This week on “General Hospital,” Hollywood star James Franco returned to show as the serial killer Franco. Franco continues to torture the life of Jason Morgan, but the character and actor inadvertently tortured all the viewers at home too.
James Franco was welcome addition to the cast when debuted on the show, but his time his clearly up and his continued appearances has actually become worse for storylines, characters and soap operas in general.
General Hospital Taping Schedule
James Franco has multiple movie roles and other gigs, making his schedule crammed for a role on “General Hospital.” This forces actors, writers and producers to work around the star, an effect that has made the quality dwindle.
One day of James Franco taping on set is literally dragged out over weeks of air-time, resulting in annoying scenes where Franco does nothing more than stare a wind-up monkey. He barely has any speaking lines and only drags on storylines.
The Fun of Franco
When Franco debuted, the mysterious artist interacted with several characters, showed his obsession with Jason Morgan and created chaos for the citizens for Port Charles. Now he is just a figment of the original character.
His “games” have disappeared, he paints pointless pictures and has not had a running dialogue with any of the other actors. The fun of the character fully went away on a recent episode where he drugged Sam and apparently sexually assaulted her while she was on her Hawaiian Honeymoon. It remains to be seen if he actually committed the act, but this is not the fun Franco we were introduced to.
A Franco Recast
The character of Franco still has potential to be a mainstay on General Hospital, but only if the actor James Franco is recast himself. It does not do anyone any favors to barley appear, and audiences can quickly get used to a new cast member in his place.
It was a great premise to have James Franco on “General Hospital,” but true fans of the show care about good storylines and core characters, not special guest stars.
“General Hospital” airs on ABC every weekday at 3 pm ET.