GH die-hearter

Perhaps I'm in the minority because I look forward to GH regardless of the s/l and I have done so since I was a little girl watching at her grandmother's knee with the love story of Audrey and Steve...the stories too grown up for my little girl brain but stimulating my imagination.

During my life I rushed home from grade school, middle school, and high school. A small group of us skipped class in HS for Luke and Laura's wedding (we held a little party with a cake!) and while I expected to get into trouble our Principal (a big fan whose daughter made an appearance on GH) asked me to oversee showing the VHS tapes during the lunchroom so that everyone could watch the wedding at our school the following week.

My College schedule was worked around GH and a big group of us would gather together in a hush to watch GH.

With the advent of the personal VCR it was easy to record each night and I was able to see what Luke, Laura, Helena, Robert, Anna, Holly, Tiffany and Shawn were up to. When I lived in Turkey my mom would mail me a box with 2 weeks of GH every 2 weeks, and I would mail her back the viewed tapes. I've hardly ever missed an episode and Lucy Coe's Aids Ball taught me about charity events (I do benefits each month for different causes) and I sobbed when Stone died. I dutifully bought my copy of Robin's diary and read every word.

The silly storylines such as The Ice Princess or Casey the Alien kept me entertained. Stavros back from the dead? Haha. I was thrilled that Lucky was indeed NOT dead. Nicholas’s twin? Emily's twin? (Both were awful story lines and I dutifully waited to get back to business… sadly that never paid off in Emily’s case).

There was such great excitement, and shows that brought me to my knees. Brenda, Sonny, Luke running and jumping and running down that beach. Lily’s death (wasn’t that the first clink - boom?)

Starting with Alan's death I felt like GH had turned a dark corner. I remember wishing for a grander memorial for Lila. I missed the old Edward but I grew to love our Edward of today. While GH had always had serious family drama it was the mixture of light-hearted capers that gave it such a fun balance in the 80s-90s. Those days are long gone.

The mob stories? I don't mind a little bit of the mob here and there... after all, the mob moved in and with it the mob family (Sonny, his kids, and his women, and all of the assorted characters I do enjoy: Jason, Sam, Spinelli, Max, Milo, Dianne, Bernie, Johnny, Claudia (poorly written, RIP), et al)

Sadly the core families began to take a back seat and all but disappeared. The only hint of Monica these days is when she is paged on the PA system. What happened to Ethan? Last I remember he and Maya went to look at Kristina's neighbor's cottage.
Some storylines have taken forever to play out (Lisa/Patrick/Robin)... and others have flown by too quickly (Jake/Joss)... but I still LOVE my show. I may bitch and moan about the writing, I may create new/alternative storylines, but I won't stop watching, I won't remove GH off of my DVR, not until the sad day comes that GH is cancelled or I am deceased and my husband pries the remote from my cold, dead hand.

I miss you, and you, and oh, especially you!

One thing I've noticed is that the GH character canvas has gotten SO small. We seem to see less characters per episode and almost during the week. Even a month ago we were seeing more of the cast per scene, scenes were annoyingly short ... a few seconds long, but we did get to see more of the cast. Now it seems to me the scenes are longer, less bouncing around, but we are seeing less cast members.

Can't we have a balance? Can't we see all of the cast, maybe alternate days? Or group them together ... just an occasional karaoke, or bumping into each other at the hospital or Kelly's. (No commenting on missing out on the opportunity of Jake's Memorial - a prime opportunity to see all cast, contract, recurring and some faces from the past).

It just makes me sad to think how many GH characters we DO NOT see any more. It's a town of ~25 people... I'd like to see more than 7.

Lisa lurves Johnny???

I think Lisa LOVES it when Johnny compares her to his dead sister Claudia. It turns on her twisted little brain. Eew and fascinating at the same time. Anything to move on from the played out s/l of Patrick/Robin/Lisa. That needs to end. I'm not the world's biggest 'Scrubs' fan but enough of that!

michael's got a gun, pt 2

I could bitch and moan about yesterday (okay I will) Michael waving that gun around (for 40 minutes???) he almost deserved Brandon knocking it out of his hands and I’m surprised he didn’t. It was ridiculous – Jason knowing exactly which alley to find them (in all the alleys in PC? I realize Michael said he figured Brandon would return to the scene of Abby’s beating but.. jesh)

Jason has become an emotional wreck (understandably) and Sam is ever more the cold, calculating, sensible one. I actually kind of like this so props to KM and SB for their personality swap. It’s played well. I’m just waiting for Sam to put her foot down and tell Jason ‘no more killing, you’re not up to it’. Hmmm.

poor Liz

I wish they had played more of everyone thinking Liz was losing her mind (a la Shadybrook). It's natural for her and the people around her to think she would break down with the stress she is under. It's unnatural to ignore it.
How great it would have been to continue the s/l of hearing Jake's voice, thinking she saw him, etc... leading up to discovering Joss's bloodtype and knowing without a doubt that Jake could not be a donor match for Joss. Proving her intuition was right and validating her mother instincts. It would strengthen her character and give her back her old fight (something she desperately needs as opposed to the clinging she is forced to do). Poor Liz. It was a great opportunity for character redemption... completely missed.