50th Anniversary

50th Anniversary

Saturday, March 30, 2013

SoapNet Celebrates 50 Years of General Hospital

March 30 and 31st, Soap Net is running old episodes of General Hospital building up to its celebration on Monday, April 1st. Set your dvr, this is fun watching!

Showdown With Helena

Luke and Laura make their way to the Haunted Star only to be held captured by Helena.

Much to their surprise, Helena seems shocked to hear about Nicholas. Laura calls Scott but gets Alexis who is warned by Helena to watch over her grandson.

Maxie and Felicia have dinner and Maxie tells her mother that it appears she is leading Frisco on. Maxie asks her mother who she wants.

Ellie and Spinelli find that neither will back down and compromise.

Mac and Frisco come to blows again over Felicia. Felicia shows up and Mac demands that she make a choice.

Elizabeth tells AJ about her past with Nicholas and decides that she and Carly have a lot more in common that she realized.

AJ finds out that Tracy got the recipe for pickled Lila.

Next week on GH: The Nurses Ball returns as Luke and Laura fight Helena. Will Dante save the day?

Thursday, March 28, 2013

Nurses Ball Preparations

Lucy's surprise celebrity choreographer turns out to be Richard Simmons. After Richard plays his song which raps gossip about prominent Port Charles residents, Lucy tells him they cannot use the song and Richard storms out.

Patrick and Elizabeth discuss his feelings for Sabrina and she urges him to fight for what he wants.

TJ advises Milo to stop being the nice guy and go after Sabrina if that's what he wants.

Raiff shows up at Alexis' and Shawn makes sure that he knows Molly and TJ are together.

AJ and Spinelli discuss children and AJ tells him if being a father is his dream he shouldn't give up on it.

Tracy breaks into the lab to steal the recipe for Pickled Lila and instead winds up giving Ellie advice.

Tracy intercepts the recipe as it is delivered to AJ's office.

Elizabeth and Alexis wait for news about Nicholas.

Wednesday, March 27, 2013

The Search for Lulu

Milo goes to see Patrick because he senses that there is more going on between Sabrina and Patrick. Patrick doesn't fight for Sabrina and Milo goes off to see her.

Luke attempts to wake Nicholas to find out what he knows about Lulu.

Laura catches Luke and angrily throws him out of his hospital room.

Lucy, Felix and Sabrina prepare for the Nurses Ball.

Scott and Bobbie arrive at the hospital.

Dante and Anna get a tip about where to find Lulu.

Dante and Luke prepare to go after the Haunted Star which has left port with Lulu.

Laura asks Scott to stay with Nicholas while she goes off with Luke to find their daughter.

Felix and Sabrina argue about Milo and thanks to Carly and Lucy, they make up.

Sabrina asks Milo to attend the ball with her.

Alexis is relieved that Shawn is okay.

Coming: As rehearsals begin for the Nurses ball, Elizabeth questions Patrick about his feelings for Sabrina. Dr. Olbrecht and Britt have plans for Patrick. Luke and Laura set off on an adventure that brings back memories of the old days.

Danger Lurks

Nicholas is shot just as he is about to explain why he showed up. Luke and Laura wait as the doctors work feverishly on him.

Scott is annoyed that Laura doesn't want him by her side. Bobbie tries to comfort Scott and keep him and Luke apart.

Dante and Anna go after the shooter and run into Shawn who saves Anna from the shooter. The shooter dies after being caught by Dante.

Britt and her mother discuss the plan to get Patrick back.

Patrick begins to tell Sabrina how he really feels but is interrupted by Milo who asks Sabrina to the party. Sabrina accepts and Felix is angry.

Alexis sees Olivia at the police station and she has a vision about Shawn.

They then find out that Shawn has been shot and Alexis rushes to the hospital.

Luke tells Alexis about Nicholas.

Shawn returns to Alexis' house where TJ, Molly and Sam give him a hero's welcome.

Monday, March 25, 2013

Character Re Casting

Strange things are going to be happening on General Hospital and although the writers can be creative, what they have up their sleeves is just plain odd.

The battle for the rights to use the characters of John, Starr and Todd was won by Prospect Park and One Life to Live will be returning at the end of April via Hulu. The actors who portray these characters will be pulling double-duty of sorts.

Although it has yet to be announced just how the writers at GH are going to do it, it seems that there will be three familiar faces playing all new characters. Huh???

Yes, because ABC cannot use characters owned by PP, they have to find a new way to use the actors.

Personally I do not see how this is going to work. The shooting schedule for OLTL and AMC (also returning via Hulu) is much different than normal daytime soap schedules. The two shows share a set and film a few weeks on and then get a few weeks off. Both shows will air 5 times a week for 30 minutes. This is different than the typical one hour show and the filming schedule reflects this. It also offers more flexibility for the actors.

So it seems that these three actors will be portraying their OLTL characters and when in Port Charles who knows who they will be. Rather odd being that they built a story with several characters and now all three of them will be familiar faces but no one is supposed to notice???

How they are supposed to explain this?

General Hospital has done some weird stuff in the past (the not so distant past included- the poisoning of the water!) and with ratings being what they are, one would think they wouldn't do anything to mess with the fans. Some of us are ready to walk away from the nonsense.

Get back to old-fashioned daytime drama! It is all starting to get too weird for me.

Nicholas Returns

Nicholas shows up at Lulu and Dante's and just as he is told Lulu is missing he is shot.

Dante pleads with Olivia to help him find Lulu.

Patrick watches the tape Robin made for him and then shows up at the nurses' graduation.

Felix is disappointed when Milo asks him to fix him up with Sabrina.

Britt and her mother have words over her failure to land Patrick.

Anna asks for Frisco's help in finding Lulu's kidnapper.

Elizabeth is shocked when she is called to the ER to find Nicholas in serious condition.

Laura vows revenge on who is hurting her children.

Saturday, March 23, 2013

Back to Llanview and Flash Forward to Pine Valley

Starr receives a mysterious phone call from Langston and suddenly decides she has to go to L.A., leaving Michael.

John receives an offer he cannot refuse from the F.B.I. and gives up his attempts to help out orphaned Raiff and ends the relationship he and Sam have been moving towards.

Todd gives up on Carly after receiving an urgent message from his daughter Dani and returns to Llanview.

What soap fans know is that One Life to Live is currently back in production and after much legal behind the scenes attempts to share the characters of Starr and Todd and John, General Hospital had to give up these characters.

So Sam and Michael are alone again and Carly adds another failed relationship to her long list. Will One Life to Live acknowledge what happened when OLTL was off the air?

Reports are that All My Children (which will be starting anew in April) will flash forward 5 years in the future. This way they can make up for the loss of characters like Erica Kane (as if) by focusing on the younger Pine Valley residents who will age to young adults. Five years in the future (in soap time) brings the preschoolers of Angie and Jessie, Zack, Bianca, Tad and others to teenage and young adult. Maybe they are doing this to attract younger viewers as watching daytime soaps online is something your grandma is not as likely to do.

Meanwhile One Life to Live is banking on the idea that fans of GH who came to know Starr, Todd and John will follow OLTL when it starts airing in late April.

General Hospital is currently focused on the return of so many "old" characters as they prepare to celebrate their 50th anniversary. Maybe they are hoping that fans will be distracted by the return of Luke and Laura and not notice the awful way they abruptly killed off the storylines of Michael and Starr, John and Sam and the antics of Todd.

What do you think? Will you be watching the resurrection of AMC and OLTL?

First Loves

Felicia struggles with memories of when things were good between her and Frisco. They meet for dinner on what was Georgie's birthday and share a trip down memory lane.

Duke assures Mac that Felicia will make the right choice and warns him against allowing his imagination to create trouble.

Anna and Duke's dinner turns out to be an embarrassing situation for Duke when the money Tracy gave him turns out to be fake.

Todd comes to the truth about Carly and AJ and AJ is relieved to be done with the charade.

Starr gets a call from a friend in L.A. and leaves town.

Todd, after being rejected by Carly, leaves town to go see his daughter back in Llanview.

John accepts an assignment from the F.B.I. and says goodbye to Sam.

Sam and Carly find themselves hashing over their failures with men and have a bonding moment.

Anna and Felicia talk about their first loves and struggle to move forward.

Olivia, Luke and Laura gather at Dante and Lulu's to see the first ultrasound pictures of their grandchild. Olivia is suspicious of a strange gift that arrives.

Lucy convinces Scott to marry Laura as soon as possible and helps him arrange a quickie wedding.

They gather at the courthouse and while waiting for Lulu, Luke arrives.

Dante returns home to check on Lulu and finds her passed out on the floor. He is knocked out and awakens to find Lulu missing.

Olivia's vision of the teddy bear bringing danger comes true.

Everyone searches for Lulu.

Bobbie arrives and tries to ease the tension between Scott and Luke.

Maxie discusses her pregnancy with Frisco who also tells her he is in town to get her mother back.

Lucy happens upon Dr. Olbrecht in the park as she is handing out missing fliers of Lulu. She senses danger.

Britt is disgusted that Sabrina is graduating and is warned by Epiphany that she better stay out of her way.

Elizabeth talks to Patrick about his feelings for Sabrina.

Nicolas arrives at Lulu's only to find that she is missing.

Britt is surprised to find her mother in the park. Shockingly, her mother is no other than the evil Dr. Olbrecht who helped to kidnap Robin and hold her hostage.


Coming next week:

As preparations are made for the Nurses' Ball, Dante and Anna search for Lulu. Maxie is full of guilt over lying to Dante and Lulu. Spinelli is disappointed by Ellie's plans for their future.

Monday, March 18, 2013

New Lulu Cast!

Marcy Rylan has been cast in the role of Lulu Spencer after Julie Marie Berman vacated the role. For those of you who follow daytime drama, Marcy was most recently seen as Abby Newman on the Young & the Restless.

Ugh! As a viewer of Y&R, I have a hard time picturing this actress portraying Lulu. Marcy's Abby is spoiled, self-confident and self-absorbed. I don't know if Marcy has it in her to play Lulu. I wonder what direction the character will be taken in?

Eventually Lulu is going to figure out that Maxie is holding onto one huge secret. The chemistry between Dante and Lulu has been electric, will that same chemistry exist with a new actress?

Well time will tell.

With Laura back in the picture and Nicolas returning towards the end of the month and the pregnancy story, Lulu will be a big part of the action.

So what do you think about this re-cast?

Saturday, March 16, 2013

This Week on GH

As General Hospital prepares to celebrate 50 years, this past week was less than exciting in this fan's opinion.

The return of Kate was short-lived as Sonny soon discovered. The book launch for "Love in Maine" the manuscript Connie stole from Molly prompted Connie to admit the truth in front of all that she stole the book.

She pressured Sonny into telling the truth about who he really loves. Sonny admitted that he could not choose between Kate and Connie and loves them both.

Molly enjoyed her moment as a published author but worried about Rafe.

Sam discovered that Rafe left the group home and she and Molly found him at John's.

Todd was released from prison and headed straight to Carly who in a desperate attempt to avoid Todd, grabbed AJ and faked a passionate kiss.

Elizabeth witnessed this as she was arriving for a date with AJ. Elizabeth returned to the hospital, angry with herself that she had given AJ a chance.

Elizabeth, Sabrina and Felix discussed their failures at relationships. Felix offered to talk to Patrick for Sabrina but she urged him to leave it be.

Lulu and Dante saw Maxie's sonogram. Maxie felt a connection to the baby which surprised her.

Ellie and Spinelli tried to recover the recipe after Spinelli ate it.

AJ was desperate to save ELQ and entered into a deal with Carly.

Starr lied to Todd for Carly but Todd doesn't believe her.

Starr told Michael the truth about his parents.

Lucy, who reunited with Kevin, threw herself into planning the Nurses' Ball.

Sunday, March 10, 2013

The Week in Review

The battle for ELQ continued as Tracy hired Spinelli to steal the formula for Lila's Pickled Relish. Tracy threatened Spinelli with eviction and Spinelli was forced to steal the formula from Ellie.

Elizabeth decided to accept AJ's offer of a dinner date and encourage Sabrina to come clean and tell Patrick how she really feels about him.

Kate's return was brief and as Connie emerged she vowed revenge against Sonny.

Frisco continued his quest to win back Felicia. Mac told Kevin that although he loves Felicia, she has to make the choice to be with him.

Lucy was reunited with Kevin.

Starr and Michael were stunned when Todd was cleared of all charges.

Duke and Anna rekindle their romance.

Todd went to see Carly and profess his love for her.

Luke told Tracy that Scott is up to something and he worried about Laura.

Coming this week:

Will Spinelli give up the recipe to Tracy and betray Ellie?

Will Carly forgive Todd?

How will Patrick take Sabrina's confession?

Will Elizabeth and AJ start a new romance?

Will Sonny figure out that Kate is gone again?

How will Olivia cope with losing Steve?

Will Frisco continue to fight for what he wants?

Wednesday, March 6, 2013

Sabrina Fights Back

Sabrina and Patrick find out that Epiphany received an anonymous email alerting her to the fact that Sabrina cheated on the exam. Sabrina fights back and gets Epiphany to give her a second chance to prove that she did not cheat.

Patrick believes that Britt was behind the email and tells Epiphany.

A devastated Olivia returns to Steve's apartment and tells Kate there will be no wedding.

Kate and Olivia discuss Trey and Sonny and Olivia tells her that Sonny does love her.

Dante goes to see Steve who tells him that he cannot marry his mother. Dante understands and promises Steve that he will watch out for his mother.

Heather and Todd meet up at the police station and they have a talk. Heather tells him that she is ready to take responsibility for her crimes and will not testify against him. Todd thanks her.

Carly goes to see Sonny and tells him he is selfish for sleeping with Connie. She tries to get him to understand why Kate feels betrayed by him. Sonny gives her grief for getting involved with Johnny and then Todd and Carly fires back.

Monday, March 4, 2013

Wedding Interrupted

Steve and Olivia's hospital wedding is interrupted by Tennessee authorities who want to arrest Steve on murder charges.

Sabrina's name is absent from the nursing test roster and Felix finds out that she has been accused of cheating.

Patrick confronts Britt who says she had nothing to do with Sabrina's test scores.

Sam speaks out about Rafe, John and Lucy and the mayor has no choice but to drop all charges against them.

Anna takes Lucy to view Steven/Clay's body and Lucy wonders what happened to the ring.

Molly rushes to the PCPD to see Rafe who tells her that Steven/Clay was really his father.

Steve delays finishing the wedding and he tells Elizabeth that he has to own up to the charges against him. Olivia is devastated by his choice to go and face a trial.

Sunday, March 3, 2013

What Happened This Week on GH

Here is a recap of the week ending March 1st.

Monday:

Steve discussed Olivia's visions with Elizabeth who warned him that they should not be taken literally.

Patrick supported Sabrina as they awaited the news about her future as a nurse.

Olivia and Sonny tried to update Kate on what she missed while Connie was in control. Kate couldn't get past Sonny sleeping with Connie and was horrified that Trey died without her getting to know her son.

John, Rafe and Lucy got closer to finding Sam.

Sam tried to reason with Caleb who attacked her trying to get her to remember being Livvy.

Anna was one step behind the trio looking for Caleb but did find out who Steven Clay/ Caleb is.

Starr went to the site of the accident to remember Cole and Hope. Michael joined her and they remembered how they fell in love. Meanwhile someone watched them from afar.

Tuesday:

Sonny follows Kate to the scene of the accident where they talk about loss.

Steve asks Elizabeth to stand up for him at his wedding and then returns home to find Heather with a knife to Olivia. Steve jumps to save Olivia but gets stabbed in the stomach by Heather. As they await help, Heather sneaks out the door.

AJ goes to see a therapist and then thanks Elizabeth for her support.

John and Lucy search the tunnels at Windemere for Caleb and Sam while Rafe watches over Danny.

Caleb tries to get Sam to remember and while she passes out from the vampire bit he gives her, he dresses her in Livvy's wedding gown.

Steve is rushed to the hospital as a frantic Olivia tells Elizabeth that Heather made her vision come true.

Wednesday:

AJ gives Elizabeth support as they await news on Steve's condition.

Heather is surprised by finding Rafe with Danny at Windemere.

Lucy has a visit from Allison who assures her that she can stop Caleb.

John finds Sam only to be captured by Caleb.

Duke has a plan to save ELQ.

Thursday:

Duke tricks Tracy and walks away with the relish.

Steve makes it through surgery.

Heather turns herself in after her conversation with Rafe.

Michael shares good news with AJ.

Lucy distracts Caleb so that John is able to free himself and save Sam.

Caleb is killed and Lucy is in disbelief.

Lucy cannot come to grips with the idea that Caleb doesn't exist and she has wasted her time believing in vampires.

Friday:

Patrick celebrates with Sabrina who finds out that she is cleared of charges much to the dissatisfaction of Britt.

Frisco pushes to get Felicia back.

Tracy hires Spinelli.

AJ, Michael and Starr ask Ellie for her help.

Felicia confides in Duke.

Maxi coordinates Steve and Olivia's wedding from Steve's hospital bed.

Patrick sees Britt with Frisco and asks her why.

Sabrina comes clean with Steve and Olivia and tells them there never was a crush.

Duke faces Tracy.



Saturday, March 2, 2013

Julie Marie Berman Out as Lulu



Julie Marie Berman (Lulu) has opted to not stay in the role she has played since 2005. With the surrogate storyline very much in focus, the role of Lulu will be re-cast.

Gosh! As a fan of GH I hate it when actors leave and the role is re-cast but I guess there is not much a fan can do. It is just surprising to me with the return of Laura Spencer that Julie would choose now to leave her role.

What do you think about this latest cast change?