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News for the week of 21-Dec-2015

by Carol Banks Weber

Thousands of viewers across the nation rose up in outrage when they found the Thanksgiving episode replaying on Friday’s show. The preemption forced Friday’s Nutcracker gala to flow over to Monday, with the featured Grammy-winning guest artist India Arie performing on Tuesday instead.

Shari Belafonte will now assume the role of the mayor, Janice Lomax, as of mid-January, based on the latest from Soap Opera Digest. She is the daughter of the great crooner Harry (“Day O”) and wife of Sam Behrens (ex-Jake Meyer, ‘80s).

Just like you, Elizabeth’s portrayer Rebecca Herbst couldn’t abide by her character’s decision to leave Jason clueless about his true identity seven long months ago. But she told Soap Opera Digest [Dec. 21, 2015] that in order to do a good job, she as an actress had to find understandable (not excusable) reasons for her character to have held back like this.

“I was angry that everything was so out of character. But then I embraced it and decided to do my best at making it believable, and not just so that the audience would believe it, but so Elizabeth would believe herself,” Herbst explained.

“I couldn’t portray Elizabeth telling the town she was just fine with keeping the Jason secret if Becky didn’t believe that it was true. I had to really convince myself, which in turn convinces Elizabeth that, ‘This is okay for me to do.’ I came up with a whole list of reasons why and it was helpful that I did that.”

Looks like Maurice Benard (Sonny) faced his lifelong fear of flying to film the soap within a movie for David O. Russell’s Joy, featuring Jennifer Lawrence. “It was such a privilege to be in a David O. Russell movie. Working with David is like working with an incredibly talented mad scientist. The energy was out of this world and it made me want to be great. I suffer from major anxiety when it comes to flying, so it had been 10 years since I’d been on a plane. Through this experience, one of my biggest fears turned into ‘Joy.’ The people on the set could not have been nicer and more respectful and what made it even more of a blast is that I got to work with my friends Laura Wright, Susan Lucci, Donna Mills and John Enos.”

Check out Mr. Benard’s Twitter for some cool pics from GH’s recent holiday party.

Ryan Paevey (Nathan) spent part of his weekend helping out the Anna Forlenza Foundation, an organization that advocates for foster care children and raises awareness about child abuse. On December 12, the actor appeared at the Foundation’s sponsored special event for the LAPD Juvenile Division to help out the worthy cause. Over 132 foster care children and teens received new toys and other gifts. He didn’t just show up and look pretty, either. He got right in there and met some of the kids, even coloring with them. “… Ryan Paevey from General Hospital is a stand-up guy,” Stacy Asencio-Sutphen told SoapZone in an exclusive interview. “…Ryan Paevey is a sweetheart. He showed up early, signed autographs, took pictures, colored with the kids and even stayed past the time expected. A true genuine and good-hearted individual, as well as extremely talented… It was an event that received no PR because it's a low-key event. But he did come and donated his time from the heart.” Asencio-Sutphen is the founder and president of the non-profit foundation. She reached out to Paevey’s manager and received a response about the event right away. Other volunteer celebrities joined Paevey at the event. They were Sasha Pieterse (Pretty Little Liars), Jon Beavers (Fresh Beat Band on Nick Jr./Nickelodeon) and Tom Kenny (voice of SpongeBob SquarePants).

Asencio-Sutphen’s foundation sponsors the “VOICE” (Victims Overcoming Injustice of Child Abuse & Endangerment) holiday party annually, with the Juvenile Division of the L.A. Police Dept. hosting. Unfortunately, the holiday party has to be kept a low-key event for very good reasons. “The LAPD keeps the location secret, because the children who attend have been sadly victimized by those they trusted and loved the most and of course, they are minors,” Asencio-Sutphen added.

For photos from the party, check out the foundation’s Facebook page.

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