— Victor and Nikki may have left Genoa City for Belgium last Friday on The Young and the Restless but fans can relax as Eric Braeden (the Great Victor Newman) reached a deal with Sony to return to the soap after some really tense contract negotiations. Victor should be offscreen in Belgium recovering from his heart transplant surgery for two months. No return date has been set and no word of whether Nikki (Melody Thomas Scott) will return to Genoa City before Victor.
— Rebecca Budig will return to All My Children as Greenlee early next year when the show relocates to Los Angeles. Budig will return on a recurring capacity.
— Reel and real-life supercouple Kelly Ripa and Mark Consuelos will return to All My Children for two episodes in January as Hayley and Mateo to help celebrate the show’s 40th anniversary.
— TV Guide Canada is reporting that Eva La Rue (ex-Maria) has been approached to return for AMC’s anniversary if they can work around her CSI: Miami schedule.
— Sean Kanan (Deacon; Y&R/B&B) tells TV Guide Canada that his recurring role on Y&R has ended and that he should be back in a new story.
— Scott Reeves (ex-Ryan, Y&R) will be joining General Hospital this December as the new Dr. Steven Lars Webber (Elizabeth’s half-brother). Canadian actor Shaun Benson last played Steven Lars back in 2005. The recurring character is expected to become the hospital’s new chief of staff. Reeves is married to Melissa Reeves (ex-Jennifer, DAYS) and is a part of the country band, Blue County.
— General Hospital has confirmed that Natalia Livingston (Rebecca/Emily) will be leaving the series again. Honestly, Livingston’s 2009 return was really botched. Rebecca should have been Emily all along.
— Las Vegas alum Marsha Thomason is heading to GH and will be involved with James Franco‘s character. Interesting casting decision but this was not the Las Vegas alum that fans everywhere have been wanting. Franco debuts on November 20th.
— While Jonathan Jackson returns to General Hospital last week as Lucky Spencer – the former Lucky, Greg Vaughan was busy shooting a new independent thriller, Sebastian and has landed a new recurring role on 90210. In the film, a dying woman is miraculously cured by a handsome young stranger who claims to be the soul of her aborted child…all’s well until she realizes that her good health may cost her the lives of the people she loves the most. The project stars quite a lot of other soap stars, including: Kate Linder (Esther, Y&R), Sandra Ferguson (ex-Amanda, AW), Brian Gaskill (ex-Dylan, GL; ex-BJ, ATWT; ex-Oscar, B&B; ex-Rafe, PC), Kiko Ellsworth (ex-Stan, GH; ex-Jamal, PC), Brody Hutzler (ex-Patrick, DAYS) and Taylor Stanley (ex-Remy, AW). As for Greg’s 90210 gig, he won’t be back as firefighter Cliff Yeager from the original series (who romanced Tori Spelling‘s Donna). Instead, Vaughan will portray, Kai, a yogo instructor who makes the moves on Deb (Lori Laughlin). Check out some setside pictures of Vaughan with Laughlin and Jennie Garth (Kelly).
