News Brief

Deadline Hollywood: The latest on the WGA strike. Nikki Finke writes: "I'm told that Patric Verrone, Dave Young and John Bowman -- the WGA leadership involved in Friday's breakthrough session of the writer-mogul talks with Peter Chernin and Bob Iger -- are recommending the deal hashed out Friday and briefed the guild's negotiating committee today."

Broadcasting & Cable: WGA warns deal isn't done. "The facts: We are still in talks and do not yet have a contract," the WGA said in an e-mail to its membership, addressing the string of reports over the weekend. "When and if a tentative agreement is reached, the first thing we will do is alert our membership with an e-mail message. Until then, please disregard rumors about either the existence of an agreement or its terms."

TV Guide: Recently dumped AS THE WORLD TURNS actor Scott Bryce reflects on his firing. "I've had dozens of relationships with executive producers and this one, with Chris Goutman, was odd and very disconnected. I think we had an inherent disagreement or a different vision of who Craig is. The plots on the show are so much darker than they used to be — dead babies, pornography, methamphetamines — and maybe I didn't fit into that vision."

TMZ: She already has a massive soap career, but who knew that DAYS OF OUR LIVES star Deidre Hall doubled as a firewoman?! The fabu 60-year-old was in Beverly Hills, with her bright yellow jacket distracting everyone from asking questions!

Soap Opera Network: SON is reporting a huge writers shake-up at DAYS OF OUR LIVES. According to sources, the following writers have been fired and will not return to the show after the strike ends: Head Writer: Hogan Sheffer; Associate Head Writers: Tom Casiello, Frederick Johnson, Meg Kelly, Gordon Rayfield, Judy Tate; Script Writers: Judith Donato, Renee Godelia; Script Editor: Richard Backus. The status of the other Script Writers: Bettina F. Bradbury, Cydney Kelley, and Jodie Scholz is unclear at the moment.

Earthtimes: Fashion expert and former soap star Finola Hughes will see the latest fashion trends in high definition this year at New York's Fashion Week, thanks to Varilux(R) and Crizal(R) lenses, her new progressive lenses by Essilor.

Willamette Week: Former GENERAL HOSPITAL star Shell Kepler passed away in Portland on Friday, February 1st. Her cause of death has not been released. She decided to become an actress after seeing The Wizard of Oz at age two. Her first appearance came at age nine when she appeared in "The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie," at the Chattanooga Little Theater and later appeared in the same theater in "The Sound of Music." She moved to Los Angeles with her family just before entering junior high school and was 14 when her mother died. Two years later her father moved back east to accept a position as vice president with a large corporation but Kepler and her brother decided to stay in Los Angeles. She landed the role of Amy Vining on GH in 1979 and stayed for more than two decades. She later said in an interview, "I love the soaps. I've been watching GENERAL HOSPITAL since I was three years old and I really care about the characters. I've grown up with them."

First Coast News: VIDEO: Interview with DAYS OF OUR LIVES stars Deidre Hall & Shirley Jones.

Publishers Weekly: To call Charm!, Hyperion’s new novel about a New York City cosmetics exec, a tie-in would be, well, off the mark. The book springs from a deeper connection with the daytime soap that inspired it, ALL MY CHILDREN, than the tie-in tag suggests. The second book the publisher has released that’s supposedly written by a character on a daytime drama—the first was 2005’s The Killing Club which was featured on ONE LIFE OT LIVE—Charm! draws on a more elaborate art-imitating-life-imitating-art gimmick.

Las Cruces Sun-News: Las Cruces' own Shawn Dudley of GUIDING LIGHT donated items to the "Mardi Gras Gala-What Happens At Mardi Gras Stays at Mardi Gras!"

URI The Good 5 Cent Cigar: Soap opera aficionados at the University of Rhode Island may soon be able to add a homegrown daytime drama to this illustrious lineup. Entitled THE ART OF DECEPTION, the student-created show is tentatively scheduled to begin filming Feb. 19, and the first episode may air in mid April.

SteffiMcBride.com: "The Overnight Fame of Steffi McBride" is the memoir of a fictional young actress who becomes a national icon. All Steffi’s dreams come true when she lands a starring part in the country’s biggest soap opera has a number one Christmas single and wins a Bafta. The whole country falls in love with her, including the pop star she had a crush on all through her teenage years. But someone out there knows a secret about Steffi’s past and heartless media revelations blow apart everything she ever believed to be true about her family and about herself. Olivia Grodd, on the other hand, is a real young actress, playing Steffi.

TV Guide: Interview with AS THE WORLD TURNS actors Terri Colombino and Austin Peck.