Francis @ soapcentral.com

                   I've been watching General Hospital for well over 30 years now and I've seen it go through a lot of changes. Some have been good while others have left me gritting my teeth and hoping for a change in writing & executive producers. Most of the time my prayers for better leadership at the show have been answered.....such as when Luke and Laura returned back in 1993. I along with every other Luke/Laura fan was doing cartwheels when the news came out they were coming back to the show [even though Anthony Geary had been back for a number of years as Bill Eckert]. The only thing that could have made my world even brighter would have been the return of Lesley Webber [Denise Alexander].....so you can imagine my surprise when Lesley DID come back in 1996!!! Granted, the storyline that brought her back was a bit along the lines of "you've got to be kidding me", but I didn't care. My two favorite characters AND actresses were back where they belong!!

                     During the years of 1993-2002 I found myself not being too crazy about some of the Luke/Laura storylines [and I was REALLY disappointed that Lesley was only around sporadically at best], but I was really out of sorts when they divorced! That's when the thought of "oh God, is Genie going to quit again?" started creeping back into my head. My worst fears were confirmed when Laura started going off the deep end and it was announced that Genie Francis was once again leaving the show. I was crushed. Again. I was also a bit miffed because Genie Francis seems to have had an irritating habit of quitting the show.....of course this was before she went public about her drug abuse that had lead to her departure in 1982....AND before the revelation that she'd only left the show [in 2002] because the producers wouldn't give her the summer off to take a trip to Europe with her husband and children!! My 'miffedness' shifted from Genie Francis to the boneheads at GH that let Genie Francis leave rather than give her some WELL DESERVED time off!! What was the harm in giving her the time off?? It's not like Anthony Geary doesn't take a few months every year!!

                        So for the next four years, I found myself once again hoping beyong hope that Laura would return. That hoping grew more intense by the day as the focus of GH shifted almost entirely to the whole mob storyline. For a while there I was actually expecting the name of the show to change from "General Hospital" to "The Sonny Corinthos Show"!! So then in mid 2006 the news of Laura's return was released....she was coming back, but only for a limited run. Hey, I'll take it. I figured that the response to Genie Francis would be so great that the producers would be persuaded to ask her back full time. No such luck. Poor Laura went right back into catatonia after having participated in one of the most idiotic storylines that I'd seen on GH in quite a few years. Each episode that Genie Francis was in was very clearly 'rushed' and it was apparent that she'd only been brought back for November sweeps.

                          As disappointed as I was that neither Laura or Genie were sticking around very long I figured that it was Genie's decision and went on about my business. And then I read that Genie actually DID want to come back, AND had made it known to GH that she wanted to come back....but they said "no thank you........."                                             

  HUH?? WHA??? I had to read the article TWICE to make sure I hadn't MIS-read it!! Nope. I'd read it correctly. So I gave the GH brass the benefit of the doubt by dismissing the article as just heresay, but then I saw Genie Francis on "The View".....and then I got the info straight from the legend's mouth. She WANTS to come back!! And those buffoons at GH are STILL saying, "no thanks"!!!! Are you kidding me??!!! HOW can a producer say NO to one of the most legendary actresses to grace the soap opera world??! Dude...this is GENIE freakin FRANCIS!!! These folks at GH and ABC should be on their hands and knees BEGGING her to come back! They should give her ANYTHING she wants in her contract just to get her back on that show......but instead we viewers are still inundated with a cheap rip off of The Godfather.

                          Perhaps the brass & writers at GH won't bring Laura back because they can't figure out how to work her into the show? If that's the case, then I've got a suggestion for the storyline that would bring our beloved Laura back:

• Jason suddenly remembers his former life and is infuriated that Sonny had taken advantage of his brain injury all these years. He lures Sonny into a warehouse, along with every other mobster on the show. Jason then blows the warehouse up, sending little bits and pieces of mobsters all over Port Charles. The force of the explosion is so loud that Laura is jolted out of her catatonic state and returns home to her family.
  

                           Now see how easy that was??!!