NEWS: Johnson, Sweeney, Martinez, ATWT, Pop Culture

Boris Johnson's EASTENDERS cameo 'toned down'
Original scripts saw Windsor, who plays Peggy Mitchell on the BBC One soap, claiming to fancy Johnson and admitting that she would happily become "the next Mrs Johnson". The News of the World reports that writers later watered down the exchange, during which Mitchell would have told a friend: "You think you're joking - but if I was 15 years younger..."

The London Mayor, who is married with four children, made his cameo on the soap in September, defending the appearance as a good opportunity to promote arts and culture in the capital.

AMC's J.R. Martinez to be honored with Courage Award
The USSA has rewarded Martinez for his sacrifice and steadfast determination by selecting him as the 2010 recipient of the Mildred “Babe” Didrikson-Zaharias Courage Award. The award is presented to a person that demonstrates courageous action in overcoming adversity to excel in sports and exhibits grace and perseverance in doing so.

Top 10 pop culture trends of the decade
8. No more love in the afternoon: This has been an extraordinarily bad decade for soap operas. While the death knell for the long-standing daytime drama began with the 1999 cancellation of NBC's ANOTHER WORLD, the genre keeps taking hits in ratings, relevance and numbers. Blame shifting viewing habits, myriad choices on cable, DVRs all you want, but in trying to appeal to new viewers with shaky cameras, mob violence and flashiness, soaps forgot all about the love.

ATWT was soap most associated with the news
Right after Nancy Hughes (played by Helen Wagner, who at 91 is still in the role) uttered the line, “And I gave it a great deal of thought, Grandpa,” on the live broadcast of Nov. 22, 1963, Walter Cronkite interrupted: “Here is a bulletin from CBS News. In Dallas, Tex., three shots were fired ... ”.

Alison Sweeney loves "I'm Yours"
"'I'm Yours' from Jason Mraz feels like the soundtrack of my life right now. I tweet about it whenever I hear it on the radio. It's got a great beat and melody, and then there are the lyrics about believing in love and going about your life. It's like he's saying, 'OK, that didn't work, now I'm going to try this.'"