COMIC RELIEF
GH’s Tristan Rogers may have returned to his old stomping grounds to reprise Robert Scorpio, but Daniel Goddard (Cane, Y&R) declares that his former co-star, who played his TV dad, Colin, was a joy to work with. “Tristan is hysterically funny and he’s very wry and very dry,” says Goddard. “He was brought in to take me off the show in 2011, so we have an interesting backstory. Then you throw in the fact that he’s Jason Thompson’s [Billy; ex-Patrick, GH] father-in-law on GH, and they’ve got their own history. Whenever Jason and I run lines together and if we didn’t know how to make it work, we’d always say, ‘Just say it like Tristan would,’ and all of a sudden it works! Tristan’s got this way of saying all this dialogue — it doesn’t matter what it is — and you go, ‘Oh, my God, that’s funny!’ So, when you put him, Jason, Jess [Walton, Jill] and me together in a scene we could naturally make anything funny. I think the viewers kind of loved that levity because sometimes things can get a little heavy and then you cut to us and we’re the good dynamic. We were fun!”
FLXX APPEAL
B&B’s Emma, the Forrester intern, sang for the first time in public on the show when she, Zoe and Tiffany auditioned for a TV talent competition, but fans know that her portrayer, Nia Sioux, is an accomplished singer/songwriter in her own right, and recently released her latest music video, “FLXXN.” “It’s doing super-well,” enthuses Sioux. “I’m having some great feedback on it. I had a mini release party for it when it first came out, which was super-fun. I had all my friends come. It was really a nice experience, and a really nice release for the song.” In the video, Sioux did do something she had never done before: She climbed into a boxing ring. “I really enjoyed doing that,” Sioux smiles. “I’ve never boxed a day in my life. The choreographer, Kristin McQuaid, had never boxed, either! It’s funny because when we came up with that concept, we were like, ‘That’s so awesome. Yeah, we’re going be in a boxing ring!’ But, we really didn’t know anything about it. In fact, we kept calling it a boxing ‘rink’. I was like, ‘I’m pretty sure that’s not what it is,’ but none of us knew better so we just called it that for a while [laughs].”
BAD COMPANY
Jon Lindstrom (Ryan/Kevin, GH) has been getting rave reviews for his work as back-from-the-dead serial killer Ryan, but the positive fan feedback about Ryan’s twisted romance with Ava caught him off-guard. “I am a little surprised because there is real darkness to the Ryan and Ava thing,” he notes. “Ava has lost her daughter to a murderer and that murderer is now sleeping in her bed. That is dark! But Maura [West, Ava] and I like to play together. We always have.” The actors worked together closely on AS THE WORLD TURNS as Craig and Carly, but this is their first substantial storyline together on GH. “It has absolutely been a joy,” Lindstrom says. “Maura is a wonderful actress and is always ready to throw herself in great guns. We have two very, very different styles of working, but they seem to mesh together well. I always have a great time with her, and I like Maura. Maura is just always kind of a hoot — very funny, very quick-witted, very well-read. She’s just a fun person to be around.” And to dish TV with, he reports. “Our latest favorite show is ESCAPE AT DANNEMORA, the Showtime series. It just ended, but for seven weeks, we were texting back and forth going, ‘Oh, my God, wasn’t that awesome!’ ”
THE COOL KIDS
Now that he’s back on the DAYS scene, Matthew Ashford (Jack) has a new studio home away from home, but it’s not upstairs with the soap’s established echelon of vets. “My dressing room is downstairs with what you would call the kids — Claire, Ciara, Ben, Tripp...” rattles off the actor, referring to Olivia Rose Keegan, Victoria Konefal, Robert Scott Wilson and Lucas Adams, respectively. “They’re all just funny and loud and talking all the time. They love talking with each other and carrying on, to the point where they were downstairs laughing and they had to call from upstairs to tell us to pipe down. You could hear them out on the [stage] floor. Those girls have some loud voices, but so does Lucas.” As for Ashford, he actually enjoys being part of all the ruckus. “Some people, it kind of bothers them, but I get a big kick out of it,” he says. “These kids work hard. They also really enjoy being here. I guess I’m reaching the age where I realize what funny characters young people can be. I’ve gotten a chance to connect with them for the first time, and I’ve actually gotten a chance to be in some of their storylines, too. And it’s really cool.”