General Hospital News & Gossip
News for the week of 01-Jun-2009
When Bradford Anderson’s (Spinelli) name was announced as an “Outstanding Supporting Actor” in the Daytime Emmy nominations not so long ago, the young actor was sound asleep. The announcements were made early in the morning by East- and West-Coast standards after all. Tony Geary (Luke), a fellow nominee – in the “Outstanding Lead Actor” category – e-mailed Anderson a congratulations. Anderson’s friend and co-star, Kirsten Storms (Maxie) forgot that that day was the day of the nominee announcements. She was getting her hair and makeup done at GH studios when the show’s publicist tried to get her on the line. Storms didn’t think the call was important enough to take right away, and said she’d call back. But the publicist insisted, and that’s when Storms worried she was gonna get fired or something. Luckily, she took the call and found out she was an “Outstanding Younger Actress” nominee with Julie Marie Berman (Lulu).
Congratulations also go to Anderson for his engagement to girlfriend Kiera O’Neil.
Lisa LoCicero’s (Olivia) character defended herself to Sonny last week by bringing up the sexism of making a big deal of an older woman sexing up a younger man—a lot. How many times has Sonny done the same thing (Emily, anyone?) with a much-younger woman? Why is that okay and Olivia/Johnny not? LoCicero made the same argument in a recent Soap Opera Weekly interview with Joe Diliberto (“Love With a Proper [and Appropriately Aged] Stranger”). It’s also not the actress’s first time with such a taboo subject. Back when she (as ex-Jocelyn, Loving/The City), 20s, romanced Randolph Mantooth’s character (ex-Alex, Loving/The City), 40s, nobody on that show made a stink about the age discrepancy except for Jane Elliot’s (Tracy) character on the show. Putting on a simulated sex show with Brandon Barash (Johnny) was a blast for LoCicero. She commended Barash for not being at all flustered by the prospect and for being “such a delightful gentleman. … Brandon and I have both been in this game for a while, and I don't think either of us is particularly uptight or nervous about it. If he was, he didn't show it. In my experience, men tend to be the nervous member of the love scene party.”
Emma Samms (Holly) lengthened her GH stay one more week. Originally she’d intended to end her short tenure the week of May 25th. The extension was made by TPTB on the spot, as they saw her character being trashed by the paternity game she was playing. The one extra week will showcase Holly in a better light. In that week, Holly will redeem herself with Luke, Ethan and Lulu.
Tony Geary (Luke) – who is taking a *beating on the boards for his inflammatory L&L statements – disappears from the canvas yet again, due to his annual summer vacation. He’ll show up in September. Geary expressed reservations about going on summer vacation because his current story was so hot for a change. The story will have Luke going missing, Tracy assuming he’s taken off on her again and pissed, and then it being revealed that Helena absconded with him against his will.
Dominic Zamprogna (Chris?) appears June 22 when Claudia hires his character as a student to her mob teacher. She uses him to pull off a caper that goes awry. Zamprogna appeared on Smallville, Battlestar Galactica and The L Word.
Gossip for the week of 01-Jun-2009
*What’s the beating on Tony Geary (Luke) about? He conducted a recent interview with the people at ABC Soaps In Depth that had Luke & Laura fans steaming mad. He reiterated his background story of Luke having cheated on Laura with women on the side and whores, and that it’s the character’s way of separating sex from love. He said Luke still loves Laura, even when Luke cheated on her with another woman, or women. As for the entry of a younger version of Luke, Geary sees that younger version in Nathan Parsons (Ethan), not Greg Vaughan (Lucky)—another bone of contention for fans, who’ve long felt that Luke mistreated Lucky for so long. Geary’s enthusiastic and supportive of the current storyline where he muses on his mortality, his failures as a man and a father, and a hope that lives in the existence of someone like Ethan who could be a son. Geary felt it was high time the story delved into Luke’s softer side, after the darker side had surfaced for so long before. As for fans who are critical of Luke’s behavior towards this current controversial story, that’s okay for Geary. He doesn’t mind if fans disagree with his take, but he doesn’t plan on changing his take for them. “I have always embraced challenging fans. They have a tendency to want to freeze you in time. They want to keep the character what he was when they were happy. People change. I think if they stick with it, they will be okay. If they are not, then they are not, that's okay too. I'm thrilled they are going to be challenged.”
Unfortunately for Geary, L&L fans aren’t pleased or challenged by his readiness to whore the couple in this manner, by painting one-half of this legendary supercouple as a sleazebag of a husband and father, and for his own weird gratification as a singularly offbeat artist.
Conspiracy theorists will lap up this latest Soap Dish rumor about the humiliation of Nancy Lee Grahn’s Alexis. In several upcoming storylines, Alexis may be made to look like a complete jackass, from her harping on Rebecca’s Helena tie, to Kristina turning into a slut with Jason, to pummeling on Sonny following Ric’s disappearance.
Claudia miscarries, then schemes to steal Carly’s baby and pass it off as her own.
General Hospital News & Gossip, Copyright © 2008 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.
