finola hughes

We had two classic reunions on tonight's 'Melissa & Joey' (Tue., 8PM ET on ABC Family). First, Mel (Melissa Joan Hart) meets up with her old 'Dancing With the Stars' partner, Mark Ballas. Melissa and Mark were paired together on Season 9 of 'DWTS,' and he helped guide the actress to a 9th place finish. Ballas is now Bristol Palin's partner on the current season of the show.

The somewhat contrived set-up for the reunion is that Mel's character is taking part in a charity dance event -- the "prestigiously" named "Dancing With the Stars of Toledo" contest. Mark and Mel are supposed to perform the Tango. But naturally, Mel gets injured, and can't go through with it. (And if you didn't see that twist coming from a mile away, then you've never watched this sitcom before.)

I used to be a devoted fan of General Hospital, and some of my favorite episodes involved Luke and Laura, and later, their son, Lucky. In fact, now that I think about it, I started to stray from the show about the time that Jonathan Jackson, who played the first Lucky, left the show in 1999.

The other actors who played Lucky -- Jacob Young and Greg Vaughan -- did a fine job, but I so associated the role with Jackson that it was impossible for me to accept anyone else as Lucky.

As luck would have it, I just happened to flip on One Life to Live yesterday and saw a promo for Jonathan Jackson coming back to General Hospital as Lucky. What a stroke of "luck" for me!

There'll be another big name soap star on the second season of SOAPnet's General Hospital: Night Shift. In addition to Antonio Sabato, Jr. returning as Jagger Cates, Tristan Rogers will join Night Shift, reprising his role as secret agent Robert Scorpio, the Australian spy and former Port Charles police commissioner. His younger brother, Mac, is the current top cop in PC, so expect them to cross paths.

However, it's as the father of Dr. Robin Scorpio, played by Kimberly McCullough. Robin, who is HIV-positive, that Robert will mainly drive story. She is currently in the midst of her first pregnancy. You would imagine that Robert's back to check in on his daughter, but there's more to his Night Shift stay.

Michael Logan in TV Guide reports that a rep for Night Shift said that Robert is suffering from "a major health issue that'll have him grappling with his mortality." Instead of Robert caring for Robin -- to trying to -- the situation will be reversed. Dr. Robin will have to treat her father.

"This'll be a real departure wherever it's headed," says Mr. Rogers. "Robert and Robin will finally get a chance to connect as adults."

When something's a success, a follow up is inevitable. Therefore, the news that SoapNet is launching a second season of General Hospital: Night Shift, commencing Tuesday, July 22, is no big surprise. The surprise will be who is going to be involved in the daytime soap spinoff that airs once a week on SoapNet at 11 o'clock. Last season, actors for General Hospital, including Kimberly McCullough, Jason Thompson and Steve Burton did double-duty. And they weren't alone. Some new characters appeared on Night Shift, but the draw was definitely the daytime stars.

SoapNet ordered 13 new episodes of Night Shift and this year the show will be produced in high def. Production begins next month, and unlike last year's edition, the show will be filmed on new stages dedicated solely to Night Shift instead of sharing space with General Hospital.

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Occasionally, you'll see an actor being allowed to be on more than one show at a time, like when Heather Locklear was a regular on Dynasty and T.J. Hooker. The catch is that it's usually one actor working two shows for the same network. Finola Hughes, apparently, was trying to do the two-show tango with General Hospital and The Young and the Restless, but ABC put a stop to that before it ever started. In the May 26 issue of TV Guide, you'll read a report that Finola was cast as Sabrina's hot mom on Y&R, while continuing to pop up throughout the summer on ABC's GH as Anna. After the magazine went to the printers, ABC contacted Finola Hughes -- probably her agent -- and she backed out of Y&R.

Presumably, ABC leaned on Finola to give up the opportunity to appear on the number one daytime drama, promising her a heavy storyline in the months ahead. The actress has been an ABC soap star for a long time, having been front and center on GH and All My Children in the past. She's also the host on How Do I Look on the Style Network. The network has never objected to the actress doing Style, so it would seem that the conflict here is about Finola drawing soap fans from the ABC lineup to CBS's.

In honor of General Hospital's 45th year on the air, AOL came up with a terrific photo trivia quiz which was like a trip down memory lane for longtime fans like me. Seeing all those familiar faces made me realize that through the years there have been some wonderful actors who've called Port Charles home. Here's ten that were memorable and, in my opinion, let an indelible mark on General Hospital.

Amber Tamblyn (1995-2001)
When the producers and writers of GH realized the quality of an actress they had with Amber Tamblyn, they took this 12 year old girl and made her an important part of the Quartermaines, a core family. She appeared as Emily Bowen, the daughter of Page, a woman Monica befriended while they were undergoing chemotherapy for breast cancer. When Page died, Monica and Alan adopted Emily and she became part of the family, and eventually the conscience of the squabbling, occasionally unscrupulous clan (along with Lila). Amber grew up on GH, going through growth spurts and the emotions of the awkward years. She never failed to convey a reality and truth in her acting. She was a shooting star, passing through GH on the way to bigger things, like Joan of Arcadia.

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As part of May sweeps, actress Finola Hughes will be reprising her role as Anna Devane (or, if you will, Anna Devane Scorpio Lavery Scorpio Hayward) on General Hospital. Hughes was originally on the soap opera in the 1980s, and left the show in 1992 before taking the role to All My Children in the late 90s. She currently hosts How Do I Look? on the Style Network. I don't watch soap operas, but I do remember the character of Anna since my mom watched General Hospital pretty religiously. Hughes won Emmys for her role as Anna on both General Hospital and All My Children, although she also won a Razzie for her role in the movie Staying Alive. I'm not sure if the awards cancel each other out or not.  Hughes has also been in numerous guest roles on shows such as Charmed and Tracey Takes On.... She's set to make her return to Port Charles on May 12.