Sunday Surgery: Bye-Bye Franco--Hello Helena!

Franco's last day is Monday...well, at least for now. As you saw in a previous blog, he'll be doing some real artwork at a NYC gallery that will be filming a "special" eppy for GH. Probably will be an HOMAGE to Jason.  Heh. Just sayin'. We'll have an explosion--but neither lady will go up in BOOMS...he's actually planted a bomb in his studio. They'll find something interesting and Zombie- Like in the rubble.
Another Franco Fact: he's signed up to play a real-life mountaineer who amputated his own arm. The actor has been cast in Danny Boyle's upcoming 127 Hours, based on the true story of climber Aron Ralston who was forced to saw off his limb after a boulder fell onto him while he was climbing in Utah in 2003. Get to surgery with Patrick Drake, STAT!

Connie Towers is back on GH! February Sweeps is coming and it looks like the Cassadine story will start to Rock and Roll. Tony Geary will be getting back from vacation as well. Matt Borlenghi, hired to play evil Vlad will FINALLY show up on screen. MONTHS after the poor guy got a job. Check out the news on SOD. There's also info on there about his new twins! If you want to check out the play Connie's starring in this next week, check the post below.

What else is going on in SoapLand? RATINGS: USA Today had an interesting article about Daytime TV's changing landscape.  ABC Daytime Gugu Brian Frons says:

"In the end, the strong shows will remain"

"Some (soaps) have been on many years, so people feel the need to make sage-like statements about the future of the genre," Frons says. "Nobody makes those statements when a sitcom or long-running drama dies. It's the end of that program, and that's the way we should look at it as well."
 
Whatever. I tell you this: GH is starting to creep down to Last Place with OLTL. That's even lower than ATWT. We are talking thousands of a tenths of a point though, so the point is pretty moot. In the USA piece, they say doctor shows are popular. They cost a fraction of what soaps do. Although I do agree with Frons in that no one makes statements about long running shows like they do soaps. However, if the primetime 'long-running' shows of which he speaks had the ratings of soaps, they'd be LONG GONE!  Get it, I mean really. Did he REALLY say that? please.
 
Have you looked at the spoilers? GO...take a gander. We'll have Scurbs angst...CarJax angst...L&L2 angst..and er...who's left angst oh, DOM-a-Lu.! They just got going and now DOMte seems to think he needs to stay away from Lulu for her "safety". :eyeroll:  Seems the only couple without angst are JaSam. They'll be moving "forward" in Guza-Speak.
 
There are HUGE rumors about Vanessa Marcil coming back to GH.  I have learned my lesson.  This is what I have to say about that:
 
 
 
Ok, moving on!! I did say that we should hear about Genie Francis coming back soon. There's talks in the works to have her not only console poor broken-hearted Lucky, but to be in the Vlad Cassadine Story. IF terms can be worked out, we'll be seeing her on our screen for Feb Sweeps. They'd better hurry up though.
 
Just a reminder: Maurice Benard and Kelly Monaco DO NOT have Twitter, MySpace or FB accounts. KeMo did have a Facebook account but deleted it (the public fan one anyway). Vanessa Marcil is also NOT on Twitter. Here's a partial listing of actors that have been confirmed on twitter:
@nancyleegrahn (Alexis)
@carolynhennesy (Diane)
@BrandonBarash (Johnny)
@BfordAnderson (Spinelli)
@_LexiAinsworth (Krissy)
@1SteveBurton (Jason)
@teenystweeting (Maxie)
@sarahjoybrown (Claudia)
@themeganward (Kate/Connie)
@realandrews (Taggert)
@lldubs (Carly)
and writer @MicheleValJean

BTW, Laura Wright just tweeted this tidbit:
Wine tasting and me! Sunrise Pancake House,Calabash NC-Feb.19&20 $75 a night from 6-9-and yummy food!For tix email john@standingsunwines.com
Another way to find out if a daytime star is on Twitter, go to @tweetsoapstars they are following all legit accounts of actors.

OMG, look at this Bubble Lamp. Gwaddie saw the BUBBLE LAMP in Sam's Pledge Box! Franco LOVES THE BUBBLE Lamp! woot! LMAO. Oh, it's so fun to look for that dang prop all the time.

One more cool thing you might want to look at is the website, Fansgivingback.org.  It's amazing. In a few short months Wubber Gwaddie (keeper of Alberta Wubs Lobster at the moment) has gotten MAJOR celebs to join her charity site. Need to know what YOUR fave actor supports charity wise? Just click and find it. Sports heroes are also joining too. Click HERE to see a list of the current people participating.