General Hospital
GENERAL HOSPITAL: Linda Purl Guest Stars as Peyton and Carly Open Old Wounds
Thursday’s episode of General Hospital featured a guest star turn by TV and film star, Linda Purl taking on the role of Mrs. Wade Honeycutt aka Peyton.
In story, while delayed in Jacksonville on her way to Aruba, Carly (Laura Wright) is blindsided by a woman who comes up to her saying how refreshing it is to see someone reading a book and not on their cellphone. Carly shares she lost the phone on the plane she was on before she was grounded due to bad weather in Jacksonville. Being in Jacksonville is the last place that Carly wants to be; given this is the place she grew up in and was then known as “Caroline Benson”.
Photo: ABC
When the woman named “Peyton” joins her at her table, they talk about Jacksonville. The very-opinionated Peyton shares that she is a member of the city beautification board. Then, she looks at the bar and sees a married man she knows with a young woman who is not his daughter, which sets her off. Peyton calls ‘her kind, trash’, alluding to that the young woman is a call girl. Carly is taken aback by her comments. Shockingly, Peyton reveals how Ruby Anderson’s boarding house was torn down by her beautification board, because everybody knew it was a brothel. Next, Carly reveals Ruby was her great aunt.
All of a sudden, a horrified and emotional Carly realizes who Peyton is! Peyton was married to another man before her current husband Wade. Peyton realizes Carly is Caroline Benson, and knows that Carly has been using her daughter Reese’s nickname. At that point, Peyton lets Carly have it as she blames her for Reese’s death.
We then learn that Carly seduced Peyton’s then-husband Daniel. Carly defends herself as a 16-year-old teen and that her husband was an adult, so he was at fault for everything. Peyton calls Carly ‘trash’ who just wanted Reese’s life and tried to get it by sleeping with her father. When Reese found out about the tryst, she was devastated and got in a car, and wound up in the accident that killed her.
Photo: ABC
Carly tells Peyton she is not having this; she is a grown woman and owes her nothing. Peyton tells her to get out of Jacksonville as soon as possible because she doesn’t belong there and never did.
The scenes between Purl and Laura Wright were outstanding. However, many fans have referenced that the back-story of Reese and Carly was altered.
So, what did you think of the scenes between Linda Purl and Laura Wright as Peyton and Carly drudge up the past? Comment below.
Of course many adults behaved badly. But leave it to Carly to always blame everyone else, and not take responsibility for her or her families choice of “careers” and/or miss-deeds.
This was a good back story between Carly and the Peyton woman whose husband Carly apparently bedded at 16 yrs., old enough to know better in my book. When she said she was only 16, sounded like she was saying 12 or 13. I also did not agree with Carly’s opinion that the call girl had a right to be at the hotel. I wouldn’t want them at an establishment that I owned. Did she allow them at her hotel in P.C?
Her mother, Bobbie Spencer, and grandmother, Ruby Anderson were both prostitutes. Viewers of GH since 1976ish known this… so Carly’s opinions totally make sense.
Shows how many years you ‘ve been watching! I have been watching for about 40+ years now and bawhen they wrote a story, people knew it was just for tv. Now, every thing is such a risk because there are activists and human rights people going nuts over fictional tv shows!
This entire scene was a trainwreck of a rewrite….
First of all, we already know that Reese Marshall a.k.a the “original” Carly Roberts did not die in a car wreck as a teenager, because she later surfaced in Port Charles as an FBI agent. Though she did eventually die in a literal trainwreck which was caused by that horrible temp hire “Carly” Jennifer something or other… and Laura Wright actually made her debut on GH at the end of that story.
Now as far as this self-appointed head of the Moral Majority of Jacksonville being so “proud” of tearing down Ruby’s whorehouse… uh no. Her tribe of busybodies had nothing to do with that. That house was destroyed by its legal owners…. some of you may recall the “transitional” period of GH in 2011, after Bob Guza left, but before the Valentini/ReRon regime moved in. The interim head writer, Garin Wolf, had a pathological hatred of the entire Spencer family, and he attempted to turn all of them into alcoholic, pill popping, crybaby arsonists. Either Luke or Lulu burned that house down. I honestly can’t remember which one, but that’s because a lot of fires were set by Spencers in those days. Couldn’t find it on YouTube… apparently that period of GH was so horrible that nobody bothered saving any video from it.
As far as the Linda Purl character’s attitude towards Carly…. maybe she should think about the fact that Carly was a teenager at the time, while her pedophile rapist of a husband was a grown assed man. Is she sure he wasn’t raping his own daughter at the same time?
Nothing against Linda Purl… but I don’t care to see that character again. The Devil’s not a big fan of self-righteous hypocrites.
WOW!! Thank you for the very descriptive and informative précis, Satan. I’ve only been watching for eight years, and although I, more or less, know Carly’s ( and other characters’) background, it’s not the same as having watched the soap first hand.
So, Carly’s background is shady—-thus, she should have risen above it. Sixteen is young, but not so naive not to know right from wrong. Granted, a slimy, sexual predator knows how to attract and snare his prey with the power of persuasion—-very touchy subject. I think that almost every girl that age has encountered such situations—-the difference is parenting. You know—-parents who care enough to give “the talk “ about the dangers out there. Obviously, Carly was no so lucky to have had the luxury of such a family.
But, the reason I do not like Carly is because she is very judgmental when it comes to other people ‘s mistakes. She is a hypocrite and so self righteous.
Now, I would think that because of her broken past, she would hold a modicum of tenderness, understanding, consideration, compassion and forgiveness in her heart for anyone, including those who have hurt her, since her misdeeds can fill an ocean—-that’s all!! Ciao ❤️
Hi C, so you are saying that Sonny is better off without Carly and you approve of his and Nina’s relationship???
Hello, my love—No-no–not at all, T. Just the opposite!! I think Sonny and Carly belong together. I apologize for not making myself clear—actually, my mind was not fixed on who should be with whom. I was describing Carly’s self-imposed elitism. She is a nouveu riche AKA gutter rat ( strictly talking about the character–not Ms Wright, who is an exceptionally, beautiful actress).
As far as Nina, I would love to see her back with Valentin—Anna and he just do not make the cut of a passion-driven couple.
What Nina did (out of spite) is also deplorable. If you remember, Nina did try to tell Carly, by phone, that she had found Sonny. But, Carly, being who she is, started maligning Nina, threatening her never to see Wiley again——if I remember correctly.
I simply do not like Carly. I do like Nina because after all her miserable and horrible consequential mistakes, she does try to make amends, albeit futile and unforgivable. It’s a matter of preference with me. Right or wrong, that’s how I feel.
I think these women both suffer from “persecution syndrome” ( I just made the phrase up. LOL), each for her own personal reasons. Neither is a saint. But, Carly, by far, is waaaay out there in my list of distasteful character!!
Ciao, babes❤️
I think Garin Wolf hated most. He wrote horrible for the couples on the show. He never paid attention to backstory.
Though I thought there were a few holes in the story that I didn’t understand due to be a recent (ten year) viewer, I found the scenes riveting.
Rodd
Me too. Watched many years ago than stopped and have been back only about 12 or 13 yrs, so this was all news to me and very interesting.
Kind of helps understanding Carly a little bit.
Me to Rodd, I forgot all the past history and just loved the job Linda Purl did and hope she visits Port Charles!
Love Linda Purl. Now how about GH cast her sweetie Patrick Duffy as Dr Jeff Webber. He’d be great.
Don’t hold your breath they do not want to write story for Becky been on for 25 years she is well liked on and off camera I will be honest have not watched in four years or more but I do know from what I read how they treat her over there have no desire to watch it myself as I have always liked her character . I always hoped she would find another job where she was appreciated. It would literally not shock me if they end up making her the killer I’m the story they have going on over there then they can write her out. Geeze you know Frank needs some more shirtless non actors on that show ugh
This was a complete rewrite. Reese Marshall who came to town as an FBI agent was a very much alive “Carly”. She had survived the car crash and became involved with Sonny. She helped him rescue his children when Faith Roberts kidnapped them. AS I remember her character was involved in two of the shows best ever shoot-out sequences.
The character was killed later in a train wreck. The actress who portrayed “Reese” was Keri Wuhr. When she was killed off the show she was pregnant in real life and sued the show for wrongful termination. I don’t believe the case went in her favor.
I was mistaken. THe actress who played the real “Carly” was Kari Wurher. GH must have been a bad experience for her as there is no mention of it on her Wiki page, Biography or IMBD!
No the original Carly was Sarah Brown she owned the character
you are correct but she used her ex-best friends nickname “Carly” as her own. The so called “real Carly’s” name is Caroline Benson.
I meant the Carly we have known since Sarah Brown and all the others through Jennifer Bransford and now Laura Wright has the real name Caroline Benson.
If you followed the story, after it was revealed that she was Caroline Benson, the daughter Bobbie Spencer gave up for adoption, Carly Roberts (now Corinthos) admitted to taking the name of her childhood friend who was believed to be deceased. Later Reese came to Port Charles as was revealed to be that friend (I.e. the original Carly Roberts).
Yes, Sarah Brown was the first to play Caroline/Carly, but Greg is correct in his use of “real” for the Reese version.
Kari Wurher does list GH on her IMDb page but not her original 15 minutes of fame on MTV’s game show “Remote Control”. Ah, good memories.
Thanks Steve. This was a really confusing rewrite to a lot of fans. THe writers should never play so fast and loose with the show’s history.
As much as I like Laura Wright she does bear some responsibility here for the confusion. She should have done her research into what occurred in this storyline which began before she joined the show. She would have known then that this rewrite was just that and may have chosen to play these scenes in accordance with the show’s history.
Actresses are not responsible for how the story is written nor the dialogue they use!
Elizabeth Korte is the GH staff writer responsible for continuity and historical accuracy. Lately she’s been playing a little loose with history. Trying to squeeze a window for Dominique to have Mac’s kid when she was on screen the entire time is glaring example of pushing the boundaries.
The actors and actresses that portray the characters usually have nothing to do with the direction that a storyline takes. So it’s a bit unfair to blame Laura Wright. While it’s probably a good idea for them to be aware of the character’s history in order to better portray them, it is the writers that are responsible and should be aware of previous storylines. I think that the writers are really letting the fans down by continually rewriting history as they have done pretty regularly over the last year or so. Whether by design or by accident, I know a lot of fans are extremely frustrated by it. There are multiple storylines that have been drug way too long, several that have been introduced and then seemingly just dropped or the ones that go against the what long time fans have come to know and understand as a favorite/despised character. Sonny is a perfect example of the latter. Whether you like him with Carly or prefer him with Nina, Sonny isn’t the person he was before he fell of that bridge and lost his memory. That storyline is also, in my opinion, why an actor should NOT be allowed to switch things up because they’re board with the character they’ve been portraying for decades.
Kari Wuher played a FBI agent
What I find absurd about this excursion into the past — and its consequent rewriting of history — is that the time period of the prostitute careers of Ruby and Bobbie took place before those characters first appeared on the show. So the writers are adding backstory to backstory and altering facts along the way. And to what end?
Oh Jamesj75, I wish I understood the thinking behind most of the recent hare-brained decisions going on here. I’ve decided it’s either (1) lack of respect for longtime viewers who remember details (can’t you just picture the “no one will remember” remarks around the “brainstorming” sessions) and/or (2) genuine ignorance of past plotting which is either laziness or, again, lack of respect for us. The worst part of all of this is that another Carly-centric story is brewing and that means more Drew and Sonny also. Which, for me, usually translates to fast-forward. Good to read your thoughts again, my friend!
Soaphound, terrific to see your thoughtful reply here. I agree with your assessment, including the “‘brainstorming’ sessions,” lack of respect for longtime viewers, and the brewing Carly-centric story. We have seen such instances previously. It’s nauseating, really. Some of us longtime viewers DO remember past plotlines. I think the repeated attempts to prop up Sonny and Carly (and, in the process, garner Emmy nominations) are simply and unfortunately the overriding doctrine of this show. You aren’t the only one using the fast-forward button… Please take care, Friend!
I guess I don’t care about all of the versions of “history” surrounding Carly or who played her. Not to take away from the good acting by Laura, but I just don’t like the character.
rose
Hi there! I agree with you about the history but I must say, especially since I love Linda Purl, I am loving this go-around with her and Carly whom I never thought I’d agree with.Also didn’t know Linda could play totally obnoxious so well. They make a good toe to toe pair.Guess I’m with Carly on this one.
Violet…Actually I am finding Carly’s “go-around” with Peyton (Linda Purl) a little amusing. Finally Carly has a tough adversary. Even though a “family” home for Ruby I must admit I also would want the “rooming house” gone.
Oh Violet, I do love Linda Purl, especially in this scene-stealing role. Back in the 70s, I had a tremendous crush on Shaun Cassidy and Linda made a dramatic T.V. movie with him in 1979 called “Like Normal People.” It was about two mentally challenged young people wanting to marry and I still recall Linda’s deeply moving performance. Nice to see her still beautiful and her acting chops better than ever.
The National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences (NATAS) revealed on Thursday, the lineup of presenters for 53rd Annual Daytime Emmy Awards taking place on Friday, October 30, 2026, at the Hollywood Palladium in Los Angeles, California.
The ceremony will stream live on the NATAS YouTube channel at YouTube.com/@theemmys and watch.TheEmmys.tv.
Scheduled to present from the current soaps are: Katelyn MacMullen (Willow, General Hospital), Delon de Metz (Zende, The Bold and the Beautiful), James Preston (Nick, The Bay), Paul Telfer (Xander, Days of our Lives), Tamara Tunie (Anita, Beyond the Gates) and Susan Walters (Diane, The Young and the Restless).
Photo: NATAS
In addition soap alums, Crystal Chappell, Lesli Kay, Joe Lando, Eva LaRue, who is also a nominee this year, A Martinez, Juliet Mills, and Alicia Leigh Willis, will also be on hand to present.
The ceremony which celebrates nominated lifestyle programs and dramas will also include presenters: Eva zu Beck (Superskilled with Eva zu Beck), Danielle Chang (Lucky Chow), Sunny Hostin (The View), Derek Hough (Extra), Pati Jinich (Pati’s Mexican Table), Star Jones (Divorce Court), Michael Jr. (Stand Up and Do Something), Judge Greg Mathis (Mathis Court with Judge Mathis), Keke Palmer (Glam Through the Ages), Nischelle Turner (Entertainment Tonight), and Andrew Zimmern (Andrew Zimmern’s Wild Game Kitchen).
The 2026 Daytime Emmy Awards will bring together an exciting mix of presenters representing the full spectrum of daytime television,” said Adam Sharp, President & CEO of NATAS. “From familiar faces in daytime drama to the personalities and creative voices behind talk shows and lifestyle programming, this year’s lineup reflects the breadth of talent that makes daytime so special. We look forward to celebrating the people who continue to shape the genre.”
Matthew Hoffman (Love Island USA, Cheap A$$ Beach Houses) will serve as the ceremony’s Voice of God, bringing his signature comedic narration to the evening’s celebrations. As previously announced, Lifetime Achievement honoree Genie Francis (Laura, General Hospital) will be presented with the Lifetime Achievement Award by her husband, Jonathan Frakes.
So, what do you think about the list of presenters for the 2026 Daytime Emmy Awards? Let us know who you are looking forward to seeing via the comment section below.
General Hospital fans took to social media following the airing of the Wednesday, October 21 episode of the ABC daytime drama series. In story, Molly (Kristen Vaganos) reveals to Alexis (Nancy Lee Grahn) that she has received an offer to join the top law firm in Chicago that practices civil law. She says it’s her dream job.
The problem Molly says is relocating from Port Charles and uprooting her life and being away from her mother, Scout and boyfriend Cody Bell (Josh Kelly). Wistful that she may lose another daughter to a long-distance situation (Kristina left a few months back to go to medical school in California), Alexis urged Molly to get Cody to go with her.
Molly still seemed concerned and has trouble committing to the idea. Alexis tells her to talk it over with Cody. Meanwhile, Cody asked Tracy (Jane Elliot) is he can have Thanksgiving off because he and Molly planned to spend Thanksgiving together with their families. After initially balking, Tracy agrees.
Courtesy/ABC
WILL MOLLY AND CODY HEAD TO CHI-TOWN?
Later, Cody shows up at Miller & Davis and the conversation turned to Thanksgiving dinner that Alexis is hosting. Molly and Cody asked her not to cook anything. Cody hugged Molly reassuring Alexis that he and Molly would take care of whatever was needed on Turkey Day.
So, this raises the question, why out of nowhere are we learning that Molly received an amazing law offer in Chicago, if the character was not being written out? If Molly leaves the canvas, would the character of Cody make his exit too?
Kristen Vaganos joined GH as a recast Molly Lansing-Davis back in September of 2023 and went on contract in August of 2024. Josh Kelly began playing Cody Bell back in June of 2022. Initial reports were that Kelly joined the show on contract and then as of June 2025 went on recurring status with the show per his choice.
Do you see a world where GH is writing out Molly and Cody? Would you be sad to see Kristen and Josh exit the soap opera? If this is not what is going on, is this just a plot point for some other story that is upcoming? Share your thoughts and theories via the comment section.
It’s been over two-years since his last appearance on General Hospital, now fan favorite Kin Shriner (Scott Baldwin) has taken to social media to share his thoughts on the casting of his grown-up TV daughter, Serena Baldwin now played by Kelly Kruger.
Kelly took over the role of Serena on-screen starting with the July 30, 2026 episode and has been ensconced in the storyline with her mother, Lucy Coe (Lynn Herring), in trying to win back full creative control of Deception for her.
In fact on the Monday, October 19 episode of the ABC soap opera, Serena tried to dupe Jason Morgan (Steve Burton) into signing over Michael’s (Rory Gibson) shares of the company. Jason caught on and wondered why she was doing this. She claimed she just wanted to help her mom gain creative control from Tracy (Jane Elliot) rather than full ownership, and begged Jason to keep quiet about it, which he agreed to for now.
Courtesy/ABC
WHERE IS SCOTT?
On Monday, Shriner also took to X and said, “I think Kelly Kruger is doing a great job on General Hospital, and she and Lynn Herring work well together.” That was followed by comments in his thread about the show needing to bring back Scott too.
In fact, back on August 25, Shriner also took to X with a reminder that Scott is still around and ready to come back to Port Charles, sharing, “Scotty Baldwin always fits in he just needs the right sport coat !!!!”
The last time Serena mentioned her father Scott was when Kruger made her debut and informed Lucy that her father was, “living his best life in Key West.” Meanwhile, Shriner posts on his X account continually and shared back on August 2, that it has been 49 years since he made his on-screen debut as then teenaged, Scotty Baldwin and thanked the fans for al the love and support.
So, now let us know, are you enjoying Kelly Kruger as Serena Baldwin? Do you want to see GH bring back Scott Baldwin into the story, so Serena has both her parents in Port Charles? Do you like the potential of Jason and Serena pairing? Weigh-in via the comment section below.
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