The General Hospital and Y&R Saga

It seems as though the General Hospital fans cannot seem to put down the Steve Burton story. It should be simple, right? Steve Burton left his role as Jason Morgan after 21 years because he moved to Tennessee for his family. At this point, we all wish it was that simple. This has been an ongoing saga for months on end now. After leaving General Hospital, it was shockingly announced that Steve Burton was joining the cast of The Young and the Restless as Dylan. Fans were outraged and accused Steve of plotting this with friend Jill Farren Phelps over at Y&R all along. Burton has already made numerous attempts to convince the fans that was not the case but for some reason some of the fans just cannot let it go.Not only is Steve getting grief from his devoted General Hospital fans who have felt abandoned by their favorite daytime actor, he is also receiving some negativity from the Y&R fans. Y&R fans claim that ever since Burton arrived the show revolves around his character Dylan, fans calling it “The Dylan Show.”

In regard to the entire issue with GH and Y&R fans, Steve explained what actually is going on, he said, “Listen, without the fans we don’t have a show. I understand their frustrations and I know that they don’t necessarily like change. I guess maybe my coming to Y&R upsets people because they don’t really know the truth of what happened. What you and I both know — that GH didn’t make a deal with me. And that’s the whole truth. My contract was up and they didn’t want to play ball and make it work. At the time, I didn’t want to throw anyone under the bus over there but of course, as soon as it was announced I was going to Y&R, people thought the whole thing was planned by Jill from Day 1, which it was not. I vividly remember my manager telling me how ABC Business Affairs had called him to say, “Hey, is Steve going to Y&R now that Jill’s over there?” And my manager said, ‘No, he wants to make a deal with you! Quit dragging your feet. Make a deal.’ But they wouldn’t.”

You win some, you lose some, and you can’t please them all. There was more real life drama in the soap world when actress Michelle Stafford left her role as Phyllis on The Young and the Restless and joined General Hospital. Fans over at Y&R are missing their longtime fan favorite of Genoa City just as GH fans are missing Burton. With the arrival of Nina Clay, Silas’ wife in Port Charles, Michelle Stafford hasn’t exactly gotten a warm welcome from General Hospital fans. Maybe Steve Burton is right, and people just don’t like to accept change. But if things don’t “change” at some point, or if fans don’t cling onto that small hope that their favorite actor or actress will be coming back to the roles they are best known for, these stories about Steve Burton and Michelle Stafford just may never be put to rest.

As for now, Steve Burton is happy at Y&R and intends to stay there for the foreseeable future. Stafford is happily playing the role of Nina Clay on General Hospital and has no intention of leaving and reprising her role as Phyllis on The Young and the Restless. The role of Phyllis has already been recast and will now be played by soap vet Gina Tognoni. Rumors are still up in the air on the Jason Morgan recast. It is still rumored that Billy Miller will be playing Jason Morgan, but no new news about a signed contract has been confirmed by executives.