Ratings: OLTL Highest Household Ratings Since December 2008

During the Jason Thompson and Dominic Zamprogna “General Hospital” Fan Club Weekend event earlier this month, Jeffrey Vincent Parise (Carlos Rivera) stopped by and started a revolution when he began chanting, “Free Carlos!” Looks like the show heard him loud and clear as he’s set to appear on the Friday, August 29 episode, per a preview clip aired at the end of today’s episode. In it, Carlos is visited in prison by Sabrina Santiago (Teresa Castillo), who reveals that she knows who was responsible for the accident that killed her son with Patrick (Thompson). In an interview with Soap Opera Digest in its newest issue, on sale tomorrow, Parise tells the publication it was a great day when he got the call to return. “I was excited. I felt like a boxer in training who gets the word that there’s a fight coming up!”

With the final days of summer upon us, many across the nation are gearing up to head to the beach or have one last BBQ before returning to the office or school to tackle responsibilities of the mind next week, with Labor Day being the official holiday of rest for the working class in America. Unfortunately, for those staying home on Monday, September 1, in order to catch up on their favorite soaps, you’ll either be seeing a repeat of “General Hospital” on ABC or no soaps at all on CBS and NBC.

Since it was first announced that Alison Sweeney would be departing NBC’s “Days of our Lives” after more than 22 years portraying Sami Brady on the daytime soap opera, Sweeney has made it clear that she’d always welcome a return visit to Salem when the timing is right. Well, she’s back!

He played the very sexy Jagger Cates on ABC’s “General Hospital” and SOAPnet’s “General Hospital: Night Shift,” but is ABC’s “Dancing with the Stars” getting ready to welcome Antonio Sabato Jr. to the dance floor? That’s what E! Online is reporting.

Since joining the cast of ABC’s “General Hospital” in the recurring role of Spencer Cassadine last year, 8-year-old Nicolas Bechtel has literally stolen the spotlight from some of the veteran cast with his one liners and spot on delivery. Will he do the same when he appears on FOX’s newest comedy “Red Band Society” this fall? Earlier this week Bechtel tweeted, “Atlanta has been great. Working on @RedBandSociety was awesome. Almost time to head back to LA.” Since then fans have wondered what role he’ll end up playing on the Steven Spielberg executive produced series and Soap Opera Network has the scoop!

Last week “General Hospital” executive producer Frank Valentini revealed that there will be plenty of villains hanging around the denizens of Port Charles this fall and he wasn’t kidding. While a show rep issued a “no comment” when contacted by Soap Opera Network, actress Robin Mattson announced on her Facebook page yesterday that she is returning to the daytime soap as Heather Webber in the near future. “Heather is returning to GH soon!” read Mattson’s Facebook posting. Fans last saw Heather in February, when she was carted off to jail.

Sebastian Roche experienced quite a lot of excitement as “General Hospital’s” Jerry Jax, but even his Port Charles stint couldn’t have prepared him for his latest ride: The French/Scottish actor will be starring opposite Liam Neeson in Universal Picture’s latest thriller, “A Walk Among the Tombstones!”

When he’s not appearing on ABC’s “Nashville,” former “General Hospital” star Jonathan Jackson (ex-Lucky Spencer) is working on music for the upcoming release of his new album with band Enation, whose members include Jackson’s real-life brother, Richard Lee, and Daniel Sweatt. The album, “Radio Cinematic,” is set for release on Tuesday, October 14 via Loud and Proud Records. Late last week the band shared the album cover art on social media. Greg Archilla and Patrick Dillett co-produced the album. Songs from “Radio Cinematic” include first single “Everything is Possible,” which the band performed on “The View” and “The Better Show” back in June, and marked the first time the band performed together in front of a national television audience, and the track “Cinematic.”

As they celebrated their first anniversary as hosts of “Soap Box with Lilly & Martha” on Thursday, August 21, former daytime soap stars Lilly Melgar (“General Hospital”) and Martha Madison (“Days of our Lives”) had soap journalist Michael Maloney, talent manager Michael Bruno and online soap reporter Michael Fairman on as guests as they discussed the week’s biggest soap opera news. No story was bigger this past week than the news of Justin Hartley (“Passions,” “Revenge,” “Mistresses”) returning to daytime television to portray a recast Adam Newman on CBS’ “The Young and the Restless.” According to Bruno, however, there was a chance that the role could have gone to Hartley’s former “Smallville” co-star Tom Welling, “Sex and the City’s” Jason Lewis or “Queer as Folk’s'” Gale Harold.

On Sundays all-new edition of “Oprah: Where Are They Now?” on OWN: Oprah Winfrey Network, the show provides an update on the status of former “General Hospital” and “The Bold and the Beautiful” star Jack Wagner. In the episode, Wagner opens up about his real-life divorce from former “GH” on-screen love interest, Kristina Wagner (Felicia Scorpio), meeting his long-lost daughter for the first time, and his music career.

Ratings Report for the Week of August 11-15, 2014

On the Thursday, August 21 episode of ABC’s “General Hospital,” Sabrina Santiago (Teresa Castillo) returned from her long trip away from Port Charles after looking to clear her head following the death of her son, Gabriel, with Patrick Drake (Jason Thompson). Upon her return, Sabrina is shocked to learn that for much of the time she had been gone Patrick knew who ran them off the road and caused their son’s death. She also learns that her best friend Felix Dubois (Marc Anthony Samuel) knew as well. Neither Patrick or Felix opted to call her to tell her because they feared what it would do to her mental state, as noted by Castillo in Soap Opera Network’s recent interview with the actress.