News Brief

Roanoke Times: Roanoke native Ashlee Holland triumphed on the reality show “I Wanna Be a Soap Star” Tuesday night, beating out nine other contestants to win a part on “Days of Our Lives.” Holland is the first woman to win on the SOAPnet reality show, which concluded its fourth season with a live finale in Los Angeles.

CBS 46: “The Young and the Restless Screen Test" comes to Atlanta on November 1st and 2nd. One talented actress will be selected to travel to Hollywood and appear in an episode of "The Young and the Restless".

Fox News: Procter & Gamble once had 10 soaps on the air. Now it has two left, "As the World Turns" and "Guiding Light," and they’re determined to kill them off, too. On Tuesday it announced the shows would be filmed like the reality program "The Hills" starting in January. P&G already has hobbled the shows with cut budgets and no sets. Now it will opt for handheld cameras and exteriors shot off sets to save money. It’s a recipe for disaster and I suspect they know it. It’s too bad: The P&G soaps have been launching pads for Kevin Bacon, Morgan Freeman, Julianne Moore, Marisa Tomei, Susan Sullivan, Steven Weber, Kate Capshaw, Tamara Tunie, Justin Chambers, Brad Pitt and dozens upon dozens more. P&G can afford anything. It's one of the world’s richest corporations. This cost-cutting just makes it look kind of pathetic. It should just sell the shows if it doesn't want them.

iVillage: Kristian Alfonso is a mom of three boys, designs jewelry and recently launched her own clothing line. Oh -- and as if that isn't enough to keep a woman busy -- she's a full-time actress! The brunette beauty has played Hope Brady on NBC's "Days of our Lives" since 1983 and is thrilled to still call Salem home.

Soap Opera Digest: NBC's first online-only soap opera "Coastal Dreams" debuted October 2. Every Tuesday and Thursday for the following 12 weeks, new five-minute episodes of the drama featuring daytime beauties Danica Stewart (ex-Jessica, "Passions") and Kam Heskin (ex-Sheridan, "Passions"; ex-Caitlin, "Sunset Beach)air on NBC.com.

Arkansas Times: Though this writer hasn't sat through an entire episode of a soap opera since my stay-at-home mother got addicted to “General Hospital” around the time Luke and Laura got married, I can still appreciate the genre. Unlike real life, things happen on soap operas — big things. Unwanted pregnancies and murders for hire. Incest and suicide attempts. Dirty business deals and shocking revelations. These days, we hear, even stuff like alien abduction and possession by the Devil gets thrown into the mix. With action like that, who could blame UA student Raymond Burks for wanting to get in on the fun? A 22-year-old senior seeking a degree in English and creative writing when not running campus radio station KXUA, Burks is also the writer, producer and editor of his own cable access soap opera: “Bring Down the Moon.”

PGP Blog: 2007 Daytime Emmy-nominee Stephanie Gatschet returns to "Guiding Light" as Tammy to help her mother Cassie through a difficult time on Wednesday, October 24. Meanwhile, long-time soap veteran Linda Cook will be making an appearance on "As The World Turns" to give bad news to Will and Gwen.