The Young and the Restless, and returning guest star on today’s episode of Days of our Lives, Greg Rikaart (Kevin, Y&R and Leo, DAYS) has posted a new update in his battle with the coronavirus. The good news is Greg is on the mend!

In his message, Rikaart shared: “I’m doing fantastic, easily like 95 percent better than I was the last time I made one of these messages. The only thing is, I still have a little bit of a lingering cough and I guess I have to work on rebuilding my strength and my energy a bit.  But feeling really good, stronger, and better every day, and wanted to let you all know, first and foremost.

And secondly, I wanted to thank you all for the incredibly kind and generous messages of support you sent my way which really lifted my spirits at a time when they needed to be lifted, ‘cause there was a scary couple of days there.”

Michael Fairman TV sends our thoughts and to ‘get well soon’ to Greg and for soap fans make sure to catch him on today’s April Fools episode of DAYS, where there are plenty of “Leo-isms” to go around!

Share your well-wishes to Greg via the comment section below.

 

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A post shared by Greg Rikaart (@gregrikaart) on Apr 1, 2020 at 11:31am PDT

Will we now ever know just how the lives of Empire’s Lucious  (Terrence Howard) and Cookie Lyon (Taraji P. Henson) and their dysfunctional family will resolve now that the series has had to scrap two of their planned episodes in their final season?  The sixth and final season was scheduled to run for a total of 20 episodes.

However, due to the coronavirus pandemic, the production shutdown left them with only 18 episodes tht could be completed.

That means, as first announced during last night’s episode of Empire via voice-over: “Get ready for the shocking final three episodes of ‘Empire,’”  that reveal let viewers of Empire know there was change in plans.”  Now, the shortened season and series finale end on FOX on April 21st.

Reports also note that episode 19 was partially shot and that footage of that unfinished episode will be cut into the finale.

As to what happens with the character of Jamal Lyon played by Jussie Smollett, who everyone knows ran into significant trouble with the law; on last reports executives said he would not be back for the final episodes of the series, although there has still have been mentions of the character throughout season 6.

Come April 21st, there still may be more Empire in our future, if  FOX executives decide to greenlight a potential spinoff headlined Taraji P. Henson as Cookie Lyon; that first came to light earlier this year in January as being in heavy discussions.

So, what do you think of how Empire will wrap-up after 6 seasons? Do you feel short-changed, or glad they are trying to work in everything they shot to deliver some kind of series finale for fans of the primetime soap? Comment below.

ABC’s daytime drama, General Hospital turns 57 today, and remains the current longest-running soap opera on the air.  GH debuted back on April 1, 1963.

The show was created by the husband-and-wife team of Frank and Doris Hursley.  Originally, the soap was not given a name of a particular town in which the drama of the hospital was set in.  However, that all changed in the 1970’s when GH was set in Port Charles.

GH expanded from a 30-minute show to a 45-minute show on July 26, 1976 and eventually went to a full-hour where it has remained back on January 16, 1978.

Throughout its decades on the air, GH was the impetus for two spin-offs; Port Charles, (which aired from 1997-2003) and primetime’s GH: Night Shift (2007-2008),

The show went through many ups and downs over its history, but things changed dramatically for the better, when by the end of the 1970’s and facing cancellation, ABC brought in executive producer, Gloria Monty to steer the ship.  Monty created supercouple Luke and Laura played by Tony Geary and Genie Francis, and opened the show up with exciting location shoots, and from then on GH has remained a firm mainstay in the daytime line-up.

Today, Frank Valentini is the series executive producer, and the soap is co-written by the head writing team of Dan O’Connor and Chris Van Etten.

As 80%, as of now, in the US are reported to be homebound due to the COVID-19 pandemic, in the latest ratings for the week of March 23, 2020, GH drew 2.57 million viewers,- its strongest week since March 19, 2018.  So, more eyeballs are tuning-in to the drama in Port Charles.

Share your congratulations and well-wishes to the cast, crew, and creatives at General Hospital for 57 years of drama, romance and intrigue via the comment section below.

But first, vote in our poll for your favorite storyline or moment of all-time on GH.  If your favorite is not one of the choices listed in the poll, let us know in the comment section which is your favorite, or if you voted for one of the selections, let us know why, too!