You’re making me so happy, “General Hospital”.
You lost a bit of steam following the extraordinary heights of your 50th Anniversary week featuring the triumphant return of the Nurses Ball but you’re firing on all cylinders now. Jane Elliott has been ripping into some of the best material Tracy has been given in years with relish.
And, yeah. About the Quartermaine relish wars storyline: The trick is to substitute, in your mind, some sort of fabulous technological advancement that any corporation would kill to own for pickle relish. For example, anytime someone says “relish”, you think “breakthrough diabetes drug formula”. It’s really the best you can do.
Still, returning the Quartermaines to the front and center position has turned out to be a better idea than that family’s diminished numbers would’ve seemed able to support. Sean Kanan has shown a flair for comedic timing as A.J. this time around, which is really good because he’s D.O.A. during the dramatic moments.
And Jane as Tracy? She has lent incredible gravitas to the “relish” story and managed to mine bold new territory for a character she’s been playing on and off for 30 years as Tracy has been re-imagined as a romantic wearing a cynic’s attire. In a medium known for its acting hysterics she has managed to reveal a depth of character with a subtlety any primetime soap player should envy.
Meanwhile the re-introduction of “One Life to Live” vets Roger Howarth, Kristen Alderson and Michael Easton as new characters has proved to be a mixed bag so far. The writing has been playing Twister with itself trying to establish Easton as the second doppelganger of the same character and the results have been painfully clunky.
On the flipside, Kristen as Kiki/Lauren has brought to mind memories of her early years as her former character Star Manning when Star was still the wayward wild child of borderline sociopath Todd Manning. Her chemistry with Chad Duel as Michael is actually much more natural this time around. As far as Roger Howarth’s new character, I’m going to admit to being a complete sucker for the way the show has been teasing that reveal. But I certainly hope Howarth makes a decision soon as to whether he’s still essentially playing Todd or not as the typically on-point actor has been hitting some awkward beats as GH’s new mystery man. Still, much of that has to do with teasing out the reveal of the character he’s playing and once the show let’s that cat out of the bag, I’ve no doubt his performance will come together.
And just whom, exactly, is Howarth now playing? Overwhelming evidence suggests he’s going to turn out to be a substitution for movie star and daytime TV visitor James Franco as artist/serial killer Franco. I guess we’ll see. Yes. There are many questions right now to be asked on “General Hospital” and I, for one, can’t wait to find out the answers to those questions.
There are many other things worth getting into but I don’t have the time right now but I will say that CBS daytime veteran Maura West has had me intrigued since her first scenes with Geary. Of course, Tony Geary can make anyone look good in a scene but there’s something really electric about West’s performance so far that has me excited to learn more about her and how she will turn out to fit in to the Port Charles canvas. Overall, “GH” is snapping, crackling and popping. It pains me to see that the ratings of late have been down when the show is doing so much right. If you read this, consider that. Then tune in. Seriously.
THE CHRISTOPHER EXPERIENCE 
THAT SOAP IS FILTHY: Intrigue is alive, well and delicious on “General Hospital”
You lost a bit of steam following the extraordinary heights of your 50th Anniversary week featuring the triumphant return of the Nurses Ball but you’re firing on all cylinders now. Jane Elliott has been ripping into some of the best material Tracy has been given in years with relish.
And, yeah. About the Quartermaine relish wars storyline: The trick is to substitute, in your mind, some sort of fabulous technological advancement that any corporation would kill to own for pickle relish. For example, anytime someone says “relish”, you think “breakthrough diabetes drug formula”. It’s really the best you can do.
Still, returning the Quartermaines to the front and center position has turned out to be a better idea than that family’s diminished numbers would’ve seemed able to support. Sean Kanan has shown a flair for comedic timing as A.J. this time around, which is really good because he’s D.O.A. during the dramatic moments.
And Jane as Tracy? She has lent incredible gravitas to the “relish” story and managed to mine bold new territory for a character she’s been playing on and off for 30 years as Tracy has been re-imagined as a romantic wearing a cynic’s attire. In a medium known for its acting hysterics she has managed to reveal a depth of character with a subtlety any primetime soap player should envy.
Meanwhile the re-introduction of “One Life to Live” vets Roger Howarth, Kristen Alderson and Michael Easton as new characters has proved to be a mixed bag so far. The writing has been playing Twister with itself trying to establish Easton as the second doppelganger of the same character and the results have been painfully clunky.
On the flipside, Kristen as Kiki/Lauren has brought to mind memories of her early years as her former character Star Manning when Star was still the wayward wild child of borderline sociopath Todd Manning. Her chemistry with Chad Duel as Michael is actually much more natural this time around. As far as Roger Howarth’s new character, I’m going to admit to being a complete sucker for the way the show has been teasing that reveal. But I certainly hope Howarth makes a decision soon as to whether he’s still essentially playing Todd or not as the typically on-point actor has been hitting some awkward beats as GH’s new mystery man. Still, much of that has to do with teasing out the reveal of the character he’s playing and once the show let’s that cat out of the bag, I’ve no doubt his performance will come together.
And just whom, exactly, is Howarth now playing? Overwhelming evidence suggests he’s going to turn out to be a substitution for movie star and daytime TV visitor James Franco as artist/serial killer Franco. I guess we’ll see. Yes. There are many questions right now to be asked on “General Hospital” and I, for one, can’t wait to find out the answers to those questions.
There are many other things worth getting into but I don’t have the time right now but I will say that CBS daytime veteran Maura West has had me intrigued since her first scenes with Geary. Of course, Tony Geary can make anyone look good in a scene but there’s something really electric about West’s performance so far that has me excited to learn more about her and how she will turn out to fit in to the Port Charles canvas. Overall, “GH” is snapping, crackling and popping. It pains me to see that the ratings of late have been down when the show is doing so much right. If you read this, consider that. Then tune in. Seriously.
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