Night Shift Episode 13: Time Served

Oh man, you guys, did you watch?  We could go into great detail about all the dropped storylines, plot holes, character destruction, plagiarism, and general incompetence involved in this show.  We could rant about how on a scale of one to ten this show, especially the last episode, would be like a minus 17.  We could write a thesis on how if the people behind Night Shift had made a conscious effort to stock it full of industrial-strength suck, it couldn't have been worse than what we got.  But even for you, dear readers, we won't do any of that.  It's too much effort. So after 12 painstakingly detailed recaps, for the finale we're casting that approach aside.  Instead, you get parts of our IM conversation from during the show, and random lists.  Uh, we hope it will be more enjoyable than it looks just written out like that.  But we're not promising anything.  The show may very well have zapped us of our ability to entertain, having set such a poor example itself.

Admittedly, we didn't go into the finale with the best of attitudes:

Becca: I am so glad this is the last hour of this crapfest that we'll have to sit through. It is going to be challenging to make a recap entertaining. I hope Patrick has at least one "hotly"-worthy moment.
Mallory: All I am hoping for is some Jason hilarity. I am looking forward to JASON. I am officially brainwashed
Becca: Right?! The episodes he wasn't on were the worst. Which is just...tragic. It's a soap opera tragedy. But without a dramatic death, or adultery, or a disfiguring accident.  Which is so wrong.  Speaking of tragedies, I have made the mistake of using the half-hour leading up to Night Shift to watch The Office ep that I TiVo'd earlier tonight.  Do you know how damaging it is going to be to my psyche to go from that brilliance to Night Shift?
Mallory: Maybe we can just recap The Office instead. "Regularly scheduled recapping will be pre-empted indefinitely for a show that doesn't blow"
Becca: I'm in.  And it's not even totally off-topic, since tonight's guest star on The Office was OMG EDWARD QUARTERMAINE!!!
Mallory: I KNOW!!!  I almost died
Becca: You know, if we do this right, maybe we can avoid the horrible topic of Night Shift entirely.
Mallory: Oh, we can try our hardest. Remember when the show didn't suck? In that first episode? Good times
Becca: I maintain that the boob job incident ruined the show's mojo. You can't recover from something like that.
Mallory: So true. Making Jason Thompson look skeevy is something that takes effort and these writers made that effort. Why they can't make it to, you know, tell a decent and cohesive story is a story for another time

But as has been true throughout these looooong 13 weeks, we were right not to heighten our expectations:

Becca: I know it's been about 15 minutes so I should be over it, but: WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT?!
Mallory: I'm trying to repress it, whatever it was
Becca: I think we need to put this in perspective. And also, composing lists always makes us feel better. Therefore, topic: Things that are worse than General Hospital: Night Shift
Becca: famine
Becca: war
Mallory: genocide
Becca: some diseases
Becca: animal cruelty
Mallory: child abuse
Becca: certain polyesters
Mallory: Hunter Tylo's boob job
Becca: Donald Trump's hair
Mallory: clowns
Becca: Hee!
Mallory: I'd rather watch Night Shift than IT , because IT could kill me and Night Shift only makes me want to kill myself, so at least I'd have a choice in the matter
Becca: You know what, I take back the Trump thing.  I would rather have stared at his hair for 13 one-hour segments than have watched this show.  And at least on The Apprentice people get fired. Plus I bet IT didn't ruin one of your celebrity crushes.
Mallory:  IT lived in my freezer and I was too freaked out to open the freezer to get ice cream. But Jason Thompson losing his dreaminess is probably slightly more tragic
Becca: I will fight hard to maintain my Jason Thompson crush.  None of this is his fault.  Do you think that a couple of episodes in, he and Kimberly McCullough realized what was going down and tried to escape?  Like, did they have to chain the soundstage doors?  I envision it like the prom scene in Carrie, only with slightly less pig's blood.
Mallory: I bet he and Kelly Monaco go out for drinks and are like, "No, seriously, what the hell did we do to those writers?"

Becca: Oh god, here we go. Why didn't I have more Grey Goose?
Mallory: Seriously, it's time to bust out the shot glass
Becca: "Previously, on Night Shift" . . .we stole 12 hours of your life you'll never get back, you gullible morons.
Mallory: Aren't they in an ER? That is no time for flirting. Oh, sorry, "flirting"
Becca: Oh my GOD, Robin's hair: why???
Mallory: Honestly, she should be jailed for that

. . . . .

Mallory: Oh! Billy Dee isn't dead! This is good news! Maybe we'll get another song and dance dream sequence to an oldies song
Becca: The screen helpfully tells me the finale is called "Time Served" -- genius! Watching this show has definitely been a sentence.
Becca: Another f'ing pregnant woman? Seriously? Do these writers know of not a single other medical emergency?
Mallory: It's either pregnant woman in peril or someone with a broken brain
Mallory: Robin's hair manages to look both dry and greasy. And also like someone cut her bangs with a butter knife. I can't get over it
Becca: It's horrible. It distracted me from the otherwise nice-ish-ness of that scene with her and Patrick in the locker room.

Possible Explanations for the Storyline- and Hair-Related Atrocities Forced on Kimberly McCullough and Jason Thompson

• retaliation for Gloria Monty's ghost's constant 'shipping of Robin and Patrick
• Bob Guza is angry that Jason Thompson gets to share a name with the holiest of hitmen and yet uses his power for good, not evil
• the NS brass is Team 50 Cent while Kimberly and Jason are Team Kanye
• a potent combination of anti-Canadianism and anti-Daytime-Emmy-winnerism
• executives were furious over the "Scrubs" nickname, particularly that it could inadvertently tie them to Zach Braff and therefore The Last Kiss

Mallory: Regina just said everything would be fine when Dr. Lee got there to take care of the baby. If that's not a death sentence, I don't know what is. They should have just paged Jason to do the delivery!
Becca: Dr. Lee, hey there. Shall we start keeping track of dropped storylines? (1) Kelly's sex addiction.
Mallory: (2) Everything Maxie related
Becca: (3) _____ Barrett, unless in the next 53 minutes they plan to reveal her identity, her connection to Jason, how she got injured, and what the consequences of her being in town are. Of course, these are the people who wrote Logan and Lulu's 35-minute romance, so maybe that could all happen.

Things With Fewer Holes Than Night Shift Plots

• swiss cheese
• fishnet stockings
• beehives
• Carlsbad caverns
• the entire catalog of Michael Bay

Becca: Jolene spoke nastily to the threatening-looking gang members. I'm sure that won't come back to bite her. And one of the gang dudes has a gun in the hospital. These writers really can't help themselves, can they?
Mallory: I love how the gang members having guns is bad, but Jason having a gun is like an angel having a harp, except angels aren't as good as Jason is

. . . . .

Becca: Another Billy Dee dream sequence? Really?
Mallory: Remember when Meredith met up with Denny and Hot Dead Bomb Guy on Grey's and I talked for weeks about how cheesy that was? This so has it beat
Becca: It so does. At least that had a scene with a cute dog. And Kyle Chandler.
Mallory: I hope the last thing I see before death isn't my younger self, because she'd totally be all, "But then in the Babysitters Club Super Special 2, they went to sleepaway camp and people were soooo mean to Mary Anne!"

Becca: JASON STOPS THE KILLER! Who could have seen this coming?!
Mallory: The look on Jolene's face was straight out of Scooby Doo. "I would have killed Billy Dee Williams, if it weren't for that meddling hitman/janitor!"
Becca: Hee. If this finale ends with someone pulling off a face to reveal his/her true identity, I could take back some of the things I said about it.
Mallory: Maybe MedCam will rip off his mask to reveal that he's actually _____ Barrett who will rip off her bandages to reveal that she's, like...Blackie. Because STAMOS could possibly redeem this craphole
Becca: All would be forgiven if that happened. Stamos already knows how to do the doctor-acting. He's so hot on ER! Not that I watch ER.

Cartoons That Are Superior Examples of Television Writing to Night Shift

• Scooby Doo
• The Smurfs
• She-Ra
• Alvin and the Chipmunks
• those silent Mickey Mouse ones from the 1920s

Mallory: You're seeing this artfully lit shootout set to a romantic ballad too, right? Or am I hallucinating?
Becca: I am, though I'm possibly drunk. Did they really just start a gang shoot-out in the middle of the actual hospital?!
Becca: And Jason is going to save the world, AGAIN?!  On the spin-off that was supposed to get GH back to its hospital roots?  IS THIS SERIOUSLY HAPPENING? It is on like Donkey Kong, you piece of shit excuse for a television show. 
Mallory: SERIOUSLY WHAT THE FUCK IS WRONG WITH THIS FUCKING SHOW'S FUCKING WRITERS?
Becca: In fairness, Mal, they have no other vehicle through which they can write horribly violent storylines in which mobsters are heroes.
Mallory: Why couldn't they have shot the "teen" mom? Or why couldn't they hire an actual teen who doesn't need cue cards?
Becca: Or why couldn't they make it through a spin-off about the hospital without a fucking shoot-out at all?! They already had a serial killer, for god's sake.
Mallory: Please, now you're just asking stupid questions.  No mob in Port Charles is like no deliciousness in a candy bar

Things That Are More Necessary Than Incorporating Gun Violence Into General Hospital: Night Shift

• the word "irregardless"
• Juicy Couture outfits for dogs
• Clay Aiken coming out of the closet
• another season of Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip
• Successories posters

Becca: The pregnant woman who came into the ER earlier has given birth and just said "I was thinking Billy or Wyatt, since he was practically born in a shoot-out. ::giggle::" ARE THESE WRITERS CLINICALLY INSANE?
Mallory: Yes. Yes, they are
Becca: Oh hey look, now we've cut to _______ Barrett. "No scarring?" She was severely burned and has been in the hospital for three months. The writers are insane and moronic.
Mallory: Did Jason just tell Billy Dee "It's hard to explain what I do"? Here it is in five words: "I kill people for cash"
Becca: I beg your pardon, that is an oversimplification. He also sometimes kills people for revenge.  Try to be sensitive to the complexity of his gig, missy.
Mallory: I know, I'm really too critical. He's dealing with a computer geek freeloader and he's separated from his son (He's Jake's dad, in case you didn't know). I'll try to be nicer about him in the future

Things We Would Rather Have Done With the 40+ Hours We Each Spent Recapping This Miserable Excuse for a Soap

• watch a marathon of Hogan Knows Best
• learn to crochet
• line up all our ex-boyfriends to explain in detail, in public, why they are better off without us
• go on a Starbucks-free diet
• take physics again
• build a monument to honor pleather
• see Miley Cyrus in concert

Mallory: Wow, this Kelly/Andy scene is straight out of an after school special.
Becca: That is an affront to after school specials, especially the awesome one in which a pre-eye-job Helen Hunt got high on PCP and flew through a window.
Mallory: I'm about to get high on PCP and fly through a window just to stop the pain of this show
Becca: Just make sure you don't do it on a Saturday night. The staff at ERs then are incompetent/serial killers/likely to riddle you with bullets.

Things That Are Subtler Than Bob Guza's Storytelling

• Las Vegas
• used car salespeople
• Joey Tribbiani's "How you doin'?"
• Murakami print Louis Vuitton bags
• Janice Dickinson's plastic surgery
• Kellie Pickler's accent

Mallory: I am going to miss the CGI sunrise. It's way more charismatic than Leyla
Becca: Patrick is not remotely hot in this roof scene, even though it involves him flirting and kissing someone. How is that possible? This show killed Jason Thompson's hotness! That is criminal.
Mallory: Okay, young Billy Dee twirling and doing jazz hands was the most bizarre thing I've seen in a while
Becca: More bizarre is that I think Jason/Steve Burton was totally gorgeous in that last scene.
Mallory: I am just going to ignore you
Becca: I think that's best.

Becca: Is Robin hanging out and laughing?  Even though minutes ago she was nearly caught in the crossfire of a gang war and Jason blew some guy's head to bits just millimeters from hers?
Mallory: So, wait, the whole hospital went back to normal after the shootout in the middle of the ER?
Becca: Duh, that's what hospital staff always do after shoot-outs in the middle of ERs.  Wait, is that really all that's going to have come from the _____ Barrett storyline?  Jason sees the back of her head after she gets the bandages off her magically non-scarring burns?  What?

. . . . .

Becca: Oh my GOD, the finale cheesy montage is to the actual song "Night Shift."
Becca: Sonny! Thank god! I thought we wouldn't see him again. On the spin-off that has nothing to do with him. Did he just give Jason the sex eye from that limo? That was hilarious!
Mallory: ...
Mallory: Sonny looked like Jason's pimp in that scene

Ways in Which OG GH Is Superior to Night Shift

• consistently talented cast
• Robin not insane, Patrick still occasionally worthy of "hotly"
• Kate's wardrobe
• Liz's hair
• there is an occasional Quartermaine-spotting
• Logan's brutal hotness is on display
• Maxie, Cooper, Logan, Lulu, Liz, Lucky, Emily, Nikolas, Alexis, Diane, Jax . . . basically characters we actually know and in some cases give a rip about
• the resident ghost is at least wisecracking

And then . . . the show ended.  On some notes that we will generously call interesting.  No wait, no we won't.

Becca: WHAT THE FUCK WAS THAT?!
Mallory: I...it's like I have these questions and yet all I can ask is "WHAT THE FUCKING FUCK?"
Becca: Wait, no, seriously, what that the end of this show?
Becca: ______ Barrett does nothing, goes nowhere, means nothing. Robin is...dead? Crazy? An evil twin?  The whole spin-off was really her dream/nightmare?
Mallory: The last few minutes of that show were more confusing than calculus, chemistry and the appeal of the Black Eyed Peas combined
Becca: ...plus credit card interest, Sienna Miller's status as a fashion icon, and The Situation Room with Wolf Blitzer.
Mallory: The end of that show was obviously the writers just giving us the middle finger, and if I wanted to have emotionally disturbed people give me the finger, I'd hang out in Yonkers
Becca: You have to go all the way to Yonkers? Do you not have frat-boy bars where you live?
Mallory: The suburbs are tragically dull!
Becca: The people who wrote that episode, and the rest of this series, continue to be employed as professional writers of a television show. I am going to need an explanation for that. It may have to involve graphs, and/or dramatic reenactments.
Mallory: I am holding out for shadow puppets and venn diagrams, personally
Mallory: Was that ending supposed to intrigue us and make us wish for the second season to hurry up and get here? Because it just reinforced my opinion that every day from now until then will be better because Night Shift won't be in them
Becca: There can't be a second season of this, right? There's no way. Who would be tricked into watching it?
Becca: Oh right, us.
Becca: But really, there are no fanbases left to alienate!
Mallory: The only fanbase who can possibly be happy are the Jason/Spinelli slash fiction writers. All three of them
Becca: And two of them are on the GH writing staff, so that won't really help with ratings.

Things That Are Better Planned Out Than the Night Shift Finale

• the war in Iraq
• George and Izzie's relationship on Grey's Anatomy
• your average high-school kegger
• unintended pregnancies
• Britney Spears's marriages
• spontaneous combustion

So, that's it.  It is, mercifully, all over.  We can all go back to being driven crazy by just one incarnation of the Sonny and Jason Worship Hour.  This clever ABC/SoapNet plan has worked:  Something finally made us appreciate the artful storytelling of General Hospital.

Comments

[Becky]

"This clever ABC/SoapNet plan has worked: Something finally made us appreciate the artful storytelling of General Hospital."

I am almost convinced that this was the actual plan!

Great freaking post, ladies! I haven't watched NS since the first episode but I can say with conviction that the two of you have more writing skill than the NS/GH writers could ever dream of possessing.

Loved all the lists. My laughter is drawing strange looks from co-workers.

[felula25]

Your blog is quite possibly the only reason I kept watching the nightmare that was Night Shift. Thanks for 13 weeks of the most entertaining recaps.

[Amanda]

Hey ladies. Great job with the recaps. I stopped watching at Episode 7, sorry you had to suffer through the entire series.

I would miss them but for your own mental health I would suggest you not recap the inevitable Season 2! LOL.

[Dee]

Ladies, though I was sadly not a part of your witty commentary on last night's episode I might as well have been because I echoed your sentiments, sans the lists (which are sheer genius) almost frighteningly.

I began the evening by reading the recaps and thinking, "This can't possibly play out as badly as I'm imagining." When will I learn? When will I learn? Guza can ALWAYS top himself when crap is involved. Actually that finale doesn't even deserve to be labeled as crap. It's an insult to crap and crap-like items. That was a monstrosity.

As last night's macabre, bizarre and just plain bad "drama" unfolded on my computer screen, leaving my jaw hanging in slackened disbelief, I, too, kept asking that time honored question: "WHAT THE FUCKING FUCK???"

Unfortunately, I have yet to find the answer and, as this is Guza, it's likely not to be forthcoming. However, I take comfort in the knowledge that you both were asking the same damned thing right along with me.

Rock on, ladies. Rock on.

[Webbie]

OMG, I think I just sprained a muscle laughing at your recap.

I had to rewatch the ending a few times to be sure of what I saw. Robin looking at...Robin? Her eyes popping open like that? Truly freaky. But if it means that this show was a dream from the get go, I'll take it.

Thanks for livening up my Friday. You guys are both geniuses!

[June]

I gave up after Episode 3 but those recaps were so great. I wish you were the writers for all GH related stories. Oh wait, that was in my dream.

[Sarah]

I'm trying to strike a bargain with my higher power. I will accept one of "some diseases" and she will remove all traces of NS from my mind and the entire planet.

Restless leg syndrome....calorie burner

Bipolar disorder...convinced ABC MB is a good actor worth basing a show around

Sex Addiction....calorie burner

Gingivitis...what is that? if colgate cures it I'm in

SORAS...no fucking way, I'm old enough

Sonny IS Jason's pimp :-(

AND on after school specials they undserstand addictions and 12 step programs. The very idea of suggesting Kelly hook up w/ Andy as incentive to avoid sex for a few months is INSANE! Does Noah get a bonus reward cocktail after every three months of sobriety???? BITE ME GUZA!

[minirth]

"I love how the gang members having guns is bad, but Jason having a gun is like an angel having a harp, except angels aren't as good as Jason is!"

HA! You guys are brilliant. I've been waiting all day for your recap to go up. I was hoping for some insight on The Other Robin with Black Demon Eyes from Hell or Possibly a Japanese Horror Movie, but it sounds like you're as baffled as I am. Fortunately, you are far more clever!

[smirks]

ROTFLMAO!

Thank you so much for going through all of that pain for the benefit of people not strong enough to have endured that 13 episode masterpiece of crapulence.

You commentary was truly the only good thing to come out of that show. So good, that really it should have no connection to it.

[Beth]

*wiping tears from eyes*

Ladies, as someone who watched the first episode of this show and then realized my life is too short and the rest of the season of Ugly Betty was waiting to be played on my DVR instead, I sincerely appreciate you both taking one for the team and watching the extreme hell that is this... I don't know. SHOW seems to be a compliment. Your commentaries are simultaneously hilarious and right on target. Thanks so much!

And BTW, I'm looking forward to seeing your reaction to almost the entire cast of that crapfest taking over today's GH.

[Beltane]

Oh, ladies, you are truly too fabulous and hilarious for words. I also gave up watching this hemorrhoid of a show around episode 7 but I always completely looked forward to Fridays to read your recaps as I howled (and snorted) with laughter. I will sincerely miss them - they brightened up my weekends.

I'm with Beth on this one - what on earth was up with having most of NS invade OG GH? I know, I know, it was just to drive home the point of their evil plot and make me want to watch scenes with the mumbling mobster or his shrieking ex-wife. Nicely played, evil hack showrunners.

Finally, as much as I would love to read more scathing speak recaps of season 2, I am far too fond of both of you to subject your eyes, not to mention your sanity, to this outrage. Guza and Korte out-crapfested themselves - who knew?

[ann]

You know... you really should have just started typing the name of this crapfest "Nightshi(f)t"...because, really, is the "f" even necessary. I think leaving it out pretty much sums things up nicely.

But I *do* love your recaps!!! Always so perfect and spot-on! At least we're out of our misery (for now and -- one hopes -- forever!)

[ann]

Oh...I almost forgot...not on the
"Nightshi(f)t" topic, but I SOOO REMEMBER THAT HELEN HUNT AFTERSCHOOL SPECIAL!!! You completely made my day with that reference!!!

[Confused Viewer]

Seriously, WTF! I'm still confused. And I'm now even MORE fucking confused after watching today's General Hospital. WTF! Can you explain it to me like I'm 3. These writers are on crack.

[paola]

This isn't very related. Infact I dont even watch GH, (well not since the mid-nineties anyway) and I've never seen Night Shift, but, please, please, please start blogging the Office. It's the best show on TV right now, and probubly forever, and You guys are so funny so it would be a perfect marraige. I was howeling when Edward Quartermaine walked in...and then Michael threw him out...brilliant!!

[Danny]

I tuned out weeks ago, but I just read the TV.com recap, and am very confused. Did Robin get hit by a car? Are we supposed to believe that Robin no longer talks to her best friend and thus has no idea she was burned in an accident? Is Julia Barrett now a brunette (which might make slightly more sense) and if so are we supposed to care about her at all? Are they actually asking us to see Pip in a sympathetic light?

So many plot holes (though if this has all been a Robin knocked on the head dream it would explain how Maxie's out and about and scheming after flat lining every five minutes).

I have a really obscene addition to your plot holes list, but its just too wrong... what the hell, but before you read it, someone please think of the children and shield their eyes.

The plot had more holes than a four hour lesbian porno.

[lisa f]

Serial Drama was truly the only way to 'watch' Night Shift.

Ladies, thank you for your talent (<---- Mr Guza, that's T-A-L-E-N-T...don't bother looking for yours, you don't have any) and wit!

Lisa

[Mary]

You girls have more talent in your pinkies that all of the GH/NS writing staff combine.

I was telling my friend that you would be joining us with the "what the fuck" at the bizarro ending.

A bit of odd trivia. I just have to say that Helen Hunt Special is actually sort of GH related. Rick Springfield created an original song that was the theme song for those movie.

[Stephanie]

I will miss your Night Shift recaps,,, I think in its place you two should definitely go with The Office recaps. I think recapping a show that's actually good could be a nice change. Plus, you can still use the "hotly" when describing Jim Halpert!

[JJ]

This blog is the only thing I will miss about NS, but hey, sadly there seems to be a high likelihood of a NS2. Are you two up for it b/c I will not be watching that crap fest again.

The finale was so utterly stupid. But, hey it was consistent to what GH is about--the all enduring love of Jason and Sonny. They rode off into the sunrise together--just so romantic. Awww... And they actually shot that scene as if Robin was a third member of the love triangle. So bizarre.

And the Robin opening her eyes thing and seeing herself or whatvere the hell that was--they explained it within the show IMO. You had Robin basically tell Jason that she was physically all right but that she may have a few nightmares. I think th elast 5 secs of the show was about that. GH ain't so subtle with their hints. She went to sleep and had a nightmare about seeing herself in surgery or whatever. GH wanted to "tease" us to tune back in for the second season. I say hell no--not unless we get some actual writers.

The further destruction of Patrick on that roof top was just truly evil. Why do they think that there is the remotest possibility of a relationship there? DO they not have eyes and ears?! The pairing has NOOOOOO connection. It's such a sad waste of Jason Thompson's potential and abilities.

I will say that Kimberly McCullough--bad hair notwithstanding--did do a nice job last night, as usual. In that instant when Robin matched eyes with Jason as she is being held at gunpoint--you knew exactly what was going on and yet it wasn't over the top. She didn't say a word or scream. She didn't cry. She didn't make big head movements. It was all in the eyes. Pretty great! And she was pretty great in the locker room with Patrick too. She didn;t get to say much, but what she did was actually worth hearing.

Brava to you two for doing these entertaining recaps. They saved me!

[James]

What this show needed, IMO, was to be structured not like a daytime drama, but like a prime time one (since that's what it happens to be). I think that would've offered better creative directions. They had a great opportunity here to create character-focused, self-contained stories in which the episodes take place over the course of several days and nights. In an nutshell, here's how I think it should've been handled:

1) The nighttime scenes could've been plot-related -- serving as foundations for the entire episode, introducing certain professional matters and challenges that the characters face.

2) The daytime scenes (and some of the nighttime ones) could've been character-related -- focusing on the repercussions of said issues. These scenes could've followed the characters away from the hospital as they endeavored to solve/deal with the current problem while we observe its effects on their personal activities, relationships, and so forth.

3) After a certain amount of days and nights, the episode ends with the current problem being resolved, either positively or not-so-positively, creating character development and pushing any ongoing character arcs one step further along.

4) Oh, and, no forcing the presence of annoying characters who don't really belong.

I stopped watching 'GH' long ago (after 1999 -- though '98 was the last truly good year I remember), and only checked it out again lately for a brief amount of time. During this period, I came across Robin and Patrick, and even someone with my limited amount of viewing could see that this is likely the best relationship Robin's ever had; the two of them have an undeniable chemistry. It's truly a shame that the series was run by people who didn't want to further explore that chemistry by spotlighting this couple and making Kimberly the rightful lead of this show. There could've been many great moments that focused on Robin's character -- her home life, her work life, and how she relates to the many people who are close to her.

I think Guza is one of the poorest writers in the business, and it's unfortunately been that way for a while. As a writer, he's lazy, overly indulgent, and also one of the most inconsiderate toward fans -- the people who keep him working -- that I've ever come across (being an old Stefan-and-Laura fan, I and others disliked how their story was aborted rather than concluded). He should step down for good and both of these show's should have some new talent -- as so many people have said. It's a shame to see the creative potential of a project like 'Night Shift' wasted.

Anyway, I wanted to say that there have been some great blog entries here, and like many others, I've really enjoyed them.

[joanne]

I have no idea what just happened, but I highly recommend reading the recap while watching the show. It takes it to a new level.

Since the NS storyline wasn't supposed to have continuity with the original, wasn't today's ep extraordinarily confusing for those smart enough to not watch NS?

[Kelly]

I'm going to to tell you the only things that made viewers tune into Nightshift. The two best parts of Nightshift are:

1. Kimberly Mccullough. Her ability to spin crap into gold and make Robin always understandable and rootworthy.

2. Serial Drama blog.

Those two things are the only reason I put up with this poor crapfest.

[dianora]

We could go into great detail about all the dropped storylines, plot holes, character destruction, plagiarism, and general incompetence involved in this show.

You forgot the racism!

Needless to say, your recap was a hundred times more entertaining than the actual finale. I, too, thought at first that the ending must mean the entire NS series was Robin dreaming, but then on GH today, they actually had stuff carry over from NS (as if we're actually supposed to still care about these people). Does that mean anything that happens on GH from now on will also be Robin dreaming? That might help me accept some of the more unbelievable plot developments.

[Jes]

I have not watched a single episode of this horrible show, but I have so enjoyed the recaps. Thanks for the laughs.

I do have a suggestion for a second(Heaven forbid) season. Put Alan's ghost in the cast. He can haunt the hospital and improve the show 1000% just by virtue of Stuart Damon's name in the credits.

[GuzaSux]

You two are the Lorelei and Rory of the soap-blogging world. Haven't watched GH in months, never watched NS, but check in here frequently for your latest insights.

[Bridget]

First time commenter - love your site and read all the time. But I just had to respond to the Baby-Sitters Super Special remark - love the BSC and dammit, they were really mean to Mary Anne. Thank God she had Logan to sneak off and see! I don't have SoapNet so I've only read about the horror that is Night Shift through you guys and I have to say? Much more entertaining.

[ISurvivedNS]

I just wanted to say that your blog got me through NS. This blog was its only saving grace.

[Lori]

Nightshift BLOWS!!! Poor Kimberly McCullough and Jason Thompson. These two actors have such amazing chemistry and poor writing refused to let that shine through. I will never understand Bob Guza. Is he suffering from a head injury? His writing tells me he is.

[Beth R.]

I remember watching that special in Health class in high school. Sadly that was in 1992 but still good times! I still remember what she was screaming before she jumped too! "THe spiders! THey're on me! Spiders! ACCCCCCCKKKKK!!!!" Crash. Squish. Boom. Good stuff.

My vote is evil twin! That way Guza can have ONE Robin in love with Jason..and one with Patrick. And I'm so glad Sonny showed up at the end to show his true profession as Jason's pimp.

And hate to send you all into psychotic rages..but I have heard they have been renewed for season 2....God save us all.

And Guza thinks he IS Jason Morgan. And that my friends..that explains it all.