News Brief

I’ll Take Manhattan(ites)
Marlena De Lacroix blogs: "My friend Roger Newcomb, who is the editor of We Love Soaps, invited Moose and I to attend a Tribeca screening of Manhattanites, the film he co-produced with Lyle Kamenir. We really enjoyed it, and I think you’ll like it too, especially if you are a soap fan."

TV Guide Canada's weekly "Nelson Ratings"
Nelson Branco reviews the past week on soaps, this week's viewing cheatsheet, and names his top-rated actors and shows!

AUDIO: Interview with ATWT sar Marie Wilson
Marie Wilson appeared on "Buzzworthy Radio" last night to discuss her role as Meg Snyder on AS THE WORLD TURNS and to speak with fans.

BLOG UPDATE: Former Y&R writer Sara A. Bibel
"I never thought I’d be saying this about the current incarnation of the show, but last week’s All My Children was fantastic. After months of downbeat, unpleasant stories, AMC managed to pull everything together and deliver a week of dramatic, emotionally satisfying television."

PHOTOS: Debra Jo Rupp to guest on ATWT
Debra Jo Rupp who is best known from her role on THAT 70s SHOW will appear on AS THE WORLD TURNS next week as a camp counselor in scenes with Holden, Carly, Faith, Natalie and Sage.

Ex-B&B star Lamas takes career on a new path
Sitting down with actor Lorenzo Lamas, it's impossible not to be a little envious of his physical beauty. Still in great shape at age 50, the man lives up to the genes of his parents: the painfully handsome Argentine movie star Fernando Lamas and the stunning actress Arlene Dahl, who was of Norwegian descent.

Fernando, in fact, once told Johnny Carson, "it is better to look good than to feel good." That line reportedly inspired Billy Crystal to create his 1980s Saturday Night Live character Fernando and spawned the line "you look mahvelous."

Lorenzo, though, has become bored of being cast as the heartthrob or bad-but-hot cop. Just witness his résumé, which includes pretty-boy roles on soaps THE BOLD AND THE BEAUTIFUL and FALCON CREST (he was the only actor to appear in all 227 FC episodes), the "dumb jock" in the movie Grease and as the hero-on-the-run in the '90s crime drama Renegade.

So his desire for more challenging roles seemed a no-brainer: try theater.

Jacqueline MacInnes Wood: Bold, beautiful & local
As a daughter of mega-rich fashion designer Ridge Forrester and hot-to-trot psychiatrist Taylor Forrester, Steffy Forrester has had an eventful life. Along with her friction with her twin sister Phoebe, young Steffy has already endured a shark attack, a kidnapping and the murder of her mother (who didn't really die).

Such is the life of a character on THE BOLD AND THE BEAUTIFUL. And starting this week, you can watch Steffy being portrayed by Windsor native Jacqueline MacInnes Wood.

"I absolutely love it," gushes the 21-year-old actress on the phone from her new hometown of Los Angeles. "But I walk around and I'm still in shock that I'm here."

It's a long way from southern Ontario to the studio sets of one of the most popular daytime serial dramas in the world.

For Wood, there aren't any secrets behind how she landed the biggest role of her life so far. She simply hooked up with a good agent and auditioned. "I can't believe this has happened. It was my first audition in L.A.," Wood says. "The traffic here is insane."

Reality Is The Method For GH's Bernard
Emmy-winning actor and ABC's GENERAL HOSPITAL soap star Maurice Bernard knows daytime TV drama. What many might not realize however is that this handsome and talented actor faces his own form of inner "drama" everyday.

Diagnosed with bipolar disorder at 21, Bernard was concerned that his condition may ultimately affect his dream of pursuing an acting career, making producers reluctant to hire him if they learned of the truth.

Luckily he was wrong.

To his surprise, the producers accepted the news with grace and understanding. Instead of just looking past his illness, they embraced it.

"I didn't want to talk about it because I was afraid that producers would think that I'd loose it on the set. … It was important for me to come out about it." Bernard told The Showbuzz. "But, for me it's been absolutely incredible. This is why I continue to do what I do."

Soap stars at Hoboken film festival
The Melting Pot in Hoboken was full of stars - well, some bigger known than others - tonight as part of the Hoboken International Film Festival.

Hoboken's Melting Pot hosted a celebratory cocktail party for the festival's actors, filmmakers and film enthusiasts. Attendees paid $35 to mingle with the festival's stars and watch two premiers, Undone and Fifty Cents.

Soap stars James and Kassie DePaiva were there - Kassie plays Blair on ONE LIFE TO LIVE and James used to play Max Holden on the show. The couple screened their film Undone at tonight's party, which James directed and Kassie starred in.

What do the OLTL actors think of the Hoboken Film Festival?

"It's doesn't matter whether it's a film festival in New York City, Los Angeles or Hoboken - people here have the same appreciation," said Kassie. "It just matters what doors are open to you as a filmmaker."

Plus, Kassie added, "I love Hoboken! The restaurants, the nightlife - if I was 25 I would move here."

Matt Florida in new online comedy
THAT 70s SHOW alums Chris Peterson and Bryan Moore are behind "Dan's Detour of Life," a new online comedy from Briggs Digital Media. The show revolves around a man who's forced to move in with his son after his wife leaves him.

Michael Kostroff (THE WIRE) stars as Dan Ford, who thinks he has the perfect life, until his wife (Gabrielle Carteris, 90210/ANOTHER WORLD) asks for a separation. Matt Florida (DAYS OF OUR LIVES) plays his grown son, a recent Harvard grad. Show also stars Mandy Musgrave, Maurice Smith, Chane't Johnson, Ayesha Alexander and Alicia Ziegler.

"Dan's Detour of Life" joins several other online originals, including the dramatic entries "The Acquirer" and "Foul Play," that Briggs has shot in high definition for Cinsay.com.

BLOG UPDATE: Lynn Liccardo
"Twenty-five years after Hill Street Blues led to 'TV's second golden age' (Steven Stark: Glue to the Set), a new incarnation of primetime soaps were introduced in the fall of 2006. In addition to BROTHERS & SISTERS, ABC had UGLY BETTY; NBC, the critics' darling, FRIDAY NIGHT LIGHTS; all will be returning for third seasons in fall 2008. In many ways, these 21st-century primetime soaps, along with DIRTY SEXY MONEY, have embraced the true soap opera ethos - intimate, complex character-driven drama - their daytime counterparts long ago abandoned in the pursuit of 'the youth market.'"