SoapsThe TV Watercooler

Soap News: New Writing Regimes at GH and DAYS, Casting Update and Genie Francis makes her Y&R debut

— Last week was a pretty big week for soap fans. The first big news came with the announcement that Matthew Ashford would be returning to Days of our Lives later this summer as Jack (Melissa Reeves came back as Jennifer awhile ago).

— Video footage of soap slayer Brian Frons being booed by protestors last Tuesday made it online. ABC’s annual upfront presentation was also a bust.

— With rumors of ABC being thisclose to signing Katie Couric and cancelling General Hospital for fall 2012, GH fans were treated to some amazing news: head writer Bob Guza is out and Garin Wolf is in. Wolf went ficore during the writer’s strike in 2007-2008 and gave Lucky (then Greg Vaughan) his balls back, so I’m interested in seeing what Wolf will bring to the table. After Guza botched Brenda’s (Vanessa Marcil Giovinazzo) return and ratings continue to drop, I’m glad ABC finally came to its senses.  

— Also out of a head writing gig is Days of our LivesDena Higley who is infamous for coming up with proposturous plots in the middle of the night while watching infomercials (“Nighttime Hope”). Replacing her are Marlene McPherson and Darrell Ray Thomas. McPherson Thomas have both worked for DAYS on and off since the 90s, as well as on Passions. Soap Opera Network was the first outlet to break this big news. A big “thanks” should be directed at Daytime Royalty who got members to flood phone lines at Corday and NBC to demand better storytelling. It’ll be safe to start watching DAYS again towards the end of the summer.

— Some bad news, just as Tyler Christopher taped his final scenes as Nikolas on GH, Ingo Rademacher was let go as Jax. The firing seems to be a decision that was made when Guza was still in charge, so fans are hoping that both Rademacher and Christopher will be welcomed back. Tyler Christopher meanwhile has revealed in a blog post his thoughts on his exit and that he wrote his final scene with Jonathan Jackson (Lucky).

Genie Francis will make her debut this Thursday (in Canada) on The Young and the Restless as Genevieve Atkinson and spoke to The Canadian Press about her new dark role: “It’s so freeing to let your dark side shine for a minute and when you do a scene you’ve been really evil, when the scene ends, you laugh…It’s just fun.” Here’s an ad that appeared in the latest People magazine:

 

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