what GH is doing right
Jun. 12th, 2008 02:59 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
gwynnegaI'm always complaining about Bob Guza's stupid mob obsession on GH. But one thing he's done right is introduce the character of good-hearted hacker Damian Spinelli, portrayed by the talented Bradford Anderson. He's one of the main reasons I haven't abandoned the show altogether. It seems apparent that the GH showrunners realize what a find they have in Anderson, and that, if the show survives, he may well end up being their new Tony Geary. Not unlike Geary, Anderson can sometimes be over the top (and the writing for Spinelli can encourage such excess), but he's great at comedy and perhaps even better at drama, he has great chemistry with pretty much everyone on the show (and notably with Kirsten Storms' Maxie), and he's adept at handling the vast swaths of quirky dialogue the writers give him.
I've heard complaints about the way Spinelli talks--"nobody talks like that!"--but in fact I think that's one of the best things about the character. No one else on daytime talks like him, and his thesaurus-like dialogue adds some needed texture to GH, packed with mobsters grunting out their few lines of verbiage. Also, on the few occasions when he does drop the high-flown Spinelli-speak (for example, he tends to talk about himself in the third person as "The Jackal, assassin of cyberspace") and speaks directly from the heart, the contrast is very affecting. For example, on yesterday's show, Spinelli asks for Jax's help in winning Maxie's affections. "Just be yourself," Jax counsels, and Spinelli stops the babble and says simply, "Myself isn't good enough." (The scene is here at 1:57, though you have to skip past Jason and Carly angsting endlessly about Sonny.)
For awhile the writers misused Spinelli to prop up Jason and Lulu, but at some point they must have realized he deserved his own stories (and that Anderson improves pretty much every scene he's in), and the writing improved. I love that they're throwing him in with a variety of characters--how great the scenes with Jax were yesterday! And I love watching the GH cast--in particular, stonefaced Steve Burton--trying not to bust up laughing in his scenes with Anderson. One particularly funny scene is this one, featuring Sarah Brown, who also seems particularly amused by Anderson.
It's not that I trust Guza and co. not to mess things up, but they do seem to be going in the right direction with Spinelli. I just hope they let him get the girl this time!
I've heard complaints about the way Spinelli talks--"nobody talks like that!"--but in fact I think that's one of the best things about the character. No one else on daytime talks like him, and his thesaurus-like dialogue adds some needed texture to GH, packed with mobsters grunting out their few lines of verbiage. Also, on the few occasions when he does drop the high-flown Spinelli-speak (for example, he tends to talk about himself in the third person as "The Jackal, assassin of cyberspace") and speaks directly from the heart, the contrast is very affecting. For example, on yesterday's show, Spinelli asks for Jax's help in winning Maxie's affections. "Just be yourself," Jax counsels, and Spinelli stops the babble and says simply, "Myself isn't good enough." (The scene is here at 1:57, though you have to skip past Jason and Carly angsting endlessly about Sonny.)
For awhile the writers misused Spinelli to prop up Jason and Lulu, but at some point they must have realized he deserved his own stories (and that Anderson improves pretty much every scene he's in), and the writing improved. I love that they're throwing him in with a variety of characters--how great the scenes with Jax were yesterday! And I love watching the GH cast--in particular, stonefaced Steve Burton--trying not to bust up laughing in his scenes with Anderson. One particularly funny scene is this one, featuring Sarah Brown, who also seems particularly amused by Anderson.
It's not that I trust Guza and co. not to mess things up, but they do seem to be going in the right direction with Spinelli. I just hope they let him get the girl this time!
no subject
Date: 2008-06-13 06:19 pm (UTC)I also love all the sets on the show. That one in particular, really captured the kind of vacant apartment you'd expect in the mid-70s on the Upper West Side.
no subject
Date: 2008-06-13 06:44 pm (UTC)RH had a really wonderful scenic designer in their first several years. He was the same guy who did Dark Shadows. I cringe when I see what they did to the RH sets in the mid-80s. They redid the bar in green--hideous!