By Marlena De Lacroix a.k.a. Connie Passalacqua Hayman
For the last year, I have been writing what great showmen executive producer Frank Valentini and headwriter Ron Carlivati are with their crackerjack rescue of General Hospital. As I wrote last week, the Nurses Week was a blast, with the windup this week as wonderful as its beginnings. I loved Sabrina and scrumptious Emma singing “Call Me Maybe” and the boys of Port Charles doing a shirtless strip (down to their shorts, which spelled out sequentially “Nurses Ball.”) Epiphany and the Revelations (Tracy and Monica) were great, finishing up the show singing “Jump.” The final act, with Patrick, Sabrina and Emma singing “You Are not Alone” with the whole cast, was sublime. The 2013 revival of the Nurses Ball will always be remembered!
Still divinely sexy, Robert Kelker-Kelly is back as Stavros Cassadine
But what did you think of Valentini and Carlivati’s follow-up? The revelation that Prince Stavros Cassadine (the divinely sexy if older Robert Kelker-Kelly) was alive and holding his kidnapped Lulu frozen as his new “Ice Princess” was either a show-stopper or a bomb, depending on what you think — and Marlena does want to know what you think! Was it typical Carlivati over the top writing? Or was it a just spectacular enough a follow-up to the Nurses Ball?I thought it was all way over the top. Genie Francis’ Laura was way overwrought, but I guess her getting all hysterical (after all Stavros had held her and raped her, producing Nicolas) was in character. But then again, Marlena was never a Cassadine fan. What do you think of Laura, Luke and Dante’s rescue of Lulu? What do you think of that great line from Stavros, “I’m a Prince, and she’s my Ice Princess?” Too much for vous or what? I found myself not liking the new Cassadine revival, but I kept tuning in day after day anyway.
Which is what the real GH showmen wanted and did achieve here, n’est-ce-pas? What do you think of the whole Cassadine revival?
The Bold and Beautiful Gets Sexy
Speaking of showmen, what did you think of the fact that Bradley Bell finally brought sex back to daytime TV? In other words, after months of unbearable tension he finally had in-laws Brooke and Bill (those whores!) make love not minutes after Katie took off her rings and walked off from her husband. It was forbidden, it was heartbreaking (literally Katie’s was, landing her unconscious in the hospital) but it was undeniably hot, hot, hot!!!!
So what do you think of Brooke’s latest seduction? Do you like Brooke and Bill as a couple or are the two just too immoral to bear? Will they have to pay the price or their forbidden act?
And haven’t the musical numbers in this year’s revived Nurses Ball been wondrous so far? I especially loved Spinelli (Bradford Anderson) and a glamorized Ellie (Emily Wilson) who did the comic and so imaginative “She Blinded Me with Science.” The introduction to the ball, starring all the nurses spearheaded by Epiphany (Sonja Eddy) was great, and so was the pas de deux by Anton and Sam, performed straight from Dancing With the Stars to you by Kelly Monaco and Maxim Chmerkovskiy. I found myself sobbing (again) when Frisco sang “All I Need” to Felicia at the cliffhanger of Friday’s episode. I was never their greatest Frisco and Felicia fan back in the day, but it brings back the old days of GH to us, special days we shall never forget in so many ways.
Marlena says: It’s a special time at General Hospital. The 50th anniversary is coming up April 1 and it’s been just about a year since headwriter Ron Carlivati and executive producer executive producer Frank Valentini took over a dying show and made it must-watch TV. Marlena’s dear friend and veteran journalist Ed Martin, who first started watching GH in the glory days of the early 80s, expresses the feelings of many avid fans at the current state of the show in this column, reprinted from his regular gig at TV Worth Watching. Ed’s been a guest columnist here many times, and I’m so happy to share his latest GH thoughts with you.
