I know that my posts are skewed toward the Scrubs story line. Honestly, it is the only arc that I care at all about. I’m not going to be worried about whether Jason, Sam and Spinelli can get out of the fire – they can apparently breathe through smoke and the writers obviously believe the show would fall apart without them.
My investment in Patrick and Robin leads me to hold their stories up to a higher standard than others. That is the first mistake, I know. Granted, tenillypo pointed out that missing the “Patrick is trying to force Robin to marry him” and the “Blog Wars” helped keep my expectations from being crushed. It really was a blessing that I moved and stopped watching GH during that time period. The knowledge that these events did occur on GH should force me to accept that nine times out of ten, even the Scrubs plot won’t be satisfactory. But my heart just won’t listen.
I was pulled back in when I found out that Patrick and Robin were getting married. The wedding was everything I expected. It had great soapy moments like Robin going into labor and was followed by a sentimental second wedding that included so many generations of GH characters.
And they continued to throw pieces of good stories in, here and there. The PPD story started out so wonderful, but then was derailed by the GH biotoxin incident and Robin’s crazy snow misadventures. And even now after the crisis is over they appear to be continuing on this path. They don’t deal with any issues at hand, instead opting to drag out stories because they apparently have no other ideas. This is illustrated by the conversation between Patrick and Robin yesterday. It went a little something like this:
Robin: I made the worst choices. I put our baby in a tree!
Patrick: Wait, what?
Robin: I went out in the snow and didn’t find shelter and then put her in a tree.
Patrick: Well that makes perfect sense. This is all my fault.
What? What is happening here? Are these the same two people who are supposed to be intelligent doctors? I’m getting tired of the constant filler. This just feels like a stall conversation to put off getting to the real issue. And maybe that is why daytime is dying. They are trying to sustain a daily format with only enough material for a weekly show.
They have everything backwards. They let you know what the issue is and then draaaaag it out for months. Why not build up to the struggle? Why not have things the audience doesn’t know? Why not treat us like thoughtful human beings who would appreciate not being led while we watch television? These people do exist and I am one of them.
Because they believe the viewers are morons, they end up needing to fill the time until the big reveal or the big conflict. So they have the same conversation over and over or they have stupid filler conversations like this and avoid the issue all together.
There are so many characters on GH whose lines are just there to placehold until the real “stars” get there so you might as well fast forward. I can’t remember the last time Alexis got a story of her own, although I still watch her because she is awesome. With Patrick and Robin it is like throwing a dart at a board. Some days are amazing and others are just mind numbingly ridiculous. I guess it is just a testament to Kimberly McCullough and Jason Thomson that those amazing scenes make tolerating the others worth it. But is it also so frustrating to see the potential of the quality soap that could be there if someone just put in a little more effort in their story.
I know that I’m starting to sound like a broken record. But if I do not vent, I may end up doing something rash, like throwing my remote at the TV.
I hope the other handful of GH watchers have better ways to deal with this.
Despair in the Afternoon 
You stated it perfectly!! Scrubs are the only reason I watch this show and the ONLY interesting characters on it. With the direction they are taking them right now I think my days of watching this show are numbered. I am scared of them turning what could be a realistic PPD story and turn it into a reason to break up this couple. Great idea, show women everywhere that this very real illness could cost them their marriage-way to go writers!! I hope this isn’t the case, but we know how the writers have screwed up every other storyline on this show.
Thanks for your comment! You know, I have been so wrapped up on the roller coaster of emotion that I have felt about the PPD story, that it had never even occurred to me that they might be heading in the direction of breaking them up! It really is sad that no couples are allowed long term happiness on this show. I know they think it is boring, but I’ve seen other television written where they can have couples have struggles and not have the “Sam and Diane effect.” (a la Cheers) I completely understand your lack of faith in the writers – they haven’t given us much to build confidence. And it just supports what Tenillypo pointed out, that they never let anyone have any fun on this show. It would be nice if we saw Patrick and Robin’s honeymoon, instead of being told about it. But that would just be too much fun – not enough drama! It is so obnoxious.
“With Patrick and Robin it is like throwing a dart at a board. Some days are amazing and others are just mind numbingly ridiculous. I guess it is just a testament to Kimberly McCullough and Jason Thomson that those amazing scenes make tolerating the others worth it. But is it also so frustrating to see the potential of the quality soap that could be there if someone just put in a little more effort in their story.”
Thank you! This has been my biggest grip with Scrubs for over three years! All the pieces are there for amazing storytelling but 5 out of 10 times the writing is just not up for the task! It’s just a terrible waste of potential on every level. The PPD storyline is just like Scrubs break-up, which is just like Robin’s HIV pregnancy (not Patrick’s transition into fatherhood), which is just like Scrubs reunion. They were all stories with potential to be extremely entertaining, emotional, engaging, and even ground breaking that end up being just ok. Yes, ok is better than the straight-up awful we get with most of the s/ls on GH and that ok is mostly due to the great talent of Kimberly and Jason, but even those two talents can save inane plot point and wonky dialog.
The writers’ stall, drag, go backwards, go up and go around. This type of writing not only makes me question the writers, question the characters and seriously question TPTBs perceived intelligence of their show’s viewers. Seriously, how else can you explain both Mac and Patrick seemingly brushing off the fact that Dr. Robin Scorpio made so man errors in judgment the night of the blizzard. Quite frankly, I am not angry that Robin made mistakes. She’s suffering from PPD. Therefore, she’s prone to make mistakes, but what really upsets me is that her behavior hasn’t sparked more reaction in the people who know here best accept for Maxie but even she’s apparently pushed the whole situation out of her. Sigh…
Thank you! This has been my biggest grip with Scrubs for over three years! All the pieces are there for amazing storytelling but 5 out of 10 times the writing is just not up for the task! It’s just a terrible waste of potential on every level. The PPD storyline is just like Scrubs break-up, which is just like Robin’s HIV pregnancy (not Patrick’s transition into fatherhood), which is just like Scrubs reunion. They were all stories with potential to be extremely entertaining, emotional, engaging, and even ground breaking that end up being just ok. Yes, ok is better than the straight-up awful we get with most of the s/ls on GH and that ok is mostly due to the great talent of Kimberly and Jason, but even those two talents can save inane plot point and wonky dialog.
The writers’ stall, drag, go backwards, go up and go around. This type of writing not only makes me question the writers, question the characters and seriously question TPTBs perceived intelligence of their show’s viewers. Seriously, how else can you explain both Mac and Patrick seemingly brushing off the fact that Dr. Robin Scorpio made so many errors in judgment the night of the blizzard. Quite frankly, I am not angry that Robin made mistakes. She’s suffering from PPD. Therefore, she’s prone to make mistakes, but what really upsets me is that her behavior hasn’t sparked more reaction in the people who know here best accept for Maxie but even she’s apparently pushed the whole situation out of her mind. Sigh…
I’m glad to hear I’m not imagining these things and that other people agree with how I feel. Yeah, I completely agree that I don’t have any issue with Robin’s behavior – well putting the baby in the tree was a bit much – but still, it is everyone else’s reactions that seem strange to me. You make a good point about Maxie. It’s like they had her have this huge reaction to Robin and then completely forget about it and decide that the Spinelli drama and then the dress drama is more important, which I’m not sure I buy. Maxie can be selfish, but she cares about her cousin and to show no concern at this point seems contrived.