General Hospital : I think TPTB hate Liz Webber

Since Herbst was nearly canned for the second time and Liz written off, it seems TPTB really have no interest in her. Again she was pulled back from the brink of annihilation with promise of new stories and a new direction for Liz. But all we've gotten are a series of dropped, co-opted or stymied stories:

1. Jake is brought back from dead suffering considerable mental trauma, but with some crayons and a puppy he's okay now.

2. Tim Baker returns reviving Liz's teenage rape trauma only the story is really about Franco needing to redeem himself and Alexis' 12 minute-dive into rock bottom alcoholism.

3. Liz has a secret half-sister. And nothing more than that.

The only real story Liz seems to be featured in as her own story is her dating a reformed serial killer who once kidnapped her child. And by story I mean once or twice a week she has scenes with Franco or Laura talking about her ambivalent trust issues.

This is the best they can do for Liz Webber, one of the longest-running characters on the canvas right now?

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I agree. I think the "problem" is that she's not an in-your-face showy kind of actress. The others over-act and the writers are enthralled by those hams. But when it comes to Herbst, who deserves better, she becomes peripheral to most of the drama that should be emanating from her character.

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1. Jake is brought back from dead suffering considerable mental trauma, but with some crayons and a puppy he's okay now.

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That plot was before she was temporarily canned but we can say this about it though:

Since she was brought back, Jake's entire "demon seed" plot has been completely dropped. They get a child actor in the role who could probably give the storyline a believable "Shining 2.0" and do nothing with the kid actor.

It would have been interesting seeing where that plot would have taken Liz and of course Franco as a couple.

Instead we're forced to endure this Tom Baker crap.

Having interviewed Kanan, I think actors on soaps just wanna make a living. Kanan said He'd have loved a 25 year run on a soap. So, they are human and I guess Herbst is more a lunch bucket actress just grateful for screen time, even if the stories suck.

But it's interesting to look at Kanan he complained about the pickle relish story and he did not like the episodes where A.J. was experiencing panic attacks. I was under the impression that he quit GH because he didn't like the direction Carlivatti was taking his character. So for him, it wasn't the paycheck, it was the fact that he had concerns about the material.

From what I gathered (all unsubstantiated of course, it's the internet) is that he was not especially well treated by TPTB who allegedly pulled a bait-and-switch, promising him that A.J. was going to now be written as strong and self-possessed, the future head of the Q's, and they would not revisit his character's alcoholism or loser history. Sure enough after a couple of months he's hitting the bottle and playing the perpetual, pathetic loser. He didn't want to do that. I further suspect that TPTB had no intention of keeping him long term of if they did, it would be recurring like Ned. So while I think it's true he quit, it sounds like TPTB (Cartooni) created an environment that encouraged that choice.

It's a shame really because I think the show could have used an A.J., and what's worse the story they set up for his exit (which would have appeased his fan base finally) was scrapped after a few weeks because Sonny had to stay the victor always. Not even in his death could they give A.J. the least bit of vindication. Ugh, this show.

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When I was there in the mid-90s, Claire Labine wrote them equally and by them, I mean Jason & A.J. She never intended A.J. to be a loser but to be someone with dimensions and demons, huge internal struggles. Later Guza turned that into his becoming the black sheep loser of the Q's to prop Jason up. Big mistake.

When A.J. came back from the dead a few years ago, with Sean Kanan returning to the role, it was done because they needed a Quartermaine male. He was basically replacing Jason who was killed off, because of Burton's exit. I am sure Carlivati always intended to bring Jason back with the role being recast. But while Jason was presumed dead, A.J. was now alive. Of course, nobody was really invested in writing A.J. correctly, like Claire Labine had once done. And when it was clear they were going to use Billy Miller to resurrect Jason they really didn't need A.J. anymore, so he went back to being dead and Kanan exited the show again.

So there has been this endless revolving door, and for a very long time the character of A.J. has not been fully or properly utilized.

I do not put off camera things into my interviews, but I got the sense that Kanan wanted to say more about the GH stuff, as he mentioned that he'd have a hard time going back, but I think he is a businessman, and with just 4 options for soap work, he doesn't wanna burn bridges, which is why i did not push on some things. I wanted to ask about the silly jokes about AJ being overweight, and stuff, but what we say to voices from the ether on the Internet is far diff from face to face asking someone something, esp if a slip of the tongue cd hurt a career's pay and well being.

I did not even want to put him in such a position, given it took 6 mos to get 1 hr from him, and he was quite open and gracious.

He was quite open and gracious, and I imagine he's like that with fans in general which of course is the smart thing for actors to do even someone like Jolie or Gosling.

More than putting him in an awkward position, there's also the possibility that he would have been offended or upset by having something public and unpleasant repeated again; he could have shot down the interview. You're not Dan Rather so no need to go for the jugular. I would be interested in Robin Riker too. I'd like to see Naomi and Bobbie in some scenes together, they seem pretty similar. Hey, come to think of it, have you ever reached out to Jackie Zeman? She's supposed to be very good to fans.



When in Port Charles, be sure to visit youtube.com/altadave27

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I do not put off camera things into my interviews

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Yes. It's better if you refrain from asking about that stuff. Your focus is on them as performers acting techniques, how they make the characters they play relatable to the audience.

Yes. You get a sense of someone off screen and also the way they answer q's, not just by the answers.

I think what he didn't say and his demeanor while not saying stuff said a lot. He tongue and cheek mentioned that he got the bait and switch. I think he said, "I figured pretty quickly that this was not going to be a long stint." Now he could have meant because of the treatment of him personally by TPTB or he got the feeling the character wasn't intended to last. I think it likely could have been both.

I'm sorry I don't speak computer-ebonics, please type in English.

I thought he meant 'it isn't going to be a long stint' because he decided quickly that he was going to quit at the nearest opportunity. But he didn't clarify or explain why he might have been unhappy because I think that he is thinking of his future, if at a future date he gets fired from B&B, then he might have to look at returning to GH, in which case, he doesn't want to burn his bridges by speaking publicly about the reasons for his dissatisfaction.

It's possible and that makes sense. What a business to be in.

I'm sorry I don't speak computer-ebonics, please type in English.

Off camera it was clear he held some bitterness toward GH. That's all I say online.

He has some good reasons to be bitter, and unfortunately also good reasons to not want to go public with the reasons for his bitterness.

Yes, obviously with a shrinking pool of soaps to work at.

I was really looking forward to Liz handling her Demon Seed/Good Son child back from the dead. I have no idea why that got scrapped. Too dark maybe? This show doesn't seem to like using children in stories that might be upsetting (Spencer's facial burn disappeared, Cameron's pyromania is played down). They might kill a child, but they won't write a story that show's emotional duress to the child.

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I knew as soon as they recast Jake that they would not be going The Bad Seed route. The original actor had a creepy look about him and a "Damien" kind of glare. The new kid looked as though he had just stepped out of a Disney movie about butterflies and puppy dogs. They totally dropped the whole storyline of what Helena did to him and told him not to tell.

I am actually enjoying Liz's relationship with Franco. It's much more interesting than her rehashed relationships with her exes. With Franco we see a vulnerability in her character that I didn't see when she was constantly conniving to get back with one of her exes. I do wish there was an emphasis on her instead of Franco in the revisitation of the rape storyline, I agree there should have been more focus on her than on Franco.

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They totally dropped the whole storyline of what Helena did to him and told him not to tell.

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I wish they wouldn't have, but they can always revisit that when they run out of ideas. Helena had this big bad scary warning about Valentin, which was never mentioned again. For YEARS and poof! here he is.


You're talking to me all wrong, it's the wrong tone.

The new Jake is terrible.

He's kind of too show-biz polished if you know what I mean. He looks like he belongs on the fourth season of a floundering sitcom in a Cousin Oliver/Andrew Keaton role, or on a prime time Nickelodeon/Disney show. I think he's a decent enough child actor but I don't ever really see of him as Jake Webber Spencer, I think of him as a kid actor. I felt the same about the kid who played Spencer Cassadine.

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Elizabeth is starting to be like Michael. Has all of these connections to other characters, but only willing to include their characters to boost the other character's storyline. For Liz it's Franco's story, before that it was anything Jason. For Michael it's Morgan, Sonny, Carly.

These two should be the focus of a storyline for once.

I'm sorry I don't speak computer-ebonics, please type in English.

ooh an Elizabeth and Michael pairing? Carly would fume!

Carly got past her hatred of Elizabeth when Elizabeth agreed to let Josslyn have Jake's organs. I don't think Carly would care.

I don't agree totally. Yes, Carly has been softer on Elizabeth but Carly was not really keen on Elizabeth keeping the truth about Jake's identity being Jason a secret. Carly would never approve of Michael dating Elizabeth. To say "I don't think Carly would care" is not true. She would never give that relationship her blessing.

But this is irrelevant. I don't see a Michael/Liz pairingever. haha

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To say "I don't think Carly would care" is not true. She would never give that relationship her blessing.

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Carly could never really accept Sabrina or Kiki, both of whom have light carry-on compared to Liz and her steamer trunk of a past.

When in Port Charles, be sure to visit youtube.com/altadave27

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ooh an Elizabeth and Michael pairing?

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Not exactly where I was going with it. Just that they should be the lead in the storyline for once instead of the background reason to prop up the lead.

I'm sorry I don't speak computer-ebonics, please type in English.

I have always loved Elizabeth but hate hate her with sicko Franco! Where are Lucky and Nicholas? Or the real Jason?

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Where are Lucky and Nicholas? Or the real Jason?

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Hiding from her. Lucky fled to Ireland to get the hell away from Liz while Nik faked his death and Jason gave him himself a whole new identity. Zander actually got himself killed to get away, and Ric moved 2000 miles from Port Charles leaving behind his children.

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The actor playing Tom Baker did a great job
BUT by not getting the original actor there was no resonance or sense of apprehension for Liz having to face her rapist again. And not one scene with Liz talkng to Audrey about his release, to kind of 'tie up loose ends' as Audrey played a role in the original s/l

I was excited for the Webber umbrella s/l (Hayden/Naomi/Raymond/Jeff/Heather/Liz), and then Finn's Boring Disease sucked the life out of it

I want an Elizabeth and Julian pairing.

To be fair, they wanted to get rid of Elizabeth a long time ago and fans got mad so they kept her character. For me i thought they should let her go at least for a while and let RH explore other stuff. Then bring her back after a breather instead of doing this. Its not that I dont like Liz, I do. Its just they could have done better and made her less than the character she is now. For now the writers dont seemed interested and I can tell. Thats a problem because nothings worse than writers writing about characters they do not care about just to keep fans happy. During the process, they usually seem to do so with a knack for writing those characters badly either by accident or intentional. Truthfully for me it not a surprise they chose this route, especially since all the major characters and actors that made Liz have moved on and left. I really hope RH would move on and find something new too.

She was fired in 2011, and she even disappeared from the show for a few months with the explanation being that she was visiting her sister Sarah in California before she returned. And it wasn't just the fans who complained. Her costars went to Twitter immediately and protested the decision immediately. It has been nearly 6 years since that happened, and that was done by another creative team. There's no excuse for her being on the back burner for this long.

Yeah ahe was fired and her coworkers did go to bat for her. It still doesnt change the fact that the writers do not care about her character for years. I dont see that changing anytime soon. Besides a lot of the actors have left. RH should too especially since some of her key characters arent coming back unless they are recasted and the writing isnt that great to begin with anyway. Seriously sometime watching GH is watcjing a hamster run on a hamster wheel.