General Hospital
Bradford Anderson Addresses GH Fans On Last Minute Spinelli Switch: "My Plea To You Is To Be Compassionate, Understanding & Appreciative Of Whatever Decisions They Made."
Photo Credit: HutchinsPhoto.com
GH fan favorite, Bradford Anderson took to his facebook page in the last 24 hours to address some of the outcry and negativity from fans of the ABC soap opeea who were disheartened to learn that Anderson could not play upcoming episodes as the beloved character of Spinelli, and thus was replaced by another talented actor, former DAYS star, Blake Berris.
Anderson clearly relates in his post that an opportunity arose for him to appear on one of his all time favorite dramas Homeland, and it was his decision to back out of taping GH at the last minute due to a scheduling conflict that quickly arouse. He askes GH fans to support General Hospital’s casting decision and get behind Berris.
Here is what Bradford shared: “Hey all! So I’m appearing in a couple episodes of the upcoming season of Homeland on Showtime! It’s a show that I’ve watched and loved since it began, so to be working on it is pretty exciting. The unfortunate part is that it conflicted with some episodes of GH that I was supposed to do, and I had to back out of those episodes. To make it even worse, it all happened last minute. I put GH in a very difficult position and for that I am incredibly sorry.
GH took whatever steps they needed to proceed without me. My plea to you is to be compassionate, understanding, and appreciative of whatever decisions they made. If anything looks or sounds different than you’re used to, understand that it’s because of a decision that I made. The situation was created by ME.
I know some might rush to negativity, but I’d like to urge everyone to think about how unique our genre is, and how soaps truly embody the spirit of ‘the show must go on’. To give you an idea of hard GH had to work, they learned on a Friday that I wouldn’t be there to film on Monday. Imagine having to find an actor to play Spin in an important storyline, OVER A WEEKEND. And just wait til you see who they found… The perfect choice. I for one can’t wait to watch. I’d like to apologize to everyone at GH and thank them for being understanding of my predicament. SO thank you all for your continued support of me, for sending as much positivity to GH and it’s actors…and for WATCHING!! Love and thanks, Bradford.”
So, what did you think of Anderson’s hearfelt post? Can you now support GH’s decision on casting Berris, who deserves a shot at filling in for Anderson? Comment below.
General Hospital
Cameron Mathison Previews New Game Show ‘Beat The Bridge’ (Promo)
As previously reported, Cameron Mathison (Drew, General Hospital) will be seen doing double duty this summer when he premieres in June as the host of Game Show Network’s Beat The Bridge.
Now, while Cameron will be the host with the most, that doesn’t mean he will stop playing GH’s Drew. In fact, Mathison taped the game show in 2023, so it will now air for the first time in 2024.
Taking to his Instagram this week, Cameron shared his enthusiasm and some new hosting snaps, sharing, “Our newest game show host reporting for duty😎 Head over to the Game Show Network YouTube channel for your first look at the show and don’t miss Beat The Bridge premiering this June! I can’t wait for you guys to see this!”
Photo: GSN
In Beat The Bridge, an enormous interactive bridge dares players to cross by stepping on the right answers to challenging trivia questions. As they play, each steps forward and puts money in their team’s bank, with bonus money for each successful crossing. Here’s the catch: the team gets to keep the money only if it can “beat the bridge” by returning one of its players back across before time expires.
Photo: ABC
Meanwhile, on GH, Drew and Nina (Cynthia Watros) recently had hate-sex. Do you think its a one-time deal? Where will Drew’s story take him next under new head writers, Patrick Mulcahey and Elizabeth Korte? Stay tuned.
Now below, check out the first promo for Beat The Bridge from the Game Show Network with you host, Cameron Mathison. Then, let us know, will you be checking out the game this summer? Share your thoughts in the comment section.
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General Hospital
GENERAL HOSPITAL: Nina Confronts Ava for Sabotaging Her Relationship With Sonny and Signs the Divorce Papers
Looks like Nina (Cynthia Watros) and Ava (Maura West) are back to be each other’s sworn enemy number one. By the end of the Monday, April 22nd episode of General Hospital, the women know where they stand with each other after Nina goes in on Ava accusing her of wanting Sonny (Maurice Benard) all to herself, while her marriage has been on the rocks.
In story, at Nina’s office, Ava shows up to see Nina and says she is sorry about what happened with Sonny and that he reacted the way he did, acknowledging that is was over the top, even for Sonny. Ava says she’ll smooth things over, but Nina says she now understands how manipulative and transparent Ava really is.
Given their horrible history, Nina goes in on Ava and how she should never have trusted her. Nina wants to know how long has Ava had this agenda dating all the way back to telling Nina to turn Carly (Laura Wright) and Drew (Cameron Mathison) into the SEC. Ava says she never told her do to that, but Nina wants to know how long Ava has been playing her for a fool.
Courtesy/ABC
Ava says she moved in with Sonny to keep Avery safe and she wants to be on good terms with Avery’s father, Sonny. Nina thinks she likes being in Sonny’s inner circle. Ava tells Nina if she goes to him about her advising Nina to call the SEC on Carly and Drew, it won’t work. Sonny still considers Nina a traitor and he will think she’s lying because she’s so desperate to win him back. Ava says if Nina would stop blaming everyone else that maybe Sonny would respect her. Nina says “like he does you?” Ava says Sonny not only respects her, but he also counts on her.
From there, Ava launches into why she and Sonny understand each other, after all, Sonny is a powerful, turbulent, and sometimes violent man. She goes so far to say if Nina wanted someone to just sit by the fire with and play with their grandchildren, she’s got the wrong guy. Ava then talks about Mike from Nixon Falls (Sonny with amnesia) and how Sonny hid the darkest parts of himself from Nina back then, whereas with Ava they are the same similar creatures, so he doesn’t have to hide anything.
Courtesy/ABC
Nina wants to know just what Ava wants with Sonny? What is her end game? Ava responds that they understand each other, in ways she can’t with Sonny. Nina tells Ava she can go ahead and have it all and signs Sonny’s divorce papers. Ava walks out with the documents, while Nina in tears at her desk, takes off her wedding rings and has her assistant come in so she can messenger the rings back to Sonny’s address.
The episode and these scenes featured great performances by Cynthia Watros and Maura West. You can check some of the scenes below.
Now, let us know, what is Ava’s next move? Is she going to become Mrs. Sonny Corinthos? Do you like Ava and Nina as enemies? Comment below.
General Hospital
Ellen Travolta Makes Another Return to General Hospital
If General Hospital’s Chase (Josh Swickard) and Brook Lynn’s (Amanda Setton) nuptials are on, you didn’t think Grandma Gloria Cerullo would miss out on the festivities, now did you?
Casting news from Soap Opera Digest reveals that Ellen Travolta is back taping scenes that will air the week of May 13th on the ABC daytime drama series. When viewers learned that Carmine Cerullo, was also on his way back to Port Charles, now in the face and body of actor George Russo, it only made sense that Grandma Gloria would join Grandpa Cerullo. Look for them both mid-May.
As most people know, Ellen is the older sister to John Travolta. She first make appearances as Gloria back on GH in the mid-90s. Most recently, she returned to the Quartermaine mansion to meet up with daughter, Lois (Rena Sofer) and granddaughter Brook Lynn for Thanksgiving in Port Charles in 2023. Michael Fairman TV interviewed Rena Sofer and Amanda Setton late last year where they shared what it had been liking working with Ellen, who remains very close to Sofer in real-life.
Photo: JPI
Amanda shared: “We fell in love immediately. What’s crazy is my maternal grandmother was Grandma Gloria. I had her till I was 30 and we were so close. She was really like a second mom to me. So, when I got this script and I’m reading “Grandma Gloria”, it was so bizarre. And then in meeting Ellen, she looks like my grandma – same haircut, same high cheekbones. It really did feel like I had a few days with my grandma. It was very, very special for me. Ellen is sweet, prepared, professional, talented and funny to boot. So, it was one of the best weeks I’ve had at work. I hope she comes back. My fingers are crossed.”
Photo: ABC
Now, we can’t imagine Brook Lynn and Chase’s wedding day to be smooth sailing, in fact, expect just the opposite, but could it be Grandma Gloria who is ultimately the hero or the calming voice of reason for any pre-wedding jitters? Stay tuned.
So, glad to know that Ellen Travolta will be back for Brook Lynn and Chase’s big day? Comment below.
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What an awesome guy. I appreciate him stepping up like that. I’ve watched GH for 39 years. Recasting Spinelli will not changed that. Good luck on Homeland!
What a classy response – it just makes me love and appreciate Bradford more.
I hope he enjoys his stint on Homeland and will be back at GH in the future.
Blake is only filling in for Bradford so that’s not to say Bradford won’t be playing Spinelli the next time they want to bring the character back for a short stint. It really isn’t a big deal anyway since Bradford wasn’t under contract to the show.
Best of luck to Bradford on the new part. You will be missed, but no one should take issue with you pursuing new roles. I just hope you are available to return for the next round!
Wonder if he’ll return as Spinelli in the future.
i supported gh’s decision from the beginning because blake berris is a phenomenal actor – since bradford was not available i believe that gh did what they had to do to keep the show moving…………………..jmo
Well said Bradford! However the actor selected is taller and very handsome missing your perfectly timed quirks! No disrespect intended to you or Blake!
Classy!
I know fans can often be mean about recasts, even temporary ones. But I think what Bradford needs to understand is that many fans are frustrated by GH’s poor plotting and writing and are also still upset by the recent recast of Nickolas. It’s not that the actor who replaced Tyler wasn’t good, it’s that they chose to kill off a legacy character with a recast. And then Nickolas didn’t get so much as a funeral or a flashback sequence while we’ve been mourning Morgan for three months now. Spinelli appears only sporadically on GH. It’s silly to recast him. If Spinelli is being brought on for his computer wiz skills, then Blake could have been introduced as a friend and colleague of Spinelli’s who is helping out while Spinelli is on holiday with Ellie and Georgie. Seems to me it would not require a major rewrite to do that. If Spinellinis being brought back as moral support for one of his friends then, let’s face it, having Blake play out those emotional scenes – no matter how good an actor he is – won’t have nearly the same impact.
To be fair here’s a recast that did work for me: Molly as Maxie. But that’s a permanent character whose portrayer went out unexpectedly and I could see where major rewrites would have been near impossible. Plus Molly dis a really, really good job with the character.
Remember it is more than a rewrite here– if he told them Friday, when filming was to start Monday– that is all the behind the scenes blocking, the staging , the camera shots, the lighting design– the shooting schedule– all of it either had to be tossed or redone– which would be A MAJOR expense–those types of things cannot be changed so easily, and overtime it might of cost while they did, boy oh boy– it was simply cheaper to hire someone to come in and do the scenes rather than scrap everything. People think it is just about changing some words in the script, but there so much more to production than that. If they had a month notice perhaps they would have time to change stuff around, but honestly, a weekend notice– what choice did he give them. Fans sometimes forget it is called show business– because it is a business– this isn’t about him, this is about costs and what was the cheapest solution to his sudden conflict– which was cause by him ditching his GH gig for a better gig–
Well said Mary SF!!! Kudos to Blake to be able to memorize his lines in extreme short notice!
So the fact that GH had a weekend to deal with this means nothing? Re-writing IS a big deal.
Class act.
It’s sad how some ‘fans’ behaved but oh well. I think the actor stepping in is all kinds of awesome and I will enjoy his interpretation of the role.
I don’t understand not giving someone a chance. Steve Burton isn’t coming back to GH and Michelle Stafford isn’t going back to Y&R. They’ve moved on and if you love those shows then you need to support them
Very well said Tomas and I agree with you 100%…THANK YOU to GH, Bradford and Blake. I want to support ALL our actors, actress, executive producers, writers along with ALL behind the scenes employees of ALL our soaps, I APPRECIATE ALL that you do.
Funny you should bring up Michelle Stafford. She’s the reason I came t came to GH and I’m happy I did. I watched Y&R for 40 years and stopped after what I felt was poor treatment of my favs.. Love GH and Michelle, Billy, Maura, Roger and I finally got to see what Maurice was all about
Recasts are part of the game on daytime dramas, be they short term or permanent. To see any upset or disappointment is disappointing to me. We would not have continuing drama day to day on television without recasts. And sometimes even characters associated with particular actors need to be recast so our stories can continue. I would rather have a recast than to have something not proceed correctly. I cite a lack of a Ridge Forrester recast when Stephanie Forrester died as it never rang true that he would not be home. On GH, Spinelli is a recurring character. Love Mr. Anderson but we can move forward without him for his latest story arc.
It’s great that Bradford came out to explain what happened,and I love him for that,and what he said about the actor temporarily taking on his character..Very classy.I will look forward to Bradfords return to TH ,and hope he enjoys his time also on Homeland..Maybe I will try to catch him there also.He is an amazing actor,and I know he will be great ..
<3 Bradford. I wish you every happiness and am glad you got to be on Homeland, though I'll miss you as Spinelli.
Classy and kind. Love him!
Homeland !? way to go !! I love that show too. As for the argument for temp replacement I get both sides but I’m more against them I always say if they have to scramble why not just fill the air time with extended scenes with other characters .
Wonderful of you to reach out to us….Good luck on your new character! You’ll hit it out of the ballpark as always!! And a sweet Congratulations to you! Happy new Year!!
Are GH fans going to be upset now that Bradford chose another show over GH???
Wasn’t Bradford dropped to recurring status before he made decision to leave the show? Isn’t this what happens when an actor is off contract??
I’m very excited about the recast myself!!! Things happen for a reason and I believe Blake will be a great Spinnelli!
What a class act! I too enjoy Homeland, and will enjoy seeing his performance
What a classy response and nice to see it cleared up.
Sadly somehow there are still many people being negative and blaming GH and ABC for this choice when it was clearly out of their control
Blake Berris is sooooo good,people will LOVE him and I hope he stays on the show in a different role.
Folks need to understand that ABC/GH didnt create this mess, BA did,even if unintentional, and if I had the opportunity to do something that I’ve always wanted to do, I would have done the same.So Good for BA but I will enjoy Blake too because I know what he brings to the table as an actor
I didn’t understand the spew over it to begin with..
It’s only for the month of Jan. so probably 6 episoides ..
It will be fun to see a different Spin …
Great response.
WHAT A STANDUP COOL GUY…WISH YOU LUCK AND HOPE YOU WILL RETURN THE NEXT TIME GH CALLS…..
Does not matter. GH has become so violent and so depressing that I , finally, had enough.
If I canceled on a work commitment on a Friday for a Monday gig, I would not expect to work there again. We all have to make tough decisions in life, but honoring your commitments is how you maintain a professional reputation. Hopefully this won’t ruin his career and we will see him on GH again. I like the actor and the role is quirky and fun.
At least he was honest and I would have done the same thing…Homeland is a huge deal and will give him exposure with a different type audience. KUDOS to him and best of luck. Blake will fill in and I’m sure Bradford will be back someday I hope
What a class act! I bet this happens more than we know. BA taking the time to address the fans in this way really stands heads and shoulders above. Kudos to him!
Im so excited over this recast. I hope we get to see Spinelly as a major role on GH, like Kevin from Y&R. Lets give the new guy a chance. We will be surprised im sure.
Blake Berris was progressive on DAYS as a psycho but this is definitely a change for him.
We have had to endure these types of changes on GH before, remember Maxie, Nicholas, etc? Congrats to him and hoping if GH decides to bring Spinelli back in the future he will be available. Also remember he has a dynamic singing voice and could be doing Broadway. 🙂
If BA doesn’t want a contract with GH (which I fully understand) I hope they offer a contract to Blake Berris. Maxie and Spinelli were magic. She’s been back burned of late
Nick Stabile and Molly Burnett were very good as temporary recasts, some rejected the idea at the start and didn’t want to accept the change, but it worked out well in their short runs on GH with fans.
I am looking forward to seeing Blake as Spin.
Well said. The best to you. What a wonderful experience. Blake Berris is a wonderful actor. I can’t wait to see him on his take of Spinnelli.
I would rather no Spinelli than a cheap imitation. Every actor can be replaced. This one is NOT the replacement for Spinelli. Spinelli is filled with excitement on every level, from appearance to intelligence to mannerism. This actor is as flat as a flat tire. Keep looking. Good luck, he’ll be difficult to replace.
Hey Brad, please please don’t quit playing the role of Spanish!!!! I have watched GH since 1984. Or longer….. I don’t know if you watch GH but I also watch Days and killing the character “”Nick” off was the best decision!!!! No one can play the part like you EVER!!!! And sorry but old Nick sucks at it… I cried when you first saw Jason and made the comment about his build and butt!! No one can be Smart, Funny, walking encyclopedia but you sir!!!! They need to kill the character off if YOU don’t do the part!!!