Monday, March 25, 2013

Michael Easton, Roger Howarth & Kristen Alderson Returning To GENERAL HOSPITAL, As New Characters

Former ONE LIFE TO LIVE stars Michael Easton, Roger Howarth and Kristen Alderson will soon return to GENERAL HOSPITAL after being forced to vacate the show for several weeks. But all three actors will be playing new roles.

According to TV Guide Magazine, we'll no longer see Easton as John McBain, Howarth as Todd Manning or Alderson as Todd's daughter, Starr. ABC doesn't want to risk any more legal entanglements with Prospect Park, which currently owns the rights to all OLTL characters, and the only way to do that is to have the three stars play characters that in no way resemble the current ones.

GH head writer Ron Carlivati is devising clever ways to work around the headache, even though John, Todd and Starr are now tightly woven into Port Charles society and all three are involved in blooming romances.

Prospect Park's new ONE LIFE TO LIVE debuts on April 29 and Howarth will return for a short time as Todd (two and a half months according to EW.com).

RELATED:
- Actors Who Played Different Roles On The Same Soap: The Good and The Bad
- Kassie DePaiva: 'I Feel So Much More Freedom'
- WATCH: ONE LIFE TO LIVE & ALL MY CHILDREN "Save The Date" Trailer

11 comments:

  1. While I enjoyed all three actors on GH, why is ABC willing to create such a headache for the audience? I would cut ties with the actors at this point and focus on classic GH characters.

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  2. I'm just glad this soap opera within a soap opera is over. ugh!!!

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  3. GH managed to survive without these 3 characters/actors for 50 years, so why are they working so hard to get them on the show, when they hardly made an effort to keep SBu,TC and may others that actually DID help make GH decent?I guess we will have to see Kelly Monaco being mauled by ME again, sucking up all her air as he doesn't seem to understand boundaries.
    I guess my days of not watching those forced pairings will continue.I didn't when they crammed Jason and Liz down my throat and I certainly wont with ME/KM and RH/LW.I have no problem with the actors on the show, but they were placed in the wrong s/l and I cant see them as anyone OTHER than John, Todd and Starr.

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  4. This all strikes me as ridiculous. And insulting to the multitudes of talented actors (including popular former soap stars) looking for work.

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  5. I am SUPER excited!! If I have to believe that Faison fooled Anna with a latex mask, that Caset was an alien then you bet I can believe that ME is a different character!! Go ABC!!

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  6. I'm hoping that this is ABC trying to get PP to wise up and maybe they will be willing to come to an agreement. It is not a smart thing for these two to not work together because they are after the same audience. It would be better for all involved to share characters and actors fro time to time. Let GH have Todd, Starr and Mcbain, Maybe ABC can lend out other GH characters to PP from time to time in exchange. All any of this is doing is alienating your potential audience and in turn helping put another nail in the coffin that is the daytime soap.

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  7. This can't be happening right now. Just Killing off these amazing characters? I know i speak for many when i say that I love these characters and as much as I love them on General Hospital, if they cant be Todd, Starr and John then I'd rather just have them back on the new one life to live. I just can't see Roger and Kristen in a room together, even in the same city together, and not be todd and starr. I just can't. This is the worst idea. i'm praying that this deal is recanted. It's the history and the personalities of these characters that make us love these actors so much. Roger Howarth is Todd Manning. thats that. please dont take Todd Manning away from us. You can't possibly bring these three back as new characters and expect the viewers to buy it. I can see if it was a character like trey mitchel for example, who was only on the show for some months. but we're talking about Todd Manning, Starr Manning and John McBain. They have developed such a huge fan base over all these years. Please re- think this.

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  8. While saddened to see the trio 're-cast', it struck me today (after reading 108 comments on another quality daytime news site) that this is such an exciting time to be a soap devotee. How long has it been since GH, AMC, and OLTL generated such passionate outpourings of opinion!? On April 29, I plan to lock the doors, take the phone off the hook, settle into my huge, comfy office chair, and watch the new episodes without distraction. And at 2, I'll enjoy GH.

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  9. http://insidetv.ew.com/2013/03/25/one-life-to-live-loses-actors-to-general-hospital/

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  10. The rumors about Brian Frons consulting with Prospect Park have to be true. This is the worst possible solution.

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  11. Does GH have contractual obligations to the actors? If so, that would explain this craziness. They have to use the actors. They can't use the characters.

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