GENERAL HOSPITAL: New year, same old pacing problems

It may be a new year in Port Charles, but I’ve got the same old complaint: Pacing.

Ron Carlivati takes a lot of heat (and then freaks out about it on Twitter) for being a bad writer. I don’t actually think he’s a bad writer. I do think, however, that Carlivati has seriously dropped the ball on a few things.

Carlivati has done some really great things for General Hospital, including bringing back Anna and putting her front and center, giving the vets actual screen time and launching a great umbrella story with the Jeromes.

That doesn’t mean I’m drinking the Kool-Aid, because Carlivati has done some incredibly stupid stuff, as well.

I’m still waiting for Patrick to ask Robin about her time away. Instead, he’s asked her to have a baby and is pressuring her to return to work a mere five weeks after he found out she was alive. Really? How does that make any sense? This is in between him running around and worrying about Sabrina, a woman that wasn’t held hostage and subjected to electro-shock therapy for two years.

Carlivati is so obsessed with propping Sabrina that he took all the momentum he had gained out of

Robin’s return and completely fumbled it. Fans that tuned back in because they loved Robin are quickly tuning back out because Carlivati has made the entire story about Sabrina.

And now we have to deal with a Sabrina pregnancy? Really? Who didn’t see that coming? It was about as obvious as the fact that Britt was carrying Lulu and Dante’s child from the minute she showed up at the Nurse’s Ball pregnant.

If Carlivati wants fans to stop hating Sabrina, this isn’t the way to do it. Fans hate Sabrina because she was shoved down our throats. This story isn’t remedying that situation – it’s just trying to force her further down our throats and lodging her in our stomachs.

As furious as I am about the Robin situation, though, I’m even angrier about the A.J. situation.

A.J.’s return was touted as the revitalization of the Quartermaines. He had entertaining snipefests with Carly and Sonny and a ridiculously cute romance with Liz brewing. Then he was off our screens for months. And now? A.J. is walking around drinking again, with no one in his orbit. How is that entertaining?

Is this the great Q-Revitalization of 2013 that we were promised? And where is Liz is all this? She’s just dusted off to snipe at Britt or prop Sabrina (both Carlivati creations) on a bi-weekly basis, quite frankly. We see her more than Alexis, though, so I guess we should be thankful.

On the flip side, we (finally) are getting some traction in the Silas and Sam story after it languished

on the back burner for months (and months and months). I have a feeling that new cop Nathan (who is ridiculously hot) is somehow tied to Silas’ wife (perhaps a brother?) and we’re going to get some in-depth history on Silas. That’s been a long time coming, though.

Unfortunately, that’s been intermixed with crazy Heather holding someone (this time Carly) hostage again (because that’s a new story), another mob shootout and the world’s most boring teen scene.

I don’t like pushing for people to lose their jobs, but GH has got to cut the cast down if they want to have any sort of sustained momentum in any story. There are easy cuts that can be made at the onset. Ellie and Spinelli are already gone, which is one easy cut. Now Taylor, Rafe and TJ can follow. After that, we can add Olivia, Felix and Sabrina. The cast is still too big, even with those cuts, but that at least kicks things off.

The big cut, though, can come with Franco.

I’m sorry. I adore Roger Howarth. Why they decided to bring him back as Franco is beyond me. Most fans are never going to get behind this character. Ever. Period.

I will never understand why they didn’t bring Howarth back as a Cassidine - -especially in light of Victor’s upcoming return. That was just a huge error in judgment.

What do you think? Are you as annoyed with the pacing issues as I am?