Fan's Memories

Rick Webber

In memory of the character he once was.......

Ok, he was self righteous, and at times morally superior, ......or was he? This was a man who had the strength of his convictions. He strived to keep his integrity in tact and expected others to do the same. He was a good husband (affairs with Monica don't count! I mean just say it...Monica and Rick, their names just sound great together), great father (ok, I'm just breezing right by the last few weeks of his ill fated return to PC), and great friend, not to mention his prowness as a surgeon. All in all a great character who could have still been utilized on General Hospital had he not been murdered, not by Laura, but by Bob Guza and his bloody pen.

Why did it have to end this way? What did Guza have against Rick? It was said afterwards that the Rick/Monica/Alan reunion did not have the impact they had hoped........HOGWASH! Rick's return was not only wasted, but wasted in such a way that I felt insulted as a Monica fan. He returned with guns blazing only to be stripped of any dignity and respectablity. General Hospital history was trampled not for the first time and certainly not the last time under Guza's watch. Rick Webber is added to the list of character assasignations GH has become notorious for. His death and personality change were not only insulting to longtime fans, but profoundly unnecessary.

I remember Rick being a good friend to Monica, taking up for her with Sean when he failed her........telling her in private when she was wrong, yet standing up for her to everyone else.....including Alan. Ah Alan. Yes, in my mind Alan and Monica belong together, but Alan was threatened by Rick (ya think?). He saw what we all saw as well......chemistry so thick between Monica and Rick that you could cut it with a knife. Last year Alan mocked Rick saying to him that he was 'the pilar of moral integrity, except when it comes to your labido'(sp).........perhaps he should have said 'except when it came to Monica'. Theirs was a deep passionate love that was later portrayed as a touching friendship that I enjoyed watching immensely.

I remember Rick lending a hand to Blackie Parish (one of my first crushes:) ).......being a loving husband to Lesley (when he wasn't with Monica). I remember how great he was with Mikey (the FIRST Mikey).

So much promise, so many ways it could have gone, so much potential airtime for Monica, POOF! gone. I choose to not remember Rick's last few weeks of life, (or the days after his death when he was shoved in a deep freeze and sent off a cliff by his GRANDSONS of all people). Instead I choose to remember him the way he was. I will not think of Rick past the fourth of July 2002.....dancing and flirting with Monica, Alan's one liners being hurled. A great episode. One of what should have been many. I refuse to remember this character in such a way that sick and twisted writting would have me remember him.

So here is to Rick Webber wherever you are....( I like to think Helena has him ala Lucky and Lesley)....what a waste of a character. You didn't deserve what they (tiic) gave you, and you are missed.

Tammy

With the death of Rick Webber, we mourn not only the passing of a fan favorite character, drenched in GH history, but the death of the concept of the "good guy" as leading man, at least as far as GH is concerned.

Rick Webber was a brilliant heart surgeon who could have spent his spare time collecting Porches or building a beachfront lair. Instead, he volunteered hours at the waterfront clinic that he founded, the Sports Center, and became a foster and adoptive father to Laura, Amy, Mike and Blackie. Yes, he had faults – a stubbornness, a self-righteousness, a holier-than-thou attitude who could not stand weakness in anyone, most of all himself. His affair with Monica was the only time he hurt people, and it tortured him that he could be so selfish in giving in to this indulgence. From his appearance in Port Charles in 1976, until the character left town for New York City in 1986, Rick Webber was consistently the family man, the dedicated doctor, the person who would almost always chose what was right over what he personally desired.

Perhaps our society has changed so much that such a character is seen as preachy and one-dimensional, rather than a protagonist and a role model. Maybe the inner workings of angry adult children as they pursue their selfish endeavors with no thought other than their own needs are more a true reflection of the society we are.

I am not interested in watching the pursuits of pouty, self-indulgent characters as they blindly pursue their desires without any thought of their own responsibility to the world in which they live, the people with whom they come into contact, the children they raise. I am an adult. Even as a child, I was more interested in adults – they provide a road map, a role model, a guide to what life might hold in store, and how to hold your head up high even while your feet of clay are crumbling. But not these so-called adults.

When Rick Webber returned to town in 2002, he quickly became a victim of the trend in soap writing: That every character has a dark side, and those who were held in the highest esteem should have the biggest dark sides, and the farthest to fall. (Those who lived their lives on the wrong side of society's laws, however, were deemed authentic because they did not subscribe to the so-called hypocrisy of the former.) Rick's one major mistake, his affair with Monica, was quickly revealed to be only one in a string of dalliances, one of which resulted in the death of his paramour, a chain reaction leading to Rick's own death and the destruction of his adoptive daughter's sanity. Rick, it seems, had injected Laura with a mind-altering drug so she could not remember what she had done to his lover – and, presumable, what Rick himself had done. Although Rick Webber had once prided himself on taking responsibility for his actions, this man was apparently a fabrication.

In ten years or so, when the last soap opera is finally canceled due to lack of ratings, maybe TV gurus will look back on this time period as when fan defections grew to an unstoppable momentum. When favorite characters were trashed, when fans were shoved villains down their throats and told what to think and for whom to root, when people finally got fed up at watching programs that were personally revolting.

For the vast majority of fans do not have deep, ugly, dark sides and secrets, and they are not hypocrites. They are adults; they want to watch other adults living "life plus" – a fantasy of "love in the afternoon" where, for an hour or so, we can live vicariously through people who have riches and romances we can only dream about.

But to recognize that need, one would have to look beyond one's own petty, dark view of the world, and give the customer what the customer wants. In other words, one would have to be an adult.

Sadly, there are very few adults on soap operas produced by ABC Daytime, and seemingly even fewer working behind the scenes.

By the summer of 2002 I had given up on General Hospital, but I returned to watching when I learned that Rick Webber would be returning. I hoped GH would finally address the question of Rick and Lesley's marriage which had not been mentioned since Lesley returned from the dead in December, 1996. As far as we knew neither Lesley nor anyone else had ever even picked up the phone and called Rick to tell him Lesley was alive.

I was quickly disappointed when Rick and Lesley had their first scene together. What a let down! I should have known right then that this story wasn't going to be about them or even acknowledge their history. Not only did they have no story together, but I think they only had one or two more scenes together and both were in groups.

I was even more disappointed when Guza had Lesley describe Rick as a serial adulterer to both Laura and Luke. Rick was never anything like that. He had an affair with Monica and he ended it. Lesley would never have agreed to remarry him if there had been even the slightest hint that Rick indulged in one affair after another.

Rick was a family man and he loved his family. At times he took them for granted when he became involved in his work or a cause (such as the sports center), but he always loved them. Regardless of what Guza thinks there were no other women in his life. Lesley was the only one for him.

What Guza did to the story of Rick and Lesley was so horrible I don't have the words to describe it. What a waste of potential. It makes me cry just to think about the trashing of the Lesley/Rick story, so I'm not going to write much more. My greatest wish for GH is the someone at ABC will wake up and realize how the show and its characters have been destroyed and then do something about it. But I don't really expect that to happen.

Rick Webber had a lot of great dramatic moments during his ten years on
General Hospital. But it’s the romantic comedy with leading lady Lesley
Webber that really touched my heart. This is probably my favorite example
from June, 1980:

     Lesley’s final divorce decree arrived by messenger. She was very upset
because she had divorced Rick because she truly loved him and wanted him to
be with his son. She called both Howard and Zelda looking for company. But
neither were home. So she headed out to the disco. This young guy named
Chet decided to pick her up. Lesley and Chet did a lot of dancing and even
more drinking that night at the disco. Laura was concerned for her
obviously drunk mother and called the only person she knew Lesley would
listen to, Rick. Rick arrived at the disco and rescued Lesley, from mostly
herself.

     Rick, Lesley, Howard & Zelda arrive at the Webber house. Rick directs
the very drunk Lesley to the staircase and is trying to get her to go
upstairs. Rick and Lesley are standing on the staircase.
Zelda: “Do you need any help?”
Rick: “No, I’ve got everything in hand.”
Lesley: “Oh sure is that what you told the Judge? No, no judge I’ve got
everything in hand. Of course not because you know what he would say. What
do you mean by everything and what do you mean by in hand?” Rick escorts
Lesley upstairs.

     The next scene occurs right after Luke says at the disco: “I think he
still loves her and he doesn’t know it.” Lesley is lying on the bed not
looking too well.
Lesley tells Rick that she actually thinks of him while she's in bed.
Lesley: “Did I upset you by saying that?”
Rick: “No.”
Lesley: "It's hell sleeping alone. Isn't it? Wait. You're the guy,
you're not sleeping alone. Didja know statistics say that after a divorce,
it’s usually the woman who ends up sleeping alone?”
Rick just nods his head. He is feeling guilty about her condition, but at
the same time he seems amused by her playful drunken behavior.
Lesley: “Rick, the room’s spinning”
Rick: “Right here. I was just getting a cool washcloth for your head.” He
sits on the bed. She leans back in his arms and he puts the washcloth on
her forehead.
Rick: “I’m just going to rub your neck a little.”
Lesley: “Ouch!”
Rick: “Sorry, your hair got caught on my watch.” He takes his watch off and
places it on the nightstand.
Lesley admitted to Rick that he was doll even though she should probably
hate him, she couldn't because he was such a doll.
He rubs her neck a little more and she’s asleep. Rick turns off the light
and leaves. Howard & Zelda are still downstairs.

     The next morning Lesley wakes up still looking pretty lousy and sees
Rick’s watch on the nightstand. The phone rings. It’s Rick calling to
check on her. She asked him what happened last night. She doesn’t
remember. He doesn’t tell her but instead says that he’s coming over.
Lesley is left to wonder what did happen.

     If I didn’t get these scenes exactly right, please forgive me for they
have been living only in my head for the last 23 years. If anyone has a
tape to share of the Rick and Lesley bedroom scene, I would dearly love to
talk to you.

In fond memory of Dr. Rick Webber,
Reichert98@hotmail.com

I only watched GH because I was looking for memories of AW. When I saw Dr. Webber I was very happy because he was on AW as Jason Frame. Jason's brother Steven Frame was the reason I fell in love with AW. I was very upset at how he died when I was watching GH a year ago. I was looking forward to learning more about his character on GH. I will always look for him on Soapnet marathons. AWvet

Rick Webber was the perfect man. He was handsome, gentle , generous and incredibly compassionate. He was the kind of man your parents dreamed you’d marry. He came from a good family. He was ambitious, educated and caring. He went off to Africa to help people in need. He was a doctor without borders before the term became official. He loved his family, his work, the small town in upstate New York where he grew up. Like even the most perfect man he had flaws, he loved passionately and found it hard to resist the attentions of past loves. He always felt the need to be a straight arrow. Lesley Webber was the ideal wife. She was good and kind and mild, the kind of woman everyone expected him to marry. He did, and he loved her as much as he could. Sometimes in life there are truths we just can’t deny. An old flame named Monica was Rick’s truth. As much as he tried, and God knows he tried, he never got past his first love. Sadly they never got past “doing the right thing” and got on to doing what was right for them. Rick seemed to be on his way back to Monica when fate got in the way again. Maybe in another place and other life Rick will find peace….and the love he could never forget.

Marti the_high_priestess2001@yahoo.com