General Hospital News & Gossip

News for the week of 22-Nov-2004
by Carol Banks Weber

The annual ABC Daytime Super Soap Weekend came (November 13-14) and went, with me yet to view the festivities in person (although I will be in the state sometime after Christmas and before Valentine’s Day, about two months too late, le sigh). This year’s weekend event differed from those previous – no controversy, few spoilers and fewer big-name GH stars in attendance. Those actually invited managed to do their jobs as ABC Daytime hosts outstandingly, ensuring every fan counter be a pleasant one, especially the always gracious Greg Vaughan (Lucky), Nancy Lee Grahn (Alexis) and Alicia Leigh Willis (Courtney). Tyler Christopher (Nikolas/Connor) was uncharacteristically outgoing, gregarious and open, cracking jokes, tending tenderly to Natalia Livingston (Emily) and looking his usually fine self. Rebecca Herbst (Elizabeth) may not be on GH much, but that didn’t stop an invitation to SSW from coming her way, or from her treating fans with utmost respect.

Now, onto the anecdotal stuff:

Willis told fans – onstage for SoapTalk and elsewhere – that she very much enjoyed her current love story with “Prince Charming” Ingo Rademacher (Jax), her past love story with Steve Burton (Jason), and whatever else TPTB throw her way. She described Rademacher as fun to be with. She left a reunion with Jason up in the air and up to fate, never ruling that out. IOW, she remained diplomatic, supportive and appreciative of her job at GH, her cast mates and her fans. Once, during a love scene, she got up and quickly felt the breeze of a mortifying moment after her under-cover clothing came off in the sheets and she inadvertently flashed the entire crew. Normally, however, she’ll try to bulk up in clothing as much as she can get away with, away from the prying camera eyes, in love scenes.

Christopher would’ve flashed the entire crew had they been around before one particular love scene. The actor was trying to take his pants off on the set, but grabbed onto his underwear as well. He realized he was mooning himself right around the time his pants and underwear went to his knees.

Talk of undercover wear came up a lot during one of the Bob Guiney (The Bachelor)-hosted shows (where Willis responded with her flashing incident). Christopher revealed that while he goes on the air with skivvies on, Livingston tries to arm herself with as much clothing as possible during love scenes. Livingston added that at first she had on a corset-like contraption, but lately she dons a strapless bra and butt-ugly plaid shorts riddled with holes. Lesli Kay (Lois) is a little less modest then either Livingston or Willis, she puts on a thong and Band-Aids to cover up her upper hoo-hoos, instead of having to worry about how to be during the love scene without revealing too much. She simply gets as naked as possible and lets the editing crew deal with the footage later.

A fan favorite at these public events, Grahn – with her young daughter Kate in tow for a few rides here and there – loves her current story and her two professional leading actors, Maurice Benard (Sonny) and Rick Hearst (Ric) – curiously missing from SSW – but the twins playing two-year-old Kristina, Emma and Sarah, really love hanging around Benard. One time, Grahn reported, Benard ran around the hospital set with his mouth full of grapes, impersonating The Godfather, chasing the twin tykes playfully.

On November 17th’s Oprah talk show, Maurice Benard (Sonny) and wife Paula held nothing back as they openly discussed life under the manic-depressive influence. Maurice had a head start in knowing firsthand what that influence was like over Paula – who’d not known quite what a nervous breakdown even meant until meeting him – feeling the full effects of a chemical imbalance in his brain at around the early 20s. He told Oprah he’d bunk out at his friend’s place, drinking himself into a helpless rage, crying like a baby for what seemed an eternity, as if trapped in a nightmare of good vs. evil. A few hospitalizations later, the first of which was prompted by a violent threat against his parents, a few close calls going off the prescribed lithium treatment, violently threatening his own wife and her nieces, panic attacks on the set, in his dressing room, back on the lithium, surviving the funks... the Emmy-award-winning actor can now, safely and securely say he’s as level and as happy as he’s ever gonna be. And yet, Paula reminded Oprah and her audience of millions that her husband and the father of their soon-to-be-three children (the third on the way next month) still toys with the idea of going off the lithium. I will never let that happen, Paula said, adding with a smile that lightened the heaviosity of the atmosphere, even if I have to sneak the pills in there to him somehow. Maurice laughed, too, then added that part of the reason for even going there mentally is wanting to avoid medication, keeping his soul and body healthy. Furthermore, a lot of manic-depressives are loathe to lose the amplified confidence, creativity and energy of a manic high, as another guest, movie actress Linda Hamilton later attested to on the show.

Mentioned at length on the show and in a previous People magazine feature was one of the first signs alerting Maurice Benard and his wife Paula to an oncoming setback due to going off lithium. He’d started GH as Sonny in the mid-‘90s, coming over from a successful run as Nico on AMC, and on a career high, believed he could kick manic-depression himself, without the medication. Slowly, he’d take on the mannerisms, expressions and dialogue of his alter-ego, a flawed, tormented mobster, bringing Sonny Corinthos home to his wife, who had no idea at the time what to make of him reciting his lines all over again. I ran lines with Maurice all the time, and recognized them when he came home from work and repeated them to me in conversation, Paula explained to Oprah. “When you see it happening in front of you, you don’t wanna believe it. So you let it go and you let it go for as long as you can,” Paula said.

His cast mates all know about his manic depression and support him. If he’s ever in a funk – different from a full-blown depressive state, but still debilitating enough that he has to force himself to go through his regular routines – he warns them beforehand (he hasn’t had a funk in three years, though). They’ll occasionally joke with him, asking, “Did you take your medication today?”

Maurice and Paula are careful to unobtrusively, almost unconsciously observe for any signs of manic depression in their children (two daughters so far), knowing the physiologically-based disease can be passed on. Maurice takes extra pains to avoid discord in the home, leaving the yelling, crying and general emotional extremes to his character, and keeping it all on the set, in performances. “[One of my daughters] Cailey can pick up on [my moods]. I'm very conscious of that. So I make that extra effort never to yell and to keep cool. At some point, I'll tell them about it, when they are old enough to understand.”

The After Oprah Show on the cable Oxygen channel turned out to be far more informative and heartening. All three of the guest celebrities (Maurice, the only one with his spouse beside him) sat on the stage with Oprah this time and they casually answered a few questions, bantered a bit and at the end enjoyed a beautiful rendering of Shawn Colvin’s song about her depression and the effect it had on her family, written the year after the birth of her baby. It was like being privy to group therapy on a very intimate, caring level. It was also clear to me that these three celebrities wanted very much to reach others suffering from the same fate, through their living example, flaws and all. Maurice Benard (Sonny) even brought that issue up. “What’s important is ... that everybody represents it well. Sometimes, you see people and they still seem a little cuckoo talking about it, and that’s not good.” This statement garnered a few nervous laughs.

Benard also confessed to feeling calm about appearing on Oprah’s show, not usual for him. “This is the first thing that I’ve done that I wasn’t scared. And I should be with you—“ cut to Oprah cracking jokes, she won’t bring out the ex-girlfriend or the high school football team ragging on him about his manic depression, then to Benard cracking up, and then he continued, “But you’re great.” Oprah Winfrey’s goal in this show, she told the audience, was to remove the stigma and break down the private barriers of this “mental illness” by talking about it out in the open. I believe she went a long way toward succeeding.

Northwest Afternoon’s queen of soaps Cindi Rinehart interviewed Tamara Braun (Carly) at the GH studios and aired an excerpt from that interview on her Nov. 15th show. Rinehart was asked by the show’s honchos not to ask Braun about her predecessor Sarah Brown (ex-Carly), but Braun answered anyway, by saying she hadn’t watched Brown before taking on the recast role (she didn’t even know during auditions that it was a recast until she got the job), that the role itself was incredibly complex, and she would never – unlike Carly – think about hooking up with a mobster, “too much drama.” The animated, engaging actress relayed a cute tidbit about Corbin Bernsen’s (John Durant) ‘80s primetime hit, L.A. Law. She’d just come home from work, beat from yet another slew of frontburner scenes, fell asleep watching the Biography channel, woke the next day to a rerun of that ‘80s hit with the intro including Bernsen’s cad of a lawyer, Arnie Becker, and went, That dude looks awfully familiar, whoa!, he’s my dad on GH now! She then told Rinehart that she and her fellow female cast mates would agree that the serious male characters tend to be goofballs off the set, including Bernsen, who’s also very wonderful.

Inspired by the Kristina Davis bone marrow storyline, fans of Nancy Lee Grahn (Alexis) – under the leadership of tribute site Just Breathe and Nancy Lee Grahn’s official website – have spearheaded a charity drive to benefit the Marrow Foundation.

Lindze Letherman (Georgie) had no working or viewership knowledge of soap operas prior to getting a call from her manager about trying out for the role of GH’s recast, SORAS’d Georgie. Because of school, she was too busy to watch soaps, much less know about the existence of same-day-repeat-episodes on the cable channel, SoapNet. She also had no idea that veteran co-star Leslie Charleson (Monica) was and is an expert horsewoman, who had competed in shows. Letherman – who rides horses for the pure thrill of riding and communing – has discussed their love of horses in passing, but nothing beyond that. She does, however, know very well that when it comes time for filming scenes with Scott Clifton (Dillon), they better cut out the goofing around and get down to business. “...we do most of our laughing down in the dressing rooms [especially for the Viagra story]. We try to be as serious as possible during tape, we do get a little carried away in rehearsal but who doesn't!” –Wubs.net

During the recently-wrapped SSW (see synopsis above), Tyler Christopher (Nikolas/Connor) apparently made his slight displeasure about the Connor aspect known to a few fans in attendance. A lot of fans there and everywhere else would prefer Nikolas and Emily marry and live in peace for a change, at least for a while. The couple’s constant agita agita is starting to unnerve the NEm contingent. Christopher also – in a November 23rd Soap Opera Digest special feature, “Thanks For The Memories” – panned the deja-vu retread of amnesia stories. At first, he groaned with dread, then decided to make the best (and original) of it. If he had to portray an amnesia victim, he by God will do the most unusual take on it, full of emotional torture and frustration, which showed in riveting, intense, almost too painful to watch scenes. “I think that we did it better than it’s ever been done because it was a collective effort. But to be honest, I’d really like to see this plot device over and buried.”

Christopher’s input into the Naomi Rabinowitz-written article was leveled by – IMHO – the utter lack of insight or any semblance of realism of co-head writers Bob Guza and Charles Pratt. They excused their using the overdone amnesia plot device by claiming they did their story with realism, believability and consistency in mind. Instead of it being about Nikolas losing his memories, they instead made it about Mary losing her husband to war and trying to make up for the loss with a substitute, Pratt explained. Guza made matters worse by actually saying he and his writing team followed a guideline, that in order for any of this to make sense, they had to stay within the confines of what exactly Nikolas would remember and forget, especially with a story as Outer Limits as this one was. “Once you set up your boundaries for whatever your amnesia story is, you have to respect them. You can’t violate your own rules. If you do that, your audience will go. At the beginning, decide what [the character] remembers and doesn’t remember and the audience will buy it. If you start flipping all over the place, they’ll rightly start throwing their remote controls at the TV.” You mean like we did when we found out Connor was alive and the spitting image of Nikolas???

The other week, I passed along information that Tyler Christopher (Nikolas/Connor) would soon air on an episode of ABC Family’s home improvement show, Knock First, where a crew would fix up his swimming pool house out back. Joining him in this effort were his cousin Derk Cheetwood (Max) and girlfriend Natalia Livingston (Emily). Like a good sport, she helped out wherever needed for two whole days, even if it was carpentry, her least favorite.

M’fundo Morrison (Justus) has heaped a lot of praise on Cynthia Preston (Faith) in the past. So she, naturally, returned the favor when the opportunity (SOD’s “Hot Shot” section) presented itself. Preston called Morrison professional, intense, focused, enthusiastic and nice. For the beautifully moving (but oddly out of place) scenes of Justus and Faith bidding each other a fond, forever farewell – before Faith took off for parts unknown – both actors tried to tune everybody and everything else out and just derive the emotional connection from each other and that moment, the actress described. As a result, every word out of their mouths felt real, sincere, true.

SoapTown USA’s gossip columnist Trixie talked with talent manager, and one of the I Wanna Be A Soap Star judges, Michael Bruno, and discovered a former frustrated actor, GH script writer, and all-around expert in what it takes to make it on a soap. The New Brunswick, N.J. native, who went to Rutgers Conservatory started out wanting to be on a soap, but knew he didn’t have the look and he didn’t want the powerlessness of a performer, so he moved from New York to Los Angeles to try his hand at a talent agency. There, he learned about the acting business and how the agency treated its talent, as well as eventually building up the agency’s soap opera department with names like Kristina Wagner (Felicia) and Katherine Kelly Lang (Brooke, B&B). Disgusted with the socio-political handling of the talent at the agency, he moved on as a script writer, helping then-head writer Claire Labine with GH’s award-winning “B.J.’s Heart” story, at the request of then-executive producer Wendy Riche. Despite the story’s success, Bruno longed for more, a chance to write an actual story, which he felt he was better at, maybe even breaking into management on his own. But he kept putting off his dreams, because with the soap storytelling, he’d have had to toil away as a script writer and work his way up to head writer. And the job of talent manager, at the time, wasn’t exactly held in the highest esteem in the industry. He’d been juggling so many hats at the time that GH casting director Mark Teschner advised Bruno to make a decision already or his reputation could further get messed up.

That’s when his gift as a talent manager came into being. After having been there in the trenches, watching soap actors struggle for notice, much less an agent, Bruno used his expertise and empathy (as that frustrated actor) to champion a lot of the established and new soap actors, Billy Warlock (ex-A.J.), Julie Pinson (Billie, DOOL; ex-Eve, PC), Tracy Lindsey Melchior (ex-Kelly, OLTL; ex-Kristen, B&B).

He recently signed Jackie Zeman (Bobbie) as a client and is trying to lure Ilene Kristen (Roxy, OLTL) over, possibly in Joan Van Ark’s (Gloria, Y&R) place. And he enabled Robin Mattson (Heather; ex-Janet, AMC) to resurface in daytime after a two-year absence.

Throughout the entire interview, Bruno stressed, “I get it!,” referring to his innate understanding and unfailing instinct for what works on-screen, in story and actor. He tried to describe the specific “It” quality, reminiscent of the 1940s glamour-pusses, traffic-stopping, head-turning, the pull of a beauty and a potential blockbuster. He believes GH’s Natalia Livingston (Emily), Vanessa Marcil (ex-Brenda), and Tyler Christopher (Nikolas/Connor) have it, for example – a statement that received the most ridicule, btw, on SoapZone’s GH board [Michael, don’t go in there, for the love of God, yes they’re mean!].

It’s not just about beauty though, he stressed. “Bear in mind, I see beauty everyday. Beauty is the 1, 2 punch. You want beauty, but then you ask can they act? Beauty is what we want but it’s the number 2 that is also so important. Can they pull it off and is there something about them? That’s what it’s all about. That’s the real It factor. Kathy Brier who plays Marcie Walsh on OLTL has spark and pop. Michelle Stafford [Phyllis, Y&R] is not a classic beauty but she IS a movie star.”

Inevitably, no talk with Michael Bruno lately is complete without it diverging into talk about his latest creative endeavor, as one of three judges on SoapNet’s reality-TV show, I Wanna Be A Soap Star. Bruno – who judges with actress Debbi Morgan (ex-Ellen, PC; ex-Angie, AMC) and GH casting director Mark Teschner to determine the best soap star out of 12 finalists every Saturday afternoon – went through his usual gamut of being the mean judge, the Simon Cowell (American Idol) of the bunch (“I think I am better than Simon, it’s funny, when people saw me who know me and they saw Simon on American Idol, they said there’s this guy that’s doing you.) and urging fans to provide SoapNet with feedback for second-year consideration.

But he also revealed a lot that went into the show that was out of his and the other judges’ control. Besides being the first judge producers had in mind and always half-mocking that he should get his own show (he actually wants a more hands-on creative consultant type gig with a network soap), Bruno had no idea which 12 finalists would appear before him for the countdown. Hopefully, he said, next year, if there is a next year for I Wanna Be..., he and the other two judges will be able to help pick out the finalists themselves, even if that means traveling across the country. “These guys [the current finalists this year] are not strong. Not that these contestants don’t have it. But I know what’s out there,” he began. “... [The finalists, though] all have potential. And I want to say on that note, we have learned from the show. I felt terrible for them. I felt terrible watching them and more so hearing them talk. They’re reading a 60-second monologue and most of them are saying they haven’t even gotten a shot. And I have to agree. I am hoping we get to tweak that a little more and get to know them better. I felt bad for them, but that was my job.”

Next year, he’d like the focus spread out a bit more, into the judges’ chambers as they deliberate on the final contestants, and more guest soap stars interacting with the acting hopefuls, teaching them the ropes. Listening in on the process, the back and forth the judges go through in determining who stays and who goes would provide a broader sense of edification for the viewers, he said. And imagine the deeper impact on soap fans if they got to see Ted King (Lorenzo) or David Canary (Adam/Stuart, AMC) show up to talk shop with other fans aspiring to be where they are, Bruno added.

Tune in this week to catch your soap faves on the syndicated game/reality-TV show, Street Smarts, in a special soap week starting Monday, November 22. GH’s Lindze Letherman (Georgie) and Cynthia Preston (Faith), OLTL’s Ilene Kristen (Roxy) and John-Paul Lavoisier (Rex), Y&R’s Joshua Morrow (Nick) and Kate Linder (Esther), DOOL’s Farah Fath (Mimi) and Eric Winter (Rex) and Passions’ Liza Huber (Gwen) and Eric Martsolf (Ethan) are the participating stars.

While the rest of the non-soap viewing world zones out to sports all day Friday, November 26, soap fans can watch five hours of GH’s Nikolas in episodes and portrayer Tyler Christopher on hand at the set and elsewhere to talk about the character’s evolution on the show. Co-stars will pop in and out during the extravaganza, titled, Nikolas: The Prince Of Port Charles, on SoapNet, noon and 8 p.m. ET/PP. Check local listings.

Joining an already-growing list of feisty, edgy, impossibly skinny and beautiful chicks on the casting roster is Erin now. Isn’t that, like four total so far?

My stress-busters tend to veer toward the kitchen. I stamp out my pent-up aggressions by using a food chopper or pounding the hell out of veal. Then I eat the results, yummy. Tamara Braun (Carly) just goes outside for some fresh air and brisk walking, usually around the lake near her home. A rumored vegan, for sure Braun avoids dairy products to keep fit as well. Kassie DePaiva (Blair, OLTL) just goes home, to be with her family, especially love all over her son J.Q. He keeps her humble and appreciative of her blessings.

Billy Warlock (ex-A.J.) made a rare appearance online at his fan site (warning: heavy pop-up attacks) for his fans to wish them well and update them on his life so far. He’s currently based in New York, received rave reviews for his work on the off-Broadway play, The Normal Heart, including a Drama League Award nomination. He vacationed in Italy (and the South of France to visit with a friend) after the play wrapped, which literally changed his life and renovated him. He also made the rounds in L.A. on business and for a little bit of catch-up with other friends, like John Ingle (ex-Edward), then to Florida for his mom and Kin Shriner (ex-Scott), and finally St. Martin with Shriner for more RnR. During this whole time, Warlock also managed to squeeze in a new movie with Lauren Holly (ex-Julie, AMC), Angus McFadden, Mykalti Williamson, called Fatwa, filmed on location in D.C., release to be determined. Back in New York, his home base for now, he hobnobs with a great many colleagues, Wally Kurth (Ned) for one, Catherine Hickland (Lindsay, OLTL) for another.

Gossip for the week of 22-Nov-2004
by Carol Banks Weber

This Brian Scott Frons says stuff is under Gossip, because I’m hoping he’ll soon be fired and none of this scoop bullsh*t will come to pass. To the spoilers for the next few weeks to months: Sam will get herself a baby somehow, some way, by Christmas, and it’ll come from an (unwed?) teenager, and Sonny and Ric will ratchet up their competition as King of Port Charles.

Corbin Bernsen’s John Durant is supposed to fade away by May or so of next year. But it sounds like he and executive producer Jill Farren Phelps might be amenable to a longer, more indefinite stay, as needed. He’s game.

Turns out that nasty, unfounded rumor making the rounds on the message boards only oh, two, three months ago about Tyler Christopher (Nikolas/Connor) and Natalia Livingston (Emily) transferring their scripted romance into real life proved... not so unfounded. Christopher admitted to a relationship while at the November 13-14th Super Soap Weekend in Disney World.

A resurrection causes recognition, shock waves and a new story for PC denizens.

Ric and Alexis hit the sack, and I don’t mean shut eye.

Kristina suffers another setback, of the Amber Alert variety. Don’t worry, Kristina, daddy will come save you.

OMG, the judges eliminated Kelly from SoapNet’s I Wanna Be A Soap Star competition, leaving Mykel, Maya and wild card Kimberly, my absolute favorite of the 12 original finalists, all minority actors, one of whom will end up on GH for at least 13 weeks. SoapNet’s reality-TV show pits acting hopefuls against each other for the prized GH contract. I thought for sure Kelly would win, soapy look and all. Guess her bad acting and worse memory caught up with her. But with Mykel, Maya and Kimberly left, I’m hopeful for a more colorful storyline over on the whitewashed, mob-obsessed GH. If black people can so easily wipe out a reality-TV competition, why can’t there be more black representation in soaps? It’s not as if TPTB can use the excuse of a lack of talent...

Lesli Kay (Lois) raised eyebrows at the recently wrapped SSW weekend by gushing over her LoLo sex scenes a bit too much, according to some onlookers. One reader e-mailed me to share her juicy theories based on the SSW revelation and those recent scenes of the two on-screen characters in flagrante delicto. I won’t divulge the details, except to say, one-half of the on-screen couple’s working extremely hard to make the scene, any scene work, and CarLo ain’t dead yet.

Maria turns out to be Diego’s mom and Lorenzo’s former girlfriend. Previously, it was rumored she’d come on as Diego’s sister. It’s probably what Diego himself believes, until she later reveals she’s really his mom, masquerading as a sibling. I’m confused.

Tyler Christopher’s (Nikolas/Connor) ex-wife – or soon to be – Eva Longoria (Gabrielle, Desperate Housewives; ex-Isabella, Y&R) has been seen with Stephen Kay (Reggie), after having been seen with N’Sync’s JC Chasez. That’s alright, Christopher’s been dating his GH co-star Natalia Livingston (Emily), after fans were admonished that this strong rumor, months ago, was false and irresponsible mongering.

My predictions for 2005, the new year: Ingo Rademacher (Jax) will make good on his wishful thinking (to an Australian newspaper not so long ago) and make his way permanently out of GH, Alicia Leigh Willis (Courtney) will either stick around hoping for a reunion with Steve Burton (Jason), or try her luck out in mainstream entertainment, Tamara Braun (Carly) will briefly think about bailing soaps for greener pastures but then will re-sign almost at the last minute when her new contract proves too lucrative, Maurice Benard (Sonny), Nancy Lee Grahn (Alexis) and Rick Hearst (Ric) will engage in a triangle with the option of Ric losing out and moving back with Elizabeth in a LiRic reunion, Tony Geary (Luke) will take off on another series of vacations, but this time, he may not come back, and I’ll be thisclose to moving into a new, bigger house somewhere out there. Everybody else? TPTB don’t care.

PSA of the week: Dear smitten fans of particular characters and/or actors... Just because they say so, doesn’t necessarily make it so. We aren’t the only ones to deceive, lie and hold back for reasons noble and otherwise. Think long and hard about those rumors that inevitably came back to bite us and TPTB on the ass with the ... truth.

General Hospital News & Gossip, Copyright © 2004 Carol Banks Weber. No part of this page may be reproduced or transmitted in any form, by any means (electronic, recording, or otherwise) without the prior written permission of the publisher.

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