General Hospital - Best and Worst of 2011:
2011 on General Hospital was mostly a disappointment, to use a mild word. I could have said disaster.
Behind the scenes, there was plenty of upheaval as the other two ABC soaps went off the air, veterans left or were fired, and there was a change of head writers. In front of the camera, there were villains, murders, personality changes, drugs, old girlfriends, new characters, weddings, illnesses, stalking -- sounds exciting, doesn't it? I guess it's all in the execution.
But that's only my opinion, readers. Now it's your turn to pick the best and the worst of the year 2011.
It's difficult for me, as someone who has watched GH since the '60s, to be terribly positive (though I remain hopeful for 2012), so that makes it tough to figure out how to ask you to vote. Frankly, I feel like just putting "WORST" in front of everything! On some of these categories, viewers might not like ANYTHING.
So here are the voting rules:
2. Feel free in your email to "write in" anything you think was left out of any category if you want to vote for it for best or worst, or whatever the category is about.
3. I would like all the emails to generalhospital@aboutguide.com to be received by December 30, 2011, so that I can post them on December 31, 2011. They will then stay up for a week or so.
4. It's easiest to cut and paste this into an email and just eliminate what you don't want.
5. In some categories, there will be one choice; in others, I will ask for your top 2 or 3. In a couple of categories, I have asked you to refer to a previous one for the choices, or just to write in your choices.
Any questions, email me at generalhospital@aboutguide.com
Story Arc That Went On Too Long:
Franco
The Balkan
Lisa Niles
Spinelli becoming The Jackal
Best Wedding:
Sonny and Brenda
Jason and Sam
Dante and Lulu
Best Villain:
Lisa Niles
The Balkin
Franco
Anthony Zacchara
Best Return:
Monica
Skye
Best Storyline: (PICK YOUR TOP THREE)
Woman in White
The Message from Siobhan
Siobhan's death
Jake's Death
Luke's alcoholism and intervention
Spinelli Becomes The Jackal
Michael's Rape
Bus Crash
Carly-Jax custody battle; Sonny framing Jax with drugs
Sonny trying to kill Jax by tampering with this plane
The boat cruise
More brain surgery for Jason
Lulu chasing Luke to the bordello where he grew up.
Elizabeth being accused of trying to hurt Siobhan
Molly's post-traumatic stress
Girls at Vaughn's being roughed up, leading to Abby going to Chicago and her death
mob war
Sonny excises his demons when he returns to Bensonhurst with Kate.
Jax's attitude toward the custody case.
Brenda leaves Sonny.
Spinelli's bakery caper where he emerges a hero.
Most Wasted Opportunity:
Brenda's Return
Lucky's marriage to Siobhan
Lucky and Elizabeth
James Franco
Best New Character:
Maggie
New Kate
Ewen
Delores Padilla
Shawn Butler
Woman in White
Character You Were Happiest to See Leave: (PICK TWO)
Nikolas
Jax
Kristina
Abby
Lucky
Old Kate
Suzanne
Brook Lynn Ashton
Siobhan
Maya
Kristina
Brenda
Character You Were Saddest to See Leave: (PICK TWO)
Nikolas
Jax
Kristina
Abby
Lucky
Old Kate
Suzanne
Brook Lynn Ashton
Siobhan
Maya
Kristina
Brenda
Most Shocking/Exciting/Interesting Moment (PICK THREE)
Jason locked up by Franco in a room with a monitor so he sees Franco grab Sam
Sam on the stretcher after the limo Brenda entered was bombed.
Jake's Death
Michael's admission that he was raped
Suzanne's true identity revealed
Lisa trying to inject Robin's blood into Patrick
Robin's news that her drugs are no longer working
The dream sequence of what might have been had Jason not had his accident
Lucky burning down his family home
Ethan catches Maya with another man.
Lucky learns he is Aiden's true father.
Dante and Lulu break up.
Dante and Lulu become engaged.
Game of strip pool at Jake's
Favorite Couple:
Jason and Sam
Sonny and Kate
Michael and Abby
Matt and Maxie
Steve and Olivia
Tracy and Luke
Diane and Max
Dante and Lulu
Robin and Patrick
Favorite Potential Couple:
Shawn and Carly
Liz and Ewen
Ethan and Woman in White
Tracy and Anthony
Alexis and Mac
Johnny and Delores
Most in Need of a Storyline or a Better Storyline:
Mac
Alexis
Spinelli
Steve Webber
Best Triangle:
Lucky/Siobhan/Elizabeth
Spinelli/Maxie/Matt
Franco/Jason/Sam
Worst Direction Taken by a Character: (PICK THREE)
Spinelli's new personality
Diane's book, breakup with Max, leaving Sonny's employ and becoming an undercover investigator
Luke's obvious alcoholism, alleged killing of Jake, his memories of being unhappy with Laura in the house, not to mention sleeping with Holly while married to Laura and fathering Ethan
Ethan's obsession with the Woman in White
Matt as a medical researcher
Robin not fighting her illness and deciding to disappear
Lulu starting to drink
The mayor's new career as a newspaper publisher and changing his name to Preston
Elizabeth's desperate manipulation to get Lucky back
Character I Got to Know Better This Year:
Matt
Ethan
Anthony Zacchara
Tracy
Characters I'd Like to See More of (not mentioned in the "need a storyline" category): (PICK TWO)
Coleman
Johnny Zacchara
Steve Webber
Tracy
Molly Lansing
Spinelli
Monica
Shawn
Character I'm sick of: (write in) (PICK TWO)
Best Actor: (PICK TWO)
Jonathan Jackson
Chad Duell
Tony Geary
Bradford Anderson
Steve Burton
Sean Blakemore
Bruce Weisz
Jason Cook
Maurice Benard
Jason Thompson
Daniel Benzali
Best Actress: (PICK TWO)
Laura Wright (Carly)
Brianna Brown (Lisa Niles)
Kelly Sullivan (Kate Howard)
Julie Marie Berman (Lulu)
Kelly Monaco (Sam)
Kimberly McCullough (Robin)
Rebecca Herbst (Elizabeth)
Carolyn Hennesy (Diane Miller)
Nancy Lee Grahn (Alexis)
Jen Lilley (temporary Maxie)
Stupidest Moments on GH (please choose THREE from most exciting/interesting moments above)
Characters I would like to see return (played by the original actors, please):
(PICK TWO)
Laura (Genie Francis)
Jeff Webber (Richard Dean Anderson)
Noah Drake (Rick Springfield)
Robert Scorpio (Tristan Rogers)
Lucy Coe (Lynn Herring)
Cesar Faison (Anders Hove)
Nikolas Cassadine (Tyler Christopher)
Lucky Spencer (Jonathan Jackson)
A.J. Quartermaine (played by Billy Warlock)
Jerry Jacks (played by Sebastian Roche)
Announcement that has made me happiest:
Jax is returning for a story arc.
Anna Devane is returning.
There's a new writer and producer coming to GH from One Life to Live.
Rumor that has excited me the most: (PICK TWO)
Jake may be alive.
Who's the daddy - Franco/Jason/Sam
Woman in White is Laura's daughter.
Tristan Rogers may return for Kimberly's exit.
One of the familiar characters is a serial killer.
Lexi Ainsworth may return as Kristina!
Kate has a few secrets, one of which is a child.
Ewen is Valentine, the most evil of all Cassadines.
Rumor that has made me saddest: (PICK TWO)
Robin may die.
Kristina may return sexier and looking more mature.
Dante may be Kate's son.
Spinelli may be Kate's son.
Tony Geary and Maurice Benard may leave the show.
Shawn is a Fed.
Steve Webber knows that Jake is alive.
Edward may die.
Spinelli may be written out of the show.
Feel free to mix and match these and put a saddest in the excited category and vice versa - you may be happy that Edward may die, for instance, not sad.
Most needed on GH: (PICK AS MANY AS YOU WANT)
Less dark storylines
Better writing
A new love interest for Elizabeth
Jake returned to his mother
Lucky reunited with Elizabeth
Less cartoon-like villains
More comedy
More romance
Happiness for Jason and Sam that lasts at least fifteen minutes
More stories involving the Quartermaines.
Better treatment of women and more focus on women's stories
More attention the history of the show and the back story of its characters
