General Hospital Watching General Hospital

[Daniel Avery]

A thread dedicated to discussing events on the longest-running network soap in the US. Current plots are obviously more 'hot', but feel free to reminisce if you feel the urge.

 

[Daniel Avery]

It's taken me about thirty years of soap viewing, but I've finally come to the conclusion that I hate serial killer stories, and GH's "hospital killer" story is the one who pushed me over the top. Lord knows I've sat through enough of them on other shows. Inevitably the writers decide to 'push it' by killing off a popular character in an unnecessarily brutal way (Quinn Harding, Nadine Cooper, FRANKIE FRAME, Dixie Martin, Jen Rappaport--gee, always women ) and now, Sabrina Santiago. Sabrina was the mother of a newborn, for God's sake, and didn't have a mean bone in her body. Even prickly TRACY loved her. She had potential to join three of GH's core families via Michael (she'd essentially be marrying into the Spencer, Quartermaine, and Corinthos families!), and little Teddy, along with any Michael/Sabrina children, could very well have been the next generation of Quartermaine heirs. And here we have Paul strangling her with his bare hands because she figured out he was the one who'd tried to kill Monica (and had killed the others).

I think any writers who suggest a serial killer story ought to immediately have their contract reviewed, because they obviously have run out of ideas.

Also leaving (but by choice) is Bryan Craig, who will leave the role of Morgan in November. I must say I never liked Morgan, though Craig seems an able actor. Even when Morgan was in a front-burner story I never felt his presence was needed.

Tyler Christopher (Nikolas) had gone into contract negotiations back in May (!) around the time he won the Lead Actor Emmy. It was reasonable for him to think he had a right to a better contract ($$), but apparently the show felt differently--either there wasn't money there, or the network didn't think he was "all that" after all. TC went on "leave" while the negotiations continued--Nikolas was briefly recast, then 'killed off' in a way that looked like he'd faked his death once again--but in August negotiations broke down, and last week it was announced he was not coming back. Whether they hire some (cheaper?) actor to resurrect the character is yet to be seen.

 

[Ray&Donna]

I have to say that, given the events of the past week, I have to wonder about the long-term survival of GH. After the wildly-inconsistent writing of this year, it's like the show has fallen off a cliff. Poor Teddy is now an orphan, and what was the point of bringing Carlos's lookalike brother onto the show and suggesting a new love triangle if they weren't going to keep Sabrina?

But Passanante and Altman were fairly poor writers on Y&R, so I guess I shouldn't have expected anything less.

 

[Daniel Avery]

I can only guess they will hand the baby off to Carlos's brother (Juan?) and send him back to Puerto Rico in an effort to 'tie up loose ends'. There might be a half-hearted suggestion of a custody battle between Juan and Michael/Tracy, but of course it will go nowhere because 1) the writers want us to forget Sabrina and her baby, and 2) the writers can't keep their focus on anything for any period of time. Of course if Nina starts drooling over that baby and getting ideas, I would not be surprised.

 

[Ray&Donna]

Of course if Nina starts drooling over that baby and getting ideas, I would not be surprised.

Truth. If Joe/Jose is offered money by Nina for permanent custody of Teddy, I won't be a bit surprised. I will also roll my eyes. lol

 

[Daniel Avery]

...and man, when they want to tie up a loose end, they get right down to business. In ONE episode Joe (not Juan) shows up to claim his nephew, the Q's kick up a stink, Michael decides to cave in, and Joe's off to PR with baby Teddy, never to be seen again (I would guess). It's bothersome that Joe would leave before the funeral--not paying his respects to Sabrina, nor giving anyone else a chance to say good-bye to the baby--but I guess they needed to save the $$$ that would be paid to Jeffrey Parise in order to have other GH characters attend.

At least Nina won't get a chance to hover over the baby.

I was under the impression that Paul's motivation (in going on this killing spree) was to get GH closed down. He accomplished that, so I was surprised he showed up at the Q mansion to try once again to kill Monica. What a relief to hear Tracy say there was a guard at Monica's door (how....uncharacteristically intelligent!). Still....he lived at the Q mansion for a month or two when he first returned, and never wanted to bump her off back then. What's changed? I'm getting mad here, 'cause Monica is a favorite of mine. In a perfect world, Jason would put a world-a-hurt on Paul when he found out Paul tried to kill his mother---that's a beatdown I'd love to see.

On a brighter note: could this sudden need to shut down GH (in the storyline) be a pretext for the show to remodel and expand the main hospital sets? When the characters return to work, they may have a nicer place to work/be seen. It would be a nice gift to the fans, since the hospital ought to be the hub of all stories on a show called General Hospital.

 

[Ray&Donna]

....And we're back to the Corinthoses and Jeromes making empty threats and slinging tepid barbs at one another. That didn't take long--but Morgan can't be gone soon enough for my taste.

...and man, when they want to tie up a loose end, they get right down to business. In ONE episode Joe (not Juan) shows up to claim his nephew, the Q's kick up a stink, Michael decides to cave in, and Joe's off to PR with baby Teddy, never to be seen again (I would guess). It's bothersome that Joe would leave before the funeral--not paying his respects to Sabrina, nor giving anyone else a chance to say good-bye to the baby--but I guess they needed to save the $$$ that would be paid to Jeffrey Parise in order to have other GH characters attend.

I was going to post that they had hurriedly dumped the Puerto Ricans, as well. I'm sure Felix will soon follow, as A) the hospital is closed, and B) we can't have any pesky connections to Sabrina lingering.

At least Nina won't get a chance to hover over the baby.

Right? But then I doubt even she would have been able to afford what the Quartermaines would have charged.

I was under the impression that Paul's motivation (in going on this killing spree) was to get GH closed down. He accomplished that, so I was surprised he showed up at the Q mansion to try once again to kill Monica. What a relief to hear Tracy say there was a guard at Monica's door (how....uncharacteristically intelligent!). Still....he lived at the Q mansion for a month or two when he first returned, and never wanted to bump her off back then. What's changed? I'm getting mad here, 'cause Monica is a favorite of mine. In a perfect world, Jason would put a world-a-hurt on Paul when he found out Paul tried to kill his mother---that's a beatdown I'd love to see.

I'm still not sure what his motivation is, unless it has something to do with his borderline-homicidal freak-outs any time his daughter is mentioned. Also, they seem to be altogether confused about what to do with Jason--is he a Quartermaine, or does he want to resume his bromance with Sonny? Either way, I still feel that Billy Miller is wasted in the role.

On a brighter note: could this sudden need to shut down GH (in the storyline) be a pretext for the show to remodel and expand the main hospital sets? When the characters return to work, they may have a nicer place to work/be seen. It would be a nice gift to the fans, since the hospital ought to be the hub of all stories on a show called General Hospital.

In a week where a nurse was murdered and her doctor brother-in-law rapidly dispatched, I wouldn't count on it. But I suppose there's always room for hope. Like, hope that Paul could murder Claudette next and save us all from the writers turning Nathan into the village idiot.

 

[Daniel Avery]

I fear the Village Idiot title has already been bestowed upon, of all people, my Beloved Bitch Goddess, Dr. Obrecht. After seeing her being conned by that rank amateur, Claudette, I felt I needed to take a shower. The Dr. Obrecht I know would have sent that blond twit through a meat grinder for daring to mess with her, not behave like some fool over some lies that you just KNOW are lies. Things are quite wrong in PC when the smartest person in the room is MAXIE. I have to wonder if the death of Sabrina and the neutering of Dr. Obrecht are attempts to un-do some of the stories and characters of the Ron Carlivati writing era. The writers similarly don't seem to care for my dear, Insanely Hot!Nathan, because his role as the town hottie has been challenged by Griffin. Granted, the camera LOVES Matt Cohen, but IHNathan is still my #1.

Paul supposedly murdered Kyle Sloane because Sloane raped Paul's daughter Susan off-screen. They glossed over that whole plot point since it was a re-write of the original motive, which was that Paul killed blackmailer Sloane to have a convenient corpse to substitute for Carlos's (when Anna was convinced she'd shot and killed Carlos). I'm guessing that they are waiting for Finola Hughes to return from vacation (she gets Tony Geary-style summers off from the show) to have HER solve the hospital killer case, since the police seem totally dis-engaged. Perhaps SHE knows more about the Susan/Paul situation since she knows the story about Susan and Kyle.

The Julian/Sonny crap is tiresome, and I can only hope that through some wonderful divine intervention, they end up killing each other.

 

[Ray&Donna]

I fear the Village Idiot title has already been bestowed upon, of all people, my Beloved Bitch Goddess, Dr. Obrecht. After seeing her being conned by that rank amateur, Claudette, I felt I needed to take a shower. The Dr. Obrecht I know would have sent that blond twit through a meat grinder for daring to mess with her, not behave like some fool over some lies that you just KNOW are lies. Things are quite wrong in PC when the smartest person in the room is MAXIE. I have to wonder if the death of Sabrina and the neutering of Dr. Obrecht are attempts to un-do some of the stories and characters of the Ron Carlivati writing era. The writers similarly don't seem to care for my dear, Insanely Hot!Nathan, because his role as the town hottie has been challenged by Griffin. Granted, the camera LOVES Matt Cohen, but IHNathan is still my #1.

I was really surprised to see Obrecht again, as it seemed like she hadn't been on for at least a month. Also, I think Nathan and his mutter (lol) are the two remaining characters of the Carlivati era. It's not unlike when Maria Arena Bell killed off every one of Lynn-Marie Latham's creations on Y&R, though most of that was justified.

Paul supposedly murdered Kyle Sloane because Sloane raped Paul's daughter Susan off-screen. They glossed over that whole plot point since it was a re-write of the original motive, which was that Paul killed blackmailer Sloane to have a convenient corpse to substitute for Carlos's (when Anna was convinced she'd shot and killed Carlos). I'm guessing that they are waiting for Finola Hughes to return from vacation (she gets Tony Geary-style summers off from the show) to have HER solve the hospital killer case, since the police seem totally dis-engaged. Perhaps SHE knows more about the Susan/Paul situation since she knows the story about Susan and Kyle.

I'm not saying an unseen character can't drive story effectively, but it seems that without Susan on canvas (and we have enough characters as it is, so I am not advocating for her to arrive in town) that it is hard to understand if she really is the mitigating factor in Paul's....psychosis. Not to mention the fact that, when Carlos returned from the dead, I was so confused, and still am. Anna shot him point blank! Of course that's not unlike when Cane Ashby died on Y&R, in a bloody mess, only to return as a ghost and then an evil twin. Apparently Carlos was a triplet.

The Julian/Sonny crap is tiresome, and I can only hope that through some wonderful divine intervention, they end up killing each other.

Unfortunately Maurice has been anointed the new Geary; Sonny would only die if he opted to leave the show.

 

[Daniel Avery]

Dr. Obrecht ought to have been more involved in the serial killer story. She was...briefly, but at some point they decided to drop the feud between Obrecht and Dr. Finn, and the idea that she should be a suspect. I know Kathleen Gati has outside projects she works on (which leads me to believe she is not a contract player, though I have no idea), but a menacing character like her, with a history of no qualms about killing people, should have been more of a factor. I don't know if they wrote around her outside schedule or what, but something tells me they just don't want to write the character properly because they don't 'get' her.

They certainly don't know/haven't known what to do with Paul almost from the start. I'm reminded that the shooting of Sonny was another story they ret-conned. We saw Paul shoot Sonny, yet a bit later the characters were all saying that Carlos had done it (even Carlos). Changing the shooter meant not having to explain just why Paul did it.

 

[Ray&Donna]

Call me a terrible person, but I need someone to shoot Nelle; she may be a perfectly nice actress, but I find her sudden need to be in every storyline very tiresome. Also, I have never exactly trusted her or her backstory--I feel as though, in spite of her being the donor, she is still working some kind of angle.

 

[Ray&Donna]

Dr. Obrecht ought to have been more involved in the serial killer story. She was...briefly, but at some point they decided to drop the feud between Obrecht and Dr. Finn, and the idea that she should be a suspect. I know Kathleen Gati has outside projects she works on (which leads me to believe she is not a contract player, though I have no idea), but a menacing character like her, with a history of no qualms about killing people, should have been more of a factor. I don't know if they wrote around her outside schedule or what, but something tells me they just don't want to write the character properly because they don't 'get' her.

That sort of reminds me of how Matt Ashford got dumped by DOOL every time a new head writing regime came on; no one seemed to 'get' how to write him.

 

[Daniel Avery]

They're trying to make the more savvy viewers believe that Nelle is in fact a child that Carly had as a teenager and gave up for adoption, a mirror image of how Carly was introduced with the intention of ruining Bobbie's life. The actress who plays Nelle played young Patricia Spencer in the flashbacks they did to when Luke was a teenager, so there is this idea sitting in the background that Nelle is somehow related to the Spencers. The idea (not a fact, BTW) that she is Josslyn's donor adds to the idea she's related to them. Still, I'm skeptical that she's a child Carly gave up simply because the scorched-earth policy she employed when she came to town would not have been quite as...scorching if she had done the same thing with a kid of hers. It would undermine, if not rewrite the whole Carly-vs.-Bobbie story way back when. I hope they will approach it from a different angle. Still, they definitely have some kind of plan for her other than just being Carly's mini-me.

 

[Ray&Donna]

Yuck...I wouldn't enjoy that at all. Carly has enough children to smother and/or ignore as it is. I remember a rumor at the time (two months ago) that she would actually be Jax's secret daughter, but then he seems to have vanished without a trace...unless I mixed his exit.

And I guess they finally answered the Paul/Susan question yesterday...sort of. I'm pretty sure Monica was too busy to realize her former brother-in-law had an axe to grind, but that didn't mean she needed to be attacked.

 

[Daniel Avery]

I haven't watched Tuesday and Wednesday's episodes yet but I've read summaries. The biggest plothole I see (hopefully it will be explained better) is the fact that Paul lived at the Q mansion for several weeks when he first came to town, and never felt the urge to murder Monica back then (or even be rude to her). Now, all of a sudden he has the urge every few days to kill her? I guess the whole 'scent of cologne' thing is why he feels he has to kill her now (after the attempt in her office), but....oh, deary deary dear....

I'll just be patient and wait to see if they explain this...typically they run about 50/50 in that. I'm just hopeful it will unravel before November Sweeps.

 

[Ray&Donna]

I kind of thought that, too...and even when he explained Monica's "role" in the story of Susan to Tracy, it still had all of the logic of flip flops in the dead of winter. lol

Maybe I should just watch the show on mute, while I play "Faces of the Heart" endlessly on my iPod.

 

[Daniel Avery]

So one of the murder victims ran the rehab program that Susan was kicked out of; Dr. Mays mishandled her rape kit; and Monica wrote some sort of letter to Susan saying "she couldn't help her" in reference to some sort of medical help. We already saw him kill Kyle Sloane. So....
1. There were three off-screen deaths at the hospital before people started taking notice. Did he mention why he killed the other two? Target Practice?
2. Why did he try to kill Bobbie Spencer? What did she do to anybody?
3. Wouldn't Monica know the name Susan Hornsby?
4. Susan was supposed to be living in Maine. Why are they suddenly saying she was living in Port Chuckles all this time, unbeknownst to all the PC residents who might have known and helped her? She is a Spencer cousin, after all.
5. Where the #$%^ is Jenny Eckert, Susan's mother, in all this? When Paul arrived, she said Jenny had left him for another man, implying she's still around somewhere.

Again, I haven't seen today (Thursday's) episode so maybe they'll address these plot points, but I'm not holding out much hope.

Once again Valentin Cassadine is inserted into the extended Westbourne/Obrecht/Reeves clan. My guess is that VC really is Charlotte's daddy, and Claudette knows it. The DNA test could be wonky because Valentin is in fact Nathan's real father, and the DNA was close enough to be labeled a match. It would be a stretch to reveal VC as Nathan's real father, but why not? Dr. O claimed Victor Cassadine was Nathan's father only because he was dead (and she killed him!), covering up who the REAL father was (Madeline even confirmed Liesl was lying) because she was afraid of Nathan's real father. Kind of like how Claudette is afraid of Valentin. It would be deliciously soapy, having Nathan going after his own father without knowing it, and Liesl secretly flipping out. Given the twisty relationships in the Westbourne/Obrecht clan we already know about, this would just continue their twisted family tree and graft it onto the Cassadines. And if Valentin could quickly rid us of that horrid Claudette, he'd immediately earn several points in my book. Charlotte could end up adopted by "Aunt Nina", a woman Valentin would approve of (since he slept with her a few months ago!).

 

[Ray&Donna]

LOL, they never adequately explained any of it, and it feels like life in Port Charles has advanced at least a day or two in the brief period of time since Paul has gone completely off the rails and decided Tracy needs to be "handled". I think they began the serial killer storyline without a plan, and are writing it spontaneously, hence Sabrina's impromptu death, and Susan residing in Maine but being raped in PC.

Bobbie would actually have to be onscreen longer than three minutes every other month in order to, you know, actually make her role in this make sense. I guess babysitting Avery is a full-time job; you can't even come downstairs! lol

I thought, too, that the random allusion to Valentin might lead to him being Nathan's father. He just seems so much younger than Liesel, though, not that age is necessarily a barrier. Of course, age is such a fluid thing in soaps. You can even de-age if the writers forget about you!

 

[Daniel Avery]

Oh, they can definitely de-SORAS you if they want to. It typically involves a recast.

The most infamous (in my opinion) was from The Edge of Night, with Nicole Drake Cavanaugh as the victim. She went from Maeve McGuire


to Jayne Bentzen


It wasn't overnight, thank goodness, but poor Nicole lost about fifteen years in a few months.

 

[Ray&Donna]

HAHA! And I guess as an Avery, you would be well acquainted with de-SORAS, or failing to age. lol

It also looks as though they updated the credits yesterday. Well, the cast photos, anyway.