News Brief

Burbank Leader: Matthew Ashford ("Days of our Lives") and Christina Saffran Ashford are performing at the Alex Theatre on Monday in a fundraising show of musicals by composers Alan Menken and Stephen Schwartz.

Jamaica Gleaner: After being put through several weeks of acting tests, Ashlee Holland is the winner of the fourth season of SOAPnet's reality series "I Wanna Be a Soap Star". She will be rewarded with a 13-week contract role on "Days of Our Lives", with her first appearance scheduled for December 26. During the live season finale, Holland competed against runner-up Jimena Hoyos. She received the good news in front of the eight other eliminated contestants, judges Mary Beth Evans (Kayla, Days), Hogan Sheffer (head writer, Days) and Michael Bruno (talent manager), as well as several other Days cast members. "I look forward to working with Ashlee. I believe she will bring a hunger and a passion to her work at Days of Our Lives," said casting director Marnie Saitta. "She will be a welcome addition to our talented cast, as it is always inspiring to see someone follow their dreams. Her determination and talent have made her dreams a reality."

Newsday: Enrique Iglesias performs his single "Somebody's Me" at the club owned by Kristoff St. John's character on "The Young and the Restless" on November 7th.

Salt Lake Tribune: Hollywood's studios, networks and producers say raising the writers' stakes would make the cost of film and TV projects too expensive and possibly reduce their profits. "When they get paid on work we wrote, we should get paid on work we wrote," said Cherie Bennett, a former Utahn who moved from Salt Lake City to Los Angeles last June to become one of the associate head writers - along with her husband - for the soap opera "The Young and the Restless." "There is a shift away from television and movies [to downloadable and streaming video], and it's vastly changing. This is the time we have to make a stand. It has to be now."

Knoxville News Sentinel: On Tuesday, Betty will shoot more "Bold and the Beautiful," in which she returns as Ann Douglas. It's her first soap.

New Brunswick Home News Tribune: ABC's "Desperate Housewives" (9 p.m. Sundays) has its first desperate houseguys. And they may be the most unconventionally conventional gay couple on broadcast television. The relationship of Bob ("One Life to Live's" Tuc Watkins) and Lee ("Judging Amy's" Kevin Rahm) is less than idyllic. There's marital tension. One likes the city, one likes suburbia. One's conciliatory, one's acerbic. One tries to blend in, the other couldn't care less. They have secrets. In other words, they're not that much different than most of the straight couples on Wisteria Lane. "In capturing the gay suburban experience, the joke is they have the same issues as everyone else," says series creator Marc Cherry, who eschewed stereotypical characterizations of gay men. "The politically correct thing would have been to have everyone get along with them. But there's a lot of comedy to be played against type."

Fort Wayne Journal Gazette: “Friday Night Lights” launched its second season in October with a shocker: Smart, funny, geeky teenager Landry Clarke killed a man threatening to attack Tyra Collette, Landry’s crush. Then, rather than face up to the crime, the pair dumped the body. There was just one problem. The show’s relatively small, extremely intense fan base didn’t buy it.

Soap Opera Digest: Video: Take an exclusive look behind the scenes at "As The World Turns'" most recent photo shoot with some current and soon-to-be cast members! Featured in the shoot are Austin Peck, Terri Colombino, Dylan Bruce, Ryan Serhant and Chauntee Schuler.