What's Another Word For "Uninteresting"?
I don't know if it's the heat (oppressive), the distraction of the World Cup (is there anything more exciting than a shootout? There is not), or General Hospital seriously being a whole new level of dull, but I cannot focus on this show for more than three minutes at a time before I become absolutely paralyzed by disinterest.
As a point of comparison, I'd like the record to show that I've written, either in texts or emails, over 500 words about the following topics: the aforementioned World Cup (I cannot !!!!! hard enough), the weirdness of Tim and Tyne Daly being siblings (yes, this is a conversation that happened in 2014), the seasonal variety of seltzers offered by Polar and Poland Spring, Calvin & Hobbes, Go Fug Yourself's anniversary, and Nelly Furtado (this might be the most damning of all).
But General Hospital...? I've got nothing. It makes me feel lazy and uncreative and like a talentless hack ("One of us! One of us!" crows the show), but in fairness to me, what am I supposed to say about certain things?
Lulu and Dante's quest to have a biological child? I mean, I could wonder why on earth the ONLY story the show can come up with for two young, well-liked characters in a well-liked relationship is ANOTHER baby story to follow up with the baby story that LITERALLY JUST ENDED LIKE, LITERALLY, LIKE THREE MINUTES AGO. But I feel like the heavy sigh that I sign whenever I think about it is much more evocative (although there is the downside of none of you being able to see said sigh, which is a drawback indeed. It's all sorts of melodramatic, though).
Sonny and Ava and Shawn and Ava's mother? What more can be said about Sonny? Doesn't "H!A!T!E!" cover it?
Patrick and Sam's quest to uncover the mystery of who ran Patrick's car off the road and was responsible for Gabriel's death? The majority of the actors involved are either underplaying things considerably or they are totally uninspired by the material, because it's all blank stares and monotones and not one iota of an connection to the material. Jason Thompson is doing all of the heavy lifting here; he's yelling and emoting and must be mildly concerned about coming across as completely insane in comparison to his scene partners, but at least that insanity would make sense for storyline purposes. And I can't with Rafe, you guys. I can't with his sudden descent into crippling drug addiction and I can't with his earring and every time I look at him, I wonder how it's possible for him to have wandered off of the set of Full House, where he played a bad kid peer pressuring DJ Tanner about a social issue of the moment. Time travel? It would be more interesting than anything else on this show.
Levi? Is there a point to Levi? Aside from what I am becoming concerned is an all too real plot to drive me completely out of my mind with his creepiness and personality built out of incredibly obnoxious stereotypes? Is he going to be a part of a major story? Is he a villain? If he is, can we just dispense with the entire story and just fast-forward to Nathan arresting him (unless he has a brain tumor, in which case we are stuck with him forever. Hello, new romantic lead!)?
Let's talk about seltzer instead...
Earrings, plural. Rafe's wearing diamond studs in BOTH ears. Shouldn't he be selling them for drug money?
Posted by: annabel | July 01, 2014 at 08:56 PM
I could not agree more. I really feel sorry for JT. There is no Emmy reel for this coming year. Even the baby dieing fell flat. How can the audience feel bad about it when he was ready to leave with Robin and not be there at all!!
Aside from the fact that they keep referring to the baby as a child....it was a premmie baby not a 5 yr old like Jake!! I just don't understand this show....and dont even start talking about Nina....its awful....I am afraid for what they have planned for Robin....she will probably be thrown further under the bus....
annabel, you have a great point, had not even thought of that....he should have sold them or given them to the drug guy b4 going to Silas for $...
Posted by: Special Mom | July 01, 2014 at 09:10 PM
Oh Mallory, we all feel your pain, especially about Levi. HATE!
Posted by: C | July 01, 2014 at 09:44 PM
Love your blog... don't feel I am missing much ...but I love your take on stuff.
I truly wish JT would find another acting gig and be gone from this mess!
Posted by: TIsh | July 01, 2014 at 10:11 PM
a good goal is more exciting that a shoot-out :)
I think we're getting anvils that Dante is going to cheat on Lulu ("I will NEVER BE LIKE YOU SONNY! EVER EVER!"). Which sucks, especially because Lulu will moan and lament about how love is doomed and she knew it all along and why did she trust anyone ever why. Quite frankly, despite Dante being one of my favorite characters I think the show should send Dante, Lulu, and Olivia (ESPECIALLY Olivia) packing, since the show is so overcrowded.
I do not think we will be stuck with Rafe much longer, thank goodness.
Posted by: uliis | July 01, 2014 at 10:14 PM
Maybe I missed it, but did Ric have a funeral or a memorial?
The GH cast is bloated with character MIA for weeks at a time, and then there are rumors of at least 4 to 6 newbies coming this summer. When will it all end?!
I call BS on Sam figuring out what happened during the car accident when you have a Super Spy Police Chief whose granddaughter was in the car at the time of the accident. There is no way that Anna would have not found out who killed Emma's baby brother, and the car accident was in the local newspaper and TV stations!
Posted by: MissyLady | July 01, 2014 at 10:56 PM
I was just over at SOC looking at the 2014 GH episode counts on the board, and we have Spencer and Cam with 27 and 21 episodes(!) in 2014, Nina has 17 episodes, Nate has 50 plus, and most of the newbies are have higher counts than a lot of the vets.
Posted by: MissyLady | July 01, 2014 at 11:09 PM
Sam figuring out the car accident before Anna sucks. But at the same time, this is the awful PCPD. Honestly, when was the last time did the PCPD and the DA actually win a conviction of an actual guilty person? Hell, I' m still waiting for Luke to be arrested for killing poor Jake.
Poor Rafe, if the writers could actually have bothered to flesh out the character this junk would be interesting. Rafe has never had a stable home. His mother believed his biological father was a vampire and after them. His equally crazy father did murder Rafe's mother. The kid was dumped in foster care. Then passed between Sam and Silas. Rafe has really only had Molly as an actual friend. And she dumps him for TJ. Who did he have after that? Not one friend was ever introduced for him. Or hell, even for Molly or TJ. The concept of Rafe has great potential, but the show just hasn't done anything with him. Alison Barrington was supposed to have family, but we get no where with that. The Barringtons were loaded, people should've been fighting tooth and nail for him. But we got Silas and Sam being cranky for a few months. Still wish that Sam and Alison had ended up as half sisters. But all we get for a teen set was Molly/TJ/Rafe and Felix's now missing sister. Blech and boring. Rafe should troubled. He has never had a normal life. He never was allowed to even make friends. He was raised off the grid and on the run. He found out that his father was a murderer, who kills Rafe's mother. But we never got to see Rafe really outside of being a babysitter for Danny and an obstacle for Molly and TJ. The kid is damn near alone in the world, the wole world knows that his father was crazy and a murderer, he was bullied @ school and while in foster care and huge amount of bad things was dumped on the poor kid. And we never got to see much of the aftermath for him. Shame that these writers can't sit down and properly write a storyline for a teen that doesn't involve having a boyfriend or girlfriend.
Sonny? Horrible. Anything to do with his crap? FF material.
Levi. Also FF material.
I can't stand watching Tracy be actively stupid.
Posted by: stlbf | July 02, 2014 at 01:15 AM
The most interesting thing to have happened, in my opinion, is Morgan calling Levi "Kangaroo Ken."
Oh that Levi. Thank goodness for the MUTE button on my remote.
Posted by: MrsM | July 02, 2014 at 07:34 AM
Rafe was off the canvas for months, upstairs in room sulking about Molly and TJ no doubt. But now all of a sudden he's buying the drugs that Fluke is pushing in Port Charles, stealing money, getting in TJ's face? Who cares. I agree that there should have been a custody fight between the Barrington family and Silas for custody of Rafe. Where were they in all this? Now we have Nina who I was seriously hoping would not be a psychopath so that Michelle Stafford would have something different to play on GH. And Levi don't even get me started. Why didn't it occur to Maxie that her protesting and potentially getting arrested might screw up her chances the next time she appears before the judge?
Posted by: Elizabeth K. Mahon | July 02, 2014 at 10:34 AM
Mallory. Thanks for the low down. I haven't watched very much, maybe an hour total since ghost AJ stopped sticking it to scummy. As was said upthread rafe had a lot of potential. The life he led who can blame him for wanting the only person who was ever nice to him Molly. Robin will return with rons devil horns, after all Suebrina has angel wings ,and she wants Patrick WHY ? I cannot bring myself to watch this mess. MS, is playing Phyllis, R.HO is playing Todd no matter what names they are using. Sonny is STILL shooting people in cold blood and getting away with it.I say let MB"s fans watch this swill. We say enough with the mob what do we get. More mob, more killers for hire, more re-runs ,babie who cares the kids quads. Someone needs to put Spencer in a coma, the show certainly puts me in one. fergetaboutit.I make it a point to go to the gym when its on, and use a machine without a tv. Where I go they have sports on instead. Plus ABC has no sound. I tried to watch Katie and no sound.no loss .
Posted by: janet | July 02, 2014 at 02:09 PM
I was disappointed too that Rafe did not get any kind of follow up story, and there could have been one there. It's totally understandable that he got screwed up after watching his psycho father kill his Mom and only Molly was anyone close. Silas and Sam failed him and were only into themselves, and being boring at it. Too bad.
I cannot watch Sonny who murdered AJ, torture and promise to kill the woman who is either carrying his child or his grandchild, because she murdered someone!! Where in the world does he get the nerve to judge, convict and execute anyone for doing what he has done over and over again!!! It's maddening and THIS is one of the "romantic leads" of GH. How did it come to this?
Posted by: Nancy | July 02, 2014 at 09:52 PM
How the hell can AbcD screw up a teen storyline like this? For Pete's sake, they own/run ABCFamily. Whose main contribution to society is teen/young adult dramas! PLL, The Fosters, Switched at Birth, etc. Huge hits. The show brings on Rafe(granted, not the best casting I'll say) as teen with crazy background, a GH legacy character. Kid who literally lost everything almost the moment he hit town. Learns his biological father was a murderer. His mother was nuts and he is just alone. And ending up living with his uncle. His mother's murderer's identical twin. Nobody asked Rafe how he felt about that. Or continue intensive therapy. He was clearly unhappy. Alone. And then fixated on the one girl who had ever paid any sort of attention to him. I would've loved to have seen 5 minutes a week just a passing mention between Sam and Silas about meeting with Rafe's doctors, therapists or teachers. Since they are supposed to be jointly raising this kid. Instead they are snooping around about Nina, making cow eyes at each other, etc. Barely a mention of a troubled kid in their custody. Rafe is a kid I would bet money on to be desperate to be numb. This kid's storyline could be just as outstanding as Lucky Spencer's teen stories. But the writers can't be bothered to think beyond Molly(her being lusty and being an instant Daddy's girl) and TJ (being lustful, witnessing Sonny being a criminal and lying about it and his mom coming back in his life). Not saying I want months of all teen stuff, but teen stories can be interesting to viewers of all ages.
And sure, Patrick would always be allowed to hunt down the prime suspect(a very troubled teenager) in his hit and run accident.
Sonny can die in a fire. A truly reprehensible living animal. I should be entertained by him threatening a woman? A man who has order the killings of plenty of people should be clear to murder another criminal, just cause she killed someone he "loved"? Go to hell writers.
And quit trying to sell the world on Nathan and Maxie. It is now annoying the hell out of me.
The only redeeming thing on today's show was NeXis.
Posted by: stlbf | July 03, 2014 at 01:12 AM
The casting was bad. This kid can't act. Period. If it would have been someone like Tom Pelphrey in this role, he would have killed it, no matter how bad the writing.
Y'all need to start watching B & B because Sean Kanan grew a Dastardly Villain Mustache.
Posted by: sjgsjg | July 03, 2014 at 10:59 PM
Rafe is merely a sacrifice at the altar of the next plot point. He's been MIA until the writers decided to have a victim for the Fluke drug business. I'm guessing he'll die or go to juvenile hall. Because of course a mixed-up kid must pay but people like Sonny, Ava, Dr. O, Franco, etc. will get away with their intentional murders/attempted murders. I miss the old days when people who killed on purpose and not in self-defense would pay for their crimes. I don't know when the line was crossed to have murderers be romantic leads on GH. I've never turned GH off ever since the invention of VCR's that allowed us to never miss our shows, but I'm seriously thinking of doing it. If Nina kills someone and gets away with it, I may be out. I read that she and Ron C. acknowlege Nina is a "sociopath. Just what GH needs.
Think of how many family members Nathan has. If he turns out to be Victor C's son, he'll also have Nikolas, Alexis, Molly, Sam, etc. This guy has 10x more family than Elizabeth. Do we see Mac & Felicia at Maxie's hearing? No, we see Nathan. Other characters are already propping him. Some people do enjoy Nathan and Maxie, I don't see any chemistry and it comes across as forced to me. The casting is not working for me at all. This week I didn't even want to watch the show. I just don't know where the heck it's going and I wonder if Ron C. knows either. It feels so scattered and the block taping is really affecting momentum and interest in the stories when they are dropped for weeks on end. I'm just hanging on watching a show I've loved for years but it's really hard to keep watching lately.
Posted by: Janet B. | July 04, 2014 at 02:16 PM
The kid playing Rafe may not be a great actor, but look around most of the show can't really act their way out of a paper bag.lets face it Jonathan Jackson was an exception playing on this show but he had two actors with loads and loads of talent helping him, teaching him, Luke and laura. and he was great. Amber Tamblyn also .her real father also helped her, and they were watchable. Rafe was thrown in ,pushed into a murder of his mother, kidnapped by a lunatic .then adopted by his twin. Wasn't on for months then woopie ALA Patrick he was a drug addict.Out of no where, Will Dr,P remember his trip into drugs? No they will kill off Rafe, and Molly jumped in the car ala Jason with AJ. Doesn't Ron have any ideas of his own.I can't. I just can't! Watching this my eyes roll around in my head, while I am shaking it till it falls off.
Posted by: janet | July 04, 2014 at 07:25 PM
I dislike Levi but I don't care much for the forced pairing of Maxie and Nathan either. Levi's only purpose is to drive everyone crazy and make everyone root for Maxie and Nathan.
Posted by: bre | July 08, 2014 at 01:37 PM
The rave movie reviews for the actor that plays TJ is rumored to be one of reasons Rafe is being killed off, and because Rafe is a big old bag of dead hair.
Sonny ruins everything!
Posted by: MissyLady | July 08, 2014 at 07:23 PM
Tequan was awesome in Blue Caprice, I'm not surprised people are raving about him. I liked him when he was on Everybody Hates Chris, too.
Posted by: Judy | July 16, 2014 at 08:27 PM