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News for the week of 22-Feb-2016

by Carol Banks Weber

Last week, Maurice Benard (Sonny) Instagrammed a photo of himself, his wife, and their daughters to announce his Feb. 25 appearance on Dr. Oz. Benard plans to share his life dealing with bipolar disorder.

Kirsten Storms (Maxie) and Michelle Stafford (Nina) will do a bit of cross-promotion when they appear on FABLife with co-host/stylist Joe Zee March 7. Together, they will talk about their Crimson storyline, as well as Zee’s guest appearance on the soap later that month. Zee will appear as himself to help Maxie and Nina get the word out about Crimson, which will be a fantastic success. The daytime actresses already filmed their talk show appearance last week.

Michael Easton’s (soon-to-be-new-character; ex-Silas; ex-McBain, OLTL) people posted Feb. 18 on his Facebook about a new short film called Dreamliner, featuring Trevor St. John (ex-Walker/Todd, OLTL). Easton wrote and directed Dreamliner. It’s the second or third project with St. John.

Gossip for the week of 22-Feb-2016

by Carol Banks Weber

#JMHO Paul’s working a sting? He killed Sloane to avenge his rape survivor daughter? Are we being punk’d, or is this for real, Jelly? The revisionist moment between Paul and Anna played out like a Shakespearean scene with taut, grown-up dialogue and emotions barely held in check, as he revealed a twist: He’s the good guy! Unfortunately, most faithful viewers found the irresistible scenes hard to invest in, since they didn’t care much for post-millennial newcomer Paul (aka recent recast, the infinitely likeable Richard Burgi), and Anna hasn’t been the same since Robert abandoned the family. The writers seem determined to put a major refocus on all the characters’ family ties, even those without any ties to the community of Port Charles (aka, outsiders like Julian and Ava) — pre-Cartini. Time will tell if this maneuver benefits the ratings or signals the final nail in the coffin for ABC Daytime’s last remaining soap.

Daytime Confidential’s Luke Kerr brought up a very good point Feb. 17, likening Jelly’s GH storylines to the ones that failed miserably over at Y&R. At Y&R under Jelly’s Jean Passanante and Shelly Altman, Katherine died, leaving a will that bequeathed tepid story arcs without end to her surviving loves ones. Now, Helena over at GH is doing the same. Here’s a salient point, excerpted from Kerr’s post:

>> On The Young and the Restless, Jelly wrote Jeanne Cooper’s passing into the show by having Katherine Chancellor die. The reading of Katherine’s will launched the Music Box storyline that lasted nearly a year and involved multiple asinine twists. No one cared what Kay left behind by the time the story wrapped.

On General Hospital, Jelly is using the onscreen death of Helena Cassadine (Constance Towers) to launch a near-identical mystery. On Y&R, Jelly sent Katherine’s long-time rival Jill Abbott (Jess Walton) on a goose chase to solve the mystery. This time it's Laura Spencer's (Genie Francis) turn.

On The Young and the Restless, control of Chancellor Enterprises was given to Victor Newman (Eric Braeden), instead Jill. On General Hospital, the status of Helena’s will is raising questions about if Nikolas (Tyler Christopher) really has control of the Cassadine fortune. <<

#JMHO Y&R stories tank because the acting for the most part sucks. The directing isn’t much to write home about either. Everything’s choppy and hammy and just plain self-consciously awful with the bulk of the cast resting on its past laurels (under the Bell regime). GH consistently features the best actors in and out of daytime. So far, they’ve been head and shoulders better than Y&R’s counterparts, especially lately. The problem is, viewers want their old GH with their old, core GH legacy characters, not newcomers, new recasts, stunt casting, cross-over cannibalizing, more young idiots joining the mannequin bandwagon, and supercouple fan bases calling the shots and holding the show hostage. I personally don’t understand what Daytime Confidential columnist Jamey Giddens sees in Y&R. On Feb. 19, he tweeted this: “My best bet for consistently enjoyable daytime suds these days is #YR. Who'd a thunk it?” Huh? Whenever I try to watch, I’m bored out of my mind or trying not to laugh my ass off at the profound acting attempts. Y&R actors seem more about posing for their fans and preserving the soap star image, rather than disappearing into their roles and getting dirty with the truth of the new storylines.

Former head writer Ron Carlivati couldn’t just go up there and accept his WGA award for best daytime drama writing the other weekend. He felt compelled to throw some well-worded shade Tony Geary’s (ex-Luke) way. Geary had previously told TV Insider Michael Logan that he never spoke with “The Writer,” refusing to address Carlivati by name. Geary also said that he disliked Carlivati’s story for him toward the end, explaining that much of it didn’t make sense. Carlivati had the last word in his acceptance speech at the annual Writers Guild of America Awards, saying that Geary loved his story, raved about it being the best he’s ever acted in, and expressing surprise about not having spoken since they had. Check out the actual acceptance speech in a video Daytime Confidential posted Feb. 16.

Don’t look now but Tony Geary may return briefly by May Sweeps to… take care of Tracy’s failing health? GOS via SOC/SoapZone (RSFF_Not1BicheSlapd) last week also speculated that Tracy may have been poisoned in the same way as Paul’s estranged daughter Susan. More GOS drops:

 

“Is GH planning to redo a rape storyline? 
Looks like it could be someone who was raped or assaulted in the past. 
So that means it could be Michael, Liz, Laura, Sam...am I missing anyone?...

CD and AB (Michael and Abby) were quite vocal on Twitter last night that they'd love a Mabby reunion. 
Chad even joked that AB could be back as Abby's twin sister. 
Does he know something we don't about TeCa and where the Sakey story is headed?

Is Robert Scorpio gone? 
TR does seem to have stopped taping abruptly.

Kiki and Dillon may be chem tested soon.

ME is back to taping next week.”

My speculation: Paul’s estranged daughter Susan could be Rachel, aka Hayden. That would work for me.

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