News Brief

Deadline Hollywood: Nikki Finke strike update: "There were rumors all weekend about how the AMPTP wasn't making its second half of the offer, and how the WGA wasn't making a New Media counter-offer. Both proved to be false, thankfully. So here's the reality. The WGA has been informed that the AMPTP is indeed on Tuesday going to make the second-half of its proposal when contract talks resume for Talks Day #5. And the WGA will indeed make a counter-offer."

AfterElton: Brian Juergens chatted with "As The World Turns" star Van Hansis after a performance of "Die Mommie Die!" last week. Hansis was asked about Luke Snyder being part of Soap Opera Digest's Best Love Triange of 2007: "That's great. I thought it was a really interesting way to tell a classic story. It's a story that happens in real life, so why not tell it on a soap opera, you know? And it uses the conventions of the soap opera, the triangle, and it's applicable to real life and it gives it a new twist."

TV Guide Canda: Nelson Branco's Suds Report: "The new Christina Chambers? A few fans appear to be warming up to nuAlison on ATWT lately, but soap newcomer Marnie Schulenburg just doesn’t cut it as Emily’s slutty sister as far as I’m concerned. Maybe it’s all the crystal meth Alison’s smoked this past year — and of course, the lazy writing — but I don’t recognize this character and don’t care what happens to her … or anyone she’s around (thank goodness for my FF button)."

Hollywood Reporter: NBC Universal made good on its declared intent to pull all of its content from Apple's iTunes, following through during the weekend as its contract with the platform expired. This comes as two separate research reports were published Monday about iTunes. One, from Forrester Research, said that Apple was the "loser" in this battle with NBC Uni, while another from Pali Research speculated that News Corp.'s Fox could soon add its titles to iTunes. Current series that are produced outside of NBC Uni but air on its networks will remain on iTunes, including NBC's "Chuck," "Scrubs," "My Name Is Earl," "Journeyman," "Days of Our Lives" and Sci Fi Channel's "Stargate: Atlantis."

The Sun: Hannah Gray will join the cast of "EastEnders" as a sexy new barmaid in Scarlett’s nightclub, has promised to tease viewers by baring her bod. She told Nuts magazine: "I’ll be wearing hotpants and a little vest in the show, along with the other barmaids. It’s a cute little outfit. I’m used to wearing not a lot because I’m a dancer as well as an actress, and you have to show your body off when you dance. I want sex in Albert Square’s garden!"

Press Association: Fans of Channel 4 soap "Hollyoaks" are in for a treat, thanks to the addition of a new character. Niall Rafferty (played by Barry Sloane) arrives in the village this week, and right from the start has tongues wagging furiously about who he is and where he's come from. What they don't know is the lad is Myra McQueen's (Nicole Barber-Lane) long-lost son, and he's spent most of his life trying to track down his mother.

PGP Blog: Former "The Edge of Night" actress Mariann Aalda writes: "Edge of Night head writer, Henry Slesar, once said to me, 'I love making you suffer, because you suffer so well.'"

Philadelphia Inquirer: City Hall was taken over yesterday by cast and crew of The Verdict, a pilot being shot by Lionsgate for Lifetime. Besides Robin Givens and Madchen Amick, the leads include two seasoned dudes - James Naughton (playing the patriarch of a media family) and Robert Vaughn (as a father-figure journalist) - and two studly soaps vets - locally raised Chris Beetem (he was Chris Lapinski before landing roles of Jordan Sinclair on "As the World Turns" and Tate Harmon on "One Life to Live") and Christian Campbell (Bobby Thorne Warner on "All My Children").

E! Online: Spoiler chat update on "Friday Night Lights": "Sources tell me Tami Taylor is getting a love interest. Horrifying, I know. Oh, and guess who's playing him? FNL's executive producer (and former evil lover of Sydney Bristow) Peter Berg. You wanna gouge his eyes out or shall I? I mean, he helped create one of the best shows on television, but hands off Tami, you creep! The Taylors need to stay together!"

New York Daily News: If you watched "Desperate Housewives" Sunday, you saw poor deluded Sylvia try to leave Bree's house just as a funnel cloud was leveling Wisteria Lane. Two steps out the door she got sucked into killer winds, and not in a good way. It was a solid TV tornado moment that could have served equally well as a metaphoric reminder: By all normal measures of television content, what happened to Sylvia is exactly what should have happened to "Desperate Housewives" years ago.