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.

Days of our Lives has quite the episode planned for fans today.  Look for the returns of Shawn Christian (Daniel), T-Boz (Sheila), Greg Rikaart (Leo) and more drama and comedic hijinks to stir up the pot in Salem.

Now, Arianne Zucker (Nicole) and her real-life beau, Shawn Christian will also help make the episode even more special, now that they announced yesterday that they will be up on their individual Instagram accounts at 1PMPST.  The duo will chat with fans on both of their feeds.while hanging out together.

You can join the party by following Ari at @ari8675 and Shawn at @ShawnChristian

We can tell you just how much fun these two are during live broadcasts from our Soap Nation Live Daytime Emmy Nominations special 2019 in which Arianne was the co-host and Shawn was a very special surprise in-studio guest.

Get ready for today’s DOOL on April Fools today.  Check out Ari and Shawn’s announcement for today’s IG live with them below.

So will you be hanging out with Shawn and Ari on IG today? Let us know in the comment section.

 

View this post on Instagram

 

Hope everyone is staying safe, healthy and hopeful.🙏 If you’re looking for a little escape APRIL 1st we’re GOING LIVE TOGETHER at 1pm during Days of Our Lives. 😳 We’ll chat with you all on BOTH our feeds. 🐵🙈🙉 Join us @ShawnChristian & @ari8675

A post shared by Shawn Christian | Actor (@shawnchristian) on Mar 31, 2020 at 10:23pm PDT