Maria's General Hospital Fans Blog

Nikolas Cassadine (Tyler Christopher) may be trying to figure out what's going on with that nutty Nadine, but in real life, Christopher and Brienne Pedigo said their "I dos" on September 27. Tyler's cousin, Derk Cheetwood (Max) was his best man.

Tyler and Brienne, much happiness.

Watch the cast and crew of General Hospital on the premiere of The Chef Jeff Project , this Sunday, October 12 at 10 p.m. on the Food Channel.

Chef Jeff Henderson is an executive chef who, in a former life, was a prison inmate. He now has a catering company, Posh Urban Cuisine, where he helps young adults learn the food business. On their first show, taped some months ago, the company caters a GH party to celebrate the soap opera's Daytime Emmy nominations.

Bon appetit!

Rumor has it that Sebastian Roche (Jerry Jacks) is being released from his General Hospital contract and is due to be killed off, possibly during an attack on Sam.

The present monetary crunch is also impacting ABC. Allegedly they are planning major cutbacks on General Hospital and other shows.

Several contracts are rumored to be unsigned or not being renewed: Nancy Lee Grahn may leave in February, Ingo Rademacher is only on extension and then may leave, and Maurice Benard has apparently still not signed his contract.

However, the present monetary crunch is affecting everyone, and that includes the actors as well as the networks. This is not the time to leave a job, so some decisions may be re-thought.

My advice to viewers is similar to what some stock market pundits are giving: Hang tough, and don't panic.

Some interesting, if preliminary, information on the specifics of General Hospital's November sweeps are drifting in - check them out.

For the time period of September 22, 2008 to September 26, 2008, General Hospital placed number 3 in the soap opera ratings with a 2.2 share, behind The Young and the Restless and The Bold and the Beautiful. A 2.2 share means that 2.2 million people watched the show; this is down 151,000 viewers from the previous week. The two other ABC soaps, One Life to Live and All My Children placed numbers 5 and 7, respectively. Weekly fluctuations are to be expected.

Reality television has held searches for life partners, models, hairdressers, dress designers, interior designers, chefs - and now makeup artists. This new search, Blush: The Search for the Next Great Make-Up Artist, for Lifetime Television, features ex-General Hospital star, Vanessa Marcil (ex-Brenda) as host. The show debuts on November 11. On Blush, contestants go after a $100,000 Max Factor contract and the chance to work on the makeup for an InStyle magazine shoot. The judges are InStyle fashion director Hal Rubenstein, makeup artist Joanna Schlip, with makeup artist Charlie Green serving as a mentor. As usual, everyone will be living together, so expect dueling mascara wands.

The constant demand for Marcil means that we may never see her reprise the role of Brenda. First her job on Lipstick Jungle and now this! Nevertheless, we're happy for her - congratulations, Vanessa!

From now on, find out where your favorite General Hospital stars are going to be appearing in the new Upcoming Appearances section.

"The stillness of October gold
Went out like beauty from a face."
- E. A. Robinson

October 3 - Brandon Barash (Johnny Zacchara)

...and let's remember some wonderful General Hospital stars with October birthdays:

October 1 - Ted King (Alcazar)
October 3 - Jack Wagner (Frisco Jones)
October 11 - Brad Maule (Tony Jones)
October 15 - Vanessa Marcil (Brenda)
October 19 - Tava Smiley (Chloe)
October 30 - Kristina Wagner (Felicia Jones)
October 31 - Scott Clifton (Dillon Quartermaine)

and Shell Kepler (Amy Vining)
October 5, 1958 - February 1, 2008
Rest well, sweet friend

Photo: ABC/Bob D'Amico

Allegedly not everyone is supportive of Steve Burton's Monavie/acai berry juice business, which has earned the actor more than $500,000 this year. A source tells us that Ingo Rademacher sent an email to the cast asking them not to get involved (it's a little late for that, isn't it?) in this "pyramid" scheme as it reflects badly on the show. Fireworks between Burton and Rademacher ensued.

Also, the youtube video that Burton and Derek Cheetwood taped was supposedly done on the ABC premises without ABC's permission.

"No comments" all around.

Do I call him
Mr. Sir or Your Most Magnificent Fatherly One?