General Hospital News & Gossip

News for the week of 21-Aug-2006

by Carol Banks Weber

As far as Tristan Rogers (Robert), the actor, knows… nobody from GH has told him he’s fired. So he’s working under the assumption that all’s well with his week to week tenure. Rogers addressed this latest rumor – under the header Cleaning House – in the August 12th guestbook posting. He did, however, acknowledge a serious lack of story for his character or not much of one the past few months. “Summer has been a bust and whatever storyline was to be was not to be,” he wrote. “Still. The show has the potential and elements to rise above it all.......when they are used.” Somebody might want to tell Ted King (Lorenzo) that.

Finola Hughes (Anna) could see how her story since returning to GH has been less than what many of the fans (and Tristan Rogers) expected, with the darkness overwhelming some much-needed lighter moments. But overall, she’s satisfied. Her return was marked in typical Anna Devane fashion, by dropping in on a parachute. And the possibilities are endless. She has high hopes for a riveting continuation of cat and mouse with Ted King’s Lorenzo, and my goodness, she would be over the moon and the stars if she ever ran into Maurice Benard’s Sonny.

With Lorenzo as her obvious mark, Anna seems to have fallen down on the job slightly, Hughes noted. The Anna from before would never show her hand so easily, but then the actress likes to imagine that this was the spy’s plan all along, to let everyone in on it, but then be working from another, as-yet-unrevealed angle. “I just make that up for myself so I don’t feel stupid.”

Sonny and Anna could change the world, but only on a professional basis, thought Hughes. Anna’s not his type, “his women need to concentrate way too much on him, and I don’t know that Anna would go for that (laughs).” –Soap Opera Weekly, “Anna-Thing’s Possible” by Robert Schork, August 22, 2006

From her taxi cab driver dad, Finola Hughes learned to appreciate the gift of gab. He’d come home and regale her with true tales of the people he transported, able to glean novels in 15 minutes. As an adult, a result of this appreciation can be found in her novel, Soapsuds, her acting roles, and her ability to turn interests into lucrative businesses.

From her fashion-conscious mom, Hughes developed an eye for vintage jewelry, antiques, the fashion statement. Her mom would take a younger Hughes around to the antique markets in London, give gifts of the vintage from the family. Today, the childhood fascination parlayed into a jewelry line on QVC and a regular hosting stint on the Style Network’s How Do I Look?

For Finola Hughes’ (Anna) summer vacation, she headed down to Mexico with the clan, to join another clan of buddies for some hang time—a tradition of sorts. The minute she returned to the States, however, Hughes kicked off her sixth season of the Style Network’s How Do I Look?, and returned to GH to do two shows. On GH, Hughes is working with the wardrobe department to keep Anna fashionable according to contemporary standards. As for chipping in on the rest of the cast of characters… please!, Hughes said that’d put her in way over her head. It’d be like trying to solve Algebra problems, a mistake since she’s horrible in Math (the opposite of pal Kimberly McCullough/Robin).

Tyler Christopher’s (Nikolas) August 13th online chat was pleasant enough, surrounded by adoring fans interested primarily in his welfare. He rewarded their interest with a few thoughts on his storyline – digs the idea of Nikolas struggling as a father… Spencer will keep the middle name of Michael which Jax gave him, his favorite storyline – when Nikolas forgot everything, his presence in an upcoming storyline – assisting Lulu with her unplanned pregnancy, and at least one GH regret – that he didn’t stick around two more years the first time. And… Christopher encountered a wacky fan at this past Daytime Emmys, when she made her way through security to plant one on him. The actor’s theatre company plans to put on a play entitled, Bent, and the actor himself plans to beef up for a triathlon.

Ben Hogestyn (ex-Lucas), 22, harbored a lot of questions about his GH story. Like, WTF?! In an August 15th Q&A with TVGuide.com senior editor Daniel R. Coleridge [“Why General Hospital's Gay Teen Moved to B&B”], Hogestyn explained that he, too, went away baffled as to the limbo since June 19th. Nobody in charge ragged on him, but then nobody clued him in either. He was left to assume it’s just part of doing business on a soap with so many stories cycling about; perhaps too many to fit his. “It definitely got frustrating at times, like when I was waiting for a phone call for more story to come down,” he admitted to Coleridge. “If you hadn't reminded me that June 19 was my last airdate, I wouldn't even have known that because it felt like it had been so long!” The feedback he relied on came from critics and fans who absolutely loved his portrayal of a conflicted, sensitive gay teen. When B&B came up with this juicy lead role – the polar opposite of Lucas, in that Harry’s less sheltered, “more of a roughneck… blue collar and worldly” – Hogestyn couldn’t help but bite, with regrets. “It would've been nice to have had more scenes with my mother and father (Jackie Zeman, Brad Maule). And maybe get into [Frank the gay basher's] trial stuff and the huge repercussions for something like a gay-bashing. We could've spent more time showing the emotional and physical damage that could do to a person. That probably would've made me happier as an actor and a person. I'm definitely happy with them presenting the story, but I would've liked them to have continued [it] a bit longer.” Join the club, dude. –Also accessible from Daniel’s Soaps News, posted 8/15

Nancy Lee Grahn (Alexis) rightly called for an end to smoking and referred to the habit (she herself smoked in her 20s) as “stupid,” given the facts. Unfortunately, as often happens in the world of soaps, Grahn’s passionate, justified message against lighting up got lost because she made a derogatory remark about those who continue to smoke. Many people, smokers and non-smokers alike, were too hung up on the stupid remark to notice her point: “You can't smoke anymore. Our world is polluted. The environment is becoming more toxic. There's global warming. But that doesn't mean that we can't, with good, positive thinking, somehow reverse this. Right now, in the present, to pick up a cigarette and smoke it, you have to be the stupidest human being on the face of the earth. I can tell that person firsthand what it's like to watch somebody die [her father, who helped her quit] and not be able to catch their breath.” I also watched somebody die, I watched my mother-in-law die in the midst of struggling for one, last breath, her entire being deflated like a popped balloon, weighing about as much as a piece of paper, in her late 50s but looking over 100. And believe me, to quibble over the manner in which Grahn delivered her message instead of taking the message to heart is… well, stupid. Stop smoking! Smokers are killing themselves and threatening others.

It’s a controversial assertion to be sure, but Grahn made it when she suggested that lung cancer – the disease her character is diagnosed with – might afflict non-smokers perhaps because they were around too much secondhand smoke. She brought up Dana Reeve’s death to lung cancer as an example; the woman never smoked but once worked as a singer in a nightclub full of smokers.

This subject came up when SoapOperaDigest.com’s Tom Stacy asked Grahn about her reaction to the latest turn in her character’s story, where Alexis learns she’s dying of lung cancer. Despite a twinge of concern for her job security – lung cancer isn’t exactly like catching a cold – and having to drum up the what-ifs to go there emotionally (dying on her own child), Grahn realized the impact such a storyline turn could make on viewers. “If I get to play somebody who does survive it, that sends that good beat out into the universe. … And then I thought, ‘What a great opportunity for acting. The scenes are good. It's human. It's relatable.’”

Props to Grahn just for referring to those things as “cancer sticks.”

The love scenes between Elizabeth and Jason were smoking hot. They were the first love scenes Steve Burton has allowed himself to play as Jason Morgan; some in the soap community have commented that he was never this revealing with his so-called soapy true love, Sam. In any event, the love scenes themselves were fairly easy to get through considering the main parties are such close friends, their spouses even closer. Rebecca Herbst’s husband Michael Saucedo (ex-Juan) considers Burton a best friend, and Herbst frequently chills out with Burton’s wife Sheree and their kids. That familiarity helped breed a comfort zone, which allowed for the tender love scenes enacted professionally, without anybody getting carried away. While Burton worked out, beefing up his body in preparation, he encouraged Herbst not to do the same (she’s great looking now), but to at least get herself a tan so she wouldn’t glow in the dark compared to him. (She did kinda glow in the dark, come to think of it.) After the love scenes, Herbst made herself further comfortable by covering up under the covers in capri jammies and a tank top with the straps pulled down into a makeshift tank top. All in all, Herbst said those love scenes turned out better than great for their characters and will please their fans.

A few GH celebs used to moon over their own idea of the teen idol. Laura Wright (Carly) went wild in her day for the Karate Kid’s Ralph Macchio. Julie Marie Berman (Lulu) used to flirt with Michael Jackson’s dancing image on TV, psyching herself up to believe he could see her dancing too and would fall in love back. Kent Masters King (Lainey) also found Michael Jackson swoonworthy, along with Prince; she’d put on buttons of her two favorite hunks over each breast. Stuart Damon’s (Alan) choice of idol worship was Jane Fonda, whom he saw often around Broadway back when she was considered a sexpot. Leslie Charleson (Monica) was, is and will always be about Elvis. And maybe John Davidson from The Fantasticks, a close runner-up.

Gossip for the week of 21-Aug-2006

by Carol Banks Weber

Robin, with Patrick’s child by the time school starts. Her pregnancy and her HIV status are huge issues for her and her surgeon lover to deal with.

Alexis survives lung cancer, because it’s a special kind, not due to secondhand smoke but the February Sweeps monkey virus.

Jason and Sam get over their differences, to eat Chinese take-out, soak in bubble baths and bore another day, in time for Halloween.

Jason abandons the hitman post for a more legitimate line of work. Not as a doctor but as a corporate cutthroat, beside Edward.

Edward has to deal with his company playing a major role in the manufacture of faulty condoms, the same ones Dillon used on Lulu.

Sexis versus Rexis… Sonny and Alexis could work, could happen. Mo wouldn’t mind. NLG, though, she’s especially loyal to and concerned about Rick Hearst (Ric). If TPTB go with Sonny and Alexis again, where does that leave Hearst? Most likely, out the door, his character dead as a doornail after having indulged in his dark side again. It all depends. –Fly on the Wall, SoapDish

Ric has manic depression too?

The new A.J.: Ric Lansing.

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.