News Round-up

SAG Corrects Erroneous Media Report: No Suspension Of Strike Authorization Vote
SAG’s national board of directors has not suspended the strike authorization referendum and the board’s October 19 resolution is the last national board decision on this matter.

Daytime soaps facing their own tragic ending
The most recent doom and gloom article about soaps, from Portfolio.com, has made its way to MSNBC.

"'I see this moment as the turning point for soaps,' a top CBS executive told me. 'No format has been hit harder than daytime serials.'

The executive says that within the next two months the network plans to dramatically slash the licensing fees it pays to the independent production companies that make its soaps."

CORRIE's Sophie says no to sex
CORONATION STREET's Sophie Webster is set to agree to a sex ban with her first boyfriend — because he is an evangelical Christian. Millions of viewers of the ITV soap will see the youngster, played by Brooke Vincent, 16, fall for religious newcomer Ben Richardson. She attends his church — and the pair end up taking a vow of chastity.

Heeb @ The Inauguration: A Recap
"After having a gay old time with Rufus, Cyndi, Melissa and Ross, I slipped into the Purple Ball where I totally bonded with Marlena Evans from DAYS OF OUR LIVES and had awkward run-ins with Ashley Judd and Rachel McAdams who all roughly said ‘Yay! Obama!’"

How Nielsen Prepared For The Digital Transition
Nielsen’s role in digital transition has been two-fold:

1) To provide the television industry, policy-makers and local communities with information about how ready television households are for this transition, and

2) To make sure we are ready to measure television broadcasting when it moves to digital transmission.

FNL: The Best Feminist Drama on Television
For a great series about football, FRIDAY NIGHT LIGHTS also has some of the most authentic, intelligent female characters on TV.

Former Miss USA and PASSIONS actress becomes porn star
Kelli McCarty started out as a beauty queen, taking home the title of Miss USA in 1991 and making it as a finalist in the Miss Universe pageant. She then went on to become an actress and played Beth Wallace on PASSIONS. She recently quit mainstream acting for a career in the adult entertainment business.

Panettiere calls 911 from a bar in Rockland County
Hayden Panettiere, who grew up in the Orangetown community of Palisades and was visiting from the West Coast during the Christmas holidays, visited the NV bar in Suffern (5 minutes from my house) on Dec. 23 to see a member of the Joe Turco band. The bouncer found her and proofed her. He gave her the boot for being underage, but kept her driver’s license/identification card, police said. He shouldn’t have kept her ID card and she was correct to ask for it back, Suffern Detective Craig Long said. To get her ID back, Panettiere called 911 – her call going to the Mahwah police, who sent it to Suffern. Police went to the nightclub.

Rutherford gets ruling she wants from judge
A judge ruled today that former GENERATIONS star Kelly Rutherford can take her kid to NYC while she films GOSSIP GIRL.