"General Hospital" x "24" = ?
Jan 25, 2007, 11:19 AM | by Abby West
Categories: Television
Hmmmm. Last year EW
asked General Hospital's head writer Bob Guza Jr. to tell us how he
would write the hit show 24, and we had 24's producer give us his
version of GH. Now, tomorrow's GH marks the first of 16 real-time
episodes, just in time for February sweeps, and Jack Bauer is dealing with some
serious family issues (maybe even a little baby mama drama?). Coincidence? Not
over at GH.
"I blame Entertainment Weekly for this whole nightmare we're in now," jokes Guza. Our little exercise got him thinking about a new way to build audience suspense on the soap opera well versed in high adventure but corralling the show's disparate storylines within real-time constraints just wasn't daunting enough for him. "It's that format but with a whole other wrinkle on top of it because we are, in fact, telling part of it backwards. We're going to start a day absolutely cold. The audience won't have a clue what they're looking at."
The GH event will start with an out-of-the-blue explosion at the Metro Court Hotel in the Mob-riddled, fictional city of Port Charles, N.Y. (Some of you might remember that just a few years ago a fire burned down the hotel that stood there before, also during sweeps. Hotels and hospitals are great for endangering lives of prominent cast members, says Guza.)
The show then resets to 16 hours before the explosion, and each one-hour episode will explain the events that led up to it, including a hostage crisis. And since this is sweeps period (and explosions and hostage-takings aren't enough) there's also the Jan. 30 return of GH veteran Kin Shriner (pictured) as the ex-husband of Laura Spencer, of the fabled Luke and Laura. Shriner will tie into an existing storyline related to Laura.
Guza's betting that, rather than confusing and frustrating fans, the disconcerting switcheroo will intrigue them and make them invest in getting to the bottom of the mystery. I'm betting that, at the very least, I'll be less confused about how you can get from one side of Port Charles to the other in 20 minutes than I am about the 24 logistics.
And for all of you out there looking down on us soap heads, take a cue from ESPN's Stephen A. Smith, who will be on the Feb. 2 episode of GH as a reporter covering the hostage situation. He's been a fan since he was five years old. "Let this be a lesson to all the ladies out there," he said. "There are men who love the soaps."
Smith and my husband are man enough to admit their serial love. How about you guys? Who'll admit they're stoked to see if GH can pull this off and keep the proper pacing?
Comments