I have been a thirty year viewer of GH but I can't stand the mob stuff any longer so I checked out As the World Turns. I saw outdoor scenes that were real not fake, I saw families of relatives talking and having discussions on major issues, I saw couples in love and couples breaking up sadly, I saw raw emotional scenes, I saw tradition and a wide range of characters, old and young who had conversations with each other, I saw action and mystery. Wow! I guess I watched GH so long that I did not know what I was missing.

Hear our plea: Less mob and more character-driven and emotional stories about love and family. Those are soap staples that have endured throughout the genre since it's inception and if it ain't broke, don't fix it.

 

Yolanda tries to see the (sadly lacking) romantic side of things for Carly and for Jason:

I really enjoy Lucky and Sam too but I’m really surprised at how much I enjoy Liz with them and throwing Nadine and Nik in there is just icing on the cake. I think the show likes Jason in pairings (Keesha, Robin, Carly, Courtney, Sam ) are a few examples. I just think that after two years of longing between him and Liz she never made it into the penthouse because TPTB don’t like him with Liz. I mean why else would they invest so heavily in him having a “male roommate” in Spinelli?  Jason and Liz failed as a pairing and all this airtime he has with Spinelli and Carly are meant to make up for the fact that he doesn’t have a female co-star anymore. As a Carly fan first I really hate what this has done to CarJax. I mean Laura and Ingo were great and it’s like they have dragged her out of her marriage, made her get rid of any loyalty to Sonny and just be Jason's enabler. I always saw the Carson bond between Mo and Tamara Braun and it’s like they have just killed it by making Carly put Jason before Morgan’s safety, her marriage and her bond with Sonny.

I also made mention of the show possibly now seeing Jason as a lone wolf but a relationship would make him appear weak - oh, and human. And I stopped trying to uncover what makes Carly think the way she does a long time ago because she is just too complicated to figure out.

 

Renee also weighs in on the lack of romance:

I scrolled down to see your GH Chronicles and smiled when I saw the picture of Robert and Holly. I've been watching GH since 1977 and Robert and Holly is my all-time favorite love story. Robert and Holly were love. I quit watching GH two years ago because I couldn't stand the violence, sadism and mobsters. Plus the fact there was no longer any romance - much less love. Oh, how I miss the old days of GH where there were supercouples, love and romance. I wish GH would make some changes behind the scenes and realize their audience is mainly women and they like romance - not mobsters!

Yes Renee, a lot of us really do enjoy watching mushy love scenes and romantic angst instead of guns blazing and threats flying.

 

Janette can't get a handle on Carly either!

I loved your take on the ever-present mob situation in Port Charles. I most definitely agree. I Have been a GH fan since its conception and lately I have been disappointed in its characters as well as its storyline. I would like to comment on the character Carly. WE wept with Carly at the loss of Michael and was praying that she finally grew up, wised up, and shut up. What did we get? The same old nosy, vindictive, wanna-be Mob Queen she has always been. Losing one child is bad enough but you would think she would be a better mother to the one she has left. Why would she purposely bring the mob back to her door and endanger Morgan?
 

Can't argue with that. Why did Carly once again embrace the mob after yanking her children away from it and away from Sonny? That makes no sense, GH. No sense.

 

Becky tells me to look at Scott Baldwin another way:

I'm just going to have to disagree with you about Scotty as well. I don't actually think it is all about Lulu being Luke's daughter, but I'm okay with that even if it is. TPTB bungled everything about Logan's story from the very beginning and nothing has changed. Scotty can throw around ancient history as much as he likes, since it is one of the precious few moments of history being remembered on this show. Shout it from the rooftops, Scotty, I say. I have a lot of sympathy for this man that has lost that son, in addition to the many other losses in his life, yet he is presented so one-dimensionally on this stupid show. Any reaction is okay with me and any time Kin Shriner gets to be on my screen is a good thing, though I wish they would give him more material and a truly emotional reaction in addition to the justified anger.

That was actually my point as well. Scotty is out for blood over Logan's death and probably has regrets and anger up to here. But that is not what I'm seeing. I'm seeing the one-dimensional writing Becky mentioned. This actor could easily chow on the scenery, all you have to do is hand the material to him.

I will say that last week, one thing really stood out and it carried over to several scenes: Character interaction that we don't normally see. Alexis with Johnny, Liz with Anthony and Sonny with Lulu were just a few examples. When we see characters sharing scenes with people they usually do not work with, well I know I sit up and take notice because it adds an interesting dynamic that you didn't even know you appreciated. The awesome part is that the interaction made sense and moved the stories forward. And okay, make that two things I saw that I liked: I also heard a few references to the show's history, i.e., Scotty flinging what Sonny did to his daughter Karen in Sonny's face, and of course, Sonny relaying the tale of his bipolar disorder while with Lulu. Wow, GH, we didn't know you still bothered to remember things like that. Did someone finally get the memo and actually read it?

Keep those emails coming because we're just getting started.