Photo Credit: Omar Cruz

Our headline says it all, “Clink Boom!”  This past week on General Hospital, the series brought up Sonny’s (Maurice Benard) connection to the Rivera family, after it was revealed that Julian Jerome’s (William deVry) henchmen, Carlos Rivera (Jeffrey Vincent Parise) is from Puerto Rico.  That left Sonny questioning that he could indeed be related to his late wife Lily Rivera (Lilly Melgar), who blew up into smithereens years ago.  That event set the course for all the next wives and women in Sonny’s life.  Something cataclysmic always seemed to happen, or was about to happen, when Sonny was set to marry the woman he loves!

On-Air On-Soaps attended the screening of the new season of The Bay this past week and got a first glimpse of the four installments!  So far, fans this past week were able to see the first two episodes released online.  Lilly Melgar is back on The Bay as troubled Janice Ramos, the bitter enemy of Sara Garrett (Mary Beth Evans)!  And in the first few installments, Janice has slept with the much younger Peter Garrett (Kristos Andrews), which left many in the attendance at the screening with their jaws dropped!

We caught up with Lilly Melgar afterwards at the viewing party to discuss all the “hot bed” issues surrounding her in the soap world right now!  Chief among them, is she coming back to General Hospital as Lily Rivera?  Has she seen what has gone down recently on the ABC soap opera?  And, how did she feel about her character on The Bay sleeping with a young hottie?  Lilly reveals her thoughts in this candid interview below!

General Hospital has been on fire lately, and they brought in the character of Carlos Rivera (Jeffrey Vincent Parise) who, as has been discussed, obviously could be related to Sonny’s deceased ex-wife Lily!

Courtesy/ABC

LILLY:  So I hear!  For the past four months there is a huge rumor all over Twitter that I am coming back!  I mean, it just goes, and goes, and goes, and God love the fans.  They are writing the storyline!  I mean to the point where I am asking myself, “Am I coming back?” (Laughs)  I have not received a phone call from GH, but man, are these fans convinced that I am coming back.  Now, with this new character of Carlos Rivera, it just took it to the next level.

So last week on GH, Sonny (Maurice Benard) finds out the last name of the henchmen of Julian Jerome’s is “Carlos Rivera”. Sonny says, “Carlos Rivera from Puerto Rico.  I knew a Rivera family…”  However, Shawn Butler (Sean Blakemore) checks out if Carlos is from the same Rivera clan for Sonny!  And on Friday’s episode, Shawn tells Sonny, Carlos is not related to his ex-wife’s Rivera family.  Hmmm.

LILLY:  Yes, I know.  I had one of the GH actors who I worked with back then, who I won’t say who, because I don’t want to get them in any trouble, say to me, “Lilly, get ready!  I am thinking maybe it might happen.  They brought this up on today’s show!”

They are so good at GH under executive producer Frank Valentini and head writer Ron Carlivati, of bringing back characters from the past, or who previously were believed to be dead! (Laughs)  Now it could be that Carlos will still turn out to be related to Lily, and maybe she is alive!  Can you imagine?

Courtesy/ABC

LILLY:  Oh, my God!   Would that not be the biggest shocker?  You know they brought me back once before, and she was a prostitute who got plastic surgery to look like Lily.  It could have been an interesting storyline, but unfortunately it didn’t go anywhere!  To really bring back Lily, whoa!  What would that mean for the character of Sonny?  Her death has molded the character of Sonny Corinthos through what he has experienced to this day!  For that not to be true … the impact of that on the character of Sonny would be tumultuous!

And you could come back and have a relative in Carlos Rivera played by Jeffrey Vincent Parise!  Have you seen him in the role?

LILLY:  I have not seen him on the air shows, but I hear he is a great actor, and I am all about working with great actors!

Lilly, I just watched you as The Bay’s Janice, have sex on-screen with the much younger Peter Garrett played by Kristos Andrews!  What happened when they said to you that Janice is going to hop into bed with this young dude?

Courtesy/LANYFilms

LILLY:  I experienced a lot of resistance, I am not going to lie, and I will tell you why!  Only because we have really established Janice’s love for her daughter Lianna (Jade Harlow), and that has been such an important aspect of Janice’s character, that it was challenging for me being a mom myself in real life!  But you know what, it happens!  It is loosely based on a true story, which at some point Gregori Martin (creator, The Bay) will talk about.  So once we had that conversation, then I was more comfortable with it.  As an actor, we are always seeking challenges to that degree.  It gives me more layers to work through because I have my love for my daughter, my loyalty to my daughter, and now this happens!

When she ends up in bed with Peter, does Janice just think he’s hot, so why not do the deed?  Or, is there something else going on behind it, such as her incredible disdain for Peter’s mother, Sara Garrett played by Mary Beth Evans?

LILLY:  You have to understand, Janice for as long as she can remember has been in love with Lee (Paul Satterfield).  Now Lee is dead.   She is having an identity crisis of: who am I without that?  That is all she has known is that love for this man, who was the father of her daughter, and then her daughter found out the truth that it was in fact her real father. Janice had to deal with so much!  Can you blame her for wanting to escape? She is turning the bottle as we saw last season.  We know she had one drunken night and possibly made the biggest mistake of her life … or … a new door has been opened!

Photo Credit: HutchinsPhoto.com

Or… a new door has been opened and she is going to fall in love with babe in the woods, Peter?  Tell me no! (Laughs)

LILLY:  (Laughs) You don’t know, and this does happen.  Janice is so lost not knowing who she is, what to believe in, and now she is getting all this attention from this young hot guy.  She is insecure, and she is in a very vulnerable and fragile place.  You put alcohol in the mix … and anything can happen.

So, when they said, “OK, now we are going to film the sex scene,” were you able to get out of your head enough to just go for it?

LILLY:  Some things you just don’t ask, Michael! (Laughs)  I am just saying! (Laughs)  It was very challenging.

Your Internet radio series co-hosted with Martha Madison (The Bay, Days of our Lives), Soap Box, has really taken off!  Why has it worked so well with you and Martha as co-hosts?

LILLY:  First of all, we want to have you on the show in January when Martha is back from having her beautiful baby girl and being a new mom!  We are total sisters now.  We met on The Bay, but then Jim Romanovich (Executive, ATI)  hired us to do these hosted segment on Planet 360, and that is where our chemistry really revealed itself in that way.  Then they offered me this show on TRadioV and I didn’t want to do it alone. I thought, who better than another Leo, but who is the exact opposite of me!  However, we are both just as outspoken!  We are both just a feisty, and we have become bff’s ever since!  And Michelle Stafford will hate me for saying we’re bff’s! (Laughs)  She hates that term!

Courtesy/IMDB

Speaking of Stafford, what do you think of her web series, The Stafford Project?

LILLY:  I love The Stafford Project!  I promote it all the time.  I loved the last episode because Michelle was the voice of so many women.  That was brilliant.

One of your side projects is that you create and direct video content for some of the biggest music acts in the world for their tours!  How did that come about … and what exactly do you do?

LILLY:  I direct video content for major concert tours … like this year I worked on the Jennifer Lopez and M. J. Cirque shows.  My biggest one was the Britney Spears “Femme Fatale Tour” which was actual mini-short films that were seen throughout the concert that I shot with none other than Rudolph Martin (Ex-Anton) from All My Children!  He was the villain that I cast in these and he was amazing!  So it’s these short films that play throughout the concert.  You follow an actual storyline.  Then, my directorial debut was in the Spice Girls Reunion Tour, but with and around that, I direct video that is shown throughout concerts, not always do I get to shoot and hire my actors.  Those are precious little moments like I had with the Spice Girls and Britney Spears.

Courtesy/ABC

Now the big question! (Laughs)  Have you checked out this past week’s episode of General Hospital where Patrick (Jason Thompson) saw Robin (Kimberly McCullough) for the first time in two years?  Big stuff!

LILLY:  Not yet.  I haven’t had the time, but I will admit I am going to go watch General Hospital online, because I heard that Kimberly McCullough and Jason Thompson were just amazing!   I can’t wait to watch and I’m going to admit this … I am a fan of yours Jason Thompson and Kimberly!  I am a fan!

So GH fans, do you think Lily Rivera could be alive and well and be part of the plot moving forward to bring down Sonny by the Jerome clan?   Would you like to see that story play out?   After all, Robin survived her explosion!  What do you think about Lilly Melgar’s comments on the importance of the day that Lily blew up to the history of the character of Sonny Corinthos?  And if you saw The Bay, were you turned on … or … turned off … by the decision to have Janice jump  into bed with young Peter?  Weigh-in below!