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News for the week of 17-Aug-2015
Michael Fairman delved deeper into what happened with Michael Easton (Silas) and his recent firing from GH in an August 14th-posted interview. Easton reiterated much of what was in his Q&A with fans on Facebook, including the sting of being let go and reading the writing on the wall — ever since the Prospect Park debacle took away his OLTL role for good. Easton knew his GH role as Silas would soon end “a couple of months beforehand.” Keeping that a secret was hard for the actor. Once the damage was done, the fans helped ease the pain. For them, he had this to say: “I’m honestly humbled, and I mean this for their outpouring of support. I am pretty thick-skinned, and I have been doing this a long time. Very little stings me. And I admit, this stung me a little bit, and it’s been the fans’ kindness, and their generosity, and their outpouring that’s really made me feel like I was doing something semi-worthwhile. It’s mademe feel much better about what happened. They have actually eased my pain a bit. I’m actually kind of trying to ease their pain, which is so interesting. But they are very genuine, and I hope they realize that I am very genuine. I hope they realize we have a very genuine relationship. It’s a very honest relationship when you hear us talk. I think it’s one of the most unique relationships of any group of people. I almost feel weird calling them ‘fans’ because they are honestly more like ‘friends.’ Most of these people know about my family, and I know about their family. It’s a very loyal and beautiful group. They mean a lot to me.” Easton learned about the petition going around to bring him back to GH, and said he was also very touched by this display from the fans. The petition has grown a life of its own, from humble beginnings — can they reach 2,000 signatures in a week? — to the big time, currently over 11,000.
Rebecca Budig (Hayden; ex-Greenlee, AMC) signed a nice, four-year contract, according to ABC Soaps In Depth last week. She’s gonna be quite a viable character in the months to come.
Robb Derringer returns to play Sloan(e) early next month. It is only for a short story arc. He played the original Agent Sloane. Grayson McCouch had replaced Derringer not so long ago.
Gossip for the week of 17-Aug-2015
The annual GH Fan Club Weekend (August 6-10) has come and gone, with the usual news, gossip, controversy, and conjecture via social media-using fan reporters. Here’s some of what leaked out on Twitter, message boards, and Facebook:
Tyler Christopher (Nikolas) shipped Nikolas and Elizabeth (Niz) over Nik and Hayden, adding that it’s killing Rebecca Herbst (Elizabeth) to play the story of her character hiding the truth about Jason from everyone. He also believes in the new co-head writers’ ability to turn the ship around by focusing on what matters and regular viewers over the accidental ones who drop in now and then. He likes Nikolas darker, but wouldn’t call the guy pure evil. Not a fan of so many flashbacks.
Did executive producer Frank Valentini promise Bryan Craig (Morgan) that the head writers will refocus major story back on the entire Corinthos clan? Looks like the story will hit hard next month. Craig reported that Avery will remain biologically Sonny’s daughter.
Is Valentini going to revise history by making it so that Anna never killed Carlos Rivera and made sure his body remained at the bottom of the sea? He’s supposedly trying to find a way around that little murder detail.
Maurice Benard’s Sonny & Sons fan event was well-attended and turned out to be one of the most talked-about, because the actor was caught talking shit about former head writer Ron Carlivati, bragging about how he helped get rid of him and now the show can go back to being great again (more mob stories for Mo!). Jillian Bowe of Daytime Confidential had this to report on August 11 about the incident: “During a fan event with onscreen sons, Chad Duell and Bryan Craig, Benard decided to discuss his take on Carlivati's firing. With Craig acting as an eager hype man, Benard stated: ‘As you guys know, just to get to some deep part then we'll get to some other part... We got rid of the writer. I'm not one to bash but the thing with him was, obviously, he wasn't a fan of mine...and that's a stupid thing.’ With the crowd cheering in the background, Craig quipped: ‘You don't cross Sonny. Not Sonny.’ Benard replied to the crowd: ‘The good news is, moving forward, I gotta tell you there's been some great stuff. So if you guys had any doubt about what's going to happen, I can tell you right now that the future looks so promising. This is the first time in I can't tell you how long that I can't wait to go to work, and work.’”
After Benard was caught in a videotape saying all this bullshit, fans were confused by the contradictions in his controversial, grandstanding statement. Didn’t this actor go on record to praise Carlivati and his Sonny stories? What changed? Why say this now after the head writer has already been replaced? What does that achieve? Tony Geary (Luke) got torn to shreds on the Internet for his anti-Carlivati stance, yet Benard seemed to get more of a pass from fans for his, WTF? Since when do actors get paid to be head writers, producers, and directors? Worst of all, both Benard and Geary have no right to take such a hard stand on Carlivati’s exit when they’ve both benefitted the most from the former head writer’s stories and received the bulk of airtime. They’re arguably not the best actors on the show, either, as far as I’m concerned.
Grayson McCouch was either let go as Agent Sloane due to storyline reasons, or he quit in protest, because he found out that TPTB were planning his character’s imminent death. Here’s what Daytime Confidential co-founder Jamey Giddens’ insider said about the situation on August 12: “When they told him they needed him to come back in order to kill the character off, he said he wouldn't do it. Since he was on recurring, and not on contract, they couldn't make him play the story.”
McCouch may also have suffered from dickhead syndrome, pissing off his co-stars, as well as not made the role compellingly his, according to Daytime Dish’s Trixie (via a SoapZone GH Message Board post, August 15). Furthermore, Trixie reported the following: Michael Easton (Silas) was a goner, because of ousted head writer Ron Carlivati, not executive producer Frank Valentini, who “fought for” the popular actor… Carlivati and Valentini “didn’t like each other,” therefore, out went the hook… Sonny will not make it to the altar to marry Carly for the 19th time, because, a mob shoot-out… Brad’s mother makes her presence known in Port Charles, trying to keep Brad happily married to Rosalie.
Did they revert Sloane to the original actor only for the short-term, to make way for Tristan Roger’s (Robert Scorpio) return for Anna? Maybe the new head writers really will restore this show to its original glory, featuring legacy characters. And maybe monkeys will fly out of my ass…
Anna returns to Port Charles around Labor Day, only to find out that Sloane was a bad boy with the election tampering. She’ll dump him faster than you can say, “Robert Scorpio,” and then Sloane will die, as all bad boys do.
Tristan Rogers (Colin, Y&R) on August 14 tweeted this to fans: “Let’s try again. A big thanx for everyone engaged in bringing Scorpio back. I appreciate the work and love you for it. Thank you.” The tweet spurred fans into speculating that Robert Scorpio is indeed returning for the long-term, with a sweet contract deal.
Sounds like Genie Francis (Laura) will return soon too. Francis tweeted August 14: “I know I'm coming back to a situation that could create a good story, fingers crossed, I want to have some fun! #GH”
General Hospital News & Gossip, Copyright © 2024 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.
