He's baaack! Soap hunk Steve Burton (ex-Harris Michaels, Days of Our Lives) will be steaming up Port Charles this summer with the return of his character Jason Morgan. "General Hospital is like a family to me, so it will be nice to spend time back home," Burton said in a statement. What will this mean for Carly and Sonny's turbulent romance? Only time will tell. Burton joined the cast of GH in 1990 as Jason Quartermaine and later evolved into the brooding Jason Morgan. Since taking time off from the soap world last year, Burton has been filming the upcoming TV series Semper Fi. Look for the sparks to fly starting Aug. 25.
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In other GH news, Ingo Rademacher will make the move to prime time next fall in the upcoming NBC series Titans. Rademacher will play David O'Connor in the Aaron Spelling drama about a wealthy Beverly Hills family. Rademacher will be joined by fellow soap vets Yasmine Bleeth (ex-Lee Ann Demerest Buchanan, One Life to Live; ex-Ryan Fenelli, Ryan's Hope), Perry King (ex-Hayley Armstrong, Melrose Place) and Victoria Prinicpal (ex-Pamela Jean Barnes Haynes Ewing, Dallas).
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STAGE AND SCREEN: Catherine Hickland (Lindsay, OLTL) returns to QVC on July 18 with her popular line of skin-care products.... Grant Show (ex-Jake Hanson, Melrose; ex-Rick Hyde, Ryan's Hope) and Eva LaRue (ex-Dr. Maria Santos-Grey, AMC; ex-Margot Collins, Santa Barbara) will star in the upcoming ABC thriller Ice. The soap vets play two of the last people on Earth in this made-for-TV movie airing July 22.... Days's Peggy McCay has been cast to play James Dean's grandmother in the upcoming TNT telepic James Dean: An Invented Life.... Daniel Hugh Kelly (ex-Travis Montgomery, AMC) has been cast as President John F. Kennedy in NBC's upcoming miniseries Jackie, Ethel, Joan: The Women of Camelot.
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AMC: Eden Riegel has been cast as the new Bianca Montgomery, Erica Kane's (Susan Lucci) anorexia-stricken daughter. Riegel was in the movie American Pie and has had stints on Guiding Light and ATWT.
ATWT: Don Chastain (ex-T.J. Reno, Another World; ex-Dr. Tom Baldwin, GH) returns to the soap in the recurring role of Cooley who will bring dander to Simon and Lily. Chastain played a character named Logan Andrews in 1987.
Days of Our Lives: We'll finally catch a glimpse of the troubled Mimi's family when Robin Riker joins the cast as Mimi's mother, Maureen Lockhart, and Austin Wolff arrives as her brother Conner on July 11. Ian Patrick Williams, who played Dr. Brock in 1997, will appear as Mimi's father, David, starting July 21.
Guiding Light: Soap vet Michael Sabatino (ex-Peter, ATWT; ex-Phillip, Sunset Beach; ex-Dr. Jonathan Kinder, AMC; ex-An
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Jun 14, 2000 04:00 AM ET
- by Soaps
Dear Soaps,
How many times has Genie Francis (Laura, General Hospital) been married, and to whom?
— Anna
Dear Anna,
Francis has been married once, to actor Jonathan Frakes since 1988.
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Jun 14, 2000 04:00 AM ET
- by Soaps
Dear Soaps,
Regarding a casting item in last week's Soaps News, in which you said: "Remember the Harley (Guiding Light) fiasco last time?" Mr. Reiner, there would have been no fiasco if you hadn't begun one.
— Faye
Dear Faye,
Hey, I'm not the one who put out a casting call for a character clearly named Harley Davidson Cooper for the express purpose of replacing actress Beth Ehlers or scaring her into re-signing; that honor belongs to TPTB at GL and Procter & Gamble.
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Jun 14, 2000 04:00 AM ET
- by Soaps
Dear Soaps,
Now that Saundra Santiago has been axed as GL's Carmen, what do you think about her being cast as Dorian on OLTL? Any other ideas where she might land?
— Jill
Dear Jill,
I think Santiago is too ethnic to play Dorian, and she doesn't have the acting chops to compete with Slezak and Smith! I'd rather see her as Carlotta's sister, or maybe Pilar's sister on Passions.
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Jun 14, 2000 04:00 AM ET
- by Soaps
Dear Soaps,
Who was behind the hiring of Hogan Sheffer as ATWT's new head writer? Are you back on good terms with MADD and Graham? Why didn't you update the Soaps News column when the news about Sheffer taking over ATWT was released?
— SEW
Dear SEW,
I've been told from various sources that Bill Graham "discovered" Sheffer, which, hopefully, means Sheffer won't get too much interference from P&G. MADD and I are pals again ("Bygones!" she wrote in her note to me); I seriously doubt Graham knows who I am... although, if memory serves, he turned down my request to interview him a few years back. Maybe he does know who I am. I didn't feel the need to update Soaps News because — in my mind, at least — it was only a matter of time before Sheffer ascended to the head writer position. I mean, P&G had warned me earlier in the week not to intimate anything about his future a
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Jun 14, 2000 04:00 AM ET
- by Soaps
Dear Soaps,
I seem to remember a story on Days of Our Lives quite a few years ago where someone raped Sami. Am I nuts, or did this happen?
— Sean
Dear Sean,
You're not nuts; Alan Harris raped Sami in 1994. She retaliated by shooting him in the groin.
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Jun 14, 2000 04:00 AM ET
- by Soaps
Dear Soaps,
How many actors have played Lucky on GH?
— Sherrif
Dear Sherrif,
Just two: Jonathan Jackson and now Jacob Young.
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