Genie Francis, The Note II: Taking a Chance on Love
In December 2007, Daytime Emmy winner Genie Francis and Ted McGinley helped give Hallmark Channel its highest-rated original movie of the year. This Saturday at 9 pm/ET, they and the cabler will look to repeat that success with The Note II: Taking a Chance on Love, in which Francis' advice columnist thinks about heading for a wedding and tries to bond with her long-lost daughter, all the while following the emotional mission a brand-new missive sends her on.
Francis spoke with TVGuide.com about the new notes she hopes the follow-up will hit. She also opened up about how her troubled times as a teen phenomenon make her feel for today's super-scrutinized starlets. Plus: Genie's take on soaps' budget-crunching, and her General Hospital future. Read it all, after the jump.
read more
Catherine Bell
Hallmark Channel has greenlighted sequels to its original movies The Good Witch and The Note, starring fan faves Catherine Bell and Genie Francis respectively.
Witch's Catherine Bell and Chris Potter will start shooting (thank goodness it's a working title) The Good Witch 2 later this month in Toronto for a 2009 premiere. The sequel will revolve around...
read more
Genie Francis by Bob D'Amico/ABC
She's baaack.Genie Francis is returning to General Hospital next month to reprise her role as Laura."This is a short visit," Francis, 46, told the AP. "It's a mother-daughter story. Years ago when I started playing the character as a 14-year-old girl, it was a mother-daughter story, only I was the daughter. So it's kinda cool this is full circle. It's nice to come back for visits. General Hospital is my home."She'll return to a storyline involving Lulu, her daughter with Luke Spencer (played by Tony Geary).Laura was last seen in Port Charles in 2007 in a mental institution, having slipped back into a catatonic state. The return engagement — in which she and Luke renewed their vows — won her the Daytime Emmy for Best Supporting Actress.Luke and Laura's 1981 TV wedding, by the way, still ranks as daytime TV's highest-rated soap opera episode, attracting 30 million viewers.Francis — who lives in Maine and runs a home furnishing shop — said producers assured her Laur...
read more
Genie Francis in 'The Note,' courtesy Hallmark Channel
Inspired by the message at the heart of The Note, the Hallmark Channel movie she stars in this Saturday at 9 pm/ET, Genie Francis wants to make amends with any General Hospital fans who to this day — decades after the fact — were disappointed to see her quit the sudser at the peak of her popularity. "I know that Laura [Baldwin Spencer] meant a great deal to many people, and still does," says Francis. "I've long regretted not taking the fans into account when making the hasty decision to leave the show."Forgiveness and reconciliation are at the core of The Note, and filming it forced me to look inside myself at certain decisions in my past.... Right now I want to reach out to all of my fans and say that I'm sorry. I'm sorry for leaving you so abruptly, for not taking into account the feelings of the people who helped Laura truly take on a life of her own. "It was the decision of a young, impetuous girl," Francis says in closing, "and the woman she has become asks for your...
read more
Bones creator Hart Hanson has inked a new eight-figure, three-year deal with 20th Century Fox Television to continue as executive producer as well as develop new projects.... Microsoft's Xbox Live service today makes available 50 hi-def Looney Tunes episodes featuring Bugs, Daffy and the gang.... It is now appropriate to ooh and ahh over Garcelle Beauvais-Nilon's twins: the NYPD Blue alumna on Oct. 18 gave birth to two boys, Jax and Jaid, says People.... Tied to the Dec. 8 premiere of Genie Francis' The Note, Hallmark Channel has launched WhatWouldYouWrite.com, where you can reach out to those who have impacted your life.
read more
Genie Francis by Jesse Grant/WireImage.com
While General Hospital continues to leave coal in Genie Francis' stocking, the daytime icon has been gifted with a lead role in a Hallmark Channel movie. According to Variety, The Note — premiering Dec. 8 and also starring Ted McGinley — concerns a "lonely hearts" columnist who comes across a letter written to an unidentified child by an ill-fated airline passenger. Francis' editor puts her in charge of tracking down the tot before Christmas, all the while chronicling her (sure-to-be-emotional) quest. As for McGinley's part in all of this, it would seem that maybe he got cast in a TV series with the aforementioned airplane.
read more
Bob Barker by Gregg DeGuire/WireImage.com
What becomes a living legend most? Modesty, grace and good humor. Such were the virtues on display throughout Bob Barker’s official last day (and night)on Friday as a revered, iconic game-show host.It started with his last-ever day hosting CBS’ The Price Is Right after 35 years, capping a 50-year career in broadcasting. (I remember growing up watching him on the slapstick game show Truth or Consequences before he landed the Price gig.) Despite the confetti, the standing ovations, and the prime-time replay just before the Daytime Emmys telecast (where he also cleaned up), it was mostly just another hour of Price Is Right merriment, albeit with the audience frenzy a bit more amped up given the nature of the day — and the fact that many audience members had camped out for days to be there (including the worshipful Patrick, who “came on down” as the show began but didn’t make it up on stage until the very last game).Bob Barker, ever the pro, wasted no time...
read more
Anthony Geary and Genie Francis, General Hospital
They set the country on fire. On November 16, 1981, General Hospital's Luke and Laura said "I Do" to a record audience of 30 million viewers. Exactly 25 years later to the day, the now-divorced soul mates will marry again. Will lightning strike twice? TV Guide caught up with five-time Emmy winner Anthony Geary, 59, and Genie Francis, 44, who is making a brief return to GH after a four-year absence, to get their take on the pressures of fame and their upcoming nuptials — the ultimate soapy sweeps stunt.
TVGuide.com: What made GH, and especially the wedding, so hot and memorable back in the '80s?Tony Geary: The soap medium had become pretty staid – it was like radio w
read more
Anthony Geary, General Hospital
It's easy to grouse about the annual Daytime Emmy nominations: "One Life to Live's Robin Strasser was robbed! Why is Passions treated like the stepchild of soaps? And who voted for that so-so star(let)?" But nobody could object to the outstanding-lead-actor nod for General Hospital's talented Anthony Geary. In this exclusive interview, TVGuide.com asks the most recognizable man in daytime TV about Emmy, the return of Holly and Robert Scorpio, and those endless Genie Francis rumors.
TVGuide.com: Congrats on your eighth Emmy nom! You've won four times. Are you still surprised at this point?
Anthony Geary: Thank you. I'm always surprised.
TVGuide.com: What did you submit for your prenomination reel?
Geary: I used the
read more
