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January 10, 2006
Everyone knows that anything worth reading begins with a disclaimer. It works for television, right? The moment I see a disclaimer, I know I just have to wait and at least peek at what could be so…disclaim worthy. So here’s the hook:
The author makes no representations or warranties, expressed or implied, regarding this material, including, without limitation, any implied warranties of the fitness of this material for any particular purpose. The author disclaims any warranties, express or implied, regarding the accuracy, completeness, timeliness, or reliability of the text herein. Under no circumstances shall the author, the website, the author’s friends, family or pets be liable for damages, whether direct, indirect, special or consequential damages resulting from the laying on of eyes to this material forthwith and hereto. Past performance is not necessarily indicative of future performance. Just so you know.
Whew. Now that we have that out of the way, a little background. I’ve watched General Hospital forever and while I’ve taken short “breaks” before, they were usually only in the visual sense, meaning that even if I wasn’t watching, I was aware of the goings on in Port Charles. It’s difficult, having friends here at Eye On Soaps, to really escape it since discussion among us usually turns soapy at some point. This time however, I truly escaped what used to be my escape. Somewhere around the end of the summer 2005, I just quit. Cold turkey. I have something of an addictive personality, and that results in an all or nothing type of mentality most of the time. One of the reasons I held out so long, even after not enjoying the show much, was because it just really bothered me to miss it. If I was supposedly “watching” and writing about it, then I needed to see every episode, in all its glory (?). I’ve never been good at just popping in when I feel like it. I can’t really explain why it was different this time. It just was, and I was just tired. So I stopped. I stopped watching, I stopped reading about it, and I stopped discussing it for the most part. Occasionally, someone would tell me something that was going on (“Emily said ‘um’ 85 times today!” “Apparently that whole ‘I’ll double my chances by sleeping with two!’ thing finally paid off for Courtney and she has her miracle pregnancy!”) and I’d say “uh huh” and go on with my day. Just did not care. No slips. No leafing through a magazine sporting a tantalizing headline at the checkout. Nothing.
And you
know what? I really didn’t miss it. I know that’s terrible to say, on a
soap site and all…but I really didn’t. It was actually rather freeing to
not be tied to something every afternoon. My schedule is such that I can
rarely watch GH in its regular timeslot. I have to tape, and that gets
complicated. It’s work. And if the payoff isn’t worth it anymore…well,
it really just felt like a weight off my shoulders. I missed writing, and
I missed contact with readers, but that’s about it. I was determined not
to start watching again just so I could have something to write about
because that felt like a disservice. One day on the radio, I heard a
promo implying that Jason, after an injury or something, was questioning
his current line of work. I sat up and took notice! Imagine that, Jason
developing a conscience of sorts! I didn’t expect to see GH go there,
what a pleasant turn of events. Not enough to make me turn it on, but
nice to hear nonetheless. Next up were a few trusted friends telling me
that things weren’t so bad in Port Charles. I started developing a little
curiosity. I wondered what Nikolas and Courtney were like together. I
wondered how Emily was handling being the odd man out (like a Saint, with
lowered lids and a breathy “um, I, um, understand” I was told). Then
Laura Wright was cast as Carly and I knew I was going to have to at least
turn it on, because GH gums up and spits out Carlys like a toddler does
strained peas. I couldn’t possibly completely miss one of the Carly
incarnations, could I? Still, I gave it some time. Slowly it built, and
when the curiosity became such that I actually wanted to turn it on, still
I waited. I asked for advice, considered it all carefully and determined
that while I wanted to see it, I didn’t want to go back to being tied up
(not to mention being gagged) by
So, I turned it on for the first time during the aftermath of the train wreck. I was, of course, shocked to see that this mode of transportation had finally made it’s way to Port Charles, after all these years. I was sad that I’d undoubtedly missed many a wonderful scene in the train set, which now lay in ruins. Probably all the Spencer’s got together and took a couple family vacations via train. Probably Ric and Alexis traveled back to visit his friends and family back home. Probably Sonny sent some henchmen to make hits, in areas that required travel by train. It hurts that I missed all that, but I was determined to get past it. I watched about a week’s worth of train aftermath. I was thrilled to see Manny (Robert LaSardo) on board (quite literally even!) since I’ve always enjoyed his work. I haven’t seen much of him in scenes with Sonny, but even with the inevitable castrating of any nemesis via dialogue, I’ll bet Manny still pulls off being actually threatening. I watched that week and then I turned it off. My own little personal test; just to see if I could. Turns out it was no problem at all. I was totally lost while watching, and in some ways it’s a lot harder to get back into it than I thought it would be. I had heard Court and Nikolas were together, but they weren’t acting like it. Carly 4.0 had just started, and I had no idea why people had finally noticed she was insane and locked her up. Why now? Had she driven her car off an even bigger cliff than usual? No idea. Jason had a headache, which is totally appropriate after all of the headaches he’s given me over the last few years, but I had no inclination as to why Robin had come running home with a suitcase full of…what? Viagra? Sure…you have a headache Jason, we know, “not tonight”. Then there were these young dudes running around saving people…I had no clue who they were. Turns out I forgot about that young buck Maxie found when she had her heart redone or touched up or whatever a few months back. Surprised to see he’s still around. Can’t remember his name. So you see? It’s hard! So I switched it off, and left it off until last week. Last Monday was my day of return. I sat down, all set to take notes and lo and behold, there was football on my screen. Trials and travails of a non-viewer, you don’t read in thirty different places that GH is being pre-empted. So that sucked, but I got back on the horse on Tuesday, and here I am.
As the disclaimer stated, I cannot be held responsible for the fact that these opinions may drive you insane. I fully recognize that I have absolutely no ground on which to stand for …well, any of them. I haven’t seen what you’ve seen, endured what you’ve endured. Everything looks better after a break, I can tell you that. The annoyances are still there, but after a break they’re almost a comfort. Or um, um, um…not. But either way, they’re more palatable. And truthfully, I still have pretty much no idea what’s going on. I realize I could spend hours reading recaps, but that seems to lean toward the obsessive and we just don’t want to go there! So I’m just flying blind. Therefore, the opinions herein are completely worthless on any level other than if you’re curious about how things look to a returning viewer. I’m perfectly fine with the knowledge that most of you will probably be cursing me under your breath and wondering aloud just *how* I’ll feel about A, B, or C *after* I’ve endured / enjoyed it for a reasonable amount of time. Consider this like your own personal scientific experiment. Watch me be the rat in your maze, see how I change and evolve. Just promise to feed me well and name me something cute like Val or Samantha.
Could we maybe get three or four more petite brunettes? Just for fun? Because it only took me three tries to figure out it was Liz approaching Emily in the park. C’mon, give a girl a challenge!
I could’ve sworn, and I know you’ll correct me if I’m wrong, that I saw Bobbie having an adult conversation in the hospital the other day. It appeared that Noah was on the other end of the dialogue, but I was sure Carly would pop out from behind a desk or something since last I remember, Bobbie only came out to play if Carly needed to say something. Quite refreshing really! Speaking of “refreshed”, there was plenty of that in the room wasn’t there? But hey, it’s nice just the same.
So Diego is in jail? Yowza. Can’t say I’m necessarily sad about that. He really didn’t have the hair for this show anyway, which became perfectly clear after watching the spectacle that was the snow accumulation on Lucas and Dillon’s respective heads outside Kelly’s on New Year’s Eve. I couldn’t look away. You could hold the winter Olympics up there, I’m telling ya.
Watching Michael try to get *into* that hole in the ice was the most entertaining thirty seconds of my week. Maybe it’s time someone asks him if there is someone under the ice, “calling to him”? At some point, one has to wonder.
I also expect to be fully corrected on this, but I swear for a moment I felt Nikolas and Courtney’s angst. When they “made up” after NYE…I felt it. This was the first I’d seen them together, in a romantic fashion, but sheesh. While I like Nikolas just fine, I haven’t felt his romantic entanglements all that often so this was a nice surprise.
Luke is blackmailing Jax? Excellent. I see that Jax is in hyper drive again, making her “his own” and all. Brenda probably wouldn’t be happy to see his possessive freakiness extends beyond her board shorts and straight jacket blouses. While on one hand I appreciate the dimension to the wealthy chivalrous routine, I’d like to see it actually acknowledged for what it is. We’ll see.
“Now he’s a cop, so that’s over” …Luke Spencer. I’ve missed you Luke.
Lulu Spencer seems to be quite the little firecracker. What one would expect, no doubt. What I’ve seen, I’ve very much enjoyed. Wonderful to see the lack of Laura in her life acknowledged (more wonderful would be seeing Laura…when she was here last, why didn’t they at least tape two hours worth of comatose Genie Francis for such occasions?), as well as the lack of Luke. I love him, but he’s been a terrible father to both of his kids for the last few years. The fact that he knows it is the only thing that keeps it interesting at all. Watching him deal with his children for a change, without life and limb at risk, is refreshing.
It’s also refreshing to see that history is being acknowledged in little ways. Having Jason and Robin rehash the AJ/Michael stuff is great! I could live without Sam promising to never be…uh, human…(crap, did I just kind of defend Robin? Pretend that didn’t happen!) like Robin after every conversation she witnesses between them, but beggars can’t be choosers and all that. I’ve never minded Sam one way or the other that much, but I’m not overjoyed to see that she’s still bathing at least three times a day so as to stay out of Jason’s business. It’s a sad day when Robin makes you look pale in comparison, because she has usually had the opposite effect for me. Either way, it is nice to see that the past hasn’t been forgotten and that the moment that really did change a LOT of lives hasn’t been dismissed.
I’ve also missed John Durant and I’m pleased to see he’s still around. I didn’t really expect he would be. I’d bet money that the extra touching of the picture in Sonny’s living room was not in the script, and this pleases me very much as well, lol. I don’t really have much to say about Sonny. Maurice Benard appears bored, as he did when I last watched. I think he can be a good actor, great even in moments, but it’s become clear to me that he needs to be challenged to get there. Whether by whatever actor he’s working with or by the dialogue itself, he needs that challenge. For the most part, it doesn’t appear he’s getting that at the moment. I haven’t seen enough of him with Laura Wright to know for sure about her, but I’m fairly comfortable saying that I haven’t seen it with Natalia Livingston. Then (and this is all personal conjecture, obviously) there are those that he *is* challenged by, but chooses for whatever reason to fake boredom with at times. That’d be Rick Hearst, Corbin Bernsen, and yep, I saw him do it once with Alicia L. Willis. Who knows, maybe it’s all in my head. ;)
Where’s Brooke Lynn? Camped outside Diego’s new digs, or is that long over? I’m worried over who will sing to us now. I doubt Noah can sing around that bottle always stuck in his mouth. Does the young Dr. Drake sing? I was all set to dislike him, but was warned that I probably wouldn’t be able to stick with that. Katrina, you were right. It probably has to do with him torturing Robin…I never could resist that.
As for Soily? Well, I learned my lesson. You just can’t joke around with some people can you? Ah well. It was inevitable that sooner or later someone would have to pick up the “bad boy gets good girl” reins from Zander, who better than Sonny? It’s such new territory for him! And the depth of the story is incalculable. Consider the long forgotten Carly/Zander moments…who among you doubted there would be quid pro quo? This is standard form soap script. And you know, why not? Let’s just lay future groundwork right here and now! This too shall pass and Sonny will need someone, I mean something, else to do. We’ve got to dig down another level or so, and next up, Lulu Spencer! So LuSon your standards and LuSon up those inhibitions! You know you want it.
Love to
hear from you, always!
Always love to hear from you! Want More of Sherry's Work? Sherry's Archives from 2003 - Jan 2005
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