News Brief

Older viewers and actors alike are increasingly turning to the Hallmark Channel
Hollywood is not a nostalgic town. The TV stars of yesteryear might get a star on the sidewalk, but they are often shunned when it comes to what they truly covet: another juicy role.

But in recent years, veteran actors have thrived on the Hallmark Channel, television's most popular "retirement" center. The marquee names - Ed Asner (LOU GRANT), Corbin Bernsen (L.A. LAW, GENERAL HOSPITAL), Meredith Baxter (FAMILY TIES) and Greg Evigan (BJ AND THE BEAR) - may not get invitations to the Teen Choice Awards, but they're big draws for viewers of a certain age who still think Patrick Duffy is dreamy.

"I think the people watching the Hallmark Channel are happy to see us," said Donna Mills, best known for her role as Abby Ewing on the hit '80s soap opera KNOTS LANDING

Mills appears in the coming Hallmark movie Ladies of the House, alongside Florence Henderson and Pam Grier. "Other networks don't always have places for us, but Hallmark provides a comfort zone for viewers who want to see people they know."

UK: Top 10 Hot Soap Opera Babes
Penny Stretton writes: "Forget the story lines, the murders and the love triangles – when it comes to soap operas hot babes are what it’s all about."

LYNN LICCARDO: Linking connections, creating, convergence
"After my last piece for Weekly, Who Really Watches the Daytime Soaps?, was published in 1996, I thought that was it for me when it came to writing about soaps. I had nothing else to say; I still watched, mostly AS THE WORLD TURNS, and posted on a couple of boards, mostly Media Domain. But, my days of writing about soap opera were a thing of the past; or so I thought."

BLOG UPDATE: Cady McClain
"Just a reminder, I will be doing a radio interview LIVE with Joesph Montebello on August 20th from 1:00 to 2:00 on WVOX 1460 AM, the Whitney Radio Station in New Rochelle.

I know I said before that we are only going to talk about writing, but it looks like we are going to cover the whole shebang. The only thing I ask NOW, is for you to call in with real questions! I love to say hi, but this is an interview show and I would really like to help Mr. Montebello have a chance to really get into some interesting topics. Don’t mean to be an ass, but just had to put that out there."

TOM CASIELLO: Too Much of a Not-So-Good Thing
On this past weekend's Scott/Griffith-Gate: "One might say there's an element of denial in here, and I wouldn't argue with one if they did. But unlike the emotions I went through when the Scott/Higley story broke, and then again with the Hinsey thread, this time there were no screaming voices in my head. I was just... done."

B&B's Beemer and DAYS' Bjorlin in "Fixation Magazine"
Check out photos from their "James Bond" shoot in the August 2008 issue.

"Jan Brady" to DAYS
Eve Plumb, who famously played middle sister Jan on THE BRADY BUNCH, will appear on DAYS OF OUR LIVES on August 29. She plays Dora, a woman on the verge of a nervous breakdown who seeks counseling from Marlena. Plumb played June on ALL MY CHILDREN in 2003.

David Hasselhoff launches "HoffSpace"
Former THE YOUNG AND THE RESTLESS actor David Hasselhoff has launched a social networking site where fans can get together and start a conversation over their mutual interest in the star.

While other social networks deal with the problem of monetising their sites, Hasselhoff has a higher purpose with the launch of HoffSpace. "Where it will lead, I don't know but the world would be a better place if everyone talked a little more to each other...," the star writes on his homepage.

ABC buys up all the ads in TV Guide
ABC will buy out all the ad space (21 pages) in the Aug. 25 issue of TV Guide magazine, part of the usual round of late-summer shenanigans the big TV networks unleash every year to get their programs sampled by the couch-potato public.

Christina Applegate: I had both of my breasts removed
The SAMANTHA WHO? star, whose first appeared on TV on DAYS OF OUR LIVES, spoke to GOOD MORNING AMERICA'S Robin Roberts, who also survived cancer, about her bilateral mastectomy: "I didn't want to go back to the doctors every four months for testing and squishing and everything. I just wanted to kind of get rid of this whole thing for me. This was the choice that I made and it was a tough one."

Colin/Rasche to Star in "A Body of Water" at Primary Stages
Margaret Colin (ex-Margo, AS THE WORLD TURNS), David Rasche (ex-Robert, ALL MY CHILDREN; ex-Wes, RYAN'S HOPE) and Laura Odeh will star in Primary Stages' New York premiere of Lee Blessing's A Body of Water. Previews begin at 59E59 Theaters on September 30 for a limited engagement opening October 14, and running through November 9, directed by Maria Mileaf.

A Body of Water tells the story of Avis (Colin) and Moss (Rasche), who awake one morning in a house in the forested hills that overlooks a picturesque body of water. The weather's great, the view's magnificent, but neither of them seems to know whose house this is or who they are. Will the stranger at their doorstep be able to help?