Evening News

In a time of fake news and fake memoirs, why not fake soap authors?
Soap operas were created for the purpose of selling soap, so it is a reliable formula to use them to peddle products. Nowadays, however, instead of the shows’ being written to support the sponsors’ products, the products themselves are offshoots of the story lines. According to Sara Nelson, the editor in chief of Publishers Weekly, “Since there seems to be a blurring of lines between fiction and reality on TV, in books, in politics even, it stands to reason that a fictional character could write a book that actually gets published. It strikes me as one of those ideas that’s so bad it’s good.”

On Nov. 30, the glamorous, impetuous Kendall Hart — wife, mother, founder of a highly successful perfume company, woman in despair and one of the lead characters on the ABC soap ALL MY CHILDREN — decided to try a little creative writing as a distraction from the pain of her husband Zach’s sudden (and of course mysterious) disappearance.

Barely two months after Kendall, who is played by the actress Alicia Minshew, set down those first few deathless words, “It was one of those brutally hot, muggy days in August,” her first novel “Charm” was released in the fictional small town of Pine Valley, Pa., as part of the soap’s story line. Concurrently, “Charm” — an actual hardback with a list price of $21.95 — became available in real-life bookstores around the country.

CBS has pulled the same stunt. In 2002, GUIDING LIGHT offered “Lorelei’s Guiding Light: An Intimate Diary,” “which filled in the blanks of a character’s life during a period when she wasn’t with the show,” said Ms. Leahey. In 2006, AS THE WORLD TURNS came out with “Oakdale Confidential,” which dealt with the past of a character, Katie Peretti, who was credited on the cover as co-author.

That Kendall Hart could whip up a novel and get it published with such dispatch raises no credibility issues with viewers, said Ms. Leahey of Soap Opera Digest. “Soap opera characters come back from the dead and have evil twins,” she noted, “so in that world, it would make sense for someone to write a book in a few weeks.”

Heather Tom horror flick coming to DVD
The Horror Vault which has been in the works for now well over two years will be released on April 15. It will be available from the website www.thehorrorvault.net and the film will be shipped from the US. The Horror Vault consists of nine short grueling stories about the cruely and insanity of mankind. Hopefully you will enjoy, find the dark humor amusing and hopefully make you wonder. "Delusion" is a black/white 50ies style of horror drama, directed by Mark Machillo, starring Jonaton Trent, Heather Tom (B&B, Y&R, OLTL) and many others.

More on NBC's deal with DirecTV for FNL
NBC thinks it has a creative solution for the problem of having a show that critics adore, that has a passionate base of fans, but that consistently gets mediocre ratings. Last week, it announced a deal with DirecTV, a subscription satellite television service, that would keep FRIDAY NIGHT LIGHTS on the air for a third season. DirecTV will help defray NBC’s production costs and in exchange will receive the right to show FRIDAY NIGHT LIGHTS first.

From NBC’s perspective, FRIDAY NIGHT LIGHTS did not draw enough of a crowd to be continued. On average, about 6.1 million people tuned in to it this season, but fans were loyal enough to send thousands of mini-footballs to NBC to lobby for the show.
Executives would not disclose the new deal’s value, except to call it "significant." Each episode costs about $2 million to produce; Universal Media Studios will produce 13 episodes this year. Referring to the next season’s numbers, Mr. Silverman said: "If our rating was just 15 percent lower, we would be doing so much better through the way we structured this deal."

CORRIE's evil David Platt is locked up at last
CORONATION STREET's evil David Platt spells his own undoing and ends up sobbing pitifully in his cell. The wicked rat is arrested after a rampage that sees him smashing cars, phone boxes with a pole and attacking Ken Barlow. The frenzy, which will be seen tomorrow, is triggered when David is dumped by Tina and Gail finds out it was him who threw her down the stairs.

EASTENDERS sends Mitchells to Dorset
A series of special EASTENDERS episodes will see the Mitchell family taking a holiday in Dorset. As previously reported, plans to send the family to Spain for a dramatic new plot had to be scrapped due to cutbacks at the BBC. Now the clan will travel to Weymouth for the shock script, which will see veteran actor Larry Lamb start his role as Archie Mitchell. The character is set to "blow the family apart".

Former ATWT actress Spencer Grammer on Kimmel