General Hospital
Lane Davies and Nancy Lee Grahn Talk Stories They Loved (and Hated) as ‘Santa Barbara’s’ Mason & Julia, and Reuniting on General Hospital
Santa Barbara is celebrating its 40th anniversary this month. The soap opera that premiered back on July 30,1984 and was canceled after nine seasons, remains an all-time favorite for television fans around the globe.
Two of its most popular stars, Lane Davies (ex-Mason) and Nancy Lee Grahn (ex-Julia), chatted live on the Michael Fairman Channel, were they reminisced about the ups and downs of their on-screen and off-screen relationship during their time as a soap supercouple, and getting the opportunity not once, but twice, to act with each other on General Hospital – most recently in scenes as Fergus Byrne and Alexis Davis.
Lane and Nancy participated in the livestream event ahead of the upcoming Santa Barbara 40th reunion event that will bring together cast and creatives on Friday night, August 2nd in Burbank, California. Participants include: A Martinez, Marcy Walker, Robin Mattson, Judith McConnell and more. The gathering will also serve to honor the late, great Santa Barbara co-creator, Bridget Dobson who passed away at the age of 85, as well as offer up a meet and greet opportunity.
Courtesy/NBC
On Santa Barbara, Mason and Julia certainly had a combustible and passionate relationship. Grahn shared of the pairing, “The setup for us was really fun. It was classic in that he was a conservative. Julia was a liberal. She wanted a baby. She was a single mother. At that time, that was 40 years ago, she employed him to get impregnated.”
Back in the hey day of Santa Barbara, Nancy recalled, “It took the characters a really long time for us to get together. They did journeys back then. Now (on soaps), it’s quicker. Now, I’m not comparing us by any means to Spencer Tracy and Katherine Hepburn, but it was the classic, these two are going to fight all the time, and be incredibly attracted to one another.”
Davies added, “I think it was kind of accidental and kind of manipulated by Nancy and myself, at least the way I remember it. We were both in storylines that we didn’t really love and they were putting us together for these little banter scenes. We liked the chemistry. So, we started just kind of punching up the chemistry and the writers picked up on that and we just ran with it.”
Photo: NBC
It is no question to Nancy, that one of her all-time favorite roles was Julia Wainwright Capwell. “I loved playing Julia. I loved what it brought out in me and what it taught me, and how it changed me and grew me,” she shared. However, when Santa Barbara was canceled, Nancy was still with the soap, and she recalled where the state of the show was at at that time, “The writing and the heads of the show changed pretty significantly toward the end. There were changes that happened. I felt complete when it ended, but I was scared to be out there again. You get used to that very nice steady work and paycheck.”
It was after Santa Barbara was canceled, that Nancy began her journey to Port Charles, “I called General Hospital. It was Wendy Riche at the time (as EP) and Michele Val Jean (writer) who’s now created The Gates. She was a beautiful writer on Santa Barbara. I said (to her), ‘So I wanna have a baby, anybody interested in me in General Hospital?’ She called Wendy Riche, and they said, ‘Come on over.’ So, that’s what happened.”
As for Lane, he left Santa Barbara earlier on during its run and explained his reasons for his departure. “I left before it was over. I’d done the show for five years.I, I did it as much for my own mental health as anything else. I was kind of at the end of my rope just in terms of burnout, and either Nancy would be dead or I would be in jail, or both if I’d stayed on the show because we were about to kill each other. Not really. By that point, we were getting along again.” Grahn replied to Davies, “I could easily not talk to you all day long and then act with you. I loved acting with you.”
Photo: JPI
One of the major plot point issues where Nancy and Lane reached an impasse, was when they both shared different core views for Julia and Mason. Grahn explained, “My character (Julia) spent way too much time after a certain point just wanting to marry Mason, or putting up with him, or making excuses for him. He wanted to be this manly guy just sort of galavanting about town. Lane thought if Mason got married, and was a father to a baby, it would make him weak. This was a thing with our characters and what we were arguing for. And finally I said, ‘I’m not doing this anymore because I am representing women out there, and they cannot see this. They have to see Julia either move on, or there has to be some sort of meeting of the minds, and some equality in this male/female relationship.”
Nancy added, “Lane did not want his character to get married or become domestcized because he thought it would make him uninteresting. We fought about that to the point where we didn’t speak to each other for eight months.” Lane shared, “That was the biggest problem I had. I went from a guy who would change his stepmother’s pregnancy test so that she would sleep with him, to a guy that was folding diapers. I thought, ‘I’m never gonna keep my demographic folding diapers!”‘
Lane and Nancy also had differing opinions on the Sonny Sprocket storyline, where after Mason was presumed dead, he developed an alternate personality who was a sort of cowboy. “It was fun. I don’t think I ever was quite as country as Sonny Sprocket. He was so much looser than Mason that he was fun to play, Davies explained. However, Grahn added, “He looked exactly like Mason. He sounds exactly like Mason. And I’m supposed to not believe that’s Mason?”
Photo: ABC
Back in May of 2024, Nancy and Lane got to reconnect and share scenes together on General Hospital, when during Alexis’ hearing to get her law license reinstated, her opposing counsel turned out to be Fergus Byrne, the brother of Alexis’ late lover, Neil Byrne.
The two previously worked together on the ABC soap opera back in 2002-2004, when Davies played Cameron Lewis. Now with a new character on GH, Nancy explained how it came about, and if Fergus could return in the future.
Photo: ABC
Nancy shared, “I wanted to recreate Mason and Julia as senior citizens. It was such a satisfying acting experience for me. I also know he (Lane) can give as good as he gets. So you want a (scene) partner that will poke you a little bit, so that’s the fun of it.”
As far as if there is a chance for Fergus to come back to the GH canvas, Nancy added, “I love working with Lane, so I’d be thrilled. I don’t know what they’re going to do. I also think Patrick Mulcahey who wrote most of the Mason and Julia stuff, was at General Hospital briefly. I think that was his idea to bring Lane on. He knew that he could count on Lane to do this thing that was very demanding because it was tremendous amounts of dialogue in just a few days. I think we did six shows in three days. So, he needed someone that he knew could count on. I think if Patrick had stayed on General Hospital, there was probably more room and opportunity for that. I don’t know about now though. I mean, we’ll see.”
Watch the full conversation with Lane and Nancy below.
Now let us know what were your favorite Santa Barbara moments of Mason and Julia? Do you hope GH brings back Lane as Fergus Byrne? Share your thoughts in the comment section below.
Thank yoand I wish the back of Julia and Mason the most greatest couple of soap opera
The latest ratings are out for the week of October 26-30, 2026 and the big takeaways include: that CBS daytime’s Beyond the Gates was separated by only 23,000 viewers behind third place (of the soaps) General Hospital! For the last several weeks, Beyond the Gates has been closing the gap on this year’s winner for Outstanding Daytime Drama Series, and continuing to best GH in the key demos.
According to the latest Nielsen ratings breakdown from Soap Opera Network, the final week of October brought Beyond the Gates 1.790 million on average tuning-in and the show set a season high in total viewers. Meanwhile, General Hospital hit a new season low! The long-running ABC soap had 1.813 million for the week, and once again the series did not go over the 2 million mark.
Meanwhile, in the key Women 18-49 demo, Beyond the Gates was firmly ahead of GH with a rating share of 0.21, while General Hospital had 0.17 rating share.Then, in the key Women 25-54 demo, Beyond the Gates was once again ahead of the ABC soap with a ratings share for that demo at 0.30 while GH came in with 0.26.
Photo: CBS
MORE BY THE NUMBERS
In addition and comparatively, Beyond the Gates +22,000 viewers week-to-week, and had the largest gains in viewership year-to-year in daytime TV with +267,000 from this in 2025.. However, General Hospital seems to be going in reverse. The show was down -56,000 viewers week-over-week and down -22,000 year-over-year .
BEYOND THE GATES
Let’s take a look at some of the storylines that had people tuning-in to Beyond the Gates during the ratings week:
Hayley (Marquita Goings) attempted a massive shocker regarding her pregnancy and tried to use it to extract money from Bill Hamilton (Timon Kyle Durrett). Although, Bill saw right through her game, he demanded a paternity test, and made it clear he has no intention of raising the child—planning instead to pay her off to take the baby and leave. Meanwhile, Hayley confided her plan to her cousin Randy (Maurice P. Kerry).
Jacob Hawthorne (Jibre Hordges) and Naomi Hamilton (Arielle Prepetit) clashed over Jacob’s ongoing investigation into The Impaler, causing significant strain in their marriage. At the same time, Smitty (Mike Manning) considered taking matters into his own hands—including potentially heading to Mexico for evidence—while Martin Richardson (Brandon Claybon) worried about what comes next.
Photo: ABC
GENERAL HOSPITAL
Over at General Hospital for the ratings period, the story served up included:
Carly (Laura Wright) and Valentin (James Patrick Stuart) teamed up to investigate what really happened to Jack Brennan (Chris McKenna). Later, Danny (Asher Antonyzyn) leads them to Jack’s dead body.
Jude (Wil Traval) dropped a bombshell claim to Alexis (Nancy Lee Grahn); that he is Phoebe’s father, while Brook Lynn (Amanda Setton) and Chase (Josh Swickard) signed their divorce papers.
Then, Danny caught Rocco (Finn Carr) and Scout (Kayden Brenna Tokarski) sharing a kiss, plus the shocking return of Heather Webber (Alley Mills) capped the week.
Now the questions become; without having much promotional synergy in the ABC day-part to draw more eyeballs it is not helping but hurting General Hospital. It seems Beyond the Gates is also a benefactor of a one-two-three punch of CBS soaps (Y&R, B&B and BTG) and promotion.
However, that still doesn’t take away the fact that Beyond the Gates is close to besting GH in all ratings category as they go head-to-head in some markets across the country.
So, are you excited to see Beyond the Gates climb in the ratings? Are you concerned for General Hospital? Do you think they can stave off Beyond the Gates in total viewers or will the upstart soap overtake them in the next ratings report? Share your thoughts in the comment section.
Antonio Sabáto Jr., the former Jagger Cates of General Hospital and GH: Night Shift, and the former Dante Damiano of The Bold and the Beautiful has issued his first public statement since the incident involving his son, Jack’s arrest in Alaska for a fatal hit-and-run.
Jack is the son of Sabáto Jr. and Oscar-nominated actress Virginia Madsen, and according to court documents obtained by KTUU Jack, was allegedly driving a white Chevy Tahoe when he hit and killed Carl Simmonds, 42, near an intersection in Anchorage around 5:35 a.m. on Monday, November 9.
The reports indicated that Jack fled the scene — but later decided to called the cops to say he hit “something” that “suddenly appeared in the road” while he was “doing late-night DoorDashing.”
Photo: NBC
Now, Antonio has taken to his Instagram breaking his silence on the situation, sharing, “At this time, my family and I are navigating an extremely sensitive and deeply personal matter.”
He added, “As a father, my love for my children remains unconditional, and my priority is the well-being of my family. We ask that the public and members of the media honor our privacy during this difficult time and keep us all in your thoughts and prayers.”
The soap alum concluded, “I also wish to extend my heartfelt condolences to the family and loved ones of the gentleman who tragically lost his life. My thoughts and prayers are with them as well. We sincerely appreciate your compassion, understanding, and respect for the privacy of everyone affected.”
Jack Sabáto was arraigned in court on Tuesday, November 10 with bail set at $5,000, and a no-driving order and the potential of $5,000 penalty fees if he fails to attend future court appearances.
Antonio is the father to Jack, 34, daughter, Mina Sabato, 24 and son, Antonio Sabáto III, 15.
This is a developing story. You can check out Antonio’s official statement below.
So, let us know your thoughts on this tragic hit-and-run, which claimed the life of another man, and Antonio’s statement, via the comment section below.
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Sonny (Maurice Benard) and Ava’s (Maura West) daughter Avery looks quite different, starting on today’s November 9 episode of General Hospital. That’s because GH has made Avery into a full-blown teenager and the role is now being played by actress Alya Bullington.
In her debut, the Tennessee native was thrown into the deep soap waters with Daytime Emmy winners, Maurice Benard and Eden McCoy (Josslyn). Bullington weighed-in to TV Insider about her first scene which featured Avery overhearing a fight between Sonny and Josslyn.
She explained “It was something I have never done before, I did not have a lot of experience with the screaming and the crying stuff, but I got my first script, and I was like, ‘OK, this is a huge opportunity to learn so much about how that stuff works and to become this character that I have never even tried playing before.’”
Photo: ABC
THE TEENAGED VERSION OF AVERY WILL HAVE A LOT TO CONTEND WITH
Speaking of working with McCoy, Bullington shared, “She’s incredible. I remember her just laughing and making jokes on set, and then the minute that they started taping, she just locked in and she cried immediately, and my first thought was, ‘I want to be able to do that.’
The soap opera newcomer added, “I think she just inspired me so much because she is so great and she can just lock into whatever character she wants to in the moment.”
The character of Avery was born back in 2014, but as recently as the October 8 episode of General Hospital, the character was suddenly referred to as a teenager. This is the second young female character in recent months to be aged up following the casting of Kayden Brenna Tokarski as Scout Cain.
As for her take on Avery and what’s ahead, Alya said,“She’s emotional, and she’s curious, and she’s a really fun person to play because so much stuff is happening in her life. I think she’s kind of confused about what’s happening and what to believe.”
So, what do you think about General Hospital making Avery a teenager? Are you excited to see the conflict between Sonny, Ava and Avery now that they have aged up the character? Share your thoughts and welcome Alya to GH via the comment section below.
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