Rafe kissing Carrie. Austin learns of his wife’s betrayal and nearly pummels Rafe (go for it, Austin!). After a heavy night of drinking, a still reeling Austin kisses Abby. When the couple wake up half-naked, Abby leads memory-challenged Austin to believe they had sex! Or did they?
• Ian Buchanan returns to DAYS next week. But this time he’s playing Ian Atkinson, Madison’s husband! Yep, Ian pops up in Mad’s life just after Brady proposes! Let’s hope Brady falls off the wagon.
• Hands down, Will’s realistic, subtle coming-out tale is daytime’s best so far (sorry, Binks). Future Emmy winner Chandler Massey is delivering a phenomenally intense and heartbreaking psychological portrayal of a man who refuses to admit he’s gay — but uniquely, not violently denying it, either. While everyone and their evil doppelganger mother realizes Will’s a Friend of Dorothy’s (except for that ditz, Sami), characters like Will’s gay friend, Sonny, played by the wonderfully talented Freddie Smith, are knowingly supporting the character’s turbulent journey with a lot of compassion and love. This past week, Will and Sonny’s scenes about coming out in general were master class theatre. Bravo, DAYS! Who would have ever thought — ever thought, ever — that camptastic DAYS would end up telling the most authentic gay storyline ever? And with more than one gay character? There’s, like, six gay characters on this soap! Who needs a gay writer on staff? Sometimes all you need is a human being penning a show.
GENERAL HOSPITAL, ABC/CITY — No More Franco!
• More posturing by ABC PR: Kristen Alderson signed a three-year contract. Pfft, more like a nine-month contract. I wouldn’t be surprised if ABC stars re-signing its entire cast with multi-year deals to ward off cancellation rumours. Good luck with that, ABC.
• Poor Ingo Rademacher! More ONE LIFE talent is headed GH’s way. And that’s a good thing. Head writer Ron Carlivati has added brilliant Scott Sickles to his writing team. Sickles penned the masterful episode where FRAT ROW aired its last show and Viki defined the magic and power of soap opera so beautifully. And that’s a good thing, Ingo Dingo!
• In story 411, Alexis discovers she’s menopausal. This story was the brainchild of Garin Wolf, but Ron is going ahead with it. At least now it will be told thoughtfully and dramatically. Nancy Lee Grahn told TV GUIDE, “Frank [Valentini, executive producer] doesn't like the idea of Alexis having menopause because he thinks it makes her too old. Now if she turned into some dried-up old hag over this, well, that would be very painful to watch. But there's no need for that. I had a great love affair in real life, a really amazing romance, after I started menopause, so I know it's not the end of life as we know it.”
• The mutiny continues over at GH. Was this leak on purpose? As Kimberly McCullough finishes up her GH duties as Robin, the Emmy winner filmed a series of YouTube interviews with her co-stars. What caught people’s attention was the video with Maurice Benard. The fan fave revealed he wants to do something else other than daytime. Although he normally watches reality TV, he wants to do something HBO-esque after catching cable narratives recently.
Meanwhile, Tristan Rogers reveals that he hasn’t taped any scenes with Kimberly before Robin departs the show!
While it’s been confirmed Robin “dies,” it won’t be of AIDS. Next week, Robin gets a happy ending of sorts after she learns her HIV is in remission, her mom, Anna, returns, and Patrick gives her a romantic surprise. Calm. Before. The. Storm. I think, and it’s just my guess, that Lisa fakes Robin’s death. That, my friends, should’ve been Garin Wolf’s first story pitch. A-hole.
• File this under interesting: James Franco has stolen a GH employee. No, it’s not Steve Franco, but production assistant Samantha Burrows!
• Maybe Frisco Jones can sing a duet with Rick Springfield? According to EW.COM, Rick Springfield is back in March as Dr. Noah Drake and will help usher out his daughter-in-law, Robin, who dies.
Meanwhile, McCullough’s co-star, Jason Thompson, tweeted that he’s just taped a guest-starring role on CASTLE. The Canadian heartthrob will appear in an episode titled “Once Upon A Crime” as Noah Curtis, whose wife, Kristina, is found dead in Riverside Park... dressed as Snow White!
• “If there is anyone he does trust, it’s Robin,” Steve Burton tells SOAP OPERA DIGEST. In story 411, Jason’s happiness over the fact that Franco is dead and Sam is pregnant with his baby when his health continues to worry him. He seeks Robin’s help.
In other story news, Carly and Kate get into a bitch-fight when it’s revealed Jax transferred his stakes in Metro Court to the magazine editor. When Sonny learns about the business transaction, he blows up at Kate. According to Laura Wright, Carly enjoys every second of the lover’s spat!
• You asked, she answered: Many UNCENSORED readers were wondering if Carolyn Hennesy will be returning to COUGAR TOWN — you know, ABC’s ONE LIFE in prime time — now that the underrated and hilarious sitcom is back on TV where it belongs. “Yes, I am,” she enthuses. “It’s a great season. I’m also taping at GH, too!” As it should be. “Nancy Lee Grahn and I are filming probably some of our funniest stuff ever — and that’s saying a lot!” I bet Alexis and Diane were FRAT ROW fans, too!
• On Silas Kain’s podcast earlier this week, I managed to piss off the vocal and passionate Liason fan base by scolding overzealous fans bombarding Ron Carlivati’s Twitter account with demands of a Liason pairing. While I’m a Liason fan (and a JaSam fan; give me a damn juicy triangle, GH), I didn’t mean to lump in the entire fan base but rather remind the cray-cray fans that that kind of bullying can work against the movement.
It’s fine to voice your opinion once or twice, but to send countless tweets in a span of 20 minutes often times overshadows the message. Carlivati is known for making fans wait for their favourite couple to reunite (he gave ONE LIFE Jolie fans a reunion two days before the show was over… eight years after they first hooked up), and if he thinks you guys are desperate for a reunion, he will tease you forever.
And some writers — not Carlivati — purposely do not write for fan bases who dictate what he or she writes because scribes have egos, too, and like the autonomy to write the show they are paid to imagine.
For example, the powerful Becky Nation campaign saved the actress’s job, but if you noticed, the show refused to write for the star since they brought her back. Yep, these show runners are stubborn SOBs, but keep fighting with civility, and intelligence.
It’s yet another case of: be careful for what you wish for. Luckily, with soap fans Cartini at the helm, I doubt we’ll have to play these reindeer games anymore on the GH front and just enjoy the show.
Moreover, I hear there’s a campaign to bring back the real Jason Morgan. Well, you may want to specify because some think the real Jason Morgan is the dude who spent two decades of his life as a boring, Reindeer-sweater-wearing Quartermaine.
Regardless, a Liason/JaSam storyline can only help the show’s struggling ratings — and give hope to fans that the sinking ship dubbed, LA GH, may have a few more lifeboats on board than we previously thought.
ONE LIFE TO LIVE — Did ABC prevent ONE LIFE from being a monetary success?
• ABC claims it cancelled ONE LIFE because it wasn’t profitable despite the fact that it was under budget, and was the net’s highest-rated soap. Anyone with a brain cell knows ABC purposely murdered the best soap on air because it simply wants out of the serial business. And here’s more proof: A network source relays to UNCENSORED that a major country wanted to syndicate ONE LIFE for a multi-million dollar deal, but Brian Frons turned them down flat.
• Where in the world is GL super hunk and talented thespian, Robert Newman? And why am I asking this questions under the ONE LIFE section? Well, that’s because Kim Freakin’ Zimmer has the answer! The four-time Emmy winner tells me, “He’s doing great. He’s doing a lot of theatre, too. He wants so desperately to do a Broadway musical, too. That’s his main focus right now. He’s voice is getting very strong. He’s training big time. He’s just improving. I’m always looking
for parts for him. [Laughs] And there are a lot of casting calls for actor/singers who are handsome and well built and sexy. Um, that’s our Robert.” Um, more like my Robert, Kimmie!
It’s too bad about his looks, right? She laughs, “Yes, it really is!”
Does Zimmer keep any of Reva’s iconic memorabilia? And can I steal some? “We’re moving and downsizing because all the kids are almost are gone, but I’m finding containers and containers of memorabilia. I have pictures and books — from fans, too — and it’s hard to get rid off, but it’s all in storage. What do you do with this stuff?”
Um, a Kim Zimmer Museum. “I’ve given up all my red dresses to charity,” she notes. “I don’t have any left! So you’re out of luck, Nelson!”
And don’t be surprised if there’s a Reva-themed project coming up in the works! That’s all we can say at the moment!
As for a ONE LIFE nugget for your Echo fans, Kim and I agree that Jerry Ver Dorn’s best daytime role was “Clint Buchanan. He really reinvented that role with respect to Clint Ritchie. He was phenomenal
Soap Opera Uncensored: Issue 16 Page 5