News Brief

Mackenzie Phillips Collared for Drugs
Mackenzie Phillips, best known for her role on the hit CBS sitcom ONE DAY AT A TIME was arrested this morning at Los Angeles International Airport after allegedly trying to bring heroin and cocaine aboard an airliner.

Phillips was going through security at LAX's Terminal 4 at approximately 10 a.m., when her bag was checked by a TSA officer, according to Sgt. Jim Holcomb, spokesman for Los Angles Airport Police.

In 1996, she played a substance abuse counselor on GUIDING LIGHT, where she helped Annie Dutton (played by Cynthia Watros) get through her drug habit.

Phillips is the daughter of Mamas & Papas singer, John Phillips.

MARLENA DE LACROIX: Why OLTL's Back to the Future Story Was a Bomb
"What did I do to deserve two Farah Faths on my TV screen? That’s what I thought last week when I tuned in ONE LIFE TO LIVE to see a scene set in 1968, in which Rex (who was Bo) was in bed with Emma Bradley (Farah Fath), and in walked Gigi (Farah Fath), who had just journeyed back to that year a la Michael J. Fox in Back to the Future."

Tonya Pinkins in NOAH'S ARC movie
Noah's Arc: Jumping the Broom, based on the recently canceled Logo series NOAH'S ARC, will hit theaters on October 24th. Former ALL MY CHILDREN and AS THE WORLD TURNS star Tonya Pinkins will play a role along with the returning TV cast of Darryl Stephens, Jensen Atwood, Rodney Chester, Doug Spearman and Christian Vincent.

A rich vein of TV storytelling
Television programmers could be making a major misstep. The American economy, after all, has been in a major slump. Do viewers who are struggling with sky-high gas prices, workplace anxiety and dismal real estate news really want to spend their nights watching beautiful people clad in designer clothes, buying jewelry in upscale shops and cruising around in limos?

Canwest Delivers New TV Season Online
The new TV season is set to launch next week, but Canwest is talking up its online launch of programs available for streaming on its network websites.

Access to over 50 hit programs online, including top ten favourites and some of the most anticipated new fall shows, is available.

Hit shows on www.globaltv.com and www.eonline.com include #1 program HOUSE, HEROES, THE OFFICE, DEAL OR NO DEAL and for the first time in Canada, daytime hits THE YOUNG AND THE RESTLESS and DAYS OF OUR LIVES, programmers describe. The hottest new programs, including the most anticipated new shows of the season, 90210 and KNIGHT RIDER, will also be in full glory and in full format on the network sites.

VIDEO: John Brotherton Fan Event
Soap Opera Digest's Bryan Beckley was on-hand for John Brotherton's first solo fan event on August 18 in New York City. The actor, who plays Jared on ONE LIFE TO LIVE, talks about what he has been up to off-screen this summer, his OLTL character and his wedding.

Y&R's Kevin Schmidt's new film debuts
Sean Michael Beyer will debut his romantic thriller film “Resurrection Mary” on Thursday. The premiere of the film which is available nationwide on DVD is also serving as a fundraiser for the Hospitality House homeless shelter.

The film is based on an old Chicago legend and is about a young woman who gets a ride from a young man near a cemetery. The man’s life begins to spin out of control after he takes her to the homecoming dance and his friends begin getting murdered.

The movie was released this week from Entertainment Studios Home Entertainment, Rodgers said. It stars Oscar nominee Sally Kirkland as the grandmother who helps Kevin G. Schmidt (Noah, Y&R) understand the mystery surrounding him.

“He played the chubby little boy in Cheaper By the Dozen I and II,” Beyer said from his home in Los Angeles.

EVENT: Peck/Bartlett at Third annual Beach, Boogie & BBQ Festival
What: Third annual Beach, Boogie & BBQ Festival, closing of the 57th annual Sun Fun Festival

When: Saturday. Celebrity meet and greet with soap stars: Austin Peck, who plays Brad Snyder on AS THE WORLD TURNS, 10 a.m.-noon and 2-4 p.m. in tent 1, near main stage; and Murray Bartlett, who plays Cyrus Foley on GUIDING LIGHT, noon-2 p.m. and 4-6 p.m. in tent 2. Free.

Where: Grand Park, The Market Common, on Farrow Parkway, on the former Myrtle Beach Air Force Base

Details on Ty Treadway's return to OLTL
Ty Treadway returns to ONE LIFE TO LIVE as the villainous Colin MacIver (who died in 2001) to host a game show aptly titled SO YOU THINK YOU CAN BE SHANE MORASCO'S FATHER. The dream sequence, which airs Oct 1-2, focuses on Rex and his not-so-good life as he is on the operating table being treated for a gun wound. The sequences were filmed on ABC's WHO WANTS TO BE A MILLIONAIRE set.

NEIGHBOURS says goodbye to Harold
Last year, 70-year-old actor Ian Smith agreed to continue playing the loveable character on a part-time basis, after negotiations with the show's producers. But now it has been revealed that the golden gentleman of the Australian soap will be leaving the show for good.

According to the show's producers, Smith will act out his final scenes in October. It is thought that Harold will be shown leaving Erinsborough after successfully fighting prostate cancer. His last episodes will hit screens in Australia in February, and on Five in the UK next spring.

Laura Dawson cast in SPINNING JENNY
Young actress Laura Dawson is appealing to the public to help her continue in her first professional screen role. The 24-year-old, from Longton, has landed a part in an online soap opera - described as a cross between BIG BROTHER and HOLLYOAKS.

Viewers can elect which storyline they want to see in SPINNING JENNY, which is filmed in Manchester, in order to choose who to vote in and out of the plot. The soap opera is about the life of a young woman called Jenny Hargreaves, who works for Brazen PR as an account executive.

SCRIPTS & SCRUPLES: Episode #852
Matt explains Casey to Blake. Stu plans big changes for his garage.