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General Hospital Weekly Review November 11-15, 2024: More Drew Cain madness, more competition up for grabs for a shot at love & one happy ending with Robert & Holly

by Sports Benches

What have we’ve learned this week between November 11-15 on the General Hospital soap? I love seeing Robert reunite with Holly to make up lots of lost time before they head off overseas together after we’ve discovered lately that they’re parents after all to Sasha Gilmore aka Miss Scorpio. I, for one, would love to see the whole family get along together for one big occasion including Ethan if Sasha can at least settle her differences aside from her newly-discovered mom when Holly and Robert get back to Port Charles at some stage. For Diane, felt sorry for her but that’s soaps & sure she will get a new man soon.

Meanwhile, as everyone said, Drew got what he deserved with another punch to his face thanks to his twin brother “Stone Cold” Jason Morgan, all because he keeps on constantly banging on his nephew’s wife Willow while also in a relationship with her mom Nina. 

The good news that Drew is off to Washington D.C now that he won the election lately in place of the late senator Larry McConkey who unfortunately passed away a few months ago over a heart attack while out of town, so he won’t have to anything about it to Willow. However, the bad news is will this effectively end the marriage between Michael and Willow? 

For me personally, yes; but they’re both married remember with two little children together in Wiley and Amelia. It’s going to be difficult for them to go their separate ways unfortunately unless the show decides to do something about it and that would take a bigger effort to see them get divorced while they would have to settle for a child-custody agreement to spend time with their kids. Therefore, the Millow couple show will go on at least for a bit longer.

Plus, looks like Trina has a new man on her radar now and this time it’s someone similar to her African-American background rather than like the ever popular Spencer Cassadine – his name is star College Football Quarterback player (not soccer) Kai Taylor.

I know Trina looks irate who thinks he should take his academic work more seriously much like his athletic career. But hey, he’s a gifted-athletic star in the making whom everyone likes and surely, Trina at some point may as well get along with him or maybe not? We’ll see but looks like it will be a slow burner for a start before the lovebirds would potentially begin for both Kai Taylor & Trina Robertson where one is athletically gifted and talented and another is also talented but only in the academic side of things. I will not give my say on this though since I used to enjoy watching “Sprina” when I first watched GH back in August 2021 and still am everyday as hope is all well with Josslyn’s portrayer Eden McCoy.

Speaking of love, who is winning the hearts of Liz Webber-Baldwin also? Don’t know but looks like still Laura’s boy Lucky Spencer has the lead upfront, even though he still wishes to go back to Africa and Liz wasn’t thrilled every single bit about it – especially at the expense of Aiden whom they share a child together. 

Also judging by her character’s comments, looks like not all Liz fans are happy to see them pair up together again unlike once upon a time during the golden late 90s-early 2000s. There’s still some #FreeLiz hashtags across the board even when Michael Easton left as Finn several months ago as yes, Liz still got the lead in some parts. But again, maybe a Liason reunion with Jason would be more like it though as likewise with the Kai-Trina pairing, I’m just going to leave that there.

Going into next week in the wake of Sam’s death, there will be a funeral as well as Lulu finally out of a coma for the first time in four years following that floating rib place explosion. Will we also see the other Davis sisters Molly and Kristina get back on track together after all this in-fighting in recent times? I can see this for a start from the other day when Kristina brought a birthday gift for Molly at Bobbie’s Diner, but I’m not entirely sure when Molly’s dad is Ric and Kristina’s dad is Ric’s brother Sonny alongside Mom Alexis. 

This upcoming court case between Kristina v Ava (represented by Ric) will determine their fate as sisters together.

And oh, also good to see Isaiah Gannon there too who is set for a longer stay in Port Charles with some more love alongside the city’s Deputy Mayor in Jordan Ashford after he was offered a job at the hospital as a surgeon – despite operating on Sam alongside her brother & fellow surgeon Lucas lately to save Lulu.

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General Hospital Weekly Review November 4-8, 2024: Still more tributes for Sam, another set of love affairs & one warehouse explosion

by Sports Benches

So what we did look back this week (November 4-8) on General Hospital? 

Everyone in Port Charles is still mourning the loss of Sam McCall even though her surgeon brother Lucas Jones felt guilty about it when he recently performed surgery on his sister to save Lulu with that liver transplant before things went horribly wrong after Sam died over a heart attack/cardiac arrest. But as we all know, this has already been tied up to her portrayer’s sad exit in Kelly Monaco – that’s all we can say. We still also don’t know when Alexa Havins will have her first on-air scenes as the recasted & now recovered Lulu, but it’s been a while since this announcement.

Sidwell is back after all this time in Port Charles to steal Sasha away because she’s related to her newly discovered mom Holly Sutton, so he can try get these diamonds back. Although he was happy to receive them when Jason Morgan came in on her behalf to save Sasha, there still wasn’t a lot of time left as he and his men set the timer up ahead of the warehouse bomb explosion. Yes, it did explode but fortunately, glad to hear that they’re both safe and sound as don’t know where Sidwell went with this. Like any other relationship, time will tell if Sasha will accept Holly for who she is so they can start over again as mom and daughter.

Meanwhile, looks likely than ever that it’s the end of Michael and Willow – despite having a good young family together with two little kids. She has been having an affair with Drew quite a while and yet another emotional breakdown after his daughter Scout lost her mom Sam, they decided to fall in love once again this time upstairs in the Quartermaine mansion. 

They think they’re trying their best to keep it to themselves but Michael did see this unfortunately with huge anger when he saw the clip off a baby monitor app. 

Lots of soap couples come and go remember, so keep an eye on this one soon enough. Maybe Michael would go back with Sasha amid rumours of Sasha carrying that new baby after their one night stand last week and Willow should go with someone else (please not Drew!).

And last but not least, great to hear that Dr. Finn – even off-screen – is doing fine with his daughter Violet over in Seattle after he completed his 90-day rehab program. Chase and Brook Lynn talked about this as now it’s a good time to finally start their own family with kids together.

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General Hospital Today’s News: Sasha rumored to be pregnant with Michael after their one-night stand earlier this week?

by Sports Benches

Here’s another hot topic General Hospital fans have been speculating as of late and the question is will Sasha get another baby? Yes, she had one once before with Brando who was later killed by Heather Webber with a hook months later, but then baby Liam was so ill upon her giving birth before he was sadly passed away.

First of all, Sasha became so drunk along with Michael at a bar in one of the episodes earlier this week after they were both unhappy on the latest of their own respective lives. Then they both fell love in each other into bed overnight before they suddenly didn’t realise what they were doing once Sasha & Michael woke up the next morning. 

Time flies so fast doesn’t it? Despite the fact Michael was cheated by Willow for kissing his nephew Drew while Drew was still in a relationship with her mom Nina & Sasha can’t love Cody anymore because her new mom Holly said that they’re now discovered to be first cousins.

Since most soap couples come and go including Sam and Dante off the back of Kelly Monaco’s controversial exit the other day, with Sam now written off following surgery gone wrong for Lulu, it would be no surprise if Michael and Willow be up next – even though they’re both currently married & also have two kids together.

Yes, this is going to hurt the kids at least for a while but GH has been there & done that with other families before – so going to be a bit of a surprise if they’ll go with Michael and Sasha again this time as new parents to that new baby Sasha is rumored to be carrying. Their respective portrayers’ Chad Duell loves being a dad when his child was born earlier this year with his new partner from Brazil and so does Sofia Mattsson who has also been a mother for a few years with not one but two kids now.

Yes, at the end of the day, looks like Michael and Willow have ran its course thanks to their own affairs with other people as Michael to move back with a new Scorpio family member there in Sasha including an unborn child together – so make that a family of 3 + 2 more from Willow.

Time will tell over the next few days to weeks if and when Willow will eventually find out about Michael and Sasha’s one-night stand that would make her cry even more – despite Willow being so guilty with regret based on her interactions from Drew. 

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General Hospital episodes recap October 2024: Sad exit for one of the soap’s long-time actress with lots of surprises along the way

by Sports Benches

Lots to process on what has been a huge month of October 2024 in Port Charles where we saw a couple of surprises that affects families the most, plus one widely-expected exit off the back of a controversial casting decision as we know it back in late August (two months ago).

First of all, it’s sad to see Kelly Monaco and her character Sam McCall go after 21 years on this set that goes way back to 2003 when Kelly came over from GH’s past spin-off show Port Charles via her previous role of Livvie Locke. Her character recently underwent surgery for Lulu who was seen as a viable donor with Lulu desperately needed a new liver in order to keep her alive following that floating rib explosion back in late 2020. For Lulu, she will be fine after being put in a coma over the last few years upon her successful liver transplant with Alexa Havins set to begin her shift any minute from now; but not for Sam unfortunately due to a heart attack/cardiac arrest following the surgery. Yes, it’s still sad but hoping Kelly will be back on our screens soonest whether it’s back on GH, another soap or even elsewhere on prime-time TV.

Who’s up next? Robert and Holly? With a new long-lost child they’ve had together in Sasha? Yes, that’s true in more ways than one when Holly recently turned up at the Quartermaine Mansion, with Sasha being so furious at her newly-discovered mom considering Holly abandoned her from the moment she was born while being tricked to believe her long-lost dad was dead at the time. The news also meant the unfortunate couple demise of Sasha and Cody as a couple together since they’re now revealed to be first cousins – more on Cody later. But for now, we finally know who Sasha’s parents are via the Scorpios.

Speaking of Cody, he finally revealed to the world earlier this week at a bar while drunk on what a horrible human being Drew Cain is, when Drew kissed his nephew’s (Michael) wife Willow not once but twice during early July while in a relationship with Willow’s long-lost mom Nina. Didn’t see that coming there but it’s hard to say this time around though since Michael & Willow are married with two little kids together in Wiley & Amelia.

Plus, Sidwell is still on the run when someone like Lucky should’ve ended him while escaping from his compound cell in Africa alongside Jason & Anna. But Sidwell’s portrayer Carlo Rota (foodie lover) hasn’t been doing the scenes in Port Charles just yet, so looks like he’ll stick around a bit longer (recurring basis) before his character will eventually meet his fate most likely from Sonny & Jason to protect Holly. 

Liz always still here everyday at the Hospital as head nurse while competition is still up for grabs from men to win over her hearts. Also, Heather Webber is free as a bird now from Pentonville jail at the grounds of her medical condition, even though she killed a few people two years ago with a hook. 

But the good news though is that she’ll move and stay far, far away from Port Charles as she’s off to Sedona in California with her son Steven – going to miss Alley Mills though who has been on our Aussie screens for many years via Bold and the Beautiful as Pamela Douglas much like Lois’s Rena Sofer as Quinn. And also going further West, Violet also moved there too in Seattle to reunite with her dad Finn who just finished his 90-day rehab, as good to hear that Finn has now picked up a new medical job. Now that won’t change anything to bring Michael Easton back on-set but maybe Violet as we wish them all well.

That’s all I can think of over the last few weeks from Port Charles on top of GH coming back to our Aussie shores lately that will begin on January 1, 2025 thanks to Network 10 who will be airing the episodes online. For now, roll on November with so much to play for over the next few weeks ahead of the final month in December 2024.

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Thoughts on General Hospital finally coming back in Australia starting on January 1st 2025 with Network 10 to air episodes online

by Sports Benches

I didn’t know this day would come for General Hospital to air in Australia again and finally they will thanks to Network 10 who will be bringing the episodes to us online on-demand starting on Wednesday January 1st 2025. 

This is a show I personally enjoyed for years and still doing so today every time it comes out up-to-date online like YouTube and Dailymotion, even though the pictures we see may not have the best quality but still better than nothing though.

Yes, when 2025 arrives on January 1st, 10 will be able to make all other previous Season 62 episodes from early September to end of December 2024 available on demand, with new episodes coming in as they go from the original US broadcast. It remains to be seen though whether or not if the new episodes will be a few days old or same day as the original airings from USA (ABC) and Canada (CityTV).

I’m hoping it’s the latter but considering the show hasn’t aired in quite a long time, so maybe a few days old is where 10 will start with minimal risk & if that goes well at some point, then yes! Definitely same day episodes 100%. We’ll wait and see.

Other than that, I’ve been pushing so hard to have GH finally have it aired legally again in Australia where this show still has a knack of great fun while they have a good representation of Australian actors/actresses, as well as other actors/actresses who went on to become Hollywood and Prime-Time stars. 

But remember, GH is not on the same popularity when it comes to International interest & even Australian viewers on the TV alike too compared to Bold and The Beautiful & The Young and The Restless.

Although I probably like to give a shoutout to Neighbours who is still going strong and when they returned on the air last year also thanks to Amazon, love how they quickly formed a great connection with the US viewers and some of the Neighbours cast/staff even went to the Daytime Emmy awards too – not sure it was June this year or the delayed last year one (December).

I’m pretty sure both the network and the country’s strong history of soaps would be the key reason why they would like to try GH, having been content airing first-run episodes of Y & R and Days on 10 Play from earlier this year after the show’s previous contracts with Foxtel via Sony Television Studios & Corday Productions was expired.

Here’s hoping GH will go well this time on 10 online in Australia with the potential of same-day US episodes in the long run soon enough from the minute they air new episodes in 2025. For now, will still be catching up same-day US episodes online as said earlier above. Although if there’s something I want to look back, then definitely will go to 10 Play – another plus we don’t have unlike Canada’s CityTV & ABC’s Hulu at the moment unless you want to look at certain ship couples’ clips of course!

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Thoughts on All My Children’s latest revival pitch this time in the form of TV movies

by Sports Benches

The famed All My Children revival pitch has taken another turn this time in the form of a TV movie series that goes from holidays to Christmas themed storylines, having last heard a few years ago when they tried making it into prime-time called Pine Valley. The plot for Pine Valley was about a young journalist coming into town who kept a close eye on family feud with a secret middle ground between the Kane and Santos families that could impact this community.

However, that route was quietly rejected at all without any consideration of a pilot presentation and even a series order past the initial development phase by ABC – especially when they got so many other new scripted shows to consider like High Potential which will finally start next week following the 2023 Hollywood TV Strikes.

Yeah, that was a bit of a no surprise there when it took so long to find out which was disappointing. But even though if Pine Valley did go into pilot, it wouldn’t have worked out anyway considering how the TV business works. Also, it would’ve been a waste of time with the people coming back onboard for that one occasion & then the pilot fails where we may have never possibly seen it on the air, with most failed TV pilots locked up in an undisclosed warehouse storage vault.

Fortunately, ABC’s parent company Disney transferred this AMC revival pitch to one of their cable TV movie channels at Lifetime, who is part of the Disney family when they are currently owned by A & E Networks.

Yes, we still don’t know for sure as this AMC revival has barely made it past the first step so far before they can go get approved for production. But what we do know is that the fictional setting will always be situated in Pine Valley in Pennsylvania as it remains to be seen which characters from the original soap we shall see should this be approved.

So far there’s no writer & producers onboard when this is no longer Pine Valley the prime time pitch but hoping Kelly Ripa & Mark Consuelos can come back once again at least behind the scenes with a bit of on-air cameo since they run a syndicated daytime talk show together called Live with Kelly and Mark!

I also know some soap fans aren’t happy with Cameron Mathison currently playing Drew Cain on General Hospital in recent years who was a big part of AMC a long time ago as Ryan Lavery, but I guess his yearly TV movie commitments is currently tied up with the Great American Family channel for now.

One can hope an AMC revival is coming closer towards the airwaves sooner rather than later albeit on cable TV/streaming with the franchise rights currently under ABC/Disney’s hands once again off Prospect Park since 2016. Let’s hope they can see light at the end of the day since soaps and TV movies have a great connection there when it comes to actors/actresses, etc.

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More of Days of Our Lives on 10 Play where brand new episodes will air from Tuesdays-Sundays likewise with Bold & The Beautiful

by Sports Benches

Days of Our Lives has just aired its final episode (back-to-back) yesterday on FOX One after a decade on the air, which is about three episodes old from the original US airing at the moment ahead of the show’s new home in Australia starting Monday on 10 Play. Likewise with the previous Foxtel deal, they will be fast-tracked likewise with fellow Sony/Corday stable and also sister CBS soap The Young and The Restless coming soon next month on top of 10’s long-time mainstay Bold & the Beautiful.

But what’s even better is that they will dump all the previous six month’s episodes there to view for a certain time (nothing lasts forever upon expiry after one month for example) while dropping all new episodes from Tuesdays to Sundays at 9am on 10 Play. So it looks like they will be up to date with the US after all rather than leaving just 3 episodes behind and then pick it up from here going into next week when it was previously on Foxtel alongside Bold whose fast-tracked and same day US episodes on 10 Play have been running Tuesdays-Saturdays at around 7 to 9am for a few years now. I’m sure Y & R should be following the same path soon enough given the flexibility to drop it online at any time instead of trying to fit in on TV when the US TV schedule is completely different to what we have here such as the time zones & the content they show, etc. – with nearly all of daytime soaps are happening in the one place & also free to watch too without having to pay a subscription.

Going back to Days since the 10 Play fast-tracked airings is going to be Tuesdays to Sundays, wondering if the show is getting a bit of an advantage like the Canada broadcast on the cable subscription W Network? Their episodes are a day ahead of the original US airing despite Days is being made in the US for over several decades through NBC from the start until mid-2022 and now Peacock. I guess that’s a Corday/Sony or US-Canada TV station affiliates thing for the benefit of the advertisers who put so much $$$ on TV, so another huge win if that is going to happen here with Y & R joining them (alongside Bold that would finally see both CBS Daytime soaps air on the same Viacom CBS-owned 10) next month on the same agreement.

For now, if you still have a Foxtel and/or Binge subscription – make sure you catch up while you can before the latest episodes expire tomorrow as Y & R will still be around on Fox One a bit longer until the end of this month at 12.45 pm weekdays (still 3 episodes behind the original airing then same day airings on 10 Play from next month). And for those new to 10 Play, all you have to do is sign up for an account with your email address and a recommended strong password and you can go start watching their big library of Daytime soaps at anytime on your devices with new episodes available from 9am for most days.

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Thoughts on Days of Our Lives & The Young and The Restless moving from Foxtel to 10 Play/Network 10 starting soon in June & July

by Sports Benches

We heard big, big news earlier today when it comes to watching soap operas here in Australia as both Days of Our Lives and The Young and the Restless will now be leaving Foxtel soon after a long 10-15 years to Network 10 starting next month where both of them will be fast-tracked likewise with the previous Foxtel treatment but for free via 10 play’s streaming service.

Days (a long time original NBC Daytime show whose existence lives on now at Peacock Premium) will be first joining up on Monday 3rd June before fellow CBS soap Y & R will finally join the popular Bold and the Beautiful show on the same Viacom CBS owned 10 staple from Monday July 1. If I recall, 10 Play has same day Bold episodes that runs from Tuesday-Saturday mornings as the 4.30pm half-hour daily timeslot (the one that is edited and doesn’t run the same US episodes that is a few weeks old) on TV isn’t going anywhere anytime soon despite the ongoing parent ownership uncertainty with management.

So not sure if Days and Y & R will follow suit when the soon-to-be-finished Foxtel fast-tracked agreement is currently three days behind the original airing since the episodes first come out on a Pay TV channel like Fox One but hoping the first-run episodes on 10Play would allow them to be the same page as the US airing like they do with Bold thanks to their flexible scheduling so fans can tune in at anytime, anywhere they like during the day. If not, at least a couple of episodes behind would better than nothing with Bold already very popular here & everywhere than the two – so probably understandable.

Yes, both shows will end up on 10 at some point as don’t know when and if that happens, maybe the episodes they put in on TV will be a similar arrangement to Bold. But where they’re gonna put it on their daytime schedule? Most likely during the mornings since Studio 10 is now gone with The Drew Barrymore Show (a syndicated daytime talk show also attached to CBS) also coming onboard Monday week (June 3rd) at 11am before the midday news bulletin. I guess 10 wants to provide viewers a fresh alternative look to own their offering in the mid-mornings from 9am-12pm so they can watch all the other soaps and Drew’s show instead of Nine’s Today Extra & Seven’s The Morning Show rather than attempt another new morning program.

It also looks like since 10 is so committed to soaps here is that they would give CBS’s next new Daytime soap The Gates a chance that will begin in January next year in place of the outgoing The Talk that is going to be a refreshing departure from 10’s weekday line-up as the current talk show episodes (a few days old from the US) air at 7am. Surely that wouldn’t be an issue even though it’s an hour-long show that is going to be built around a rich African-American family, with first-run viewings would be online on 10 Play and then TV-run episodes would come as second viewings a few months later after that (probably at either lunch time after the midday news or 2.30pm as a lead-in to the 3.30pm news which is so far, so good.)

All in all, great seeing 10 make this deal happen with Sony Pictures Television who holds the International rights to Bold and Days since they’re both Ken Corday created properties even though Y & R has been on CBS all along for over 50 years from Day 1 back in 1973 where the Aussie airings were first held by Nine for many decades until 2007. Speaking of Nine, they did come back to airing Y & R and Days a few years ago but only as a second airing to Foxtel whose episodes are 6-18 months behind on 9Gem. This current agreement will continue a bit longer until they can no longer air the episodes being contracted by 10 going into 2025 with Y & R first up not long before the end of the year and same goes to Days next up a year later. So not bad while it lasted but it’s about time these soaps get a first-run go for free on top of Bold on 10 Play soon enough & can’t wait for the Y & R-Bold future crossovers that is gonna be great to see across the same network next time around.

Who knows? Days already has a good Australian following over the years despite ranking last with Peacock saving them from danger two years ago while Y & R has always been the best-ranked soap as well for a very long time. And what does it mean for General Hospital who continues to pick a whole lot of Daytime Emmy nominations every year? Well, it seems they won’t be back on Australian TV or streaming services legally anytime soon since ABC is owned by Disney that has been on the air for 61 years, doesn’t have a good connection with a free-to-air network here other than Disney + (their own paid streaming service) & also doesn’t have an International following beyond the US & Canada. But the good news is that you can still watch the show that is up to date with the US online on YouTube and Dailymotion, even though the quality ain’t the best but it’s still better than nothing including the last five minutes clips in each of the show’s episodes via the show’s official Facebook page.

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