Rick Hearst Returned to General Hospital as Ric Lansing and Other Big Soap Moments From August 22

In 1984, supercouple Bo Brady (Peter Reckell) and Hope Williams (Kristian Alfonso) made love for the first time in New Orleans on Days of Our Lives. Bo had surprised Hope with a romantic dinner, replete with flowers and champagne, but Hope said she wasn't hungry. Bo began to undress her and they succumbed to their passion at long last. After their lovemaking, Bo told Hope that he would love her forever. Alfonso marveled to Soap Opera Digest in 2019 that the location shoot was when she first got a sense of Bo and Hope's massive popularity. "It was absolutely insane," she recalled. "I remember being on the plane. It was Frances Reid [ex-Alice Horton] and it was [then-Producer] Shelley Curtis, Pete, myself ... I’m not sure who else was on the plane with us. But we’re waiting to deplane and I heard music and I’m like, 'Oh, my gosh. Pete, they’re playing our theme song. How crazy is that?' We come off the Jetway and there’s like an eight-piece band and there was over 10,000 people. It was so crazy insane."

In 1986, Marlena Evans (Deidre Hall) and “Roman” Brady (Drake Hogestyn, whose character was later revealed to be John Black) renewed their vows on Days of Our Lives. In 2014, Hall told Soap Opera Digest that this bridal look was her favorite one from Marlena's many ceremonies. "It was dreamy and different. It was such a statuesque look. I just loved it," she raved.

In 2006, Days of Our Lives's Sami Brady (Alison Sweeney) and EJ DiMera (then-James Scott) shared their first kiss (when she mistook him for Austin). It just so happened to be the day of Sami's wedding to Austin, which did not bode well! Sami did indeed go on to marry EJ multiple times.

In 2018, Bold and Beautiful rivals Brooke Logan (Katherine Kelly Lang) and Taylor Hayes (then-Hunter Tylo) brawled over cake at the wedding reception of Brooke's daughter Hope to Liam. Brooke had requested to speak privately with Taylor in the kitchen, and their discussion quickly got heated, with Brooke denouncing Taylor as a "bitter, jealous woman" and an irate Taylor shoving a hunk of cake into Brooke's face. Before long, the ladies were in an all-out brawl, flinging cake at one another. When Hope and Steffy realized that their mothers had been absent from the party for a suspiciously long time, they ran into the kitchen and were aghast at what they saw. "Mom!" they yelled in unison. "Put the cake down!" demanded Hope.

In 2024, Rick Hearst returned to General Hospital as Ric Lansing. Hearst originated the role in 2002 and had last appeared in 2016. Ric returned to Port Charles to attend the funeral for baby Irene, the child Kristina had been carrying as a surrogate for Ric's daughter, Molly (Kristen Vagnos), and her domestic partner, TJ. Hearst explained to Soap Opera Digest that he got confirmation from one of the show's co-head writers, Elizabeth Korte, that Ric had stayed in close contact with Molly in the years he had spent away from town (albeit off camera). Shared Hearst, "Elizabeth and I spoke [and I learned] that he’s been, probably, in the San Francisco and the L.A. area and has a very successful law practice, only high-powered cases. This is what he does. This is what he thrives on. [His career] is his marriage, as it were. But the only other thing that he is completely and totally connected to in his life, really, is his daughter.”