The internet was buzzing when Buzzworthy Radio posted a rumor report that General Hospital's co-head writers, Chris Van Etten and Dan O'Connor were out. Those rumors were true and later confirmed by Soap Opera Digest. Patrick Mulcahey and Elizabeth Korte would be taking over the reigns at the ABC sudser. Fans can expect Van Etten and O'Connor's writing to play through March.
This is a huge and unexpected change for GH, which seemingly spent the last few years doubling down on what wasn't working rather than addressing its issues. Will this change-up get rid of all of GH's problems? No, there are a lot of cooks in the kitchen at GH and I'm well aware that Van Etten and O'Connor weren't at fault for everything. However, this is a good step in the right direction to turning the ship around.
Watching GH during Van Etten and O'Connor's tenure has been rough. As my friend @RosieClaire10 said on Twitter, "It's hard to make a soap fan stop watching. They succeeded." Soap fans are loyal to a fault. Everybody understands that bad stories happen but the expectation is that those bad stories will eventually end. That was not the case with Van Etten and O'Connor's GH.
Regardless of how well Mulcahey and Korte do with their new titles, a major change was needed. Van Etten and O'Connor were fine as breakdown writers and I'm certain they'll land on their feet in other jobs.
GH needed HWs with a more mature vision than what Van Etten and O'Connor can offer. I'm optimistic about the choices made for their replacements namely Mulcahey who has written very thoughtful stories in the past. I'm a little bit more cautious with my optimism when it comes to Korte. She was script editor and associate head writer at GH this whole time while the stories were flopping about. Her influence was a part of some stinker story lines.
I can't stress this enough but it's very important that Mulcahey is allowed to write without intrusion. GH is in dire need of a fresh pair of eyes. Executive producer Frank Valentini needs to be hands off and let some new ideas happen. If Mulcahey isn't given enough room to create, nothing is going change with this new writing team.
Mulchaney has stated, "Soap operas only really tell two kinds of stories: romances and family stories. On a really good show, solidly structured, the two are blended: the romances are family stories." While he is spot on with that statement, I would add the caveat that those romances and families need to be ones that people care about. GH has had plenty of romances and family stories. Just not very good ones. For example, Nina and Jax's big love affair was forgettable, Peter August was no Robin Scorpio and nobody cares that the patriarch of the Chase family is dying because we don't care about the Chase family.
What I truly enjoyed about the show is no longer there and most of the years worth of bad decisions are irreversible at this point. We're left with the stain of Peter August, unrecognizable fan favorites, limp romances and stories centered on characters nobody cares about played by mediocre actors. The show is not in good shape and will need a lot of work.
My hope is that the new writers will have the knowledge to see what elements have enough value to warrant fixing and where they should cut losses. Now is good time for some major story changes. Van Etten and O'Connor's stories should be wrapped up quickly. Most of their stories have already spent years being rewritten and at this point are too convoluted to fix. What's done is done so the best route is simply to move on and hopefully give the audience a reason to tune in again.
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