News Brief

Globe and Mail: Luke Snyder and Noah Mayer haven't kissed for 162 days. The same-sex couple are not fighting, or living in separate cities, or partaking in a self-imposed session of tantric restraint. Their romance is a storyline on the popular daytime soap opera AS THE WORLD TURNS - and its chaste nature is starting to get viewers all hot and bothered. Representatives of Procter & Gamble Productions, the company that produces the CBS show, have said there is no ban on kissing. But Douglass St. Christian, associate professor of anthropology at the University of Western Ontario, said the show is abiding by pop-culture representations of same-sex couples as tame and domesticated. "They remain almost always completely non-erotic in their representation in popular culture," said Dr. St. Christian. "Lip-locking is not quite the same as writhing buttocks and sweaty breasts, the mainstay of straight sex scenes in mainstream media."

Media Life Magazine: Fans of Luke and Noah have started an online petition urging AS THE WORLD TURNS producers, CBS and the show’s sponsor, Procter & Gamble, to greenlight another liplock. They're sending bags of Hershey’s Kisses to CBS executives, mirroring last year’s successful nuts campaign by “Jericho” fans to revive the canceled show. “In the past few months, it is most often the days that Luke and Noah appear that have the highest ratings,” writes one fan, in an appeal to CBS. “This should show that we are supporting you. Now we ask that you support us.”

Buzzworthy Radio: AUDIO: Interview with long-time THE YOUNG AND THE RESTLESS actress Kate Linder.

CBS 5 (Greenbay): THE YOUNG AND THE RESTLESS will be pre-empted in Greenbay today for coverage of the Brett Favre's retirement news conference. Y&R will be played Thursday night/Friday morning at 1:08am central time.

Liverpool Daily Post: Liverpool production company Lime Pictures is set for another bumper year after Channel 4 said HOLLYOAKS was the only UK soap opera to grow its audience so far this year. The broadcaster says HOLLYOAKS, made by Childwall based company, saw viewing figures rise 6% in January and February compared to the same two months in 2007.

Detroit News: From her early days on TV shows like AS THE WORLD TURNS and A DIFFERENT WORLD, to her Academy Award-winning performance in My Cousin Vinny, New York City native Marisa Tomei remains one of Hollywood's busiest and most acclaimed stars. You'd need an entire newspaper page to list all of her roles and awards, as well as her tireless charitable activities. She is one of the celebrities featured in "The Barilla Celebrity Italian Table Cookbook," which is available online at www.celebrityitaliantable.com.

Press Association: Soap fans should spot a few familiar faces in upcoming blockbuster Prince Caspian when it opens later this year. Former DOCTORS actor Ben Barnes fought off stiff competition to land the title role, and is now being tipped as the new Orlando Bloom. He isn't the only veteran of the BBC medical drama to make an appearance. Cornell John played two different characters in the daytime drama. Fans may remember him as Ray Adams in a 2001 episode, and three years ago he appeared as DS Dave Patterson. Cornell, who plays Glenstorm in the new movie, also featured in a 2002 episode of HOLBY CITY.

The Cheers, Estonia: Afghanistan's self appointed spiritual and cultural guardians feel threatened by the most popular soap operas, Dari dubbed versions of Ekta Kapoor's never ending Hindi family dramas, being telecast on local Afghan channels. The Islamic Council of Scholars, referred to as 'Ulema' sought a ban on these serials singling out scenes that depict romance and Hindu gods in the homes of soap opera characters as "spreading immorality and un-Islamic culture."

Buzzworthy Radio: AUDIO: Interview with THE BOLD AND THE BEAUTIFUL star William DeVry.

PGP Blog: Olivia Birkelund appears on GUIDING LIGHT as Pheobe, an old flame of Cyrus’s on Tuesday, March 11.