General Hospital
CONFIRMED: Tonja Walker Returning To General Hospital!
Photo Credit: HutchinsPhoto.com
After much speculation, it has been confirmed by General Hospital’s executive producer Frank Valentini on Friday, that Tonja Walker is set to return to the ABC daytime drama series for a prominent role beginning to air in early 2017.
In the statement the EP related: “We are very happy to be bringing Tonja back to GH. While we can’t share what role she’ll be playing, we can guarantee that she’ll be shaking things up in Port Charles.”
On GH, Walker played Olivia Jerome from 1988-1990, until the character was killed-off by her brother Julian! Savvy GH fans think they may know who Walker will play! The initiasl O and J may be very important since fans began speculating that the person Julian (William deVry) is speaking with and getting some directives from is named Oscar Jessup. But Sam (Kelly Monaco) and Jason (Billy Miller) discovered Jessup died in the early 90’s!
If Walker is reprising Olivia, it would provide great drama with her revenge on her brother and her past with Anna Devane (Finola Hughes). And, how might Ava Jerome (Maura West) feel about having Olivia actually alive and well? Stay tuned to see how this all plays itself out.
So, excited to hear Tonja is coming back to GH? Comment below!
General Hospital
GENERAL HOSPITAL Preview: Serena Sets Her Sights on Michael; Jason’s Emotional Exit from the Mob
This week on all-new episodes of General Hospital, new and old motivations come into play with dangerous consequences. According to the just released GH video spoilers video for the week of August 3-7, a bailiff calls out, “All rise!”
Now it’s Isaiah (Sawandi Wilson) vs. Curtis (Donnell Turner), as the surgeon is suing the owner of the Savoy for assault that ruined is ability to operate. At the end of the day, which of these men has enough evidence against the other? Portia (Brook Kerr) is by Isaiah’s side, while Jordan (Tanisha Harper) is with Curtis.
Next, Lucy (Lynn Herring) has a plan to get the controlling shares of Deception away from Michael (Rory Gibson). She wants her daughter, Serena (Kelly Kruger) to seduce Michael. She tells her, “Pick out your most seductive suit.” Soon, we see Serena in her bathing suit at the Metro Court face to face with Michael.
Later, there is a small baggie containing three blue pills. Nina (Cynthia Watros) ask Willow (Katelyn MacMullen), “What did you do?” We also see Michael asking the same thing of Jacinda (Paige Herschell). Leading into this week, viewers know that Willow doesn’t want the former escort anywhere near her children, Amelia and Wiley. Is this how she stops her, or is Jacinda up to old tricks and wants to frame Willow? Remember when Jacindsa drugged Drew (Cameron Mathison)? Stay tuned.
Finally, in the pick-up from last Friday’s cliffhanger, an emotional Jason (Steve Burton) continues to tell Sonny (Maurice Benard) that he cannot work for him anymore. Sonny ask, “So that’s it? You’re Out?” We fade to black.
Take a look at the official GH spoilers for the week below.
MONDAY, AUGUST 3
Jason makes a sacrifice for Danny. Elizabeth becomes privy to a secret. Carly is touched. Valentin has a warning for Nina. Josslyn cautions Brennan.
TUESDAY, AUGUST 4
Brook Lynn and Chase celebrate a milestone. Trina gets an earful. Carly’s plan backfires. Curtis is skeptical. Michael is anxious about his family’s’ future.
WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 5
Sonny wants answers. Ava is struck with inspiration. Curtis’ trial begins. Brook Lynn wrestles with a big decision. Lucy and Serena scheme.
THURSDAY, AUGUST 6
Sonny makes a stunning announcement. Serena makes her move. Willow faces a new threat. Isaiah takes the stand. Lucy questions Laura.
FRIDAY, AUGUST 7
Josslyn is taken aback. Ava courts a new ally. Jordan and Anna catch up. Isaiah vents to Lucas and Elizabeth. Michael questions Jacinda.
Check out the latest ABC promo for General Hospital entitled, “What Did You Do?” below.
Now weigh-in: Do you think GH is about to pair Serena with Michael? Is it curtains for Jacinda? Can anyone stop Willow once and for all, or make her pay for her crimes? What will Jason do without Sonny and the mob? Share your thoughts via the comment section below.
General Hospital Fan Club Weekend brought out many of your favorites to the four day event; with the main cast gathering on Saturday, August 1. Fans near and far attended the weekend held this year at the Burbank Marriott Hotel. Whether it be the main cast event or the smaller more intimate events featuring two or three cast members a great time was had by all.
Some of the cast participating in the main cast event included: Cyrus Hobbi (Yuri), Gary James Fuller (James), Bradford Anderson (Spinelli), Viron Weaver (Wiley), Paige Herschell (Jacinda), Chris McKenna (Brennan), Josh Kelly (Cody), Kayden Brenna Tokarsi (Scout), Cassandra James (Terry), Laura Wright (Carly), Dominic Zamprogna (Dante), Carolyn Hennesy (Diane), Rick Hearst (Ric), Adrian Anchondo (ex-Marco), and Chloe Lanier (ex-Nelle).
In addition to, Van Hansis (Lucas), Cameron Mathison (Drew), Ryan Paevey (ex-Cassius), Easton Rocket Sweda (Leo), Maurice Benard (Sonny), Kristen Vaganos (Molly), Nancy Lee Grahn (Alexis), Kate Mansi (ex-Kristina), Rebecca Herbst (Elizabeth), Cynthia Watros (Nina), Kristina Wagner (Felicia) and more.
Take a look at some of the snaps from the main event arrivals below:
Photo: HutchinsPhoroi
GH’s Rick Hearst with on-screen daughter, Kristen Vaganos, plus Nancy Lee Grahn, and Kate Mansi.
Photo: HutchinsPhoto
GH’s Maurice Benard on-hand to meet the fans.
Photo: HutchinsPhoto.com
Jack Brennan in the house … Chris McKenna.
Photo: HutchinsPhoto
Adrian Anchondo, Van Hansis and Anchondo’s boyfriend, Days of Our Lives, Colton Little.
Photo: HutchinsPhoto
GH’s Josh Kelly and his gal, the former Nelle Benson of Port Charles, Chloe Lanier.
Photo: HutchinsPhoto
Who is James’ father? Not Cassius or Spinelli, actually. Actors Gary James Fuller, Ryan Paevey and Bradford Anderson!
Photo: HutchinsPhoto
One of General Hospital’s newest cast members, Kayden Brenna Tokarski attends her first GHFCW event.
Check out some more arrival images featuring: Laura Wright (Carly), Cassandra James (Terry), Carolyn Hennesy (Diane) and more in the gallery below.
Michael Fairman TV will be adding more images to this post in the day ahead.
So, were you glad to see so many of your GH favorites attending this year’s General Hospital Fan Club Weekend? Let us know via the comment section.
General Hospital
Vincent Pastore of ‘Sopranos’ Fame and ‘General Hospital’s’ Maximus Giambetti Dies at 80
Vincent Pastore, best known for his memorable role as Salvatore “Big Pussy” Bonpensiero on HBO’s The Sopranos has passed away.
The veteran actor was found dead on August 1st in his home in the Bronx, New York. Pastore was 80-years-old. The cause of death is yet to be determined.
As well as his role on The Sopranos, many soap fans will recall he played multiple smaller roles on the beloved One Life to Live from 1995 and 2004. However, in 2008, he landed the short-term role as Maximus Giambetti on General Hospital.
PASTORE WANTED TO BE ON GENERAL HOSPITAL
Maximus was the mobster father of Sonny Corinthos’ (Maurice Benard) bodyguards: Max (Derk Cheetwood) and Milo (Drew Cheetwood)
According to Soap Opera Digest, Pastore told Soaps In Depth back in 2009, after appearing in a SOAPnet promotional campaign as a celebrity fan of General Hospital: “‘I’d love to be on the show. So they called up GH’s casting director (Mark Teschner) and Bobby (Robert Guza Jr. ex-head writer, GH) and they wrote me in!”
Pastore was a huge General Hospital fan from way back, who at one point told producers that he would watch the ABC soap opera while working in bars and nightclubs in the 70s and 80s.
Throughout his decades long career, Pastore appeared in films including: Goodfellas, Carlito’s Way and Men of Respect, The Jerky Boys: The Movie and the 1996 HBO TV movie Gotti.
In TV, besides The Sopranos, Pastore’s credits included: Law & Order, The Practice, Son of the Beach, Queens Supreme, Hawaii Five-0, Wu-Tang: An American Saga, plus the miniseries The Last Don II. Most recently, Vincent was a series regular on Gravesend and guest starred on Yellowjackets.
Pastore is survived by his daughter, Renee, son-in-law and granddaughter.
Share your remembrances and condolences for Vincent Pastore on his memorable role on ‘The Sopranos’ and his time on ‘General Hospital’ via the comment section below.
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I know zero of Tonja, so really don’t care if she comes on or not.
I do care for Helena and I want her back !!!
Her scenes with Maura West are going to be must see daytime tv!
Just before her death, Olivia Jerome found redemption in a relationship with Lucy’s cousin Colton. If TW is an alive again Olivia, at least one scene with Lynn Herring would be fantastic
Swooning at Maura/Tonja….
whatever it takes… to upend… the dire wasteland that is : Corinthos
this is tour de force acting troupe; Jerome’ Julian, Olivia, Ava. wow
OH happy DAY! Olivia Jerome was a GREAT character brilliantly played by Tonja Walker! Bringing her back is exactly the spark this show and storyline need! Welcome home Tonja!
I believe Tonja was on OLTL for a while.
Yes. She played Alex Olanov.
What a hoot TW was as Alex Olanov. Loved TW then and love her now. Glad she is coming back to GH. Girl has style and delivery. Yeah.
Meh
She was fantastic from I remember of her from back then. A complex kind of crazy a Olivia Jerome was. Maybe Griffin is due to be crazy obsessed over like his Dad
Duke was not obsessed with Olivia, it was the other way around.
Olivia was a creepy-stalker woman who also preyed upon Anna.
But never the less, given her Duke obsession, she cannot be happy with her brother for killing the object of her obsession.
I know. I said crazy obsessed over
Meaning someone was crazy obsessing over him
Okay, thank you for the clarification.
If Tonya is playing Olivia – the scenes between her and Ava will be electrifying I’m sure .
I friggin’ loved Olivia Jerome! This could be great.
I’m excited to see her back on General Hospital and can’t wait to see how all of this will play out.
Tonja and Maura is brilliance!!
If she is playing Olivia Jerome – what do we do with Olivia Falconeri? It has never been the practice on a soap to have two characters with the same first name. A same-named boy may be called “Junior.” When Denise Alexander came back to GH, LesleyLu was then called LuLu. Alan Quartermaine Jr was not Alan but A.J. Will be interesting to see what Tanya’s character will be or maybe LoCicero is leaving GH…with the kid, I hope.
As Tracy would say, it’s time for Mama Leone to he’d back to Brooklyn
Two people in a town can have the same name! Young and Restless had John Silva and John Abbott for years. And GH had John McBain and John Zacchara.
One Life also had John McBain and John Sykes for a short while
I’ve always enjoyed Tonja Walker’s work—dating back to her early role on “Capitol”—so I’m happy to see her return to daytime. I just hope it isn’t as another Jerome family member, even though she was the original one back in the day…Quite frankly, I’ve had it up to here with that corrupt clan monopolizing the GH canvas….both Ava and Julian need to go. But if Olivia—or whoever she is—can accomplish that feat, then I’m all for her (re)appearance. (It would still be a better idea than attaching Walker to her old OLTL character…oh please, for the love of God, let’s not start re-populating Port Charles with Llanview denizens again…we’ve been there, done that, and it didn’t go over well the first time around….)
I only began watching GH when Maura West joined as Ava. I have found the show very bland and poorly written of late. If Ava leaves, I’ll not watch anymore. I humbly respect your opinion.
I can appreciate your thoughts, too, toscanti…even though I cannot deny West’s talents, I simply have not enjoyed the character of Ava (nor Julian) and their effect upon the emphasized mob direction of GH. Of course, I can also say the same for the characters of Sonny and Carly…whilst I’ve no quarrel with the actors who portray them, I cannot abide the way they have monopolized the goings-on in Port Charles.
Shay merry Christmas best wishes for 2017 the fact you re still watching GH tells me you have had a lobotomy or a glutton for punishment! Lol you hang in there
Darlings FV thinks it is OLTL
@k/kay…..Thank you, and Merry Christmas to you, as well! For the record, I’ve not had a lobotomy, nor am I a glutton for punishment….I barely watch GH anymore. The last full episode I tuned into was when “painted as sainted” Sabs kicked the proverbial bucket, and that one was worth the price of admission, believe you me! Other than occasional snippets here and there, I really don’t view the show, but hope always springs eternal it will someday get it right again. Until then, the void for daily drama is more than filled by the likes of MFSoaps and the continued antics from those discontented by the U.S. presidential election.
Ooh more Jeromes !!
Let’s complete the family and bring back daddy Victor. Jack Axelrod is still acting at 86!
Hey Olivia meet Olivia falcineri, lol, I was a kid back when Olivia Jerome was on and while I don’t remember everything bout the character I do remember her obsession with Duke, she was cray cray for sure in the good way she’ll be fun to watch with Ava.
Been waiting 26 years for this reunion! I agree the case of the 2 Olivias does complicate things but the addition of Tonja to the canvas is sure to set off a lot of sparks across various storylines. Is Nelle part of her master plot? Did she pull the strings on the Duke hit? If she was so Duke-obsessed why wait so long after his death to reappear! What does she have in mind for Sonny? Lastly, is she connected to Paul Hornsby? See ya around Port Chuck, Oscar!!!!!?
I wasn’t a GH viewer back when Tonja was on, but I’ve heard about Olivia Jerome and think she would be a great addition to the canvas. However, the casting notice doesn’t specify that she’ll be playing Olivia, and since there is already another Olivia currently on the show, are they really going to have two characters with the same name?
I’m glad, it’s about time. She was so great first time around. My only thing is, now we’ll have two Olivias on the show.
Olivia VS Ava=Jerome Fireworks!
Both actresses BRING IT! and i know with them together, it will be magical!
Skip Julian, i’ll take the Jerome girls ANYDAY!
This could potentially shake things up in a really good way that pays homage to GH history.
Maybe she’s Griffin’s mom…believed dead. I didn’t watch back then but since she had a thing for Duke…could it be she changed her identity…Griffin in the dark about her past…
I was gonna say the exact same thing! Could she be Griffin’s believed-to-be-dead Mother? Especially considering her past connection(s) with the character of Duke who of course happens to be Griffin’s father…
Yep…would be interesting! Lol…poor Griffin…he’s so good…it’d devastate him. And Anna’d freak. But still, an interesting twist… Let’s see if we’re right….
I do not remember her. Was she before 1989?
The best years of GH were before 1989, Tskyent. But yes, she came on the show in ’88 and was front burner with Duke and Anna.
And she left in ’90 after being redeemed.
I’ve watched in the seventies, and early eighties. Thank you 🙂
Great to see Tonja Walker on soaps again, I really liked her as Alex on OLTL. I hope GH treats her well and that she is on it full time, or at least recurring.
I know I’m late responding to this announcement but this is awesome. How could they possibly bring her back as Olivia unless she was in disguised as Alex Olonov on OLTL all these years? Coming back as Olivia will pull multiple GH favs into the storyline. This will drive Ana completely crazy. She could also be Griffins mother with Duke. She will definitely come gunning after Julian. She could even have a vendetta against Ava being the bastard child of her father. It could get even more interesting if she removed Ana’s fetus after the elevator accident and implanted it into herself. Making Ana Griffins real mother. What a coo this was!!!!
I would love to see her playing the character from One Life. Certainly she learned a lot from Asa and Carlo to be a very dangerous woman. She’s been living on that Island of hers all these years. A rise to power would be great for her!! And she’s alive, not even presumed dead. She can pretend to be whoever she wants.