Julian: Julian (William deVry) learns he has another child!
Lucas/Bobbie: Lucas (Ryan Carnes) makes his grand return to Port Charles to help Bobbie (Jacklyn Zeman). READ MORE
General Hospital's Kristina Wagner (pictured above with Lynn Herring and Finola Hughes) held a private screening of her documentary Children of Internment, The film centers on thousands of German families placed in internment by the United States during World War II. See more photos after the jump! READ MORE
Last but certainly not least Jackie Zeman. We reported it earlier this week or last week but no matter when it's discussed it still frustrates the living hell out of me that she is put on recurring and we have a bunch non heritage characters on the show that we don't care about. The only glimmer of hope in all this is that it seems people on recurring get more air time than when they had actual contracts these days.
Well that's this week's look at what is on the stands. What's of interest to you?
Good news!
Kristina Wagner (Felicia) has accepted an offer to remain on GH on recurring status. Some actors don't want to be recurring, but this should suit Ms. Wagner very well. It's a shame that it took Georgie's death to bring her back to the canvas, but let's hope she stays awhile.
In an episode of Daytime Confidential to air this week Foxy, Jay and I were discussing General Hospital in comparison to All My Children and One Life to Live when it comes to using their veterans. The discussion got me to thinking.
General Hospital is, without question, the #1 ABC soap in terms of ratings. It has the nicest sets. It has the biggest sweeps stunts in daytime. It seems to be nominated for Emmys more than the One Life to Live or All My Children. However, even with this going for it, proportionately speaking it has the fewest veteran actors in front burner storylines. Why is this and does this seem odd to anyone else?
Take for example All My Children and One Life to Live.
All My Children's ratings have been in the toilet by comparison. Fans are crucifying it because the writing has been horrible and many of the characters are being written out of character. But even with all this going against it, it has brought back the veteran/heritage characters portrayed by Debbie Morgan (Angie) and Darnell Williams (Jesse) and still features Susan Lucci (Erica Kane), David Canary (Adam Chandler), Michael E. Knight (Tad Martin), and Walt Willey (Jackson Montgomery) prominently in its storylines.
Over on One Life to Live, which is by far the best written soap in daytime but whose ratings have yet to reflect its quality, it is jammed packed with veteran/heritage actors/characters. Erika Slezak (Victoria), Robin Strausser (Dorian), Robert S. Woods (Bo), Hillary B. Smith (Nora), Patricia Mauceri (Carlotta), Catherine Hickland (Lindsey), Kassie DePaiva (Blair), Patricia Elliot (Renee), Trevor St. John (Todd), and Timothy Stickney (RG).
General Hospital on the other hand.
Unlike All My Children or One Life to Live, General Hospital suffers from a bad case of anti veteran actor/heritage characteritis. Sure it has John Ingle (Edward), Leslie Charleson (Monica) Jane Elliot (Tracey), Anthony Geary (Luke), Jackie Zeman (Bobbie), John J. York (Mac), Kin Shriner (Scotty) and now Kristina Wagner (Felicia) but does General Hospital use them? Let's take a look.
Anthony Geary of course gets pretty much as much airtime as he wants but unfortunately for us there seems to be a direct correlation between when Anthony Geary goes on vacation and when Jane Elliot's screen time evaporates.
Then we have John Ingle and Leslie Charleson who have been relegated to deaths, funerals, and hostage situations. Sure we've been told for years that Leslie will get a major storyline and it appears that the drinking storyline may be the storyline we've been promised but will TPTB go through with it and not drop it? Only time will tell.
Over at the Scorpio household John J. York must be getting dust bunnies in his ears as little he is used. How is it that with all the crime in Port Charles that the Chief of Police is rarely seen? I'll tell you. It's more glamorous to have dark and brooding "heroes" take care of the bad, bad, bad men of Port Charles than to actually have an effective police force. Now we have Kristina Wagner back as Felicia to investigate Georgie's death but will we actually get a good investigation or will we just see her once or twice a week and then she'll disappear faster than Helena in the Wyndamere tunnels?
Talk about potential. Kin Shriner returns to the role of the ever-popular Scotty and wham bam bang he has a son he never knew of. Should be a good right? Apparently, wrong. Instead of building up the Luke vs. Scotty rivalry over their children, Shriner has languished in the land of back burner actors while his character's son has gone from being the man of choice for Lulu to the underdog in a romantic triangle.
Lastly we have Jackie Zeman. Poor Jackie Zeman. The actual General Hospital, you know the one that the show is named after, is finally getting almost equal airtime as the mob related storylines and Bobbie is no where to be found. We had a glimmer of hope after Zeman was dropped to recurring and a week later Luke was in the hospital and we saw Bobbie more in two weeks than we had the entire previous year. I don't know about the rest of you but I had hoped that Zeman would have been lucky enough to be one of those recurring actresses who the moment they were dropped to recurring we saw them almost every day. No such luck.
Adding insult to injury, one can count on two hands the number of times Bobbie has had scenes with her daughter Carly (and "star" of the show) since Laura Wright has taken over the role. We won't mention the fact that we have yet to have a scene between Bobbie and Sebastian Roche's Jerry. So what that he held her daughter hostage. So what that he was once a man that Lucas looked up to. So what that Jerry and Bobbie were once engaged. Seriously, shouldn't we have had some sort of face off between these two over everything that has happened since Jerry's return almost a year ago? One would think so. Or at least I do.
Which leads me to my biggest problem.
How is it that all All My Children and One Life to Live can have so many veteran actors/heritage characters front and center when apparently General Hospital, with all it has going for it, can't "afford" to throw its veteran actors/heritage characters a bone in the form of meaty storylines? How is it that Genie Francis can't get a contract that would bring her back to the show and the fans that adore her?
Could it be the fact that General Hospital (the show) seems to be spending a fortune on a long line of characters that we as fans have no connection to a core or heritage family?
Why do we keep getting new doctors and nurses (no offense to the actors) up the whazoo when Monica isn't fighting for chief of staff or Bobbie isn't giving Epiphany a run for her money as head nurse?
Why is John J. York's Mac Scorpio portrayed as a bumbling idiot with little airtime when his police force either A) rarely works as in the case of Lucky and the now departed Coop or B) a long line of basically nameless detectives who we either don't care about or are used instead of Mac? On top of all this doesn't it seem a bit odd that Spinelli does more investigating than the cops? Mac would get more airtime if he quite the force and started a detective agency with Spinelli than he's getting now.
I don't want anyone to interpret my thoughts as bashing the talented and not so talented (depending on how the various fan bases view them) actors and actresses who were lucky enough to land a contract and get airtime. That isn't what this is about.
What this is about.
What this is about is that in a time when both All My Children and One Life to Live are using there veterans in larger numbers. We now have, at minimum, nineteen characters on contract with General Hospital that arrived within the last three years that are not connected to a core or heritage family. Of those nineteen characters at least ten of them (possibly more) appeared on our screens this past Friday.
With such a large number of new characters circulating on a show on a daily basis, is it to much to ask that say three or four of these ten (or more) characters don't appear on any given day in order to give a veteran or two an opportunity to have some screen time and an actual storyline? There has to be a way to balance all the new character while also featuring veteran actors/heritage characters isn't there?
I certainly hope so.
Who do you think would be the better P.I., Sam or Felicia?
Hey GH fans! They're clearing the decks for Kristina Wagner. Sssshhh... you heard it here first. #soapsstillmatter
How awesome is this news? I sure hope GH's new showrunner Frank Valentini can book Wagner's real and reel life ex-hubby (and upcoming Dancing With The Stars foxtrotter Jack Wagner) next. Soaps Still Matter, indeed!
Photo credit: ABC
With a mother like Dr. Liesl Obrecht (Kathleen Gati) on General Hospital, can Dr. Britt Westbourne (Kelly Thiebaud) really be blamed for turning out so screwed up? Dr. Obrecht loves only one person more than herself — Faison (Anders Hove), whom she frets over not providing with a son.
The nutty, international criminal-turned-hospital chief of staff did manage to give someone a male heir. We wonder if Detective Nathan West (Ryan Paevey) knows what he's in for, having a mutter like Obrecht?
— Luke Kerr
Dr. Ellis Grey (Kate Burton) put her medical career above everything else. While her brilliance won her two Harper Avery Awards, Grey's impossible expectations left her daughter Meredith (Ellen Pompeo) desperate for approval and emotionally scarred. Is it any wonder, Meredith needed both a "Person" and a "McDreamy" to make it as a medical intern in Seattle?
— Luke Kerr
Photo credit: ABC
Running off to Paris and leaving behind three children to be raised by your ex-husband and the maid, won't win you any Mother of The Year awards. Don't believe us, just ask Dina Abbott Mergeron (Marla Adams) from The Young and the Restless.
As if abandoning Jack (Peter Bergman), Ashley (Eileen Davidson) and Traci (Beth Maitland) as children wasn't bad enough, Dina passed off Ashley as husband John Abbott's (Jerry Douglas) daughter, when Ash is really the product of a tryst between Dina and a tennis pro!
— Jamey Giddens
Religious, overly-critical, mother-from-hell Felice Martin (Katherine Cannon) caused daughter Donna (Tori Spelling) to be an insecure, frigid mess on Beverly Hills, 90210. Is it any wonder Donna got so drunk she almost didn't graduate on time? With a mom like Felice, who wouldn't want to hit the sauce?
— Jamey Giddens
Photo credit: 20th Century Fox
The Forresters were shocked to discover Stephanie’s (Susan Flannery) mother Ann Douglas (Betty White) was alive on The Bold and the Beautiful. The fashion matriarch had led everyone to believe her mom was dead!
Stephanie cut her mother out of her life, as an adult. The Belair legend was furious with Ann for standing by while Stephanie was beaten by her father as a child.
When confronted by Stephanie and Eric (John McCook) about the childhood abuse, Ann wouldn’t cop to John’s brutal treatment. Ann's cover-up prompted Stephanie and little sister Pam (Alley Mills) to cut their mother off completely. However, the three Douglas women made up before Ann passed away.
— Jillian Bowe
Lilimae Clements (the late Julie Harris) refused to be tied down by her children, or their fathers. The aspiring songbird had bigger dreams than sitting around tending to daughter Valene (Joan Van Ark), or troubled son Joshua (Alec Baldwin) on Knots Landing.
Lilimae left Val with the little girl's dad (and later Val's aunt) to go pursue her musical dreams. Joshua was later dealt a similar hand, when Lilimae gave him to preacher father Jonathan Rush to be reared.
Lilimae was so blinded by her own ambitions, she turned Val out when the teen mom showed up with baby daughter Lucy (Charlene Tilton) begging for help. Lilimae was worried if her producer realized she was a grandmother, her career would be over!
Val's sinister brother-in-law J.R. Ewing (the late Larry Hagman) from Dallas, had hired good ol' boys to snatch Lucy from her arms. Thanks to Lilimae, Val was separated from her daughter for decades.
At least Val made it out of her mother/daughter relationship alive. Joshua fell to his death, after being berated by Lilimae on a rooftop. Okay, so he was about to kill Cathy (Lisa Hartman Black) in a fit of religious hysteria; aren't a mother's lectures supposed to be a bit more soothing?
— Jamey Giddens
Photo credit: Warner Horizon
Felicia Scorpio-Jones (Kristina Wagner) should never be caught drinking from a mug that says: “World’s Best Mom” on General Hospital. The bubbly, blonde Aztec Princess has taken numerous breaks from suburban life with husband Mac (John J. York) and daughters Maxie (Kirsten Storms) and Georgie (Lindze Letherman) over the years.
First there was that tacky tryst with Luke Spencer (Anthony Geary), while working on Lila Quartermaine’s (the late Anna Lee) memoirs. Later, Felicia decided to take off with first love Frisco Jones (Jack Wagner), ditching their daughters completely, while they traveled the globe for the WSB.
It's a good thing the girls had Mac, but not even he was able to protect Georgie from the Text Message Killer aka Diego Alcazar (Ignacio Serricchio), or stop Maxie from getting involved with a married, drug-addicted Lucky Spencer (Greg Vaughan). Here's hoping this time around Felicia is done pulling her disappearing acts.
— Jillian Bowe
Photo credit: ABC
Hayley Vaughan Santos (Kelly Ripa) dealt with quite the motherload on ABC Daytime's All My Children. Hayley's hot mess mom Arlene (Phyllis Lyons, Olivia Birkelund) neglected to tell the young woman her father was Pine Valley billionaire Adam Chandler (David Canary). She also had quite the nasty penchant for a.) drinking and driving and b.) screwing Hayley's men!
Audacious Arlene couldn't get enough of Hayley's second husband Alec McIntyre (Grant Aleksander). After their one night stand, Arlene blackmailed Hayley's beau into multiple sex romps. To Alec's credit, he tried to end things with Arlene by killing her via alcohol poisoning, but the damage to his relationship with Hayley was already done.
— Jamey Giddens
Days of Our Lives' Sami Brady (Alison Sweeney) would do almost anything for her children. More often than not, her good intentions lead to the worst ramifications for her tribe.
Sami lied about the paternity of eldest son Will (Guy Wilson) for the first two years of his life. Once it was exposed Lucas (Bryan Dattilo), not his brother Austin (Austin Peck), was the boy's father, Sami promptly lied that Lucas was beating Will!
After almost a decade of nasty custody battles with Lucas and his mother Kate (Lauren Koslow), Sami started procreating again, and how! She became pregnant with twins Allie and Johnny, following being blackmailed into sex at gunpoint by EJ DiMera (James Scott). It turned out Allie belonged to Lucas, while Johnny was EJ's son.
To put an end to the decades-old Brady/DiMera feud, Sami agreed to marry EJ. It was first believed Lucas took a shot at EJ at the nuptials, but it turned out to be Will!
Much later, a rousing round of love/hate sex with EJ produced daughter Sydney. When EJ's then-main squeeze NIcole (Arianne Zucker) learned Sami was pregnant with her man's child, she switched Sydney with Grace, a sickly infant Nicole had been planning to pass off as EJ's.
When Grace died, EJ grieved the child he believed to be his, furious Sami had kept her from him. Once it was revealed Sydney was truly their child, EJ and Sami didn't have much time to rejoice. Sami learned from Kate that EJ planned on taking the children and leaving Salem. Vowing not to lose her kids, Sami shot their father in the head!
Oh, we're not done. Once the truth about who really shot EJ at their wedding started to trickle out, Sami faced off with a dirty cop, eventually killing him. To be fair, he was about to castrate Sami's ex-husband Rafe (Galen Gering) on Stefano's order.
Back to Will. Sami's reaction to her son coming out didn't win her any praise from PFLAG. After all Will put up with from his mother, did she really feel justified in having a hissy fit, because he is attracted to the same sex? We can't help but love Sami, but we certainly wouldn't want her as a mother!
— Luke Kerr and Jamey Giddens
If only Alex Spaulding's (the late Beverlee McKinsey, Marj Dusay) maternal instincts had been as sharp as her ones for big business on Guiding Light, her kids might be more open for Skype chats! Alex's lack of motherly warmth wasn't all her fault. Her ruthless father Brandon Spaulding provided a rather awful example to follow.
When Brandon didn't approve of Alex's European love affair with artist Eric Luvonaczek, he paid the man to leave with his and Alex's son. Little did Alex know, she'd actually given birth to twin boys — street urchin Brandon "Lujack" Luvonaczek and crusading journalist Nick McHenry (both played by Vincent Irizarry).
While Alex and Lujack eventually bonded before his death, her relationship with Nick was forever strained by his love for one Melinda Sue Lewis (Kimberly Simms). Shortly before learning Nick was her son, Alex found out her husband Roger Thorpe (the late Michael Zaslow) had been screwing the tempestuous blonde. There was no way Baroness Von Halkein was going to let her newfound son be happy with the little tramp who'd made a fool of her!
Speaking of her title, Alex's stepdaughter India (Mary Kay Adams)—daughter of Baron Leo Von Halkein—came to Springfield with the express purpose of making Alex pay for causing her father to die from a broken heart. Something tells us Nick and India didn't take Alex out for brunch this Mother's Day.
— Jamey Giddens
When Colorado oil tycoon Blake Carrington (the late John Forsythe) learned his nubile wife Alexis (Joan Collins) was having an affair with the estate manager, he banished her from Denver, and the lives of their children Fallon (Pamela Sue Martin) and Steven (Al Corley). You'd think Alexis would have fought harder to stay in her kids' lives, especially since firstborn son Adam (Gordon Thompson) had been kidnapped as a baby!
During Dynasty's second season, Alexis returned, just as Blake was on trial for murdering Steven's gay lover. If Fallon and Steven were expecting Mommy Most Fabulous to get busy with the work of making amends, they had another thing coming! If anything, Alexis worked overtime to antagonize Fallon, but maintained a soft spot for Steven.
It was later revealed Alexis had given birth to a fourth child, daughter Amanda (Catherine Oxenberg), whose existence she kept from Blake. Giving birth to four children, yet not managing to raise one? Not even Dear Abby could have given the Carrington kids advice on how to contend with a mother like Alexis.
— Jamey Giddens
Photo credit: CBS Television Distribution
One Life to Live's Irene Manning (Barbara Rhoades) probably won’t get any flowers left behind at her tombstone from sons Todd (Roger Howarth) and Victor Jr. (Trevor St. John) this Mother's Day. In 2011, a presumed dead Irene returned to Llanview, after a man with her son Todd’s original face came to town and declared he was the real Todd Manning.
It turned out, Irene raised Victor Jr., while working for the CIA. In 2003, Irene got the agency to kidnap Todd, so a brainwashed Victor Jr. could take his place, and gain a chunk of the Lord fortune. We've heard of parents playing favorites, but this takes the cake.
— Jillian Bowe
Revenge's Victoria Grayson (Madeleine Stowe) would eat her young with crackers and caviar, if it meant maintaining the facade she has tediously nurtured. The Hamptons ice empress has hurt her children countless times with her catacomb of lies.
Victoria gave up eldest son Patrick Osbourne (Justin Hartley), and allowed husband Conrad's (Henry Czenry) contempt for the lad to alienate him from the Grayons. Golden boy Daniel (Josh Bowman) has had every sin cloaked, resulting in him inheriting the worst of Victoria and Conrad's entitled tendencies.
Then there's Charlotte (Christa B. Allen), the product of Victoria's affair with David Clarke, a man she and Conrad framed for funding terrorists. Good thing Emily Thorne (Emily VanCamp) came to the beach, or the Grayson kids would have gone on believing their mother was Snow White, as opposed to the Wicked Witch of the One Percent.
— Luke Kerr
Photo credit: ABC
Image-obsessed Newport Beach society shark Julie Cooper (Melinda Clarke) knew what it meant to come from the wrong side of the tracks. So there was no way she was going to support daughter Marissa's (Mischa Barton) star-crossed affections for Chino-bred foster kid Ryan Atwood (Benjamin McKenzie) on The O.C.
Julie was, however, very supportive of Marissa's first love, the much more suitable Luke Ward (Chris Carmack). In fact, Julie was so in favor of Luke, she allowed the high schooler to bang her brains out. And you get upset with your mother for posting pictures from your awkward period on Facebook.
— Jamey Giddens
Photo credit: Warner Horizon
Anyone wanting to know why D.C. fixer Olivia Pope (Kerry Washington) has so many serious issues in her personal life on Scandal, need look no further than her parents. Since this is Mother's Day, we're going to concentrate on Mama Pope aka Maya Lewis (Khandi Alexander) aka international terrorist Marie Wallace.
Olivia grew up believing her mother died in a plane crash. Unfortunately for Liv—and everyone else in the free world—Maya was alive, if not terribly well. Rowan Pope (Joe Morton) aka Daddy Pope had Maya imprisoned after discovering she was selling classified CIA intel.
Maya conned Rowan into thinking the plane she was boarding had a bomb on it. The B613 leader had the plane shot down by then Navy man Fitz Grant (Tony Goldwyn), future POTUS and future married love of Olivia's life.
After being held captive by B613 for 22 years, Maya escaped and made a beeline for Olivia. She spun a fairy tale about Rowan being the one Olivia must be wary of, prompting the OPA crew to help usher her out of the country.
It wasn't until Maya was free that Olivia learned her mother was a bloodthirsty terrorist-for-hire, and Fitz was her next target. We bet Liv can't wait to stick Mama Pope in the nearest retirement village.
— Jillian Bowe
Photo credit: ABC
