Revolving Door In other GH news, Tristan Rogers reports on his web site (www.tristanrogers.com) that "there are no plans for Robert to reappear" at this time, but hints at that possible changes taking place inside GH's writing staff may change that. "It's too early to say what impact this will have on the short term, but it is apparent that GH is under observation." As previously reported, ABC has tapped former Y&R head writers Jack Smith and Kay Alden to consult on its three soaps. Rogers if off "for now...," hedges a GH rep. (SOW 1/2/07)

Bar Codes:  As the dust settles from the Luke and Laura wedding, Tristan Rogers reflects on how times have changed since the first production in 1981. "They don't have the same 'facilities,'" Rogers notes with a grin. "Back then, we had this one honey wagon, which was, in effect, a bar to be visited after the shoot. Well, there were those of us who found a way to visit it before and during the shoot [laughs], which tended to make the day go a little smoother. But this time around, it's much more business-like. For those of us who've done a lot of these [location] shoots, we know what they can be like, so you're forewarned and forearmed with a book or two, or whatever you want to get done. That's only something you learn after you've done a few of these things." (SOD 12/12/06)  

On the Luke/Robert Reunion:  "It was exactly what it looked like- fun!" Geary says of working again with Tristan Rogers (Robert). "We spent a lot of time reminiscing about our bad boy days. We're both lucky we're still alive, which is great for the characters because they're both lucky that they're still alive, too." (SID 4/25/06)

Read SOD's article on Tristan entitled "Tristan Rogers: Unscripted."

Scorpio Still Rising:  The much-ballyhooed return of Tristan Rogers, Emma Samms and Finola Hughes to GH will be a short one for the ladies, but not so for the gent. Rogers's character, Robert Scorpio, will remain in Port Charles well past May sweeps and move into the jam-packed Quartermaine mansion and live with Luke Spencer. "I have no idea how they plan to justify that," says Rogers. "But one thing I've learned this time around is not ot ask questions." An ABC rep tells us that "GH wants [Rogers] around as long as he wants to be on the show," which seems like a rather dangerous thing to announce. So, like he can stay till he's 102? "Yeah, I guess so," Rogers says with a laugh. "Or at least until I run over a child in my wheelchair or start drooling in my scenes."  (TV Guide 5/1/06)

GH's Next Big Love Triangle:  GH co-headwriter Robert Guza Jr. promised that we haven't seen the last of Tristan Rogers and Emma Samms, and now he's making good on his word. Although a rep for the soap "can't confirm," SID has learned that Rogers and Samms will again be bringing their alter egos back to Port Charles as early as mid-April. (The original return was set for May sweeps.) A setside spy adds that Rogers has agreed to a one-year deal with the soap, which will kick off in late June. "We are going to put Luke, Robert and Holly in another adventure," teases Guza. There's no word yet on how long Samms- who is based in London- will be back for this time. (SID 4/11/06)

Casting About:  Rumor has it that GH is considering bringing back another fan fave. We can't say who, but should this star accept, it will make Robin (Kimberly McCullough) fans very pleased. In related news, GH is hoping to have Tristan Rogers (Robert) make a return engagement sometime in late March, considering the success of his February sweeps visit. Setsiders say his next sojourn will focus more on mending Robert's tattered relationship with Robin, but there has also been talk of a possible new romance for the charismatic crime-fighter- with a female already on the canvas. (SOD 3/14/06)

This Tristan interview claims Finola's coming back, but I'll believe it when I see some official confirmation.

Scorpio Stays? Great news! According to an interview Tristan did, he states that GH has asked him to stay for another year. Wahoo. This will give Robert and Robin time to work their differences out, since they have had zippo in the way of scenes currently. Also wonder if this means Anna might still show up? Link to Tristan interview [scroll down, look to the right]  Another interview, this time with the New York Times, confirms that both Tristan and Emma will return for May sweeps!

Tristan Rogers had barely left the building- or hospital, for that matter- before he was asked to return for another tour of duty as Robert Scorpio on GH.  The actor confirms he is slated to return to work on March 23 for at least four weeks, so look for Scorpio to resurface in late April.
     What will be on the ex-spy's agenda this time around? A rep for the show wouldn't divulge any storyline details at press time, but something tells us Sonny and Jason won't be too happy when they learn the former police commissioner has returned to Port Charles. (SOW 3/14/06)

Robin's Dad Leaves Her Again!  Time sure flies when you're having fun: The six-week stint of GH's Tristan Rogers is already up, and his last air date will be Wednesday, March 1, when Robert is called back to his government job outside of Port Charles, forcing him to say emotional good-byes to his best pal, Luke, and the daughter he abandoned, Robin, before heading out o ftown. But have we seen the last of him? "There is a good chance he will be back for more," says an insider. (SID 3/14/06)

GH's Robert: Roger(s) and Out - Robert Scorpio says goodbye to Port Charles this week on GH, but don't go ape. Fans haven't seen the last of the chimp-chasing spy.
     "General Hospital made it very pointed that they wanted the character to continue," affirms his portrayer, Tristan Rogers. "At this point, they've opened a number of doors and any one of them could be the one he walks back through. How that's going to translate at this point, I don't know. That obviously isn't up to me. But I said to them, 'Look, this has been a terribly positive experience for me, and I'd like to continue it.'"
     That GH would want to keep Rogers around seems to be a no-brainer, given the enthusiastic response from fans, critics and, more importantly, Nielsen households.
     "The greatest part of this for me was that I was able to make significant inroads with a whole bunch of people who have never seen me before, and the response I got was very positive right across the board," smiles Rogers. "So I look upon the whole thing as being a great exercise. It tells me, 'Hey, the guy's lost none of what he had. He can do it for the fans he left, and he can do it for the people who don't know him.'"
     "So I feel positive about what I did," he concludes, "and I hope the viewers are having a good time with the show."  Sources say ABC was just as high on Rogers' return as he was, so look for Scorpio to make his way back to Port Charles soon..." (SOW 3/7/06)

Comings and Goings:  Though Roger's story arc ends on February 28, a GH insider states, "There's an excellent chance that Robert will turn up again in late March." (SOD 3/7/06)

Buzz:  The latest GH rumor making the rounds is that- get this- Sam is Robert and Holly's daughter. Which would make Sam and Robin half sisters! "I have not heard that," insists Tristan Rogers. "There are so many loose ends here, I'm sure they're thinking in terms of how they wrap them all up. But I'm not going to sit here now and drive myself crazy trying to speculate. Once upon a time, I went through that. Now it's 'okay. One script at a time.'" (SOW 2/14/06)

Will Fans Go Ape?  So, where has Robert Scorpio been all these years? "Robert doesn't say much for about two or three shows, and after that, his daughter discovers him," previews his portrayer, Tristan Rogers.  "They have a very lengthy conversation. That is when the audience is either going to love it or hate it. I don't think there is any middle point here."
     Rogers is cagey when asked for specifics. "I think the writers came to the conclusion that trying to justify a person who has been away for 14 years just wasn't possible, so let's not try and make it possible," he muses. "There is probably a section of the audience that is familiar with the character from the '80s and looking for a far more sentimental resolution to this. THis resolution is far from sentimental."
     "It's a little more abrasive than people may be expecting," warns the actor. (SOW 2/7/06)

Luke Who's Back! And he's got a deadly monkey on his back-  Robert Scorpio returns to Port Charles with bad news this week on GH:  The town has been infected with a deadly virus, and Luke might be the carrier.
     Luke, who's been hiding out for weeks, "surfaces in a small country in the South Pacific called the Markam Islands," sets up associate head writer Elizabeth Korte. "He's exposed to an illness there, but doesn't realize he has it."
     Luke decides to head home, so he charters a plane and flies it to Port Charles with a chimpanzee in tow (don't ask).
     "Shortly after Luke leaves, the village is burned," details Korte. "Through the smoke, viewers will see Robert Scorpio. It turns out that Robert is trying to contain this virus. He learns that an American tourist was in the area and has since left. When they bring Robert a picture of the tourist, he recognizes his old friend Luke." Desperate to find him, Robert heads to Port Charles, too.
     Luke and his chimp arrive home at the Quartermaine mansion to greet the Qs, Nikolas, Lucky, Elizabeth and Lulu. Sure enough, Luke begins feeling ill and collapses from a fever. His chimp runs off to Jason's penthouse.
     "Sam, Jason and Michael return the chimp to the mansion, where Luke is," continues Korte, noting that they have now been exposed to the virus, too. "We're trying to show the pattern of how something like this spreads. Then, Lucky goes over to Sonny's to question him about Manny. And, of course, Lucky was already exposed."
     Meanwhile, back at the mansion, "Luke gets worried when Lulu falls ill," says Korte. "Luke is pretty sure he caught this from a sick child he was exposed to, so he's like, 'If this is contagious, who knows who this could spread to?' He takes Lulu to the hospital."
     As fate would have it, "Robert goes to the hospital to do a little investigating at the same time Lulu is rushed ther," says Korte. "They're on parallel tracks. A very sick Luke and a very sick Lulu are arriving in the ER, while Robert is reuniting with Robin upstairs, explaining where he's been for the last 15 years, and telling her that he's chasing this epidemic."
     Others in Port Charles begin falling ill, too. Among them, Sam, Nikolas, Skye, Lucky, Alexis and Sonny, who arrives at the hospital to find chaos before getting dizzy and collapsing. Elsewhere, Emily rushes Nikolas to the hospital, and Jason does the same with a feverish Sam.
     Finally, Robert surfaces.
     "He tells everyone in the emergency room about the virus," previews Korte. He orders the hospital quarantined and warns that there might not be any way to stop the epidemic. (Lass fever, anyone?) "Robert is the only link between the place that the virus was and the place that it has now shown up, which is Port Charles."
     Robert, Noah, Patrick and Robin deduce that Luke holds the key to stopping the epidemic. They visit him in the ICU and tell him he has a natural antibody "which they can use as a serum that might be helpful in fighting the virus," reveals Korte. "The way to get it is to extract it from his blood."
     Luke agrees to the procedure, despite being told it might kill him. "Luke's going to do whatever it takes to save Lulu," assure Korte.
     But will he be able to save everyone else in town? "Generally, the people who get this virus don't get better," warns Korte.  Indeed. Two characters- one longtime fave and one popular heroine- will ultimately fall victim to the virus. (SOW 2/7/06)

GH's Scorpio on His Return:  As reported last week in Digest, fan favorite Tristan Rogers will reprise the role of sexy, swarthy Robert Scorpio, which he played on GH from 1980-92, for a six-week stint during February sweeps. "I'm not really up on what's happening now," confesses the actor. "My wife watches the show from time to time, but it's hard for me to relate. We're talking about total different eras, so it's going to be interesting going back. I've got a lot of questions myself." 
     So far, Rogers is in the dark regarding details of his return and just where Scorpio has been for more than a decade. "It will be interesting to see how the newer audience adjusts," he chuckles. "There are probably several generations of viewers that have never seen me and may not even know me. They may know the name Scorpio because there are several characters running around with that name, but I'm the original. Heavens, I speak to people who don't even know I've left!"
     Rogers does admit to a flood of emotions about returning about returning to his former stopming grounds, noting, "[There are] a lot of emotions about the '80s when I first started, a lot of feelings that I was feeling when I left- a lot of those people aren't alive anymore, both upstairs and downstairs, so there's a degree of sadness, too. It's not like it's the old group because it's not the old group. And the adjustment, I don't know how long it's going to take, probably not very long. They're not giving me any breaks at all. It's like, 'Okay, you're back. Here's six shows. Get out therre and do them.' I was hoping they were going to go easy on me [laughs]."
     But it appears Robert is returning solo, without Finola Hughes's Anna, who was also presumed dead in that boat explosion, but turned up alive on AMC in 2001. "That hasn't been an issue," Rogers explains. "We're talking about six weeks here, so they don't have a lot of time to go into too much. It's got to be a very specific storyline here. If you go off on too many tangents, you're going to bombard the audience with too much information and I don't think they want to do that. There's a timing to this, the way they've brought this character back, so we'll see how they're going to use him." (SOD 1/24/06)

Robert's Top-Secret Return:  GH has done such a good job keeping Robert Scorpio's return a secret, even his portrayer, Tristan Rogers, is in the dark.
     At press time, the actor was a few days away from his first day of taping (Jan. 9) and he hadn't even received his first script. "We were told it's a six-week deal, something to do with sweeps," he explains. "The other thing I have been told is that Luke brings me back. What no one seems to what to discuss right now is how I am brought back."
     For Rogers, returning to GH after a 14-year absence will be a great adventure. "There is a whole audience out there that never saw me in the part," he notes. "There are quite a few people running around on the show with the name Scorpio, but I am the original. It will be interesting to see how the character fits in with the other members in town. The only people he can truly relate to would be Luke, his daughter (Robin) and his brother (Mac)."
     What will Robert think of fellow Aussie Jax? "I don't know what my connection is to him," shrugs Rogerts. "I don't know what my connection is to anybody right now!"
     Rogers' first airdate is Jan. 27. "A health scare will ultimately bring him back to PC," teases a rep for GH. 
What About Anna?  With Robert returning to GH and Robin already back in the Scorpio nest, it begs the question: What about Anna?
     "No comment," states Finola Hughes' rep, who at press time said Hughes was with her family on holiday vacation and unavailable for comment. Anna was last seen in AMC's Pine Valley, where Hughes reprised the hugely popular character from 2001-2003.  For ABC's part, a GH spokesperson says, "There are no plans to bring back Anna." (SOW 1/24/06)

Blast of the Titians.  Luke leaves, Robert returns, a Brenda recast? The truth about Laura and what's up with Tamara Braun?  Look for a lot of cast activity in the weeks ahead on GH. First, Luke will exit the Port Charles canvas when Anthony Geary takes his annual winter vacation. What's Luke up to, and how will the show write him off? Spencer's latest scam to rid himself of his Taming of the Shrew bride, Tracy, goes horribly awry, and Luke heads out of town on January 13.
     "We love this relationship because it's two people who, in their hatred of each other, have found love," teases Head Writer Charles Pratt, Jr. "It's an odd thing. When each is given the chance to leave the relationship, they very publicly don't, so that everybody looks and wonders if there are real feelings that exist between these two."
     As for Geary's absence, he will be out of sight, but not out of mind. "Tony is really good about giving us lots of notice [for his vacation dates]," smiles Head Writer Robert Guza, Jr. "So with that, we can accommodate almost anything. We try, on a technical level, to give him some big story reason for going so they still talk about him when he's gone, and then we always bring him back with a flourish. He will be bringing back a February sweeps story in a major, big way." Which leads to...
     Scorpio Rising  After just over 13 years (well, 10 if you count Robin's vision in 1995), Robert Scorpio returns to the canvas in February. "With the surprise hit of Noah Drake returning, we're enjoying expanding our canvas with actors who are connected to the show," explains Pratt.
     No one was more surprised by the turn of events that Scorpio himself, Tristan Roberts. "I don't have too much to tell you," chuckles Rogers of his six-week return to his former stomping grounds. "To be honest, they've only given me a parking space and a dressing room, and that's as much as I've been told. In the last 13 years, this is a rumor which has surfaced like clockwork. The first words to my manager were, 'Stop wasting my time!' My manager said, 'It's for real. They want to do it.' But I was still skeptical. I said, 'Go away and get a few details.' It happened very quickly."
     Those details are being kept hush-hush, but Rogers is looking forward to going back to the future. "I'm intrigued," he admits. "I've been off the show now longer than I was on it, but the idea of resurrecting this character after that period of time is most interesting." One thing's for sure- Rogers can't wait to find out what happened after Robert supposedly perished in a boat explosion in 1992. "This guy has been away for 13 years. What kept him away for that period of time? There's a gazillion unanswered questions here. Heaven forbid we get into a situation like Dallas, where it was all a dream [laughs]. That would be a real insult to the viewers. I'm sure they've done a lot of hard thinking about this before it was actually done." (by Tom Stacy, excerpt from SOD 1/17/06 article)

Returning! After a 14-year absence, GH's favorite superspy is coming back! Tristan Rogers will dust of Robert Scorpio's trench coat in time for February sweeps. When Rogers left GH in 1992, Robert was supposedly killed in a boat explosion along with Anna and Faison. Since both of them have since reappeared alive and well (Faison on GH in 1999, and Anna on AMC in 2001), it's no stretch that Robert survived the explosion, as well.  Rogers reprised the role once before in 1995, whe Robert's spirit consoled Robin after she learned she is HIV-positive. At press time, Rogers' stint was scheduled to run four to six weeks. (SOW 1/17/06)

Tristan Rogers Returns as Robert Scorpio on ABC Daytime's General Hospital:  Award winning actor Robert Scorpio returns as "General Hospital's" Robert Scorpio, the role he originated over two decades ago, it was announced today by Brian Frons, president, ABC Daytime. In time for the show's powerful February sweep storyline, his first airdate will be January 27.
     "Over the past year, we have had great success in some of our most beloved characters in the show's history - including Noah Drake and Robin Scorpio - returning to the canvas because that's what our fans want. Robert's return to the canvas will solidify the show as a must-watch viewing experience," said Mr. Frons in making the announcement.
     "I am too excited about my return," adds Mr. Rogers.
     In the upcoming storyline, Robert returns to town when a major health crisis hits Port Charles resulting in many life-or-death situations for many of its residents.
     Over the course of his acting career, Mr. Rogers has been seen in a variety of different projects including appearances in "The Bold and The Beautiful," "Family Law," "V.I.P." with Pamela Anderson and voice over work in "The Rescuers Down Under" and "Captain Planet and the Planeteers." (ABC.com Press Release, 1/9/06)

All I Want For Christmas- a holiday wish list from a cranky soap reporter:  I want the old General Hospital Back.  Remember when this soap had so many epic romance stories that it made your knuckles buckle? There was Luke and Laura, Robert and Anna, Frisco and Felicia, Alan and Monica, Sean and Tiffany, Tony and Bobbie... I could go on. Now there's no enduring love on the violence-packed GH.  Unless you count Jason's homoerotic devotion to his mobster boss, Sonny. And I don't. (Michael Logan, TV Guide, December 5, 2004)

Tristan Rogers Secret Mission:  For the 12 years he dazzled audiences as spy-turned-supersleuth Robert Scorpio, General Hospital's Tristan Rogers was quietly proceeding with a "secret mission" of his own. Rogers was making mental notes and observations on the art of producing a successful soap along the way- lessons he hopes to put into practice today as he aspires to get a new soap he created produced.
     According to Rogers, his soap would be set in the fast-paced, colorful worlds of the music and tabloid journalism industries, and would employ a lot revolutionary ideas in production as well as story. If this sounds like deja vu, that's because Rogers joined GH at a heady time, back in 1981. Then, GH's legendary former executive producer Gloria Monty rescued the show from cancellation and made it the highest-rated soap in under a year's time- and did so by modernizing the show (and ultimately, the entire genre) with innovative writing, directing, and production techniques that were revolutionary for their time. Two decades later, as the soap genre continues a protracted decline in the ratings, Rogers is aspiring to break new ground and revitalize the medium once again.
     A year after Rogers left GH, enough time had passed for him to gain some perspective. "I turned my attention back to soap opera, looking at it for what it was, what I had accomplished in it, where soaps had come from, and in particular, why General Hospital had been the success that it was- and why it really didn't last that long. No one ever really asks, 'What happened?' So I've sat down and really pieced together the events that brought about the rise of the show and the demise of the show: Why we didn't last as long as why we should have lasted (as No. 1). I discovered a lot of things about how it was put together, the changes that it brought about and why a lot of the changes were resisted by everybody else. We stuck out like a sore thumb back then because of what we were doing and I think everybody looked at the show and said well 'Yeah, that's great but it won't last- pretty soon things will come back to the way they were.' And people were largely correct on that.
     "A lot of people look back at that [time] and go 'Oh, yeah, it was all about Luke and Laura!'" continues Rogers. "It wasn't Luke and Laura at all: They were the tip of the iceberg. It was about a whole series of things that came together. Basically, Luke and Laura personified what the work behind the scenes had been, and how they just got up there and broadcast all the hard work that had been done. But the show had a number of unique characteristics: It had a unique story management and structure, which to this day has not been emulated by anybody else. And GENERAL HOSPITAL was the only soap that employed a star structure, we had a star system on that show. Gloria set about doing that; it wasn't accidental, it was by design. All the other soaps, back then and today, employ a a cell system of story structure, where each story for the most part tends to be a self-contained little island. GENERAL HOSPITAL stories weren't like that. When I became the police commissioner, I was involved in everybody's story. I minded everybody's business. I also had my own specific story that I was involved with."
     In Rogers' estimation, the magic formula that Monty concocted didn't last because subsequent producer and writer regimes tried to hard to make their own mark, instead of maintaining the status quo. "I felt that we had a successful system that Gloria had set up. What we really needed was a caretaker for that system." Instead, "Every time we got a new producer, they reinvented the wheel. They brought their own ideas onto the show and very subtly we moved away from what General Hospital's unique signature was. And the one thing it had gobs of back then was style. This was one of the things that was on my mind when I started to sit down and [develop my own show]. I looked at the whole genre and realized it truly has so much going for it. People now are all tied up with reality television, but I don't think that's going to last. Reality television absorbs ideas at a ferocious rate; it just chews through concepts. You'll sit down and come up with ten concepts before you get one that'll work. When you get to that point, where else do you go? Reality television is almost exhausted with what it can do, so your faced with going back. "But most people really aren't interested in the next step for daytime soap opera," Rogers continues. "I think I'm the only person out there who looks upon the genre as the glass being half full and not half empty. I see a whole new beginning for the genre, where as most people have passed over it. I think once this new concept of putting a soap together that I've developed gets out there, it's going to change [people's cynical opinions] completely." (SOD Online, 2005)

Here's a nice picture of race fan Tristan Rogers and two young pics of Tristan of a 1970s UK show.

Are These Sam's Parents? Speculation-hungry GH fans seem rather determined to cast Sam's foks- even though her father, Cody, was found hanged on screen! The most recent names being slapped on Ms. McCall's birth certificate? Tristan Rogers' GH superspy, Robert Scorpio, and Charlie's Angels alumna Jaclyn Smith as the mother who abandoned Sam as a baby. Yet such armchair family tree-climbing appears to be pure imagination. A rep for Smith flatly tells In Depth that the rumor of her joining GH is "not true." (Instead, the actress is busy doing a TV movie for USA Network.) A GH rep, meanwhile, rebuffs talk of Rogers reprising his role as Mac's presumed-dead bro. (SID 7/20/04, Webmaster's Note: No way would Robert have such an icky offspring! EEEEWWWWW!)

Catching Up With...GH's Secret Agents- TRISTAN ROGERS WSB Agent Robert Scorpio, 1980-1992; 1995:  "I had quite a bit of input in the character of Scorpio and his story- especially regarding the gadgetry. A good example was back in about 1983, I was walking down the street and I saw one of those watch-television sets in a shop. It was probably one of the first ones of its type on the market. So I rushed in and bought it and took into the tech department at the studio and said, 'Hey, can we do something with this?!' The tech guys looked at it, pulled out a camera, and they fiddled around a little bit, and then bang! All of a sudden there's a picture on my wristwatch. So I said, 'This is just too good to hide!' So I went flying upstairs to Gloria's office and said, 'Look at this!' She said, 'OK. Do you want to use it?' And I said, 'Yeah, let's write it in.' I was always bringing in stuff that I saw in magazines that I felt could be changed and modified. The tech department was very good at stuff like that. Later on, when Robert became police commissioner and he had that high-tech house, I had probably one of the first video phones that I had seen on television. And the commissioner's house had all manner of stuff in it, which we never used. It was riddled with tunnels, and had special entrances in and out of practically every room. They added stuff as they went along when they needed it. I had an enormous amount of fun floating around in it. At the time, I don't think anybody really thought that they were ahead of themselves. Everybody just thought that they were keeping up with James Bond. That's really all they wanted to do. But certainly in soap opera it was unique- and especially now. There seems to be a great fascination with what we did back then. It has all passed into folklore now." 

Rogers reflects on Scorpio's popularity. "He was loose. I got to do a lot of the action stuff, because that was what he was: he got out in the field and did things. He was a doer. And hence I had a lot of time to mess around with stuff and I carried a gun. We always had a box of tricks that I could pull out, whether it was messing around with a bit of machinery or anything at all to do your thing with. I would mess with the stunt guys and they would bring on fancy kung fu weapons and they would show me how to use them and I would take it in and say 'can we use this?' The butterfly knife was always fun to mess with. I liked to play with it and one of the things I taught myself to do was strip down my gun and assemble it again. I pulled it apart and stripped the thing about a hundred times and I got it to the point where I could do it without really looking at it. And so I just came in one time to a scene and just started to do it. The scene was happening and I just started to do it. And it was a nice little bit of nonsense. 

"I guess the best remote we did was San Antonio. Actually, John (Reilly) came on the remote, and the remote actually went on for three days and it was longer than it should have. We had some weather problems down there and we lost completely to heavy rain. We couldn't get any of the exterior stuff done at all. Automatically they were going to say 'Let's cut this and find something else to do,' but Gloria said, 'No, I need this,' and we hung around longer. It was a hilarious five days but it was tough- we never slept. I mean, when you weren't working you were partying somewhere. What happened quite often is you would go from the party straight to work. The amount of craziness that happened in that amount of time was just wild. Some of the stuff we did was really very, very spontaneous. And I know ad-libbing is frowned upon and seen as being unprofessional but back then we had a good idea on how to make it work properly and it was used extensively. A lot of the stuff that Tony and I did was really spontaneous. We would deliberately try to trip each other up. So you had to listen very carefully, listen to what the other person is saying and that was in the script. The art of listening became really important. 

"Storylines were plugged in everywhere because GH was going into a different direction. GH was employing a different kind of storyline direction which no one ever did. I didn't realize that until I left the show and could sit back and watch everyone else's show. GH was completely different to everyone else's if you sketched on paper what it was. GH employed a pyramid structure and I don' t think they do that anymore but it certainly had a different way of unravelling a story on-screen I worked with Tony well and I could keep up with him. Because his mind worked at 300 miles an hour all the time. He was always adding things, so you needed to be able to keep up with him, otherwise you just got steamrolled. And we would sit down and work it out together, maybe during lunchtime and sometimes come up with a whole different scene which didn't have anything to do with the show but it was a lot of fun. Gloria would come down and say 'Well, don't forget about this point here and that and this,' because she would think about how it would fit into the overall story. There were certain parts that needed to be stressed in order to make sense of the story for something that was going to happen later on. We would be so wildly out of control with what we were doing that the story got lost. We were having too much fun that she would come down and pull it all together." (from SOD Online; more WSB interviews there)

Blast from the Past!  GH fans got a special treat when John Reilly and Tristan Rogers made an appearance at the 2003 GH Fan Weekend luncheon.

Will Scorpio Return? "I must get asked this question at least twice a year, if not more," chuckles Tristan Rogers when queried about whether or not he'd want to reprise the General Hospital role of dashing (albeit deceased) adventurer Robert Scorpio. "I still get recognized (as Scorpio)," he smiles. "I think it comes in transitional stages, depending on how the current storylines are going. People either want you back more or want you back less, but they always want you back, which is nice."
    Although Rogers, who starred on GH from 1980-92, professes to keeping in touch with the soap's powers-that-be, he no longer watches the show. "I can find something to do 24 hours a day [laughs]. That's the problem." Not that he's complaining. Of note on Rogers' hectic schedule these days is his involvement in the charity Project Cuddle. "This is an organization that takes in abandoned babies," Rogers explains. "But, more importantly, they try to get to the mothers before they have the children, to talk to them out of abandoning the child and into giving the child up voluntarily for adoption. A lot of these mothers are children themselves who found themselves in a situation they don't know how to handle. The organization is also run entirely by one woman- Debbie Magnusen- who is bearing the expense of this herself. We're talking about an organization that has an undeniable amount of goodness attached to it. At this point, Debbie has placed approximately 100 babies with adoptive parents."
    Rogers explains that his own experiences as a parent are part of what drew him to Project Cuddle. "I have a manager who's been involved in Cuddle for some time," he notes. "But I also know how much my two kids have changed my life. I just kept thinking to myself, 'How can I not be involved in something like this, especially as a parent?'"
    Professionally, Rogers's main focus continues to be TV. In addition to last year's stint on Bold and Beautiful (ex-Hunter), he ventured into the world of cable, producing and starrin in Fast Track, a Showtime series about car racing. "Since my work in Canada with Fast Track- which was an extremely positive experience- I've kind of shifted more toward the production side of the business," Rogers states, "coming up with projects I've conceived myself and wearing more than one hat. I'm working on a children's project, and there are two more projects which are largely for episodic television."
    Which is not to say he's ruled out acting- or returning to soaps. Laughs Rogers, "I think I understand, at this point in my life, wha an actor does. The work that a producer does is a whole other can of worms. But, without question, I'd sit down and talk to [GH] about going back and find what their ideas are. After 11 years on the show, you don't just say no. There were a lot of really good things happening back then. It was a very positive time, and I have very fond memories of what I achieved as an artist and what we did as a show."

Scorpio Alive? Few actors have met with immediate success the way Tristan Rogers did when he joined GH in 1981 as secret agent Robert Scorpio. Joining Luke and Laura on the Ice Princess caper, Rogers' character Scorpio was an instant hit. After Luke and Laura left in 1983, Robert and Holly (played by Emma Samms) became the couple on GH to watch. Sources tell Update that a GH executive producer wasn't interested in bringing Rogers back for an extended stay. (He appeared as some sort of vision to troubled daughter Robin back in 1995). But now that Riche is out and a new executive, Jill Farren Phelps, is in, that could all change. "Jill did the music on GH when Tristan was on the show the first time," recalls a GH insider. "She knows first-hand the contributions he made- and can make again- to the show." Since Faison survived the boat explosion that allegedly took Robert and Anna's lives, it's reasonable to assume the Scorpios did as well. (SOU 2/27/01)