General Hospital News & Gossip

News for the week of 15-May-2006

by Carol Banks Weber

ABC Daytime President Brian Scott Frons received a promotion of sorts when his boss Anne Sweeney announced last week that he has been appointed to the streamlined position of president, Daytime, Disney-ABC Television Group. In making this announcement, Sweeney, co-chairwoman-Disney Media Networks, president-Disney ABC Television Group, credited Frons’ ability to look toward the future and not linger on the past (glory days) for the new appointment, while also explaining what this streamlining was all about. “The Disney-ABC Television Group was created to allow for efficiencies across all our businesses. This new structure achieves this by giving us one strategic vision for all our daytime oriented programming, regardless of where it airs,” she explained in an ABC Medianet press release. “And Brian Frons is the perfect executive for this new venture. He's intelligent, collaborative, creative and honorable, and has a penchant for approaching challenges with an eye towards what's next, not what's worked in the past.” The adjusted, expanded position sounds like Frons will be in charge of a little more programming across the daytime board, to take over SOAPnet and Buena Vista Productions in a management capacity, while handling programs for Disney-ABC Television Group. Frons has been with ABC Daytime as its president since August 2002.

There’s a touching story behind Luke singing “Don’t Fence Me In” to a comatose Lucky, several months ago, as Mimi Torchin found out via a SoapNet video stream interview. The interview was conducted right after Luke’s Tony Geary collected his Daytime Emmy on April 28. The story goes: when the current Lucky (Greg Vaughan) came down with wounds causing a coma, Geary requested of the writers to allow him to sing the same song he once taught Jonathan Jackson’s Lucky, 11 at the time. “Genie Francis [Laura] and I gave him his first guitar. He's quite an accomplished musician now. And one of the first songs that I asked him to learn to play so that we could sing together was ‘Don't Fence Me In.’ So when I saw Greg Vaughan, who is now my son, laying in the bed all trussed up with the life support system, I thought I must sing ‘Don't Fence Me In’ to him, because the irony of it, was the juxtaposition of that song and what it meant to Luke and Lucky and his position, was too good to ignore.”

For the record, Geary probably hated The View re-airing that much-re-aired 1981 wedding clip of Luke and Laura, a few weeks ago, pre-Emmys. But, with a few missed beats along the way, the five-time Emmy winner definitely does not hate being who and where he is, because of an executive producer named Gloria Monty who believed he could change the world. Together, he and the late Monty would introduce the first of many anti-heroes to daytime (and nighttime) television, as described by Geary thusly: “no blacks and whites--all grey--good sense of humor and a great sense of romance, amoral, can be as despicable as he can be wonderful. That's an actor's dream.”

Color executive producer Jill Farren Phelps astounded by GH’s “Best of Show” at the April 28th Daytime Emmys, right alongside others like Michael Bruno and Michael Logan. But unlike them, she’s hardly demanding a recount. JFP figured Y&R would be a shoe-in.

Right after Anthony Geary’s (Luke) fifth Daytime Emmy, it was time for him to do the winner’s stroll, past paparazzi and fans, loaded with requests, for autographs, pictures, quotes. One of the fans had what Geary initially thought was a strange request – “Take my baby!” – which he kept denying. Until the lines of communication cleared up and suddenly, the fog lifted. The fan didn’t want the actor to adopt her child, she only needed him in a posed photo with her child. Doh!

Laura Wright (Carly; ex-Cassie, GL) felt her loyalties pulled toward her current and past shows. At least she saw the joy in both shows receiving honors; GH for its acting, directing and producing, GL for the bulk of the acting.

Short (30 minutes) and definitely sweet described Tyler Christopher’s (Nikolas) May 11th SOAPnet Q&A with fans. Only one or two redundant questions. Thank Christ for Q&A monitors, LOL.

Loves: Challenging roles in deep, meaty stories about the human condition. GH’s take on Nik’s amnesia, done with a fresh eye. Improvising, possibly into a darker, weaker facet of his character without going too irredeemably dark. The outstanding-acting constants of Kimberly McCullough (Robin), Natalia Livingston (Emily), Alicia Leigh Willis (ex-Courtney).

Hates: The high school BS Nik had to go through as a teenager during his first go-round on GH, following head writer Bob Guza’s departure. When he and his character are confused as one and the same, but alas, it comes with the biz.

Pass the Kleenex: The tears just flow, dude. “I honestly just don't know [how I can cry so realistically on cue]. I connect with something, I'm just not sure what it is. I don't try and re-experience a tragedy of the past. I just play the moment as real as I can.”

And the Milo: His cousin Drew Cheetwood (Milo, the bodyguard) also plays his personal fitness trainer IRL. Hence, Christopher’s god-like body (my description).

Stay tuned: If the Charles Pratt primetime pilot, Secrets Of A Small Town, receives ABC’s greenlight for fall, Christopher might very well do double-duty, on that and on GH.

Technically, Laura Wright’s (Carly) daughter was named after the Little House On The Prairie character, Laura Elizabeth Ingalls Wilder (who also wrote the children’s book series about life growing up in Pioneer country). Wright’s husband gifted his then-pregnant wife with the TV version. But Wright, who loved the name, didn’t want people thinking she had a huge ego about living on through her kid, so she changed the Laura to Lauren.

Emma Samms (Holly) has gazed upon her fair share of male crotches. On The Colbys, a nighttime soap in the ‘80s, she – as Fallon – had to take a sci-fi spaceship story seriously. Only the task was made nearly impossible because of the cheap theatrics of the initial set-up scenes. The producers had not yet cast their spaceman and didn’t want the media getting wind of the spoiler early, so they had an assistant director don an ill-fitting costume and then they had Samms act off him. “It particularly didn't fit him properly in the crotch area,” Samms explained. “And I had to do this whole scene mesmerized and terribly serious and stare straight at him, looking deeply into his eyes, and I just had such a hard time not laughing.” The other crotch incident happened on GH, with Tony Geary (Luke) having to answer a phone on cue, in the buff, as was his tendency.

Back in the ‘80s under then-executive producer Gloria Monty’s tutelage, the soap world was much more evenly paced, almost easygoing. There was plenty of time to go over scenes together after blocking, according to Samms. Today, though, the blocking and shooting of final scenes go hand in hand, with barely minutes to run through the material. Luckily, the actress was not thrown into the fray after a decades-long absence, but gradually acclimated, which she appreciated. She also appreciated seeing many familiar faces in the crew, about half who were with her when she first started. And Tony, her pal.

–Soap Opera Digest.com, GENERAL HOSPITAL Interview, “Five Minutes With ... Emma Samms” by Tom Stacy

EW.com’s Abby West checked in with Finola Hughes (Anna) on the advent of her brief but long-awaited GH return, and wound up chatting amiably about a few other things. Like John Travolta’s giggle fits and the godness that is the current GH writing team. Hughes – who deferred questions of another, perhaps longer return to TPTB – didn’t hesitate to lay some unsentimental love on the unsentimental (therefore, rocking) GH writers. They sure know how to approach her character, “They deal with emotion and they deal with the underlying feelings that are within the storylines, but not in a sentimental way. And I like that, because I hate sentiment. And the way they flip it is they bring humor into it in quite a human way — a sort of ironic, sarcastic way that works great for my character. For me, that's a perfect mix. I think it's a great way to deliver those kinds of stories.” The actress, mother and style icon is frequently heralded by fans of her varied work, from the popular and current to the obscure and distant. She’ll answer to anything. But one of the most memorable of roles besides Anna on GH just happens to be Laura of the 1983 sequel to Saturday Night Fever co-starring John Travolta, Staying Alive. Everybody remembers her from that one, as the shady but sexy dancer. Hughes remembers just laughing away with the leading man, rehearsing for weeks and weeks before the movie began.

Unlike me and millions upon billions of other people living in the U.S., Kimberly McCullough (Robin) isn’t that much into pasta dishes for her sustenance. Hey, I’ve been sustaining myself on my spaghetti and ground-turkey tomato sauce for over a week now. With her, it’s all about the fish and the vegetable mash. Specifically, her famous cauliflower and broccoli mash. She throws together much of the ingredients from a favorite food store, the healthier alternative Trader Joe’s, and mashes it all together with garlic cubes, white onions, salt, pepper, Gorgonzola and Parmesan cheeses. To quicken the cooking process, she buys the convenient vegetable cubes frozen in microwaveable bags.

Natalia Livingston (Emily) graced the inside of the May 15th US Magazine as “Emmy award-winning.” Her before, during and after pictures were placed on a two-page ad slick for a John Frieda promo, but still, publicity’s publicity. In an earlier issue, the younger cast of GH was poised and posed like stark mannequins at Kelly’s to promote GH’s summer of teen stories.

When GH wins an Emmy, usually that Emmy makes a special guest appearance on the soap somehow, some way. Once it sat on Sonny’s staircase mantel at his former abode, the penthouse. Where will it be this time? Stay tuned.

Finola Hughes (Anna) will only grace GH for five shows, ending the majesty by May 19. Emma Samms (Holly) stayed longer, but she, too, will go the same day.

Gossip for the week of 15-May-2006

by Carol Banks Weber

WTF just happened between the week of May 1st and 8th? The transition between Friday’s and Monday’s episodes wasn’t there. On Friday, Alexis walks in on Jason holding a gun and barking orders at Ric and Sonny. On Monday, Jason calmly walks in on Sam resting in her hospital bed, loving on her; Sonny’s calm, cool, collected and joking around with a hung-over Emily; Robin and Patrick are on a plane to the Maarkham Islands to save Robert, along with Lulu and Dillon, to save Luke, all of a sudden, just like that. Max (least I think it’s her and not Martini Kitty filling in) of “GH Chronicles” SoapTown USA covers ample territory on this disjointed episodic skip, in her May 8th “Missing Pieces” entry.

The real Dr. Kelly Lee, btw, outshone her brief GH roots over in Wisteria Lane’s Desperate Housewives, playing the Solis’s Chinese maid who agrees to add surrogate to her short resume. Gwendoline Yeo got to run the gamut of emotions on one episode, from a crying jag, to innocent incredulity, comedic gratitude (referring to Gabrielle as a mother figure) and sex kitten inspiration for Carlos (“Be gentle”). The difference between GH and other shows is the difference between a prison and a stage for an actress’s creative outpouring.

Genie Francis (ex-Laura) might pop up on NBC’s PSNS as the recast of Grace Bennett. Fans are still wondering what’s taking GH so long in snapping Francis back up to join in the nostalgia … what with Robert, Anna, Holly and Noah already back.

If anyone still remains unconvinced of Nancy Lee Grahn’s (Alexis) power as an actress, they need only watch the May 8th episode when Jason delivers the shocking, blessed news to her that Sam, on her deathbed, is her real, firstborn daughter, the one she thought had died in a car wreck as a child. And when Alexis merely approached Sam on her deathbed, the look on that woman’s face, so many conflicting emotions, but the overwhelming one fighting to break free… the pure, hallowed joy of a grateful mother. I stood dripping wet from a shower, freezing my tushie off to catch every moment.

A reader notified me of the special guest appearance of the KTRK/Houston news anchor who interviewed Kelly Monaco (Sam) in that streaming video with the ear-blasting volume last week. You remember that interview, where he got her to relax and be her incorrigible self about working with kids and knitting with her mom? Anyway, Don Nelson, the reader wrote, played a Kelly’s customer hassling Georgie May 9.

With ABC Daytime President Brian Scott Frons now rewarded with a broader base of responsibility – in charge of practically everything in daytime programming – fans can expect the nostalgia train to just speed on through, instead of becoming an everyday routine. That’s why GH has isolated the ‘80s giants of Robert, Anna, Holly, even Noah to a large extent, from the main cast of characters. GH can’t even integrate its main cast of characters with any cohesion, any sense of family or community. If a top honcho like Anne Sweeney thinks Frons is God’s answer, ABC is doomed. After the disgusting debacle of that bird flu piece of sensationalism, “One step ahead of the headlines!” “There is no escape!,” the other week, ABC is beyond doomed, ABC is Jerry Springer on steroids. Next season, a live execution!

General Hospital News & Gossip, Copyright © 2006 Carol Banks Weber. Published by SoapZone.com / Jeff Jungblut. 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. Opinions expressed on this page are those of the author and may not be representative of SoapZone.com or its advertisers. Don't steal scoops.