Wednesday, May 1, 2013

NEWS: Daytime Emmy Reaction, Ingo Survives, Gary Carr Joins DOWNTON ABBEY, Cady McClain, Hillary B. Smith

ALL MY CHILDREN, ONE LIFE TO LIVE Return 2 Years After Cancellation — Online
Naturally television executives are trying to downplay the potential threat to their industry. While conceding that we are experiencing "an evolution of the viewing mechanism," Sony Pictures Television senior executive programming vice president Steve Kent insisted to Variety that "people have long predicted the demise of network television, but it still exists and will for the foreseeable future."

According to Greg Meng, one of the executive producers for DAYS OF OUR LIVES (which is produced by Sony Pictures Television), while network insiders had nothing but the best wishes for this project, they were confident that "these shows won't be competitive with us."

It seems like there is more fear among network suits than they initially let on.

Cady McClain and Hillary B. Smith share their excitement over AMC/OLTL being back in production
McClain: "I am so grateful for this moment in time. It’s an incredibly beautiful experience that I wish everyone can have once in their lives. I feel so blessed. I can’t wait to be at work every day!"

Smith: "Oh gosh, that was the most exciting thing of it all. We were all texting each other months before to see who was coming back. It was like a family reunion. It was also great to meet Jeff who is really committed to this project! He has been incredibly warm and welcoming and you can see the commitment."

WilleyWorld chooses 'Deathtrap' as 5th annual summer production
After four years of bringing ALL MY CHILDREN stars to perform in Ottawa, WilleyWorld Community Productions will continue the tradition and present the play "Deathtrap" as its fifth summer show — this time featuring not one, but two special guest artists — and a new location for the production.

"'Deathtrap' is a thriller that will have audiences glued to their seats — unless they're leaping out of them in shock," said Ottawa native Walt Willey (AMC's Jackson Montgomery) at a news conference Tuesday morning at City Hall.

Willey announced this year WWCP is bringing two guest artists to the Ottawa stage — Chance Willey, Walt's 18-year-old son, and Bobbie Eakes, his AMC co-star who portrayed Krystal Carey on the series.

Gary Carr joins DOWNTON ABBEY
His DOWNTON character, Jack Ross, is a jazz singer described as “a charming and charismatic” young man. The addition marks the first time Downton has had a black character. The show has in the past faced criticism that it lacks cultural diversity.

Ingo Rademacher in the DANCING WITH THE STARS bottom two, but survives
Last night, GENERAL HOSPITAL's Ingo Rademacher (ex-Jax) was in the bottom two on DANCING WITH THE STARS. Luckily, Andy Dick was sent home instead, but speaking with the actor after the show, he was shaken. "It's not a nice feeling to be in the bottom two," he admitted. "Not very good odds. I haven't cried enough yet. Next week I'm going to cry."

EASTENDERS storyline sparks surge of calls at Sale law firm
Slater Heelis Solicitous say the number of inquiries into marriage mediation has doubled after character Michael Moon ( played by Steve Shepherd) sought legal advice in separating from wife Janine Butcher (Charlie Brooks) and had mediation recommended as the best process to use by the on-screen family lawyer.

THE BOLD AND THE BEAUTIFUL's Katherine Kelly Lang on her supporting actress Daytime Emmy nomination
"I was supporting last year," she explains. "All my stories... I had no story that was about Brooke. I did a lot of mom stuff, and Brooke supported Susan [Flannery] during Stephanie's cancer storyline. If I'd had a lead story, I would have put myself in lead."

Chandler Massey excited about DAYS OF OUR LIVES nominations
“I’m thrilled about DAYS getting 17 nominations,” Massey says. “Ari [Zucker, Nicole], Peggy [McCay, Caroline], and of course, Freddie [Smith, Sonny] got nominated. I’m thrilled for all three of them. The show made out well this year and I think DAYS deserves it. Everyone connected to the show works extremely hard and is very talented. I’m glad they’re getting recognized for it.” As for Massey’s own reaction to being nominated for the third year in a row he shares, “I have the same feeling of gratitude and excitement I felt last year and the year before. Just being nominated is an honor and I appreciate it very much.”

Freddie Smith honored to be nominated
“It’s amazing. I woke up to my phone vibrating and saw that I had all these text messages and tweets. I took it all in, woke up and then realized, ‘Oh, this is real!’ It’s an honor.” Smith is also excited that co-star Chandler Massey (Will) is nominated in the same category. “To have both Chandler and I nominated is really cool because we play a couple on the show,” he shares. “I’m so proud of Chandler and what we’re doing.”

GENERAL HOSPITAL's Jason Thompson on the scene he submitted for the Daytime Emmy Awards
"I ended up putting in the episode with the tie scene," he adds. "Where he wakes up and sees the ghost of Robin a couple ties when he's in bed, when he's in the shower and when he's tying his tie. Then he comes downstairs and sees Emma for a quick second and says 'I don't know how I'm going to do this.' I was happy with a lot of the stuff that happened last year as a team."

GH's Bradford Anderson on his Emmy material
Anderson reveals that the episode he submitted that earned him the nod was one from last summer when he had a confrontation with Jen Lilley's Maxie at Kelly's. "He gives her a speech about friendship," he says. "Sometimes it's hard when picking Emmy shows because my character isn't the kind of character that gets the knock down, drag out material. I'm not Lucky Spencer.

2 comments:

  1. If I was a television executive I definitely would be afraid of the web.

    ReplyDelete
  2. @Lou Pikes - Hulu is a joint venture of Disney-ABC, NBC-Universal, and Fox-Newscorp. So they may not be that scared, because they're already into the web. .. Oh, and CBS owns tv.com!

    ReplyDelete