Five Things That Happened On January 31 In Soap History

In 1996, Ingo Rademacher debuted as General Hospital's billionaire playboy, Jasper "Jax" Jacks. Reflecting on his early days on the show, when Jax was in one of the show's hottest love triangles (Jax/Brenda/Sonny), Rademacher mused to Soap Opera Digest in 2016, "I had been a lead on the Australian soap,” Paradise Beach, on which he starred from 1993-94 before moving to the States, “so I was expecting to come on [to GH] and be one of the leads. But now, I can look back on it and go, ‘Wow, that was one of the all-time best love triangles.’ It didn’t last very long, because Vanessa [Marcil, ex-Brenda] left and Maurice [Benard, Sonny] left for a while, too. But to this day, people talk about, ‘Jax and Brenda or Sonny and Brenda?’ People are still rooting for one of them to sail off into the sunset [with her], and who knows what could happen if the soap stays on for another 20, 30 years?"

In 2013, Lawrence Saint-Victor (pictured with John McCook as Eric Forrester) debuted as Carter Walton on Bold and Beautiful. He explained to Soap Opera Digest that the role had come about after he met with B&B Executive Producer/Head Writer Bradley Bell. "We had a really great conversation," Saint-Victor said. "He was familiar with my work [as Remy on Guiding Light] and it's funny how familiar I am with [B&B] because my aunt, when I was a kid, would shut off the cartoons and turn on Bold and Beautiful and Young and Restless. I'd sit there and just watch the storylines, like Lauren and Sheila going back and forth. I remember all that stuff as a kid, so it was really cool to sit in his office and be aware of the history. I would say about a month later, the role opened up and I stepped in!"

In 2018, General Hospital's Nathan West (Ryan Paevey) died, widowing a pregnant Maxie (Kirsten Storms). After Nathan was shot in the line of duty by his father, Cesar Faison (who would himself die in the same episode), he was rendered comatose. He came out of his coma long enough to experience the miraculous moment of Maxie feeling the baby move for the first time, with her placing Nathan's hand on her belly. After telling Maxie he loved her, Nathan suddenly took a terrible turn for the worse and died.

In 2019, Days of Our Lives's Eli Grant (Sal Stowers) and Lani Price (Sal Stowers) said, "I love you" for the first time. Lani was touched when she showed up at Doug's Place to meet Eli and discovered he had rented out the place, and decorated it in a beachy theme. He reminded her that she'd recently said she couldn't take one more day of winter and longed for the weather in Miami, so he was trying to bring a bit of Miami to her in Salem. Lani donned the bikini he had brought for her to change into. As their date progressed, she casually mentioned that she knew her mom would love Eli "just as much as I do." He was delighted, and said that he loved her, too.

In 2024, Nicholas Alexander Chavez exited General Hospital as Spencer Cassadine, who was presumed dead after leaping to action to safeguard his true love, Trina (Tabyana Ali, l.) from his psychotic former gal pal, Esme (Avery Kristen Pohl). Esme was also presumed dead in the melee, marking the end of Pohl's run, which began in August 2021. Chavez had made his own GH debut in July 2021 and when he wrapped up his Port Charles duties, he began work on Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story for Netflix.