News Round-up

Sweeney's has to clarify ELLEN labor gag
Apparently several media outlets actually believed Alison Sweeney went into labor for real yesterday on ELLEN so a rep for the actress had to make a statement that it was merely part of the show.

"She did not go into labor on ELLEN. It was part of a stunt for the giveaway segment," the rep told ACCESS HOLLYWOOD.

Sweeney says "it’s not true. I’m fine. The baby is fine"
"I can’t believe how many people have called, texted and emailed me, my husband and everyone I know to ask about ELLEN today. As if she would really leap over a woman in labor to go open presents! Lol. I was a guest on the show yesterday, and they were so excited to be doing the first day of their big 12 days of giveaways.

The best are the gossip site 'reports'. Uh huh, clearly lots of thorough reporting going on there. One site even claimed I had gone to the hospital. Now they all have retractions up.

So anyway, it’s not true. I’m fine. The baby is fine. I have a check up tomorrow, we’re still looking at mid-January when she’s expected. Thank you all for your concern. I’m sorry if anyone was alarmed! If I had any idea that it wouldn’t be clear that it was a joke, I would have said something, but I just didn’t realize how the story would get so out of control!!"

PATRICK ERWIN: Supercouples, or soap kryptonite
"I think it’s a shame that someone as popular as Deidre Hall is leaving DAYS OF OUR LIVES, but to me, the character of Marlena has been stuck in the supercouple bubble for several years now. Her entire existence seems to focus largely around the fact that she loves John. I can’t help but wonder if this contributed to the character’s period of 'rest' - whether the show felt Marlena was dispensable."

Reminder: AMC's JR Martinez and Beth Ehlers on THE VIEW today
Check local listings for the time. The show airs at 11am here in New York.

Larson's Were the World Mine review
Ty Burr of the Boston Globe writes: "What keeps Were the World Mine from soaring into the delirious forbidden zone to which it aspires isn't the filming, which is low-budget and clumsy but fully felt, especially in the musical numbers. The culprits, instead, are the script (the dialogue comes in two flavors: Shakespeare and halting), the characters (gay or straight, they're all two-dimensional) and the performances. The soap actress Jill Larson plays the principal's snooty wife as a strident homophobic cartoon; when someone who has survived two decades of ONE LIFE TO LIVE can't breathe life into her lines, you know a film is in trouble."

EDITOR'S NOTE: Larson stars on ALL MY CHILDREN not OLTL.

L.A. Times corrects soap article
A few people wrote to me to say the soap article in the L.A. Times had an error. The paper has now published a correction notice: "An article in Thursday's Calendar section about the declining fortunes of daytime dramas referred to CBS' THE BOLD AND THE BEAUTIFUL as the most-watched network soap opera. In fact, it is CBS' THE YOUNG AND THE RESTLESS; THE BOLD AND THE BEAUTIFUL is second."

Dr. Dave dissects TV doctors
"GREY'S ANATOMY primarily is a soap opera. There's very little medicine on it. The patients are there only to forward plot lines about who's bangin' who."

CORRIE's Kym Marsh is pregnant
CORONATION STREET actress Kym Marsh (Michelle) is having a baby with her soap star boyfriend, she revealed today. Delighted Kym, 32, is three months pregnant by 28-year-old HOLLYOAKS hunk Jamie Lomas and is expected to give birth early next summer. She told her happy news to ITV1 bosses just six months after she began dating Jamie - who plays bad boy Warren Fox in the Channel 4 soap - after splitting with husband Jack Ryder.