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GH's Kelly Monaco on upcoming shift in focus on GH!

By Michael Fairman

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Photo Credit: JPI Studios

Photo Credit: JPI Studios

In an item out today, Knoxville.com blogger/writer, Terry Morrow spoke with Kelly Monaco (Sam) of General Hospital last evening, who stated that there is a major shift and refocusing ahead for the characters and stories in the New Year in Port Charles.

According to the item, “Monaco said the stories will loosen its tight (almost obsessive) grip on Brenda and Sonny (Vanessa Marcil and Maurice Benard). “They’re going to start focusing on other characters, too,” she says, with an acknowledgement that such a move couldn’t come fast enough. Monaco declined to say which characters or exactly what will be happening.  Monaco also said as soon as the cast and crew returned from Christmas break the new shift was evident and obvious in the scripts.  The star did address rumors on if Marcil is leaving soon. She said the star who plays Brenda is sticking around for “a long time.”

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BEST. NEWS. EVER. Now if we can just get away from the Brenda show and get back to a show of balanced characters with fun and romance, the ratings might pick up. I really hope this means they will get Dante out of the Brenda vortex and return his brain. Not sure why TPTB at GH thought messing up their best couple would garner them ratings?!?!?!?

It’s about time! I hope the new writing and new stories involve Robin and Patrick and getting them far away from loser Lisa and Terrell. I have to assume they also involve a baby for Jason and Sam as speculations have suggested. Thanks for the info!

I would like to see Sam n Jason having a baby, however I think Sam is not the maternal type. I would rather see her meeting her real father. I think that this is going to happen 2011.

I am happy to hear there is a shift happening and I hope it includes the character of Elizabeth Webber. Hoping to have more interaction between Jason and Elizabeth! The current pairing for Jason Morgan is a huge reason I tune out more than I tune in. Add to that that Elizabeth Webber hasn’t really had any type of story since her prtrayer, Becky Herbst, has returned from maternity leave. Keeping my fingerscrossed for Elizabeth and Jason!

I really hope the people in charge look at the ratings seriously for the week of December 27-31, 2010 and take a serious look into what and who the writing was for that week. The writing was more believable; it was more IN CHARACTER for most characters (Jason, Sonny, Carly, Robyn, Patrick and even Brenda, etc…) We saw glimpses of the characters we loved who we hadn’t seen in a couple of years.

I for one LOVED Jason Morgan… he was him old self almost and I seriously believe that is because of who WAS NOT on screen at all that week and inserted where they have no place to be.

Yes I am talking about Jason Morgan’is most unbelievable pairing to date, Sam McCall. Whenever she is OUT OF HIS ORBIT the ratings inch up and also the REAL Jason Morgan shines through.

I think the combination of having the writing written so IN CHARACTER for ALL characters and more believable and truer writing for those characters that week is why the ratings FINALLY went well above 2.0.

First off… this is only an EXAMPLE and I know the show as a whole needs to be improved and written more to the TRUE characters natures, traits and personalities.

BUT, the show, for the past two plus years has expected the viewer to accept Jason Morgan with a woman who did what Sam McCall did to him… but the majority will NEVER accept it and has been proven by the steady decline over the past two years. The TRUE Jason Morgan just would NEVER ever be with her again, PERIOD!

To shove him back in to a story, especially a romantic pairing, with ANYONE who attempted (on purpose or not) to endanger ANYONE he cares about, is NEVER going to be accepted by the masses. Sure some will accept it but why do you think the ratings have declined so far ( a slow and steady decline too) since Jan/Feb of 2009?

So many characters besides Jason Morgan (Robin, Patrick, Elizabeth, Sonny and even Brenda) are being written so out of characters the viewer cannot understand or relate to them as they once did. This is what I am seeing by postings, complaints and viewers issues with GH for a while now.

I’m not a delusional person or harping on one item/character but as a whole this show needs help and Jason Morgan’s story and character isn’t the only reason for the decline but just an example of the issues plaguing General Hospital.

You’re response seriously is so idiotic I can’t even begin to respond right now. To me its not even a matter of who goes with who… The writing SUCKS period end of story!!! And let me say that I am a JASAM FAN but the truth is this show is going down the tubes and has been for a very long time…years. So even if u pair Jason with Elizabeth (which I don’t really see the chemistry) fine pair them but my God let the writing be good. The point is this show is lacking in STORY/WRITING!!!! There has not been any balance in character story line and its so obvious lately that the heads have been leaning toward Brenda Brenda Brenda to bring the ratings up. Hell not even bringing James Franco did it. So again the writing needs a major remedy. I would fire Guza. The guy obviously doesn’t and hasn’t watched GH in yrs past and has thoroughly screwed up character integrity up and down the a&*hole. The guy needs to do his frikin research… that stupid storyline when Sam did what she did with Jake & Jason was so out of character for Sam it was unbelievable. To me a stupid way to break Jason and Sam up. I mean if that was the aim then my God there could have been a better way that doesn’t go out of character of Sam. All u Liz/Jason fans have ur heads so far up you know where I feel sorry for ur narrowminded view of what really made this show great. Cause I tell u right now it has nothing to do with getting Jason/Liz together!!!

Well with the new shift in direction of GH, I am praying that Jason and Elizabeth will be reunited soon and we Liason fans will finally get the lovestory that we have been longing for. I mean Liason fans have been screaming for Jason and Elizabeth’s lovestory for over 11 years and I pray to the soap gods that we will finally get to that point and see Jason and Elizabeth together raising the boys as a family. Viva Liason

I can only hope that the focus of GH will change significantly. I’m tired of the sleaze that has permeated the show for the past two years. I’m tired of the lying, the cheating, the public screaming of “whore” and other derogatory name-calling towards the women. I’m also tired of the whitewashing of characters and their histories because the executives favor one actor/actress now. For example, the character of Lucky, played by Greg Vaughn, was never seen as an intelligent, capable, God-fearing, Father of the Year candidate who was capable of solving every crime and as more than friendly with Jason Morgan. Yet, as soon as Jonathan Jackson took over the role, that’s exactly how the character is being written (include the morally over the top screaming derogatory names at Elizabeth, despite Lucky having lied and cheated on her in the past, once with her sister). I’m tired of female characters who were con artists or women of loose morals being re-written as the good girls, and the once good girls being re-written as the whores of the town. I’m tired of all the new characters taking the place of the veterans I’ve loved to watch for years. I’m tired of no families. Of no love stories, only sleazy hookups or relationships revolving purely around wearing corsets and hooker boots. I’m tired of many things that GH has produced for the past few years and I can only hope and pray the mistakes of the past can be corrected.

I like Brenda, but enough is enough. I care barely watch! I want Spinelli and Maxie back together and for Carly to be her confident bad ass self again!

I absolutely loved Jason with his son Jake. And loved seeing Jason once again in scenes with Elizabeth. There is so much history (show and character) there that it’s a crime to have been ignored for as long as it was.

It would have made much more sense to have Elizabeth in the Jake and Jason scenes though. Jason and Elizabeth have so much history and friendship that it just didn’t make sense for them NOT to have time together with their son. Let Jason and Elizabeth enjoy their son TOGETHER, not separately.

Jason NEEDS to spend much more time with his REAL family (Elizabeth, Cam and Jake). It is what has been shown to the viewer of General Hospital over and over through the years.

The character of Jason Morgan has always been in love with Elizabeth and wanted her as his family for years. It has been drilled into the viewers heads off/on (mainly on) since the first time Elizabeth “nursed” Jason back to health after he was shot in August 1999.

To totally ignore that for the past two years is only driving viewers away. The viewer remembers what they have seen and it cannot be changed or ignored. Viewers will not watch it. Jason wanted Elizabeth and even Cam when she had him for his family LONG before Jake was even a thought.

GH needs to wake up and wake up soon or there will be no GH. It seems last week (Dec 27 – Dec 31 especially) and this week that the characters are being written more IN CHARACTER. I just hope it stays that way.

While I love the sound of GH ‘shifting focus’ I’m not all that crazy on who it will focus on. GH lacks what others soaps feed off of and that’s balance. I want the show to focus more on characters that I DO care about and stories that I would actually want to see.

I want more Hospital drama, more Q’s, more romance, REAL romance not contrived cheap stuff. Most of all, I want to see Elizabeth Webber front and center. Rebecca Herbst is a phenomenal actress who’s character is completely under used and I will never understand why. I want to see more airtime with her and her adorable boys. She’s gorgeous, sweet, completely selfless and kind why doesn’t the show use more of her? I want to see the ‘good girls’ focused more on and lose the constant misery limbo they seem to put them in (like Elizabeth). Plus I want to see her with a good man that actually loves her like Jason Morgan. But for some reason those two are the biggest ‘no-no’ couple on this show. They refuse to write for something that fans have been asking for for years.

I caught a glimpse of the scenes this week of Jason spending time with Jake. It was beautiful and very bittersweet. I really hope the writers go somewhere with that. I want to see Jason with a real woman and I think Elizabeth is it for him.

I stopped watching because of the ‘shift’ two years ago. This show is riddled with agenda and show politics and unfortunately it lost flavor its for me as a viewer. It was quite clear who the show garners to so I stopped tuning in.

Bottom line is: Why would I want to tune into a soap that doesn’t listen to fans?

I loved your post! Kudos.

I hope changes are coming. I would love to see much more of Jason and Elizabeth together. There has always been a connection between these two…years before Jake. To ignore their rich history and friendship is ridiculous. Jason and Elizabeth is a true love story. It just needs to be told.

I hope this does indeed come to pass! I don’t watch this show anymore for this very reason. They turned the show into the Brenda show, among other things, and then proceeded to write most of the characters that people love into alien characters – ones we don’t know or recognize any longer. I just don’t understand the need to write the show for themselves intead of the fans – what happened to turn the show away from it’s glory days. I want to see Robin and Patrick return to where they should be, a happy, fun-loving couple getting through the day to day activities with their little Emma. The barnacles attached to them should be 20-feet under, never to grace the screen again – they don’t work, nobody wants them, so GH, let’s do the right thing! I would certainly come back as would other fans, if I saw some positive chanages in this regard!

There will be no quality and sustainable change for the better on GH unless there is a change in regime. Get rid of Brian Frons (he couldn’t even keep SoapNet alive), get rid of Jill Farren Phelps (she allows Bob Guza to poison the show), and get rid of Bob Guza (Rick Webber. Luke Spencer. Holly Sutton Scorpio. Felicia Jones. AJ Quartermaine. Death of legacy characters. Focus on random new characters. Um…Ethan Lovett. Need I say more???).

The issue with the show is lack of character-driven stories, lack of balance, re-writing of established show history, needless assassination and death of many beloved characters, and completely skewed moral plane to sell Sonny, Jason, and Carly as viable characters to root for. Right now, it seems that most action happens off-screen unless it involves Sonny, Jason, Carly, Dante, or Brenda. It doesn’t help that there is non-existent continuity in story and dialogue and poor editing. Basically, GH greatly suffers on all fronts and that goes right back to BF, JFP, and BG.

First I want to say for those who think Jason being with Liz is the reason for bad ratings HA HA HA HA HA HA HAAAAAAAAAAAAAA GMABand PLEASE. Like do yall Liason fans study the same crap. And also first yall say SB wanted to work with BH and we all know SB is GH goled buy. But now it’s “backstage” ppl keeping Liason from being together WTF. Also ABC is about making money THEY PUT ON WHO MAKES THEM $$$$$$. Like do we think they would lose money over a fake couple. Can’t yall stop also stop blaming Jason being with Sam for bad ratings my god thats stupid.

A show with a entire cast makes a show not one couple GET OVER YOURSELEVS JIZ FANS. Good writing and to let you know Liason s/l sucked they didn’t save the show how many ppl liked the SOS.

I read the actual article and the blog writer just wrote his spec based on the VERY few words of Kelly M. What a lot of hot air and no substance. Very misleading.

Okay, GH is going to lose a whole lot of fans with this baby story line. Who wants a baby with this woman? Remember what she did to Elizabeth, Cameron and Jake? Jason is a bone head for staying with Sam and I understand why Elizabeth does not want him to help raise her son. Sam is a danger to Jake!GH writers need a 101 course on writing because this show has become nothing but tasteless trash! They have ruined VM’s come back. This Balkan story line is horrible. We are so tired of the same old mob storyline. How many times do the recycle the same storyline? Gh please get with the program and make better storylines. This show is not doing well and soon ABC may cancel it. Soaps are being canceled and replaced with reality TV. Soon there won’t be any soaps.

I hope the show starts to focus on all the characters. So many wonderful actors and actresses has been pushed to the back….Rebecca Herbst, Kelly Monaco, Nancy lee Grahn, Tyler christospher. I think the show needs more balance. Focus on every body. All y’all jiz fans get over yourself’s. No couple is the key to low ratings or high ratings. Always crying ratings are low because jsam. How quickly we forget the ratings weren’t so high when jiz was on either. No way TPTB would’ve broke up a couple that brought in high ratings. Jiz didn’t and that’s why there not together. So get over yourselves jiz fans and jsam fans aswell, thinking your couple is so powerful that the ratings are based on them. The ratings have been in slow decline because the show has been in slow decline. As far as the Jiz/Jsam thing goes ill give my support to jsam because jiz just never did it for me even though jason and liz are two of my favorite characters. Jsam just have more variety and more layers as a couple and that’s something different. Anway both couples could break up for all I care. I support Scrubs. I just want the show to have better writing and better balance and right now it has neither and that’s why the ratings are low. So get the hell over yourselves. So sick of both of these fan bases. No matter what couple is on if the writing sucks ratings are going to suffer. Neither one of your couples are the answer to higher ratings. Better writing and better balance is. That’s what I look for in 2011.

Wow and I thought GH fans had it so good. I am fairly new to watching but went back and caught up on a lot of back story. I have seen them shift focus to various characters backburning others for a time but there seems to be a good rotation in that regard. Elizabeth was just front and center with the whole cheating on Lucky sl then she was backburned I’m assuming because she had her baby and it appears they are working her back to the front again. Sonny and Carly are probably always at the front because they are connected to half the cast it seems like. From the backstory i’ve watched and I watched a LOT I really don’t see any huge character discrepancies. The Lucky’s were different but I saw it more as how the actors portrayed them and a phase Lucky went through. I appreciate that GH overall makes sense in the dialog and sl. I love the humor, family, romance and drama and that for the most part there is a good balance of all those aspects. They do need to use the Q’s more but recently they have been. And they need to follow through with Matt and Maxie and Alexis and Mac instead of being so sporadic with those relationships. I love how it seems like the entire cast enteracts on some level and Gh has great actors and better writing then other shows. I do have to say that Brenda’s return was slow and boring and could have been done much better but I am enjoying it more now. If anyone needs to gain some appreciation for how good they have it watching GH try watching DOOL for a while. Coming from DOOL I love GH!

vanessa marcil giovinazzo is the best thing to happen to GH. period. she brought sexy back to the show and guza would be wise to keep her absolutely central. vanessa has always been tv gold — on GH during her first run and the guza-disaster during her 2nd run (she even skyrocketed ratings with guza’s bad writing) — and now in 2010-11 she’s rocking it again with her sonny and dante storylines. DO NOT LESSEN HER SCENES please. rather, give us those sexy sonny & brenda lovemaking scenes a la 1990’s!

General Hospital

GENERAL HOSPITAL Preview: Carly and Lulu Make Plans to Rescue Their Children; Anna Looks Determined to Secure Her Freedom

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This week on all-new episodes of General Hospital, the race is on! Can Lulu (Alexa Havins) and Dante (Dominic Zamprogna) get to Rocco (Finn Carr) and Britt (Kelly Thiebaud) in time to ensure their safety from Cullum (Andrew Hawkes)? Can Carly (Laura Wright) with the help of her brother, Lucas (Van Hansis) rescue Josslyn (Eden McCoy) from captivity at Wyndemere? These questions may be answered, plus the return of the one and only Anna Devane (Finola Hughes) are on tap!

In the just released General Hospital spoilers video for the week of June 22-26, Lulu tells her mother, Laura (Genie Francis), “Dante and I have to get to Rocco before Cullum!” Meanwhile, Rocco (Finn Carr) looks angered and emotional as Britt walks through their cabin hideout. Does Rocco know his parents are on the way to find them, or has Cullum already tracked them down to the British Virgin Islands?

Back in Port Charles, Carly is informing Lucas that his niece, “is a WSB agent.” She knows Josslyn (Eden McCoy) is being held against her will at Wyndemere, and she has to find a way to get her out. Lucas agrees with Carly’s plan of, “We go in and we don’t leave without Josslyn!” Elsewhere, Josslyn is looking worried for her future as she is stuck in captivity thanks to Cassius, Cullum and Sidwell!

Courtesy/ABC

FINOLA HUGHES RETURNS

The final moments of the teaser promo reveal Anna in a psychiatric clinic in France. We have not seen her for months after Cullum, Sidwell and Pascal fed her hallucinogenics to make her believe her arch nemesis, Cesar Faison was alive!

Now, the doctors walk towards her hospital bed, where we see the super spy calmly knitting. Is Anna back to normal and playing everyone to get out of her predicament, or does she still remain deeply traumatized … or both?

Take a look at the rest of the official GH spoilers for the week below.

MONDAY, JUNE 22
Willow gets an unwelcome surprise. Trina sticks to her guns. “Nathan” wants reassurance. Ethan advises Ava. Brook Lynn receives an update.

TUESDAY, JUNE 23
Dante cautions Liz. Laura learns a secret. Brook Lynn confides in Michael. Sonny challenges Ava. Chase makes a decision.

WEDNESDAY, JUNE 24
Anna meets with her doctor. Carly makes a stunning confession. Britt extracts a promise. Cullum pulls a fast one. Gio and Emma hit the pool.

THURSDAY, JUNE 25
Josslyn clashes with Cassius. Lulu and Dante make a discovery. Chase receives a warning. Jordan seeks help. Alexis is summoned to the PCPD.

FRIDAY, JUNE 26
Anna takes a huge risk. Britt is in grave danger. Willow is in disbelief. Danny must act fast. Curtis jumps to the wrong conclusion.

Check out the latest General Hospital promo entitled, “Rescue Mission” below.

Now weigh-in: Do you think Anna is still mentally off-balance, or OK, and just pretending to be troubled to get out of France and get back to Port Charles? Will Josslyn finally be rescued, or will Carly and Lucas find themselves locked up with her? And, who will get to Britt and Rocco first? Cullum, or Dante and Lulu? Share your thoughts and theories via the comment section below.

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General Hospital

Maurice Benard Gives High Praise to ‘General Hospital’ Writers; Teases Upcoming Sonny Scenes with Anna, Jason, Justine and Ric

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With the highly-anticipated returns of Finola Hughes (Anna Devane) on this week’s June 24 episode of General Hospital, Steve Burton’s (Jason Morgan) upcoming return on July 13, which also serves as the ABC daytime drama’s 16,000 episode, things are about to fire on all cylinders in the story, as noted today by series star, Maurice Benard (Sonny Corinthos).

On Father’s Day, the three-time Daytime Emmy-winning actor and mental health activist took to his Instagram and expressed in a video that he has some unbelievable upcoming senes with the aforementioned Burton and Hughes. Add to that Nazneen Contractor (Justine Turner) and Rick Hearst (Ric Lansing), where Benard gave credit where credit is due to the GH writing team, which is led by co-head writers, Elizabeth Korte and Chris Van Etten..

In this video, Benard said, “I just want to get on here and say that I did some work with Steve Burton, Finola Hughes, Rick Hearst, Nazneen Contractor, and they’re all just fantastic. Truly fantastic. But, I want to say the writing was just exceptional. It truly was. It was exceptional. So, thankful for that kind of writing. I know writers don’t get the credit a lot, but I just want to say to the General Hospital writing team, keep rolling!”

GENERAL HOSPITAL PREVIEW

So now the question becomes, with a major tease like that, what is about to go down between Sonny, Anna, Jason, Justine and Ric? Will we finally get to the end of the line for Sidwell (Carlo Rota), as previously teased by the GH co-head writers? Will we learn what happened to Jason and Anna, fully? Will Justine and Sonny becomes closer or stop their liaisons? And what of Ric? Will he be true blue to his brother or double-cross him? There is a lot at stake as we move further into the summer and one that looks like it could be one of the more exciting ones in years!

FINOLA HUGHES CONFIRMED AMAZING SCENES WITH MAURICE BENARD

As a punctuation point to his video, Benard also shared this written message in the post: “I just did some wonderful scenes with Steve Burton, Rick Hearst, Finola Hughes and Nazneen Contractor and  and unbelievable writing, freaking amazing scenes that you will see in the near future on General Hospital.” In fact, Finola Hughes jumped in the post comment thread and responded, “I loved our scenes so much xxx”

Fans will most likely see all the scenes Benard referred to later in July, since GH tapes approximately six weeks ahead of air.

So, are you excited to see what Maurice is talking about? Are you hyped for what’s to come on GH? Any clue on what you think will go down between the main characters on the soap with the returns of Anna Devane and Jason Morgan to the mix? Weigh-in via the comment section below.

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A post shared by Maurice Benard (@mauricebenard)

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General Hospital

‘General Hospital’ Alum Chad Duell Announces Upcoming Release of His First Single, ‘If You Need Me’

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In a surprise move, Daytime Emmy winner, Chad Duell (ex-Michael Corinthos, GH) is getting ready to unveil a new chapter of his career in music.

The former GH star, where he played the son of Sonny Corinthos (Maurice Benard) and Carly Spencer (Laura Wright) for 15 years, has announced his new single, “If You Need Me” will drop on Friday, June 26. The single is now available for pre-order on Spotify and major music streaming platforms and is distributed by DistroKid.

Taking to his Instagram story over the weekend, to announce the pre-save of his new single, Chad expressed, “I’ll make a full post about what I’ve been up to and my music once it goes live next week, but you can pre-save my first single so it goes straight to your Spotify once it drops next week.”

Photo: CDuellIG

SINCE LEAVING GENERAL HOSPITAL

Previously, since his departure from the ABC soap opera. Chad starred alongside Zach Mendez in the world premiere of of Yum Yum at Annapolis, a new play written by Bruce Reisman. Duell last appeared on General Hospital on the January 21, 2025 episode.

The part was recast with Rory Gibson who debuted as the new Michael in May of 2025 during the Nurses’ Ball episodes and who has remained in the role since that time.

In an interview earlier this year on The Able Show, Duell said on his decision to exit the soap opera, “I was blessed to be part of that (show) for as long as I have, but what happens sometimes is if you’re doing the same thing, especially in a creative field for such a long time, you can get a little burnt out in a way. It can make you a little depressed, so that’s kind of what happened. On top of that, I had other things going on in my life at the time. My father passed away recently and I just needed a reset. So, I stepped away. A lot of times you have to go through some stuff to really step into that next level. I needed to kind of feel uncomfortable.”

So, what type of musical genre will Chad’s new song be? Country? Pop? Rock? Dance/Club? Something else? Let us know your thoughts via the comment section below, and if you are eager to hear the new single next week via the comment section below.

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Jonathan Bennett joins the cast of GH as Joe Fitzpatrick. Catch the latest promo! Leave a comment.Leave A Comment

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