generalhospital

One of ongoing gags in the soap biz is the mythical return of Vanessa Marcil to General Hospital. I say it's mythical because for six years now, a certain magazine regular writes about Vanessa's return and it never actually happens. But now, there may be some truth to the rumor. ABC has contacted Vanessa Marcil about returning to General Hospital to reprise the character of Brenda Barrett. Maybe as soon as this spring.

For a change of pace, the news is coming directly from the show. GH headwriter Bob Guza has said that talks are underway with Vanessa. He has also always maintained that Brenda's one of his favorite characters and he'd love to have her back on the show.

In 2009, the television industry closed shop on Guiding Light. In 2010, CBS will pull the plug on As the World Turns. Is it time to start worrying about One Life to Live, too? I'm afraid so. Over the holidays, One Life to Live posted horrible Nielsen numbers, the lowest ever in fact.

There are other reasons to be concerned about One Life to Live. All My Children was the New York soap opera that ABC decided to move to Hollywood. It was also the show that was transitioned to HD. One Life was not only left behind in New York -- in AMC's old studio space -- but the plans for it to begin broadcasting in high-def was delayed. ...It doesn't take a Rhodes scholar to see that One Life to Live is vulnerable and the network is not doing much to alter that impression.

I'm not going to go into the best and worst things that happened in the world of soaps in 2009, but I have do some thoughts I'd like to share. So before we drop the ball and turn the calendar to 2010, a few highs -- and lows -- from daytime this past year.

1. Disappointing daytime. How could any soap fan not be upset about the fate of Guiding Light and As the World Turns in 2009? Guiding Light departed daytime after 72 years, going out not with a bang, but definitely a whisper. The show was a shadow of its former self, relegated to on-the-fly shooting with camcorders and lights that were likely bought at Home Depot. CBS then made the pain of GL's exit more painful but announcing that As the World Turns would be ending in 2010.

There's good news and bad news from the soap world, and considering lately that the bad news has been horrific -- As the World Turns getting cancelled -- this might be a bit over-dramatic. However, William Russ was fired and Stephen Nichols hired at The Young & the Restless. Bad news for Russ, a very good actor who was doing just fine as Tucker McCall, new billionaire in Genoa City. Good news for fans of Nichols, who was bounced from Days of Our Lives last February.

According to the powers that be at Y&R, the McCall character is going in a different direction. That prompted Russ's dismissal. According to Stephen, Russ handled the firing with grace and class. He left a note in the dressing room for Nichols and wished him well in the role.

If you had any doubt before, James Franco is taking his guest appearance on General Hospital very seriously. This isn't a stunt or a grab for attention, as some have speculated. It's not even a challenge to see if he could dip into the soap opera world and keep up with the pace and volume of a TV convention that's extremely demanding (250+ episodes a year without reruns). Well, James has written about his goals in the Wall Street Journal and for him, General Hospital is performance art.

I'm sure I'm simplifying what he's writing about because I'm not savvy about the form, but in his own words, he wrote, "I took the plunge and experimented with the form myself when I signed on to appear on 20 episodes of General Hospital as the bad-boy artist."

As we previously reported, James Franco made his big debut on 'General Hospital' this afternoon -- and we have the full scoop on what went down.

We already know that the movie star's run on the ABC soap opera is going to be loaded with surprises. For starters, although his debut was supposed to be today, regular 'GH' viewers noticed that the Golden Globe winner actually popped up on yesterday's episode (what would a soap be without twists?)

'GH' has done a great job of setting up Franco's introduction. From today's episode, we've gathered that his character, Franco, has photos of Claudia's dead body. Since A.J.'s Sonny's son Michael killed Claudia, the mobster is very interested in silencing the shutterbug/artist.

Read on for an analysis of Franco's official daytime debut.

The wait is finally over.

Today, James Franco will begin his multi-episode arc on 'General Hospital,' playing the appropriately titled character Franco, a mysterious artist-assassin out to wreak havoc on Port Charles.

In preparation for the big day, AOL TV snagged an exclusive interview with Franco, in which he talks more about his character name, his steamy on-screen hookup and how his upcoming '30 Rock' guest spot came about.

Watch the video after the jump, then check back a bit later for our full coverage on his first episode.

If you haven't seen The Prisoner yet, you may want to skip the first fifteen or so minutes of this podcast, because we talk about the whole damn thing this week. Jason Hughes and Allison Waldman join me to talk about the AMC remake of the British cult classic, as well as these topics:

• After the deaths of Edward Woodward and Ken Ober, why '80s TV suddenly seems so old,
• Soap news, mainly a discussion of James Franco's guest stint on General Hospital,
• Another dip into our Ask TV Squad mailbag, where we discuss the use of laugh tracks and why multi-camera shows are written differently than single-camera shows,
• Our picks for the week, and much more.

Run time is 1:02:55.

You can listen to the podcast below, or download from here or by subscribing to our RSS podcast feed. It is also available via iTunes. Feel free to leave us feedback in the comments or drop us a line at tvsquadpodcast [at] gmail [dot] com.

As usual, the music at the beginning and end of the podcast is "Life" by Justin Trawick. Though I decided to add a small surprise at the beginning, a call-back to an interview I did a few years ago. Hope you enjoy it.

The James Franco experiment has begun on General Hospital. Actually, we have now learned that the movie actor, best known for Spider-Man and Milk and The Pineapple Express, has decided to do a two-month guest role on the ABC soap opera as part of a project he's doing with a filmmaker named Carter.

Franco and Carter are making a documentary called Erased James Franco. His guest turn on 30 Rock may also be part of the movie. Nobody knows for certain.

One thing I do know for certain is that ABC is taking Franco's appearance on GH very seriously. They're working around his schedule, giving him a strangely interesting character to play, and promoting it like mad.

There's a lot to be happy about if you're a fan of General Hospital. There's been some very good news from the soap. Things like James Franco's guest role and the return of the original Lucky, Jonathan Jackson. And Steve Burton has committed to playing Jason for a while longer.

And now comes some news that's downright reassuring. Laura Wright has re-signed a four year deal with GH. She Twittered the news to her fans. Four years!

To me, this means that not only can we count on the character of Carly being around for a long time to come -- and played by the same actress who has the most tenure in the part -- but also that GH will likely be around for four more years. Oh, sure, there's nothing guaranteed, but I'm an optimist and I choose to see this as a positive sign.

After a 10-year absence, Jonathan Jackson has reclaimed the role of Lucky Spencer, son of legendary 'General Hospital' duo Luke (Anthony Geary) and Laura (Genie Francis).

Jackson -- who won three Daytime Emmys for his performance -- originated the role in 1993, and remained on the show for nearly six years before leaving to pursue other interests (among them roles in 'Tuck Everlasting,' 'Insomnia' and TV's 'Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles').

AOL TV recently spoke with Jackson and Geary about Lucky's return, the chances of a Lucky-Liz reunion and whether Laura will return to Port Charles as well.

Wouldn't you love to know who's giving actor James Franco career advice these days? I'm not knocking him or her, but I'd love to figure out the strategy. Or maybe this is just Franco being Franco (like Manny being Manny, for you baseball fans out there)?

James has just started filming his two-month arc on General Hospital -- check out the first pic (right) -- and now Michael Ausiello reports that James Franco will do a guest spot on 30 Rock.

How's that for a career trajectory -- from box office bonanza (Spider-Man) to Oscar feature (Milk) to daytime soap (General Hospital) to Emmy-winning sitcom (30 Rock). He's like a human pinball machine looking for a perfect score!

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!

Tuesday was Jonathan Jackson's first day back on General Hospital in the role of Lucky Spencer. It's a role he originated (as a youngster), coming onto the show in 1993 when Luke and Laura -- Anthony Geary and Genie Francis -- made their much-heralded return. Jonathan stayed on General Hospital till 1999, winning three Daytime Emmys in his tenure, and basically stamped the character as his own. That's why when he decided to return now, it's been a big deal.

When you want to up the ante on a drama, create a great villain. To this day, the best James Bond movies have always been the ones with great villains. Fox's sci-fi drama Fringe is buying into that theory, because they've gone out and hired an actor who excels at playing evil. Fringe has cast Sebastian Roche in a recurring role as a new nemesis.If you saw Roche on General Hospital, you know he's brilliant.

His Fringe character doesn't have a name yet -- and least not one that they've released -- but the storyline is that he's from another dimension, not entirely human or android, and he's on a mission. He's a soldier who's supposed to collect data to open a "stable door to the other side."

Could it be an alternate universe? A parallel dimension? Some kind of time warp? The possibilities are wide open when it comes to Fringe.