"I don't think people want to see that. By putting them in these situations, we have the highest stakes possible of life and death. They have to make incredibly-difficult moral choices all the time. What I will defend to my last breath is that we do not glorify it! the head writer continues. "Sonny is the most haunted character on the show. Jason is turning into one of them. If they just merely shot people and weren't haunted by it, then yes, I think we would be open to the criticism. But they're not. It is never taken lightly. I guarantee you that." READ MORE

General Hospital has released the extended "Brenda is Back" promo, featuring Jax, "the fiancé that broke her heart" (Ingo Rademacher), Jason, "the husband she never loved" (Steve Burton), and Sonny "the man she could never resist" (Maurice Benard). But what's her secret? Either way, I'm pretty sure that Brenda (Vanessa Marcil Giovanazzo) is going to burn all of our television screens up. Watch after the jump. READ MORE

We Love Soaps’ Damon L. Jacobs caught up with former General Hospital executive producer Wendy Riche to talk about her time at the show. In the must-read interview Riche shares how she came about casting Antonio Sabato Jr., Steve Burton and Vanessa Marcil in their popular roles.

We Love Soaps: Despite the turbulence we’ve described, you made some inspired casting choices. You chose unknown actors such as Anthony Sabato Jr, Vanessa Marcil, Steve Burton, all of whom made indelible imprints on the show. What was the key to finding and casting these young actors that would find such success on and off GENERAL HOSPITAL?

Wendy Riche: It starts with a vision of character. I would talk to the headwriter and with [Consulting Producer] Shelly Curtis. It starts with characters and archetypes of characters. Good girl / bad girl, but multi-leveled. Then there was the supposed bad guy who comes in with a good heart. We saw this when Jagger’s friends were going to steal from Kelly’s, and go after Ruby. It was designed so that we had a window into Jagger's heart because in his stopping the violence, we knew he wasn't all bad. We knew he was worth saving. From that moment on he was endearing to the audience and everyone wanted to save him, as did Karen and Brenda. So we designed the dynamic, and then I would sit down with Mark Teschner, because you need a brilliant casting director to work with to capture your vision. Casting is a very unique process. You cannot cast by committee. There has to be a clear vision, and Mark found this great talent. He knew what I was looking for and he found them. READ MORE

What if General Hospital’s Jason Morgan (Steve Burton) and All My Children's Greenlee (Rebecca Budig) met? It turns out Jason would pretty much be himself while Greenlee is a drunken idiot.  So far, the Todd (Trevor St. John) and Spinelli (Bradford Anderson) What If is still my favorite. Watch the latest What If episode from ABC after the jump. READ MORE

James Franco's pseudo-hipster pretentiousness art project–including his gigs on General Hospital–made the Talk of the Town section of this week's New Yorker Magazine. Among the titbits:

Several hours before taping began, Franco, in a neatly pressed tuxedo, with slicked-back hair, a dull pancake-makeup glow, and a glaze of coffee on his teeth, sat in a director’s chair, trying to explain. Asked about the layers of performance, he said, “It’s kind of hard to tease ’em all out.” He took a sip of coffee, and said it all began with “Erased James Franco,” a conceptual film piece he’d made, two years ago, with an artist called Carter, in which Franco had re-created performances from his feature films. He and Carter talked about making another movie, in which he would play a character who is an actor on a soap opera. “I said, ‘What if I really did that? Wouldn’t that be interesting?’ ” Franco said. “My manager represents Steve Burton”—the Mafia hit man on “General Hospital”—“and we called them and said I’d like to be on the show. They were very happy. They said, ‘You can do anything—what kind of part would you like to play?’ I wanted their full treatment, so all I said was that I wanted to be an artist and I wanted my character to be crazy.” He took another swig of coffee and shifted about elegantly in his chair. “They asked if they could call the character Franco—that was their idea. It was a beautiful idea.”

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General Hospital’s Steve Burton (pictured above with fans) was one of several ABC soap stars who appeared at the 2010 CMA Music Festival on June 11 and 12 greeting fans, signing autographs and performing on stage. See more photos after the jump! READ MORE

TV Guide Magazine's Michael Logan chatted with James Franco on what is up with his alter ego's bromance with General Hospital's Jason Morgan (Steve Burton).

TV Guide Magazine: Let's talk about your character. What drives Franco? What's his obsession with Jason really all about?

Franco: Franco is an artist who works with death. He works in a lot of different ways. He does graffiti, performances, photographs. He creates installations based on murder scenes featuring murders he possibly was involved with. He's interested in pushing the boundaries of art — both aesthetically and ethically — and he will go way too far. There are a lot of artists working today who go too far.

After a interesting conversation on how far an artist will go for their work, the actor finally gives an insight as to why his character is obsessed with Jason.

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Photo Credit: Port Chuck