Soap Opera Digest December 19, 2022

Eric Martsolf (Brady), who joined DAYS in 2008, shares memories of the late John Aniston, who played his onscreen grandfather, Victor. Did you hit it off with John right away? “Yeah. There was no tension whatsoever. He didn’t look me up and down as the new guy or the new Brady. It was a handshake. John had these puppy dog eyes, these kind eyes. I think as you get a little older, you just get a vibe from someone right off the bat. We kind of vibed with each other. We realized this was a story that was going to perpetuate for a while. I wouldn’t say we were deep-rooted friends, but we were certainly two people who looked forward to working with each another, because we knew it was going…

After Detective Sanchez delivers Sheila’s toe to Finn, he examines it and realizes it’s likely his mother is alive. “Finn finds it very suspicious that this entire bear attack took place and all they found was one little toe?” notes Tanner Novlan (Finn). “Knowing and hearing about Sheila’s history, it gets his gears rolling.” Finn voices his suspicions to Steffy. “Finn will do and seek anything out that could potentially be a danger to his family,” asserts Novlan. “That’s his number one priority. Even if there is the smallest chance that Sheila might be alive, he’s going to make sure everyone is safe. He’s very much a protector.” The two go to the police, who aren’t much help. “Steffy believes Finn and is convinced about what’s going on,” says the actor. “It’s…

Elizabeth plunges deeper into deception as she attempts to conceal that Nikolas is holding Esme hostage at Wyndemere. Explain Co-Head Writers Chris Van Etten and Dan O’Connor, “Nikolas is Elizabeth’s closest friend in Port Charles. Together they’ve been to hell and back. Still, aiding and abetting Esme’s imprisonment is not something she’d undertake under normal circumstances, even for Nikolas. These are not normal circumstances. Esme hurt Elizabeth’s son Cameron grievously; she’s pregnant, and willing to leverage her pregnancy against Nikolas; and worst of all, she’s believed to be The Hook. Elizabeth may be white-knuckling it right now, but she has a firm grip on her decision and her motives. She aims to protect Nikolas, Esme’s baby, and all of Port Charles.” Complicating matters is the fraught state of her own personal life.…

with Peter Bergman (Jack, Y&R) How far in advance do you know what will happen to Jack? “Not too far. I still like to be surprised. I never want to know what’s really coming next for Jack. That’s always been my way. I like getting to my dressing room, opening my computer and seeing that another script has just been released. I take a look and usually go, ‘Oh, my God!’ because I’m still regularly surprised and I like that.” How is it working with Susan Walters (Diane) again? “I’ll tell you, that girl is just full of surprises. Every time I think, ‘Oh, yeah, I kinda know what her thing is,’ she’s got another thing up her sleeve and that blows me away.” Do you have an example? “I just watched scenes…

As much as they love each other, Billy and Lily are having a tough time communicating. “I think it has taken them both by surprise,” says Jason Thompson (Billy). “The challenging thing for Billy is that no one besides Chelsea really knows the gravity of what they went through when she was on that ledge. Billy has maybe not done a great job of explaining to Lily the seriousness of what happened and how desperate things were, and honestly, how dangerous it was for Billy and Chelsea to be standing up there. Both of their lives were in extreme danger of ending in that moment; one slip would have been it for them. And so I think that it’s been a really confusing time for Lily and she’s looking at…

with Don Diamont (Bill, B&B) When Bill professed his love to Brooke and then minutes later to Katie, it did not paint Bill in a sympathetic light. How was that to play? “Even though Bill was basically repeating what he said to Brooke to Katie, there was a moment of realization during that scene that it’s still about Katie, so he was very sincere in expressing his love for her. And, she shoots him down, and that is just the beginning. You will see Bill beginning to fall apart.” How do you feel about Bill’s turn to the dark side? “I’m really proud of what’s ahead, mostly because it is a very different path for Bill, and I had to fully invest and commit to that, and wrapping my head around that…