December 15, 2003

A Week of Shocking News For General Hospital!

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It was such an insane week at GH with heads rolling in avalanche style.  GH fans everywhere gasped at the news that long-term, beloved actor, John Ingle (Edward Quartermaine) was unceremoniously fired from the show.  It was the shock heard round the world and despite what you may hear elsewhere, it was NOT a mutual decision by a longshot.  A respected acting teacher of decades, Ingle was responsible for the creation of the drama departments at both Hollywood High School and Beverly Hills High School, teaching future actors like Richard Dreyfuss, Albert Brooks, Julie Kavner, Laraine Newman, Mike Farrell, Linda Evans, Stefanie Powers, Swoosie Kurtz, Barbara Hershey, David Schwimmer and Nikolas Cage (who invariably thanks Ingle in any acceptance speech he gives).  Ingle continues to deliver onset acting classes to newcomers to the show and is revered by the other actors on the set.  His generous and gentle nature and laughing blue eyes captivate every fan he meets.  Spend 3 minutes with him and you'll want him to be your grandpa too.  The moments that you see in character where Edward is his most vulnerable, with Emily and occasionally with Monica, for instance, are the parts of John Ingle that come through in Edward.  I am personally disgusted and devastated by how this venerated actor has been treated by General Hospital.  His contract is up in just a few months and it would have seemed much more gracious and respectful to have simply not picked up his option rather than going the "you're fired" route before his contract is even up.  Fans all over will mourn the loss of Ingle, of Edward and, it would likely follow, the Quartermaine dynasty.  Merry frickin Christmas.

A representative of Mr Ingle sent me this statement for release:

To my faithful GH fans………

For the past ten wonderful years, I have been convinced that I was "Edward Quartermaine"…..I wore his clothes (expensive). …bellowed his lines….yelled at his family….all the while loving them fiercely! Then suddenly, I found that I wasn't "Edward" at all. I was/am John Ingle, and I have been privileged to play this delicious, multi-faceted role for ten short and happy years. BUT it was merely a role!

As John Ingle, I am a - working actor - once again.   My theatrical agents are delighted that I will be able to pursue my career in primetime and film. Naturally, I am excited and look forward to what the future holds.

But I am saddened to leave my cherished, "dys'FUN'ctional" Quartermaine family- old and new. I am saddened to say goodbye (for now) to our top-notch crews - stage…camera…props…hair & make-up…wardrobe….production  staff. I will take irreplaceable memories with me as I leave Port Charles for exciting parts unknown. 

Saying goodbye to "Edward Quartermaine" is like leaving a dear, old friend. As you say goodbye to the character, don't say goodbye to me. I will not go quietly into that good night!

So wish me luck...and know that you have my love and lasting gratitude.

Much love…….John Ingle

When respected and talented actor, David Lewis fell ill in 1993 and was unable to continue in his wonderful portrayal of Edward Quartermaine, General Hospital was richly blessed with such a fine actor, teacher and human being to take up the Quartermaine patriarchal torch.  Thank you, Mr Ingle, for the years, the talent and the love you have given us.  The loss of Anna Lee and John Ingle represent the end of an era and the loss of a lifetime for GH fans.  (The word "ratbastards" is swimming in my head right now, but I'm trying to meet this with the same grace Mr Ingle is showing, so I'll refrain from my burgeoning rant).

Some had no comment, some put a spin on it to look as though they chose to leave of their own accord and others are still in rumor status only.  Kin Shriner, Chad Brannon and Lane Davies were all sent packing this week.  Fans wondered by proxy about the fate of Nancy Lee Grahn with the loss of potential (and eternally pre-empted) love interest, Cameron for her character of Alexis.  At the time of this writing, NLG seems as secure as anyone on the cast (now that contracts essentially have no meaning) with a heavy story set up for Helena's return and the rebuilding of the Cassadine fortune. 

Most recently, rumors of yet another Lucky recast leave portrayer Greg Vaughan in limbo.  The rumors are strong that Vaughan has already taped his last scenes and the forerunner for his replacement is none other than Brian Presley, formerly of Port Charles.  I can neither confirm nor deny those rumors at this time, but I will let you know. 

One of the biggest questions swirling around is why veteran actors are being summarily dismissed (on all ABC Daytime shows, really) without consideration while new characters are being brought on right and left.  The answer is very simple:  money, not for the show, but for the individuals.  It goes back to an industry standard I discussed several columns back.  Executive producers and head writers of the soaps get what basically amounts to a kickback for every character they create for as long as the character (not the actor, the character) remains on the show.  Create a new character = get more money.  Get rid of characters created by previous regimes = dump money being paid to previous regimes for the characters they created = use the money from the departing actor's salary to hire 2-3 new people to play 2-3 new characters = more money for the current regime.  What all this means is that The Powers That Be have a vested interest in NOT keeping veteran actors on the cast and in bringing in new characters by the buttload.  Same goes for the return of characters already off the show.  If they return, but were previously created characters, the residual goes to the creating powers, not the current ones in charge (unless they were the creators).  For that reason, you will not likely see Anna, Robert and Sean returning (and Brian "Scrooge" Frons, Head of ABC Daytime, has already nixed that idea), despite the rumors around and about.  It does not behoove the reigning powers to bring them back and lord knows we haven't seen any sign that fan input and interest means jack squat to them.  HOWEVER, don't forget that Bob Guza (current head writer) was also head writer on the show from 1997-2000, so there's a whole three year span of characters there who will make Bob some extra money should they show up.

Another fallacy out there is that actors who are on contract are hogging up all the money from those who are not.  The fact is that what is negotiated at contract time is the amount of salary that will be paid per episode, vacation time, outs to do other projects and things like that.  Soap actors are paid when they work, period.  When you see an actor appear in one episode a month, that actor is getting paid for that one day's work.  Do you really think Shell Kepler - ex-Amy Vining - started making clothes because she was good at it? (Did you see the clothes?  Oh I know, "Don't be snarky about Shell!  How tacky!!"  But I still ask you, Did you see the clothes??  Don't even TALK to me about tacky!)  Many veteran actors have ended up moving into smaller houses and doing a lot of side work just to afford to pay their bills, having been left out of the scripts for weeks on end sometimes.  Of course, most actors who have been on the soaps for any length of time understand that normally, this industry is particularly transient and often have financially invested well during the times of plenty in preparation for leaner times.  Still, they are people with bills and obligations like everyone else.  If you've ever wondered how much the average soap star makes, there is a wonderful discussion on the difference between contract and recurring status and typical salaries at the Llanview Banner's FYI Page. 

Maybe those little tidbits will shed some light on why things sometimes happen as they do.

Head of ABC Daytime, Brian "The Grinch" Frons, once again jammed his foot so far in his mouth he gave birth to his own toes this week when viewers wrote to protest the rampant firings of fan favorites.  Let's face it, with 5 being taken down this week, Billy Warlock taking a hike of his own accord, and the dumping of Andrea Pearson as Gia and J. Robin Miller as Lydia, the firing of our favorite body guard, Scott Egan and most regrettably the loss of Stephen Nichols as Stefan (moment of silence please), there is quite a laundry list of people to miss (or not).  With numbers like that, there's got to be someone who you were sorry to see go.  Interns were given this message, a cut and paste form letter, to reply to angry protests: 

I realize you have concerns about GH right now. However, the writers are trying to reduce GH to a core group of characters, for financial and storyline considerations. Because of that, several actors have been/will be let go. Change is hard, but GH will continue to be Must-See-TV in the new year, I promise you. Stay tuned. There is so much great stuff coming up.

Happy Holidays.
~Brian Frons

I guess my question, like so many others, is "Hasn't GH been reduced to a core group of characters without any financial or storyline considerations for the past two years?"  Are we really supposed to believe that Tamara Braun, Maurice Benard, Steve Burton or Alicia Leigh Willis are worried about their jobs?  Are we supposed to figure we don't know who is in the core group and who isn't?  GH is little more than a cliquey high school food chain any more.  The cheerleaders and jocks will always be popular.  The kids in band (Rebecca Herbst, Rick Hearst, Ingo Rademacher, Kelly Monaco, Tyler Christopher, Scott Clifton, Cynthia Preston, Robin Christopher and Natalia Richardson) are alternately popular and expendable, depending on whether or not there's spare story and air time.  Everyone else is a nerd who will be utilized when the band and cheerleader/jock kids need someone to write their science report or do their algebra homework.  Otherwise, they're invisible.  I swear, Anthony Geary and Jane Elliot must drink together every night after work, just shaking their heads and sighing.  They are the only people over forty (OK, Maurice Benard is about 5 minutes over forty) who get any airtime at all.

So as not to just be a bitchasaurus rex, I have to say I've very much enjoyed the changes Tony Geary has made upon his return from Summer Vacation, ingratiating Luke into stories all over the place.  Seeing him re-connect with Sonny and now charmed by Skye and intrigued by Faith (like a mongoose is intrigued by a cobra) has been delicious, not to mention his interaction with Tracy.  After such a Luke draught, I'm grateful to see him moving and shaking around Port Charles.  When Helena returns, that part of the show should light up even more.  Happy, Happy January!  Or even before!  Happy, Happy Christmas Eve with a special episode around... LUKE!  How the fresh hell did THAT happen? I'm surprised we're not featuring "An All Jason Christmas Kill Fest" filmed on location at the Bada Bing.

With the show in such turmoil and in the interest of spreading good cheer, sunshine and smiles, I'd like to submit my recently absent Ten Reasons To Watch GH:

1)  Leslie Charleson and Stuart Damon - Watch them now because I'm afraid they're next to go.

2)  Luke and Skye - I hear the idea of a father and daughter relationship has been scrapped and when Helena returns, she'll be loaded with the information that Skye is really a Cassadine (Mikkos and Rae?  I could see it!).  Now consider how loaded that situation will be if it's revealed AFTER Luke falls in love with Skye!  Sure, I love L&L, but honey, I'd love to see Luke get frisky with someone who is not a blonde replacement for Laura and if anyone can wake up the cold, rigor-mortisized, dead heart of Luke, it's Red (and isn't that what he used to call Bobbie?  We'll ignore the kinky connotations THERE).  With Skye's mommy-instincts on full boat drive, I'm betting poor Lulu might even get some attention from an adult.  (Speaking of which, with AJ gone and Edward soon to follow, I'd worry a lot less about Alexis and get concerned about Ned.  Could "The Gate" be thinking that a Nexis reunion might happen now that both characters are unattached and both are bonded to baby Kristina?  Maybe that's why Lane Davies was booted out.  Tracey?  Tish?  Anyone around?  (knock knock)

3)  Tracy - any scene, any time, just bring it on!  "Lucretia"  Heh heh heh.

4)  Helena is coming back (did I mention that Helena is coming back?)

5)  Big Alice!!  She's still around here and there and I'd watch just to see her.   My biggest thrill this week was her 15 seconds of screen time.

6)  Coleman - any scene, any time.  It could happen.

7)  Those moments such as when Faith whistled for Zander and said, "Meal ticket leaving."  Every now and then (a couple of times a week by last count) a zinger flies out there leaving you wondering, "Where the hell did THAT come from?"

8)  Mac's ass is still on from time to time and there is no sweet gift from God that could come close to comparing to even a fleeting glimpse of John J. York's Ass (that's right, a capital letter).  John J. York's Ass should be in the opening credits.

9)  I don't dig Alcazar much.  I find his obsession with Carly to be fairly tiresome and, well, obsessive, but man, I sure do dig Ted King.  Yowzer.  Even with his eurotrash haircut, he's hot.

10)  Y'know, I'm just a sucker.  I really do want to know how Elizabeth is going to navigate this whole Zander's baby thing.  Yeah, yeah, I've seen it 500 times on 3 different soaps over the years, but I'm ready to watch it again.  Pass the popcorn, whoppers and Dr Pepper, darlin.

(Pssst.  #11 is Tyler Christopher, but he's only honorable mention because A - I like him better with that older woman thing going on and B - this Emily-Nikolas thing is just *shudder* icky.  But Tyler... *sigh*... Tyler, boy, mmmm, so fine.  I'm hearing "Mrs Robinson" playing in the background already.)

Pardon me whilst I take a Tyler Moment - ahem...

The GH Fan Weekend will take place the weekend after Fourth of July in 2004 and you can count on plenty of Eye on Soaps staff showing up to hang with our readers!  So far, Carolyn Aspenson, Kathy Hardeman, Katrina Rasbold (me), Sherry Mercurio, Dayna and Victoria Russell will be on hand and if all goes well, we'll have Kate Brown, our favorite cynic, there as well.  We'll be attending the main luncheon itself on Saturday, July 10th and other events around and about.  We'd love to meet you, so please come over and say hello!  Tickets go on sale to GH Fan Club members on January 2nd and to nonmembers on February 1st.  We hope to see you there!  More info will follow in future columns.

Other than the riveting news that John Loprino will be returning to the role of Cordero Roberts for one day to usher his daughter Sarah (aka Flash) the hell out of Llanview and the scarf's reach of the Music Box Killer, I've got nothing on OLTL or AMC, so I'll just leave you with the re-introduction of a project that Sage, Kathy Hardeman and I worked on a while back that was a success before we burned out on doing it.  Now seems a good time to resurrect:

The Pfft, Ouch and You Go Girl Page