General Hospital News & Gossip
News for the week of 14-May-2012
GH got the most Daytime Emmy nominations of all the soaps, 23, with ABC Daytime receiving the most of all the participating networks, at 56. Not too shabby. Major nominees were announced May 9 on The extended Today Show with Kathy Lee and Hoda, with the rest of the list released online at various sites. For GH, the list includes: outstanding drama, writing team, directing team, original song “Dust” by Robert Howard Hartry and Benjamin West, lead actress Laura Wright (Carly), lead actors Maurice Benard (Sonny), Anthony Geary (Luke), supporting actresses Nancy Lee Grahn (Alexis), Rebecca Herbst (Elizabeth), supporting actors Jonathan Jackson (ex-Lucky), Jason Thompson (Patrick), Sean Blakemore (Shawn), Bradford Anderson (Spinelli), younger actors Nathan Parsons (ex-Ethan), Chad Duell (Michael), casting director Mark Teschner, and costume designer Mary Iannelli. Go to the Daytime Emmy website for all of the nominees. The main awards ceremony will take place at the Beverly Hilton Hotel June 23, with the Daytime Creative Arts awards happening June 17 at the Westin Bonaventure Hotel. No word on if or where ceremonies will be telecast; they’re working on that.
When Jason Thompson’s (Patrick) agent called him from Israel with the good Daytime Emmy news, he was still up in L.A. suffering from insomnia and watching a flick on his iPad. He said he honestly forgot about the nominations until that call. His submission featured Patrick and Robin putting together a special reel for Emma’s birthday. He was considering reels involving co-star and fellow nominee Jonathan Jackson (ex-Lucky) but, “…Jonathan's so good, it's hard to submit two tapes for him when I don't really have one for myself!” –Soap Opera Digest online, May 9, 2012
In news that surprised no one, not even the actor himself — who knew for a while — Jason Cook (Matt) will end his four-year GH tenure in June. As sad as his storyline-dictated exit has been for fans, Cook’s already loaded with outside projects, from an online cooking show to an uplifting reality show, to even an online short film with co-star Bradford Anderson (Spinelli), also rumored to be out soon. “I was going to have to take several months off the show for all these other things I'm working on. One would have been this summer, to do LifeCHANGE [his project with Arianne Zucker, Nicole, DAYS] and other shoots, as well as my new cooking show, CHOP THIS. It's an on-location cooking show with a different restaurant chef showing us a couple of recipes each week. It's going to start online at chopthis.com. If Genreful gets funded, I have that to do, too. So, I am stepping away for the time being. There is no talk about me coming back, but I was going to have to take time off anyway.” –Soap Opera Digest online, May 9, 2012
In a detailed May 11th Blog Talk Radio interview, Jason Cook (Matt) got into the nuts and bolts (he is a producer) of surviving soaps today. A huge problem from the standpoint of those running the show is in how to sell daytime drama amidst the growing Internet platform, the growth of reality television, the blurring of the lines between reality and actor-based television, and the plethora of cable options. To Cook’s estimation, TPTB need to look closer at that and with the idea of change. Right now, they seem unable or unwilling to implement changing with the times while taking advantage of the unique genre that is soap opera, he mused.
In the meantime, to his understanding, GH is faced with a tough deal, a very restricted budget leaving zero time for rehearsal and a crazy increase in scene mandates… but “it’s better than no deal at all…. They’re gonna have to do things differently than what they’ve done before. There’s only so many ways that they can cut… so many expenditures, until the show won’t be able to exist, there won’t be anyone to man the cameras, for example.” When Cook filmed his goodbye scenes, he did so without benefit of rehearsal. All “in the interest of saving money.” In his view, this negatively impacts soap opera quality in the long haul. “The mindset in the daytime industry… is different…people are afraid of change for some reason,” he said.
But he doesn’t believe soaps will end entirely. Not at all, not with the genre’s “unique… voyeuristic” set-up. Except for something like the nightly news, there isn’t any other TV show like a daily daytime drama, he continued, with consistent viewership centered around the same core characters evolving through the years. “You spend more time with characters you like and dislike [in soaps] than any other medium…” he explained. “This is what will allow the shows to persist.”
The writing and the rushed production are problematic, he countered, but the key to helping soaps survive has to be in the networks giving up the ghost and selling the shows to the advertisers with gusto and an eye toward change, which includes the online platform—things this actor/producer/entrepreneur is already knee-deep doing with his own projects.
LifeCHANGE is a different kind of reality show. A project of executive producer Arianne Zucker (Nicole, DOOL), and involving Jason Cook (Matt) as one of the featured actors, LifeCHANGE will follow six young people as they receive mentoring and do volunteer work to help others. They’ve been casting for the six 18-to-25-year-olds, and will film hardcore this summer in Africa. Cook revealed in his May 11th Blog Talk Radio interview that he’s using his medium, all he’s learned and all his skills, to put “into a show that is going to do good, no, I know it will do good.” The actor said he’d rather do a reality show like this one than a Jersey Shore. He understands the appeal of such a show, but he also believes a show like Zucker’s can be popular and enlightening.
Another busy actor heading for the exit, unfortunately for us, is Ronnie Marmo (Det. Ronnie), whose soap character went out last week in a body bag. Marmo’s lined up eight movies, then there’s his web series with Brianna Brown (ex-Lisa), waiting for the greenlight on another season, and an East coast version of the 68 Cent Crew Theater Company, which he spearheaded. The actor enjoyed a juicy exit story, which he ate up like the rock star he is. In fact, many fans were riveted to the screen as Marmo — perhaps for the first time in ages since landing GH — turned in the leading man performance of his life as a dirty cop who finally succumbed to his demons. Marmo knows he was given such a gift, and is very grateful. “The fact that I left the way I did, I'm taking as a compliment because I know a lot of people 'walk up the stairs and never walk back down.' I got to 'go for it' and show my chops a little bit.” –ABC Soaps in Depth, May 8, 2012
Gossip for the week of 14-May-2012
The following spumors come from Daytime Dish’s GOS/Remember This, as shared on the SoapZone GH board May 12th: Carly and Todd go on a date, but it’s an explosive one affecting others, “Todd and Téa’s relationship takes a turnaround after she gives birth,” maybe Sam and John are not related (“[a]s of June 20”), Patrick might kill himself in a misguided belief that it’s the best way to honor Robin, and Kristina comes back with more abusive baggage, having learned nothing from Kiefer.
Three killers on a killing spree will take out half the cast in a cost-cutting measure. Others will go out in another way, budget-dictated or voluntarily. The exiting characters include: Jason, Spinelli, Maxie, Patrick, Kate, Olivia, Steve, Delores, and lots more!
General Hospital News & Gossip, Copyright © 2012 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.
