Port Charles News & Gossip

News for the week of 17-Jan-2000
by Carol Banks Weber

"Port Charles" may not be on the "2nd Annual TV Guide Awards" ballot, but don't let that stop you. Write it in. And submit by January 28. Get ballots from the past two issues of "TV Guide." Then, wait till March 5 for results, to air on FOX-TV.

All about Eve, aka Julie Pinson... They don't call Scorpios private, opinionated and intense for nothing. Born November 7, Pinson has recently discovered the value and haven of being left alone--and speaking her no-holds-barred mind about it. The break-up of her engagement to "General Hospital's" Billy Warlock (A.J.) just steps from wedding invitations kinda settled it for her to keep quiet about personal stuff that could and has been blasted open for gossip in the tabloids and online discussion boards. "It hurts. Especially when they're [tabloid reporters] pulling air out of their ass just to put a story on a page. I don't get it. Where are the sources? It comes from nowhere. There's a part of me that says, 'Just forget it. Nobody's going to remember it.' But it does hurt." She added that the media prying should NOT go with the actors' territory, since it has nothing to do with one's passion for performing. It's just a job, like a doctor's, Pinson--whose contract is due for re-signing or not in May--explained... "When people say, 'You asked for it,' I don't agree. I want to be an actor because it's what I love more than anything else. It's my passion, like a doctor is a doctor because that's his passion. I'm just really surprised that people are interested in my life because I think my life is not that interesting. ... When I said my life wasn't interesting, I just don't think it's that interesting to other people. But I love it. It's very interesting to me." All she really has to do to stay incognito in Los Angeles is to walk around in her usual outfit of choice, sweats, baseball cap, no make-up. She's THAT different off-screen. Even Kin Shriner (Scott) in the early PC days didn't recognize her without the Hollywoodized get-up. It's Shriner, Jon Lindstrom (Kevin) and Lynn Herring (Lucy) whom Pinson applauds for bringing out her character's complexity and humanity. "They taught me how to show the audience that Eve had more dimension" and wasn't a cardboard cookie cutter bitch. She does wish, however, that the writers would show more conflict in her relationship with Kevin. In real life, love isn't that simple. Same for soap fantasy. Besides, it's better to play off of for an actor willing to stretch and reach for deeper emotions than contentment and happy serenity. [SOURCE: Soap Opera Digest, January 18, 2000]

Count on Lynn Herring (Lucy) to buy more than her fair share of Nurses' Ball T-shirts every year. Her sons Grady and Hank use 'em as pajamas. She even encourages crew members and their friends and families to buy for the cause. That being HIV/AIDS benefit organizations.

Lisa Ann Hadley (Julie) wasn't the only one who missed out on Jay Pickett's (Frank) stunning display in a tight-fitting rubber shirt. He got the underground stylin' fashion statement from London via Colton James (Neil). Pickett claimed he wore it around the set as a joke. "It was like painted on, like wearing a body girdle. So I didn't go very far. I walked through the make-up room -- just to get a little reaction." With a body like that, little don't quite cut it. Kimberlin Brown (Rachel) stood there speechless. Unfortunately, LOL, stud man needed help taking that rubber shirt off. [SOURCE: Soap Opera Weekly, January 25, 2000]

Happy January 11th Birthday, Lisa Ann Hadley (Julie)!

Baseball fans, take note: On February 8, L.A. Dodgers' Eric Karros, first baseman, makes an appearance.

Here's what Debbi Morgan (ex-Ellen)--gone but not forgotten by PC fans--had to say about her acclaimed role as the wife of boxer Rubin Carter sent to prison for crimes he didn't commit in the box office hit and true story, "The Hurricane": "As actors, we are always trying to breathe truth and life into these made-up characters that we portray, but basically, we are only play-acting. When you are portraying a real-life character, especially one who is still living, whose life has been such a painful odyssey, there is another level of shared emotions that can take you to such a deep place within. A place that you don't really want to go to but that is necessary to really bring a sense of justice and integrity in exposing this human being and exposing yourself and showing a little light to their soul. For all of those things, it just made this such a wonderful project that I wanted to be a part of. I am so happy that I got that opportunity." [SOURCE: Soap Opera Weekly, January 18, 2000]

Want the new cable channel, SoapNet? Call (877) WANTSOAPS to find out how to order it, which premiers January 24.