Friday, June 14, 2013

The Deconstruction of a Show: The Strange Love of Roger Howarth and GH



There's this great, crazy noir film called The Strange Love of Martha Ivers. It's weird and creepy and stars Kirk Douglas, the fabulous Barbara Stanwyck, and my favorite, Van Heflin. In it, Martha destroys her life over a mistake and thinks she loves someone who doesn't care for her anymore. She takes a life filled with riches and throws it away and ends up dead. Sound familiar? It should. It's what the Twats are doing with GH. Due to their obsession with something that doesn't matter, they'll ruin what they have and end up cancelled. This just won't be nearly as interesting. Ivers is all kinds of fun. GH is the opposite.

The Demented logic of those who control GH is truly startling to me. I know that I’ve been way too busy to pay attention to something so meaningless as that horrible show, but it’s been brought to my attention, so I have some time this afternoon to comment. I can’t really believe it’s gone this far.

Look, I like Roger Howarth. He seems like an amusing guy and I think he plays the shit out of Todd Manning. I love that. I love his depiction of Todd currently on OLTL, in the past, and in the final run on ABC. I even loved his Todd for about ten minutes on GH. But, really, I’m not some crazed Howarth fangurl. I think he’s fine but if he’s not Todd in Llanview, I'm not really interested.  So, with that cleared up, I have to say that he’s not the Be All and End All to soaps in general. And manipulating and essentially deconstructing an iconic television show for his “style” is insulting to those who have worked on it for years, to their fans, and to anyone who respects the form in general. In other words, these two twats have gone too far.

I’m not watching because, well, I’m not interested. But my funny recapper seems to be saying the Dieter, the dancing freak, is now an alleged Quartermaine and has the others kissing his ass. Tracy, played by the spectacular Jane Elliot, is kissing up to him and AJ, the best Quartermaine, IMO, played by Sean Kanan, is cowtowing, as well. I guess they are both vying for his vote.

Huh? He’s a murderous psycho who tortured people they love. Are you kidding me? This is repugnant.

AJ is trying to make excuses like the things he did were bad, as well. Right, okay, I get it. The Vets have to be manipulated to make Howarth’s douchebag character palatable, as Nimnuts put it. Well, he didn’t say the manipulation part, but I believe he did mention trying to make this nauseating nutcase “palatable”.  Great, good for you, Nimnuts. You truly are sicker than I thought. I thought you couldn’t go any lower then the rapemance, but I was wrong. You now have.

And, it seems, the braintrust in the Mobbie set are now running around like idiots trying to kill Dieter as he skates around being pious.  Right. Yeah, okay. So Sean shoots the wrong person, Sonny’s a headcase about it, and Carly’s spiraling out of control.  Yeah, that works. How long until Carly’s fucking him? Will she do it to “get” to him and destroy him? Who knows and I don’t care. This crap is too sick to even think about.  

I’ve hated the Carly character for decades now. But this makes me feel sorry even for her. How can there be any logic to completely deconstructing a show to highlight one actor playing a character who is beyond redemption? Is there anything that is beyond the pale to these guys? I guess not.

I really thought Nimnuts couldn’t go lower than he did with the rapemance between Not Todd and Marty. I thought that was truly nauseating shit but, it seems, he has. This character, as I understand,  is truly evil and sick and tortured anyone who got in his path. And what’s their answer for this? “Sorry, I was sick”. Oh, okay. That works. Only not.

Look, I thought I couldn’t feel any more sorry for the legit GH fans. I am having serious Jew guilt about my initial support of these morons and the “burn it down” rants. I had no clue they’d go this far. I never, in  a million years, thought they’d completely annihilate the core of the show itself. I thought they’d backburner it or send them into Witness Protection, but this is so much worse. They’re all there and being deconstructed and made to look like buffoons or evil for this shit. That’s really bad. Really bad and disrespectful. And all I can say is “I’m sorry”, really sorry, because this shit is so bad, it’s wince-inducing.

I’m not sure what the motivation is here but might we look at how Howarth has faired on soaps. He ain’t no savior, Kids, he’s a player but without a good show, it tanks. He didn’t save ATWT. That’s for sure. He didn’t save OLTL. In fact, they did quite well for almost a decade without him. He’s back now but their resurrection can’t be credited to his participation. It helps but that show is firing on all cylinders and it’s anything but The Todd Show. Thank God for that. It’s balanced and interesting and he’s great, but he’s one of an ensemble.

So Glad This Guy Isn't on OLTL

This is the guy who's saving your show? It looks like Hammy Howarth is in rare form. Not engaging, not entertaining, and not interesting. Sorry, Twats, he isn’t going to save GH. In fact, he’s helping to kill it. I can't even believe this is the guy who is Todd on OLTL. Maybe it's his evil twin because Todd acts nothing like this moron.

Todd About to Kick Some Ass


I’ve never, ever, ever seen so many angry fans. And they’re right. These hacks are destroying a show with fifty years of history to highlight one guy who doesn’t even seem interested. But, let’s leave him out of this because, really, he’s irrelevant. This is being done by others to accommodate him. There was an article with Nimnuts where he basically says they needed to find a character for Howarth that fit him? Why? Why not let Howarth fit in with the rest of the show? Oh, because he’s the King. I forgot. Look how well it’s working. 

I thought it was interesting because I actually read this article and Lil Ron sounded downright uncomfortable. In fact, I thought he sounded as if he wasn’t sure this was a good idea at all and probably, deep down, knows it’s a disaster. The only ones liking this are the horny Howarth Hags. Really. Howarth could kill babies and feast on their flesh and as long as his abs peeked through his bloodstained shirt, they’d swoon. I think they should try Match.com.

But, other than the HHH crowd, it’s pretty bad out there. The reactions are rather extreme and depressing. The new comments today were more about Nimnuts mocking Kanan’s weight and how people still think Todd is on GH…PPSSTT- he’s not. He’s happily ensconced back in Llanview. But catch this move:


@carlivatiron @valentinifrank @seankanan So the show still has AJ fat jokes. Goes to show the writers don't have shit left to tell #GH

Stay classy, Nimnuts. Are you going to have Kanan arrested now, too? You don't just degrade GH characters, now you're mocking the actors, as well? Look in the mirror, Buddy, you're not a great beauty. That's a glass house you're living in, Dude,  and you're holding a rock.


Really, it's sad. It seems that Nimnuts may think redemption is possible for anyone and anything. He’s about to find out that's not the case. There’s no redemption for a lack of talent and respect for an audience and a legendary show. And, by the way, Sean Kanan isn’t fat- just talented.

At the end of Martha Ivers, there's a murder/suicide. Ironic, huh? Looks like that's coming, figuratively. But I cringe thinking of these twats as either Kirk or Babs. They're not talented enough. If you want to be really entertained, watch this- not GH!


 

6 comments:

  1. For the life of me, I cannot get my fellow GH watchers to understand what you are conveying here. What I am trying to say, and you say it so much better than I do, is that this total focus on Roger comes at the expense of other characters and their stories. In fact, my friends seem to be angered by my constant criticism of Ron's adulation of Roger. I feel angry on their behalf as well as for the talented GH vets. I also feel angry for Roger. He deserved so much better than being handed James Franco's prank of the day costume. Roger might as well be dressed as the giant pickle in front of the deli shop who mutters, "Eat me" when you walk by. I actually encountered this today. I stopped watching completely, but took a glance today when my friends said I could not be critical of Roger as Franco when I had not given him a chance. They're right. Today I saw a man who bore a striking semblance to Carrot Top. His orange hair was styled to a sharp point which made me think of Martin Short's Ed Grimley ( I think you alluded to this). The unfortunate hair color contrasted badly with his skin tone and dark circles were clearly visible under Roger's eyes. And poor Roger seemed confused--his forehead was in a perpetual furrow. Today he told his daughter, played by Kristen Alderson, who is not longer Star, but Hee Hee, that since Jason died, he had no place to focus his wrath and so the evil in him just withered up and died and he was now a lost and withered soul. HUH? Roger looked confused, Hee Hee looked confused--hell, even the camera man seemed confused. Who is writing this crappolla? But why oh why are people defending this? I have been a fan of GH's for well over thirty years and I am angry, and I am done for now. Until I hear otherwise, GH will no longer be must see TV for me which is sad because I adore Anna Devane and Traci Q but Ron's over reliance on Roger, is ruining the show and I can't watch. I'd like to just exhale and Hee Hee, but it's too sad to laugh.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hee Hee is really funny. I wouldn't feel bad for Howarth. Maybe he's enjoying playing the fool. Who knows but he's well paid!

      Not sure who your friends are but the general consensus I've seen sides with you. This is disrespectful to the cast and the show. And bad. This is a repulsive character and insta-redemption is nauseating, especially at the expense of others.

      But some are just so devoted to the actor, they don't care about what's right

      Delete
  2. I stopped watching GH months ago. But I stumbled across a link to yesterday's show on YT. I skipped ahead to the Franco and Kiki scene, and found myself immediately turning it off. Ron's writing is absurd and I would have to turn off my intelligence to enjoy GH in its current condition.

    Kiki, who has no history, no bond or positive memories with this man, sits down to listen out Franco's nonsensical plea? She casually had a conversation with a serial murderer and she only recently met?

    On the other hand, Ron wanted me to believe that Todd's family who love him would have no concern how 8 years of torture messed with his head? Ron expects viewers to accept that a magical DVD and Jason's death have earned Franco a second chance with his victims? Viewers were to accept that Todd's diagnosis of PTSD would cause his family, people he shares history and love with, to want him driven out of town, not mental health care? I know Todd has made epically bad decisions, but he's no serial murderer.

    Ron's incongruencies and ignoring of characterization is all the more glaring because it's all happening with the same actor. Ron, you're not in Llanview anymore. The actor you want as the center of GH, he's actually turning in wonderful work as Todd on the show you refuse to acknowledge or give best wishes to upon its revival.

    Meanwhile, the wonderful Ian Buchanan as Duke Lavery pops up this week in his monthly scene (is it even that frequently), this time with the talented young actress who plays his step-granddaughter, the adorable Emma. To play dress up. Which is fine, Todd on OLTL recently had a similar type scene with his daughter Dani. It provided a lovely character moment, at the same time it moved along the mystery Todd is the center of. In Duke's case, this scene highlighted how he has no story. I'm going to throw out Robin's name here, the mother of Emma. And Robin's father, Robert Scorpio. Stew on those names for a bit.

    Which is the problem with Ron's GH. He has hijacked the show to make Roger Howarth the center of it while all the wonderful actors and characters with actual GH history languish on the sidelines.

    I don't know what ABC is thinking here. If they have rethought things and decided they want to stay in the daytime soap business, please install a producer and writer who want to write actual character driven stories for the actors and characters with GH history. Or end it already. Either way, please do *something* before Ron causes further damage to this iconic show instead of just sitting idly by.

    ABC letting Ron damage GH is just as anger inducing as it when ABC cancelled OLTL and AMC.

    Sorry for the rant, Addison. Well, not really, but I promise I'm not trying to pull a Ron and hijack your blog for my own purposes.

    ReplyDelete
  3. No way! There are actually people other than HHH who think this is good? Good enough to get another job? GH is never going to get a break now.

    ReplyDelete