Today is the day! After months of fans eagerly awaiting the nationwide release of two-time Daytime Emmy winner, Maurice Benard’s (Sonny Corinthos, General Hospital) moving and insightful memoir, it’s finally available in book stores and online everywhere.

According to the publisher HarperCollins: The memoir Nothing General About It, looks back to Maurice’s youth in a small town and his tenuous relationship with his father. He describes how his bipolar disorder began to surface in childhood, how he struggled to understand the jolting mood swings he experienced, and how a doctor finally saved his life. For years Maurice was relentless in his goal to be a successful actor. But even after he “made it,” he still grappled with terrifying lows, breakdowns, and setbacks, all while trying desperately to maintain his relationship with his wife, who endured his violent, unpredictable episodes. Maurice holds nothing back as he bravely talks about what it was like to be medicated and institutionalized, and of how he learned to manage his manic episodes while on the set of GH. 

Photo: HarperCollins

Nothing General About It is also an incredible love story about an enduring marriage that demonstrates what those vows—for better, for worse, in sickness and in health—truly mean. Maurice also pays tribute to the community that has been there for him through thick and thin, and ruminates on the importance of both inherited and created family.  A shocking, riveting, and utterly candid memoir of love, adversity, and ultimately hope, Nothing General About It offers insights and advice for everyone trying to cope with mental illness, and is a motivational story that offers lessons in perseverance—of the importance of believing in and fighting for yourself through the darkest times.  Nothing General About It includes a 16-page insert featuring approximately 50 photographs.”

Benard posted on his Instagram on Tuesday the following message to all: “I’m so proud to have done something I would’ve never imagined I could do. The kid who barely graduated from high school, less likely to succeed. I want to thank everybody in the book, My mom and dad my brother General Hospital,Sue black all my friends and of course my wife Paula. To the great team Harper Collins for believing in me and working incredibly hard. There still working incredibly hard during these times. What a ride!!!”

So will you be checking out Nothing General About It and showing your love and support for Maurice? Comment below.

 

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I’m so proud to have done something I would’ve never imagined I could do. The kid who barely graduated from high school, less likely to succeed. I want to thank everybody in the book, My mom and dad my brother General Hospital,Sue black all my friends and of course my wife Paula. To the great team Harper Collins for believing in me and working incredibly hard. There still working incredibly hard during these times. What a ride!!! @harpercollins @bpmagforbipolar @barnesandnoble @mentalhealthamerica @booksamillion @didi_hirsch @namicommunicate

A post shared by Maurice Benard (@mauricebenard) on Apr 7, 2020 at 7:52am PDT

This year the 47th annual Daytime Emmys competition features a crowded and mostly dramatic field of contenders in the burgeoning Outstanding Digital Drama Series category.  Over the years, this category has featured digital series that feature notable stars past or present from your favorite daytime dramas over the years from The Bay to After Forever.

Now comes two offerings and contenders from Associated Television International that are certainly not the usual suspects one would come to expect when voting for the different series in the running … for they have a significant horror-genre, superhero, or even one might say CW-type series bent to them. Both series have made it through into the Daytime Emmy blue ribbon round of voting.

Photo: ATI

Both Evil Touch and Death Squad are the series that are competing in the Outstanding Digital Drama Series and Outstanding Directing Team for a Digital Drama Series categories.  The shows both are seen exclusively on Popstar! TV – the only independent digital network producing original dramas.

But wait! When delving into the cast of Evil Touch we found some familiar faces to daytime!  Featured in it are: Daniel Covin (Ex-Hunter – Prospect Park’s All My Children reboot), Alicia Leigh Willis (Ex- Courtney, General Hospital, and Erik Fellows (Ex- Days and currently Damian in The Bay ).

Evil Touch is a horror -genre fish-out-of-water story with a demonic possession angle. It begins with a group of students from a small American college on a religious studies tour with their professor when they become stranded in the middle of nowhere. Seeking help in the village, they soon discover that there is something very strange and menacing about this place and its inhabitants. Before they know it, they find themselves captives and they learn that the villagers aren’t the only threat.

Photo: ATI

As for Death Squad that is in-line with some of the recent popular zombie series  ( i.e. Walking Dead) that have become so popular these days.  In it, members of a team of private contractors, all former soldiers who served together in Iraq are hired by a shadowy businessman to go into a former Soviet bio-weapons lab that has been re-purposed for advanced research and development. The team has few details when they enter the facility and begin searching for the lead scientist. Viewers quickly learn that something went very wrong in the lab, and as it turns out, it’s biggest threat is that most of the lab workers have been turned into the living dead.

Photo: ATI

Clearly, these two shows are vastly different from the love stories, familial dramas and relationship-driven types of fare that often compete in the digital drama categories at the Daytime Emmys.  Since they both have made into the blue-ribbon round; is it further proof that daytime and digital television is getting on-board with the horror genre, too?

So, will there be a spot for some seat-jumping, horror-filled, adventure type of series when the nominations are revealed for the 47th annual Daytime Emmys?  (As fans know, the Daytime Emmys originally scheduled for June have been postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic.  NATAS has said that is currently exploring options for this year as how to and when they might present the awards.  As for when the nominations will be announced, we will bring you the updated information once it has become available as judging is currently underway.)

Now below, check out episode 3 of Evil Touch and Death Squad and then let us know via the comment section below what you thought of them.

More talk shows are coming daytime viewers way come the fall with the announcement of the premiere date for The Masked Singer host, Nick Cannon’s daytime talk show, titled aptly, Nick Cannon.

The company behind the upcoming nationally syndicated series, Debmar-Mercury, says the new show will bow on September 21 and has been cleared in more than 90% of markets in the United States.