May 28, 2003

This is not your usual fashion column.  Really, it’s not my usual fashion column, mostly because I just haven’t been my usual self lately.  Usually, I can watch General Hospital, enjoy the moments with the characters that I like, diss the moments that make me say WTF?, and I can always razz the clothes.  The past week was full of things that I felt like I should have been really emotional about – things that should have interested me more than they did.  It’s me, I know.  Preoccupied with life, sent into a trancelike state whenever Dobson appears…it just wasn’t happening for me at all this week.  I’ll get to all that in a minute. 

First though, I must share something that I found in my e-mail box this morning.  It was part of a cutesy little message from one of my cutesy little friends who sends these type things frequently.  Admittedly, I frequently skim them and delete them as quickly, but this particular thought stood out today and made me think “ha..I like that”: 

We could learn a lot from crayons:
      some are sharp, some are pretty,
 some are dull, some have weird names,
      and all are different colors....but
      they all exist very nicely in the same box. 

I read that right before reading that my fellow EOS columnist, Kathy Hardeman has found a lump in her breast.  My immediate thought was to pray and to call my church’s prayer group – those folks really know how to get things done.  Then I thought about that crayon box and remembered how nicely we all exist together here, whether we are Christian, Pagan, magenta or cerulean… we’re the ones who know Kathy and we’re the ones who need to gather our positive thoughts and energy, whether it’s through prayer, meditation or whatever…  Please take the time today to do whatever you do for Kathy.  I truly believe that the power of many voices and hopes toward a common effort make a tremendous difference.  Kathy amazes me every week with her ability to remain positive about General Hospital – let’s please do what we can to be sure that optimism and humor continue in her daily outlook.  J   

I need a big dose of Kathy’s cheer when I think about General Hospital lately.  JenJen wrote a really good column this week, where she wondered about so many of the recent plot developments.  Just a few weeks ago, I was excited to see so much of the cast suddenly integrated into stories.  Now I’m starting to wonder why they bothered because so many of the stories are haphazard and weak.  Let’s start with Liz and Ric’s marriage.  Rick Hearst brought the character of Elizabeth to life.  Theirs is such a tangible onscreen spark, truly beautiful soapy love.  It has nothing to do with the writing and everything to do with two talented actors who click, and who are comfortable portraying a sexy, loving relationship in front of a camera.  I would have loved a summer of museum visits, lovemaking and general story investment.  Instead, Liz finds herself pregnant (because what kind of 20-something student/waitress who is dating a guy she isn’t sure she can trust needs to think about something as silly as birth control? Pfft), married in a quickie civil ceremony (cute dress – she did look lovely), and miscarries within a day.  All that drama should have taken weeks if not months, but we got it all in three short days… so much impact that it made almost no impact at all.  Color me disappointed and finding myself more tired of the constant driving forward of plots that really don’t even make sense.  Can we slow down and see some emotion?  We had some really heart wrenching scenes in the hospital when Liz was losing the baby, but for some reason, the camera couldn’t keep away from Sonny and Carly standing in the hallway, gazing on in sympathy at what should have been a very private moment for the Lansing’s.   Why was that possibly about them?   

I think this attitude of mine started when Courtney was hospitalized twice within a week, once for her mineshaft injuries and once again for being struck by a fast moving car while crossing the street.  She was released pretty quickly and the beat went on…no real fallout from either instance of violence against her.  Just a few years ago, someone getting run down by the enemy of their boyfriend would have been a big story and not just a one-day plot device.  High drama has always been a soap opera cliché, but it becomes beyond ridiculous and fairly uninteresting when the turnaround on weddings, pregnancies, shootings, explosions and murder are contained within a week.  Why should Michael throw picture frames across the room…sheesh….it’s been at least three days since his car exploded – get the hell over it already kid.  L 

The Maxie Internet sex scandal has been especially shoddy.  We don’t see enough of it for me to feel like it’s being done responsibly – to me, the focus should be on Maxie being crushed by what has happened to her.  We should see heart to heart conversations with Georgie and especially with Mac.  Let Bobbie give her some mothering.  I think about when I started watching General Hospital and the thoughts that would have been going through my pre-teen mind if I had witnessed this story at that time.  Are we going to see more of Kyle and is he sorry?  What of Lucas? Is he angry?  What will he do about it?  This is a bigger deal than how the ecstasy got into Sonny’s club… 

So that’s my aggravation.  I won’t even delve into the nostalgia that I feel when I look at Alexis suited up as Dobson.  This woman’s pain should be seen as pain, period.  What story it would actually be if we saw her actual feelings on the subject, as opposed to the occasional thumbing of her nose at Skye.   

On the other hand, I was so happy to see Nikolas and Emily together yesterday that I actually jumped up off the couch and did a little dance.  It made my husband laugh out loud, so I had to sit down quickly to hear the rest of their conversation.  If there was any debate as to whether Tyler Christopher (Nik) was still sexy (there wasn’t in my mind – I was just waiting for him to get away from Lucky and Summer), let it be laid to rest now.  He slid his arms around Emily from behind and the hazy memories came back into focus… this is a HOT character, capable of emoting and doing all those realistic little bedroomy things that make a soap man worth watching.  Jason Morgan, take note… or just stick to your guns and stop talking about weddings and hugging on the couch.  It takes much more than a pretty face or two to keep it real and I’m all about front burner-ing Nikolas and whoever….Mrs. Landsbury, even.  The boy is that good.   

And here’s where I’ll give you a bit of what you fancy…the fashion.  Or lack thereof.  Courtney. Denim dress (was it acid-washed?  Or was I just flashing back to 9^th grade?). Tank top beneath the unzipped bodice.  WTF?  Thanks to the wardrobe department for dressing her so dumb on their trip to the island…otherwise I might have just completely phased out, thinking about the wonder of still running my heat on Memorial Day weekend.   

In other eighties girl news, Summer has become quite the enigma, hasn’t she now?  Her sudden personality shift was poorly calculated and more evidence of the writers’ tendency to drift far away from their initial intentions for characters.  Either way, she’s showing up at Kelly’s wearing a jean jacket with puffed sleeves and no collar.  I know I had one of those in about 1982…I’m telling ya – it’s all coming back...beware the legwarmers! The vision of her, and then Gia coming in with a similarly designed electric blue jacket prompted me to have a little GH fantasy moment where Summer wore satin hotpants and Luke and Lucky came on the scene in full Saturday Night Fever style.  All on roller skates.  It was all much more interesting than any fodder about lost Cassadine fortunes and Russian brothels.  Let me know if you want to jump in my brain and catch a glimpse..lol.   

That’s really all I have for now.  I enjoyed the ten minutes or so that was Liz and Ric’s wedding.  Liz did look beautiful and Ric couldn’t look anything less if he tried.  Skye blew my “looking like the ideal mother” theory out of the water with a giraffe print dress that I thought was pretty fugly.  Carly’s maternity clothes continue to be oh so Mrs. Corinthos – really great stuff for her.   

I think the summer (the season, not the girl) has some good things in store for us.  I’m looking forward to watching Emily’s story unfold, Ric and Liz’s continuing romance (though I’m not sure where they have left to go…), Dillon and Georgie getting more airtime and much, much more Nikolas Cassadine.  Here’s hoping that the writing can at least try to start keeping up with the acting.   

Until next time…be safe and enjoy the weather that I hope is much better than the cold rain we’ve had in Maryland for the last week and a half.  If you have a chance to e-mail me, please do – I love to hear from you!  

Aug 10, 2002