An Open Letter to Jill Farren Phelps
By J Bernard Jones on May 29, 2009
Dear Ms. Phelps,
I will keep this brief.
In the name of all that is holy, change the frakkin' opening credits to General Hospital!
I don't know which is worse on your part, the fact that it seemingly takes half a decade to add or subtract contract cast members or that ding dang ending shot of all "The Men of GH" — half of which aren't even on the show anymore.
How is that a show like Guiding Light, which you once produced and with 1/84th your GH budget, can manage to keep its opening credits updated to current storylines on a daily basis but GH, having laid out $3 million to upgrade its studio facilities to high definition, somehow can't get it together to find a way to digitially erase Justus Ward (last played by M'fundo Morrison), a character who has been dead since 2006?
God knows I love me some Stuart Damon (occasional ghost Alan Quartermaine) and Sebastain Roché (occasional smarmy Jerry Jax), but why are they still flashing on our screens day in and day out? Is there any good explanation for Scott Clifton, who is now playing an entirely different character on another show, still being featured other than as an excuse to see Luke (Tony Geary) to stylishly rise from his chair and defiantly walk away? Or is the strategy that if you don't change that last shot and wait long just enough, actors like the rumored to be returning Ted King might show up again and save you some money on reshoots? A barely cropped out of the shot Wally Kurth? Really? With Megan Ward (Kate) off contract and Rick Hearst (Ric) off to Bold & Beautiful, how long will it take for them to be replaced in the credits? 2016?
While many fans skip or don't pay attention to credits, there are some of us who do. I am something of a credit junkie. I feel the opening of a show sets its tone and helps ground the viewer that show's reality. I like the visual style of General Hospital's opening, and the current variation of Dave Kos' "Faces of the Heart", while having become dated, is still catchy enough in its own right. It's just long past time that whoever is slow on the uptake with updating the cast shots or is enamored with that last group shot of the GH men to get over themselves and get with the program.
At the rate you usually go, I wouldn't be shocked to see Bert Ramsey and one of those ladies from 1985's Asian Quarter storyline pop up in the middle of a lens flare.
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Comments
21 July 2008
1 day 16 hours
LMAO.
1 April 2009
1 day 17 hours
AAAAAHAHAHAAA!!! Great Post. Pic - hysterical.
I agree, but we should watch what we wish for. I'm sure it's expensive to re-shoot an opening. If they do, they'll probably "kill" Monica and L.C. will be out of a job!
Ah, doesn't matter to me one bit though. I ditched this horrible show a year ago....
22 August 2007
57 min 48 sec
Oh Bernard this has been a beef of mine and my SPOILER faithfuls for over a year now. About six times a year a RUMORED new opening is being shot... FOR THE LOVE OF ALL THAT IS HOLY... hire a college intern who is working on their media/film-tv production degree to cut a new damn opening! I bet you can even pay them peanuts to do it. It's sad, it's laughable, it's downright embarrassing. I guess there goes my Gh positivity.
21 May 2008
24 weeks 1 day
all i have to say is...AMEN!
9 September 2008
4 min 7 sec
Hell, Regan, they act like it's harder to recut the opening than to get Vanessa Marcil!
22 August 2007
57 min 48 sec
LMAO! Truer words were never spoken...
5 December 2008
1 week 1 day
You just made my day! This is hilarious. I often pause my TV and try to think of how many were not still on the show....lol. Thank you for saying what we are all thinking. And it'd be nice to have them shot in HD now that they have the cameras.
1 June 2008
1 hour 54 min
Thank you for saying what we all say ..
THEY NEED TO CAHNGE THE OPENING NOW............................
1 April 2009
1 day 17 hours
.......And maybe re-shoot Megan Ward? (if she's still on? Again I have probably watched 2% of GH epi's this past year. And I'm usually asleep by 7 minutes in) But everytime I see Megan Ward I'm like "Her eyes are CLOSED!"
I guess maybe this type of stuff is what the head writers think constitues 'fun' in GH. The laughs only come in Opening Credits! Really, this show is so gloomy.
15 May 2008
7 hours 59 min
Bernard you made my day! I've been DYING for them to change the opening! Them and Y&R because we still see Victor and Nikki swapping spit and they've been divorced how long now?! U can still see Sharon giving Nick a peeps show duing that opening as well as Jack and Phyllis smooching some.
22 March 2009
8 weeks 1 day
True, the opening credits are way out of date. But I have to admit, there is something about Greg Vaughn that is so freaking hot in that group photo that I ignore the outdated cast members and focus on him.
23 March 2009
3 days 9 hours
How are AMC and OLTL able do it on such a frequent basis too? You'd think they'd be sharing a more or less common resource when doing this sort of thing.
22 January 2008
8 min 6 sec
They have to wait until Tony, Maurice and Steve say they can.
26 June 2008
9 hours 8 min
I also love the opening credits of shows.....It really gets me in the mood to watch the show and to see what's going to happen....I hope they update it soon.....
P.S. Maybe you could have asked Chris Goutman to give ATWT an opening credit again....since they seem to have done away with there own completely.....
20 February 2009
2 hours 51 min
I let the opening play because my now 1 yr old son loves the music, I thought I might be the only one freezing and couting the missing men, thanks for this post.
10 February 2009
15 hours 29 min
Hear, hear!
19 February 2009
26 weeks 4 days
Here's an even BETTER idea, why don't they just hire back EVERY SINGLE MAN in that picture? Hit the rewind button, take me back in time, and redo everything that has gone HORRIBLY wrong with GH and keep all the GOOD actors instead of driving them off with crappy storylines.....
17 July 2008
11 hours 40 min
So Wally Kurth has just been cropped out and I totally missed that Scott Clifton in on the bottom there. It is even worse than I thought. Just in that final shot alone you could have in there: Brandon Brash, Jason Thompson, Jason Cook, and Bradford Anderson. Even in the opening part where they show the different actors you are missing BB, JC and Sarah Brown. These are day players that you see once in a blue moon. And not to mention that you have newer actors that are starting taking significant time on the show (can't think of their names, but the actors playing Michael and Ethan). I am sure you can even clip in Luke's little attitude walk from the chair without having to take time away from TG's vacation schedule to reshooot it. Time to make the change.
15 October 2008
1 day 16 hours
And here I thought you were going to call out Phelps on her mess like you did Mr. Goutman. Oh well still a great read and hopefully she'll pay attention b/c it's just getting ridic!
And are these calling out of the producers going to happen for all of the soaps if so I think it'll be great b/c I love your insight on everything Daytime.
29 November 2008
10 weeks 5 days
Preach, J Bernard, preach!!!
Seriously, Phelps just spent 3 million dollars for an HD reboot but they can't get the new actors, one camera man and an intern in graphics to update the credits. If that is the only evidence one could use to indict her performance as EP then it is very damning.
23 March 2009
3 days 9 hours
In the full picture Ingo Rademacher and John York are in the very very left except they were left out entirely. In a soap magazine leading up to the new opening, they showed the full men's closing shot.
Like so:
http://www.deviantart.com/deviation/555-5555/
3 December 2008
9 weeks 1 day
LMFAO!!!!!
27 January 2009
1 day 13 hours
If you don't want to update the actors in the opening then.......
Bring back the speeding ambulance!
23 December 2008
42 weeks 8 hours
OMG I WAS THINKING THE SAME THING as I watched my DVR'd episode today. I mean...it has to be a little insulting to half the cast that has been there for months on end but haven't been added or in the case of Sarah Brown & Natalia Livingston re-added!
19 January 2008
1 week 6 hours
Hey Regan!
They should hire some of us savy YouTubers who mess with tv show credits all the time to redo the GH credits.
I bet my 5 year old nephew can redo the GH opening for just a simple Transformers toy and a day pass at a water park!!!
19 November 2007
8 hours 49 min
How about we bring back the speeding ambulance and have it run through the closing shot hitting all the male actors that are no longer on the show
10 February 2009
15 hours 29 min
How about putting Frons, Farren-Phelps, Guza, Luke, Holly and Teethan in the ambulance and blowing it to kingdom come?
19 January 2009
1 week 3 days
LMAO!! So true!! I have thought this for ages now. I get so sick of seeing characters that have been gone for some time.
Espcially Justus who has been gone for a few years now...wish they'd bring him back 
..I loved him. 
Anywho I am ready for a whole new opening and such but I will atleast take them updating it. 
2 January 2009
8 weeks 2 days
seriously, i've seen some great openings on YouTube that would be great for the show. i've been waiting since december of 2007 for a character update. at the rate they're going they won't have that many people left in the opening. it used to be really good and now its all choppy and just horrible. get off your lazy butt phelps. she said once in an interview that it cost more to make a new opening credit than to get a new set for the show. i'm a huge credit junkie and i love seeing the new characters displayed. its aggravating that they are so lazy.
29 June 2009
37 weeks 6 days
I cannot see it being terribly expensive to edit the opening...
Tip: do not include a clip with multiple cast members, as the opening of GH ends with.