James Franco Tries Out Daytime Television

General Hospital News

James Franco joins ABC's "General Hospital" for a two month story arc going through early 2010 as guest character Franco starting Friday, November 20. James Franco's arrival in Port Charles is being heralded as an attempt to breathe life in the soap series. According to NPR, not since Elizabeth Taylor attended Luke & Laura's wedding has a movie star joined the cast of a soap opera.

James Franco is best known for his roles in "Spiderman", "Milk" and "Pineapple Express." The last time he was in a television show was when he was on Judd Apatow's "Freaks and Geeks." There is much speculation about why Franco might want to act on a soap, including that the rigorous shooting schedule was a welcomed challenge.

Daytime has helped launch the careers of many movie stars but James Franco seems to be working in reverse. Introduced to "General Hospital" by his manager, Miles Levy, who also represents Steve Morton, a regular star on the soap, Franco also recently filmed a guest spot on "30 Rock."

Franco is known for unusual choices in a broad variety of roles, and for taking off time to study at UCLA, which he graduated from, and NYU. He won a Golden Globe for his work in Spiderman and won critical acclaim for his role as Sean Penn's lover in "Milk."

The drop in soap opera ratings has made daytime producers think out of the box this past year, such as "As the World Turns" changing its format to film with hand held digital cameras. Early this fall, the last episode of the longest run soaps, "Guiding Light" had its final episode. With the multitude of television choices and the change in more women viewers working when the soaps are on, some argue that soap's are losing their appeal. According to UPI, "Average viewership of soaps has dropped 23 percent compared with 10 years ago."

Franco will appear in the movie "Eat, Pray, Love" with Julia Roberts and portray Allen Ginsberg in "Howl" next year. Franco's character on General Hospital will make trouble for Steve Burton's character Jason Morgan, who is connected to the mob.

SOURCES:
UPI
NPR
Zap2it.com
Extra
CNN