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GH Head Writer Ron Carlivati Talks On The Decision To Reverse Story History and Make Little Jake Alive After All!

Photo Credit: NY Times

Photo Credit: NY Times

General Hospital had quite an unexpected bombshell awaiting fans of the ABC soap opera over the last few weeks – first came the rumors that Little Jake Spencer (James Nigbor) may indeed be alive after all – and then it became confirmed with the reintroduction of the character of Lucky Spencer (Jonathan Jackson), who has returned to GH for this short story arc.

Lucky told his father Luke (who believed he had killed the little boy in a hit and run accident back in 2011), that he believed little Jake was alive, and thus the set stage for Thursday’s episode where Luke (Tony Geary) finds little Jake with his arch-nemesis Helena Cassadine (Constance Towers).

On Friday, Soap Opera Digest posted an excerpt from their upcoming interview in next week’s issue of the publication with GH head writer Ron Carlivati about the decision to reverse story history under then GH scribe Bob Guza and resurrect Jake. 

Carlivati related: “It really was not something we were planning to do.”   He then revealed that while brainstorming Luke’s final storyline, he and his writing team: “Were trying to come up with a purpose behind this adventure and a lasting impact for this adventure and something that would have emotional resonance for Luke and also, obviously, have a big impact on the rest of the canvas, so as much as it was an exit story, it was also the start of a story for other people.”

Are you glad that the GH writing team came up with this way to connect the dots and through Luke’s last hurrah were able to leave behind a story that has impact for so many people including: Elizabeth (Rebecca Herbst) and Jason (Billy Miller)?  Comment below!

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It’s wrong to use children as drama tools..
Killing children is disgusting..
Righting a wrong is always a good thing..

Out with old in with the new ..
It will give Liz, Jake/Jason and others good stories..

Well, here is the rare –happy– on a soap …

In real life .. tragedy happens.. so why not on a Soap. . I watch a soap to be moved by the stories.. stories like this move me. some happy and some sad….. Bravo GH.. Bravo GH!!!

How many children in real life have you seen die lol
I don’t even know of a real child that died in my world..

Ive buried one child, and a friend of the family buried one who was murdered…hope you are always that lucky not to ever suffer such horrible loss…..

Well, Su…your world is not the only world.
I have overlooked much of what you say because I like you. But, please remember not to speak so lightly . Some of us do carry the pain of losing a child until our last breath. You’d be surprised, if you cared to know, how many dying children there are. It is a very sore subject….Tim S makes much sense. The death of children on soaps is, as Tim says, part of life. Children die in huge numbers on a daily basis, all over the world. Have you ever taken the time to visit a children’s hospital in Anytown, USA?
Thus, Su…..sometimes your cold tone amazes me. Perhaps, I am too sensitive, and I do apologize for that. But, have a care.

@Scott.
I have no idea what’s going on….one dilemma after the other….more puzzling, confounding disjointed story after another. I soooo agree with you.
Am I wrong in suggesting that these contradictions you mention are in Fluke-mode? ….where nothing was neatly tied up? Where I still do not understand why Luke turned into Fluke?
And, is little Jake really little Jake? If he is, does he have a device in his brain controlled by Helena or even Nik? Hmmmm.

Hi CeeCee..
you said”. But, please remember not to speak so lightly .”

I said;
”It’s wrong to use children as drama tools..
Killing children is disgusting..
Righting a wrong is always a good thing..”

And I asked a question..
”How many children in real life have you seen die’

yes children die, but how many are ”seen” dying as in the soaps..

luv ya 🙂

You know the kid didn’t really die, right? I don’t understand why people get so bent out of shape over a soap opera. I love my show as much as the next person does but it’s not real life!

Who is getting bent out of shape, Jamie? Soaps imitate life. I have no problem when a real-life tragedy is imitated on a soap. Perhaps jim, Tim and I did not make ourselves clear? Personally, it was the ‘lol’ after the mention of the death of a child that bothered me. The death of a child, even on a fictitious TV show is not funny. As Jimh says, consider yourself lucky if you never go through that pain.
And who said anything about not loving the show? We all love the show. What does that have to do with anything? Peace out.

OMG yes! Carlivati has disappointed me in so many ways lately, but bringing back Jake was a brilliant decision! Jake has ties to the Hardys, the Webers, the Quartermaines AND the Spencers! He is the ultimate legacy child. Not to mention, Luke running over his own grandchild made me HATE him! This storyline is going far in redeeming Luke, the only other thing that might have been better is if we found out Luke & Holly were LYING about cheating all those years ago, and Ethan is really ROBERT’s son (with, of course, an appearance by Tristan Rogers!) Maybe they considered that but Tristan wasn’t available. Because that is another thing that made me hate Luke .. he cheated on Laura at a time she thought they were blissfully happy together with their baby, Lucky. I am very excited to see how having Jake back will impact Jason, Liz and the Quartermaines!

Sorry. Luke Spencer is still scum in my book regardless of whether he did or didn’t kill Jake. He still got behind the wheel of a car after drinking too much.

Not too mention immediately chasing anything in a skirt only days after placing his beloved Laura in a sanitarium in 2002.

OK, you’re right, Luke is scum, LOL. His only redeeming feature was his deathless love for Laura, and even that has been destroyed, thanks to Mr. Geary. I actually quit watching GH when Laura went catatonic, I just couldn’t believe the show would do that to her. Came back 5 years later tho, when Robert & Anna returned.

*sigh*

O shoot, I was so hoping they would pull a Dallas and we would find out the last whole year was a dream or alternative reality– but it looks like it is just going to be another one of Ron’s “great” ideas that he is making up as he goes. If he had pulled a Dallas or a Lost I would have given him credit for trying it– I know a lot fans think bringing little Jake back is righting a wrong, but in my opinion, bringing him back is wrong– and in my books two wrongs don’t make a right. But it is done–we will get a lot great moments out of it– which Ron and his writing staff are very good at crafting and the actors will no doubt give great performances– social media will be a buzz– but why do I still feel something is missing

Maybe there is still a chance its all a dream and not the nightmare its become of late…lol

I think the dream thing is not going to happen, but what would save this for me, would be finding out little Jake is a clone– I prefer that be the explanation.

I know soaps are known for bringing characters back after they had “died”, but since they are alive, they never did die– but when stories are written in a way that leaves little or no doubt the character died, those characters should be left to rest in peace sort of speak.

It ruins for me, all deaths on soaps if I just assume they are coming back at some point in time. Little Jake death was written realistically– just like on Days when Bo’s daughter hit Zach and he died – it wasn’t an explosion, or falling into the ocean, or a car going off the cliff. It was written like it would have been in real life, and those kind of deaths should be final.

So for me, a cloned Jake would respect the original story, but add the way out there element and provide yet another twist for this story. So that is my new hope, that little Jake is a clone.

it ruins it for me too…maybe Anna will bring back Duke…these back-from-the-dead seems to be the only plot device RC can think of!!!

LOL….NO, NO, NO, jimh. NO DUKE!!

Yes yes yes! Best thing that has happened in a long time! Wish Johnathan Jackson could stay but I do love him on Nashville. Although everything seems good with little Jake I must wonder if he has been programmed by Helena. Guess we’ll see. Great looking kid. I hope Jason will return to Sam soon, have to wonder if he will stay with Elizabeth because Jake is his son as well. Ugh!

NO! It’s always wonderful to bring a kid back from the dead on a soap, but this is way too unbelievable and the only way to make it work is to rewrite history. Such a shame because the “history” was a award winning! I will never again invest in a GH storyline after this and the Jasam debacle as long as these writers are on board. Redeeming Luke Spencer would have been making it so he finds out he wasn’t the one who hit Jake! So yes Jake is alive but like still hit him while drunk. The only holes in the history of this was the driver and Jason maybe not really being his father! But they even mucked that up. I am beyond disappointed!

Well then fold up your campsite..make sure you don’t start any fires and move on..because on a soap and in soapland..even on the most authentic of soaps..this drama is a staple..you may not have heard of EastEnders from London’s BBC ..lot’s of americans have and watched for years..but on a show grounded in so much reality where you thought this would never happen it has..more than once..some of their most famous characters have been off the canvas thought dead for years and suddenly out the blue..and to the shock of viewers.. here comes Den Watts..Pete Beale..and now Pete’s ex wife Kathy (just brought back after 10 years dead and the secret to the square is still to come out)..thought years gone..maybe story annoys..but it should never make you quit…in the words of Flo..sprinkles are for winners…LOL

Extremely dissapointed..how on Earth could you put something so heinous off Helena’s radar anyway..seriously..that entire family is loony toon nuts..how can you be so shocked…this needs to be Helena’s last hurrah..just send the ageless cow packing..size 00 suits and all…

I agree with you, all soaps have use that plot device of bringing back a character that supposedly had died. I watched many a soap in my day, and I remember on the first soap I ever watched Edge of Night when Nicole returned “from the dead” it was a real shocker. However, with every writer that used that device over the years it no longer holds the shock value it once did.

I only watched GH off and on until about three years ago when just in order to post on this site I decided to start watching. And in those three years here are the following characters I’ve seen be brought back “from the dead” that I can recall off the top of my head

Julian Jerome, Duke, Robin, Jerry Jacks, Stravos (twice) Helena, Jason, AJ, Frank Smith, and now little Jake– and if you include characters that came back in ghost form, Georgie, Emily, Connie, AJ, and Carlos, you have to admit, that number in that amount of time is a bit silly even by soap standards. I mean even Days which has brought back “dead” Dimeras countless times wait a bit before doing it again.

So for me this twist would have been compelling if they hadn’t used this plot device so often in that last 36 months and done it better.

He did more than “reverse story history”, he contradicted it, which he always does. I am not impressed with this storyline at all, nor am I thoroughly impressed with Ron’s writing skill. It’s time that ABC fires him and finds someone else to write a quality soap. The soap has become beyond laughable.

Yes Scott, this whole story is laughable. It makes absolutely no sense. None. And this time, RC doesn’t even try and explain it.

Today, Lucky said, “that’s why I had to go along with the kidnapping, because there was a chance I would find him alive.” Really? What does that mean? Seriously, someone explain it to me. How was Frank Smith involved and why would Lucky need to go along with a kidnapping? This is so completely ridiculous and just so insulting to one’s intelligence.

Ron said they were ” trying to come up with a purpose behind this adventure” / “We had to pull out a bag of tricks and go to our go-to person, Helena Cassadine, for help, and made it work.” RC also said they “were trying to come up with a purpose behind this adventure and a lasting impact for this adventure “

He makes it seem like there is some grand thought process involved with a big picture in mind, yet he tells the most basic, thin story, that has no explanations and is totally illogical. There is always such a huge disconnect between how he explains the stories in interviews and then what we get on screen.

In addition, RC once again took liberty with GH history and rewrote it for no good reason. Frank Smith should have remained dead. He served absolutely no good purpose here and his history, life and death were rewritten for absolutely no reason. Frank died at the end of an important and well told story, he met his demise and deserved it. Now it turns out he’s been alive for twenty years. For what? So that RC could surprise us, tie him to Helena without explanation, and then kill him?

If RC is going to change history, completely change events, change the life of a character, the previous outcome of a major story, he should have a good reason to do so and be more respectful of those stories and the work of the writers before him. Doing that just to add to the camp or to fool the audience for a minute is irresponsible and disrespectful to the show’s legacy.

And, big picture, was this really an adventure as RC calls it? A stop at the Triple L, few hotel rooms, Jennifer Smith wanting sex, Ethan standing on a bomb, Lucky showing up a day later, Frank Smith wheeled out and then Luke sits at a table with Helena until Jake hits him with his toy car. I’m underwhelmed to say the least.

And not to mention, if Helena had “Jake” this entire time (and I do not believe it truly is Jake), who was watching him when she was “dead” and frozen? And if he’s been under the watchful eye of a Cassadine, does Nikolas know this, and has Robin seen him? Again, too much open-ended questions, plotholes and silly revised history that is making no sense to me. I am not happy with this return, or where the so-called “storyline” has been turning.

I am thrilled Carlivati decided to correct the travesty Guza created. Guza killed a legacy child and the mother’s loss was glossed over in favor of Jason,Luke and Lucky. In my opinion this is a brilliant move and Carlivati will hopefully play all the beats. For example, little Jake being scared and uneasy around virtual strangers. I’ve always thought something broke in Liz when Jake “passed”. Hopefully his return will allow her to mend, make healthier choices and find happiness with the man who loves her warts and all-Nik.

I think it’s awesome!!!!

Extraordinarily, magnificently, inexplicably implausible. Just plain ridiculous. How I wish ABC had cancelled GH and kept One Life To Live.

Yes, but One Life To Live was also written by Carlivati.

David – You’re correct on Carlivati, but I don’t remember for how many years he wrote. OLTL did have the Mitch Laurence character who wouldn’t stay dead and the most preposterous thing ever with Victor Lord being alive and wanting his granddaughter’s heart. In general, though, when people died on OLTL I think they stayed dead. Maybe I’m just overly sensitized to it nowadays, but no one seems to stay dead on GH. Maybe I just liked the OLTL characters better than those on GH. I don’t watch the other 3 soaps, so maybe everyone is doing regular back-from-the-dead story lines. I don’t mind “MIA” back-from-the-dead stories, but dying on screen, donating your body parts, and still being alive? Oh well…thanks for making me think a little more.

Carlivati wrote for OLTL from 1996-2012, but was head writer from 2007-2012 only. For some reason, I feel the opposite of you, Anthony. On GH, I don’t mind the “back from the dead” stories because the show has been implausible for years (Casey the Alien, anyone?) and because I feel they have to right the many wrongs of past regimes. Yes, they don’t always work out – for example, bringing back A.J. only to kill him off again, but it is my understanding from those in the know at ABC, that Sean Kanin objected to playing drunk A.J. since he had to battle that addiction in real life, yet drun A.J. gave him some of his best material. OLTL was rife with back from the dead stories that had no meaning. I got tired of Mitch and Victor Lord’s many resurrections were just plain silly. Also, it gets annoying when there is a different actor playing the part each time. I saw no reason to bring back Frank Smith, played by an actor we’ve never seen before, especially when every other character in that scene was the original actor (i.e. Anthony Geary, Genie Francis, Emma Samms, Nathan Parsons and Jonathan Jackson) only to kill him off again. One Life To Live was always the more realistic of the two soaps so their constant bringing back characters from the dead annoyed me far more than anything they do on GH these days.

I don’t watch GH but this article makes no sense to me.

Questions for a GH fan: Did “Little Jake” die on screen? How was it explained that he was still alive?

I am a firm believer that the majority of soap characters who die should stay DEAD. It does a disservice to the show and tries the patience (and insults the intelligence) of the viewers who loyally follow a serial to “undo” these deaths.

What impact does the on-screen death of, say, Stephanie Forrester mean if, thereafter, the writers revisit the event and craft some completely implausible explanation (which does not fit with the prior facts) to reveal that Stephanie is still alive living in France???

IMO, this type of plot seriously undermines the viability of soaps.

THE DEAD SHOULD STAY DEAD!!! There are TONS of creative, compelling plots that a writer could concoct by willing to put the work into it and not falling back on this stuff.

Well, i watch GH, and it dont make sense to me…down to watching once a week…once Luke leaves and Jason is revealed i might stop altogether unless things improve!!!

OMG…PEOPLE..IT’S THE CASSADINES…Audrey and Monica are probably frozen solid..or forced into servitude on that island..THEY ARE BAT S…CRAZY..they probably have somebodies cloned puppy from the 80’s there too…Jimh..you better not stop watching..one less viewer means a harder fight to stay airing..you may not think so..but your non watching coupled with others hurts..and you know it’s not beyond Helena so stopping acting indignant..lol

Now Jim!

Sorry, I hate coming back from the dead stories. It’s cheap and lazy writing…. and it’s used waaaaaay too often.

Totally ok with this. It’s was a stupid story to kill off a child for no reason. When BJ died, there was a MEANINGFUL/powerful story behind it. Jake dying was Guza/Pratt/Phelps garbage. Wish Cartini would right many many many more wrongs. Emily, Alan, Georgie to name just a few…

Really good choice as it creates story for other characters and gives Elizabeth even more reason to hold on to jake.

They barely do anything with her other two sons…Aiden is rarely shown…doubt theyll do anything much by bringing Jake back!!!

Jake offers lots of story so he will definitely be seen.

I think little Jake was brought back for an intrinsic reason. The is a storyline in the making, gathering steam in its crescendo. There will be a revolution arising between Liz and Sam over Jason/Jake. Once he realizes who he is, Jason will be faced with having two families. What to do? He will be forced to choose. Not the children, of course. But, the women. We know Liz wants Jason…what about Sam. Patrick is so obscure, at this point, I don’t even count him….will he be in the picture? Hmmmm.
Little Jake’s reappearance is to create controversy and havoc. As many have questioned…is he truly little Jake? And, is he a threat? As davlestev points out, it’s the Cassadines ..this child could be a robot. EXTANT, anyone?

Yes, I am beyond thrilled that Ron decided to bring back Jake. Elizabeth has been broken & broken hearted ever since she lost her little boy. Considering that Jake was killed off during that dark period that Guza & co. had fired Becky & planned to usher Liz off permanently– this is definitely something that needed to be fixed. I know RC says he wrote this story for Luke’s departure- but this will bring great joy to many Elizabeth fans. Very happy right now

This is one the best news from GH in a few years..This story is rich with possibilities and great acting for many characters on the show..Also, it is great seeing Constance Towers again..She is just mesmerizing as Helena..Keep her on the canvas and drop Dr. O who really has run her course..Welcome back little Jake Spencer!!

No. I know a lot of people will find that cold and they will be happy that little Jake is alive. I say they never should have killed him off in the first place! We suffered through the grief for what? This team rewrites so much history that there’s no point in watching the show. You can’t believe that anything is real so why should we invest our time?

Becky, I don’t watch GH but couldn’t agree more with your comment. It is writing like this that leads viewers to turn off these shows.

As a long-time Y&R viewer, I vividly remember the on-screen “death” of Phillip Chancellor III in 1989. Jill, Kay, and Nina mourned the young man’s death for TWENTY years. His untimely passing drove several plots and was a tragic (but critical) moment in the character’s history.

Jump to five years ago and some Einstein decides it would be a great idea to “undo” this. Phillip (played by the same actor as before, a guy who since leaving the show came out as gay in real life) returns and reveals that he is still alive. Phillip explained that he’s been living the good life in Australia the entire time and that he “faked” his death (convoluted facts that I don’t even remember — but I can remember the on-screen death!). A main problem was that the actor is not that strong and came across as very wooden, especially against the very talented Tricia Cast (former wife Nina). One of the Einsteins must have quickly realized that he didn’t have the acting skills to carry the part forward so Phillip left for Australia again.

The entire Phillip thing was beyond strange. When the 3 women thought he was dead, they grieved his loss and mentioned him for 2 decades. Once they learned Phillip was living it up Down Under, he is NEVER mentioned. It seems the women cared more for the guy when they thought he was in a grave, pining away for him. When they learned he is roaming around the earth, they didn’t even seem to care.

These types of storylines (and the huge statement they make about the creativity and quality of the plots we currently get) is KILLING this genre. They’re flashing and will grab a headline on site like this or a soap magazine but, long-term, they are devasting.

As you point out (and I agree), how many of these “deaths” do viewers need to literally see on the air (not talking about the missing body business; we know they’re not dead!) and the bait/switch plot twist like this before the viewers don’t give a damn anymore??

Thirty years ago, Dallas learned a hard lesson when it dumped an entire season in order to bring Bobby Ewing back to life. That show never really recovered from that. Viewers felt cheated. It doesn’t look like the writers at GH (or Y&R) pay any attention to that.

Ecstatic!

This Jake Webber storyline where it turns out the child is still alive will end up alienating even more viewers than when Jake was killed by a car. This storyline is implausible and the sugar rush emotions this will generate will quickly crash when Luke leaves and Jake will be infrequently mentioned and rarely seen along with Cameron and Aiden. It does a disservice to all of the actors involved with the original storyline. The show has not only jumped the shark…it has killed the shark…brought the shark back from the dead…killed the shark again only to have it come back to life and eat the brain of Rob Carlivati.

Seriously? The 1.6’s that plagued GH during Jasams last run after Jakes death is what KILLED GH. Your agenda is showing seriously 🙂

I still don’t think anyone explained really how Helena pulled this one off. Is Jake’s kidney really in Josslyn? Since Jake was brain dead did Helena keep him on ice until Robin worked her magic. Also did Robin or even Jason (pre-car wreck) even know He was alive? So many holes and as of right now it doesn’t seem like the writing team has even attempted to figure out how this back from the dead was pulled off.

What I am hoping though is that nothing else crazy happens before Liz gets to see baby Jake and hopefully admits the truth about Jason because that s/l is beyond annoying right about now.

As for Liz sometimes you love someone so much you make stupid decisions their is not one character on this show that does not have flaws. Why are we expecting Liz to be any different she has flaws her speech about everybody makes mistakes and they are forgiven etc was spot on. Everybody wanted RC to write story for Liz you have it she is not perfect love true live makes you do crazy shit

I adore the actress she is a love!

Can’t deny how beautiful Rebecca is. Those eyes…that skin!

Personally I didn’t care one way or the other about Liz getting a s/l. This one however has dragged on long enough and is played out IMHO. I would be more tolerant of her keeping the truth from Jason if she was doing it last year or even around March, but it’s to the point now where it is very easy to “hate” everyone aware of this secret and keeping quite, since now it’s just a case of the writers once again drawing out something that didn’t need this long of a “suspense”.

I’m really liking this plot twist. This was one of the ugliest stories to ever come out of the Bob Guza years. This is a nice way of restoring something that destroyed so many in the past; soaps don’t always need horrible drama to make it good. Especially considering Luke is leaving, this rights a wrong. I also think it’s great they picked that same kid again! It’s just too bad they’ll have to take away JJ just as the reunion happens… I think the best way to make it end would be that Lucky and Luke pair up together to ride off into the sunset (and perhaps with Laura too?).

i’ve said this before, i’m not sure how to feel about one head writer rewriting the history of another, but if the explanation is convincing enough then i’ll go along with it. I always hated how they cut liz connection to jason, via little jake, so i’m glad the character is back theres so much juicy history with this character and everyone he’s connected too, i hope this forces liz to confess that jason is alive, i know she loves him but with little jake returning she should be thanking the gods for this miracle, and for her not to want to let jason love ones not know he’s alive is not in her character. RC can’t let liz fall so down, thats not the liz we love. now she has as much of a right then sam. they both have kids with jason, and this is a soap so it shouldn’t be easily resolve with jake simply choosing one over the other, this has many layer as far as storyline goes so no camp should think it should be resolve anytime soon. for now i’ll enjoy little jakes return, and let the chips fall where they fall.

I think this storyline should have stayed in the past – Jake gone. If they can’t come up with anything original then maybe they should give up as writers. I’m wondering how Tony feels about this storyline since didn’t he win an EMMY for this when it happened? Now, GH is suddenly “cleaning things up for Luke” and bring back this child that we DON’T need back on the show??? I hate return from the dead storylines, especially when we saw Jake die and Josselyn got his organ. This is taking “returning from the dead” to a whole new level.
LAME!

Totally agree…show should move forward once the story is done and not go backwards rewriting history…thats why i love Britains Coronation Street…this show has been on the air 55 years…it is character driven drama about working middle class family who deal with real life issues…once a character dies they always stay dead and never return!!!

I’m all for moving forward too. It’s especially worse when history is re-written.
Way too many dead characters on GH coming back. When is Alan returning? 🙂

@jimh….Speaking of Corrie, have you been watching the death/funeral storyline of Deidre Barlow??? I read about it in the British press, and it is supposed to be quite the beautiful and touching send-off for the late Anne Kirkbride!!!! She was truly beloved on and off-screen by her soap opera family.

Ces,,
Jake is not coming back from the dead, he did not die..
A child died but it wasn’t Jake..

Jake’s return is great stories for Liz, Jason/Jake and others, and that is good thing..

If one follows along with the story and has patience for it to develop then they will find things out..
Soap watching 101 – never overthink, never ….

I once read on a soap writers/producers blog/whichever don’t recall whom just what was said..
Soap stories are never ending they can continue on decades after to forever.
A long forgotten story or character can be brought back at anytime from the holding grave. (the holding grave, I liked that lol)

The history is forever there, it can be added onto or taken away from and adding onto the past history is the story still evolving… (as to what really happened..

I am recalling the words, not verbatim ,,

Technically he did die considering he’s been off the show for 5 years and everyone thought he was dead.
Still, I think it’s lazy writing to bring back characters that have “died” – there are plenty of characters on the show that walk around with nothing to do, I don’t think we need a kid to return to create more story. Writers need to be original than that. Once this bump of a story is over, Jake will be upstairs with the rest of Elizabeth’s kids.

id be ok if Alan returns if the rumor is true but after that let the characters stay dead!!!

My understanding is Luke did hit the child and then they did the switch I am not sure how I feel about it I know a lot of people accept BM as Jason but it is tough for me because SB for me will always be Stone Cold and I miss my Billy Abbott I am going to give Ron a pass on this I think he is getting enough piling on for a lifetime me I will just sit back and take it as it goes. Let’s all be grown ups he is RC a pompous you know what but he does live daytime.

Love!

I actually thought I would hate the new Jason, but I love him!! He smiles, make some jokes, seems more comfortable in his skin, and still possesses the Stone Cold charm and macho ness.
I CAN NOT wait until this “secret of his existence” comes out!!! My favorite storyline by far right now…

Maybe my problem is I miss his take on Billy Abbott on Y&R oh well.

It’s very hard to not like Billy Miller. Even when he played the ‘baddest’ of the bad, Richie on AMC, we couldn’t help but like him. He just has charisma…magnetic personality, LI, right?

Jake may still be dead… he may be a zombi and GH will be bringing some of the Walking Dead themes to the show.. Bravo GH!! This will be a great storyline…

This is not only righting a wrong, but so far it’s been beautifully done. LOVED JJ today–and I’m not generally a big fan of his (actually like him better on Nashville).

Jake died due to a regime at the show & network with an agenda. They’re all gone & this needed to be done. The only viewers who HATE this are the Jason/Sam shippers, who seem to watch GH for a narrow reason and the Ron haters, just because.

Luke said Helena took the kid. It is totally within her character to do so. Nothing about this is outrageous given her past behaviors.

I wonder how they will send JJ off after finding Jake. And they seemed to leave it up in the air if Nik knew (which would break my heart–unless he somehow orchestrated the discovery). Though Lucky did tell Luke he was “running” from things.

Oh and all the people saying why bring a kid back since they never feature the kids were likely the same ones complaining about how the kids (Cam, Spencer & Emma) were on too much,

Agreed! And people often forget that those kids will be the future main characters of GH, in 10-20 years, which is why they are so important!

I remember Lulu being this really young kid that was always at her grandma’s and would be on barely a few times a years and then they aged her and started having her in the teen stories (Maxie, Georgie, Dillon, even Johnny). Before them, Nick, Lucky, Emily and Liz were the younger ones. Sure enough, these are all grown up characters that have served the stories of GH at some point or another, while the others are permanent fixtures on the show.

I know that art imitates life…but Baby Jakes storyline
should never have been written in the first place.
Destructive Duo Guza & Phelps won’t have the last
WORD!!!

Sometimes you feel something so deep in your gut that you just say what the hell! I love Luz I think the actress brings it home every time. She is going to lose as we all know but hey she did jut for love

i don’t think she’s going to …. my gut tells me… I adore Liz… and Billy Miller, together

on friday’ ep : when Liz told him she loved him (time stood still) and he in turn told her; “I love You” too

for all the Jason/Sam fans…. it just wouldn’t be the same… and that includes for Billy Miller

anyway… 3 things truly stood out for me on friday’ ep.

#1. the chemistry between Luke and Lucky. as i’ve posted… Anthony Geary, in all his being…. is never not better… when Jonathon Jackson is with. total believability that they are father and son… and have each other back… Spencer Magic

#2. Jonathon Jackson…. Period. a stoic calm delivery with so much read in his eyes, face… the tears…. his natural being for the camera is stellar

#3. Liz and Billy declaring their love…. still brings tears to my eyes

ie: your post ( perhaps I still miss Billy Miller, from Y&R) I posted as such on the thread: “hello my name is Jake, what’s yours”

I like when Monica saw Dillan…. “If I could have this house filled with Quartermaines, I would… (as she caressed Dillan, face) “…but theirs not that many of us left ”

look out world… Jason and Jake are home

Another one of those, huh? moments…

We will see how this works out, because if I recall correctly Jake is Jason’s son, right? With Helena anything is possible! I am not sure I like this, it is so sad to mourn a death and it was a sad time when Jake was hit by Luke’s car. I just think , why relive? That was such an awkward time and storyline years ago. I really don’t like this writing team, I just feel like they still don’t get who these “core characters” are and therefore some of the stories don’t make sense with the characters we’ve known for years, and decades…

Awesome!

I love people saying this story is implausible. …I think they must never have seen a soap opera! Good grief. Half the soap characters in history have died and been resurrected – some multiple times! People been frozen, had doppelgängers, plastic surgery doubles, Amnesia, past lives, multiple personalities, been princesses on islands and didn’t even know it…COME ON! It’s a soap! This story is GREAT! Bravo Carlivati and GH! Phenomenal storytelling!

Yes, it is a soap, but this storyline is far beyond plausible in terms of a soap-universe. It is not phenomenal storytelling, it is lazy and very inconsistent with the show’s history, and even inconsistent with Ron’s own writing.

I think the whole thing is absolutely ridiculous. Jake save Joss and now you expect us to believe that Helena kidnapped him and held him all this time and then just gives him to Luke. Im sorry but most of us weren’t born yesterday and don’t buy this for one minute. People in real life don’t get brain dead kids back and some people who watch have lost children and you expect them to believe this “resurrection” story. I think not. As much as I love GH , I am sick to death of waiting on this Jason reveal and on Liz lying to him and now we get this… Plainly stupid!! taking a year to reveal a character is entirely too long, Jason’s story should be about his family and not bringing back a dead child that he was never allowed to raise. I’m seriously ready to stop watching and I actually thought the point way to bring back viewers not get rid of them. This isn’t Passions and Stephano Dimera or Helena Cassadine haven’t figured out brain transplants yet and the only way to make this work is to put Liz’s own brother in on it… just plain ridiculous!!

Honestly, beyond thrilled for Jake’s return. Fronz,Guza,JFP are Soap Killers. The horrific killing of Dynasty child cause GH to lose over 500,000 fans. Thank you ABC &GH for bring Jake back.

While the explanation of where Jake has been and what happened to him is stupid (Helena had him? Really? Like we didn’t see Patrick fail at saving him in the operating room?), I am thrilled that Liz has her son back. They never should’ve killed Jake to start with. Crappy storytelling. Glad it’s been righted.

When they killed off Jake it was to prevent any relationship between Jason and Elizabeth. Since they are in a relationship I suppose all bets are off. I would prefer Nick and Elizabeth They are perfect for each other. I also think that it is overdo for Jason to regain his memory.

It’s HARD to have a grand adventure when you’re working with a low or no budget….

Good point.

Jake is back, and I am happy for that. I am happy that Guza’s wrong has been righted. What I am UNHAPPY about is how they’re playing this story out. At the risk of repeating myself over and over and over again, there is no emotion or quality or depth to any of this story. You can clearly tell that it is forced by the actors. Because this reveal already happened, mixed with the fact that Jonathon Jackson is only back for four episodes, this horrible head writer has wrapped the story up with no fallout (This is his MO). How believeable is if going to be that Lucky brings Jake home to Liz and just disappears again? His son has returned from the dead! How much more charity work can he do? I understand that Jackson signed on for a certain amount of episodes, but even I could have probably written this horrible exit story better than this joke of a writer could. I am not emotionally invested in this show anymore because everything is rushed and detached. I hope to the Soap heavens that they find someone to replace Ron Carlivati– and soon–because he is killing our show!

I’m not a fan of killing kids on soaps BUT it happened and hopefully they will write a plausible explanation. I must say the drama of a “Dead” child returning should be a goldmine of juicy scenes for the adults affected. Rebecca should use this opportunity to pad an Emmy nomination!

The Jake story line was devastating, one that bothered me then and still does. But it took courage to tell it. Unfortunatly, soap characters are NEVER really killed off anymore. It makes it more difficult to invest in these stories. We mourned for two years over Jake – then viola! He ain’t dead! WHAT?

Jake was killed for ONE reason and that was to make it okay for Jason to spawn with Sam after being a deadbeat. That was AGENDA from Frons and Ron corrected it. Had this been the little Replacement kid, those pissed off would be praising it a truly believable miracle. In a genre where abortions come to life 25 years later, and people try to freeze the world, suddenly THIS isn’t believable. Jasam fans, stay pressed 🙂

If people actually watch the show we’ve heard several explanations of what happened. Helena snatched Jake BEFORE he died. The “dead” kid was likely someone else there for the illegal organ harvesting scheme going on.

This is no more implausible than Sam’s miraculous ability to get pregnant and give birth or any number of other “implausible” stories that if they involved your favorites, you probably happily embraced.

I think today they explained why JJ won’t be hanging around–and I’m sure tomorrow’s confrontation with Nik will seal the deal.

This has been a gut-wrenching week of watching GH. The acting’s been stellar, much of the writing has been beautiful and if you’re begrudging Jake’s return because it will interfere with the Jason/Sam reunion or you hate Liz–just stop! If Sam can have the miracle birth of Danny, Elizabeth can have the miracle return of her son.

Helena could not have snatched Jake before he died because Liz saw her brain dead child. Only a dead clone of Jake could have replaced the body of Jake, and so far we haven’t heard that’s the explanation, so that’s why none of us are buying what you are considering a valid explanation.

I think that the creative powers behind my all time favourite soap (35 yrs and counting) are doing the best job they can under the circumstances. They had to quickly come up with a scenario for an exiting legacy character, it is not like they had months and months to work it out. So I take my hat off to them, in so much as they are trying to redeem the wrongs that previous regimes made with the Luke character. In my humble opinion, I think we should rejoice the fact that we have a stellar cast of phenomenal actors and a creative team that cares about the future of our soap, and tries to pay hommage to the historical past of said soap I guess you can not please all of the people all of the time.

I love that you brought Jake back. But now time for Jake to find out he is Jason. This story has gone on long enough. It is getting ridiculous.

I am glad that Jake has returned to his mother and siblings however, why the writers needed to go there in the first place? Elizabeth I have always like but lately the writers continue to make her a desparate, dishonest person. This actress has suffered much at the hands of the gh writers old or new. I wish she had of left with Steve Burton and went to the YOUNG and Restless. I believe they would do her justice for her acting , her skills are dormant and she is disrespected by her coworkers. She deserve much better storylines and far more respect than she has been given.
Sam gets all the men and she can do no wrong but her history has not been any better but worse than Elizabeth Weber. Now you have Sam with Patrick who by the way have no chemistry whats soever. Watching them is like they are forcing the issue , Poor Patrick he is the male version of Elizabeth. No respect and bad storylines! I wish but I will not hold my breath that Patrick and Sabrina will get back together. They had chemistry at least in my book. While we are on the subject I just thought I would point out that Michael and Sabrina dont have chemistry either. When you look at their scenes together its no passion no depth and its like watching a poor version of make believe. Jason loved Elizabeth disspite the fact the writers wanting to keep him with Sam. Now they are going to have him hate her for trying to hold on to who she has always l oved. I dont agree with her choice I do understand her desparation but again that is your fault as writers. Poor Elizabeth has to take the heat for your poor unprofessional writing. I can not understand for the life of me how GH made it pass fifty years. Who are you paying for that position? The fact that GH has supposely won so many awards I can come to only one conclusion. The awards ceremony must be fixed and the payment of the conspirators must be high! Leave little Jake alone and give him an opportunity to be with his father and keep both alive. Even though to m e Jason Morgan will always be Steve Burton no disrespect to Billy Miller. I like the guy as an actor just not as Jason Morgan. Now that I remember you made Sabrina lose her baby with Patrick only to get pregnant with Michaels baby . Let me guess you are going to have this baby survive so Sabrina will always be connected to someone in the mob or close to the mob. Why am I not surprise? Poor Sabrina , she broke with Carlos because he was in the mob. Now you have the same situation but with a different person. I guess i should not be so surprise Gh has been recycling storylines for years. I can not wait to see Emily come back from the dead Ha, Ha, Ha pathetic and just plain sad.

General Hospital

Nancy Lee Grahn’s Star-Studded ALS Fundraiser Reveals “I’ll Be There” Video Featuring Soap Opera Notables

Talk about your impressive line-up! It’s a soap fans dream and for a great cause. General Hospital’s Nancy Lee Grahn (Alexis Davis) is prepping her one-night only ALS fundraiser which will feature many of her friends and co-stars.

The benefit is set for May 4th in Glendale, California. Slated to participate are Genie Francis, Jane Elliot, Peter Bergman, Maurice Benard, Eileen Davidson, Thorsten Kaye, Michelle Stafford, Stephen Nichols, Rena Sofer, Jason Thompson, Kelly Monaco, Melissa Claire Egan, Maura West, Kristina Wagner, Gregory Harrison, Trevor St. John, Kate Mansi, Kirsten Storms, Cynthia Watros, and many others.

On Wednesday, Grahn took to her social media and released an “I’ll be there” video shout-out featuring, Monaco, Elliot, Bergman, Bernard, West, Harrison, St. John and more. In a touching and important moment in the new video, Michelle Strogny, who is battling ALS, is featured.

Photo: ABC

Previously, in speaking with Soap Opera Digest on the impetus of the event, Grahn recalled, “I was actually doing Zoom events during Covid and I met this woman that I just fell in love with, Michelle Strojny. At the time, Michelle had been living with ALS for four years. Now, it’s five years. She is a mom of a teenage son, she has the most wonderful husband, and she has been dealing with this [disease] for quite a while. And obviously, there isn’t a cure yet. It’s not survivable yet. But as she says, it’s not incurable. Nothing is; it’s underfunded. But anyway, I just really dug this woman. She is so grounded and filled with grace, and she spends all of her time working to raise money for the cause. We did a fundraiser for her last year and then I thought, ‘You know what? The soaps don’t ever get together to do something for charity.’ Collectively, we have this amazing community and we don’t collectively use it for a good cause, and I think it’s such an easy thing for us to do and we could potentially really make a difference.”

As GH viewers know, Gregory Harrison is playing the character of Gregory Chase, who is also battling ALS in a touching storyline that is currently playing out shedding a light on this disease.

For information on Nancy’s event, including the stars who are s scheduled to participate click here. To purchase tickets to the event click here.

Check out the video featuring Nancy’s friends and co-stars below.  Now let us know, your thought son the line-up for the benefit and helping raise awareness and funds for ALS research via the comment section.

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General Hospital

‘General Hospital’ Writer Shannon Peace Let Go, and Shares on Sprina: “One of My Only Regrets is to Not Have the Opportunity to Develop That ‘Ship’ Further”

As General Hospital’s new head writing team of Elizabeth Korte and Patrick Mulcahy gets off the ground and running, there are still changes a foot on the writing team.

Now comes word via breakdown writer Shannon Peace that she is no longer on contract with the long-running ABC soap heading into its 61st season. Peace shared a heartfelt message on her Instagram, thanking the fans, and the show for the opportunity and the importance of diversity in the writers room.

Peace began, “After almost 3 years on staff and 106 episodes penned, I am no longer on contract with General Hospital. Writing for this country’s longest running television serial drama has been an education of epic proportions; I will forever be grateful that I earned my WGA card on a daytime fixture that holds memories for so many.” (Peace pictured below with GH EP Frank Valentini and script writer, Charlotte Gibson from about ten months ago).

Photo: SPeaceIG

Shannon added “Even more importantly, as the sole Black breakdown writer (and only POC in the writers room) during my tenure, I pushed for vital interactions and discussions that prioritized inclusion, visibility, and representation”

The writer pointed to the example of vital interaction when in story, “Stella and Portia’s frank July 2022 conversation about the role race played in Esme’s framing of Trina is just one example of the impact I’m gratified to have had.”

Acknowledging former GH co-head writers was also part of Peace’s farewell expressing, “Appreciation to my former bosses, Chris Van Etten and Dan O’Connor – not only taking a chance on me, but for valuing my opinion and championing my voice.”

Courtesy/ABC

Many GH fans know that Peace was key to the development of the love story between Trina Robinson and Spencer Cassadine as played by Tabyana Ali and Nicholas Chavez. Shannon gave a special shout-out to ‘Sprina’ fans, “I also want to thank fans who were supportive of my work, especially the recognition of my love for ‘Sprina’. One of my only regrets is not having to develop that ‘ship’ further.”

She concludes her statement with,”In the aftermath of a historic writer’s strike that shed new light on the troubling ways writers are regarded in daytime, my sincere hope is that General Hospital recommits to valuing staff writer efforts and input, with a more intentional focus on diverse viewpoints — and thrives for another 60 years.”

Accompanying her post, Shannon added, “Thank you all for the love and support these last few years. I hope GH fans get all they hope for and more!”

So, what do you think about GH not renewing Shannon’s contract? Will there be more continued changes afoot? What do you think is the future of ‘Sprina’ anyway at this point as viewers wait to see if Nicholas Chavez officially returns to the show?  Comment below.

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General Hospital

GENERAL HOSPITAL: Jason Learns Britt Died and Tells Anna He Has Been Working For Cates Since November 2021

On the Tuesday, March 26th of General Hospital, Anna (Finola Hughes) and the viewers learn about where Jason (Steve Burton) has been for over two and half years. However, Jason gets some news of his own.

Anna is visiting Jason at the PCPD interrogation room. She asks him if he shot Dante (Dominic Zamprogna), which he flatly denies. Anna believes him, but she tells Jason it doesn’t matter, because video footage shows him on the roof at the time of the shooting

When talk turns to Jason not willing to speak without his lawyer present, Anna can’t grasp why Jason would instead spend an hour alone talking with John Cates (Adam J. Harrington).

Photo: ABC

It is then that Anna brings up that John went by “Jagger” and that the two of them knew each other in high school. Jason doesn’t recall much of his time in high school following his brain injury, but then he gets furious realizing John knew about “Jason’s” past. That is when Jason slams the table and tells Anna, “I’ve been working for John Cates since November 2021.”

Next, Jason explains further that he has been working as an informant for the FBI. Anna wants to know how this came about and he tells her that after the tunnel collapsed, and he couldn’t make it to Britt (Kelly Thiebaud)… all of a sudden he sees Anna’s face drop.  Anna is the first person to tell him that Britt died and was murdered. She tells Jason the killer is in custody, but he continues to be shocked, overwhelmed with tears welling up in his eyes. Realizing he has to pivot to save his life, Jason continues telling Anna how he wound up working with John.

Jason explains that after the tunnel collapse in Greece, FBI agents grabbed him and placed him under arrest and took him to Quantico where he met John. At Quantico, John played a recording of RICO violations and offered Jason a deal if he agreed to be an informant against Pikeman, the illegal arms dealer.

Anna hears from Jason that he thinks Pikeman is selling illegal arms to anyone flagged by the NSA but has ties to the WSB which they needed a civilian to infiltrate their organization as a military soldier, a mercenary.

Jason tells Anna he was a part of the team brought into eliminate Sonny (Maurice Benard). Every time an attempt was made on Sonny’s life over the last two years, a different team was sent to do the job. Anna gets furious when she learns that John told Jason his job was to kill Sonny and she was with John at the warehouse that night. Jason ensured the sniper missed Sonny and left the rifle behind. However, they were supposed to meet an extraction team. Before he was shot, Dante saw it was Jason on the roof and when he turned around with his hands over his head, Dante was shot by the other guy. Jason says if Dante dies, he’ll be charged with capital murder and then will be useless to the FBI.

Photo: ABC

Meanwhile, John visits Bobbie’s and runs into Carly (Laura Wright). She learns Jason is in custody and is going to head to the PCPD. Before she does, Carly has some words with Cates when she learns not only does John have a vendetta against Sonny, but Jason too.  Carly tells John he should recuse himself from the case.

So, what did you think about the moment when Jason learned Britt died? What do you think of Jason’s return storyline thus far and what we learned about Jagger/Jason and more? Comment below. But first, check out a moment from today’s GH with Jason and Anna.

 

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