Interview Outtakes, Part 4

Most of the time when I am conducting an interview with a soap star, I have more interview material than space for printing the interview. Here are some blurbs from stars that did not make it to the print version of the interview, but were too good not to publish.


Marla Sokoloff: I had to look something up on YouTube the other day, and some of my earlier acting jobs came up. I saw something I had done on “Step by Step,” and I must have been 12. It was so strange, because I don’t even remember too many of those experiences. But I was a huge fan of “Full House” before I was on it, like most kids in the sixth and seventh grade. When I got on it, I thought I’d be the coolest kid in school, but it actually backfired on me and I got made fun of.

Jonathan Jackson (Lucky Spencer, “General Hospital”) on playing Kyle Reese in “Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles”: That was really fun and that was a cool show. I liked the “Terminator” movies growing up, so it was pretty cool to be on the show. In terms of being that iconic character, when you go into something like that, you don’t overthink that you are playing a character that is so loved already. You just go into it and try to put your own thing into it with a sense of respect for the original thing, but not too much that it makes you gun shy.


Betty White (Ann, “The Bold and the Beautiful”) on receiving the Screen Actors Guild Lifetime Achievement Award, which will be presented this January: I cannot tell you what a thrill this is. When they called me I thought: “Well, they’ve made some kind of mistake. They must mean another Betty White.” I am just beside myself. I can’t believe it, and I can’t be coy about it. I am just thrilled to pieces.

Jay Kenneth Johnson (Philip Kiriakis, “Days of Our Lives”): I like that the writers have been integrating a lot of the characters. It’s smart writing to mix it up. It’s a small town, considering there are three places that we go. I mean, you’re bound to run into someone you know at the Brady Pub, right? And, at the Kiriakis mansion, I think we have at least 20 people living there.

Courtney Thorne-Smith: I am very prompt. Right after I had Jack, I’d missed a phone interview. It had never happened before in my life. In the beginning, after you have a child, there’s just no room for it. Usually on a day where I know I have an interview, it is constantly in my mind, but it’s all gone, because you’re thinking about changing the baby, keeping the baby from crying, keeping the baby from crying, keeping the baby from crying. It supersedes everything.

Don Diamont (Bill Spencer, “BB”): When you have a character like Bill, one who you want to be a romantic leading man, and he is that cutthroat, that makes it challenging. It makes the relationship that much more dynamic, and I think the writers are doing an incredible job with this, Whether Katie wants to admit it or not, she is enthralled by this guy, and the way that he wields his power and his influence. There is that place in her where she wishes she could be more like him.

Interview GH: Jonathan Jackson's New Lucky Is a Familiar Face

In an unexpected — and well-received — move, General Hospital announced at the end of September that Jonathan Jackson, the actor who originated the role of Lucky Spencer and won multiple Emmys for his work, would be returning to the role at the end of October. While fans will miss Greg Vaughan, they are welcoming back Jonathan with open arms.

The $64 million question is, how did the folks at GH lure him back? According to Jonathan: “It was pretty standard. They contacted me and said that the role of Lucky was opening up again and asked me if I would be interested in coming back. It’s something that I had thought about vaguely over the years, as people do, but it never really seemed like the right time, for various reasons.

“But this time when it came up, it was really out of the blue for me. I thought about it, talked with my family, prayed about it and just kind of tried to get a sense of whether this would be a fun adventure to step back into.”

In order to enjoy the adventure, Jonathan had some major cramming sessions ahead of him. He hadn’t been watching the show regularly since he left almost 10 years ago, so he “had to have quite a few conversations to fill some of those gaps in.”

If Jonathan had any anxiety about returning to the GH set, all fears vanished within moments of stepping into the studio. “The first day was really smooth. Seeing a lot of people I hadn’t seen in years was fun — actors, people on the crew, the hair and makeup team — so there was a lot to take in on that level. But acting-wise, I was able to sink right back into things pretty much immediately.

“It was interesting, because it was like a lot had changed and nothing had changed — all at the same time. It was really familiar, and yet it felt like a whole new experience.”

Acting alongside old friends helped smooth the transition for Jonathan. “Working with Tony (Geary, Luke Spencer) was really awesome,” he reveals. “It was a fun dynamic having that history with him, and yet it’s been about 10 years since we’ve actually worked together. And yet everything was right there. The same goes for working with Becky (Herbst, Elizabeth Webber) — I was able to settle in really quickly.”

In respect to the Lucky/Elizabeth/Nikolas love triangle, Jonathan is eager to see where it all ends up. “I am jumping into a moving stream when it comes to all of that. There is definitely a lot of tension there to work with, and it’ll be interesting to see how the whole thing plays out.”

Jonathan is eager to get back to basics as far as Lucky’s family and love life are concerned. “There’s a lot available to work with. The relationship with Luke, there’s a lot that could happen there. And I am a big fan of the love story between Lucky and Elizabeth, so there’s a lot of potential there for tapping into some of those original elements we had going.”

As far as Jonathan’s extracurricular activities go, many fans already know that he is a talented musician. His song “Elizabeth” was featured on GH. He fronts a band called Enation, whose breakout single, “Feel This,” was heavily featured on One Tree Hill.

Jonathan tells me: “We just released an EP that went into the top 10 on CD Baby, which is the biggest independent CD distribution company in the country. We are still getting the music out there for the fans. We are mixing a live album that will probably be released around Christmastime. You can go to iTunes, CD Baby or our Web site, enationmusic.com, to check out our music.”

And don't forget to check out Jonathan's return to GH on Tuesday, Oct. 27.

Jonathan Jackson Is Back!

The soap world was a-buzz at the end of last month with the news that Jonathan Jackson (pictured left, photo credit Carol Kaelson/ABC) was back in as Lucky Spencer on General Hospital, and Greg Vaughan was out. I spoke with Jonathan last week about his return to the show. The interview will be printed in its entirety on Oct. 23, but for now, here's a bit of the interview to whet your appetite:

Acting alongside old friends helped smooth the transition for Jonathan. “Working with Tony (Geary, Luke Spencer) was really awesome,” he reveals. “It was a fun dynamic having that history with him, and yet it’s been about 10 years since we’ve actually worked together. And yet everything was right there. The same goes for working with Becky (Herbst, Elizabeth Webber) — I was able to settle in really quickly.”

In respect to the Lucky/Elizabeth/Nikolas love triangle, Jonathan is eager to see where it all ends up. “I am jumping into a moving stream when it comes to all of that. There is definitely a lot of tension there to work with, and it’ll be interesting to see how the whole thing plays out.”

Jonathan is eager to get back to basics as far as Lucky’s family and love life is concerned. “There’s a lot available to work with. The relationship with Luke, there’s a lot that could happen there. And I am a big fan of the love story between Lucky and Elizabeth, so there’s a lot of potential there for tapping into some of those original elements we had going.”