General Hospital News & Gossip
News for the week of 12-Oct-2009
After 21 hours of what I assume was labor, Greysun James, arrived at 7 lbs., 11 oz., October 3. Proud firsttime dad, Tyler Christopher twittered fans and friends the news.
Soap Opera Source got the goods October 5th on Helena’s return from portrayer Constance Towers herself, including the psycho-sexual chemistry she and Tony Geary (Luke) always manage to play up on the screen and the delicious canvas upon which she is able to play a wide variety of cutthroat qualities as a villainess to be feared. She also talked spoilers a bit, about Helena going after Elizabeth for her focused attentions on Nikolas and a more evil Cassadine hiding in the shadows named Vlad. Towers said she’s not sure what the deal is with Sam and why Helena hasn’t been threatening her, but surmised maybe she has something evil later on down the road. Obviously, with the much-heralded return of the original Lucky in Jonathan Jackson, SOS had to get Towers’ reaction. She has worked with all three Luckys at one time or another and was typically gracious in her delight for Jackson’s return and her enjoyment of Greg Vaughan’s (Lucky III) work.
Even as far back as last August, Greg Vaughan (Lucky) told fans of his unease in being relegated to prop status. Before he learned of his exit two weeks ago, Vaughan was telling fans how hard it was to try and do good work with so little material. “I do everything I can to give this character honor and dignity. Being on a show that’s not allowing me to be an actor is very frustrating. So, going to work, it’s like, ‘I’m here and I’m going to do my job and I’m going to go home.’ It’s a place I want to come to and have fun, then go home and still think about that scene. And I don’t think anymore. I don’t prepare because I really have nothing to say – because I have no dialogue.” Now he has no GH job either. –Soap Opera Weekly
Constance Towers (Helena) finds her and Tony Geary’s (Luke) on-screen connection instantly compelling. Working with actor’s actor Geary is a treat, and she’d be the first to tell you. She loves that he’s responsive to his screen partner and so giving. But when she lauded Jonathan Jackson returning to play Lucky, she made a bit of an historical error, praising his work when Helena was brainwashing him. No, that’d be the other, second Lucky, what’s-his-face on AMC?
March 19-21 of next year, Steve Burton (Jason) is hitting the road to do some public appearances with co-stars Derk Cheetwood (Max), Carolyn Hennesy (Diane) and alone—all on the East Coast. Check out the info here.
Sorry girls and guys, Ingo Rademacher (Jax) is officially off the market, as he married his long-time girlfriend Ehiku October 3 in Malibu, not the North Shore of Hawaii. The wedding wasn’t elaborate or large at all, but private and intimate with an eco-friendly reception following.
Megan Ward (Kate) had a lot to say about her character, history and motivation in informing past, present and hopefully future interactions with other close members of her character’s circle, namely Olivia and Sonny. Judging by the lengthy expository in Ward’s responses, there’s deep, abiding and thoughtful consideration and protectiveness about her character from start to finish—even if there were times toward the end of her contract, and now when she’s basically recurring, when she wasn’t given enough opportunity to tell Kate’s side of the story. I was fascinated by one part of her Soap Opera Source, October 8th conversation, where she said that Kate held up her side of the bargain in keeping Olivia’s paternity secret—even when it threatened her relationship with Sonny—but that Olivia has never done her part, because she outed her cousin from Bensonhurst immediately. Ward also made it seem as if Kate has continued to suffer for the choices she made, mostly walking away from happiness with Sonny at age 18, while Olivia doesn’t hesitate in constantly bringing up and slamming Kate for those errors in judgment. I can only translate what I interpret Megan Ward’s interview to be, primarily her giving this character so much and not always being able to bring that hard work to fruition because of various things in daytime at play, from changes in direction to changes in renegotiation. For the record, she said she wasn’t surprised by TPTB’s decision not to negotiate a new contract once her limited contract ended. Halfway through her limited contract, maybe the first year, she said she had the option of departing the show but stayed on for the rest of her contract because she liked where her character was headed. Instead of offering her another contract, TPTB decided to let her slide into recurring, due to budgetary changes as well.
Chikezie Eze (Nigerian for “something well-created by God”) is the newest sensation to hit GH, as Jake’s singing bartender. The former American Idol finalist – season seven – breezed in and out last week, making a huge impression, although, that’s not what he intended per script. He was used to projecting like in theatre, so when he got on the GH sound stage, he was taken aback by everybody talking low. He was worried he wouldn’t receive his cue because everybody was practically whispering at Jake’s. Luckily, he had Blake Gibbons (Coleman) to take care of him and watch his back, as well as lovely co-stars such as Brandon Barash (Johnny) and Kirsten Storms (Maxie—he’s a Xenon movie fan). He had such a good time filming his brief role on GH, he’d gladly do it again if asked. Meanwhile, Eze is hard at work on his CD, a long time in finishing. “It's starting to get annoying because it's like, ‘Okay, let's finish this thing already [laughs].’ But that's why they call it a labor of love. We're trying to get everything perfect, trying to find the perfect people to work with so we can get the best product. I'm still finding more artists to work with, more producers to work with. I'm still very excited about the project. It's going to be amazing when it's finally done because the sound will be completely different than what most people would expect me to do. I'm actually going in way more of a rock direction than when I was on the show.” –Soap Opera Digest features online, by Tom Stacy
The family of Christopher Barrios Jr.—a six-year-old boy who was raped and killed in Brunswick, GA two years ago—has decided to sue the parties (namely, SOAPnet) involved in allowing a picture of Barrios Jr. to air in a GH:NS episode. Apologies and promises of PSAs were issues, but First Coast News in Florida claims the lawsuit will continue on with a filing last Thursday. In a second-season show, someone on the GH:NS production team used a real-life picture of the boy to represent Toussaint’s son, the one the hospital’s janitor/orderly had walked away from. The fracas all started when a soap fan recognized the boy from the picture and went to WJXT reporter Jennifer Bauer with this information. Bauer then went to Christopher’s grandmother, Sue, for her full, horrified reaction. Apparently, the Rodriguez family never gave permission to use any photo of their now-deceased boy and are heart-stricken by its use in the soap opera.
Gossip for the week of 12-Oct-2009
Does Claudia wind up committing the ultimate soap taboo? Suicide. I don’t think I’ve ever seen it in any story in the entire time I’ve watched soaps, and I’ve watched soaps since 1970.
Keifer knocks Kristina up, then turns into a meathead, haranguing to get rid of it like it’s a pimple. Alexis gets wind of Sam’s role in Kristina’s sex-having status and goes ballistic. Sam tries to get Alexis to see that it’s her over-protective, hypocritical parental stance that’s ruining Kristina and maybe Molly next. Michael will have to rush in to save Kristina from Keifer before it’s too late. Apparently there’s a very controversial turn this plot will take in the near-future, one insiders are worried TPTB don’t have the balls to pull off in daytime. The only thing I can think of regarding this is that maybe they’ll have Keifer personally trying to scrape Kristina’s insides out in a back alley. Maybe GH writers will receive the Nobel Peace Prize for this outstanding social-issues storyline. Not holding my breath.
General Hospital News & Gossip, Copyright © 2010 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.
