Tuesday, December 11, 2007

News Brief

Variety: DirecTV has lost its passion for "Passions" -- but the NBC U-produced sudser isn't quite dead yet. Satcaster has told NBC it won't be ordering a second season of the soap, which moved to DirecTV in September as part of a $40 million deal designed to bring more original programming to the service. NBC canceled the show earlier this year. In order to keep "Passions" on DirecTV through August, satcaster has ordered 52 additional episodes of the show from the Peacock's Universal Media Studios. However, starting in early to mid-January, skein will begin airing just three times a week (compared with four weekly airings now). "Passions" will go on an extended holiday hiatus next week, then return in February for another month of filming. Show will wrap production in March, and as of now, there are no firm plans for it to continue. However, with UMS having reduced the budget on the show significantly, there's talk that "Passions" might yet find another life elsewhere. Newly acquired cabler Oxygen might make a good fit. Peacock also could turn the skein into an Internet-based sudser.

BBC News: Police are investigating after an incident outside a Pembrokeshire pub in which former "EastEnders" actor Marc Bannerman was arrested following a row with photographers. Mr Bannerman, who was visiting fellow I'm a Celebrity contestant Cerys Matthews, had been followed to the Ship Inn in Trefin.

Guardian Unlimited: The recently launched Diva TV is aimed, as its name - if you squint hard and apply a semantically elastic approach to the issue - suggests, is aimed at the laydeez. Its cornerstones are TV movies starring Patrica Wettig, daytime soap "The Bold and the Beautiful," and a 10-year-old US series called "Picket Fences" which barely troubled the ratings even on its first outing, due to the fact that it was created by David E Kelley out of all the bits he couldn't crowbar into Ally McBeal before someone drove the merciful stake through its heart.

CTV: "Gossip Girl" star Penn Badgley just 'fell into' acting. The actor's first critical success came when Badgley was nominated for the "Young Artist Award" in "Best Performance in a Daytime TV Series" for his work on "The Young and the Restless."

Soap Opera Diegest: Jennifer Lenhart writes: "Have you ATWT fans heard about Project Holiday Spirit? It’s a campaign started by "Nuke" fans who wanted to get actors Van Hansis (Luke) and Jake Silbermann (Noah) holiday gifts, but — inspired by Hansis’s blog entry about the depressing commercialization of Christmas — decided to raise money for a worthy cause instead. They settled on donating to Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS and set a goal of $500, but as of today, they’ve raised over $3,500 for the charity. I think this is a wonderful way to show support and appreciation."

PGP Blog: “Welcome Back!" to a New York State of Mind. Mariann Aalda (ex-Didi, "The Edge of Night) writes: Okay, so after twenty years of living in Los Angeles as a “freeway culture isolationist,” buffered by my car from the regulation of mass transit schedules as well as any unwanted up-close and personal interaction with humanity, I have been back in New York City since June...having moved here to help care-take my ninety year old mother; re-ignite my post-divorce love-life, and resuscitate my acting career with a midlife reinvention and remodel.

Soap Opera Network: Darnell Williams and Debbie Morgan will be returning to "All My Children" in early 2008 as Jesse and Angie. Morgan shows up first on January 18th.

TV Guide: Last spring, As the World Turns star Colleen Zenk Pinter as diagnosed with oral cancer. Now her character, the conniving Barbara Ryan, is about to meet the same fate. "I set up a meeting to pitch the idea to our executive producer, Chris Goutman, even though I wasn't sure I was emotionally ready to do such a story," says Pinter, 54. "We sat down and, before I could say anything, Chris pitched the same idea to me." The actress, who underwent three surgeries and internal radiation treatment, is now cancer-free and eager to spread the word about the increasingly common, potentially deadly disease. "Like cervical cancer, oral cancer has now been linked to the HPV virus," says Pinter, noting that the Web site oralcancerfoundation.org was her lifesaver---literally. First doctors missed her cancer, then recommended the wrong surgery, prompting her to take charge, do her own research and get herself the proper care. The bad news will hit Barbara on January 2, the same day she's banned from the baptism of her grandchild. "She's all alone and desperate when she gets the diagnosis, " Pinter says. "She ends up at the church after the christening, praying for help. Let me tell ya, that was a tough scene to get through."

CBS: She may have not taken home the grand prize like Ryan Serhant (Evan) during this past season of "InTurn" but Lauretta Vaughn impressed "As The World Turns'" Executive Producer Chris Goutman so much that he offered her a two-week gig on ATWT this past summer. Now her character Kit has returned to Oakdale to financially back Metro for Carly. "I am so excited to be back on ATWT. I've been taping a lot of episodes and a few months ago I got married."

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