James Franco checks into 'General Hospital' as performance art, while another soap is washed up

(AFP/Max Nash)

Just as the cancellation of As the World Turns seems to signal the beginning of the end for soap operas on daytime television in the US, actor James Franco ( Milk, Knocked Up, Pineapple Express) joined the cast of General Hospital.

Those who questioned the film actor's curious decision to take on a 10-week stint on 'GH' received an answer from Franco himself. In an explanation published in the Wall Street Journal Friday, he stated that his appearance is a form of performance art.

In the article, "A Star, a Soap and the Meaning of Art," Franco describes his experience on the soap and his relationship with the performance art form, including the influences of Serbian artist Marina Abromovic and Yoko Ono: (http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704107104574570313372878136.html).
"My hope was for people to ask themselves if soap operas are really that far from entertainment that is considered critically legitimate," he wrote. "If all goes according to plan, it will definitely be weird."

Franco was previously involved in Erased James Franco by the artist Carter, his friend and collaborator on this new project.

Franco's move to General Hospital helped deliver the show's largest weekly audience and snag the week's number one daytime program position with the key demographic - women aged 18-34. But the actor, who currently is studying at both New York University's Masters filmmaking program and Columbia's Masters program for fiction writing, only has Fridays available for his role as 'Franco,' a mysterious artist.

Soon, General Hospital will be the longest-running soap broadcast, since CBS announced the end of the two oldest dramas on air, Guiding Light, and as of Tuesday, As the World Turns. Production on ' ATWT' will stop next September after 54 years. Daytime soap operas have been losing viewers since women entered the workplace in increasingly significant numbers over the last couple decades and the dramas are being replaced by game shows and talk shows, which are less expensive to produce.

Emmy-winning As the World Turns launched the careers of actors James Earl Jones, Parker Posey, Meg Ryan, and Marisa Tomei. Produced by Proctor and Gamble, the show will seek a new outlet for the loyal audience.

Franco stars in the upcoming Howl as Allen Ginsberg and the adaptation of the bestselling book, Eat, Pray, Love.

RC