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Does Head Writer Ron Carlivati Want James Franco To Play Himself On General Hospital?

By Michael Fairman

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Courtesy/L.A.Times

Courtesy/L.A.Times

According to an item from Showbiz 411.com’s Roger Friedman, General Hospital’s head writer, Ron Carlivati may be interested in bringing back the original “Franco”, motion picture star James Franco, back to the ABC soap opera, but this time not as the fictitious Franco who is now played by Roger Howarth … but as himself!  Got that?

Friedman reports that he had a conversation with the WGA nominated head writer of the town of Port Charles over the weekend during the WGA Award ceremonies.  The item says:  “Ron told me he wants the real Franco to make one more return. I think the idea is that the multi-tasking actor would play himself, and I guess confront the fictitious Franco. Anyway, the soap is now the hip show that Franco wanted it to be when he was on it.”

So, what would you think if James Franco returned to General Hospital but this time as himself?  Can you imagine what the scenes would be like having a “Franco” showdown between Roger Howarth’s Franco and the real James Franco?  Comment below!

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Great idea if the writers can make it exciting.. GH is great these days I hope they keep it up.

no, no, no, no, no, no

NO!, NO!, NO!, NO!, NO!

ditto here! had enough of him the first time! and don’t be messing with the ‘franco’ character again. It’s not like Roger can go back to playing Todd… and this idea of one franco confronting the other franco? what is that… Todd 1 vs. Todd 2. (victor), 2.0?

please don’t bring him back!

I agree Joshua! A thousand times NO!!!

The Franco reminder we have now, is too much.l

It sounds idiotic to me.

YES!!!YES!!! YES!!! I Love James Franco and his character. I am sure Ron would write a great script for JF I hope so..

The only reason I would want to see James is if he came back to kill Franco!!! That character needs to go!!!

Amen! That’s a great ideal to get rid of Franco once and for all.

Making Roger “Franco” was the MOST boneheaded idea CarToony has ever come up with. I don’t know what they were smokin’, but it had to be some pretty powerful stuff! 🙁

I agree! Get rid of Franco / Todd! So annoying on OLTL & now on GH!

James franco needs to come back. Todd from OLTL Sucks as franco!!

I’d love to see him come back!

Sounds dumb! JF is a great actor, but his Franco was a mess cause the show was such a mess. GH has finally dug itself out of what the writers created. Why go back?! And if they even bring Jason back, GAG! I have enjoyed the show since he left. I love Steve Burton, & Jason, but it became way to much, It was the Jason show. There is more of a story to tell in PC, so tell it. Use AJ more.

Enough of the stunt casting. Tell some decent, plausible stories, Ron, or step down. For God’s sake! This show is a mess.

GH is not a mess, it is exciting variety..
There is a variety of stories, something for everyone..
I like all the stories..
RC and team is doing a great job!!
(so are the actors)

I think the cast of GH is just way too big , why not write for the characters that were on GH & make the newcomers apart of their storylines , right now the newcomers are getting the storylines & the GH characters are apart of their storylines.And the newcomers keep coming , meanwhile half the cast are invisible & they have to be in order to accommodate all these newcomers. I am all for tuning in to watch GH’s storylines but this is too far away from the GH I have watched through the years & all the credit does indeed go to RC & FV for creating a whole different version of what once was GH.

Jeff, you said it. Thank you.

Bernie, the cast has contracts that guarantee them so much on screen time..
some of the old timers do not want to be on the set everyday and have other irons in the fire..
the new guests rarely stay past their story, which brings variety..
It is not always RC’s fault the actors themselves want what hey want, too .. time off and lighter days..
I hope James Franco returns, it will be a short stay but it would be dangerous fun..

April 1, I will be a 51 year viewer, and GH has returned to its G Monty glory days. It is NOT a mess, ABC has FINALLY got a EP and HW that actually know what they are doing. The terrible part is that One Life To Live’s loss is definately GH’s gain. I have recently even got my sister, who had quit watching a couple of years ago, watching again, and she has said how great GH is once again.

I don’t know how any one can say the show is a mess, it’s awesome, what more do people want?

SU0000, The screen time guarantees in the contracts are decided by and offered by the producer, Frank. It is his decision who gets offered the larger contracts. To suggest that Roger Howarth, Michael Easton, Kristin Alderson, Maura West, Teresa Castillo and William Devry have the largest contracts because they are willing to work and other actors are not is totally without any basis or evidence.

Some actors came back for short stays like Jack Wagner, but to claim that John J York, Kristina Malandro, Jane Elliot, Sean Kanan, and others are not on screen more is because they don;t want to work as much is absurd.

The characters that dominate, the OLTL 3, Sabrina etc, do so because that is the way Frank and Ron want it. Do you really think the actors from their old show and the other newbies they have brought on are the one’s that dominate because other actors don;t want to work as much? How absolutely ridiculous.

And SU0000, I forgot about Tristan Rogers. Did he not get a contract from GH because he didn’t want to work as much? He seems pretty excited to have a contract on Y&R. GH thought they could use him at will to draw fans in while their favored actors from OLTL and the newbies are taken care of with contracts and screen time. They were wrong.

ICAM – the show’s become a mess and bringing back Franco is a stunt. They should never have brought Roger back as Franco. It’s a waste of his talent – redeeming a psycho serial killer and rapist is bizarre – Roger would have made a great real Q or Cassadine – not evil.. but not good… Ron should start writing good stories. Carly is a favorite character, but she’s become FF material because of this ridiculous Heather storyline. Heather is a ridiculous character and hasn’t been written well since her return and they silly ‘back to life – escaping prison every other day” stories are repetitive and annoying. Carly and Franco pairing is an embarrassment – Carly w/ AJ as the new Monica and Alan makes way more sense and the actors have real chemistry. Sabrina is as dull as toast. I realize Ron is pushing her on us because he gets royalties for new characters – but please… recast her then. Obrecht on a daily basis – spare me (again royalties for Ron) – But I will give him Britt… love her w/ Nik – nice actress… I could go on for days at the mistakes the show’s making, but I think you get the idea.

I agree Lona. I recall my grandmother watching her “stories” every day at noon. Her stories were filled with people she knew and loved. Where’s the stories? Where’s the characters we know and love? Please, no more stunt casting.

I couldn’t agree more, Jeff. This sounds like the silly season on GH will be permanent. 🙁

Oh thank you GH50 person. I wanted to say what you did but felt too tired and depressed. As usual, you said it much better than I could have.

wow!
James Franco is a ham lol he would jump at the chance to be on GH again in his Franco roll..
IF, it happens and we RH and JF together on screen in a story, it would be incredibly great! A block buster !!

The 2 Franco’s facing off!!! wow & wow!!

((I hope it comes to be!!)

“A Blockbuster!” Sue, you do realize Blockbuster went out of business due to poor micro and macro planning don’t you?

Franco wouldn’t be playing Franco…he’d be playing himeself…James Franco. Still could be fun because James Franco is not only brilliant and great looking…he’s also a bit of a nut! (in a creative way of course…ahem.)

Oh what a brilliant….er, brilliantly STUPID idea. First they decide to cast the very talented Roger as the result of James Franco’s mental masturbation and now they think it would just be so very keen to have the real Franco come in to meet the manifestation of said mental masturbation. Poor Roger.
With making Dr O the chief of staff, Victor Cassadine the head of the WSB, and Sabrina the Disney star of the Perils of Pauline, General Hospital has become a self parody. It’s so campy it makes Beach Blanket Babylon look like King Lear. What about character driven stories? What about drawing back old viewers like me with well written drama involving characters with whom we have invested a lot of time and emotions? Hearing news like this only reinforces my decision to stop watching GH. Ron is so damn tone deaf that he can only not hear the plaintiff wails of disgruntled fans, he can not hear the toll of those bells. And Ron? Do not ask for whom the bell tolls, it tolls for thee.

In the words of SHREK…NO MORE FAIRY TALE CREATURES IN MY SWAMP!!!!

I think that they’re perhaps not hearing THESE posts. On twitter, they get good and bad feedback. In “real life”…they get different feedback on the streets than they do on social media. The bottom line is the ratings are up and they’ve been declared a success and as having saved GH from the chopping block…so I guess they’re good where they are.

For me, personally, I’ve been enjoying it and am so glad that the show is safe at least a year. However, I too am disappointed that they didn’t do more with Frisco, Robert, Sean Donnelly…they don’t utilize Felicia and Mac other than an occasional conversation…it’s like these characters are present living in the neighborhood somewhere…but we just don’t get see them a lot.

I don’t get why they paired Anna and Duke up again if they do nothing with them. They’re barely together…I used to love Anna and Duke. There’s no romance, adventure, banter…I’d almost rather have left their relationship in the past then see it so dull now. And I love Ian Buchanan. And yeah, he’s now involved with Sonny but so far he’s just filler.

Liz. What can we say about Liz. She was fired, rehired…and they still don’t give her a real story. I’d hate to see her go…she’s a familiar face on the canvas who I truly like…they started something with her and AJ and then just dropped it. And AJ…don’t get me started on him! I LOVE AJ…and they put him on the back burner for Robin’s storyline…bring him back already and make it interesting!

I think the problem is that while I like GH and would more than hate to lose it…shudder…there’s no more sense of community or family. It’s like separate vignettes. They used to have groups of friends…Lucky/Liz/Nicolas/Emily…Robin/Stone/Brenda….Jax/Alexis/Ned/Lois…the Q’s…there were just more groups…and somehow these groups intertwined.

I need more intertwining! :/

Oh this I like–“No more fairy tale creatures in my swamp!” Perfect.

Today, a woman tweeted Ron the following, and I think it pretty much sums up the quality of the show.

“My 11 year just told me watching GH is the best hour of her life!!! #Generalhospital #GH @carlivatiron”

Out of the mouths of babes….but of course, Ron would take this as the highest form of flattery.

Isn’t this guy ALREADY in everything already? I SWEAR I saw him in the extra-long commercial during the Superbowl….(and I hope you can hear my sarcasm from here…)
wolfy

And like Franco, I was redundant in my first sentence. (sigh….)

This sounds like RC wants to write the tale of two …Franco’s

This is exactly what I think is going on. What a terrible idea — UGH! Enough already….the Franco reincarnation is not working. It didn’t work when RH was just playing Franco, it didn’t work when the brain tumor was the “cause” of Franco’s serial killing, and it isn’t working now that Franco has been given new parents….just cut your losses and move on already!

JF would be wise to stay away from this train wreck!

That’s what I was thinking as well. The tale of two Franco’s, just like the tale of two Todd’s on One Life to Live. I have a good sense this is where he’s headed with this storyline, makes sense. Looking forward to it, GH is on fire, by far the best soap. Good storylines and very entertaining. Wonder if they will bring Steve Burton back, his picture was shown on yesterday’s episode by Victor Cassidine.

I disagree. It’s nothing like The Tale Of Two Todds on OLTL. As OTT as it was at least had the purpose of reinstating the original actor, Roger Howarth, as “the real Todd.” This is…well I don’t really know what it is aside from a really dumb idea.

I’m not a fan of breaking the 4th wall. James Franco is a real person who for a time played the fictional role of Franco on GH which is now being played by Roger Howarth. Where can they go with that? RH is obviously not going to be booted out so James Franco can resume the role so what then? Lame one liners
about how RH’s Franco was always just imitating the real James Franco?

Dumb, dumb dumb. RC needs to learn to write well crafted stories for the cast he has rather than an endless stream of stunts and gags.

wont bff steve burton throw a fit? i don’t see it happening with james franco being tight with steve burton and jill faren phelps, they would prob get him to do “their show”.. plus RC needs to go back to reality and get rid of all the cartoon crap he’s doing lately.

Shhhh– don’t give them any ideas, otherwise before we know it JFP will make James Franco the new Adam Newman on Y&R.

Lol. Dont think she hasnt thought it.

Lets just concentrate on the characters and actors we already got and especially underused like Monica, A.J., and Liz…at least Liz is in more scenes but could still use her own storyline!!!

Batman will next become part of GH…Nikolaus Cassidine will become the superhero…he does have the mansion and a butler named Alfred…Lucky Felix will move into the mansion as his trusty sidekick Robin and together they will fight Victor and Dr.O and their diabolical plots(BAM! POW!) see you next week…same bat time…same bat channel…, lol!!!

Ooh I like the idea of Nicolas as a superhero like batman or green arrow after all he is a billionaire an he got one killer bod!

Great idea JimH!!! Very appropriate!!! Since I can’t get Robert back with Anna… all for it!!!!

Hmmm? Sounds like RH may be leaving the show? Or perhaps he is the real Jason who may come back from the dead?

Good I never liked RH as Franco it does not fit RH.

Sounds to me like they want to de-Franco RH as Franco. I can see that happening, because RH as Franco has not worked! Franco/Todd is so bad it’s embarrassing, and it wastes RH’s talents. And frankly, the character still makes my skin crawl. Franco and Carly do not work! The only hesitation I have is Cartini rarely admits they made a mistake. They made a huge one making RH Franco.

PLEASE NO! I’m sick of James Franco. He is in everything! I’m surprised he hasn’t shown up on Barney yet!

I haven’t been able to accept RH as Franco, and I don’t think I could accept the real JF as any other character.

GREAT IDEA! And he can be the new police commissioner! Seriously????

ONE WORD ; NO

sometimes i wish the internet had been around in the 80s because we could look up how many people would have complained vociferously that those newbies (you know, forgettable characters like Anna or Duke, say) were the producers’ favourite new playthings and they were obscuring the vets that everyone wanted to see and wasn’t it time to get rid of them because nobody wanted them and everyone hated them. and seeing as people seem to hold sabrina’s RRRRs against her (i can assure you when i speak to a fellow italian, i speak differently), i’m sure anna and duke’s accents were being lambasted.

Ron C. is obviously bereft of any good ideas. As if we needed any more proof, considering what’s on screen these days.
And here I thought it couldn’t get worse….

First reaction is no not again. Thanks to Roger, I realize it wasnt the Franco character I hated. The actor Franco crappy appearance was problem. But Im interested to see how the writers would use actor Franco. Roger knows how to act on soap. Both actors together could be amusing.

I love James Franco and the roll Rodger is playing stinks,

Yes

Maybe bring back the real Franco. And then some how Jason?

Recast jason

Ron loves to do crazy stupid crap with GH i hope this never happends it would be so lame and embrassing

GH has become such a jumbled up mess I can’t stand to watch it. It seems like they have new characters every month. What about bringing back the Qs like FV said over a year ago. No more Franco anything. They need to kill off Franco. Next month Donald Trump and Daffy Duck will on the show. Sheesh.

Oh please, no more (James) Franco! His namesake character was such a sick, demented freak that I swore off the show for a good, long year during his reign of terror on Port Charles….only since RoHo’s more comical version erased that awful memory of the original incarnation have I been able to watch the role without revulsion.

YEESSSS! I hate the fact that they have a new Franco actor and it isn’t James Franco himself i think that is dumb. They need James Franco back to play the real Franco at least one more time. I dont like the new Franco at all. He doesn’t fit the role of Franco

Beyond the Gates

RATINGS: ‘Beyond the Gates’ Inches Closer to ‘General Hospital’ in Total Viewers

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Beyond the Gates and General Hospital

The latest ratings are out for the week of October 26-30, 2026 and the big takeaways include: that CBS daytime’s Beyond the Gates was separated by only 23,000 viewers behind third place (of the soaps) General Hospital! For the last several weeks, Beyond the Gates has been closing the gap on this year’s winner for Outstanding Daytime Drama Series, and continuing to best GH in the key demos.

According to the latest Nielsen ratings breakdown from Soap Opera Network, the final week of October brought Beyond the Gates 1.790 million on average tuning-in and the show set a season high in total viewers. Meanwhile, General Hospital hit a new season low! The long-running ABC soap had 1.813 million for the week, and once again the series did not go over the 2 million mark.

Meanwhile, in the key Women 18-49 demo, Beyond the Gates was firmly ahead of GH with a rating share of 0.21, while General Hospital had 0.17 rating share.Then, in the key Women 25-54 demo, Beyond the Gates was once again ahead of the ABC soap with a ratings share for that demo at 0.30 while GH came in with 0.26.

Photo: CBS

MORE BY THE NUMBERS

In addition and comparatively, Beyond the Gates +22,000 viewers week-to-week, and had the largest gains in viewership year-to-year in daytime TV with +267,000 from this in 2025.. However, General Hospital seems to be going in reverse. The show was down -56,000 viewers week-over-week and down -22,000 year-over-year .

BEYOND THE GATES

Let’s take a look at some of the storylines that had people tuning-in to Beyond the Gates during the ratings week:

Hayley (Marquita Goings) attempted a massive shocker regarding her pregnancy and tried to use it to extract money from Bill Hamilton (Timon Kyle Durrett). Although, Bill saw right through her game, he demanded a paternity test, and made it clear he has no intention of raising the child—planning instead to pay her off to take the baby and leave. Meanwhile, Hayley confided her plan to her cousin Randy (Maurice P. Kerry).

Jacob Hawthorne (Jibre Hordges) and Naomi Hamilton (Arielle Prepetit) clashed over Jacob’s ongoing investigation into The Impaler, causing significant strain in their marriage. At the same time, Smitty (Mike Manning) considered taking matters into his own hands—including potentially heading to Mexico for evidence—while Martin Richardson (Brandon Claybon) worried about what comes next.

Photo: ABC

GENERAL HOSPITAL

Over at General Hospital for the ratings period, the story served up included:

Carly (Laura Wright) and Valentin (James Patrick Stuart) teamed up to investigate what really happened to Jack Brennan (Chris McKenna). Later, Danny (Asher Antonyzyn) leads them to Jack’s dead body.

Jude (Wil Traval) dropped a bombshell claim to Alexis (Nancy Lee Grahn); that he is Phoebe’s father, while Brook Lynn (Amanda Setton) and Chase (Josh Swickard) signed their divorce papers.

Then, Danny caught Rocco (Finn Carr) and Scout (Kayden Brenna Tokarski) sharing a kiss, plus the shocking return of Heather Webber (Alley Mills) capped the week.

Now the questions become; without having much promotional synergy in the ABC day-part to draw more eyeballs it is not helping but hurting General Hospital. It seems Beyond the Gates is also a  benefactor of a one-two-three punch of CBS soaps (Y&R, B&B and BTG) and promotion.

However, that still doesn’t take away the fact that Beyond the Gates is close to besting GH in all ratings category as they go head-to-head in some markets across the country.

So, are you excited to see Beyond the Gates climb in the ratings? Are you concerned for General Hospital? Do you think they can stave off Beyond the Gates in total viewers or will the upstart soap overtake them in the next ratings report? Share your thoughts in the comment section.

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General Hospital

Antonio Sabáto Jr. Breaks Silence on His Son’s Arrest for Fatal Hit-and-Run

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Antonio Sabato Jr.

Antonio Sabáto Jr., the former Jagger Cates of General Hospital and GH: Night Shift, and the former Dante Damiano of The Bold and the Beautiful has issued his first public statement since the incident involving his son, Jack’s arrest in Alaska for a fatal hit-and-run.

Jack is the son of Sabáto Jr. and Oscar-nominated actress Virginia Madsen, and according to court documents obtained by KTUU  Jack, was allegedly driving a white Chevy Tahoe when he hit and killed Carl Simmonds, 42, near an intersection in Anchorage around 5:35 a.m. on Monday, November 9.

The reports indicated that Jack fled the scene — but later decided to called the cops to say he hit “something” that “suddenly appeared in the road” while he was “doing late-night DoorDashing.”

Jack Sabato

Photo: NBC

Now, Antonio has taken to his Instagram breaking his silence on the situation, sharing, “At this time, my family and I are navigating an extremely sensitive and deeply personal matter.”

He added, “As a father, my love for my children remains unconditional, and my priority is the well-being of my family. We ask that the public and members of the media honor our privacy during this difficult time and keep us all in your thoughts and prayers.”

The soap alum concluded, “I also wish to extend my heartfelt condolences to the family and loved ones of the gentleman who tragically lost his life. My thoughts and prayers are with them as well. We sincerely appreciate your compassion, understanding, and respect for the privacy of everyone affected.”

Jack Sabáto was arraigned in court on Tuesday, November 10 with bail set at $5,000, and a no-driving order and the potential of $5,000 penalty fees if he fails to attend future court appearances.

Antonio is the father to Jack, 34, daughter, Mina Sabato, 24 and son, Antonio Sabáto III, 15.

This is a developing story. You can check out Antonio’s official statement below.

So, let us know your thoughts on this tragic hit-and-run, which claimed the life of another man, and Antonio’s statement, via the comment section below.

 

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A post shared by Antonio Sabato Jr (@antoniosabatojr)

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General Hospital

‘General Hospital’ Casts Ayla Bullington as the New Avery Jerome-Corinthos

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Ayla Bullington

Sonny (Maurice Benard) and Ava’s (Maura West) daughter Avery looks quite different, starting on today’s November 9 episode of General Hospital. That’s because GH has made Avery into a full-blown teenager and the role is now being played by actress Alya Bullington.

In her debut, the Tennessee native was thrown into the deep soap waters with Daytime Emmy winners, Maurice Benard and Eden McCoy (Josslyn). Bullington weighed-in to TV Insider about her first scene which featured Avery overhearing a fight between Sonny and Josslyn.

She explained “It was something I have never done before, I did not have a lot of experience with the screaming and the crying stuff, but I got my first script, and I was like, ‘OK, this is a huge opportunity to learn so much about how that stuff works and to become this character that I have never even tried playing before.’” 

Josslyn

Photo: ABC

THE TEENAGED VERSION OF AVERY WILL HAVE A LOT TO CONTEND WITH

Speaking of working with McCoy, Bullington shared, “She’s incredible. I remember her just laughing and making jokes on set, and then the minute that they started taping, she just locked in and she cried immediately, and my first thought was, ‘I want to be able to do that.’

The soap opera newcomer added, “I think she just inspired me so much because she is so great and she can just lock into whatever character she wants to in the moment.” 

The character of Avery was born back in 2014, but as recently as the October 8 episode of General Hospital, the character was suddenly referred to as a teenager. This is the second young female character in recent months to be aged up following the casting of Kayden Brenna Tokarski as Scout Cain.

As for her take on Avery and what’s ahead, Alya said,“She’s emotional, and she’s curious, and she’s a really fun person to play because so much stuff is happening in her life. I think she’s kind of confused about what’s happening and what to believe.”

So, what do you think about General Hospital making Avery a teenager? Are you excited to see the conflict between Sonny, Ava and Avery now that they have aged up the character? Share your thoughts and welcome Alya to GH via the comment section below.

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