This blog entry is a bit difficult for me to write, and will probably ramble, going into myriad topics that are tangential to this situation, but here goes. Over the weekend, the news about Genie Francis (Laura on General Hospital) became news, first reported by Daytime Confidential, and with a quote from Genie's agent on Monday, January 22, and later a tweet from her. The character also disappeared that day as she left town to look after her grandson. So now on to the thoughts.
I have more thoughts than one can express, which is while this is dated January 22, 2018, it was worked on before and after that date. (Only publishing it later). This is kind of hard, for a lot of reasons, even if I feel it is more others loss than my own. I know that must sound strange, but due to when I first started watching GH, (which was in a time frame where Genie wasn't on the program), and my first exposure to her being on "Murder, She Wrote", no joke, my POV is a bit different. I don't have the memories of her back in the 70s and 80s as Laura. I first saw her in this role after I knew of her for years, but in other parts. (And again being a person who watches sci-fi, of course I know her husband, whom she met on North and South, which I watched on DVD years after it aired.) If I ever got to chance to meet Genie or Jonathan Frakes, I don't know who I would "geek" out about more, which says something.
The character of Laura was in story, when Genie Francis was told her contract wasn't picked up with the mayoral race. Of course, when I heard about this plot, I wasn't looking forward to it, because I can't think of any story with an election for a mayor on a soap that I've liked. (Election stories for other office, I've loved, but mayor stories fill me dread.) Usually within a short amount of time, one or both of the characters involved gets tossed off canvas or ignored. So this fit the bill even if it was cut short. Anyway so Laura was running for mayor against Ned (Wally Kurth, who hasn't been on contract with GH for ages, but considering he also appears on occasion on Days of Our Lives as Justin, it is less frustrating, though at times it is.) They argue over Charles Street district and developers, and they allowed Genie to give a good speech, which considering soaps these days is rare. That's really high on the list of things I miss, but again the amount of people still in the industry with the facility to do long speeches convincingly is painfully small.
In all reality, Laura with her past, and her catatonic period, shouldn't be running for office. As who would vote for someone with her background, but anyway the program didn't think of that, or have anyone mention this situation. So now newlywed Laura is gone to France to take care of her grandson with two broken legs. Her husband Kevin (Jon Lindstrom) is in town though an acted by an off contract player, so who knows how often he will be seen. Alexis (Nancy Lee Grahn) is supposed to be facing Ned now, and frankly I don't care. If I want to watch Nancy play an election story, well I can watch "Santa Barbara" when there was a decent election story. That said I feel Alexis has even a "worse" backstory, for a candidate even if the character is an attorney.
A part of me is glad that Genie said no that she wouldn't appear without a contract. Some may say some Laura is better than no Laura, but it depends on the person. I'd rather say goodbye once, than watch, hoping to see a character I love, and then become more angry, upset and discouraged as again and again they aren't on screen when things go wrong for their family members or they aren't allowed a story or much of a point of view. This can cloud the love one feels for a show, and make things worse in the long run. When actors are in the situation, where they can and do say no, while I'm going to miss their presence, and a hole where their character should be exists, at least the proverbial bleeding stops. (Unless the character is woefully miscast, or they screw with the character's legacy and history in future story.)
If someone says to me "recurring isn't fired", I become livid. It means that you have no guaranteed work, and go from being a regular to a casual employee, who loses benefits. It is one thing, if the person who has a status change of this kind decides to do so, but another if it is "thrust" upon them. In many cases, recurring is just a way to keep parts of the audience at bay, if the actor isn't taken out of the credits, (beginning or end) then the average viewer won't know, and can't complain. When a soap is at the end of its life, and a performer comes back as part of the story wrap the actors' status doesn't matter, but when we're dealing with long term story it can mean a lot. There are a handful of people who appear(ed) on soaps without a contract, where it worked out over years, but the list is small, and typically it was their choice. If someone is recurring and not on for weeks or months, and their story makes no sense, well then it isn't working. Wally Kurth's material on both GH and Days falls into this category, and he's one of the ones who has gotten more consistent work than most.
When it comes to the #GenieisGH hashtag, well I think it is a good slogan, but I see her more as a through line. Every other actor who appears on GH who was on the show before the mid-80s (35 years ago) is off contract. She has a direct connection to people who were on the show during the early years, and began in the wiping (pre-1979) era. If someone says oh then why is this a big deal, I think "well I was annoyed when the others were taken off contract to, so..." For me it isn't about the covers of TVGuide or People in the early 80s. The iconic thing, doesn't matter, beyond the footnote in the larger pop culture zeitgeist. It is a people thing. As a viewer, I feel some are more important to my enjoyment of a particular show than others. It has nothing to do with popularity past or present. Genie and Laura is important to me, because I enjoy watching her. It begins and ends with that. Yes that's self-centered, but my blog, my thoughts.
If Genie decided to leave on her own volition, this entry would not have taken this long to write, and wouldn't have dug up other things. I wish her the best, I'm glad that she can chose to work or not, and I hope she gets what she wants in her career. If she ends up working on another project, we'll continue to have a hole where Laura should be, and while that's frustrating, at least we can relish seeing her do something new.
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