News Brief

Nelson Branco's weekly "Suds Report"
Finola-gate: Y&R/GH Hughes battle! Grant Aleksander on OLTL? Hogan Sheffer joins Y&R! AMC writer shake-up! Plus: Days renewed!

Y&R: Car accident and flashback make Nick 'Restless'
Nick has a car accident next week on THE YOUNG AND THE RESTLESS, which leads to his getting back his memory.

"Phyllis goes to the hospital and he says, 'I'm fine,' but he's being distant," says Michelle Stafford, who plays Nick's current wife. "Phyllis is thinking, 'Oh, he hit his head again. He's forgotten me.'"

Since Nick lost his memory in a plane crash two years ago, that's not a bad assumption.

INTERVIEW: A conversation with Susan Lucci
On if she ever imagined the kind of longevity she's had playing Erica Kane: "Oh my goodness no. I mean, even now that's a very scary, big number, and it doesn't seem possible. No, I mean, my first contract was for three years, and that seemed an enormously long time to me. So, no, I did not. But it's been great for me, and to me, in every way I can think of."

Christie Clark Barnes says life with baby is 'richer and more precious'
When it comes to motherhood, "all the cliches are true,"actress Christie Clark Barnes recently told Mom To Be Depot. Since welcoming daughter Hanna Bella in early March, life has become "richer and more precious," and Christie -- who once starred on DAYS OF OUR LIVES -- said that she's hoping the good vibes will rub off on her career.

More from SoapFest 2008
"SoapFest turned out to be a blast, the actors (from AS THE WORLD TURNS, GUIDING LIGHT and ALL MY CHILDREN) were fabulously friendly and happily posed for pictures, signed autographs and clearly enjoyed hanging out with fans."

Mary Beth Evans uses award winning pie box
Display Pack Inc., an award-winning manufacturer of Single Source Solutions™ packaging services, was presented with two Ameristar awards – one award being the
"People’s Choice Award" – at this year’s International Organization of Packaging Professionals (IoPP) Package Competition in Rosemont, Ill.

Display Pack won the awards for its cutting-edge design of a pie box created for Mary Beth's Apple Pie Co., a gourmet, mail-order pie company owned by actress Mary Beth Evans, who stars as Kayla Brady on DAYS OF OUR LIVES. These are the company’s second and third consecutive awards from IoPP, the industry’s top organization dedicated to the packaging profession.

AUDIO: Daytime Confidential #244: Mimi Torchin Interview
Mimi Torchin is making the rounds this week. Here she stops by the "Daytime Confidential" podcast to talk about her days at Soap Opera Weekly and her many experiences in the soap world over the years.

GH's Monstrous Lies, AMC's Truthful Memories
The fabulous Marlena De Lacroix writes her "nastiest" article ever! Here's an excerpt: "Yesterday, I was trying to write my long promised column against the most perversely inhuman, possibly most disturbing soap storyline of all time, but the words just would not come out. I’m talking about the GENERAL HOSPITAL storyline written by Bob Guza that began with 12-year-old Michael getting shot in the head and climaxed with his parents Sonny and Carly screwing in the back seat of a limo after delivering their comatose son toAMC trio a long-term care facility. That I felt paralyzed and couldn’t write was very odd because I’d been angrily 'writing' the words of the column every day in my head since that day six weeks ago when a shot meant for Sonny rang out in the coffee warehouse and mistakenly hit Michael."