Jason Morgan is a Mary Sue

Note: I started working on this in mid March, forgot about it and then decided to finish is off and publish it.

I did have a post ready that pretty much detailed my hate for this character. He's up there with Ryan "Bug Eyes" Lavery. It generally goes along the lines that we are supposed to like this character, who most of the town canonizes even though he's quite a despicable character. I had gone on and on about how he is less than perfect, listing every single thing that he has done wrong.

As I was typing I realized one major point: he's a Mary Sue. There is no way to truly write it except in that mentality. Mary Sue is a fanfiction term that I first heard when I wrote Harry Potter fanfiction as a teenager in the early 2000s. It goes back much further to the 1970s with Star Trek fanfiction. The idea of a character on a TV show, that is written by so called professional writers, having a Mary Sue is very sad. It's one thing when you're a 16 year old writing your first stories with practically no writing experience. It's another thing when you are part of the Writer's Guild of America with years of experience and a probable college degree writing a Mary Sue. That is where we are with this character.

What exactly is a Mary Sue? Here are some main points.

-They are perfect in many many ways. Vainly this means they are beautiful. They have a flawless body that everyone desires. (How many times have we had to hear someone whine about how Steve Burton needs his shirt off more often?)
-They are well liked. Pretty much everyone likes this character to the point of annoyance. We hear a lot about how their great by everyone no matter if they generally don't like people. When it comes to a Mary Sue, they will like him/her.
-They can do anything better than anyone else. This means that an expert who is trained for this is no match for him/her. It doesn't matter how much years of experience they have, they should just go home. (I'm reminded of back in 2006 when Manny kidnapped Sam and held her hostage. At one point Lucky, the cop. wanted to go after Manny. His then wife Elizabeth tried to stop him so that Jason could save the day even though Lucky was a trained cop.)
-They have a tragic past. Pretty much if their parents are dead leaving them orphaned. They might or might not blame themselves for it even if they were a baby. This is to be pitied or respected.
-They get away with things that they should not. This is also symbolically called a "free lunch." They do things that should get them either killed or arrested or punished in some way. Somehow this never happens. Much like you can't get a free lunch, someone is paying for it, a character cannot get away with everything.

A Mary Sue is generally blamed on one thing, a term called self insertion. When you're a fifteen year old writing a story it's quite easy to do this. I did this myself. It's really hard sometimes to not self insert yourself as the character in some form of fiction. It's fun to pretend that you are the one going on the adventures. You want to be loved and as perfect as possible. It's a fantasy after all. None of this is actually happening. What's the harm?

The harm is that it's a major turnoff and boring to read. After the 789th time that Jason saved the day while the cops were standing there looking like a bunch of dumbasses I was fast asleep. Nobody wants to watch or read anything where you know how it's going to end. Why do I care if I know that Jason will make it out alive yet again. There is no punishment or repercussions. Why did I waste my time watching General Hospital today much less for the last few weeks that this "nailbiting" storyline occurred?

How insulting to the audience is it to have every character talk about how great he is? You need to show us! This is rule one in any basic screenwriting course. It's also a sign of lazy writing along with character destroying. Nobody wants that.

As you can see Jason fits every single point in regards to being a Mary Sue.

It's gotten to the point that Jason Morgan's son is a Mary Sue! Also who is not loling when people say the kid has the same personality as Jason. Jason wasn't born with that personality, it's the result of brain damage. Therefore the doctors should be contacted as this kid might actually have neurological damage.

Lets Here It For The...Antihero?

This is apparently a thing now. Actually it's been a thing for the last few years. Shows like Breaking Bad, Dexter, House and even Mad Men have counted on their main character (always a man) who isn't our typical leading man. (Read: Sociopath) Somehow we like these bastards even when they do things like murder and sell drugs.

Soap operas have been doing this a lot longer than mainstream dramas. This is mostly due to the obsession with plot centric, character destroying storylines. In a genre that needs to continually pump out stories, a bad writer will depend on something shocking to keep viewers watching. This is especially true in regards to recently as ratings have gone down and head writers have scrambled to find a way to attract more viewers. This has led to characters that defy the traditional good guy trope. It has led to characters that would originally be written as pure evil as being written with a little sympathy.

Some might argue that this has been happening all along or at least in the last few decades. Victor Newman is certainly an antihero. So is Adam Chandler from All My Children. JR Ewing on the primetime soap Dallas is another big example of this.

It has gotten to the point that most characters, even those that usually fit in the old school good guy role are becoming antiheroes. Name any male character on a soap and he has probably done something horrible. Who doesn't remember when they had Tad Martin on All My Children be the one who buried alive Dr. Madden in 2006? Billy Abbott bought a child on the blackmarket in 2011 on the Young and the Restless. It has become the in thing to take any character and give them an "edge" by having them do things that range from iffy to illegal.

Is this a good thing? I honestly have my reservations. Sure good guys can be boring. If they are to be given an edge then it needs to be understood that it cannot sacrifice the personality of the character. If a character is forced in a corner and has no choice then I understand it. If they chose to be horrible things over and over then it needs to be understood that they are not the good guy. Jason Morgan is not a good guy because he listens to everyone's problems or doesn't allow drugs in his territory. That needs to be understood. You can't have it both ways.

It really needs to be understood that they cannot be treated with the same respect as they once did. This also leads to blatant hypocrisy when a character goes against some baddie or another antihero with some display of selfrighteous hypocrisy. Are we supposed to feel sorry for Sonny Corinthos because his girlfriend was murdered? What about the people he killed? What about the children that have been orphaned because of the people he killed? What about the fact that this "love of his life" was easily replaced by her cousin? (Okay the last one wasn't as much about his hypocrisy as his horrible character.)

Soap opera writers needs to understand that if you decide to go this route then you can't go back. No amount of history erasing and whitewashing is going to change that.

So I started watching Hollyoaks and...

I got an e-mail a couple of days ago saying that British soap Hollyoaks is now on Hulu. For those that don't know Hollyoaks is a half hour teen soap that airs at 6:30 on Chanel 4 in the UK. It first aired in 1995 unlike Corrie's 1960. It's a show that I heard a little about mostly due to my curiosity of UK soaps. 

It is certainly not Coronation Street. That's both good and bad. First of all most of the characters are pretty and young and there are drugs and killings and explosions. There's gangsters and their right hand men. There are also gay and lesbian characters. There was even a trans character back in 2011 which was pretty great. 

The show isn't for everyone as it's quite fast paced and quite violent. It's like General Hospital and steroids. I will say that I hypocritically like it. It doesn't try to be something that it's not. You know what you're getting into when you watch this show. You know that this isn't a multi generational show that centers on the same core families for 40 years. 

This show is a strange mix of if Bob Guza and Agnes Nixon got together to write a soap opera. It's got the violence, mob and plot centric storylines that Guza is known for. It also has the social issues storylines that Agnes Nixon was known for. I kind of like it. It's probably because I don't think of this show as anything but that. I also have only watched a handful of storylines. I honestly don't know all of the characters either. I don't know the history unless you count reading wikipedia articles. Most of those haven't been updated in several months. So I'm am quite confused about some of the characters and know enough for only a few. 

My recommendation is to watch it. It does seem to be doing well with its gay storylines. As someone who is more than annoyed (actually quite pissed) about the lack of gay characters in American soaps I really welcome that. There are gay and lesbian characters. Hell back in 2010-2011 there was even a trans character! From what I have seen on youtube it was done quite well. It has my respect there. I think that I'll be able to deal with the violence and mob stuff just for the gay and lesbian stuff. 

The Olympics Were Gaytastic (Even if Putin didn't want it that way)

It's been a while, almost a month in fact, that I have posted here. There was this thing called the Olympics and my poor time management skills that got in the way of me posting. Even though the Olympics were shadowed by the fact that Putin is a (insert insult here) I still enjoyed them. After all team lesbian/bisexual won 6 medals! Most of them were by Ireen Wust, the crushworthy Dutch speed skater. 2 golds and three silvers? That's awesome.

Her hotness is stopping me from thinking of a good caption.

Then there was Daniela Iraschko-Stolz, an Austrian who won the silver in the Ladies Normal Hill Individual. It's just a stupid way of saying Women's Ski Jumping. I don't know why it's called that because ski jumping isn't really something I would call normal. It's not like you say, "Hey Ed! I'm going to go jump from this hill thingy going really high up in the air. You know like everyone does." Daniela is in a civil partnership as there is no marriage equality in Austria. I'm personally happy for her because this is the first time that Women's Ski Jumping has been an offical Olympic event. That means Daniela is in the record books and not in a place that is forgotten.

Here's Daniela with her wife Isabela. Aren't they the cutest?

I also have to give props to Bella Brockhoff who went to 8th place in the Women's Snowboard Cross. There isn't anything more badass than a woman snowboarding.

I'm going to move to Australia now.

Both AutoStraddle and After Ellen have articles on these awesome women that you should check out if you're curious. I didn't mention everyone so make your way to those sites because they're awesome.

Dr. Liesl Olbrecht is my new favorite character y'all

Kathleen Gati is literally the only awesome thing on that show besides the Lucas and Brad kiss. That was literally the best.

Dr. Olbrecht being Chief of Staff was great. I know that it's kind of stupid and makes no sense. GH has written in some dialogue that does make it legitimate. Olbrecht had a phone conversation with a mysterious person that seemed to help her get the job. The chamber of the board made a unilateral decision, which I think he can do. Blackmail was assumed for the reason she got the job. Anna did mention that Olbrecht made a deal with the WSB and that she must have had a big trump card to get a full pardon. Does she know where Edward Snowden is? It would be interesting if they did a storyline like that. Who knows.

Get ready for...people to come to work on time and do their jobs and other horrible stuff y'all!

She ended up being awesome. Really awesome. I know I should be pissed but dammit Kathleen Gati is a rare find. She had material that could be really messed up and made it into gold. Every scene she's been in is awesome. I loved her yelling at Brad about being late and how she was turned on by the fact that Silas Clay could be a killer. (I think it's her type.) It was great that she called people on the general crap that they pull at GH. People come and go when they please, they never work and expect that they will have their jobs. I was not at all upset that Liz got a pay cut because she wanted to pick up her son. Would it have killed her to wait till her shift was over to pick up Cam? 10 minutes? She couldn't wait 10 minutes? The best was when she made a joke to Felix and Sabrina about blowing them up. They were so scared and thought she was serious and she said it was a joke! To be honest they did make the comment about being blown up. So yeah.

Does anyone else think that Olbrecht should take this on the road all the way to Salem (Days of Our Lives)? Can you imagine how funny it would be if she went to University Hospital can went after the people there. From Theresa and Anne Milbauer to Daniel Jonas, Abby and of course Jennifer "I never work a full shift" Deveraux? You know it would be aweome.

We also got the first same sex kiss on GH. That's right, the first one. There was no fanfare and a huge deal made of it. I loved that. It was a normal kiss between two men. It was not a peck or some joke. It was a real kiss. I like that we are at the point in our history where there doesn't need to be a press release about it. I like that soaps are starting to normalize being gay. It's not a strange or messed up thing. Being that in the same episode there were worse things happening such as families and lovers betraying each other, THE MOB, a man pointing a gun at someone and about 5 seconds from killing them, it's quite hypocritical to be upset about Lucas and Brad's kiss when you think about it that way.

Guess what? The world did not blow up upon them kissing.

4 Reasons Why Jordan Ridgeway Could Be a Trans Woman

I have been thinking about this a lot. It really started during the episode when Jordan knew a boatload of information about football and impressed Rafe. Someone made a comment about it and how she could be trans. Ever since then it's been driving me crazy. Could Jordan Ridgeway have been born with a male body? Could her whole mo be about her hiding this fact?

Personally I really hope it's true. I know it's not because it would be leaked at least a year before anything came out about it. Remember the Will coming out storyline being known by Spring of 2011? In fact I think we knew before that as Soap Opera Digest talked about it in a interview around that time as if it was common knowledge. With a trans storyline that is even more so. Being a trans man or trans woman especially a trans man or trans woman of color is very difficult. For all of the work it is taken for LGB people to be accepted, that is still obviously a work in progress, it is ten times worse for someone who is transgender. It's a tragedy to think about the discrimination they have to face just for being who they are. If Days were to do this storyline then I would be very happy but I doubt it because transphobia is a very real thing. 

If it were to happen and they are keeping it seriously under wraps then here are four clues that they have put out there about Jordan being a trans woman.

4. Her name is androgynous. 

Jordan can be both a male or female name. If this is her birth name then there would be no worry about name changes. If not then it might be a subconscious decision on her part. Maybe a defense mechanism? 

3. She knows a lot about football.

I've thought about this a lot. Just imagine growing up in a body that didn't fit who you were. Just imagine that Jordan as a child wore dresses and was caught by her father. Imagine that this father decided that the best way to deal with this is to make her watch football, a "manly" sport. She had to watch it a lot. Maybe even she was forced to play on the football team. Football became part of her so she knew about plays and other stuff. I think it would make a lot of sense especially as it would probably be drilled into her head so much that she remembers that stuff to this day. If I remembered it correctly then she was quite evasive about why that is so. For me that puts up red flags as to why. It's obvious that the reason why is something that she doesn't want to think about. 

2. She has different identities.

That scene with the different licenses was obviously a big moment in showing that there is more to Jordan than meets the eye. She is hiding something. Having different identities could in fact be a fear about talking about her former life. Telling someone your are trans is certainly a very difficult thing to do in a transphobic world. If someone were to betray your trust and expose the truth then there is the fear of being attacked both physically and mentally for being who you are. Jordan might in fact do just that. She could live her life but when there is the fear that her past is going to be exposed then she runs away. 

We've met 5 minutes ago but that doesn't mean I need to tell you every detail of my life!

1. She's very closed off about her past. 

There is a very obvious reason why. I believe that it's up to the person whether they want to come out or not. You cannot out them or think that they need to be out about themselves. After all should a straight non trans person have to divulge personal information about themselves. Are they obligated to discuss personal sexual information? Why should Jordan have to talk about being trans? I do feel that the show is being judgmental about this. Then about soap operas do have this theme that someone should be honest about every single facet of their lives. A character is punished if they are not. While some things shouldn't be a secret such as having an affair with a married man or making someone believe they are the father of your baby, some do not need to. If she is trans then this is even more so.

Jordan is secretive about her past and it would make sense if she's trans and doesn't want to think of a time of her life when she was forced to be male.

There is something creepy about Kate in this picture.

Billy and Adam=Acting Gold

Today I watched Y&R on TVGN. I usually ignore it as I have it DVRed. As I am at mid December and missed late October and early November I consider myself a casual viewer. I generally know only ideas of what is going on. Fen is in house arrest, Summer took three energy pills, Victor knows that Adam ran over Delia and some other stuff. That pales in comparison to what I saw today.

I honestly could care less about Summer and her issues and Fen too. I just feel nothing for them. I don't care about most of what happens on this show including the Dylan stuff. Dylan=Jason Morgan who was in the army and not in the mob. He's written as perfect and awesome and can do no wrong. The fact that he brought a child molester to GC (Ian Ward) is not helping in his popularity. Apparently he had sex with Avery. While looking for a child molster? That sounds wrong doesn't it? It does to me.

Steve Burton cannot do what Michael Muhney and Billy Miller did today. That was act. There were no fancy sets or gunshots. It did not include stunt casting to make the scene brilliant. It was powerful and raw all on its own. This is what I look forward too when I watch soap operas. You can put as many shirtless guys in front of the screen (As I'm a lesbian it doesn't do anything for me.) or assorted 20 somethings, but it will not ever come close to what I saw between these two actors.

It was raw and real. It did involve a gun but it did not take away from the scenes. It was two people dealing with a tragedy. It was a grieving father confronting the hit and run driver that killed his 7 year-old daughter. It was a scene that 90% of this cast would fail it. In the hands of Muhney and Miller it was emmy winning. It was so awesome that I don't have words for it. It's something that I would see on Coronation Street instead of an American soap opera that praises skin over talent.

What makes this sad is that it's going to be the last we see of these actors on this show. Both have their last days on Thursday. Miller is going to be replaced by David Tom. Most know that Muhney is leaving Y&R because he was fired due to allegations that have been mentioned a lot recently. I honestly am not going to take a side due to the fact that what has been said is not from official sources but instead mostly gossip and rumors. Whether Muhney did what is claimed or not is really for no one to say except for Muhney himself.

What I will say is that what I saw today was something rare and brilliant that I am not going to see on this show for a long, long time.

I've Caught Up With Corrie and It Feels So Good!...Kind of

So I did it. Well at least as far as Hulu does it. I'm still behind by a week. Being that a month ago I was watching May's episodes I don't think it's bad.

It was a whirlwind month where I watched almost a year's worth (8 months if you're counting.) of episodes. So I know in more detail what is going down on the street such as why Sophie and Jenna broke up, (She was too immature for Jenna.) how they wrote off Roy's awesome mother Sylvia, (She left to see a relative. According to Roy she tends to leave then things get tough.) how Tina was going to be written out of the show, (She slept with the married Peter and when he didn't chose her she left in secret.) and how Sally and Tim got together (It was mostly physical and sexual.).

With the good there is the bad. Hayley dying is just...there really are no words for it. It's a powerful storyline that you wish wasn't happening. Hayley is really the tentpole of the show, the emotional heart. She's the character that everyone loves and adores, unless you are Tracy Barlow. There are no words to describe Tracy's horribleness played brilliantly by Kate Ford. Hayley is going to be greatly missed. I feel like I know her, as if she is a part of my family. She's the person that isn't perfect but is damn close to it. She's what I wish the world was like. Can you imagine what it would be like if there were more Hayley's in the world?

This is a character that has been written well and perfectly. It's a character that many shows try to have on their show. The truth is that it's quite hard to produce a Hayley Cropper. Just think of the many "good guy" characters that are forced on us. They try to make them perfect but it always seems to saccarine and fake. Steve Burton's Dylan MacAvoy is one example. No matter how perfect he's written, he's never going to be as popular or well loved. You can't force the audience to like a character. It has to be organic. With Hayley it was. Youtube has a variety of Hayley Cropper videos that show her story. There was always chemistry between Julie Hesmondhalgh's Hayley Cropper and David Neilson's Roy Cropper. This really is a once in a generation love story.

Goodbye Hayley Cropper you will be greatly missed!

Do we always have to have hair models?

I was watching this documentary that had to do with one of the worse films ever: Troll II. It made me think about soap operas. A lot of non soap fans would certainly compare soap acting to that of a campy B-movie. It wasn't even scary but funny. It's always in lists of bad films that or looked at as parodies. Showgirls is also in here, a film that I could only watch an hour of before turning off. There are time that this happens. Sometimes it's on purpose but sometimes it's not.

There was a time in the 40s-60s where soap operas were a well respected medium. There was even a time when they were more liberal than prime time. The acting was brilliant, the production values were awesome. Though it was with a 4:3 aspect ratio and didn't have a very elaborate set. It's didn't need it. Actors were chosen for their talents and not their looks. It showed in the quality shows that were produced.

These days it's the opposite. Today looks are more important. While you might win the jackpot with a Crystal Chappell or Dominic Zamprogna, it's quite rare. This all goes to soap operas, especially in the United States, being obsessed with looks over talent. Hiring young actors is going to be a disaster in regards to talent. The good ones such as Billy Miller and Zamprogna that come onto the show with a hell of a lot talent are likely to leave early too. Billy is leaving as is Michael Muhney on Y&R. While there are still some great young actors (anyone under 40 in my books) there are loads that aren't.

For me this all goes down to the idea that looks are what is most important. If they are lucky they will get talent, talent that is rare to be long term. Jacob Young for example is one of the best who has been on soaps since 1997.

The big issue for me if that in going for people with looks we get a lot of models. A lot. Kristen Alfonso started off as a hair model and it shows to this day. She is not the only one. There were quite a lot of models that get to act in soaps even though they are better at pictures than handling complex emotional arcs.

The reason I bring this up is because there is a new character on General Hospital. Detective Nathan West is played by underwear model Ryan Paevey. That's right, an underwear model. So far it has shown. This acting is not anything memorable. The writing is good, but that's not anything he would have to do with. What I have seen is that he's better at smiling then having chemistry with his costars. It was bad. I did not feel much of anything except for boredom.

That of course is what is going to happen when you bring on someone just for their looks. It's annoying when you have to watch someone learn to act on national TV. I don't want to watch a TV show for that. If I wanted that then I would go watch an acting class. If I wanted to see a pretty face then I would go get a magazine.

If there is one thing that I can say to the people that are involved with putting models on soaps it's this: STOP. Seriously stop. I don't want or need to see people that think just because they can take good pictures that they can act. If they want to then take some classes, at least enough to be on national TV. Just because you are good looking does not mean that you can do everything else in the entertainment business.
Here's a clip if you dare watch.

10 Reasons GH Is Not Awesome

There is a lot of talk these days about General Hospital. It's mostly positive and how the ratings are up and how they have gotten better since the dark days that Bob Guza was head writer and executive producer. I personally disagree with how it's great. While it's better than the days of Guza I would not say that it's by much. Many of the reasons that I hated his era seem to be repeating under Carlivati. So I'm here to list ten reasons why it's not the best soap opera that ever existed.

10. Thorsten Kaye isn't on this show.

I just have to start off with this one. Thorsten Kaye is the best ever. The fact that he's not on General Hospital means that this show isn't the best on daytime. Sorry but you should have had him on this show. Sure he wouldn't be able to play Zach Slater. He could play any assortment of awesome characters. Then again with the big screw up that was the OLTL actors being new characters back in May I don't have much faith in anyone at General Hospital.

GH's loss is B&B's win.

9. Crystal Chappell isn't on this show.

Do you see a trend here? I promise that the other eight do have to REALLY do with the show. Any show without the brilliance that is Crystal Chappell cannot be great. She is one of the best out there and it shows in her work. In my opinion Days has a void where she once was when they stupidly got rid of her. I do know that Days existed before and after her but it just feels weird without her on it. She's just so great. I just can't call this show great if you have characters like Carlos and Sabrina but not any characters played by Crystal Chappell. Sorry Carlivati!

If you look into her eyes for too long then you will fall into a spell...of AWESOMENESS!

8. Killing off Helena.

So this is the character they kill off? The delicious Helena played brilliantly by Constance Towers? She should never die. Her one liners, which are usually based on truth, were great. They don't kill off Sonny who has lost his edge around 2006? I loved her. She's the closest to Sylvia Cropper that we will ever get! I was always entertained when I saw her.

This awesomeness now exists only in dream sequences.

7. Sweeps stunts.

All of the stuff that people say is great about this show happened during the sweeps. Except for the Nurses Ball which was a one off. Just because you have the stuff that characters want for a few weeks a year doesn't make the show any better than others. Guza was also prone to this or would create episodes were were only around so that GH would win the Emmy for best show. (ex. The Carnival from August of 2009) It has to happen all of the time not just one week in April and a couple weeks in November. I know that it's done on purpose. It's annoying to think that people are calling General Hospital so great over stuff that happens so occasionally. Sorry but General Hospital has to be great all year long not just for 20 episodes.

So what are we going to do for the 200 other episodes?

6. Characters over 40 don't get a storyline.

Consider this to be an effect of watching Coronation Street. I have been watching June's episodes and have been very into the who is playing pranks on Roy and his diner and Emily spraining her ankle and Norris being jealous because her niece and nephew bring her flowers. All of these characters are over 50! I love Sylvia's quips, she is so awesome in the storyline with Roy's obsession with finding out who has been messing with his business. It all makes sense and is very much about the characters. Unlike on General Hospital where older characters are never on and god help us if there is even anything not plot centric on at all. All of these problems with the characters on Corrie were solved within 2-3 weeks and I loved seeing them. It was real and entertaining stuff. While it might sound boring to someone like Carlivati it actually is a million times more entertaining then what I see on General Hospital in five minutes. Yes it was more entertaining to see an 80 something year old woman recovering from a sprained ankle then most of anything on General Hospital. That's either a statement that Corrie is that awesome or General Hospital is that bad.

I guess I should be lucky for a couple minutes of screentime a month.

5. Boring or unlikable new characters. (Not including ex OLTLers)

These are the Carlos and Sabrina's of General Hospital. One is a 13 year old stuck in a 30 year old's body. The other is a mobster who is supposed to be sexy I guess. As I'm a lesbian I guess I'll never get it. I guess if you give someone can accent then they are awesome. Actually that's probably yes as I'm crushing on both Alison King and Michelle Keegan of Corrie fame. So yeah...but that does not always work. You have to also act. Then there was that random chick that Michael went out with who was blonde and couldn't act either. The new kids are just not doing it for me. It's not like a hate them all. I do love Britt Westbourne and her Liesl Obrecht but most of them have failed badly.

This outfit is certainly appropriate for the character.

4. The LGBT characters suck or don't exist.

General Hospital is very poor when it comes to LGBT characters. Lucas's coming out story was just that. The guy came out, apparently met a guy named...well Guy and then he was never seen from again. I remember joking on a message board at the time that he was watching Noah's Ark. I thought I was funny then. Though he is coming back I am nervous about what is going to happen. I think that what we are going to get is more Jerome crap then dealing with his love life. While we have what could be the first gay love triangle I don't think we will get much screentime.

Soap operas can't wrap their heads about a transgender character if they got knocked over the head. The Zoe stuff just fell short. Looking back at it I felt that the actor was way too campy and not realistic. I don't think that this "great" show is going to even do such a storyline.

As for lesbians? We don't have one on GH. We never have. I don't think that we never will. Being how visible the LGBT community is in the media and pop culture and how that's become positive I find this messed up. I am a lesbian myself and hate that there is not one lesbian character(s) on soaps.

So far all we got for gay men is Brad and Felix. Felix is a walking stereotype that is very annoying. Brad is just Brad. I will say that I like that he isn't written as too perfect and has an edge to him. Him trying to blackmail Michael into sex was not cool at all. So I'm hoping that Lucas will make the gay scene better but I'm not banking any money on it.

This is the closest these characters will get to anything on this show.

3. The obsession with babies.

This seems to be a common theme for all soap operas. It has been happening a lot in recent years. As General Hospital is trying to say that it's better than the other soaps then I get to talk about this. It's not 1954. A woman is not just a body whose only use is having children. She gets to think and feel without having to feel that she is only validated as a person ONLY if she has a child. No it doesn't work that way. You are no less of a woman if you are not a mother. I'm sorry to say this but it doesn't matter. For soaps, which cater to women, to think that it's only to promote this anachronistic and sexist viewpoint is disgusting. What is even worst is that the characters that are doing this are under the age of 30. Lulu has lost all sense of character. She is being written as being obsessed with having the kid in her life. It's completely out of character even before the recast. Soap operas need to stop this as it's messed up.

What this results in is unrealistic characters. Characters that act more like they are 35 then their real age. Being in your twenties is about finding yours and exploring who you are. It's not about settling down. Their are characters that are still in their teens having kids such as Gabi and characters that are in their mid twenties with their own families such as Lily. It is not cool at all.

What is worse is that this obsession with continue until the baby is ignored for who knows how long. The only storylines involve them being sick or a custody storyline. Then there is the fact that they will be SORASed by the time they are four into a pissed off 16 year old.

I hate to tell you this Lulu but it's a real human being NOT a doll.

2. The OLTL actors are playing horrible or boring characters.

I should probably be nice here. If GH had their choice we would still see Todd Manning. John McBain and Starr Manning. Instead we got this dribble. It sucks also because in the case of Roger Howarth's character, he had chemistry with Laura Wright's Carly. Instead they found the worst character he could play. That's the horrible Franco played by James Franco. How many people actually liked the Franco character except for Bob Guza, James Franco, Jill Farren Phelps and Steve Burton. The character was horrible and was just a way for James Franco to do some experimentation. It was fun for him. He didn't care about the people not just cast but crew that worked on this show for decades and how his little fun could have destroyed the show. When he was on SNL around the time he was on the show he made a lot of fun of GH. He pretty much said it was beneath him and how he was "going back" in his career. He showed a highly campy clip between Franco and Kristen Storm's Maxie. I get that it was SNL but we are sick and tired of of the soap opera genre being treated as a low form of entertainment.

When Roger came back it was as this character. They attempted to whitewash all of the horrible things that Franco did but saying that he didn't do it or that it was not his intention for the events to happen. They even went for to typical brain tumor situation. Of course Franco was written before as being always evil, even as a kid. Hell it was written that he looked evil as a newborn! So to say that a tumor was his reason for everything was pretty bad. It was a major fail to have Howarth come back as one of the worst characters in all of GH if not soap opera history.

The other two characters were mostly boring. The Kiki character, along with having a stripper name is just boring and not worth screentime. Her relationship with Michael was rushed too quickly and fell flat. The other one is a doctor with no personality. Silas Clay is not at all interesting. Well even if Sam is the gayest woman on the show not even she can make him interesting. What else can I say about these two? I just can't understand how the show, which had the rare chance of including three good/great actors who have at least ten years experience on a soap opera. and getting to create any character they wanted, could screw this up.

I'm sorry...but no.

1. The mob still exists.

It's kind of laughable that the main reason that Guza was so hated, his obsession with the mob, is now being incorporated into the "new and improved" GH. That's really sad. I'm sorry but you can't really tell me that the show is better if Sonny is front and center killing people and causing mayhem etc. Sonny is a horrible character and should have been quietly written out or killed off. Actually I don't care! I hate the character who is abusive, sexist and all kinds of horrible. I don't want more of it. I don't want the Jerome's on screen even if it means I get to see Maura West everyday. She could have been added on as any character. So far she's killed Connie and almost killed Olivia. All of this sucks and seems to be a validation to Guza and his extreme violence. I hate it so much it makes my blood boil. I just can't stand it. Maybe it means that my super soap opera fan card is revoked. I'm not going to watch a soap opera to see people murdering each other.

For me this is really sad. I guess its the culture we live in where having a lot of violence is supposed to make a show good and interesting. Being that General Hospital is a soap opera that gears towards people who do not want to see the mob it makes no sense. There is no way that people who want to see the mob would watch a soap opera when they can watch other shows that are very violent. When you have a show, it's rare that everyone is going to like it. Shows that are certain subjects are going to attract certain people. You cannot force some desired fanbase because you think that's where the money is. So please stop with the mob GH. It's not working!

Just go away Sonny! For good this time.

The mob should have been killed off with the death of the horrible Jason Morgan who gets more of a shout out then characters who have been on this show for decades. It was their big chance. Sure it would have been better for it to happen slowly then quickly but it should have happened. By now there should be no more mob. For that reason I am very disappointed in Rob Carlivati who I feel has let me down.


That is why General Hospital is not the best soap opera on TV right now.