U Said It: 12-10-08
Wednesday, December 10, 2008, 1:20 AM
What is U Said It? U Said It is a new feature where SOS highlights the views and opinions of fans on our website. Whether it's a collection of great posts from around the net, or a guest column submitted by one of our visits, if U Said It, it'll end up here.
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I am a 27 year fan of General Hospital and a 9 year fan of Jason and Elizabeth. I have watched dozens of shows over the years and had many favorites. None compare to what I feel for Jason and Elizabeth. These two characters, together and separate, truly make you believe they are in love. You can see the love and chemistry between them. The complete and unconditional love. They met as two wounded souls and started a beautiful friendship that just captivated me. It kept me tuning in. The actors and their chemistry together worked on all levels. What started out as friendship grew into love. That love is a wonderful love story. They have been through so much together and apart that when they are together, their moments are just that much sweeter. This is a classic angst driven love story. A tale as old as time. A truly gifted writer could write this story and give justice to the characters, actors and the fans. My favorite thing about their love story is their ability to say everything with their eyes. That is chemistry. That is beauty in the making.
What has happened in the past six months of GH has been nothing short of a complete disaster. Steve Burton and Becky Herbst have done their absolute best with what they have been given and I applaud them for that. They made the effort whereas Bob Guza did not. He seems to have forgotten what made GH the staple that it was in many homes. It was love, drama, character stories, wonderful arcs, cast integration and stories that simply flowed. This show doesn't have any of that anymore. There is not one story on General Hospital that would even rate as a secondary story on another soap. It is sad to see what has become of my once favorite drama. It is not even a shadow of its former self. It has long since been dismantled. The history is disregarded and disrespected. The veterans are shown not one ounce of respect, the fans are shown less.
We are the ones the show is written for. We are the ones who give them their oh so important ratings and TPTB do nothing but spit into the faces of the fans. For no other reason than they can. Bob Guza thinks he can "train" an audience to like what he writes. I'd like to train him on how to read the weekly ratings and ask him how it's working for him so far? I hold everyone in charge from Sweeney, Phelps, Frons and Guza responsible for this mess. Not one of these people are stepping up to do what is necessary to gain their viewers back. This viewer will not be back. After 27 years, I am done and my daily GH fix will be replaced with another.
~Mai~
I stopped watching GH about 3 weeks ago, removed it from my DVR. And will not turn it back on until the stories get better.
General Hospital has chosen to do another kidnapping of Jake, Jason & Elizabeth's son, when just 1 year ago he was kidnapped. The first kidnapping was done with grace and Jason/Elizabeth were so good back then, as Jason helped Elizabeth through it, while both of their relationships with Sam and Lucky respectively crumbled around them.
This year's story, with the insertion of Sam, the character who witnessed Jake's first kidnapping and did nothing, is simply poor storytelling that is alienating a lot of GH's audience. It is no wonder why ratings are falling. GH advertises love in their fall promo - with Jason/Elizabeth, Patrick/Robin, and other favorite couples, yet does the opposite when people tune into the show, giving us no romance for said couples.
Sam has no place in this story. The story would have been better with Lucky and Jason searching for their son. Two fathers, one on the right side of the law, one on the wrong side, work together to save their son... NOW THAT IS A STORY! And at the end of the arc, when Jake is saved by both of his fathers... it could kick off the next arc - which family comes together... Jason/Elizabeth/kids or Lucky/Elizabeth/kids.... great drama all around. If Jason chooses to claim his family, then we can all see what Lucky does when losing a family. And that is where Sam could come in, in helping pick up the pieces for Lucky.
In a story about a kidnapped child, the parents - Jason and Elizabeth - should be front and center and sharing screen time. Instead GH gives the audience no credit and expects us to forget that just a few months ago, Sam did some horrible things to Elizabeth and her children, and now thinks we will accept her as a hero. If Sam is GH's everyday hero. Then GH is no longer every day TV for me.
Give us back the love story we want - Jason and Elizabeth... finally becoming a family.
S.B.
Comments (4)
The Self-destruction of General Hospital.
There was no soap anywhere whose storylines and character choices could compete with GH.
They had core families and alot of family drama, love, heartache, action,and the usual backstabbing,adultery, secret children, the stuff great soap opera is all about.
They told memorable stories, BJ's heart, Monica's breast cancer and way too many to name here but the point is,GH use to tell compelling stories that caused me to cry, laugh and jump with joy with these characters down through the years.
They told wonderful stories of love and romance, Alan and Monica, Anna and Robert, Anna and Duke, Frisco and Felicia, Sonny and Brenda, Luke and Laura, just to name a few.
But no more. For some reason, over the last few years General Hospital has started to self-destruct and destroy everything that was once great about the show.
They have decimated the magnificent Quartermaine family which is a shame. The Q's never failed to bring it when it came to drama or humor. I can't forget Tracey refusing Edward his heart meds when he was having a heart attack on the floor, or Alan changing his mind about dropping a house on his cheating wife and her lover and trying to get there to warn them. The Hilarious Pizza for every thanksgiving was always one of my faves. Then there was Monica's cancer story and Jason's accident. Good stuff I will never forget.
GH has taken away the fabulously corny Nurses Ball, the annual Christmas reading at GH and killed off great characters Alan Quartermaine, Georgie Jones, Emily Q for no good reason.
All the wonderful family stories, love and romance have been replaced in the last few years with non-stop violence against women and children, explosions, shootings and mob, mob, and more mob.
Just in the last two years, women have been murdered by strangulation, shot, stabbed, run over with cars. Children have been shot in the head and kidnapped over and over again, and this has been in just the last two years!
Every single family has been broken apart, none of the children have their male parent living in the home with them, with the exception of Robin and Patrick.
GH just destroyed the last truly romantic couple on the show,Jason and Elizabeth along with my desire to continue watching.
I have given up on this show that I loved for over 30 years because there is nothing left to love about it anymore.
If I want to see women and children shot and assaulted, I can just pick up my newspaper and read about whats going on in my city. GH used to be a glotious escape for one hour of the day. Now it is just a depressing hole of violence.
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hummm
there are just as many JaSam fans that are now returning.
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Sad to see GH this way
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Liason
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