I realize that writing a soap opera is high pressure work. The writers have to turn out a full script every day, five days a week, and there may not be time to check things closely.
However, with James Franco due to debut on General Hospital tomorrow, and new viewers probably tuning in (at least for two months), I'm hopeful that the writers are going to pay the tiniest attention to detail to give him the best story arc possible and perhaps interest a few new viewers in staying around.
Normally, the writers ask us to accept an awful lot of sloppy writing. The latest gaffe is Maxie Jones waiting at Kate Howard's house at 3 a.m. for an emergency visit from the pool man. While there, she sees Sonny Corinthos return home with a bloodied shirt.
Port Charles, last I heard, was in upstate New York, where I live. Very few homes have pools, even expensive ones, because they're used so infrequently. Okay, so some homes have pools, and let's just say Kate's is one of them.
I must then ask why a pool man is needed on an emergency basis in the middle of November at 3 a.m. Even in sunny California, unless the pool sprang a leak and was flooding someone's home, I don't understand why a pool man would be there at 3 a.m.
Maxie could have been housesitting for the out-of-town Kate and, unable to sleep, peered out the window when she heard a car. That would have made a lot more sense. Now, every time I hear about the pool man, I become annoyed. The show has been on the air for 46 years, and the writers still don't know where it takes place? It's like the New York-based sitcoms that ask in offices if they validate parking. These are California things.
Dealing with another badly-handled incident, a viewer recently wrote the following:
Why wouldn't Sonny and Jason have enough brains to use credit cards to make it look like Claudia ran away? ... Darnn fans have better ideas than we get on the show.
My sentiments exactly.
Photo: Adam Larkey/American Broadcasting Companies, Inc.
