*Disclaimer: I may be out of sequence about how some things happened, only because the day was SO overwhelming & beyond my expectations! So please forgive me, #Team!! 🙂 xo
We were expected at Prospect Studios between 11:00 and 11:30am. A few of the girls arrived early and were waiting in the green room. Those lucky girls were treated to Maurice, Jason, Dominic and Ronnie stopping by for a quick “hi.” We walked into the studio building and were directed to the green room where we were told that we just missed those guys. BUT Ronnie happened to still be around so I introduced myself and my friend, Alberta, the lobster. Now, Ronnie has met Alberta before and he recognized her right away. Dominic has walked back in to say hi and we walked over to where I was standing with the lobster and asked them to take a picture with it. They were happy to do so and decided to be fresh with her. I’m sure Alberta was amused. 🙂
Here Ronnie is wearing Melissa’s bangs! He was such a great and amazing sport! We thank him from the bottom of our heats! So funny!! haha
Nancy had come in dressed in a gorgeous black, dressy suit. She looked classy and smart. We were quite happy to see her as she was happy to see us. I’m sure the sight of 15 of us was a bit overwhelming but she managed us quite nicely. we took pictures with Jason Thompson, Kelly Sullivan, Laura Wright, Chad Duell, Maurice Benard and Nancy Lee Grahn. They all posed with the lobster, posed with my friends and were all so, so gracious and kind to us. We were kind and open with all of them and it was so refreshing to see them in person.
Nancy and Maurice sat and talked with us about the show and it’s status, what we like and don’t like. Honestly, folks, even though we are S&Bers, we did not harp on that nor did we continually say we hated Skate. We spoke about the show on a whole. :::In my opinion, we are so lucky to have something we like and dislike. We have something to talk about on Twitter and the boards. If something should happen to our show, then… no more anything to argue about or have fun with.::: When I met Kelly, I did say that I was not a Kate fan, but I do enjoy Connie. Which, I do. I’m interested in Connie where I have had no use for Kate in the past. She was super sweet and I enjoyed meeting her. I must say, meeting all the actors I did, was a truly wonderful experience. It was fulfilling in a way I couldn’t ever imagine before.
Oh, and can I just say Jason Thompson is hot?! Wow! All of our GH men are HOT as HELL in person!!
Michelle Henry (I hope I remember her name right!) stopped by to meet us. She’s one of the producers from the show and she’s been there for 14 years. I must say she was so sweet to us and spoke to all of us, answered questions and was an all around great person. What was so fantastic about her was the way she was interested in us, our viewing habits and how we loved the show. I’m definitely a Michelle fan!
Frank Valentini stopped in and spent about 20 minutes or so with us. He asked us about how we felt about the show and flashed his sexy smile at us several times. This is the thing about Frank, he’s young, hip, embraces social media and is really trying to save the show. He is curious to see what we think (all of us, all fanbases) and is genuinely trying to make the necessary changes to make the show work. ::My opinion:: Everything takes time. A lot of us, fans of GH, are impatient. Things/changes can’t happen overnight because so much was previously written & needs to play out. There’s only so many tweaks and changes that a writer can do to a story that is already in motion. A lot of the time, just the endings can be changed .:: Anyway, Frank is super, love him, I think he’s smart and pretty sexy. Go FRANK!! 🙂
Oh, and Maurice? That sexy, hot man? He spent some time with us but had a fairly busy shooting schedule that day. He joked around with us and hung out with Nancy as we all chit chatted. He is so gracious, funny, sweet and kind to his fans. I think I fell head over heels in love with him again. It’s the third time this year! I’m sure Paula falls in love with him each day when he flashes those sexy dimples at her! Lucky woman!!
We took a walk over to hair and make-up and saw all the stations, which are decorated with a zillion pictures of past and current members of the cast. It was like taking a walk down memory lane! I loved seeing John Stamos on the wall, along with Luke and ALL his Lucky’s, The old GH posters, our Vanessa, Amber, Lindze, Stuart and on and on. That room is such a special place! The make up artists were so nice and friendly toward us. I’m so happy we met them and saw that room. It was amazing!
We went back into the green room for a moment and Deb, Vanessa’s assistant arrived with pizza and the news that Vanessa couldn’t make it, due to Kassius’s birthday. We all spoke with Deb, who is FAB, by the way! So sweet and so nice to us. I can see why Vanessa would want her as her assistant, she’s a kind person. Anyway, while we were talking to her and we all sat to start eating pizza, Maurice & Nancy sat down to talk to us about the show, when Vanessa Marcil-Giovinazzo and Suzanne Whang, our Queen Cockwaffle, arrived and surprised us! We were so happy to see them and Maurice was quite happy to see her, he kind of stepped over his chair in a hurry to properly greet Vanessa. It was AWESOME!! Huge bear hug and kiss. 🙂 (For us S&Bers, that move right there made our day complete!)
I was quite happy to see Vanessa again. She is a beautiful person, inside and out. There is just *something* awesome and peaceful about her spirit. I am thrilled for my girls to have met her and had the opportunity to speak with her. Personally, I’d love for all my friends to experience what I have experienced already. I love to see people happy, so I stepped back and watched the happiness on their faces. It filled my heart with joy!
Vanessa and Suzanne hung out with us for a bit, chit chatted and were gracious and kind to each of us. Kelly Sullivan poked her head in again to say hi and she and Vanessa hugged. It was really nice to see that the actors DO like each other. Laura Wright stopped in during this time and she was so sweet and gracious with all of us. She is tall and beautiful in person. I loved her as Ally Rescott on Loving so it was really great to finally meet her in person. She and Vanessa hugged, too and were happy to see each other.
Suzanne Whang is a true inspiration and not only because of her illness but made our whole journey meaningful and special. Seeing her again made everything we went through worth it. We HELPED her. We made a difference in someone’s life and it was an empowering, beautiful moment. I wish her good health, much success and I pray I see her again someday. She is such a strong, powerful presence. I know I love her and am thankful to have been part of helping her.
After some of the girls had taken pictures with Vanessa and Laura, Nancy took us around to look at all the dressing room doors. Which were awesome by the way! Some doors were decorated more than others but just to see the names on the doors were AMAZING and kind of mind-blowing.
The energy in the building was a good, high energy, happy and creative feeling. People were happy to be at work and happy to be around each other. It was a GREAT time and we were having a blast… AND, we really hadn’t left that green room!! Hahaha… easy to please, I tell ya!
We came back to the green room and Nancy’s scene was called so we had to promise to be quiet and we followed her up to the studio. We went in and the sets are amazing! I can’t tell you much about what we saw or anything like that but I can say that the group of us sat in Jason’s Penthouse for the scene we saw. Everything is laid out smaller in person. The camera makes all the sets seem so much bigger! The crew were so professional and did such a great job. I was in awe of their work and the sheer amount of people who make our show happen! Honestly, they do a fantastic job to make everything seem seemless and the actors are quite talented and it was so interesting to see what they do best, live right in front of us. hands down most interesting day of my life.
Once the scene was done, Nancy took us around to see the other sets, I saw Sonny’s house, which was awesome and incredible to see in person. Not only as a S&B fan, but a GH fan on a whole, this experience made my year. It made dreams come true, not just for me, but for each person in my group. Some of them had never met any of the cast before. Some did. But, no matter how you looked at it, dreams happened that day, they came true, happiness was abounding and a renewal of love for the show that started it all for us, was renewed! The day was glorious and for a few, it was about to get better!
Nancy took us out a different door and we saw the commissary entrance, we walked outside a bit and she took us over to the Grey’s Anatomy set. There, things got VERY interesting, especially for Melissa. (By the way, Melissa was the most outspoken of our group!) We there saw McSteamy and Karev outside on a break! Needless to say, I think they were a little afraid of the pack of us. We really were a huge group. haha
We went back inside where we said good-bye to Vanessa and Suzanne. They again, were so sweet to my girls. I cannot even begin to describe how happy I was for all of my girls on this day! It was an amazing experience for all of us. We had a blast, met some AMAZING people and had a lifetime memory created. They left and Maurice came in, wearing his street clothes. He took a couple more pictures, thanked us for coming and then left.
We were leaving the studio and Nancy took group pictures with us outside in front of the GH sign. (I will have that pic tomorrow or Thursday… JUST WAIT until you see some of the Team’s pics I’ll be posting this week!! eeeeee) We all said thank you and good-bye to her. I personally think she is one of the most amazing people I’ve ever met. I cannot say enough about Nancy! I could go on and on about how fantastic she really is for a very, very long time and it still wouldn’t cover it! My only suggestion is to go to one of her events and please meet her in person! She is a DOLL and when I finally grow up, I’d like to be Nancy Lee Grahn. She is smart, funny, sexy, out going and over all, fantastic!
Nancy waved Bye to us as she walked back into the building.
We had an amazing day at General Hospital. We had dreams come true, new dreams that started that day and left the studio with hope, faith and better understanding of our favorite show. It was a gift, not just for Suzanne, whom we helped with our donation/raffle win, but for us, we were part of something special at the studio that day. I learned that we are part of something special as viewers and fans at home. We help make the show happen. If it isn’t for us, watching, loving, supporting… Even bitching, hating and having fan wars, what they do each day wouldn’t be WORTH it. We are all part of a circle. We have a powerful voice and are all so loyal… Gosh, even the haters because once we stop talking about the show, there’s no reason for it to continue. So keep talking, support the show in any way you possibly can. Be nice to the actors, they have feelings just like the rest of us and don’t deserve any bashing (characters are a different story), but they ALL deserve our support. They work hard, entertain us and are over all, amazing people. I for one, am so glad I met everyone I did. I think they are all wonderful people, just like us.
HUGE Thank you to Nancy, Frank, Maurice, Vanessa and everyone else we had the absolute pleasure to meet on that AMAZING Thursday in LA. We think all of you are beautiful, smart, funny and fantastic… Thanks for making dreams come true that day. We love you all for everything!! xo
Part 3 will be tomorrow or Thursday… Stay tuned!! Look for a huge picture post coming soon, too!! I also hope that any of the girls who were with me would write maybe some of THEIR memories in the comments section for me… 🙂
TTFN xoxo~Ro
Sonny and Brenda 