Suds Report for October 10, 2008

[xtr]

http://tvguide.sympatico.msn.ca/The+Suds+R...n_NB.htm?isfa=1

The Suds Report: Oct. 10, 2008

By Nelson Branco

‘OLTL’s Justis Bolding fired! ‘AMC’ Shocker: Bianca returns pregnant with Zach’s baby! Plus: Kendall’s four-month coma! Tamara Braun and Eden Riegel: Short-term visit? Worst news ever: Is ‘Y&R’s Graz bolting? Exclusive Daytime Emmy news!

NEWSIEST QUOTES OF THE WEEK:

“I’m definitely going out with a bang.”

—Amanda Baker (Babe, All My Children) informs this week’s Soap Opera Digest

Translation: They would never kill off Alexa Havins!

DAYTIME IN MOURNING:

Eileen Herlie and Irene Dailey pass away

The daytime community suffered two more devastating losses this past week. It was announced earlier this week that Emmy winner Irene Dailey (ex-Elizabeth "Aunt Liz" Matthews, Another World) died at age 88 on Sept. 24 in Santa Rosa, Calif. Within days of the sad news, fans learned soap vet Eileen Herlie (ex-Myrtle Fargate, AMC) died on Oct. 8 in New York City at age 90. 2008 will be remembered as a year of extreme losses (Beverlee McKinsey, Robert Calhoun and Larry Haines). For Marlena Delacroix’s fond memories of Herlie and Dailey click here and here.

Finally, memo to NATAS: you better start paying tribute to fallen artists at next year’s Daytime Emmy ceremony.

AWARDS CENTRAL:

Emmy category update

Speaking of NATAS, Academy rep Brent Stanton tells The Suds Report exclusively that next year’s Daytime Emmy Awards will not include a guest-star category, despite my efforts. Damn you, people!

“The academy voted against it,” he says, adding that the next vote will determine whether there will be two or three pre-nominees. Buzz is the voting committee is leaning towards eliminating last year’s controversial third pre-nominee addition.

Sadly, despite head writer Sri Rao’s sizzling and stunning debut on GH: Night Shift, Stanton says the nighttime spinoff will not be eligible in the daytime competition. D’oh!

All My Children, A/ABC — How Thorsten Kaye impregnated a lesbian!

• Good news: Alicia Minshew (Kendall) has re-signed with All My Fetuses. The overworked star was not only granted a big raise, but also a four-month vacation before her new contract begins. Expect our vixen to languish in a coma while Minshew takes off to wed Prohibition bar owner Richie Herschenfeld.

• Minshew’s four-month absence (they’re pre-taping her scenes) is the reason Eden Riegel (Bianca) and Tamara Braun (Reese) are headed to Pine Valley. Rumour has it Riegel and Braun have only signed “four-month contracts, but that could be extended,” hints a network source.

Now here’s the story shocker of the year, folks: After the tornado hits next week, viewers will learn Binks is 12-months pregnant — with Zach’s baby! Turns out Bianca wanted Miranda to be related to her rapist father, Michael (ewww!) and sister, Kendall’s children and Zach happily obliged without informing his wife, Kendall! Hey, at least it’s not Ryan’s magic sperm.

• Despite auditioning 20 big Broadway names and former soap stars for the role of Jesse’s former lover, Rebecca, Laura Koffman (ex-Cassie, OLTL) nabbed the coveted role. Koffman is said to have signed a four-month contract (is there an echo in here?) because Rebecca may suffer from a life-threatening illness. Koffman tortures Debbi Morgan (Angie) beginning Oct. 28.

• Yep, as I reported eons ago, nothing’s changed on the Rebecca Budig contract renewal front. “ABC isn’t giving up,” says a source close to Greenlee’s biggest fan next to Luke Kerr, Brian Frons. However, Budig’s inner circle maintains, “She can’t wait to get out of here!”

As The Cookie Crumbles, Facebook.com — Kraft’s new soap

Check this out, soap freaks: A Toronto ad company created a web-based soap opera series for Kraft's brand Peek Freans called As the Cookie Crumbles. The web series, which just launched its third eppy, can be consumed here.

As The World Turns, Global/CBS — Lindstrom cast as Craig!

• Who needs soaps? Mr. Julie Pinson, (Janet) Billy Warlock (ex-Frankie, DAYS; ex-AJ, GH), just booked a part one of prime-time’s most critically acclaimed shows, Damages. Congrats, Billy.

• That sound you hear? Scott Bryce and Hunt Block downing tequila shots at a local strip club! As The Recast Turns has hired Jon Lindstrom (ex-Kevin/Ryan, GH/PC) as nuCraig Montgomery. The Suds Report recently caught up with the actor at TV Guide’s post-Emmy bash, where Lindstrom hinted a soap deal was in the works. “I’d love to do daytime again,” he said. “But I doubt GH will want me back. In the meantime, I’m having fun writing film and TV scripts.”

Lindstrom, who first airs on Dec. 3, is a friend of Barbara Bloom. The CBS V-P head-wrote the actor on the now-defunct Port Charles. Hey, Babs: not sure what you have against one of daytime’s best actors, Mr. Block, but this isn’t such a bad coup. You’re learning. Now if you could convince Lynn Herring (ex-Lucy, GH) to play Rosanna, Brian Frons may take you seriously as a rival.

The Bold and the Beautiful, CTV/CBS — Maybe Hunt Block can play Thomas Forrester?

• Drew Taylor Bell returns as Thomas Forrester on Oct. 30 until Nov. 3 to annoy the crap out of me! Why doesn’t B&B recast this legacy character? Now would have been perfect timing considering his parents, Ridge and Taylor, play tongue hockey this week. Looks like the CBS sudser is playing the big four (Ridge/Brooke/Taylor/Nick) again. Smart move.

Days of our Lives, Global/NBC — James E. Reilly returning?

• Is James E. Reilly DAYS’ best shot at surviving the axe? Although the NBC soap earned an impressive 250,000 new viewers last week (seriously, was Dena Higley born with a horseshoe up her you-know-what?), there is increasing talk in the industry that Reilly could be asked back as a last ditch effort to save DAYS from cancellation. Me? I say, go for it. Reilly brought DAYS back from the brink before and kept it No. 1 in the demos for almost a decade. Also, DAYS is still paying out Reilly for firing him, so it would make sound financial sense, too. With Passions behind him, perhaps Reilly can undo the damage he created towards the end of his run.

• Want to access DAYS and Y&R 24/7? For the first time in Canada, television viewers will have free access to the biggest slate of their favorite first-run Global and E! network shows On Demand from Rogers Cable. In addition to several prime-time shows, Salem and Genoa City will be made available to loyal fans across the country.

General Hospital, CTV/ABC — Zzzz…

• Vincent Pastore (Maximus) concludes his Port Murder visit on Oct. 15. Yep, that’s all I have for you this week. Like the rest of you GH fans, I’m just waiting for Bob Guza to be fired as head writer. Not that I have anything against him personally, but Guza needs a break. A really long break from the soap world. And some therapy.

General Hospital: Night Shift, SoapNet/DirecTV — Allen re-signs! And who the hell is Sri Rao?

• Click here to see why I love Night Shift so much.

• Head writer Sri Rao tells The Suds Report Chad Allen (Eric) signed on for one more additional episode as Dr. Kyle Julian’s bum buddy! Return to TVGuide.ca this Wednesday for a must-read interview with the talented newcomer. Who the hell is Sri Rao? Will he join GH? Will he re-sign with NS next season? Is he a soap fan? How old is he? What does he look like? And what’s his surprising and juicy confession? God, I sound like one of those awful ABC promos! “Everybody’s got their something…” and I got one kick-ass interview with Rao!

One Life to Live, A/ABC — Justis Bolding fired!

• This just in: Justis Bolding has been let go as the faux Sarah Roberts. Thank you, soap god Ron Carlivati! On this special day in soap opera history, I also — coincidentally, mind you — want to announce I love the Marty and Todd romance. Love it. Can't get enough of it, actually. Isn't that weird? In fact, they're my favourite in all of daytime! Go Tarty!

• Never heard of Puddle of Mudd, but clearly exec producer Frank Valentini has. The popular rock group makes their soap debut at the end of December when they perform their current hit “We Don't Have to Look Back Now” at Ultra Violet. Hmmm… wonder if Puddle of Mudd will be serenading Todd and Marty? “You had me at gang rape,” coos Marty.

• News to make you smile: Fred Johnson, one of the writers DAYS fired during the writers’ strike, has finally landed a job as a breakdown scribe on One Life. Congrats!

• Is this the love interest Andrea Evans (Tina) was referring to in a recent Michael Fairman interview? And do I care? Of course not. Christopher Cousins (Cain) is back on Oct. 13. Maybe he’ll find the real Tina this time around.

• What would Viki think? Pornflash: Former minister and wannabe gay Joey Buchanan is one super-nasty porn star! Look at what Nathan Fillion's been, er, up to during his most recent Llanview hiatus in his hilarious guest-starring stint on James Gunn's PG PORN: Nailing Your Wife.

Planet Soap, TVTropolis — It’s a bird, it’s a plane, it’s Super Rapist!

• When you’re at the mercy of soap opera writers, anything can happen to you — especially when you act on One Life to Live and General Hospital. Regular Joes can turn into demon slayers and real-life comic book heroes on Planet Soap’s next episode.

Soaps In The City, MichaelFairmansoaps.com — Top soap stars to attend Love out Loud West’s AIDS WALK kicks off in LA

• If you’re in the L.A. area on Oct. 16 check out this charity event. Cops 4 Causes and POZ magazine, in association with Michael Fairman On-Air On-Soaps are pleased to announce the first, Soaps In the City celebrity fundraiser. The event serves as a kickoff to AIDS Walk Los Angeles weekend and benefits APLA (AIDS Project Los Angeles). The biggest and brightest stars from the top daytime dramas will attend the event, and lend their support to the fight against the HIV/AIDS pandemic. As well, the evening will also be the official launch party of daytime’s hottest new website, www.michaelfairmansoaps.com. On Oct. 16th from 6:30-9:00PM, at the hip East/West Lounge in West Hollywood, Calif., daytime comes out in full force for an evening of red-carpet arrivals, special performances, cocktails, and music by DJ ORA, and a very special Soap Family Feud competition.

The Young and the Restless, Global/CBS — Graz out? Goddard a Canuck?

• Worst News Ever Alert: Don’t leave me, Graz! Soap Opera Digest quotes a well-placed source who reports one of the daytime TV’s finest younger actors, Michael Graziadei (Daniel) will not renew his contract when it expires in March 2009. Nooooooooooooooooooooo!

• That guy named Daniel Goddard (Cane) tells The Suds Report he wants to become an honorary Canuck after his recent trip to the city that always sleeps, Hamilton, Ont., a few weeks back. The Y&R stud is scheduled to return to Ontario on Nov. 8 and Nov. 9 for The National Women’s Show at the Metro Convention Centre (nationalwomenshow.com), so buy your tickets, bitches! The Aussie superstar enthuses, “I love Canada. Love the food, love the beer, and love the people. It's like going back to Australia and hanging out with friends who speak the same language, but instead of a 14-hour flight, it’s only five hours.” Imagine how much he’ll love our peaceful nation when I’m here to welcome him… in handcuffs!

[marceline]

I wonder if Nelson's even capable of writing when he's not tweaking.

[dm.]

I really don't know what to say about the possibility of Reilly coming back to DAYS, but something (read: anything) good needs to come to the soap.

Graz, please don't leave! We need him to stay in Genoa City!

And why oh why is this Nelson dude so disgusted by Justis? What did the poor girl do to him?

[LeClerc]

So let me get this straight: Bianca and Reese will most likely be gone from AMC before Kendall even wakes up from her coma!?

So what the h*ll is the point of this baby story?

[Vee]

"The real Tina." Klassy. [sic]

[alwaysAMC]

How can someone be 12 months pregnant?

[UKBoi]

[UKBoi]

This just reeks of Nelson blowing smoke out of his ass. The truth is, we know Riegel (and most likely Braun) won want to stick around long term, but four months seems like a very short amount of time to me. I would give them at least six months-to-a-year.

[Kelli]

Glad I'm not the only thinking how this doesn't make any sense. Maybe Nelson isn't accurate this time?

I hate this Bianca/Zach thing but to have all this take place off screen, only for Bianca to run back to Paris right when Kendall wakes up? This seriously won't do Bianca any favors, I mean she's too much of a coward to ask her sister about all of this to begin with, then she's too much of a coward to face her afterwards? I agree, what's the point?

[Vee]

Branco just updated with this:

[rsmith2k2]

I have to agree and I've been comparatively okay with the baby story (though I would not have chosen for Bianca the lesbian in Zach's harem) and very okay with the Reese and Bianca angle.

I didn't expect Eden to necessarily stay long am a huge fan and glad to see her. But to do all that for a four month stint seems like way the hell too much story for the time period involved. Too much upheaval just to have Bianca and Reese zoom away in Feb Sweeps., imo Maybe they'll extend, true but pilot season will be around and after the writer's strike year, I imagine actors are chomping at the bit for new opportunities.

But I really feel the show needs to give major characters like Greenlee and Bianca consistent storytime. This months on and months off is disruptive to the show I think overall.

[miajere]

interesting- I wonder why they wouldn't put her on recurring- continue her story and allow her time off canvas....This must free up alot of money.

[Vee]

I'm not going to say Tina's re-introduction has been a stunning success, but I do think there are a number of factors involved. It's not a case of something where you can throw the baby out with the bathwater, like Sarah Brown's return to GH or Rebecca Budig on AMC. Tina has finally begun to be reintegrated and she is too important to the fabric of the show. I really hope they are able to work something out.

[pinkflamingo44]

Very Interesting Suds Report this week. Too bad GH is such a snore, I thought NB might know something about the GH pulling a Dallas rumor or the hints that the character of Jerry is being killed off. Maybe next week.

[Adam]

The 4 month contract thing sounds very fishy. I think its just Nelson covering his ass similar to how other spumour folks do