General Hospital
Wendy Riche on "If the AIDS story on GH originally was told through A.J. Quartermaine!
What if the character of A.J. Quartermaine would have been the main character that drove the thrust of the AIDS story that ended up being told through the love story of Robin and Stone on General Hospital back in the early 90’s? That is something that is discussed in part two of Wendy Riche’s interview at We Love Soaps.
Riche, the former executive producer of General Hospital, who was at the epicenter of many of the fantastic socially relevant stories in GH’s deep history, admitted that their originally was a bit of a dispute between then GH, head writer, Claire Labine, and Riche, as to what character would lead the AIDS story. Here are some compelling excerpts!
Riche: “I wanted to do a story about AIDS when I first got to GH. AIDS was on the rise, a non-discriminating disease that didn’t care who it attacked. I felt it was an issue of great importance and wanted to find a way to interface many of the characters of Port Charles with the hospital. At first, I thought it could be a story for A.J. Quartermaine. I thought, what would happen if A.J. had another drunken night in college, one of many, and explore what would happen when a friend, a male friend, from college shows up at the Quartermaine mansion wanting A.J.’s help since his family threw him out because he had AIDS. And A.J. doesn’t remember who had sex with who, and what he did during so many drunken orgies. They could have both had sex with a woman who was a drug addict. The intention was not to make them gay, but the implication might have stirred up a lot. We could have asked, “Why does everyone care so much if he was gay? Why does he care? How would Edward Quatermaine react and what would Lila do to bring the family back together?” We could have looked at it all. But it wasn’t about being gay, I didn’t want to be, “Oh those gay people, of course they screw around so much…” of some B.S. like that. AIDS is a non-discriminating disease, it doesn’t care who you are are or what your sexuality is. If you do stupid things, have unprotected sex, you risk getting it. If we had done it with a gay character we would not have gotten the message of urgency across. So the intention was to have a smart person who was not gay but made stupid choices get AIDS. I didn’t have Claire at the time, and I don’t know if Claire would have even wanted to do it that way, but the network did not want to do that story. They didn’t want A.J. to be in question of having AIDS, or maybe not being 100% heterosexual, they just didn’t want to go there because he was a Quartermaine, which of course, is exactly why I wanted to go there.
I talked to Claire about this, and she came up with Robin and Stone. She was not ready to do this story at the beginning of her run on GH. But one day, a year later, we were at a company retreat dinner and she looked at me with that twinkle in her eye, learned over, and whispered, “I think I’ve got it.” She told me the story in two lines and I loved it. It was everything I hoped for. We were so excited, we told Pat [Fili-Krushel] right then and there and she said to go with it. Claire and I had driven up to Connecticut together for the retreat and what was wonderful is that we had the long trip to talk about it.”
So what do you think if the story had gone to A.J. instead of Robin and Stone?
General Hospital
GENERAL HOSPITAL: Who Will Turn Out to be Trina’s Biological Father … Curtis or Taggert?
This week’s episodes of General Hospital are set to deliver some needed results and some bombshells. First, Victor’s will is read, but, in true GH fashion, the evil Cassadine delivers his reading via a videotaped message of himself in a return appearance by Charles Shaughnessy,
Meanwhile, Trina (Tabyana Ali), Curtis (Donnell Turner) and Portia (Brook Kerr) have all been awaiting the DNA tests results to prove that Trina is the biological daughter of Curtis, not Marcus Taggert (Réal Andrews) .
At the same time, Curtis is moving back in with Portia, after his lip lock with his ex-wife, Jordan (Tanisha Harper).
Spencer (Nicholas Chavez) and Trina are at the center of both storylines, because Uncle Victor probably left something behind for Spencer, while Trina will be dealing with the fallout from the DNA results.
Photo: ABC
Watch the latest GH promo below.
Now weigh-in, who do you think will be revealed as Trina’s true father? Curtis or Taggert? Share your theories via the comment section below.
General Hospital
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General Hospital
Kate Mansi Makes Her General Hospital Debut as Kristina; What Were Your First Impressions?
Daytime Emmy winner, Kate Mansi made her first appearance on yesterday’s May 24th episode of General Hospital as the recast Kristina Corinthos-Davis. The former Days of our Lives star takes over the role from Lexi Ainsworth.
As to Kristina’s story, it is revealed that Kristina is building an LGBTQ+ youth shelter with the help of her father, Sonny Corinthos. Kristina’s sister, Sam (Kelly Monaco) is concerned that she is not thinking through all the issues that come with creating and building such a space and shares her concerns with their mother, Alexis (Nancy Lee Grahn).
Enter Mansi as nuKristina with the renovation plans for the youth shelter. She shares her excitement with Sam and Alexis. An enthusiastic Kristina discusses the cosmetic changes she wants to make to the place and even shows her family, the Corinthos-Davis House logo.
Sam voices her concerns that in the past Kristina has great ideas and visions and how they don’t work out, because she never follows through. Kristina gets angered and leaves the discussion to take a call from her contractor.
Remember, when Kristina lost her way, and then, seemingly everyone got looped in and involved with Dawn of the Dead cult?
Photo: NATAS
Meanwhile, Molly (Haley Pullos in these scenes) is struggling with her inability to have a baby and tension is mounting between her and TJ (Tajh Bellow).
Mansi comes to GH with an impressive resume having been front and center as Abigail Deveraux on Days from 2011–2016, and then again in 2018–2020. She took home the Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series award in 2017 at the 44th annual Daytime Emmy Awards. In addition, Kate has continued to appear in primetime, streaming and motion picture roles.
So, what were your first impressions of Kate as Kristina Corinthos-Davis? How did you like her interactions on-screen with Kelly Monaco and Nancy Lee Grahn? Share your thoughts in the comment section below.
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