Scorpio returns ... Other TV shows of interest

Daytime favorite Tristan Rogers reprises his role as superspy Robert Scorpio during the second season of "General Hospital: Nightshift" (beginning 11 p.m. EDT Tuesday, SoapNet).

Rogers has played the dashing 007-like Robert for nearly 30 years, on and off. His last stint as the character was in 2006 on the parent series, "General Hospital." Robert will show up in "Nightshift's" third episode.

"He has the same attitude he has always had. That hasn't changed," Rogers says. But it's soon revealed that Robert is ill when he returns to Port Charles.

His resourceful but estranged daughter, Robin, is a doctor at General Hospital and will be his physician. Their story will be one of the main plots of "Nightshift" -- the changing of a father-daughter relationship.

"So we have Robert coming back as the patient. Robert reconnecting with his daughter, and Robert learning he's (going to be) a grandfather," Rogers says.

How does he take the news of being a grandfather? His ex-wife and fellow international agent, Anna, is having a comical midlife crisis over the news (that story is being played out on "GH" this summer).

"Robert handles the news differently," Rogers says. "There's various transitions he goes through."

Robert was one of daytime's most beloved characters in the '80s. With his Australian accent and a twinkle in his eye, Robert brought a dash of international heroism to daytime. He fought rogue spies, gangsters and insane geniuses.

By the early 1990s, Rogers had enough of playing Robert and left the show. "GH" killed off Robert in an explosion. As soaps would have it, Robert turned up very much alive, in 2006. Robin, though, was angry to learn her father had pretended to be dead all those years.

"Nightshift" is a SoapNet original series and a spin-off of "GH." The weekly, late-night show primarily focuses on the medical side of "GH."

Despite Robert's failing health, Rogers says the character won't be killed off -- again. "I wouldn't be doing this if Robert was going to be killed," he says.

However, "I like there to be a plan. I don't take well to just sitting in the corner."

The same could be said of Robert.

"Robert is getting older. It's a fact of life," Rogers says. " ... He's coming back with a health issue, but it can be as significant or as insignificant as he wants it to be.

"He's wandering the halls (of the hospital) looking for trouble. He's not going to be in a bed for weeks."

Other highlights for the week of July 20 to 26 (all times EDT; check local listings; listings subject to change):

SUNDAY

-- "High School Musical: Get in the Picture" (8 p.m., ABC). West Coast auditions launch with the search for a new cast member to be in the hit musical franchise.

MONDAY

-- "Heidi Fleiss: The Would-Be Madam of Crystal" (9 p.m., HBO). Heidi Fleiss' attempts to open a legal brothel for women are chronicled.

-- "Date My Ex: Jo & Slade" (10 p.m., Bravo). Jo De La Rosa spins off from "The Real Desperate Housewives" to her own dating competition.

TUESDAY

-- "Celebrity Family Feud" (8 p.m., NBC). Ed McMahon takes his family into the Feud.

WEDNESDAY

-- "Sordid Lives: The Series" (10 p.m., Logo). The hit play is revived for a series about life in a small conservative Southern town.

THURSDAY

-- "Smallville" (8 p.m., CW). Pete Ross comes back to town, chews gum and gets superpowers. It's that easy.

FRIDAY

-- "Sharkville" (10 p.m., National Geographic Channel). Scientists learn new things about great white sharks off the coast of Africa.

SATURDAY

-- "Futurama" (8 p.m., Comedy Central). The future is here -- all night long.

(E-mail Terry Morrow of The Knoxville News-Sentinel in Tennessee at morrow2(at)knews.com.)