By Rosemary A. Rossi

The six-week return of GENERAL HOSPITAL'S Tristan Rogers (Robert) has created quite a stiry among fans.  His sting has only just begun, but they're already clamroring for more.  "I have an open mind about it," Rogers grins.  "But my first priority is to do the best job I possibly can for the next six weeks."

On a more personal note, stepping back into mythical Port Charles feels mighty good.  "My first day back on the set, I stopped and looked around, and I said, 'You're home.'  It all came back."

The Past...

Soaps In Depth: Every six months for the past 10 years, the rumor has surfaced that you were returning to GH.

Tristan Rogers: In the early days, I was flattered that they'd want me back.  AS it went on, I became suspicious of it and thought it was being generated by a department somewhere in order to create interest for purposes other than my own.  My cynical side came out.  That's why I didn't take it very seriously when the offer came up before Christmas.

In Depth:  Did the timing feel right for a return?

Rogers: When I sad down and thought about it, the character has been away for a long time, and I think there is a lot of momentum for him out there still.  My wife watches the show from time to time, and she is the best barometer.  As an individual in the industry, I'm not a good television watcher.  I'm much too analytical and much too subjective.  So I asked my wife what she thought.  She said, "I think this is going to create quite a ripple."  She said that the show is dark and that she really doesn't enjoy it a whole lot.  So she thought it would be a good thing.

The Present...

In Depth:  Robert's skin has toughened since he was last in Port Charles.

Rogers: He's much more abrasive.  He doesn't suffer fools and idiots.  He dismisses them.  He's very focused on what he wants to get done, and anything else isn't all that important...and that includes his family.  The audience is either going to like it or not like it.  But it will create some controversy, and it will create conversation.  I believe that's what the writers and producers want.

In Depth:  The audience also wants to see the Scorpio family.

Rogers: I don't expect to see a whole lot happen within the six weeks.  It will be wound up pretty quickly.  Trying to anticipate the audience reaction, yea, they're all going to watch it. That's the good thing.  Whether they like it or not, I don't know.  They're going to say, "Whatever happened to the old Robert?"  Well, he's out there somewhere, but he's kind of buried right now.  He's not that happy kind of person he was when he left.  But then again, Port Charles isn't a happy place either. It's a much darker place than it was.  He comes back into this, and he's very comfortable within that darkness because that's the kind of life he's lived.

The Future...

In Depth:  For the past few years, you've researched the evolution of soaps.  What did you find?

Rogers: When I turned my attention to GH, I [asked myself] why the show became the phenomenon that it did and then crashed and burned as quickly as it did.  I discovered that it wasn't all about Luke and Laura.  There was a whole flank of people that were engineering things.  We had a unique story structure and a different sort of story management, which is not employed today.  We were a very personality-type driven show.  To bring a new person onto the shoe was a big deal.  Now it's a weekly thing.  Hence, people got to really associated with the characters.  There were characters first, and the story came second, and the two merged together very, very well.  I think there needs to be some introspection into what happened back then.  Let's look at everything and go, "hey, that can be made to apply today.  And that doesn't work.  But this here, we might be able to use that."  Unless a show evolves, trust me, it will die out.  Soap is going to die if it keeps on this track.

In Depth:  You, Rick Springfield (Noah) and Emma Samms' (Holly) comebacks may be the catalyst for that change.

Rogers: We're opening a window of opportunity here.  But unless they step in and aggressively seize the opportunity, it will pass. 

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FYI FYI FYI

Birthday: June 3

Birthplace: Melbourne, Victoria, Australia

Accentuate the Positive: Having been told by virtually everyone in Hollywood to dump his accent or never work, Rogers did just that.  When he booked GH, however, he found out he needed it again.  The result: He was the first foreigner to make it big on a U.S. soap using his own accent.

The Wedding Zinger: Rogers' daughter, Sara Jane, was the flower girl in his 1995 wedding to her mother, Teresa.  "We did the whole thing backwards," he teases.

A Happy Accident: After starting a rock group with some friends back in 1964, Rogers "learned to love the good life so much that I new a 9 to 5 job wasn't for me."   He jokes that an acting career evolved from that, saying, "It was a huge accident born out of laziness."

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