Kin Shriner Debuted As Scotty Baldwin on General Hospital And Other Big Soap Moments From August 2

In 1977, Kin Shriner debuted as Scotty Baldwin on General Hospital. He has played the role off and on ever since. The actor marveled to Soap Opera Digest on the occasion of his 45th anniversary with the show in 2022, "It all happened so fast. I had these two great actors, Peter Hansen [ex-Lee, Scott’s adoptive father] and Susan Brown [ex-Gail, Scott’s stepmother] and then Genie [Francis, Laura, pictured]. And then they sent a hurricane through Port Charles and wiped out half the cast and then Gloria Monty took over [as EP] and all bets were off! She changed the whole face of daytime."

In 1991, Days of Our Lives superstar Deidre Hall returned to the show as Marlena Evans after a four-year absence, during which time, Marlena had been presumed dead — and her "widower," Roman Brady (who was later revealed to be John Black, but that's another story), had moved on with a new love, Isabella Toscano. Proclaimed a print ad heralding Hall's comeback to DAYS, "She's back... She wants her family... And heaven help anyone who stands in her way."

In 2012, Sharon Newman (Sharon Case) and Victor Newman (Eric Braeden) remarried on Young and Restless. Like their original union, which had taken place earlier in the year, this marriage was annulled.

In 2016, General Hospital's Nina Reeves (then-Michelle Stafford) had a one-night stand (or so she thought) with a mysterious stranger, who turned out to be Valentin Cassadine (James Patrick Stuart). Nina and Valentin went on to marry later that same year, though the union ended in divorce. 

In 2021, Naomi Matsuda made her Bold and Beautiful debut as Li Finnegan, the wife of Ted King's Jack Finnegan (pictured) and adoptive mother of Tanner Novlan's John "Finn" Finnegan. Li made her entrance onto the canvas for the happy occasion of her son's wedding to Steffy Forrester. In her first interview with Soap Opera Digest, Matsuda noted that when she landed the role, "I was very excited, and just grateful." Of her first day on set, she noted, “I think anybody who has had a first day on a show that’s a tight family, we all have nerves, so yes, of course, I was a little nervous but more excited than nervous. I was working with Ted, the veteran that he is, thank goodness. The first day he just made me feel like, ‘Naomi, it’s okay. Everything is good.’ He was so inviting and that’s why I wasn’t so nervous because I was welcomed so beautifully, and the energy was so easy flowing. It’s been very nice.” She described her new character as "a surgeon. She grew up on the East Coast. She’s very busy, so she never really thought about having children. She didn’t realize until later that she wanted to be a mother; she’s very much dedicated to her work but also to raising her son. It’s nice to see that his passion for helping people, maybe, in some way, came from her.”