By Marlena De Lacroix a.k.a Connie Passalacqua Hayman Before I start my review of the new General Hospital (Frank Valentini executive producer, Ron Carlivati, headwriter) I have three things to say: 1. I agree with everything my good friend Ed Martin says in the column below ("Can General Hospital Be Saved?") Do a Gloria Monty, gut the show … [Read more...]
General Hospital: Can This Show Be Saved?
March 2, 2012 by 14 Comments
By Ed Martin Watching General Hospital these last two weeks, as the energetic efforts of One Life to Live veterans Frank Valentini and Ron Carlivati to save the show from almost certain doom begin to play out, it occurs to me that my time as a fan of this once-formidable serial has come full circle. I began watching GH in 1978, shortly … [Read more...]
“General Hospital” Madness: Why Kill Jake? And What Have They Done to Luke?
March 30, 2011 by 11 Comments
By Ed Martin Anyone who is still wondering why broadcast soap operas are disappearing before our eyes need only review recent episodes of ABC's General Hospital. Don't blame shrinking audiences. (Viewers aren't really going away. They're just harder to count.) Don't blame competition from other media. (Overall media consumption is on the The … [Read more...]
Ban James Franco from Daytime!
August 11, 2010 by 12 Comments
By Marlena De Lacroix Publicity whores! Marlena hates them! I'm so sorry that my otherwise carefree, wonderful summer was interrupted by my rants to friends visiting our summer cabin about how James Franco has taken over the daytime world this year. Not just with his repeated visits to General Hospital as Franco, but his egotistical appearances … [Read more...]
Watching Sadism For Thrills: Soaps Are Not Snuff Films!
February 18, 2010 by 41 Comments
By Marlena De Lacroix Recently I was asked by a fan why I am not posting much anymore. Here's why: Today on One Life to Live I watched a woman who had just delivered a baby graphically fall through ice and drown. Not three months ago I had watched a Does any TPTB on soaps, so desperate for ratings, actually have any moral sense at all, or even … [Read more...]
General Hospital: Making Michael a Monster
November 9, 2009 by 20 Comments
By Ed Martin Everything about General Hospital that I have come to loathe during the last ten years was on proud, pungent display last week, to such a degree of extreme outrageousness I could not look away. I must admit that there was an infectious lunatic energy to it all, which could account for my deep fascination with what I was watching. … [Read more...]
JJ and the Rehabilitation of General Hospital
November 1, 2009 by 13 Comments
By Marilyn Henry There already have been big discussions on the internet about Jonathan Jackson returning to his role as Lucky on General Hospital. Newer viewers who don’t know his work are jolted; other long-time viewers are thrilled. I don’t know whose bad In the last few weeks, the show seems to have turned a corner. Good grief, did … [Read more...]
The Downward Soap Spiral Accelerates
October 10, 2009 by 20 Comments
By Marlena De Lacroix Bonjour, everyone. This November will mark 20th anniversary of my becoming Marlena De Lacroix, soap critic. Marlena's mission has always been to write the truth as I see it, no matter how impolitic. But now, for me -- I repeat, for me -- it's clear that we've reached the end stage of network daytime soap opera, a … [Read more...]
