The official website for the 2012 General Hospital Fan Club Weekend is ready to provide fans with up to the minute information about the GH fan event of the year!

You won’t want to miss one exciting moment, so check the site often to stay informed!  http://ghfanclub.com/ghfcw/

IMPORTANT:  Please GO TO THE GHFCW WEBSITE before emailing your questions about events to the fan club.  Many of your questions are answered in the two FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions) pages in the red menu toward the top of the site.  Reading this information CAREFULLY gets you your answers faster and frees the GHFCW staff up to work on the weekend itself!  Do NOT email Debbie Morris with fan club weekend related questions.  A contact link is provided on the GHFCW website for those questions.

 

Tickets are $20 in advance and may be purchased online at the Brown Paper Tickets Direct Link: SidewalkStudio Theatre,  tickets, now is the time! 

Note: I personally went to this play recently while on a trip to Los Angeles.  I loved it.  If I were local I would go again.  Tamara is outstanding in this play.  I highly recommend you see this play if there is any way you can get there….don’t you dare miss it!

In other words, those storylines are getting pretty old. That dang split personality is close to driving me crazy.

You shouldn’t have said Bloody Mary three times fast.

In all honesty, I don’t mind a split personality storyline but the Kate we get when she’s not Connie is nothing like the Kate I loved when she first came to town in 2007. That Kate was a self-made woman willing to take no prisoners to hold onto her position at the top of the fashion world. Her relationship with Sonny helped soften her defenses, and she grew into someone who was both affectionate with her staff and completely put together at the same time. The Kate I loved would surely have visited her No. 1 Assistant at the jail by now. She would have yelled at Maxie for abandoning her post at Crimson while subtly showing how much she was worried for her at the same time.  This Kate hasn’t even mentioned her magazine while considering getting admitted to Shadybrook.

Regardless, I can’t complain about that cake stabbing scene. It was absolute hilarity.

I could watch it on repeat for endless hours of entertainment. I’m shocked they didn’t go with a red velvet cake for the extra dramatic effect. And Jason’s utter confusion about what’s going on with Kate has been pretty funny, too. Less funny is his utter confusion at Sam lying yet again, even if she confessed it all while wearing a fabulous party dress.

I really want that dress. What I don’t want is this resurgence of Franco’s ghost in the form of his unborn child. I had hoped this storyline was buried under the inevitable garbage heap of discarded plotlines and characters when the newest writing and producing regime took over—

They sure were.

–but no such luck. However, I can overlook it because Heather Webber’s involved, and she’s gosh darn fun. I love how she’s gotten under Olivia’s skin already, and I don’t give two figs about Olivia most of the time. Right now, I pity the woman for having to deal with her boyfriend’s mother.

Oh Liv, I feel ya. And don't drink the tea. Never drink the tea.

I have to be honest, though. This is my first experience with Heather Webber. I was way too young (possibly nonexistent) for her first stint in Port Charles, and I wasn’t watching when she came back in the early 2000s, so that whole affair she imagined with Luke could have been real as far as I knew. Watching both Robin Mattson and Scott Reeves recite her character history without laughing at the sheer absurdity of the LSD in the tea story has kept me entertained. Let’s keep her for a while. Any guesses as to what her plot line will ultimately be about or will she be just a general stirrer of misery? I’m not sure I buy that Franco is Jason’s brother or that the paternity results are correct, but why bring that all back up again if they aren’t?

Which brings me back to Jason and Sam.

They are angry eyes, but Jason’s baby blues were sparkling during this week of . . . well, of baby blues.

The story here is about Sam lying, of course, not about whether Jason can embrace raising Franco’s child (Hint: He would benefit from talking to his mother about raising another person’s child). The real damage Franco’s done to this relationship is causing Jason to lose trust in Sam, although I can totally understand where Sam was coming from in wanting to spare him the pain if she could. But couples function by sharing pain together, not by self-sacrifice. If I were a fan of the couple, I’d be raging, but because I’m fairly meh on them most days, I think it’s an interesting relationship problem to explore. And I admit that I love that Jason spilled the beans to Liz about it all within hours of finding out when Sam agonized over telling him for weeks. I spy a potential Liz and Jason rebound if Jason and Sam can’t rebuild that trust again.

Jason’s not the only one drawn toward someone else when he needs to confide, either.

And the gorgeous dress returns. It was in serious competition for Best TV Prop of last week along with Blaine’s sad eyes on Glee.

Sam is not doing so well resisting her connection with McBain. I didn’t watch Port Charles, but I know that the two actors were lovers on the show, and that Michael Easton was a vampire. I usually enjoy a good in-joke, but the vampire references just keep coming, and from Luke of all people. Are they actually going for a past life scenario with these two, using Port Charles’s history as their characters’ past lives? If so, I’m interested. If not, the references need to stop.

Prescription for Better Soap: Dial it back on the split personality storyline. If I’m supposed to root for Kate to be back in control, then she needs to regain her former confidence, not function as this shadow of herself. Keep making me wonder what Heather Webber’s game is, because I’m pretty sure it’s not that she wants to reconnect with her son. Keep exploring why it is that Jason and Sam turn to other people to be their support and not each other.

The Gourmez

Buy my romance novella, Maya’s Vacation, at Astraea Press,  Amazon, and Barnes and Nobles. Follow me on Twitter @thegourmez or on Facebook at my author page!

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1197586098/genreful?ref=live

The 1975 Daytime Emmy Awards were broadcast from a Hudson River cruise ship in New York Harbor. This year, they’ve also been set adrift, but not in a good way — the kudocast finds itself again searching for a broadcast home.

Associated Television Intl.’s David McKenzie and Jim Romanovich came to the show’s rescue back in 2009 after CBS opted not to broadcast the kudofest as part of an ongoing rotation among the big three networks. ATI put the show on the CW that year, before CBS aired the production in 2010 and 2011. But the production company has announced that this year it won’t be doing the show, set for June 23 at the Beverly Hilton.

“I hope they find a broadcaster, if just for the sake of giving stars from (canceled ABC soaps) ‘One Life to Live’ and ‘All My Children’ one more chance to be celebrated on national television,” says Romanovich.

The National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences says it is pursuing broadcast possibilities, including those on network, cable and digital media to bring the ceremony to viewers. However, industry reaction to having the show on the Internet is mixed, at best.

“There’s not ‘appointment viewing’ when your show is on the Web,” says J.D. Roth, executive producer of ABC’s “The Revolution.”

“People will be glad it’s happening (if it ends up on the Web),” says “Days of Our Lives” co-executive producer Greg Meng. “But awards shows for Web series should be on the Web. Awards programs honoring the best of television should be on television.”

“The Young and the Restless” thesp Peter Bergman, who attended a non-televised Daytime Emmys in 1984, says there are advantages to not airing the show.

Read the article by Michael Maloney @ Variety Magazine

Kristina’s time on GH – debuts as Felicia Cummings (contract: September 7, 1984 to February 13, 2003; recurring: March 1, 2004 to June 8, 2005, December 20, 2007 to January 22, 2008)

Alexis Bellino

www.twitter.com/@AlexisBellino
Dedicated wife, mother, and Christian, 3rd year cast member on Real Housewives of Orange County. Designer of Alexis Couture @ www.alexis-bellino.com Orange County, CA

Florencia’s Facebook
Florencia on IMDB

EXCLUSIVE

Full report at Deadline.com

By Becca

So Robin died. Let’s start with the death itself: Robin died a hero.

She died to save someone else, both in the role of good friend and doctor. She could have died at the end of an accelerated course of advanced AIDS, but she didn’t. She was spared from AIDS, spared from having to live her life knowing she would slowly grow worse and lose herself with every minute of every day. For that, I’m grateful. Robin died a hero, and I don’t think I could have handled it if she’d died from a long-term illness instead. I’m incredibly glad she was spared that.

Let me be clear, however. I will never stop believing that Faison secreted her away in the end, just like he did Lucky Spencer after the garage fire.

Remember how excited you got when Lucky was revealed on that boat?

Robin was burned beyond recognition, and that point was made repeatedly. This is a soap opera, and I will cling to that hope until it’s torn away from me. Robin is alive, and she’s the prisoner of a Faison and Helena alliance. It is no coincidence that Helena was in town at the same time. But none of that lessens the pain of losing Robin for her family. Patrick on the day of her death and the morning of her funeral was absolutely wrenching.

These scenes were so painful to watch because they were so true and moving. Watching Patrick go through those initial stages of grief, imagining Robin’s touches and her everyday attitude, was heartbreaking and perfect. Jason Thompson is doing phenomenal work. Daytime Emmys may not mean as much anymore, but he really deserves one. He was awesome in initial grief too, flying snot and drool everywhere.

And who can blame him for not knowing what to do next, not knowing how to keep going having lost his wife, his lover, his everything? There’s been a mess of plotlines tied in with Robin’s death and the most significant one, of course, was Jason’s brain surgery. Seeing Patrick struggle with saving the life of Jason was rough, especially knowing that Robin gave her life for that very reason. It would have been a crime against Robin’s memory if he didn’t get past his anger and grief and do the surgery correctly, but I can’t blame him for not wanting to all the same.

Yes, Robin loved Jason, but Jason’s a bad person who kills other bad people for a living. Patrick’s right; he doesn’t deserve surgery to save his life. However, Patrick’s a doctor — making moral judgments is not part of the job description. Luckily, Patrick came to terms with that with some help from his very, very recently deceased wife in his mind. It’s a shame that Steve and Maggie still don’t understand the immorality of their own choice. I could have overlooked Patrick’s stubbornness if he chose not to help Jason in the end, but I’m glad he wasn’t tainted with that crime. He has enough to deal with already. I hope his father can help him with that.

He needs someone in his corner right now, and who better than his father to fill that role? Anna has been a great support for Patrick except for her evisceration of him upon finding out about his affair with Lisa Niles.  The scene was fantastic, but Anna was obviously taking out her disappointment in herself on Patrick.

She was ashamed she didn’t know about it and that she hadn’t pressed Robin for details when she could tell Robin was upset on the phone. Anna doesn’t deserve her own rage either, but blaming oneself and others is so common and very realistic of a response to death. If anything, the speed with which Anna realized she’d been wrong to treat Patrick that way was much faster than these things commonly resolve in real life.

When Anna found out about Robin’s death, Finola Hughes looked old for once.

Call me crazy, but when actors look their ages, I think it’s darn good acting. Her grief was entirely unflattering, and I bought every second of Anna’s initial reaction. Watching Finola Hughes this past month has been a revelation for me. I was too young to remember her acting abilities when she was a regular on the show. She and Robert were blown up by Faison when I was 12, so her earlier work is lost in a mix of Grant Putnam, lacy red lingerie, and divided loyalties for Duke Lavery. But I could pick her out of a crowd any day, and I sincerely hope she’s here to stay. Not only does her granddaughter need her, but I think Patrick would benefit from his wife’s no-nonsense mother staying around, and between the three of them, they could make a reasonable family. Add in Mac and Maxie, and the Scorpio-Drake-Devanes are just as formidable as they’ve always been.  Of course, I’d like Robert to be included in that mix as well. So far, his despair and near suicide have been the only false notes for me.

Robert Scorpio can handle losing his daughter, because Robert Scorpio made peace with her when he developed cancer on Night Shift a few years back. If he’s honestly still torn about not being there through her adolescence, then he needs to absolutely be there for Emma to make it up. Almost killing himself was just so out of his character that I couldn’t take it seriously at all. He’s a WSB agent, for crying out loud. Yes, he lost his daughter, but Robert Scorpio of all people knows that death isn’t the end of anyone’s story.

The younger Scorpio brother handled Robin’s death much better. I melted when Mac thanked Anna for the honor of raising Robin.

No one could forget their arguments in Robin’s youth, and who would want to? Mac and a rebellious Robin was great soap, especially because we knew they loved each other — they were all they had left. I’d like to see Mac break down some more over the loss of Robin. He’s a seasoned parent at this point, but Robin was his first, and Robin was in many ways his most trying daughter. It was through raising her that we learned just how awesome of a man Mac is. He had romances, and he always followed the law once he became Commissioner, but it wasn’t until he raised a spunky, rebellious teenager that Mac really became human.

Regardless, I like how everyone found out about Robin’s death over a spread of weeks and not right away. One character learned what happened at a time, and all the while, everyone else important to Robin would go on as normal when we knew Robin is dead and there was nothing normal about that.

Mac, this accident doesn’t matter! Robin is dead!

Matt and Maxie, your relationship issues don’t matter! Robin is dead!

Maxie was the last of Robin’s loved ones besides Jason to find out, and watching her blame herself has been crushing.

I wonder if she really did kill Lisa Niles, though at the same time, I just wish Lisa were never mentioned again. But none of this is about Lisa’s death, it’s about how Maxie can’t take losing anyone else close to her, she just can’t. Yes, she’s selfish. Yes, she accidentally caused Robin’s death. Yes, she’s not the best person in the Port Charles — Robin and Georgie were — but I can’t help feeling badly for this woman who has lived her life in constant debt to others’ sacrifices and who has never lost sight of that. Maxie’s selfish, but she’s not an idiot and she doesn’t deserve the hatred she’s piling on herself. Spinelli’s repeated insistence on that point almost made me tear up last Friday.

Calling Maxie a force of nature is one of the sweetest things I’ve heard Spinelli say.

Robin’s funeral was pretty good overall. I liked how many people spoke about their time with Robin, and of course, the accompanying flashbacks were needed. But the Quartermaines should have been there, and I’m confused as to why Epiphany and the rest of the hospital staff weren’t. And how come no one has mentioned telling Brenda? Robin was one of the first people Jax thought of when Brenda “died.” How come Sonny hasn’t mentioned telling her? Vanessa Marcil doesn’t need to show up; I just need someone — anyone — to say that Brenda’s been told. And Carly in her all concern over Jason learning the truth ought to have mentioned Jax once or twice as well – you know, the man she “accidentally”  calls her husband all the time?

Prescription for Better Soap: I may be prejudiced as a lifelong fan, but Anna, Noah, Robert, Holly, and any other old-school character who wants to come to town is very welcome, although I wish Robin’s death weren’t the reason for bringing them. I’m beside myself that Kristina Wagner is coming back again, and that’s keeping in mind her less than amazing return during Georgie’s death. It’s Felicia Jones — if Mac doesn’t get a triangle with Felicia and Alexis, I will cry foul. Also, any other deaths coming up should be treated with the gravity given to Robin’s. For too long, deaths have been run of the mill occurrences on GH, and that’s a pattern that needs to change. All character deaths should be a shock and not a common happening. We should feel the loss they bring to the show’s canvas. Change that, and you’ll change a lot that’s been wrong with GH for years.

The Gourmez

Follow me on Twitter @thegourmez or on Facebook at my author page! Buy my romance novella, Maya’s Vacation, at Astraea Press for only $1.99! You can find it at Amazon, too.

Pictures courtesy of GH-Caps.