Nelson Branco's Soap Opera Uncensored: Issue 42

by Nelson Branco

who actually looks like Jason Brooks’ doppelganger (see the above Missy Reeves story), promises a big storyline for the Quartermaines.

  If Valentini were really intent on saving the show, the first thing he should do is convince Jack Wagner, Vanessa Giovinazzo and Sarah Brown to return to the embattled series instead of focusing all this airtime with Joe Scully Jr. and hair models.

  • Future Emmy winner Jason Thompson has a new zip code: the handsome and talented actor is the latest Canadian thespian to join 90210. Don’t worry, Scrub fans: Thompson is just a guest star on an upcoming, still-to-be-determined episode this upcoming season.

  THE GROVE, thegrovetheseries.com — Into The Groovy Groove!

  • The soap genre’s biggest slacker (ha!), Crystal Chappell recently announced that the highly anticipated THE GROVE will go in to full production Aug. 25-29 and will shoot in and around Los Angeles.

  The Emmy winner tells Michael Fairman’s ON AIR ON SOAPS that viewers can expect an Aaron Sorkin-feel to the web soap! “The script is very ‘heady’ as one person alluded too, but the dialog kind of pops along and it has a much faster pace,” she shares. “It is reminiscent of an Aaron Sorkin show with that light, breezy, popping dialog.  However, THE GROVE takes place in a small town and has a small town vibe to it.”

  Unlike Sorkin, it’s doubtful Chappell will fire her writing staff after a couple of episodes, however!

  In this narrative, Chappell and Jessica Leccia’s characters will be married. “They got married back in the time when couple’s could,” she sets up. “So they got married, but they never had the wedding, because they were rushed to make it happen and there was a sense of urgency to get this done. They are not the wealthiest folks. So they have to go back to work.  So the pilot is the wedding, and yes, there are other parts of story going on as well.”

  THE GROVE will be originally shot just as a pilot and not a series at which point Chappell will be shopping it around. “I want to try to get it out there without a subscription,” she sates.  

  ONE LIFE TO LIVE — Going Once, Going Twice, Bring Llanview Back!

  • More proof it’s unlikely ONE LIFE will be headed back to our screens any time soon: Several beloved items and other memorabilia from the ONE LIFE set, including decorative pieces from the Lord Library, furniture from Asa's bedroom, Viki's chaise lounge and even Victor Lord Jr.'s headstone, are set to be auctioned off at Capo Auction Fine Art and Antiques in New York City on August 18 at 11 a.m, reports DIGEST. There will also be three days of previews beginning on Wednesday, August 15 from 10 a.m.-7 p.m.,Thursday, August 16, 10 a.m.-6 p.m. and Friday, August 17, from 10 a.m.-5 p.m. For more information and the full catalogue of items, visit www.capoauction.com. I’m totally going to outbid anyone for Megan’s Daisy Award and Cutter’s underwear collection.

  THE YOUNG AND THE RESTLESS — Y&R 2.0? Exclusive: Inside CBS/Sony’s Y&R Meeting! Rowell Back?

  • Is there a Y&R spin-off in the works? According to an insider, “no.”

  Rumours began swirling that Y&R was planning a spin-off on message boards a week ago. “If CBS was looking for a spin-off, it would just commission Brad Bell to make B&B an hour. Plus, there’s no room on the daytime schedule right now.” Moreover, Y&R is no position to be thinking about another show when its own backyard is a mess.

  • Actors, producers and writers have been acting on edge after news broke CBS/Sony kicked The Bells out at Y&R.

  This is probably why CBS and Sony introduced new head writer Josh Griffith and executive producer Jill Farren Phelps at Television City a couple of days ago.

  What went down?

  According to several witnesses, everyone from the cast and crew were invited to attend the meeting the day before (even Michael Fairman, who plays Murphy).

  As you remember, two weeks ago Maria Arena Bell called an impromptu set meeting to confirm that she was indeed leaving the series as it show runner.

  “I wouldn’t be surprised if this was Sony and CBS’s way of usurping Maria’s ‘emotional’ cast and crew meeting,” speculates one source.

  CBS Daytime V-P Angelica McDaniel spoke on behalf of the network to assure everyone that they are thrilled and committed about the future of Y&R. “This isn’t shop talk,” she stressed. “We’re excited about keeping Y&R number one and on the air forever, which is why we’re making big moves. Amazing things are about to happen.”

  Griffith, meanwhile, made most of the 200 people assembled chuckle when he listed the amount of time he’s been off Y&R right down to the years, months, hours and seconds.

  “I couldn’t wait to come back,” he said. “And that I ended up with the final word in the end!” He added that he’s inspired and ecstatic over taking over the Genoa City reins.

  JFP kept her words brief, noting that she has a big mouth, which people will soon become accustomed to when she’s on set. She also said she looks forward to meeting everyone on the crew and cast since “I only know a couple of you.”

  It’s important to note that a sullen Eric Braeden, who was on set taping, however, didn’t attend the meeting.

  Jeanne Cooper was absent as well but she’s been working 24-7 promoting her New York Times Best Selling memoir, NOT YOUNG, STILL RESTLESS.

  Speaking of La Cooper, next week UNCENSORED will publish part-two of our lively interview so look out for that.

  •The plan to perform reconstructive surgery on the most ruined character in recent daytime history, Sharon Newman, is already currently underway.

  • What’s happening with Y&R writing team, you ask? Not much is known about who Josh Griffith is keeping or bringing in but, at press time, Hogan Sheffer is still employed by Y&R; but insiders surmise that’s because with co-head writers Scott Hamner and Maria out, they need someone to help in the transition phase between the old and new regimes. Given that Sheffer is only a long-term storywriter, and that Griffith likes to work alone, Hogan will more than likely be given his walking papers soon.

  • Here’s some promising casting news: SOAP OPERA NETWORK is reporting that sexy, intense actor Graham Shiels, who most recently on LEVERAGE and TRUE BLOOD, has been cast opposite Eric Braeden and Genie Francis beginning Sept. 10.

  Speaking of Y&R casting, don’t be too surprised if Jill Farren Phelps gets rid of Y&R’s new casting director, formally of AMC, Judy Blye Wilson.

  • Y&R’s new creative focus: Shakespearean family drama between the Newmans and the Abbotts. Maybe The Winters or Baldwins. Let me clarify something from my report last week, which got some fans’ knickers in a knot: I didn’t imply that Y&R would become the Dumb, Young and the Restless. That’s not the case all; in fact, it’s the opposite.

  CBS/Sony wants to focus on the NEXT generation, not the young/new generation. Ie. Characters like Sharon/Phyllis/Nick/Billy/Adam. Let’s put it this way: you won’t have to see a 70-year-old man naked, in bed with younger women and boxing in stables for much longer. No one wants to see that.

  • Is Victoria Rowell headed back to Y&R? While my sources say she’s already plotting her return to the show (in her head), she’ll have a harder time realizing the impossible goal.

  Two years ago, Maria Arena Bell called me personally to ask me to speak to Victoria about toning down her attacks against CBS/Sony and claims of racism because she was this close to convincing the team to bring Drucilla back from the dead. “But every time I make headway with a certain actor or Sony, Victoria will lambast the company with claims of racism in THE WASHINGTON POST or on Twitter,” the future Emmy winner complained to me.

  As a friend of Rowell’s, at the time, I called her to give her a head’s up because I was dying for the parties to make peace so I could get my beloved Drucilla back on the air.

  Rowell, who was out promoting her “fictional” novel, SECRETS OF A SOAP OPERA DIVA, wasn’t at her Hollywood or Atlanta homes, so I left a message on her cell phone after calling her two posh dwellings.

  That was a mistake!

  Reactively, Rowell didn’t see th
is as good news and immediately took to Twitter to spin that one of Bell’s minions was harassing her at homes about keeping quiet.

  Harass? I’ve been in Rowell’s home numerous times for dinner and parties (check out the photos on my Facebook page). She’s invited me to stay at her house for weeks while in L.A. on business whenever I wanted. We talked on the phone almost every day. We interviewed every six months. She even asked me to ghostwrite her novel, which I declined for professional reasons. Heck, she even mentioned me in her book by name!

  I merely suggested she keep her trap shut for a while if she wanted her old job back because her actions were counterproductive. I also wanted to remind Vicki that Maria was on her side. FYI: Maria has hung out with Rowell several times due to their mutual charity and art interests.

  Instead of seeing this intel as the first kind of proof that someone inside the Y&R machine was actually trying to get her back on the show and (after all, she already got her point and issues across several times), she went on a public rampage, a decision that has forever sealed her daytime TV fate.

  Needless to say, that’s the last time we spoke because,