General Hospital
James Franco comes forward with "The Truth" of why he did GH!


Courtesy/ABC
According to the latest Vulture column on NewYorkMag.com, James Franco spilled the beans on Monday night during a screening of his sundance-bound film, Howl as to why on earth he ended up doing a soap and landed on General Hospital. After all the rumors and all the tidbits, it comes down to this 1) Franco is playing a former soap star in his new film, Maladies. This feature is the actor’s second joint-venture with the artist, Carter 2) Franco has been a long time fan of soaps since he was a kid!
From Vulture: “The idea came to him while preparing a second movie with the artist Carter. The new film (which will also feature Catherine Keener) is called Maladies, and Franco plays a former soap star. “Now, just because I’m playing a character who was formerly on a soap opera doesn’t mean I had to go on a soap opera, right?” said Franco. “So going on General Hospital isn’t directly related to Maladies. But we got to talking, like, ‘Hey, what if I really did a soap opera? That would be kind of amazing!’”
“It turns out Franco has been a soap fan for a long time. “I was home sick a lot because I didn’t like school when I was little,” he said. “So if I wasn’t watching my VHS copy of Ferris Bueller’s Day Off, or Whoopi Goldberg’s movie Jumping Jack Flash — because those were the only two movies we had the foresight to record — I guess I was watching soap operas.” So he called up the folks at General Hospital, who were, of course, ecstatic. He only gave them one bit of direction: “I said, ‘I want to play an artist, and I want him to be crazy.’ And they wrote this character that was better than I could have ever asked for. It was their idea to call the character Franco. I said, ‘That’s crazy. Thank you.’” It was only after he’d signed up that he decided to bring his own crew along to film the filming, he said, “because I wanted to really have ownership over the piece.” (This footage would be part of his yet-to-be-confirmed performance-art show at Deitch Projects’ Long Island City space this spring). And, in true meta form, that show might in turn be taped for a special episode of General Hospital. Franco said the soap has made him a better actor. He recently auditioned for the role of Aron Ralston, the real-life trapped hiker who amputated his own arm with a pocket knife, in Danny Boyle’s Slumdog Millionaire follow-up, 127 Hours. The director asked him to quickly memorize and deliver his audition speech, and Franco nailed it. “Because I had just done General Hospital, where I was doing 77 pages a day, I can memorize like that,” he said snapping his fingers. “I have to give credit to General Hospital for being able to memorize like that, and I got the part!”
General Hospital
General Hospital Preemptions This Week for MLB Wild Card Playoff Games

This week, General Hospital will be preempted on Tuesday, October 4 and Wednesday, October 5, and potentially again on Thursday October 6, due to Major League Baseball’s wild card playoff games airing on ABC.
In the best of 3 games, the Texas Rangers face the Tampa Bay Rays in an American League wild card series, starting on Tuesday with a 3:08PM EST start time. If the series goes a full three games, then Thursday’s GH will also be preempted.
Encore episodes of GH will be seen on the east coast on Tuesday and Wednesday, while all other time zones will be preempted for the game.

Photo: MLB
In addition, GH will not be streaming the episodes on Hulu or ABC.com as is it a nationwide preemption. That way, everyone will begin to see the all-new episodes on the same day when they resume.

Photo: ABC
Hopefully, Thursday, GH will resume with an episode that teases: Spencer and Trina affirm their feelings, Tracy has a slip of the tongue, Valentin surprises Anna, and Sasha is in danger.
So, going to miss GH for the next few days? Comment below.
General Hospital
Gregory Harrison Talks His General Hospital ALS Storyline, Battling Addiction, ‘Falcon Crest’ on Maurice Benard’s ‘State of Mind’

Film and TV star, Gregory Harrison is currently appearing on ABC’s General Hospital in the role of Gregory Chase. In story, Gregory is trying to come to the terms with the fact he has ALS and is now displaying symptoms of the disease that will ultimately claim his life.
On the latest episode of Maurice Benard’s (Sonny, General Hospital) You Tube series State of Mind, the actor opens up about the challenges of playing a character with ALS, how he has battled addiction, his prime role on Trapper John M.D and Falcon Crest and much more.
In fact, it’s actually the the 40th anniversary of Harrison’s solo TV Guide cover as Dr. George Alonzo “Gonzo” Gates on Trapper John, M.D.

Photo: ABC
Speaking on his General Hospital storyline, and Gregory Chase’s battle with ALS, Harrison detailed: “He’s a complicated character any way, but we’ve added now ALS into the equation and that’s a really fun technical calibration for me. It’s a relatively quick demise – three to five years, generally for ALS, and it moves along pretty quickly. The body deteriorates pretty quickly and things happen, and there is an emotional kind of reaction to those that my character has. My character reacts to the loss of things and that’s what I am starting to be able to play.”
Harrison added, on how he is playing the nuances of ALS in the scripts he is given, “Where am I going to put in that slip and fall? Where am I going to put in that tremor in my hand? Where I am going to put in the stumble, or the slur of this word or that word? That’s real technical stuff, but I have to layer that on top of emotional honesty of what’s going on. So, for me, it’s a buffet and I love that.”
Benard and Harrison also delved into the fact that Gregory he has been sober for 36 years. Harrison opened about how addiction changed his personality at a time when his career was riding high: “If I was the kind of person who would be regretful, then I would say that during my prime, I was busy using all my acting skills to disguise my addiction instead of building my career. ”

Photo: ABC
As his fame rose, Harrison also started his own production company. He admitted to Benard, that at the time, he was barely getting through jobs and projects: “I could act, but I wasn’t doing as good as I should have been doing. I was just persevering … pouring massive amounts of energy into enduring my addiction … not into the creative artist that I was inspired to be. And then I found my way back.” At one point, Harrison sought help at the renowned Betty Ford Center. Gregory shared that he had to hit rock bottom, in order to build himself back up again.
At the conclusion of the episode, Maurice asked Gregory how he enjoyed being part of the cast of the defunct CBS primetime soap, Falcon Crest, to which Harrison said he loved playing the role of Michael Sharp back in 1990. He compared that character to the likes of Port Charles’ Sonny Corinthos.
Check out Maurice and Gregory’s conversation below.
Let us know, are you emotional invested and enjoying Gregory Harrison’s portrayal of the ALS storyline on General Hospital? Share your thoughts in the comment section.
General Hospital
Kelly Monaco Celebrates 20 Years on GH and Sam’s Evolution: “All the Pieces Don’t Fit Perfectly Yet, But It’s Certainly Not Broken Anymore!”

Sunday, October 1st will mark the 20th anniversary of Kelly Monaco’s debut on General Hospital as Sam McCall. And as the story goes, when Kelly finished her run on Port Charles as Livvie Locke (2000-2003), and the show had been canceled, the three major networks were all interested in her to join their soaps.
In the end, GH won out and fans of the ABC daytime drama series have been the lucky ones to have Monaco join the A-list cast of the iconic soap. Throughout Sam’s journey in Port Charles, viewers have seen quite the character growth. Sam started on the show as a con and hustler, and bloomed into a bonafide heroine and a private investigator.
Kelly shared with Soap Opera Digest in their latest issue, how she viewed the Sam of old, to the Sam of today: “Sam came on to the canvas only having herself and her brother, always taking care of someone, and never being taken care of. I think the biggest evolution for her is starting from being a really lonely, scared woman and becoming a woman who is still really independent, but is protected by family and friends and love and relationships and loyalty, and she never had that before.”

Photo: JPI
In a very poetic way, Monaco added on her character’s development: “She came in bent and broken, and I feel like there’s a lot of her that’s still broken, but she’s constantly sort of putting the Rubik’s Cube together. All the pieces don’t fit perfectly, yet, but it’s certainly not broken anymore.”
Throughout Sam’s two decades in Port Charles she has been in love, suffered terrible lost, found family members, had children, and has been involved in some of the most dangerous and criminal cases involving many a villain as she tried to help bring them to justice.

Photo: ABC
Currently, Sam is involved in a romance with Dante Falconeri (Dominic Zamprogna). Viewers wonder if Lulu ever wakes up out of her coma, would that spell trouble for their relationship, and in turn, give Kelly some great meaty story to work with?
Now, in the comment section below, share your congrats to Kelly for her 20-year-run on GH. Then let us know, what has been your favorite Sam story over the years?
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