Soap Opera: Uncensored

by Nelson Branco

  *Source: Soap Opera Network (soapoperanetwork.com)

  —Scuttlebutt is that Prospect Park may be setting their sights on recently ousted Y&R star Eden Riegel to reprise her Emmy-winning role as Bianca. But now that Riegel is happily living in L.A. (Canuck hubby Andrew Miller is The Secret Circle’s executive producer), will she move to New York where AMC is said to be filming its online venture? Bringing back Riegel would make the online transition much easier… and could entice Susan Lucci to sign on the dotted line.

  The Bold and the Beautiful, CBS — When Reality Stars Invade!

  --The Bachelor’s Jake Pavelka returns to B&B as the Forrester pilot who helps out Rick and Hope. Maybe he’ll get a moniker this time around. He’s not the only reality star headed to CBS: Big Brother winner Rachel Reilly reclaims the role of bartender Rachel on Oct. 28 and 31. Reilly told Uncensored, “I would love to be Sally Spectra’s long-lost daughter!” Joining the controversial reality TV star is her fiancé Brendon Vileages… who will play — wait for it — a bartender named Brendon.

  —Look for Hope, Liam and Steffy to appear in a series of location shoots in Aspen this week. B&B took advantage of show runner Brad Bell’s Aspen home.

  —Congrats to Emmy winner — how cool is that to say out loud? — Scott Clifton who became engaged to his longtime sweetheart Nicole Lampson. Also, Emmy winner Heather Tom tied the knot to her man, James Achor, on Sept. 17.

  Days of our Lives, NBC – Great Scott: Is James bolting?

  —Here we go, again! The latest Sony actor up for contract renewal is Daytime Emmy-nominated hunk James Scott. Soap Opera Digest was responsible for giving every DAYS fan a stroke when it revealed that Scott was leaving the reinvented soap opera. However, Scott issued this release: "It has always been my wish to continue working with 'Days of our Lives,' and in light of recent reassurances given, I am optimistic of my future here at DAYS!”

  Whew! With DAYS trying to attract AMC fans, lapsed viewers and seduce new viewers, Scott’s departure could seriously damage the show’s efforts. And my fluffer dreams.

  -—Ken Corday’s the new Susan Lucci! The executive-producer-turned-author is releasing the paperback version of his lovely memoir, “The Days Of Our Lives: The Untold Story of One Family’s Dream and The True History of Days of our Lives” (Source Books) on November 15. This week’s print edition of Soap Opera Digest has part-one of an excerpt that focuses on why the legacy show runner decided to reboot his dying serial this past summer.

  Here’s a sampling: “But, as my mother, taught me,” Corday writes, “and taught me well, never bite the hand that feeds you. Instead, respect it, kiss it, and feed it in return. Love and respect your fans.” Yep, it only took Corday four decades to realize this.

  —Those PR kids at DAYS are sure on a roll! By sheer coincidence it showcased a cameo by Hollywood pariah Patti Stanger, who on the very day she appeared on the NBC sudser made sexist and homophobic comments, which ultimately engulfed Twitter. Wonder if the Stanger controversy helped boost DAYS ratings in the first days of its reboot…

  —DAYS’s reboot numbers won’t be in for a week but co-headwriter Marlene McPherson leaked that: “and away we go! Up 19% in household and in 18-49 we are up 43% from a month ago, 25% up from last week! We still have a ways to go - but we are off and running! Thank you to everyone who watched!” By the way: Loving the new DAYS! It’s the first show I put on each day. However, thanks to Ken Corday’s penchant for creative passive aggressiveness (fool me once, shame on you; fool me twice, shame on me)… I have to wonder how long it takes before he fucks this up!

  —Ari Zucker concurred with my belief that Brady and Nicole aren’t soul mates. She echoed to welovesoaps.net recently: “I don't think she's met him yet. And this is just my personal experience, through Nicole. Because the men that she has fallen for, they never really, truly loved her, 1000%. They were in love with other women, first. Truly, their investments were in other women, she just happened to be there to pick up the pieces when the other women weren't. Brady is definitely a huge part of her life, but truly his heart will always lie with Chloe.

  I think you can have a great relationship with a man (and this is from a woman's point of view) and you can have great sex (and that's what she's had with both characters, EJ and Brady) but, if she can't capture his heart, a thousand percent, she doesn't have him. If you can't capture their hearts, you don't have that one true love. And I think that's what's happened with her. I think people are capable of loving multiple people, and having deep relationships, but a one true love, soul mate type thing? I don't think she's met him yet.”

  What she said. Hey… remember the hot chemistry between John and Nicole a few years back?!

  —In story 411, Maggie accepts Victor’s marriage proposal this week… and she begins planning her nuptials. Something tells me this isn’t going to go off without a hitch. But how darling was Victor’s proposal to Maggie in Horton Town Square? Across town, an imprisoned John is beaten up in jail (but not Oz-style!). What is the secret that he’s hiding? Well, it’s not that Carrie and Austin’s marriage is in trouble! I’m dying for a Rafe and Carrie hookup so Austin and Sami get a taste of their own medicine!

  —Bravo to the DAYS set designers for creating a fierce, modern and multi-purpose set in the Horton Town Square. To paraphrase Madonna, “It has style, it has grace, and Deidre Hall gives good face!?”

  —This should be catty… and fun: Lauren Koslow goes stiletto-to-stiletto in scenes opposite three-time Emmy winner Sarah Brown this week when Kate and Sarah Brown’s Madison face off this week as their characters. I’m totally psyched to see a woman of Brown’s caliber kick some acting butt on this campy show. Who else thinks that Madison is somehow involved in the new Alice Horton mystery? Could Madison be a long-lost Horton?

  —The big story on the DAYS set is why Alison Sweeney didn’t seemingly give E! approval to run her image opposite Galen Gering on the reality show. Dirty Soap substituted a DAYS scene involving Sami and Rafe kissing with a blurred out Jenna Gering acting as Ali Sweeny. Weird.

  Dirty Soap, E! — Mama Bjorlin’s Future Son-In-Law Speaks!

  —America’s new sweetheart Brandon Beemer is excited about the future prospects of hit E! reality show Dirty Soap. He tells Uncensored: “We will have the ultimate lead-in for our third episode:  Kim Kardashian and Kris Humphries’s wedding! It doesn't get better than that!”  

  As for ratings for the premiere episode, Beemer reports: “The show outperformed what they expected. And our 18-34 demo was incredible strong! E! is all about the show building by using the many reruns.  The show rose 47% over its Keeping up with the Kardashians repeat lead-in.  The episode out performed E!'s day average by 53%. Those are pretty good figures.  We need it to go up though.  All of E!'s hit shows grow from season to season.”

  Now if only the B&B hunk could win over his future mother-in-law Mama Fary Bjorlin. Team Brandon all the way, baby!

  General Hospital, ABC — Was Megan Ford Built to Last?

  —Don’t mess with The Ward — or else! Megan Ward fans are in an uproar with the recasting of their beloved Kate Howard with a much younger actress, Kelly Sullivan. Rumours online suggest that Ward was let go due to something she did behind the scenes, but Uncensored investigated and we’re happy to report that isn’t the case here. “Not true,” answers an insider. “The truth is that Megan is a terrific actress, but [the writers] wanted Kate to explore the grittier, earthy blue-collar side... and that is a different sensibility from Megan.” Also, a friend close to Ward confirms that Megan did nothing to warrant recasting. “GH hasn’t written for her in years… so if she did something, it must have happened a long time ago! [Laughs] Clearly this is just an attempt to take the character in a different direction — nothing more,” says the pal.

 

  —Looks like Katie Couric is already butting heads with executives over at ABC. While in Toronto for a charity event during The Toronto International Film Festival, Cour
ic told reporters that her appearance on The View was “not fun; and I couldn’t get a word in edge wise.” If you saw the episode, you’ll remember that Couric snapped at Barbara Walters after the venerable journalist cut her off. But Couric stood her ground. Looks like Brian Frons, Bill Geddie and Couric’s producer, Jeff Zucker, may have to reign in their divas. Or ABC could just keep GH in its timeslot. Just sayin’.

  —Is Garin Wolf the new David Kreizman? This Just In: GH is still unwatchable. You know GH is going to improve and return to its roots once ABC officially cancels the soap. My bet for whom they’ll hire to write its swan song will be Claire Labine or Sri Rao.

  —Where in the world is Kirsten Storms? Fans are worried as to why GH had to recast the actress for a few weeks. One rumor swirling around is that Storms’ gig on Dirty Soap may have led to her temporary GH departure (FYI: Dirty Soap is still filming). Stay tuned, indeed.

  —According to ABC Corporate In Depth, Brianna Brown, who is back onscreen as psycho Lisa, has booked two episodes on Homeland as a CIA agent and a lady of the evening for a Saudi Arabian prince. Congrats!

  —Move over, Daniel Goddard! There’s a new Aussie in daytime and his name is Nathin Butler, according to a tweet from the actor discovered by Daytime Confidential. The newcomer will be play therapist Dr. Ewan Keenan. No first airdate was available.

 

  One Life To Live, ABC – 100/100: Evans’s Breast-Cancer Battle!

  —My favorite soap actress of all time, Andrea Evans, is back as Tina and I’m in heaven! Evans’ arrival in Llanview helps with my Robin Strasser and Trevor St. John withdrawals… well, almost. Evans revealed to People Magazine that she was diagnosed with stage-one breast cancer this past April… but she is now cancer free. Hence the bad wig she’s wearing on screen these days.

  —Whoohoo: Head Writer Ron Carlivati has agreed to join Prospect Park’s network, The Online Network, as head writer and consulting producer for the show's reboot. In June, Carlivati was slated to join the writing team over at GH but has wisely turned down the offer (sorry, GH fans). And five more stars, including Jerry verDorn, Melissa Archer, Kelley Missal and Andrew Trischitta have also agreed to move online, pending final AFTRA agreements. The actors will join Ted King, Michael Easton, Kassie DePaiva, Sean Ringgold and Erika Slezak on the online reboot.

  In a statement, Carlivati said, "I am both excited and honored to remain with One Life to Live as Head Writer and Consulting Producer when the show moves online. My heartfelt thanks to Executive Producer Frank Valentini, as well as to Rich Frank and Jeff Kwantinetz of Prospect Park for this incredible opportunity. I would also like to express my very sincere gratitude to everyone at ABC Daytime, especially Jill Phelps at General Hospital, for supporting me in this decision."

  —Former GL and GH stud Kurt McKinney will play a physician at the Kentucky hospital on the October 14 episode of One Life.

  —During the first episode of Dirty Soap, Farah Fath confirmed what many of us predicted: she was indeed slated to play Gigi’s evil sister, Stacy Morasco. Unfortunately, with the soap’s cancellation that plan has been scrapped. Or has it? Methinks this could be red herring….

  —In story 411, Jess discovers Natalie’s paternity results… but isn’t sure whether or not so spill the beans. I’m loving this angry version of Jessica because it reminds me of Tess (the only role that Bree Williamson simply shines in). I’m also digging Jess and Ford’s unconventional flirtation. And how great was that showdown between Jess and Natalie?! So intense. As my friend Spin's Vixenella remarked to me the other day: there’s no right side in this rivalry, which makes it fascinating to watch, mining the past of these two sisters within the argument made it must-watch TV. More, please! I pray Jess and Natalie keep feuding for years to come. Sibling rivalry is the theme of One Life these days… as it always has been… which is a nice change of pace from Ron Carlivati’s father-influenced One Life these past few years.

  —Hey, Josh Kelly: is that a porcupine in your pants — or are you just happy to see me? It was nice to see the horrified actor on Dirty Soap this past Sunday. His incredulous look mimicked my own when he was listening to Farah Fath and JP Lavoisier’s stories. Priceless.

  —Is Victor Lord Jr. alive? Expect a lot of twists in this addictive murder mystery. Possible buzz suggests that Irene faked Victor’s death so he can reclaim Roger Howarth’s mug and impersonate Todd again (and sign over all of the Lord fortune to Irene).

  —Will Emmy winner Hillary B. Smith join Prospect? Crystal Chappell’s BFF is not so sure. She tells TheaterMania: “I can say that Nora and Bo will be leaving together when we stop taping on ABC, and that makes me very happy. As for the online venture, I am very excited that the show's fans will have another venue, and I am sorry for ABC that they made this decision. But I don't know what's in store for me after Thanksgiving, when I stop shooting One Life. Things are up in the air.” And not with George Clooney.

  The Talk, CBS — The Rumor: More exits?

  —I’m hearing that Mrs. CBS, Julie Chen, is still on the warpath… and temporary substitute Sheryl Underwood and Molly Shannon may be headed out, too. Holly Robinson Peete and Leah Remini were shown the door this summer.

  As for the controversy surrounding The Talk inviting former AMC actors to the show for a cooking segment to send up the sudser’s awful replacement, The Chew, I say, “awesome counter programming.” Yes, The Talk replaced World Turns… but at least this show is giving people like Susan Lucci their platform. Hey, unless you’re a Nielsen’s home, you can watch One Life and tape The Talk whenever your faves are on. No harm, no foul. It was nice to hear how the AMC actors were doing post-AMC.