NEWS: Corbin Bleu, Colleen Zenk, Randy Brooks, Jeffrey Christopher Todd, James Scott, 'Dark Shadows' Binge, 'The Archers'

Corbin Bleu and Collee Zenk

Review of "Family Shots" play starring Corbin Bleu, Collen Zenk and Randy Brooks
"Overall, without resorting to flashiness or melodrama, [Bleu, One Life to Live] delivers a terrifically sharp, effortlessly magnetic performance solidifying his mature evolution as one of the most skilled actors of his generation. Zenk, a three-time Emmy nominee as villainous Barbara Ryan on As the World Turns, is a flustered, worrisome joy brilliantly conveying the nervous agitation derived from accepting and embracing the unknown. Brooks (The Young and the Restless, Another World) is basically confined to a bed throughout, but his down-to-earth presence and plain spoken insightfulness appealingly resonates."

Alec Baldwin to Write Memoir ‘Nevertheless’
Baldwin will pen the book himself and include stories about his childhood in New York, his early career as a soap opera star on The Doctors, his marriage and acrimonious divorce from actress Kim Basinger, and his second marriage to yoga instructor Hilaria Thomas in 2012.

Original 'Dark Shadows' Rises from the Dead on CBS’ DECADES TV Network
Nearly half a century after its debut, the original Dark Shadows TV series is returning to television on DECADES, an over-the-air digital TV network co-owned by CBS and Weigel Broadcasting (the folks behind MeTV). DECADES will “binge” the undyingly popular 1960s supernatural soap opera for a 68-hour marathon beginning Wednesday, May 13 at 6 p.m. and concluding Saturday, May 16 at 2 p.m. ET.

Former 'Days of our Lives' star James Scott joins TBS pilot
TBS has set the cast for its Lost-meets-Gilligan's Island comedy pilot Wrecked. Scott will play Liam, a confident, charismatic, appealing, natural leader and seemingly the most handsome man in the world — even after a plane crash. He's done 10 years with British special forces, military police before that and now campaigns for human rights for child war refugees.

Jeffrey Christopher Todd on playing lab tech Tobias on 'The Young and the Restless'
"Y&R has gone through a lot of changes over the years and I love the new direction they're going in. They're really focused on bringing back the business storylines."



North Korea’s Forbidden Love? Smuggled, Illegal Soap Operas
The decidedly lowbrow dramas — with names like Bad Housewife and Red Bean Bread — have, in fact, become something of a cultural Trojan horse, sneaking visions of the bustling South into the tightly controlled, impoverished North alongside the usual sudsy fare of betrayals, bouts of ill-timed amnesia and, at least once, a love affair with an alien.

BBC boss joins backlash against The Archers being "too racy"
The director-general of the BBC has warned Radio 4 that The Archers must not “lose what is precious”, amid concerns that Britain’s favourite radio soap opera is becoming too melodramatic.

The surprising intervention by Lord Hall of Birkenhead comes after David Blunkett, the former home secretary and an avid fan since the 1950s, said late last year that he had run out of faith with the long-running rural drama.