General Hospital
James Franco, ‘General Hospital’ Alum and Oscar Nominee, in New Microdrama ‘Love, Lies and Frank’ on Shortical

James Franco (ex-Franco, GH), who has been trying to make a comeback of sorts, is now starring in Love, Lies and Frank, a new vertical drama for Shortical. Love Lies and Frank is among the first microdramas produced under the new SAG-AFTRA agreement verticals agreement.
The two-time Oscar nominee and Golden Globe winner, and former General Hospital guest star is sharing the vertical screen with mainstay microdrama stars, Eric Guilmette and Neela Jolene.
In story, Love, Lies and Frank follows Jimmy Frank (Franco), the CEO of a high-powered ad agency. A man with confidence and humor but marred with risk and unresolved consequence, Jimmy navigates running his company while also dealing with criminal and supernatural underworld threats. Meanwhile, one of Jimmy’s ambitious employees, Daniella Hanson (Jolene), lands her dream campaign and reignites a forbidden romance with her eccentric boss’s stepbrother Cameron Frank (Guilmette), forcing her to choose between the career she’s fought for and the love she’s been hiding.

Photo: Shortical
JAMES FRANCO HEADLINES A MICRODRAMA
Guy Shimoni, CEO of Shortical said of adding James Franco to the cast, “Hollywood is beginning to embrace vertical storytelling in a meaningful way. To see a talent like James Franco headlining an original microdrama is an important milestone for the industry. We at Shortical are proud to be setting the standard by bringing world-class talent, filmmakers, and stories to audiences in an entirely new way, proving that premium entertainment can thrive in a mobile-first world.”
Love, Lies & Frank is directed by Eric Wang Schwager, written by Melissa Lynn Moore and produced by Knockout Shorts with Peter Gold of Gold Films. No AI generated performances or digital replicas were used in the production, which has been a recent move by several vertical short companies.
Matthew Ko, Co-Founder and CEO of Knockout Shorts added, “Love, Lies & Frank was a really fun collision of worlds. It gave us the opportunity to play with the conventions of the genre, and subvert them just enough without losing sight of what audiences already love about these stories. The goal was always to make something that felt both familiar and completely unexpected.”

Photo: ABC
THE ARTIST KNOWN AS FRANCO ON GENERAL HOSPITAL
General Hospital fans will recall it was back in 2009, that James Franco, played the artist known as “Franco” who was fixated on death and became a main villain of the show and nemesis to Jason Morgan (Steve Burton). At the time, James Franco explained about his GH alter-ego. “Franco works in a lot of different ways. He does graffiti, performances, photographs. He creates installations based on murder scenes featuring murders he possibly was involved with. He’s interested in pushing the boundaries of art – both aesthetically and ethically – and he will go way too far.”
James played “Franco” for a few runs on the soap opera from 2009-2010 and again for stint from the fall of 2011 to early 2012. Later in 2013, the role of Franco was recast with Roger Howarth playing the role until 2021.
The last several years have been difficult for James Franco to find work in Hollywood, following a 2019 sexual misconduct scandal and abuse of power allegations of inappropriate behavior towards aspiring actresses at his now-defunct acting school, Studio 4. Franco settled a lawsuit for $2.2 million in 2021, later admitting he slept with students and addressing issues surrounding power imbalances. The actor maintained he did not open his acting school to lure women for sexual advances. Since the scandal broke in 2019, James has only appeared in five films and mostly from international distributors.
Love, Lies & Frank is now available exclusively on Shortical here.
So, what do you think of James Franco starring in a microdrama? Did you enjoy him as General Hospital’s OG Franco? Let us know via the comment section below.
Yes yes yes love James Franco,y
Really have no use for him after his mockery and disrespect of GH.
The only real Franco. And his story ended appropriately when Jason emptied a clip into him and then burned down the building his body was in, just to make sure he was dead.
A fitting end for a psychotic serial killer. No reason to ever bring back a character with that name, let alone in the form of a recast just to satisfy legal red tape that the Valentini/ReRon regime found themselves in when they attempted to graft the remains of their cancelled previous show into GH.
And definitely no reason to attempt to sanitize such a character, blame his long string of murders & terrorism on a “brain tumor” and claim he was now a family man who was fit to teach “art therapy” to children.
Applauding wildly. Thank you. And moreover, it was not fair to Roger Howarth to recast him as Franco.
I would love to see James Franco on Off Broadway in a play he writes, directs..and acts..perhaps an autobiography of being Franco..and changes n lessons in his life..
General Hospital
William deVry to Appear on ‘Tracker’ Season 4; Shuts Down Rumors of a ‘General Hospital’ Return

William deVry addressed the rumors of his imminent return to General Hospital as Julian Jerome, which have popped up recently as click bait on websites or in video reels.
The soap opera veteran set the record straight when he took to Instagram to share a video of all that he’s been up to lately, and how fans catch him on multiple upcoming shows. Chief among them appearing in Justin Hartley’s (ex-Adam, Y&R and ex-Fox, Passions) drama series Tracker on CBS during its upcoming 4th season.
As deVry closed out his video message, he took a moment to confirm once and for all, “I am not coming back to General Hospital.” The last time viewers saw Julian on the Port Charles canvas, he was being zipped in a body bag after being shot in December of 2020, which ended deVry’s six-year-run on the soap.
Daytime fans also know that before his time on General Hospital, deVry played Michael Cambias on All My Children (2003-2004) and Storm Logan on The Bold and the Beautiful. (2006-2008).

Photo: CBS
TRACKER SEASON 4 HAS SEVERAL SOAP OPERA ALUMS
Coming up on Tracker, William is set to appear in episode 5 that airs in early November, where he is playing a bad guy. That’s the same episode that marks the return of another soap alum, Jensen Ackles (ex-Eric, Days of our Lives) as Russell Shaw, the brother of Hartley’s Colter Shaw.
Tracker premieres on Sunday, October 4 with its season premiere episode entitled “Safe Harbor,” launching Colter into a port-side case.
Before William is seen on Tracker, you can check him out next week in the movie Spill which drops on September 20 on Apple TV and Amazon Prime. That is followed on October 10, when the GH alum appears in Lifetime’s Movie of the Week, The Monster She Married, alongside Matthew Morrison (ex-Glee).
You can check out William’s video message below.
So, excited to see William deVry on the new season of Tracker? How do you feel about how the rumors got started that Julian Jerome might be resurrected? Share your thoughts in the comment section.
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Beyond the Gates
RATINGS: ‘Beyond the Gates’ Bests ‘General Hospital’ in Key Demos and Gains More Viewers Week-Over-Week

The ratings are out for the week of August 31- September 4, 2026 and it was a solid one for daytime’s youngest daytime drama, Beyond the Gates, now taping its third season.
According to the latest Nielsen report via Soap Opera Network, Beyond the Gates saw a rise in total viewers, tied with third place General Hospital in Households, and overtook GH in the women’s 18-49 and 25-54 ratings share putting them firmly in the number three spot.
Let’s take a look at the drama that had viewers tuning-in to the action in and around Fairmont Crest: Andre (Sean Freeman) kissed Heather (Ashley Jones) before leaving for Seoul with Dani (Karla Mosley).

Photo: CBS
Meanwhile, Heather figured out that her brother Joey (Jon Lindstrom) killed Doug. Hayley (Marquita Goings) poisoned Bill (Timon Kyle Durrett) yet again and left him unconscious. Jacob (Jibre Hordges) and Smitty (Mike Manning) made progress in the Impaler investigation, and the Articulettes had to deal with Leslie’s (Trisha Mann-Grant) interference.
As for the numbers, Beyond the Gates came in with an average of 1,677.000 total viewers and gained +66,000 for the week, with total household share at 1.2 up +1, and the key demos: 18-49 rating share of 0.20 up +0.07 from the previous week and 25-54 rating share at 0.29 also up +0.07.

Photo: ABC
GENERAL HOSPITAL
Over at General Hospital, the ABC soap opera was the only show to lose viewers for the week of all four broadcast network television daytime dramas. GH came in with an average total viewers tally at 1,911,000, but lost -24,000 and was now only up year-over-year +27,000.
In story for the ratings week: Ava (Maura West) and Drew (Cameron Mathison) buried Brennan (Chris McKenna) on the ground around the Quartermaine estate, and Drew framed Nina (Cynthia Watros) for the crime by planting Brennan’s wallet in her car.
Chase (Josh Swickard) aggressively pursued the investigation of Jordan’s (Tanisha Harper) car crash which led him to confronting Brook Lynn (Amanda Setton). Trina (Tabyana Ali) overheard information suggesting Brook Lynn might be tied to the incident and later got an earful.

Photo: CBS
THE BOLD AND THE BEAUTIFUL
CBS daytime’s The Bold and the Beautiful, which has been on a great run in the ratings of late, came in with total viewers at 2,778,000 adding +59,000, and up year-over-year at this time +312,000. B&B was firmly in the #2 position in households, plus 18-49 and 25-54 demos, behind its sister soap Y&R.
In story for the ratings week: Steffy (Jacqueline MacInnes Wood) struggled to hide her affair with Carter (Lawrence Saint-Victor) from Finn (Tanner Novlan), and Carter did the same in trying to keep it under wraps from Daphne (Murielle Hilaire). In addition, Darcy (Kelly Sullivan) arrived in Los Angeles and stood up to Katie (Heather Tom) for her treatment of her daughter, Dylan (Sydney Bullock).

Photo: CBS
THE YOUNG AND THE RESTLESS
The top spot once again belonged to The Young and the Restless. In fact, Y&R gained the most viewers week-over-week adding +127,000 with its total viewer average at 3,189,000 tuning-in. In addition, it was also up year-over-year +327,000. Y&R also was #1 for the ratings week in households and in the 18-49 and 25-54 demos.
In story for the ratings week: Phyllis (Michelle Stafford) thought of a plan for Matt (Roger Howarth) to return to Genoa City. Billy (Jason Thompson) temporarily gave up his fight for Chancellor after Sally (Courtney Hope) had a pregnancy scare, which could have lasting implications as they head to the altar in October.
Meanwhile, Kyle (Michael Mealor) and Victoria (Amelia Heinle) secretly arranged another hookup, Nate (Sean Dominic) prepared for surgery with Stephanie (Vivica A. Fox) by his side, and while in rehab, Nick (Joshua Morrow) helped Marie (Jade Harlow) after her frightening confrontation with her abusive husband, Logan (Tommy Walker).
So, what do you think of the latest ratings picture? Glad to see Beyond the Gates performing well? Which soap opera has you most glued to your screens? Which soap opera has you often wanting to tune-out? Let us know via the comment section below.
General Hospital
GENERAL HOSPITAL Preview: Secrets Exposed!

This week on all-new episodes of General Hospital, official spoilers, and the latest teaser video, indicate that the truth is about to come out on many fronts which could put several Port Charles residents in harm’s way, but who will double-cross whom?
First, Nina has been carted away by the WSB, after she is the prime suspect in the disappearance and possible murder of Jack Brennan (Chris McKenna). Now it appears that her daughter Willow (Katelyn MacMullen) is willing to do anything to find her mother. (probably for fear she will somehow implicate Willow!)
Ava (Maura West) meets with Willow at the Metro Court Gardens and informs her, “If Nina is being framed. I may know by whom.” Would Ava risk the ire of Drew (Cameron Mathison), if she throw’s him under the bus and admits he planted Jack’s wallet in Nina’s car, or is she about to accuse someone else to protect him?
Meanwhile, Sonny (Maurice Benard) and Justine’s (Nazneen Contractor) romance is about to become public, or at least fall into the wrong hands! The two are being spied on while making out in a dark location thinking they are alone. Next, Ava’s voice is heard saying, He had to go down!” Is she talking about Sonny who she had teamed with Drew to take down? Cut to Sonny telling Ric (Rick Hearst) “Let ’em try.”
Finally, the action turns to Pentonville, where Curtis (Donnell Turner) is in a dangerous situation, when outside his cell, another inmate suggests to him, “Find a reason not to be in your cell after lunch.” Later, that man and two others, enter the cell as Sidwell (Carlo Rota) just reads a book, as he looks concerned as the men encircle him. Does Curtis come to the rescue of Sidwell? Stay tuned.
SPOILERS
Here’s a look at the official General Hospital spoilers for the week of September 21-25 below.
MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 21
Willow seeks out Valentin. Anna shares her fear with Jason. Carly makes a discovery. Rocco reassures Scout. Britt confides in Isaiah.
TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 22
Jason and Sonny catch up. Carly does damage control. Britt and Anna come face to face. Jordan sees something she wasn’t supposed to. Lulu opens up to Dante.
WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 23
Sonny strategizes with Ric. Tracy enlists a new ally. Drew takes note of an encounter between Chase and Willow. Trina makes a big decision. Kai receives an offer.
THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 24
Ava confronts Sonny. Tracy reveals her agenda. Jordan is in for a shock. Michael and Drew put their cards on the table. Alexis meets with a potential client.
FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 25
Carly levels with Jason. Lulu is stunned. Josslyn refuses Michael’s request. Jordan wants answers. Hudson assists Brook Lynn.
Now below, check out the latest General Hospital promo entitled, “Out Secret’s Out.”
Then weigh-in: Do you think Ava truly helps Willow save her mother by pointing the finger at Drew? Do you want Drew to go down, or do you want him to exact his revenge on Nina and Willow? Who do you think is behind Sonny and Justine’s romance being exposed? Share your thoughts and theories via the comment section below.
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