In a revealing two-part interview with “General Hospital” star Maurice Benard (Sonny Corinthos), for his popular “State of Mind” podcast series, Genie Francis (Laura Collins) sits down for a rare and emotional conversation as the two soap icons open up about their new storyline on the long-running soap opera, the state of the genre itself, their decades-long friendship, as well as their deeply personal mental health journeys — Benard on bipolar disorder, and Francis on depression and social anxiety.

Get Back to Couples

In an exclusive preview clip released to Soap Opera Network, Benard talks with Francis about the state of couples on soaps, comparing how things were done in the past to how they are done today, particularly on “General Hospital.”

“Let me tell you something. They don’t do couples anymore,” says Benard to Francis, who agrees with him. “If you think about that time when you came back [in the 1990s], and I just started. Sonny and Brenda [Vanessa Marcil], Luke [Anthony Geary] and Laura, Lois [Rena Sofer] and Ned [Wally Kurth], Jason [Steve Burton] and Robin [Kimberly McCullough] … couples were the thing. Now they’re not doing as many. I don’t know why.”

“Do you think the pandemic changed it because of intimacy?” pondered Francis, contemplating when things shifted. “Maybe, yeah. I mean, it could be. I truly believe…look I don’t question anybody how they’re doing their jobs, but they should get back to couples. I think that’s what helps,” Benard points out, with Francis agreeing, saying, “Helps it, yeah!”

Watch the preview clip below.

The two-part “State of Mind” interview with Genie Francis will be released on Sunday, November 16 and Sunday, November 23, with the podcast available to watch or listen to on YouTube and all major podcast platforms.

Note: In part two, Francis’ husband, Jonathan Frakes (“Star Trek: The Next Generation”), joins the conversation.

Note: The post Soaps Need To “Get Back To Couples,” Says ‘General Hospital’ Stars Genie Francis & Maurice Benard (EXCLUSIVE) first appeared on Soap Opera Network.

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Soaps need to... FIRE a few questionable head writers. That's what I want to wake up and read someone saying these days. The trash that is still working in this business... needs to be taken out. 

GH at least has some promising couples but the pacing is... odd. Lulu and Dante admitted they still loved each other, then nothing. And if that's because he's in mourning, fine, but they haven't really addressed it again. Jason and Britt have chemistry but never make a move.

Emma and Gio is the weirdest. They have great chemistry and I'm all for the slow burn, but they're written like they're 11. Two gorgeous college kids who have apparently never had any relationship before and don't know what to do when they have a crush? The concept that Gio felt awkward living with Emma and Anna was solid, but maybe, like, show that? (I realize it's not fair to critique GH for that compared to certain other shows, lol). It would definitely have been fun to play up the tension with them walking in on each other at awkward times. Then they finally kiss and declare their love, and now all we se is them being friends who hold hands sometimes (which is adorable). Like, do they consider each other boyfriend and girlfriend now? Go on romantic dates? Do they talk about other stuff besides his family and Dalton's lab? I'm not even talking about sex scenes, I don't care about that and it would be interesting if they did a story where one of them wanted to wait and the other didn't (Gio could be religious, Emma could have issues because of her mom getting HIV as a teen, whatever). They have struck gold with these two and they just do nothing, and that's so unlike GH. 

Of course Carly and Joss always have boyfriends though because who could resist them?

8 minutes ago, BoldRestless said:

They have struck gold with these two and they just do nothing, and that's so unlike GH. 

Not unlike Frank Valentini's. They had to be dragged through the Sprina era at gunpoint, and they were clearly deeply uncomfortable with Lucky and Liz back together - they kept trying to push a Kristina angle, and Jonathan Jackson has made it clear for almost 20 years he wanted LNL2, period. As soon as he quit/was pushed, Liz is back to manning the nurses' station and nothing else.

4 minutes ago, Vee said:

Not unlike Frank Valentini's. They had to be dragged through the Sprina era at gunpoint, and they were clearly deeply uncomfortable with Lucky and Liz back together - they kept trying to push a Kristina angle, and Jonathan Jackson has made it clear for almost 20 years he wanted LNL2, period. As soon as he quit/was pushed, Liz is back to manning the nurses' station and nothing else.

Yes, Liz and Lucky was another headscratcher... kind of "here, fan-service, they are technically together but they don't really do anything." It was very Y&R-like actually, and Lucky/Kristina parallels Daniel/Tessa too.

The situation at GH is very strange. They will have a few couples featured for a couple of years before they pull the plug on all of them almost at the same time. And it was most recently couples where they were propping a pet.

I think the filming schedule and puzzle assembly of the episodes for air is part of it. You have a couple take off, and the budget and filming schedule doesn’t allow for them to go over their guarantees, so they just get dropped for weeks at a time. The organic situations that soap writers used to watch for and write to are all but ignored. Why they don’t play Gio/Emma more, or Dante/Lulu, or even Jason/Liz. For the first time ever, both of them had no other romantic stuff and still have chemistry. Instead they would rather bring Britt back seemingly to be paired with Jason and instead play her as a nightmare.

5 minutes ago, titan1978 said:

I think the filming schedule and puzzle assembly of the episodes for air is part of it. You have a couple take off, and the budget and filming schedule doesn’t allow for them to go over their guarantees, so they just get dropped for weeks at a time. The organic situations that soap writers used to watch for and write to are all but ignored. 

That is definitely part of it.

But Dante and Lulu are basically at a dead stop though because of the show. I think FV is still hedging his bets hoping to make Lulu get potentially involved with Zombie Nathan and Dante with BLQ for awhile, and also has little interest in major frontburner couples he did not create or bless himself (unless it involves untouchable vets he feels he can't fool with, like Sonny and Carly where they have been on autopilot any time they've been together in the last decade). Dante and Lulu fit that bill. They were one of the last major couples of the Guza years, involve veterans he does not prioritize or a family he does not care for (the Spencers) and he is just letting them meander. I've wheezed about this enough times; they should be a tentpole and helping to lead the show. And Emma and Gio's romantic capers or foibles should be central, not a support peg to Joss, Britt and Sidwell.

Frank clearly has contempt for Liz and we know one other party hates her and Jason, that is never happening again.

The Lucky situation will always be a puzzle to me, mainly because I wonder how much someone at ABC pushed for his return. It clearly wasn't Frank's decision. I don't know if Lulu's was his either as he was fine with her being comatose for four years. 

I wouldn't have brought Lucky back, I thought the show had outgrown him and the show had trashed his relationship with Liz beyond repair. He was also divisive with fans, rather than well-loved. And pretty much all of that played out when JJ returned. 

If they had worked hard, they may have changed some minds, but they didn't try very hard, so what we ended up getting was a passive-aggressive return, with the only sign of grace being that they didn't kill Lucky off. (maybe JJ leaving so abruptly meant they didn't have the chance) 

I still wonder if having him kiss Liz the day JJ couldn't be there was a coincidence. 

On 11/14/2025 at 2:40 PM, Maxim said:

Exactly. That's why I think we need fresh blood for a lot of these characters. New men/women who they can play with... build something slow with. Bold for example recycles the same triangles over and over and over again... to a point where nobody cares if Brooke and Ridge are together. But just imagine we give Brooke something new, fresh... (maybe forbidden LOL) and hot... and let it go from there. Just an example. I also think Katie is a character that has been long ignored to a point it's laughable. Give her a brand new man. Dollar Bill and she have no future. Heather Tom can play in love so well. She could rock those nuances. 

Same. There's plenty to be said for new characters cleverly and slowly being introduced into a canvas. Look at Izaiah on BTG for example. Or they could explore chemistry that is already there, too.

 

Don't get me started. re: Ridge/Brooke. They had the perfect opportunity in the May/December potential of Brooke/Hollis who was nice and foine and totally into Brooke and they set that up nice and slow (by B&B's standards) while KA Taylor could have started with Deacon cuz that chemistry was already there. On the canvas. And new possibilities. And back then, they still could be playing a Taylor/Deacon/Sheila triangle cuz he had been sleeping with her.

 

On 11/14/2025 at 3:09 PM, Khan said:

They need to get back to families - loving each other, protecting each other, getting in each other's way.

 

On 11/14/2025 at 3:37 PM, BetterForgotten said:

Hell, soaps need to get back to characters before any of this. 

I agree with these as well. It's probably why in the case of families, I enjoy the Martin/Smitty family unit very much and the resurgence of people in the Q Mansion on GH.

 

On 11/14/2025 at 3:41 PM, DRW50 said:

I suppose the call should be - get weird agendas out of production decisions. Genie has plenty of experience dealing with those. 

VERY.

On 11/14/2025 at 8:21 PM, BoldRestless said:

Yes, Liz and Lucky was another headscratcher... kind of "here, fan-service, they are technically together but they don't really do anything." It was very Y&R-like actually, and Lucky/Kristina parallels Daniel/Tessa too.

Well like I said and continue to say...that show will try anything, everything, AND the kitchen sink to keep a couple apart rather than letting organic conflict within the characters keep them apart with light external influence.

 

Look at Jason and Britt stuff. They went through all this mess to resurrect a dead girl for Jason when he has a single love interest that is standing around on canvas that makes sense. But I still haven't forgiven the show for that single love interest being single at a time with her three (yes, three) most popular love interests all on canvas at the same time AND single and barely paired her with any of them...and STILL fumbled the pairing picked.

On 11/14/2025 at 8:32 PM, titan1978 said:

The situation at GH is very strange. They will have a few couples featured for a couple of years before they pull the plug on all of them almost at the same time. And it was most recently couples where they were propping a pet.

I think the filming schedule and puzzle assembly of the episodes for air is part of it. You have a couple take off, and the budget and filming schedule doesn’t allow for them to go over their guarantees, so they just get dropped for weeks at a time. The organic situations that soap writers used to watch for and write to are all but ignored. Why they don’t play Gio/Emma more, or Dante/Lulu, or even Jason/Liz. For the first time ever, both of them had no other romantic stuff and still have chemistry. Instead they would rather bring Britt back seemingly to be paired with Jason and instead play her as a nightmare.

OMG!!! lol. I just said the same.

 

On 11/14/2025 at 9:30 PM, DRW50 said:

I don't know if Lulu's was his either as he was fine with her being comatose for four years. 

I am starting to wonder as well tbh.