he was controversial, off-beat, and that was the kind of character RoHo is good at.

[TeeVee329]

The thing is, she may come back and the ratings won't improve. And the network will be all, "see, vets aren't that important." But it won't at all be because fans don't love FH, it's that they hate how the Anna character has been written for the last year or so and can't bear to see her with Sloane and / or not looking for her kid.

 

But it's not like the show's heralding her return, like Days is with its parade of returning vets.  There's no, "OMG Anna's back. ya'll!" promos or anything.  Hell, in that spoiler write-up, she's buried under mounds of "Aren't Carly and Sonny awesome?  Is their romance so sweet?" garbage.  So I don't think they're looking at her with regards to the ratings at all.

Edited August 28, 2015 by TeeVee329

[SlovakPrincess]

I don't put it past them to not promote her, continue to undervalue the character ... but still use her (and Laura's and Lucky's OOC and badly written returns) as supposed evidence that they should keep doing what they want to do anyway (emphasize Sonny and whatever "star" they think is some big get from other shows).

The spoilers indicate they think Sonny is the fix, while the online criticism from fans is that it's the bad writing for other vets that has pissed them off. It's easier for the network to just give Sonny more screen time than figure out how to fix the storytelling and address the mess Ron made of beloved characters.

Edited August 28, 2015 by SlovakPrincess