If The Bay’s Mary Beth Evans trailer or Lily Melgar trailer didn’t get soap fans excited for its upcoming premiere season then maybe this teaser of Tristan Rogers as Lex Martin will. Watch it after the jump!

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General Hospital veteran-turned-web soap creator Tristan Rogers spoke to TV Guide Canada about why he initially left ABC daytime's flagship series, and why he's now pledging his time to seeing the soap opera genre revitalized via his upcoming multi-platform sudser Reality Bytes.

TVG: When you starred on GH, and please correct me if I’m wrong, I got the impression that you wanted to leave daytime for bigger things. And here you are now trailblazing the soap medium into the future. You’ve also become one of soap opera’s biggest advocates. Has that surprised you?

TR: Yes. Because I’m tired of participating in a medium that isn’t evolving, I find myself extremely passionate about helping it evolve. This is a genre that I feel very strongly about because it’s beautifully simplistic in its own way and it’s great entertainment. Consequently, even though I understand why the networks are doing what they’re doing from an intellectually business point of view, I find it hard to believe it’s disappearing simply because it hasn’t evolved. I believe it’s possible that the soap medium can resurrect itself. C’mon — talent shows were history until American Idol came along. I have to believe that someone will come along and do the same thing for soaps again. The nature of soaps is just too compelling for it not to survive.

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Tristan Rogers (ex-Robert Scorpio, General Hospital and General Hospital: Night Shift) is joining UC-Berkeley professor Abigail De Kosnik, past Daytime Confidential podcast guest and Director of Digital Strategy at public relations agency Peppercom, Sam Ford and Miami University professor C. Lee Harrington on a panel discussing the current state and future of the soap opera genre at the 50th annual meeting of the Society for Cinema and Media Studies in Los Angeles on Thursday, March 18 from 12-1:45 p.m.

For more details on the event and their upcoming book The Survival of the Soap Opera: Transformations for a New Media Era visit Society for Cinema and Media Studies website or contact Sam Ford at samford@mit.edu

Maverick General Hosptal star, Tristan Rogers (Robert) opens up to On Air On Soaps Michael Fairman about his alma mater's ratings slump:

MICHAEL:

What do you think of the declining ratings of GH, that is the talk of the soap world right now?

TRISTAN:

I think General Hospital, of all the soaps, is in a real quandary because GH is constantly fighting its past, and in particular, it’s fighting its past now. It seems to suddenly have become a real issue. When I went back to the show in 2006 it was starting to bubble, and I don’t know if comments I made at the time helped it bubble up a bit hotter. But, I think what you have got now is an issue with the core body of fans. GH has a core body of fans that support it with whatever is happening. Now that core body of fans is deserting it, and when the last one turns off, that’s it. The new fans will not support it in a way that the older, foundational group will. I have been saying for sometime, “This is the group you have to have be supporting.” The show needs to try and maintain these fans and get that group solidified, and then go after the other groups. But, you must keep that fan base and foundation. When you have got no foundation, there is nothing to build on.
 

The man keeps it real! To hear what Rogers thinks about General Hosptal: Night Shift not being renewed click here. READ MORE

Now that General Hospital has re-written history and given Luke Spencer another son, Tristan Rogers (Robert Scorpio) is "weighing in" on the change.

GH has shown a photograph of Robert several times and emphatically stated on several occasions that Robert could be Ethan's father. Holly has even said Robert was the father. What has been your contact with TPTB regarding this story and Robert possibly having a son by Holly?

It’s no great secret that TPTB don’t consult me much these days when it comes to story. However, it was said to me that in the beginning this WAS Robert’s child with Holly, and that was how it would be presented. If that had happened, there would be “no harm no foul”. But, of course, it didn’t and from here it will be interesting to see it all play out. The vagueness of the story has somewhat amused me. There are no real specifics here. Holly says one thing then another. Luke wants to be the father but he’s rather challenged when it comes to parenting skills. I mean, it’s a hard sell when it comes to being an engaging story.
 

Emma Samms returned to Port Charles as Holly Sutton. What do you think of her return? Do you want her to be Ethan's mother? Is it a hollow return since Robert Scorpio (Tristan Rogers) isn't on General Hospital? Would it mean that much more to the storyline if it were Emma, Tristan and Tony? More pictures after the jump READ MORE

It looks like we aren't the only ones concerned with ABC Daytime's ratings bleed out. One of General Hospital's biggest superstars ever, Tristan Rogers talks about the situation on his Facebook profile.

I keep harking back to the time we are in and the audience we are appealing to. The networks have a vested interest in looking ahead and appealing to the 18-45 demographic. It makes sense. They have to move forward and this “demo” is hotly contested by cable who generally “out gun” them because they have less constrictions. But the fact remains that removing this demographic from the mix still leaves a huge audience in the plus-50 bracket that, in this genre, is ignored. Remember, the 80’s forged what is the daytime drama market today. This is a market that continues to expand. In this economy they have more spending power, and if you believe all the media “spin”, 50 is the new 40? I don’t know about that last bit, but the fact is that 50 plus is a mighty market and they like soaps in the traditional sense. So why isn’t someone trying to appeal to this? This isn’t a criticism, it’s an observation. If the Networks don’t want a relationship here I know someone who does. Me." READ MORE

"And then there were seven..." Tristan Rogers is giving his take on the demise of Guiding Light.

It was to be expected that Guiding Light would probably not make it.However, news of its cancellation was still a shock, more so because these are uncertain days for all the Daytime soap opera’s and the passing of any one of them makes you think about time running out for the remainder. I can remember writing about a year ago, in an upbeat and enthusiastic way about the “new deal” that was about to emerge from GL, and perhaps herald this as a “break out” show. There was the introduction of a digital look, location shooting and a different “way” of telling the story. Coming from a show that was one of the original pillars of the genre, this sounded like GL was making serious efforts to “re-invent” itself. At the time I found this very exciting.

What went wrong?

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TVGuide Canada's Nelson Branco chatted up GH's supercouple Robin and Patrick (Kimberly McCullogh and Jason Thompson) in celebration of the sudser's 46th Anniversary. The duo talk about Robin's Post Partum Depression, their love of Finola Hughes (Anna Devane) and Tristan Rogers (Robert Scorpio) and give kudos to NightShift head writer Sri Rao.

TVG: Kimberly, we were all a little bit surprised when you returned to GH a few years ago because you had relative success in other mediums. Are you planning on staying on GH for the foreseeable future? READ MORE

Here's the Scoop! 03.16.09

Check out the clip below... Robin locks lips. Will Jason wear a wire? Maxie takes a spin?

Wasn’t Spinelli supposed to find out about the almost sex in the garage? Sometimes RUMORS take a bit to unfold and it looks like Spin will learn that Maxie almost bed her roomies man. Is this when she threatens to sleep with the mob prince? Most likely as this will be Maxie’s reasoning for why Spinelli cannot leave the country.

Jerry sends Jax that DVD?! How can he play his game with Claudia if he unleashes the secret? What will Jax do? RUMORS have him confiding in Olivia and keeping the secret from Carly. Is Olivia how Jax learns Kate knows the truth?

What does Ric want from Claudia? He wants back in with his brother. READ MORE