Less than a year ago, 'General Hospital' made a big move by aging the character of Michael Corinthos, III. Young Dylan Cash, who had played the role for six years, literally growing up before our eyes, was deemed too young for the mature story the writers had in mind for Sonny's son. It was a rough transition for fans, but since Michael was in a vegetative state and bed-ridden for months and months, when he finally awoke and the actor playing Michael was Drew Garrett, we accepted him.

However, in a surprisingly move, 'General Hospital' has replaced Drew Garrett with Chad Duell. No reason given, just a general statement wishing Garrett well in his future endeavors. The pink slip came as a shock to Garrett who claims he was blindsided by the dismissal. And just a month ago he was on the pre-Emmy nomination list for award consideration.

It's report card time. From time to time, the TV Squad Soap Report will take a look at a show and grade it accordingly. This week, we'll look at General Hospital -- you know, sort of take its temperature. To put it bluntly, General Hospital needs some intensive care. The show is suffering from post-dramatic stress disorder, not traumatic, dramatic. I'm speaking specifically of the shooting of Michael Corinthos, Jr.

Intellectually and from a writer's point of view, I understand why Robert Guza, Jr. -- the head writer -- decided to do this story. It's caused a major upheaval in the Jason-Carly-Sonny-Jax quadrangle. The situation he created, for those who haven't been watching, is this: Sonny's new love, Kate, urged Sonny to bring Michael to the coffee warehouse so he could see the legitimate side of his father's business interests and presumably be impressed enough to want to emulate him. Sonny had been worried that Michael was on the path to becoming a mini-mobster.
%Gallery-24810%