Table of contents for December 31, 2018 in ABC Soaps In Depth

Her maternity leave officially over, Karla Mosley returned to CBS in mid-November to resume taping as B&B’s Maya. “Back to work!” the actress captioned a selfie showing off her soap script. “Having all the feels!” Look for Mosley, who gave birth to daughter Aurora Imani on August 17, to first air on Wednesday, December 19, just in time to celebrate the holidays with her on-screen soap family.…

STATUS Spencer and Sasha have said their goodbyes on GH, but we hear that’s not the last we’ll see of their respective portrayers, Nicolas Bechtel and Sofia Mattsson! After all, both of their troublemaking characters have unfinished business in Port Charles! While Sasha ran back to Chappaqua in the wake of Kiki’s murder, Nina’s not about to let her “daughter” disappear from her life now that she’s found her! Meanwhile, Spencer knows all about Sasha being a fake — which he could use against Valentin — but he also doesn’t want to get busted for hacking the election for his grandmother’s sake. In truth, it would probably be in both Sasha and Spencer’s best interests to stay away… which is why we’re glad that they won’t! Bring on the drama!…

On Monday, December 17, Victor intends to punish Chad for backstabbing Sonny! That same day, Hope and Ciara butt heads again over Ben. Chad and Sonny have to join forces on Tuesday, December 18. Sonny will find a big surprise in his bed on Wednesday, December 19. Eric makes it clear to Chloe that he is not going to give up the fight for Holly on Thursday, December 20. And on Friday, December 21, JJ tries to save the life of the pretty nurse who’s caught his eye!…

Country Girl GENERAL HOSPITAL’s Rebecca Herbst (Elizabeth) has been working in Hollywood for decades, but that’s not the world she lives in, at all. Though she is from the Los Angeles area, she reveals, “I’ve never lived in the city and where I am now is horse country, so I’ve gotten a taste of being away from the hustle and bustle of the city life. It’s a lot of fun. I’m just happier being out in the country.” Best of all, her current environs come with a major perk. “I love horses,” Herbst grins. “My neighbors on all sides have them, and I love listening to them run in the morning and play.” Not that she actually wants to own a pony! “They’re a lot of work,” she says. “I…

“The show is dark for a few weeks, so I plan on getting out of here and taking some sort of vacation,” says Hendrickson, who’s looking forward to holidaying in New York. gH’s Elizabeth Hendrickson is not a fan of the cold… but after celebrating Thanksgiving in sunny Los Angeles, the East Coast transplant who plays Margaux admits that she’s begun craving a bit of a nip in the air. So “I’m looking forward to going back East for Christmas because I didn’t go back last year, and I’m really missing the cold weather right now,” shares the alumna of ALL MY CHILDREN (as Maggie) and THE YOUNG & THE RESTLESS (as Chloe). “I can’t believe I’m saying that! But since we’ve had such a warm fall in L.A., I…

gH fans know William Lipton from his work as Cameron, but he’s also an avid singer, musician and songwriter — which is why one of his favorite holiday memories yet was getting to perform in A Christmas Carol with the American Conservatory Theatre in San Francisco. “Many people come see this show as a yearly tradition, and I was one of the lucky kids who ACT invited to audition and participate two different years,” he shares. “We had about 30 to 40 shows each December, so it was very busy — a full-time job. But the process and show were an amazing and very professional experience. I think that has truly shaped me into who I am.” This holiday season, Lipton’s counting on some carolling… but he’s keeping it much…

Some actors are hesitant to portray the more villainous characters for fear of alienating fans. But THE YOUNG & THE RESTLESS’ Cait Fairbanks (Tessa) isn’t one of them! “I find that exciting!” she declares. “I actually like the challenge of making bad behavior into more of a human instinct. It’s more interesting as an actor to try to take a character that is a villain and try to humanize them as much as possible. It becomes a fun game!” Still, the beauty acknowledges that game can be filled with angry tweets — especially now that it’s come out that Tessa was the one blackmailing Sharon, Victoria, Nikki and Phyllis in order to make some quick cash and pay off the human traffickers she’d hired to smuggle sister Crystal into Canada!…

“Ready or not, here I come!” That was the message given to THE BOLD & THE BEAUTIFUL’s Lawrence Saint-Victor (Carter) and his wife, Shay, on August 21 when their firstborn, Christian Lavelle, decided to arrive almost a month ahead of schedule! A routine doctor’s appointment led to some concern about amniotic fluid levels and a directive to get to the hospital ASAP. “The doctor said, ‘You’re going to have the baby today.’ We were like, ‘Wait — what?!?’” Saint-Victor recalls. “So we ran home and packed bags. It was definitely a shock. I wasn’t prepared to have a baby that day!” First-Day Jitters Getting thrown into D-A-D Day unexpectedly in some ways helped this firsttime father cope with his anxiety. “There was no time to overthink or over-anticipate anything,” he…

December 11 marks Susan Seaforth Hayes’ 50th anniversary as Julie on DAYS OF OUR LIVES — and to say that it’s a momentous occasion would be an understatement. And not just because she met her future husband, Bill Hayes (Doug), on the soap’s set. “I had no idea that this show would give me a career,” the actress marvels. “This show would open the doors of millions of homes to me that would welcome me with affection. I had no idea that my mother Elizabeth Harrower’s career would blossom to the point of becoming a headwriter on DAYS for a year. I had no idea that I would meet the man of my dreams. “I was just an actress hoping to get one job,” she reflects. “Instead, I got a…

Q: What was your worst disaster or screw up in the kitchen? Emme Rylan (Lulu, GH) “I am bad in the kitchen. [My partner] Don gets super scared when I say I’m going to cook something. It would be easier for me to talk about when I don’t have a disaster. I’ve got heart in the kitchen, but I also have red sauce on my ceiling, and I don’t know how it got there.” Cait Fairbanks (Tessa, Y&R) “I have a gas stove, and I thought I had to light it, but you just have to turn the knob a little bit more, so I almost burnt my face off! That would be the biggest disaster. Or when I made Bananas Foster, where you have to add alcohol and light…

10. Maybe we shouldn’t have been shocked — GH has, after all, previously featured everything from aliens to a wannabe vampire. But we still couldn’t believe it when we discovered that, for all these years, Maxie apparently had been secret pals with KFC MVP Colonel Sanders, as played by George Hamilton on National Fried Chicken Day. It’s a thing. Seriously. 9. After the Daytime Emmys handed out an award to Patrika Darbo (Shirley, THE BOLD & THE BEAUTIFUL), then gave it to Jennifer Bassey (ex-Quinn, GH), then declared that it wasn’t hers, either, GH joined the other soaps in threatening to boycott the ceremony in 2019 unless the National Academy Of Television Arts & Sciences made some major changes to its rules. (They did.) 8. GH’s cast…

IN This week, Chris Van Etten returns as Amy’s big brother, Chet. Back in the spring, when last we saw the wounded veteran — whose portrayer is also a wounded vet — he was clean and sober, and giving grieving widow Maxie a pep talk. Fingers crossed that the holidays will find Chet continuing to do well! As for Risa Dorken’s Amy, it’s not clear when we’ll see the bubbly nurse again, but as previously reported, a GH rep says the actress is “absolutely” still part of the GH family.…

SEEING STARS…

General Hospital In Depth asked... Should Margaux and Drew give a relationship another try? Now that Margaux’s picking up her life and moving on, she deserves a little love — and so does Drew, for that matter! This issue’s question... Do you think Ava will be the one to take Ryan down? Reader Reaction: 59% DEFINITELY! 41% NOPE! TOP 5 GH COUPLES 1 Laura & Kevin Collins 2 Liz Webber & Franco Baldwin 3 Carly & Sonny Corinthos 4 Alexis Davis & Julian Jerome 5 Sam McCall & Drew Cain TOP 5 ACTORS  (as voted by Soaps In Depth readers) 1 Last Issue: 1 Maurice Benard (Sonny, GH) 2 Last Issue: 2 Steve Burton (Jason, GH) 3 Last Issue: 3 Jon Lindstrom (Kevin/Ryan, GH) 4 Last Issue: 4 Roger Howarth…

Eden McCoy (Josslyn) “Committing back in March to play beach volleyball for the University Of Southern California was definitely the most exciting day of the year for me. I’ve worked very hard at my sport, and USC is my dream college, so I was over the moon to learn that they wanted me, too!” Hayley Erin (ex-Kiki) “Definitely my travels. I finally threw caution to the wind and just went wherever it took me. Much like Kiki, I feel very empowered! I went to Dublin, London; Split and Dubrovnik, Croatia; Mostar, Bosnia; Tulum, Mexico; and then Reykjavik and all over southern Iceland. I went on my first trip and I was like, ‘Why haven't I been doing this at every opportunity?’ And then I started doing it at every opportunity…

Turner’s looking forward to kicking back and spoiling the people he loves. gH’s Donnell Turner (Curtis) knows exactly what he’s going to be doing over the holidays. “Nothing!” cheers the actor. “I’m just going to enjoy the time off — veg out, eat, watch TV. I’ve been going hard for the past three months, and I just need to relax. I am really looking forward to having nothing to do.” Well, he does have one thing to do — think about others! But he enjoys that part of the festivities. “I love Christmas because I’m a giver,” he explains. “I have a big heart. And in my mind, it’s about giving — not just gifts but yourself. Christmas is not about give me, it’s about give you! And sometimes service…

“I love the holidays,” Henry cheers. gH’s Briana Nicole Henry is feeling the holiday spirit in a big way this year — and it’s actually been a bit of a team effort. “My girlfriends, my boyfriend and I made an agreement that we are really going to milk the holidays this year and try to have as many little festivities as we could,” shares Jordan’s portrayer. “We started with a big Friendsgiving with my girlfriends and some of their boyfriends, and that was pretty wonderful. It was a nice way to kick off November and the season.” The actress confesses that she’s been foisting some of her effusive cheer on her beau, Daytime Emmy-winning composer Kris Bowers. “I’m excited to force him to do silly things with me,” she chuckles.…

Birthday: July 29. Sing-Along: Ever since Devon ousted Tessa as a singer from his record label, fans haven’t seen the beauty belt out any more tunes. Does Fairbanks miss singing on the show? “I do love singing. It’s very fun for me,” she says. “But I’m really excited to explore this new [treacherous] side to Tessa that I haven’t thought about singing on the show!” TV Recommendation: “THE HAUNTING OF HILL HOUSE! It’s on Netflix, and it’s so good and so terrifying! It really goes to your deepest fears!”…

Birthday: June 14. Hometown: Rockland County, NY. Family Name: Saint-Victor says his son’s middle name, Lavelle, is in honor of his wife’s late brother, who passed away when she was young. It’s A Bird… It’s A Plane: The actor was gifted with a lot of Superman-themed baby gifts from people who know how passionate he is about the comic-book icon. “It’s a pretty easy theme for the nursery, although the ‘nursery’ is really our whole place — we have baby stuff everywhere!”…

Kiki’s murder destroyed GENERAL HOSPITAL’s Ava. And as Maura West dove into her character’s heartbreak, she also devastated viewers everywhere and earned herself this week’s Gold Star. A Mother’s Nightmare Ava never saw it coming. Giddy after her romp with “Kevin,” she was amused by the impatient knocking on her door. And when she opened it to find a troubled Griffin, the vixen launched into a haughty denial of her latest scheme and chuckled coldly at his statement Kiki was “gone.” Finally, he laid it out plainly: Kiki was dead… murdered. Unwilling to believe what she was hearing, Ava wound herself into a defensive rage. But fear crept up on her until at last she whispered, “Where is my daughter?” When Ava stormed into The Haunted Star, she was grumbling…

The In Depth Story: Dissatisfied with the state of the Emmy competition, THE BOLD & THE BEAUTIFUL, GENERAL HOSPITAL, DAYS OF OUR LIVES and THE YOUNG & THE RESTLESS came together in an unprecedented show of unity and presented NATAS with a list of demanded changes. Those complaints ultimately prompted NATAS to conduct an investigation of its practices and present proposed alterations to the Emmy rules. After the investigation was completed and a report issued, the soaps told Deadline in a joint statement that, “as a group, we are not in agreement with all of the conclusions that NATAS reached. However, in the spirit of working with NATAS and the TV Academy on improving the integrity of the Daytime Emmys, we have lifted our boycott.” But that’s not the end…

The In Depth Story: In late November, an excited Silzer Instagrammed a photo of herself posing outside the GH studio, declaring it was the “best day ever. Christmas wish came true early. Super grateful Emma is back!” Robin and Patrick’s little girl has traveled from Berkeley to visit grandma Anna on her own before, so the question is: How much of the family will join her this time? As previously reported, we hear that Tristan Rogers (Robert) is set to return to the set this month. And while Mc-Cullough has been busy directing episodes of shows like FULLER HOUSE (Season 4 streaming now on Netflix!) and THE CONNORS (which aired this month) in between her GH visits, we can only hope that the fan favorite will again come back in…

Feeling at odds with her husband regarding the Taylor situation, Hope confronts Liam on Monday, December 17, asking if he’d prefer to be a family with Kelly and Steffy. On Tuesday, December 18, Taylor confronts Brooke about the pressure she and Hope have been putting on Steffy. Taylor finds herself deeply moved when Reese comes to her defense on Wednesday, December 19. Liam and Steffy are shocked when on Thursday, December 20, Hope makes an all-or-nothing decision about the holidays. On Friday, December 21, Liam and Hope make a request of someone else.…

Even in a town as full of sexy single guys as Port Charles, it can be tough to find the right one. Just ask GENERAL HOSPITAL’s Maxie. As she’s begun to recover from the loss of her beloved husband, Nathan, she’s started opening up her heart again. And, while it would appear that brother-in-law Peter all but has her hooked, he’s not the only fish in the sea. So, in the interest of helping the beautiful blonde weigh her options, Soaps In Depth has imagined what her and suitors’ personal ads would look like and rated their possible compatibility. MAXIE Profession: Fashion Editor, Crimson Stats: Widowed, 5’3” tall, blonde, blue eyes What we imagine Maxie would say about herself: I guess I’m what you’d call a big personality. I’m fun,…

While some folks break out the Christmas decorations the day after Thanksgiving, GH’s Kin Shriner (Scotty) has an extra holiday to focus on first. “My birthday is December 6, so I’ve got to figure out where I’m turning another year older and who’s going to be there,” he says with a grin. “This year, I did Thanksgiving in Ft. Lauderdale with my brother, and then on my birthday, I worked at GH, which is always a good thing! So I celebrated in Los Angeles with some of my cronies — Jackie Zeman (Bobbie), Lynn Herring (Lucy) and Ian Buchanan (ex-Duke). It was just an afternoon lunch up at my favorite spot, Fabrocini’s. “Usually, sometime around the 10th, I’ll start giving Christmas some thought,” he continues. “I think about where I’ll…

“It’s been a busy year, so I’m looking forward to relaxing with family, listening to cozy holiday music and eating a lot of good food,” says the GH newcomer. gH newcomer Sofia Mattsson has always appreciated Christmas, but this year finds her more than ready to enjoy all the quality family time that comes with the holiday. “My mom was in a bad accident this year,” explains the actress who plays Sasha. “Thank God she is okay now, but it was very scary for a while, and it made me realize how precious every second we get with family is.” Needless to say, she’s eager to have a joyful holiday, and her crew has its fair share of traditions to achieve that goal — from dancing around the tree holding…

Santa’s okay, says Benard. But when it comes to Christmas, “nobody does more than my wife!” When Santa Claus drops in on GH’s Maurice Benard (Sonny) and his family this year, he’s going to find more than cookies and milk waiting for him — he’s going to find a menagerie big enough to pull his sleigh. “Actually, he might never make it inside,” chuckles the Emmy winner. “Too many dogs! It’s a jungle here!” Whether Kris Kringle is able to plant his gifts around Benard’s tree and live to tell the “tail,” the daytime icon is still guaranteed to have a merry Christmas: This will be his first since his beloved parents, Humberto and Martha Morales, moved in with him and his beautiful wife, Paula. “It’s been great having them…

Couple: Nikki and Victor Why: From the start, the newlyweds had a volatile relationship. But it was his attraction to and affair with Ashley that did in their relationship. Couple: Sharon and Nick Why: Devastated by stepdaughter Cassie’s death, Nick found comfort in an extramarital affair with Phyllis. Couple: Christine and Paul Why: Eager to have Christine for himself, conniving Michael hired an unstable Isabella to put the moves on Paul while his better half was overseas. Couple: Phyllis and Jack Why: Phyllis (then Michelle Stafford, GENERAL HOSPITAL’s Nina) stepped away from her relationship with Jack so he could get custody of son Kyle from babymama Diane.…

Having his hands full with just one little one at home has given Saint-Victor a whole new appreciation for co-stars like Aaron D. Spears (Justin) and Don Diamont (Bill), who have five and seven children, respectively! “I bumped into Aaron one of my first days back [after my son was born] and said, ‘I don’t know if I could do what you do!’” he says. “But I was inspired by both of them before Shay and I ever decided to become parents. When I see how affectionate they are with their kids and how the love is so big, I think, ‘Man — if I could have that kind of relationship with my kid, that will be great.’ So they are definitely a source of inspiration.”…

THE BOLD & THE BEAUTIFUL After Sally shared her idea for a new athletic line for Forrester, Wyatt declared his love for her. In response, Sally responded that she loved him, too! At a baby-naming session with Hope, Katie and Donna badgered Brooke to explain why she was still so anti-Taylor. Steffy, meanwhile, swore to Liam that her mother was not a threat. The only true threat, she believed, was the possibility that Brooke and Hope might blab to others about the fact that Taylor shot Bill. Brooke didn’t see it that way, though, warning Hope and Liam that Taylor was a real threat. Zoe expressed concern that her dad’s presence in L.A. — and growing bond with Taylor — might upset the happy life she’d created for herself. When…