News Brief

Washington Post: Rufus Wainwright, MTV Networks president Brian Graden and the CBS soap opera AS THE WORLD TURNS were among the big winners Monday at the 19th annual Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation Media Awards.

Queerty: GLAAD Awards Gone Wild!

New York Daily News: GUIDING LIGHT goes hi-tech & some fans get ticked. "GUIDING LIGHT has always been at the forefront of technology," says producer Janet Morrison. "It's just a way it continuously becomes a better version of itself. We've gone from three-wall sets to four walls and a ceiling. Now when the characters drive a car, it's a real car, not a car sitting there with fake trees. Last week, for the first time ever, we showed the outside of the Spaulding mansion. That's been a Springfield icon for years, and now people can see it. This has opened up our whole palette."

Even the Spaulding mansion, however, isn't enough to sell all the fans on camera work they say sometimes resembles a cross between home movies and a CAT scan. "The cameras are shaky and constantly moving, the sound is inaudible and the extreme closeups are unsettling at best," writes reader/viewer Jill Waunsch of Levittown. "You will be amazed at the amount of wrinkles, laugh lines and nose hairs you can count in just one scene. It's like an amateur rendition of The Blair Witch Project."

Altoona Mirror: It’s a long way from Tyrone to Tinseltown, but Marcy Rylan made the trek. Rylan, a 1999 graduate of Tyrone Area High School, joined the cast of GUIDING LIGHT in February 2006 as Lizzie Spaulding, daughter of Beth Raines-Spaulding and Phillip Spaulding. Born and raised in Altoona and Tyrone, Rylan is the youngest of six children. She still recalls the difficulty she had leaving her family and small-town comfort to pursue a dream. “It’s hard, but the truth is, if you really want a professional acting career, aside from local theater, you have to move to the big cities — New York City or L.A.,” said Rylan, who declined to give her age because of contractual reasons with the show. “There’s just no way around it — you have to make the move.”

CBS: Interview with AS THE WORLD TURNS actor Eric William Morris. "I got my degree at Loyola College in Baltimore. I then went on to do a couple more years in Manhattan at the Circle in the Square Theater School, which is a two year conservatory which used to be affiliated with NYU, but now it's doing its own thing. I graduated from there two years ago, in 2006, and most of my experience before has been in theater, and I did a couple of days on a few other television shows before this. But this is the first reccuring role on television I've gotten."

Arkansas Democrat Gazette: There’s a new Gabrielle Solis on the American airwaves, but this desperate housewife prefers to be called Gabriela. And she speaks Spanish all the time. In one of the more unusual programming moves of recent years, the Spanish-language network Univision in January began televising AMAS DE CASA DESESPERADAS, a remake of the ABC hit DESPERATE HOUSEWIVES. Not subtitled or dubbed, this is a new version of the comic soap opera-mystery. Except it’s not.

Press Association: The life of an actor can be a difficult one, what with all those egos jostling for a few juicy jobs. So, staying on the right side of people is a must - something HOLLYOAKS actor Kevin Sacre should keep in mind. He recently admitted to Nuts TV that, during his time with the Royal Shakespeare Company, he used to turn his nose up at fellow thesps who earned a crust working in soapland. The actor, currently playing Jake Dean in the Channel 4 soap, said: ""I remember before I was working in soap I almost had that view that soap actors weren't as good as other actors."

ABC: Fan favorite Tuc Watkins will reprise his role as comical con man David Vickers on ONE LIFE TO LIVE on Wednesday, May 7. When last seen in December, David left Llanview to find his destiny--or rather, his next get-rich-quick scheme. The money hungry David doesn't know he's Asa Buchanan's long lost son, and thus heir to a considerable fortune. Jared Banks, knowing David's true identity, lied that HE was Asa's child to become part of the Buchanan dynasty. When David returns, will Jared's deception be exposed--and will David finally get the cash windfall he's been looking for?