General Hospital Commentary: The 2024 Naughty List

With the good comes the bad. Unfortunately, 2024 was a year of upheaval both onscreen and behind the scenes of General Hospital. A change in writers — twice — actors being let go, and a good dose of heartache along the way. Tamilu and Liz Masters are back with their picks for the 2024 Naughty List.

Welcome back! Last week Tamilu and I shared our picks for the best of General Hospital in the 2024 Nice List. This week, it’s time to discuss the low points. It wasn’t exactly a banner year for our beloved soap.

I try to be a positive person and look for the good in everything. During the years that I’ve known Tamilu, she’s always been optimistic about things too. Despite that, we both struggled to find the good on General Hospital in 2024 last week. We had no such trouble this week with the 2024 Naughty List thanks to the chaos behind the scenes that made its way onscreen.

Godspeed, Fair Samantha, #IStandWithKellyMonaco

Liz Masters

Firing Kelly Monaco will go down as one of the biggest blunders in GH history. Why was this even an option on the table? What kind of backstage nonsense made it necessary, and how was this boneheaded move pitched to the head honchos? Yes, Sam’s death created a lot of drama, but it was it worth it? No, absolutely not. Sam died on Halloween and by Christmas almost everyone had moved on. Oh, they were sad, but the dust settled quickly, and nearly everyone had turned a page on their grief by the time they rang in the New Year.

There is no real rhyme to reason for why Sam had to die. We learned that she was inexplicably murdered at the hands of Cyrus who had injected her IV with a syringe filled with a lethal dose of Digitalis. A few weeks later, Dex Heller fell victim to a similar fate. According to Portia, General Hospital is investigating both incidents, including reviewing security footage. However, no one has seemingly noticed a masked doctor — who is unaccounted for — entering and leaving Sam’s hospital room within a short time of her shocking demise. I’m sure the same will be true for Dex’s situation. It’s downright comical that Cyrus would be able to get away with this crime. Twice.

Tamilu

Dear readers, Liz is more diplomatic than I am. I’m annoyed about Kelly Monaco’s sendoff. The writers killed off Sam and kept the recasts of Molly (Kristen Vaganos) and Kristina (Kate Mansi). Why? If you did an online poll and asked General Hospital viewers which Davis sister should be killed off, my bet is that Sam would have the least votes. Sam has 20 years of history with GH, was part of a super couple with Jason, had a PI business with Spinelli, had a happy family with Dante, and was a great mom and friend. Losing her seems so unthinkable.

The powers that be killed off Sam for what? Was Kelly’s salary too high? Hey, if you’d ditch Molly, Kristina and Natalia, you could have given Kelly all of their money.

Also, the way Sam died was irksome. We have spent over a year being led to believe that Cyrus had a genuine conversion in prison and had turned from his evil ways. Cyrus was a man trying to make amends, right? And then to show him poisoning Sam, trying to kidnap Lulu and probably killing Dex, too, made me angry.

Why all those scenes of Cyrus helping Spencer in prison last year, or showing him praying with people in the hospital? Why did he take the humble job of mopping floors in some restaurant? All of those scenes just to cast him as an evil serial killer? It’s clear that General Hospital is doing house cleaning and the easiest way to get rid of a bunch of people is a natural disaster or a killer storyline. I am not surprised the writers backtracked on Cyrus. but I am disappointed.

The hand that rocks the cradle

Liz Masters

I don’t know if there’s a surrogacy handbook out there, but if there is, I’m certain Kristina’s face appears under the chapter of “What not to pick” when choosing someone to carry your baby. Kristina is emotionally unstable, hasn’t had a healthy romantic relationship — ever — and she’s never had children of her own. She went into this for all the wrong reasons — her own glory.

I’m convinced that the writers get together each week and brainstorm new ways to make Kristina more unlikeable. She’s a narcissist to the core, and I hate how everyone around her walks on eggshells to keep her happy and content. She’s not a toddler. Kristina is a grown woman in her mid-thirties.

I’ve been watching Kristina since she was twinkle in her daddy’s eye, so it’s sad to see what the writers have done with her character since casting Kate Mansi in the role. I don’t like it. Kristina was never this cruel during the Lexi Ainsworth years. Kristina would mess up, but she owned her mistakes, and she would never have betrayed Molly the way this Kristina has. I agree with Tamilu, they killed off the wrong sister. My vote in the poll would have been for Kristina.

Tamilu

Not only did they get rid of Kelly, but they also had a Molly and Kristina takeover of General Hospital in a storyline that was front and center for months despite its unpopularity from the online soap community and massive fan support for Kelly. When Lexi Ainsworth played Krissy, she was my favorite Corinthos child. Ever since the Dawn of Day drama, Kristina hasn’t been the focus of a major story. I will never understand why they recast that role. I know they had to recast Molly — there was no choice. As Liz noted, Kristina becomes less and less sympathetic as the days and weeks pass. If she disappeared tomorrow and they told us Kristina went to Tibet on a spiritual quest, I’d never think about her again.

I wouldn’t be so angry about this except for the fact that this storyline overshadowed about a dozen other storylines that I cared more about. I’d get myself all snuggled in to watch GH and think I was going to see an exciting episode and instead it was 60 minutes of Kristina and Molly screaming ‘It’s YOUR fault Irene is dead!’ and ‘Her name is Adela, and it’s your fault!’ at each other while Alexis played referee.

I hated this storyline from start to finish. Well, let me retract that. I liked the recast of Jagger (Adam Harrington) and his unholy partnership with Ava. That relationship and storyline had real promise, so naturally the writers killed him off. Not only did they kill him off, but he was murdered at pointblank range by Sonny. Sonny made Carly say she was with him at the Quartermaine mansion so he would have an alibi, and then…Poof. They never mentioned Jagger again, or the fact that Sonny murdered him, or that Carly and Sonny supposedly had a fling, or any of it.

The revolving door of writers

Liz Masters

One of my biggest pet peeves on soaps is when writers drop storylines. Who killed Austin Gatlin-Holt? Where has Scotty disappeared to and why? What’s going on with the investigation into the murder of Agent John Cates? These are just a few of the dropped threads this year.

When news hit that co-head writers Dan O’Connor and Chris Van Etten were out, and Elizabeth Korte and Patrick Mulcahey were in, I had high hopes that the direction of some of the characters would change for the better. It didn’t. Instead, things got worse. A few months later, Chris Van Etten was back in, replacing Mulcahey. It feels a bit like they’ve been trying to correct course since. Sort of. Laura and Anna’s mission to take down Sonny has fizzled out. Anna still has issues with Sonny, but she’s always quick to ask his Enforcer for help.

I also detest plot holes. Sasha spent years in Port Charles, but she evidently had no clue that her mother Holly Sutton had history with Robert Scorpio right around the time of her conception. There’s also the curious case of Brook Lynn and Dante’s history. We recently learned that a much younger Brook Lynn attended summer camp with Dante and Cody. Apparently, Brook Lynn was in the toddler section of the camp waxing poetic about her love for Dante.

The powers that be at General Hospital need to get their act together because this all this upheaval and lack of continuity is not good for ratings.

Tamilu

I know there were multiple writer shakeups at General Hospital this year, but the sudden switch of plots made me dizzy. The writers would have us completely focused on storylines and then new writers would come in, scrap the entire thing and start from scratch. Can you at least segue? Toss in a line or two to let us know you have moved on. GH actually did this recently when it was mentioned that Phyllis had moved back to Nixon Falls. Okay, cool, now I can stop looking for her. (Not like I was, but you get the point.)

Martin went away and came back sans beard and accent. The writers made a big deal of Lois seeing a dialect coach to get rid of her Brooklyn accent so she could be a spokesmodel for Deception on Home & Heart. But now the accent is back because now it’s the thing that is getting more sales when last month the accent was the thing that was losing sales.

Sonny and Nina broke up, Ava moved in and drugged Sonny, but to what end? To get him to fall for her? For power? Who knows because Eva LaRue showed up as Natalia, and Sonny was suddenly smitten with her even though she was homophobic and said terrible things about his daughter. When Blaze left, her overbearing stage mother stayed in Port Charles instead of going back home. She knew no one in town except Blaze, so it made no sense for Natalia to stay. Sonny dropped a casual, “Hey you’re good with money, right? I’m going to put you in charge of my investment at Deception.” Um, okay.

Hey Sonny, I’m good with money, too. I haven’t bounced a check in like ten years. What job do I get?

Lois and Olivia are both living at the Quartermaine mansion. I want the writers to pick a wife for Ned. I’d vote for Lois, but I don’t dislike Olivia. It’s just that I remember Coney Island and Eddie Maine and the days of yore. The Q house has become ridiculous. There are about 20 people living there, and not too long ago they were talking about how small the house was, and they didn’t have room, and then 12 more people moved in.

None of these things are big; they are just inconsistencies. I don’t think the writers understand how detail oriented we soap fans truly are.

The fall of Drew Cain

Liz Masters

There was a time that Drew Cain was one of my all-time favorite characters. That was when Drew was portrayed by Billy Miller. He had charisma, integrity, and honor in those days. Enter Cameron Mathison. Cameron immediately brought a different vibe to the character. It wasn’t bad, just different. However, it seemed like the writers had no idea what to do with Drew and he soon began to lose his appeal. Drew going to jail and getting a beatdown was a turning point for the character.

The writers tried to shake things up by giving Drew an edge, but all they did was succeed in taking him from boring to completely unlikeable. Before long, Drew was having hate-sex with Nina on the office floor, seducing and low-key stalking her daughter — and his nephew’s wife — and double-crossing his best friend. He’s detestable and Willow isn’t much better. She threw her marriage out the window for an infatuation then had the nerve to play victim because she was literally caught in the act of cheating.

Is Drew supposed to be the new Edward? If so, it’s a big failure. Edward was a scoundrel, but there was also something likeable about him. The same can’t be said about Drew.

Tamilu

To add on to Liz’s thoughts, Drew Cain loved Carly so much that he went to prison so she wouldn’t have to. As soon as Jason showed up in town, Drew said, ‘I can’t compete with Jason, I’m out,’ and started up an affair with Nina, the woman who put him in prison. Make it make sense. And then, Drew fell for Willow, his decades-younger niece-in-law, and slept with her, too. Not to mention that Drew has been spouting all the Quartermaine family secrets from the 1970’s like he was there. I mean seriously, who told Drew all the Q family secrets? How would he know about Ned and Monica’s affair or things that happened before Jason and Drew were even born? He’s such a jerk now, it makes sense that they would make him a congressman.

Now, Michael must have gotten Sonny’s potent sperm passed down to him via osmosis, because one quick drunken fling with Sasha and she’s pregnant. It’s hard for Michael to take the high road when he had revenge sex with Sasha as soon as he discovered Willow was unfaithful. Since Chad Duell is leaving General Hospital, I feel like we are not going to get a satisfactory ending to this storyline. It will end up in the heap of forgotten plots in to start our 2025 list.

Star-crossed lovers

Liz Masters

Spencer Cassadine and Trina Robinson had an instant connection from the moment they locked eyes on each other in the Jerome Gallery one fateful night. However, their road to love was marred by tragedy and an evil vixen named Esme Prince who was determined to rid herself of her rival — Trina — at any cost. In the end, Esme succeeded when she dragged Spencer into the icy waters of the Seine River with her. Both were believed to have perished.

I understand that part of the reason things played out that way was because the incredibly talented Nicholas Alexander Chavez had left the show to film the Netflix hit series Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story. However, that didn’t make watching Spencer die any easier or acceptable. I’ll probably get some flak for this, but they should have recast the role as soon as they knew Nicholas would not be back. Leaving Spencer “dead” all this time was a dumb decision and wasted opportunity for a great storyline where Trina could play the heroine and save her prince.

I also have a huge issue with Laura demanding that her heartbroken son Nikolas turn himself in for the crimes he committed when he kidnapped and held a pregnant Esme prisoner. Not only did Nikolas believe she was the Hook killer at the time, but he was completely justified in fearing that Esme would endanger their unborn child. After all, she did set fire to her room and take a swan dive off the castle’s parapet to escape.

It also bothers me that Laura was much more forgiving of both Esme and Heather than she was with Nikolas.

Tamilu

I second Liz’s emotion wholeheartedly, When Laura was visiting Heather daily, she never visited Nikolas. It made me angry. If you don’t want to hire an actor to play Nikolas right now, do like you used to do when Laura was in Shadybrook and show the back of someone’s head. The one time that Laura mentioned visiting Nikolas to see if he would be a donor for Lulu, I felt cheated because he was off camera.

As to Nicholas Alexander Chavez, I am happy he’s had such a successful this year. I am rooting for him even though I could never finish watching the Menendez movie. Too brutal for me. But if he is gone for good, that doesn’t mean Spencer has to stay dead. GH has had success with recasts before. In fact, Tabyana Ali’s Trina is a recast. It’s not unreasonable to think ABC could find a suitable Spencer if NAC is never coming back. General Hospital has had three great Carlys, a few good Luckys and Nikolases, and two great actors portraying Spencer. Sure, let Trina get all wrapped up in Kai, but bring Spencer back to life and let her do that arctic leap into his arms again.

Not guilty by reason of cobalt poisoning

Liz Masters

You know what’s worse than a brain tumor defense to excuse a slew of senseless murders? A faulty hip replacement defense. Yet, here we are. Clearly, no one on the show has bothered to go to Wiki Fandom to review Heather’s very long list of crimes that began well before she had a hip replacement. Crimes that included the murder of a police officer and the attempted murder of a woman whose only crime was to adopt a baby that Heather gave up on the black market.

It galls me that Heather got to ride off into the sunset with Steven Lars, while Nikolas languishes in prison for crimes against the mad shrew who murdered his son.

Tamilu

The upside of Heather’s exit was that we got to see Steven Lars (Scott Reeves) for a couple of days. It always bugs me when we get hype like, ‘Bryan Craig is coming back to General Hospital!’ or ‘Scott Reeves is coming back to GH!’ only for it turn out to be a single day or a single scene. I am always happy to see them, just as I was thrilled to see William Lipton bring Cam home to Port Charles for Christmas, but the longer the better.

However, the entire storyline of a bad hip replacement making you into serial killer was unbelievable to me. Alley Mills is such a remarkable actress that she made me care about Heather even when I felt the storyline was nutty and a slap in the face to GH history.

That’s an across-the-board statement I want to make. All of the problems that I see with General Hospital are writing problems and not acting problems. ABC has an embarrassment of riches in its GH cast, all it needs to do is find a group of writers who can write compelling storylines for them.

Love in the afternoon on General Hospital?

Liz Masters

The number one reason that I watch soap operas is for the romance. I’m a romantic at heart, which is why I also love romance novels. Throw in action and intrigue, and I’m likely to read it in one sitting. Through the years, General Hospital has had epic romances, and some of the biggest supercouples. Sadly, those days are behind us.

Oh, there are a few great couples, but as soon as they find happiness, the writers do something to blow them up. Usually, it’s something that makes it next to impossible for them to reconcile without them looking like the biggest losers of the show. This is a case where the writers know their audience, but for whatever reason don’t want to write for them. Instead, they write for people who aren’t watching the show.

My hope for 2025, is that General Hospital invests in good couples. Rekindling Liz and Jason would definitely be a good start because they still have a loyal fanbase. There’s also potential between Martin and Tracy, Isaiah and Jordan, and Ava and Ric. I know Chad Duell is leaving the show, but I would love for them to recast the role and give Sasha and Michael a second change.

It would serve Willow right to end up alone. I can’t wait until she learns the truth about Drew’s fling with Nina.

Tamilu

Diane and Alexis deserve real storylines and romances. They are two strong female characters who have languished this year. Diane got kicked aside for Holly, and Alexis never even had a date unless you count Gregory’s bucket list.

Anna had an epic love with Valentin and then accidentally shot his kid. Cody and Sasha were heading for something, but now they are related. Dex and Joss’s potential was snuffed out with Dex’s death. Ava drugged Sonny, slept with Jagger and is now flirting with Ric but hasn’t had a real love affair in a long time. Laura and Kevin never seem to be in the same place at the same time, and Dante and Sam were very happy for a small window of time before Sam met her maker. How about a little happiness this year? Maxie and Spinelli are wonderful as are Brook Lynn and Chase, but it’s okay to have more than two happy couples.

Lucas and Brad? Sonny and anyone but Natalia? I would even welcome Sonny and Nina over Natalia. Did you ever think you’d hear me say that? Liz and Jason, or Liz and Lucky, or Liz and Ric? How about Liz dating all three like the Bachelorette and voting one off each week. Give me some more romance please.

Sasha giving up being a spokesmodel to make scrambled eggs for the Quartermaines. A woman we had never even seen in a kitchen her entire time on GH and had no idea she could cook. This was just to get her in proximity to Cody for their budding romance, only to have the writers decide to make Sasha his cousin.

A few extra General Hospital naughty mentions

Liz Masters

What is the point of Natalia? Why not actually redeem her through good acts and personal growth instead of making her just another notch on Sonny’s bedpost? Sonny sharing his manicotti with her is not the way to endear her to me.

Lulu waking up from a coma after 4 years following a liver transplant and hopping out of bed a few days later to escape and hitchhike down a dark road was ludicrous even for a soap opera. I expect more from writers who write for a soap opera centered around a hospital.

I’m still not over the writers cheating us out of a Quartermaine Pizza Thanksgiving episode.

It’s downright shameful that Taggert has vanished from Trina’s life. He raised her, while Curtis has been her father for about 2 minutes.

Tamilu

The relationship between Finn and Violet was the most precious thing, up until the day we saw Violet arrive home to find Finn blackout drunk. Finn was a grown man, a medical doctor, and someone who knew his father’s health condition was worsening. Finn was aware that Gregory didn’t have long to live. So why did he fall so far so fast when Gregory passed?

When Finn first arrived at General Hospital, he had a bearded dragon named Roxy and was injecting himself with some substance for the sake of research. But after that storyline resolved, we rarely saw him struggle with his addiction. He attended AA meetings and helped Alexis with her battle with sobriety. So, to have him just suddenly dive headfirst into a bottle, cheat on Liz, and shirk his fatherly duties to his grieving daughter seemed forced. Then once he went to rehab — and Violet stayed behind — I thought maybe he’d be back in six weeks after a vacation. Instead, he left Violet behind and just up and moved away. This storyline seemed weird and disjointed.

The downfall of Anna Devane. She’s gone from a fierce and fearless morally steady leader to a whiny self-doubting woman who is playing both sides of the law, kidnapping people, working with the mob after attacking Sonny for his criminal lifestyle. I want Classic Anna back instead of Anna 2.0.

Carly and Brennan; will they, or won’t they? You made me wait too long to find out, so I don’t care anymore. They have chemistry together, I enjoy them together, but why does everything have to take SO LONG?

Jason’s return and Lucky’s return were the same. The excitement was there, they had the audience hyped up about the return, but instead of having them burst onto the scene, it was a turtle-paced comeback, and we waited weeks before Sonny and Jason had a scene together. We had to watch Lucky play 8000 hands of Poker with Sidwell before he escaped and made it home to Port Charles. I thought Lulu would be eligible for AARP before he got home. They had momentum and then squandered it before we got the payoff to the buildup.

And on a personal note, sadly Soap Central was bought this year by people who didn’t share our vision of soap coverage. Liz and I parted ways after two decades of soapy fun and thousands of readers on that site. It was very difficult to let it all go. For those of you reading this, thank you for tracking us down and finding us in our new space.

What will happen tomorrow, dear readers?

Will GH have another writer’s shakeup and decide to make Jason a fry cook? Will Carly give up the hotel and work at the Clinique counter? What if Sonny decides he misses swabbing down the bar in Nixon Falls and moves in with Phyllis? Will Ms. Wu take over the Savoy for her Poker games, while Curtis is distracted by his corporate takeovers? Can Trina learn to love football or just pretend to for a boy? Will we find out that Sasha’s baby is really Cody’s, and the newly minted cousins lied about never being together due to the ick factor?

Dare we hope the networks will realize they don’t have to interrupt our soaps next year with breaking news because everyone gets news immediately on their phones anyway? Will other networks add more soaps to their daytime lineup now that CBS is adding a new soap in 2025?

Only tomorrow knows dear readers and I will tune in tomorrow as long as there are tomorrows.

Have a safe and happy New Year!

Tamilu and Liz Masters