Good Morning. I hope that you are enjoying this weekend, fully vaccinated and boosted, with family and friends. That new booster shot has been approved..be sure to get it. Call and see if your pharmacy has it.

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We lost two greats in the entertainment industry this week:
Actor/Director Rob Reiner
Soap Legend Tony Geary

Back when there were only 3 main channels and most homes had one television, so you had to watch what your parents watched, I first saw Rob Reiner as ‘Meathead’ on All In The Family.

Then, he left All In The Family and transitioned into directing movies.
Some people say that he had the best five film run of any director:

Rob Reiner’s five best films

This Is Spın̈al Tap (1984)
It is extraordinarily rare for a director to change the entire direction of comedy with their first feature, but that’s exactly what Rob Reiner did with this legendary mockumentary. Following a disastrous American tour by a witless British rock group, This Is Spın̈al Tap manages to nail so many music industry cliches so perfectly that the film quickly became a mainstay of tour buses around the world. Reiner himself got in on the act, playing the blowhard documentary director Marty Di Bergi. The fact that something entirely improvised could create so many deathless lines is even more astounding. This year a sequel, The End Continues, was released. What fitting bookends to a brilliant career.

When Harry Met Sally (1989)
Reiner’s run between 1984 and 1992 is the sort of thing most directors can only dream of. He spent those years dabbling in multiple genres, and producing a classic each and every time. When Harry Met Sally is a classic example. It was just Reiner’s second romcom, but it instantly became the defining romcom of all time. Billy Crystal and Meg Ryan play characters who spend years circling one another, unsure of whether a man and a woman can ever truly be friends. The performances are tremendous, the outfits are great, Nora Ephron’s script is perfect, and the emotions never feel anything but completely real. One of the best films ever made, but maybe not even Reiner’s best film.

The Princess Bride (1987)
Here is where Reiner’s approach to film-making started to become clear. This was a man less interested in flashy visuals or personal style, and more interested in finding the best writers on Earth and wringing every last drop of potential out of them. In the case of The Princess Bride, that writer was William Goldman, who crafted a kaleidoscopic fantasy world full of heroism, revenge, romance and magic. Every character stands out. Every line sings. And Reiner gives the material exactly the treatment it deserves, knowing precisely when to hold back and when to gun for the laugh. The Princess Bride is nearly 40 years old, and it remains one of the most impressive family films of all time.

Misery (1990)
Some might have picked Stand by Me to round out a list like this, or maybe The American President. Maybe even, since his film was the thing that brought the term into common usage, The Bucket List. However, you could argue that no film captured Reiner’s absolute mastery of tone like 1990’s Misery. On the surface it’s a horror film, about a writer who finds himself trapped in the home of an obsessive fan. But it also manages to be screamingly funny, clearly the work of writers (Stephen King and William Goldman) who enjoy a complicated relationship with the consumers of their work. Tense, gruesome and containing one of Hollywood’s all-time great red herrings, this one might just be Reiner’s masterpiece.

A Few Good Men (1992)
And then Reiner left comedy altogether, to make Aaron Sorkin’s tight, muscular legal drama. Written on napkins during Sorkin’s shifts as a barman, A Few Good Men was first a play that ran for almost 500 performances. But Reiner and Sorkin (and an uncredited William Goldman) spent months reworking the script for the movie adaptation. The effort shows. The story of a callow lawyer working the case of some extrajudicial military deaths, the film quickly becomes a treatise on the battle between duty and morality. The “I want the truth” showdown between Tom Cruise and Jack Nicholson remains the highest point of both actors’ careers.

cinesthetic.
@TheCinesthetic
Rob Reiner’s 80s run is absurd: 5 classics in a row—Stand By Me, The Princess Bride, When Harry Met Sally, Misery, A Few Good Men. Arguably one of the greatest stretches in cinema history. And that’s not even counting Spinal Tap two years earlier.
https://x.com/TheCinesthetic/status/2000904668478890110?s=20

Meidas_Charise Lee
@charise_lee
So proud Carl is of his son. Rob ASKED him if he would come up there with him and Carl said ” Wild horses couldn’t stop me, son. They would have to tackle me.”
In 1978 Rob Reiner accepted the award for outstanding supporting actor in a comedy for his work and all “in the family”
https://x.com/charise_lee/status/2000946380303630455?s=20

Watch “Remembering the treasured films of Rob Reiner”

I love soap operas. Grew up with them. My mother and the elders called them their ‘ stories’.
I started out watching the ABC lineup, back when it began with Ryan’s Hope and ended the day with The Edge of Night.

You can never describe what chemistry is between actors, but, you know it when you see it, and you can’t turn away from it.

The chemistry between Tony Geary and Genie Francis is the stuff of legend. They created a couple – Luke and Laura – that just burned brighter than the actual genre. There is a reason why they made the Cover of Newsweek. There is a reason why their wedding was the most seen soap event in history. I should know – I faked being sick so that I could stay home and watch their wedding. (This was the time before VCR’s were common place).

Luke was a hero despite himself, because Geary always played Luke with a dark core, and that dark, troubled core, was always fighting with the love and light that Laura brought out in him. Luke did many questionable things during his tenure on GH, but Geary’s acting power brought life, conflict and his brilliance shone through, time and time again. There’s a reason why Geary had won more acting Daytime Emmys than any other actor.

General Hospital Legend Anthony Geary, Who Played Luke Spencer, Dies At 78
By Mara Levinsky December 15, 2025

Anthony Geary, who rose to superstardom in the iconic role of antihero Luke Spencer on General Hospital, has died at the age of 78. The eight-time Daytime Emmy-winning star passed away on December 14 from complications following a planned surgery in Amsterdam, the city he loved and had called home full-time since retiring from acting in 2015. TV Insider was the first to report the sad news.

Remembering A Legend
Born Tony Dean Geary in the small town of Coalville, Utah on May 29, 1947 — he told Soap Opera Digest in 1996 that he changed his name to Anthony “because Tony is a nickname” — the actor was raised by Mormon parents in a household with three sisters. Drawn to performing from an early age, he won a scholarship to study theater at the University of Utah and, after beginning his career as a stage actor, settled in Los Angeles in the 1960s. While awaiting his big break, Geary worked a wide variety of odd jobs, including selling toys in a department store.

In the early 1970s, Geary began working steady on episodic TV, with appearances on shows like All in the Family, The Partridge Family, Marcus Welby, M.D. and The Mod Squad.

His daytime debut in 1971 was an inauspicious one, playing the recurring role of David Lockhart on the NBC soap Bright Promise, where he was directed by his future GH executive producer, Gloria Monty. Two years later, he was cast on The Young and the Restless as George Curtis for a six-month stint. George raped one of the show’s main heroines, Chris Brooks (Trish Stewart), in what was then a shocking storyline; according to The Soap Opera Encyclopedia, this marked daytime’s “first (non-marital) rape.”

In 1978, during Monty’s first year as EP of GH, she called Geary in to audition for the role of politician Mitch Williams, who was slated for an ill-fated romance with Tracy Quartermaine (Jane Elliot). Geary recalled to Digest in 2023, “I remember I didn’t think I was particularly right for it. He seemed awfully straight to me; very businesslike and running for senator, so I decided that it would be fun to do because it would be challenging.” Monty agreed that he was wrong for the role, but charged the show’s legendary head writer, Douglas Marland, with creating a new character for Geary to play. He made his debut as Luke Spencer on November 20, 1978.

Luke was originally only supposed to last on the canvas for 13 weeks, summoned to town by his sister, Bobbie, played by Jacklyn Zeman, to help her bust up the burgeoning romance between Scotty Baldwin, played by Kin Shriner, and Laura Webber, played by Genie Francis — but the character, and Geary’s magnetic and, at times, surprisingly tender — performance struck a chord with fans, and the actor’s stay was extended.

“I went full-out with antihero,” is how Geary described his early embodiment of Luke to Digest in 2023. “Antiheroes are people who do the wrong things for the right reasons and the right things for the wrong reasons, and antiheroes are classically romantic in that they usually have a bad side. Antiheroes in history go way back beyond Shakespeare, but it’s always been an important piece, and most shows have one, especially daytime shows. But there weren’t a lot of antiheroes who were really dangerous, and if they were, they weren’t the leads as much as they were supporting characters, so I think Gloria had this picture of a good/bad guy and gave me a great opportunity to explore that.”

Geary’s artistic partnership with Monty was, he continued, “a dream come true. It was someone who really got me, really understood me, after I had been in show business for 10 or 15 years. And I was always pretty much a hard sell, a hard guy to cast.”

Geary’s artistic partnership with Monty was, he continued, “a dream come true. It was someone who really got me, really understood me, after I had been in show business for 10 or 15 years. And I was always pretty much a hard sell, a hard guy to cast.”

………………..

During his second run on the show, Geary, who had already won the Daytime Emmy for Outstanding Lead Actor once, in 1982, added a record-setting seven additional trophies in the category to his mantel. He took home is final one in 2015, the same year he retired from GH. He also received five, fan-voted Soap Opera Digest Awards, winning Best Actor in 1980, 1981 and 1982 (at which time they were called The Soapys), and Outstanding Lead Actor in 1999 and 2000.

…………………………………………….

Genie Francis Pens Moving Tribute to General Hospital Costar Anthony Geary After His Death: ‘I Felt Him Leave Last Night’
Together, the duo played daytime’s biggest supercouple, Luke and Laura

By Brenton Blanchet Published on December 15, 2025 03:03PM EST

On Monday, Dec. 15, the actress shared an emotional tribute dedicated to her former costar, shortly after news broke that he died at 78 on Sunday, Dec. 14. TV Insider first shared the news, citing Geary’s husband, Claudio Gama.

Francis, 63, wrote on Facebook that she “woke up and went into my husband’s arms” after her life “was flashing before me and I was afraid of death” in her sleep. She then got a call from General Hospital executive producer, Frank Valentini, telling her that Geary died.

“I immediately felt remorse, I hadn’t spoken to him in years, but I felt his life end in my sleep last night, and with it a big part of me, and mine,” Francis wrote. “He was a powerhouse as an actor. Shoulder to shoulder with the greats. No star burned brighter than Tony Geary. He was one of a kind.”

She added, “As an artist, he was filled with a passion for the truth, no matter how blunt, or even a little rude it might be, but always hilariously funny. He was the anti-hero, always so irreverent, but even the most conservative had to smile.”

Francis then wrote that working with Geary was “always exciting,” adding “you never knew what might happen.”

“He spoiled me for leading men for the rest of my life,” she wrote. “I am crushed, I will miss him terribly, but I was so lucky to be his partner. Somehow, somewhere, we are connected to each other because I felt him leave last night. Good night sweet prince, good night.”

Francis and Geary played daytime’s biggest supercouple, Luke and Laura Spencer, after Geary originated the role of Luke in 1978. Before he departed the series in 2015, Geary made history with Francis as their characters’ 1981 wedding became the highest-rated moment in daytime history, with 30 million fans tuning in.

Alicia
@LukeLauraGH
#ThrowbackMonday Bobbie and Luke I can’t believe both Jackie and Tony are no longer with us 😢 😢 #GH #GeneralHospital
https://x.com/LukeLauraGH/status/2000735053958058275?s=20

Michael Logan
@TVGMLogan
RIP Anthony Geary. Of all the gods and goddesses in the Soap Opera Pantheon, he was our Zeus. Brilliant, iconoclastic and uncompromising, Geary defied his own legend as a heartthrob to make acting choices that were dark, brutal and altogether human. His 8 Emmys say it all. #GH
https://x.com/TVGMLogan/status/2000649847968600556?s=20

Alicia
@LukeLauraGH
#ThrowbackMonday Demi Moore and Anthony Geary #GH #GeneralHospital
https://x.com/LukeLauraGH/status/2000766561573806102?s=20

Soap Central
@soapcentral
It became the highest-rated hour in soap opera history and still holds the all-time highest rating for daytime television.
Rest in peace Anthony, you will be deeply missed. 💔
https://x.com/soapcentral/status/2000657629194891686?s=20

Alicia
@LukeLauraGH
Susan Lucci Tribute To Tony Geary #GH #AMC
https://x.com/LukeLauraGH/status/2001080092340953461?s=20

General Hospital was on cancellation’s door when they hired Gloria Monty and she helped create soap history with Luke and Laura.

Alicia
@LukeLauraGH
Gloria Monty Anthony Geary and Genie Francis #GH #GeneralHospital
https://x.com/LukeLauraGH/status/2001066301712674829?s=20

Alicia
@LukeLauraGH
An early Christmas Present from my husband. A physical photo of the Spencer/Webber Family Lucky, Elizabeth, Lesley, Lulu, Laura, Luke, Nikolas, Emily, and Bobbie #GH #GeneralHospital
https://x.com/LukeLauraGH/status/2002198398447780037?s=20

This hits hard….no Denise, Tony, Tyler or Jacklyn

Alicia
@LukeLauraGH
Elizabeth Taylor, Anthony Geary and Genie Francis #GH #GeneralHospital