Sage’s Weekly Dish – AMC, OLTL & GH
By Sage Bourland
Maybe it’s just that my own life has taken on a soap opera quality that rivals the imaginations of our current ABC Soaps regime or maybe it’s just that things are quiet in that dreaded “calm before the storm” or “eye of the cyclone” way. The biggest news is, of course, AMC as new info comes in about their move and the actors affected.
AMC
The big news that came by way of Nelson Branco (TV Guide Canada) this week is his announcement that was we suspected but were consistently told differently, Alicia Minshew (Kendall) will briefly return in a couple of weeks to tape a final 3 episodes with Thorsten Kaye (Zach), after which the couple and all of their children will ride off into the sunset and off of the show. Thorsten Kaye announced a while back that he would not be making the move to LA with AMC, but there had been an ongoing insistence that Alicia Minshew would be returning to the show after a lengthy maternity leave. Guess things changed or where never how they seemed. Branco referred to the dynamic duo as “Daytime’s biggest douche-bag super-couple.” That should go over well with the fans.
The line up of veteran returns for the show’s 40’s anniversary continues to grow as one of my favorites, Julia Barr (Brooke English) was added. Now we are up to: Mark Consuelos (Mateo Santos), Kelly Ripa (Hayley Vaughan), Eva LaRue (Maria Santos), Laurence Lau (Greg Nelson), Taylor Miller (Nina Cortlandt), Leven Rambin (Lily Montgomery) and Eden Riegel (Bianca Montgomery). The 40th anniversary shows will air for two days beginning January 5th.
Julia Barr last aired in 2006. Honchos asked her to accept the status of “recurring” and she declined, so they responded by never writing for Brooke again.
Classy.
Terri Ivens (The Late Simone) told Soap Opera Digest that she would love to rejoin the show now that it’s on her side of the continent. The actress left AMC in 2006 because commuting between coasts after her marriage and the birth of her baby were taking its toll. Now she thinks it would be great for Simone to have a younger sister or twin turn up.
Head Writer, Chuck Pratt, drops so many balls lately he would do well to invest in a jock strap, provided he can find anything to actually put in it. He jabbered to ABC Soaps in Depth that viewers would “eventually” find out who actually killed Dixie. Wonder if it will happen before Cady McClain gets another job. Her six month contract at ATWT is supposedly over.
The magazine also wonders if we will ever find out why Taylor is no longer around or what happened between Jake and Caroline.
GH
Scott Reeves has a start date – or generality – for airing as the new Steven Lars Webber. Look for him to show up the first week or so of December. Although he’s buddies with Steve Burton (Jason), he says he didn’t pull in favors to get the job, just went about it the old fashioned way. Steven Lars was last played by Shaun Benson in 2004. Reeves and wife, Melissa (DOOL ex-Jennifer) live in Nashville, so I feel a commute in his future. Just call me Swami Sage.
Lisa LoCicero (Olivia) muses to Soap Opera Digest about the perils of her career and how it’s hard to feel pretty when surrounded by gorgeous co-stars. Says Lisa Lo, “If I could be half as pretty as Steve [Burton, Jason], I’d be thrilled.”
We all ramped up for the next big Cassadine story as we watched Helena tremble in fear and warn Luke in hushed tones about yet another bastard child of Mikkos’, Valentin…and then we waited for the story to unfold… and waited… and waited. Now it seems that the evil one won’t be on screen until late Winter to early Spring, allegedly so that other stories can wrap up first. Guess they decided that at the last minute after already pulling the trigger on Helena’s temporary return before being shipped off to a Swiss clinic. Guess we had to get back Luke in some ludicrous way.
Chad Brannon – back as Zander Smith – December 22nd – part of the Rebecca Shaw exit story. Don’t know why. Weird.
OLTL
Head Writer, Ron Carlivati, did notice that Todd and Tea could not possibly have a child the same age as Matthew since they only slept together for the first time 6 years ago. He just doesn’t care. He says, “It’s a soap miracle!” and babble about a better story, yadda, yadda, yadda, and how they don’t really think we’re stupid. O…kay….
November 17th, 2009 at 9:32 pm
Hey Sage,
On another EOS contributor’s page, we were discussing AJ. Did he actually die, or did he fake his death, embezzle the Q’s $$, and leave the country?
November 18th, 2009 at 10:12 am
It would be nice if an annoying ad weren’t blocking the beginning of your blog.
Why don’t they send Thorston Kaye to Llanview to reclaim his wife, Marty, then send them off to Ireland? He could then move his family to California and rejoin AMC. Since Kendall is going to be absent for a bit it would work out fine. However, I do not wish to see a John and Natalie re-pairing. They were boring the last time and I don’t see it being any different now.
November 18th, 2009 at 10:14 am
Well, the ad is gone now. Did they hear my complaint?
November 18th, 2009 at 1:06 pm
Hey Sage – I had read in Nelson Branco’s column that Alicia was taking a break from her maternity leave to do the 3 taping days at the end of this month and that the planned on-screen resolution would still happen. Is your info otherwise?
November 18th, 2009 at 9:48 pm
I liked Nat/John the first time, now John is so boring it’s like watching paint dry. Nat/Jared were good together…
Maybe OLTL is looking for a Kelly/John/Nat triangle…
November 21st, 2009 at 5:06 pm
Hi Everyone. Getting to your comments:
Pam, as lame as it is, my answer to you is “Yes” or D) All of the above, just not in that order. He did fake his death and stole the Q’s money, but resurfaced in 2005 with that whole lame story of hiring Faith to kidnap the kids, after which Dr. Asher Thomas smothered him with a pillow when his back was broken and he was in the hospital. Michael was thought to be the murderer for a long time, but viewer response was so overwhelmingly negative toward that idea that a weak, last minute rewrite was thrown in. As far as we know, AJ isn’t only merely dead, he’s really most sincerely dead… or at least as dead as you can get being “soap dead.”
Daisychain, my info on Alicia Minshew is that she will, as you have said, come back for a brief 3 day taping schedule to finalize Kendall’s story and send her and babies packing off into the sunset with Zach.
AnneS, my understanding is that Thorsten Kaye is likely to return to OLTL, which results in a reunion with Marty and Cole, but also frees up John to go back to the John-Natalie relationship. Not the answer you were looking for, I know.
Hugs to all of you!
Sage
November 22nd, 2009 at 3:21 pm
Didn’t Caroline leave Jake for the driver of the supply truck?
November 23rd, 2009 at 8:11 pm
Maybe there is hope for AMC, I’ll start watching again after the move. I’ll give them time to straighten up the bs.
Could Sam look any more a whore than she did today? Maybe Michael will get her too, she won’t be missed.
Other then FF GH with Sam it is getting interesting, JF is taking alot of screen time, which means less of Sam. Yeah