Paula's Soapbox

I don't know about the rest of you, but I have really been enjoying the introduction of the Jeromes on GH (particularly Ava and Julian --- Kiki I could take or leave). In fact it's really the only storyline I can even tolerate right now. It doesn't really make sense to me that Kate/Connie or whoever she is these days is now a journalist and has this mysterious boss whom no one has ever heard of in the form of "Derek Wells"; but I can overlook that if it keeps Maura West and William DeVry on my screen. It's amazing what a difference it makes to a storyline when dynamic, captivating actors are a part of it. We need a little more of that and less of the Sabrina/Felix/Patrick/Brad/Britt mess. I don't know whose idea it was to put them front and center for so long, but please put us out of our misery. Enough is enough!  I'm also seeing potential with the Luke/Holly storyline. I'll admit I wasn't watching GH when Sean Donely was on, but if the ...

I think I speak for most people when I say that GH revisiting the Franco storyline is beyond terrible. It appears that they are trying to redeem this character, not a foreign concept in soaps. Villains turn heroes all the time in this genre; but Franco is not redeemable.  Even if we were to take his DVDs at face value and assume he didn't want Michael hurt, he wasn't beyond exploiting the rape to torture Jason --- remember Francophenia? The writers don't seem to, or they just don't care, which is worse. They would also have us believe that Franco only did the things he did because Jason somehow rejected him.    How could that be? Franco was torturing Jason before Jason ever knew he existed! And don't get me started on how every character thinks Franco looks exactly the same as he did a few years ago. Franco doesn't look like Todd and Kiki doesn't look like Starr, just add some hair dye and the audience will be none the wiser...right!  On top of the Franco...

I must admit that I feel kind of validated because two of my GH predictions have proven correct this week and that almost never happens. As you might recall I have suspected that Suzanne was somehow connected to the Balkan ever since she and Brenda were in Rome. As a result it was relatively easy to make the assumption that she was the one who cut up Brenda's wedding dress. So since these predictions turned out to be correct I thought I would press my luck and try for a few more. For about the past month or so Carly has been planning to destroy Brenda and Dante with the information she has about "their" baby. I have never actually thought that Brenda and Dante conceived a child together. I think Carly was quick to jump to that conclusion because she wants it to be true. I also do not believe that Brenda's child is dead. I think Suzanne and Theo are keeping him somewhere for one of two reasons. First, either the baby was Alexander's or they believe it was Alexander...

Wednesday's General Hospital was like a breath of fresh air to me. Kristina's conversation with Sonny served as a reminder that she is the one true victim in this storyline. It also allowed viewers to see that her attempts to forget what happened to her is clouding her judgement. And it was nice to see that she is still making an effort at keeping Ethan out of trouble because it makes her seem less villainous . As long as GH keeps showing more moments like these I might eventually be able to buy into the fact that she blamed Ethan thinking she could protect him, while appeasing Kiefer in order to protect herself. Perhaps the portion of this episode that pleased me the most was Carly figuring out that Kiefer is to blame for Kristina's attack. Obviously she will have to prove that now, which will give GH an opportunity to throw her into scenes with Bradley Cole, (hello Guiding Light fans) but it was such a relief to hear someone finally suspect Kiefer. I was beginning to thin...

The Kristina abuse storyline on General Hospital continues to get worse with each passing day. As if the show's portrayal of her as the villain in this whole scenario weren't enough, one of the main characters essentially justified the attack to the accused on Tuesday's episode. Obviously I am referring to Luke, who apparently is so open-minded and non-judgemental that he has even found a way to understand the beating of a 17 year old girl. Granted Luke was talking to Ethan, who obviously did not commit the crime he is accused of, but for Luke to say that he "can see where a guy would snap and...do something that he didn't intend to do" after what Ethan experienced, is reprehensible. I guess I should not be surprised given Luke's history, but what Ethan experienced is known as a bad day. If Ethan can't handle being told off by the older sister of a girl who has a crush on him the same day said crush was expressed I'm amazed he made it through high ...

As one of many General Hospital viewers I know that Sonny is a central part of the show, just as I know that at some point I am going to find him likable again and perhaps even feel sorry for him. However I think that the show has been trying a little too hard to make this happen earlier than it should. I was particularly frustrated with the dialogue on Wednesday's episode, especially the sentiments expressed by Carly and Luke. "Sonny, like Dante, is complicated and sometimes he does the wrong things for the right reasons." ~Carly Carly could not have picked a more inappropriate time to seek sympathy and understanding for Sonny than in the hospital the day after he shot Dante. I could overlook the conversation she had with Olivia in which she made excuses for Sonny's lifestyle because, quite frankly, that is what a lot of viewers do on a daily basis, myself included. Carly crossed a line though when she told Lulu, in Dante's hospital room, "that Sonny, like ...

It has been a year of look-alikes on General Hospital, from Sarah Joy Brown (ex-Carly) finishing her run as Claudia, to Natalia Livingston (ex-Emily) being cast as Rebecca. There was even an episode that featured Luke and Ethan look-alikes in the form of Link and Evan, replacements hired by Tracy who she jokingly referred to as re-casts. With all these doubles, one might assume that General Hospital would avoid doppelgangers for a while, but one would be wrong. Obviously the show could not let the year slip by without the inclusion of yet another counterpart, and Rebecca's exit provided the perfect opportunity for that. It is not that I dislike the way Rebecca was written off the show, in fact I think bringing Chad Brannon (ex-Zander) back was an excellent way to facilitate this exit. However, I think this would have been a bit more entertaining and would have seemed more clever if Brannon wasn't the third actor in recent history to return to the show as a different character. ...

I know I have made this statement before, but after watching Thursday's General Hospital I think it bears repeating. It is simply a shame that Natalia Livingston is leaving the show just when the Rebecca character is becoming interesting. Not only has she made the Lucky/Liz/Nikolas triangle more intriguing, I am beginning to notice the potential impact she could have on the overall show. For instance, until now I never realized just how compatible she and Lucky actually are. Rebecca arrived in Port Charles as a con artist, which is something Lucky can obviously relate to because of his upbringing. In talking about this upbringing with Rebecca, Lucky revealed his inherent fondness for Luke for perhaps the first time in months. And these days any person that can make Lucky feel anything for his father other than resentment or embarrassment could have a positive effect on this volatile father/son relationship. One also cannot ignore the fact that if Rebecca helped Lucky reconnect with...

It would appear that time is running out for Claudia, as the truth about her involvement in Michael's shooting finally comes to the surface. Unfortunately the one person who may be able to save her has been kidnapped by rival mobster, Joey Limbo, on orders from Anthony Zacchara. Anthony instructed Joey to lock Johnny away in a safe location so that Joey could go after Sonny and Jason without Johnny getting caught in the crossfire. Johnny almost managed to escape, but was quickly forced back into captivity, effectively preventing him from warning Claudia that her life was in danger. Meanwhile, an oblivious Claudia was preoccupied with the birthday party Sonny decided to throw her. Of course she managed to make a little time to threaten Olivia, convinced that she knew were Johnny was. Claudia even made plans to tell Sonny about Dante at the party, but something tells me that she may not get that chance. On the other hand, Sonny didn't appear to have much of a reaction to hearing ...

After overhearing a drunken Kate spill the beans about Dante yesterday, Claudia showed up at the Metro Court just in time to hear this same information again today. With this secret ready to explode Olivia needs to take Kate's timely advice and come up with a plan B because Claudia made it clear that she has no intention of keeping this secret. She even went so far as to tell Dante that she had important information that he would be interested to hear. However, knowing Claudia and the way she likes to play Zacchara mind games I cannot see her just blurting out this information. She will most likely try to use what she knows to her advantage somehow which will undoubtedly blow up in her face, probably just in time for Sarah Brown's exit from the show. Of course Claudia is going to have to work fast in order to exploit this secret before hers are exposed because Michael's memories have been returning rather quickly. And on today's General Hospital he remembered a visit he...