General Hospital News & Gossip

News for the week of 11-Oct-2004
by Carol Banks Weber

ABC’s annual Super Soap Weekend will again be at Disney-MGM Studios in Orlando, FL, November 13-14. The short list of star attendees, so far, reads thusly: GH’s Nancy Lee Grahn (Alexis), Tyler Christopher (Nikolas), Rebecca Herbst (Elizabeth), Ted King (Alcazar), Alicia Leigh Willis (Courtney), Scott Clifton (Dillon), Lesli Kay (Lois), Adrianne Leon (Brook Lynn), Greg Vaughan (Lucky), Natalia Livingston (Emily); AMC’s Susan Lucci (Erica), Michael E. Knight (Tad), Eva La Rue (Maria), Thorsten Kaye (Zach), Eden Riegel (Bianca), Walt Willey (Jackson), Rebecca Budig (Greenlee), Alicia Minshew (Kendall), Cameron Mathison (Ryan), Bobbie Eakes (Krystal), Alexa Havins (Babe), Jacob Young (JR), James Scott (Ethan), Justin Bruening (Jamie); OLTL’s Hillary B. Smith (Nora), Kassie DePaiva (Blair), Kamar de los Reyes (Antonio), Trevor St. John (Todd), Kathy Brier (Marcie), Renee Elise Goldsberry (Evangeline), Michael Easton (John), Bree Williamson (Jessica), David Fumero (Cristian). More names to come. Scheduled events include autograph sessions with the stars, a chance to buy soap memorabilia and the Super Soap Talk Show featuring new host Bob Guiney, from The Bachelor reality-TV/primetime series and husband of AMC’s Rebecca Budig (Greenlee). Budig will also serve as informal co-host on Sunday, alongside her husband, as they take fans into the backstage dish of the soap stars. Info: (407) 397-6808.

To break up the monotony (and sweat) of having to wear a 15-plus-pound maternity suit at work on a daily basis, Kelly Monaco (Sam) pulled a prank on Maurice Benard (Sonny) before a scene. She discovered she could make farting sounds, just tug her suit away from her sweaty body. Well, she did this, twice, the second time telling him she had a little gas, and got quite a reaction from Benard. Eventually, she and the bystanders put Benard out of his misery and revealed the farting for the prank it was.

It’s a well-known observation of veteran fans, that their favorite veteran soap stars are not used fully, or to their full character potential. GH’s vet of 27 years, Leslie Charleson (Monica) recently spoke out about this dilemma, without holding back much. She admitted to frustration and to fighting for certain scenes involving her and Natalia Livingston’s Emily, fighting for these scenes to make sense given the course of events and to not make her character look stupid. For example, in the script, Monica had to welcome the news of NEm’s (Nikolas & Emily’s) quick engagement by expressing pride in Emily, no build-up, no cautionary tale, with Monica sight unseen for much of the story leading up to that engagement. Charleson did not want Monica to say how proud she was of Emily in that context, and asked her bosses for a line cut. Also, because of budgetary constraints, producers no longer take the time to really go over the scenes with the actors to ensure quality, the actress explained, adding that if the scenes suck, the actors must take it upon themselves to take care of business. The only chance she and other vets had of getting any substantive screen-time at all happened when Anna Lee died and took Lila with her, in a very elaborate, three-day on-screen memorial service this past summer, which Charleson said was such a shame, but hey, at least it was something. Lack of attention to detail, a certain rushed aura of apathy on the set, a soap concentrated too much on the mob, and the resulting low morale of many actors contributed to Charleson’s decision not to host the annual Quartermaine Brunch during the GH Fan Club Weekend (held this year in July). Charleson did look on the bright side, felt the tide turning and with the short story arcs currently being utilized by TPTB, this, too, should pass.

The face of anorexia/bulimia isn’t always thin. Lesli Kay (Lois), who suffered from the illness during childhood through college – at one point weighing 90 pounds at 5’6” tall – says it’s possible to appear chubby, even while secretly gorging and purging, because she did. In college, she had trouble purging some of the food she’d gorge from the community (dorm) fridge, a fridge she’d sneak into late at night, gorging on other students’ food, so it looked from the outside, like she had trouble keeping weight off.

Scott Clifton (Dillon) and Chaz Bodily are two teenaged guys about the same age, single, friendly, fit. But other than that, they come from two different worlds. Clifton is an actor, an atheist, an only child and has two left feet when it comes to dancing. Bodily is a Mormon, a dancer, comes from a large family and shook so much when it came time for him to make a walk-on appearance at Clifton’s GH digs. Both underwent a major switch in their lives and lifestyles for the cameras, specifically for the ABC Family channel’s original show, Switched! While Bodily did his walk-on, Clifton had to learn a 15-minute routine in just three hours, which, the actor said he pulled off but not well. They both learned a lot, met and made a lot of friends, and for Clifton, used much of the experience as stand-up fodder. The episode detailing what they went through, together and apart, as each experienced the other’s routines airs October 11, 3 p.m.

Clifton keeps pointing out those acting classes that helped make him a better dramatic performer, but I keep thinking he would’ve done better on his own. The classes already honed what was there. Alas, according to the In-N-Out burger-lovin’ Clifton, don’t hold those grilled onions!, acting, even music, weren’t talents he’s intrinsically good at, but had to work on, learn... he’d love it if he could have a photographic memory or perfect pitch, as two examples.

A pet peeve of Clifton’s is waiting behind a huge load of people in the drive-thru, engine idling, while they just decide what they want as they reach the order window, and there’s, like a whole soccer team in there. “Be prepared at the drive-through, people!” A great love of Clifton’s, well, not great, but good... is sitting down to watch the Kevin Costner movie Field Of Dreams, about a man who discovers his dead father’s love and reinforces an already existent love of baseball. It always tugs at Clifton’s heartstrings and reminds him of how much his own father loves him. –Soap Opera Digest

Maurice Benard (Sonny) re-signed a four-year contract, taking off two weeks along with the rest of the cast and crew in December. That’s it. No three-month break, no quitting, no changing sides over to Y&R... all conjecture, according to the actor. He did want certain stipulations in his new contract, and he did not want to sign on for such an extended length. But ABC Daytime president Brian Frons stepped in, fought for Benard’s wishes, and in the end, the actor felt that four years was about right. He loved the show, his co-stars and the story about to blow up in the months to come, not to mention the one currently about to blow wide open – Kristina’s impending leukemia and Sonny’s discovering he’s a dad to another toddler. His popular pairing with Carly, however, should’ve come to a merciful close this past January, the actor said, but TPTB couldn’t leave it at that after S&C fans begged for a reunion. Now, Benard added, the fan bases might be as ready for an end as he was, at least those who’ve contacted him, but an end with “closure.”

Jonathan Jackson (ex-Lucky) will appear in another movie, called Backwater, directed by Jim Gillespie (I Know What You Did Last Summer). With Method Man, Bijou Phillips, D.J. Cotrona and Agnes Bruckner also in it, on location in New Orleans, this could be another teen-scream flick.

A surprised, but pleased, pregnant Lilly Melgar (ex-Lily) soon awaits the arrival of her firstborn daughter. She spoke of being blessed and awed, and of her latest project—working on an Hispanic series or film, or other, but not of the baby’s father.

Gossip for the week of 11-Oct-2004
by Carol Banks Weber

Maurice Benard (Sonny) acknowledged his real fans, sorting them all into those who get his portrayal and his intent, and those that well, stick pins into their Sonny voodoo dolls and take this soap situation way too seriously. His recent SID interview: he may be around for the four-year duration, he may dig Jason with Sam over Sonny and Sam, he may wish Ric offed by Sonny for Ric’s past transgressions and will fool with Ric instead, and while he feels it’s time for his character and Carly to say good-bye for good, he still hedges his bets to give the S&C and CFF fans some hope. In soaps, he said, never say never. Sounds like a guy who’s fully aware of the controversial buzz he’s caused online.

A bunch of online scoopsters (not me) received flak from several regular GH message board posters (not me) around here for supposedly getting their news and gossip wrong when it came to whether Mr. Benard would re-sign, bail to Y&R, take a permanent vacation or try primetime. But Benard himself contributed to the mystery by making odd statements or refusing to refute the rumors already out there. Soap magazines (at least SPW and SID) reporting on the re-signing take at least two to three weeks to go to print. So while online scoopsters are saying that to the best of their knowledge, Benard hadn’t yet re-signed, he may not have. We don’t always derive our info from inside sources, but these very magazines, and won’t know the status until they come out on the newsstands (or, in my case, when my mailman deigns show up around 4 p.m., with the mags two weeks later than everybody else).

Like many fans posting online, I, too, wondered – after Desperate Housewives debuted October 3 – why GH couldn’t be more like that new ABC primetime drama. After all, Desperate Housewives came from the mind of GH co-head writer Charles Pratt Jr., who, together with partner Bob Guza Jr., did considerably better on Melrose Place too.

I tuned in expecting the same meandering, convoluted, misogynistic, warped drivel usually found on Sonny Hospital. I came away marveling at how tight, efficient, astute and character-focused the new drama was. I’d even read a NY Post review by Linda Stasi last week lauding the dialogue, the acting and some of the dramatic situations, but panning the underbelly of women as stereotypes, the Stepford Wife, the Love Slave, the Harried Soccer Mom, the Slut.

And sure, all of that applied, but the drama unfolding slowly, methodically, inexorably toward multi-layered mysteries amidst some heavy-duty character-driven stuff, with laughs and gasps, succeeded, because I felt the cast and crew involved were thorough in their research and preparation, to pull off a genuine story about this small suburban Wisteria town and its female inhabitants. It took the best facets of soap operas, staged plays and ensemble movies like The Big Chill, and wove them all together, a blend of farce, melodrama, sitcom and murder mystery, with likeable, relatable characters (my fave so far, Teri Hatcher’s goofy, nice Susan Mayer).

If Pratt would only use one-half of this and apply it to GH... [Hey boss, you were right.]

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