News Brief

CAROLYN HINSEY: Susan Lucci stepping up for stint on DANCING WITH THE STARS
"I will have to fly out to L.A. every Saturday for fittings and rehearsals for 'Dancing With the Stars,'" Lucci says of her new schedule. "I'll have the two shows on Monday and Tuesday, and then fly back to New York City on Tuesday night to tape ALL MY CHILDREN Wednesday, Thursday and Friday."

AMC is not lightening her load, playing Erica front and center in a big story line with ex-husband Adam Chandler.

"Erica will be spending a lot more time with Adam, trying to figure out if he is really going to make a play to take over Fusion," says an AMC rep. "She has no intention of allowing Adam to take over Kendall's business, so she vows to spend more time with him. The chemistry they once shared will be even stronger."

The big story for October will be a giant tornado, stranding lots of unlikely people together in the devastation - including Erica, of course.

Cady McClain on Sarah Palin
"Regarding the politics of the day, I think Sarah Palin is the worst thing to come to politics in a long time. Overly aggressive, blindly opinionated, savagely ambitious, I would not consider it beyond her to manipulate her way into the presidential seat by arranging McCain’s untimely death. She thinks its okay to ban books from a library! She thinks man has nothing to do global warming! She thinks polar bears are not an endangered species! She has these supposed 'christian values' but married because she was pregnant and now her underage daughter is doing the same thing? She is a moron and a hypocrite and there is no way in hell I am voting for McCain with her on the ticket. Oh and by the way, she had one of her employees call a blogger who was questioning some of her policies online and tell her 'Stop blogging! Stop blogging now!' WTF?! This is what we can look forward to: the end of freedom of speech, more humanitarian policies destroyed by greed, the end of women’s rights over their bodies, banned books, and boiling hot summers! They try to tell us, 'these are her personal beliefs and she hasn’t tried to put these policies into her lawmaking!' I say that’s total bullsh*t. Do they think we’re f*cking stupid?"

"An Evening with Joan Collins" (and Jacob Young) at Mohegan Sun
The actress is taking stock of her first 75 years in a one-woman show -- "An Evening with Joan Collins" -- that is having its American debut at the Mohegan Sun casino on Sunday, but she is squeezing that gig in between her work on a new Miss Marple film for the BBC in her native England.

"I'm actually doing a rehearsal today," Collins said of the one-woman show which includes clips tracing her career, anecdotes, and a few musical moments with her special guest Jacob Young of ALL MY CHILDREN.

"There are tons of clips from DYNASTY of course, since that was a pretty important part of my life," she said of a series that was in a bit of ratings trouble until Collins arrived as a "villain" with such humor and style that she quickly became an iconic figure of 1980s television.

Katie Holmes Hits Broadway With a Bang (with Victoria Wyndham's son)
Previews began Thursday night for the revival of Arthur Miller’s great play, "All My Sons," on Broadway. Katie Holmes — aka Mrs. Tom Cruise — has a small role in the production which otherwise stars two-time Oscar-winner Dianne Wiest, Tony-winner and movie powerhouse John Lithgow and the up-and-comer Patrick Wilson.

Christian Camargo is also in this production. He’s a fast-rising 30-something actor who’s also in a hot movie, The Hurt Locker, directed by Kathryn Bigelow. His mom is actress Victoria Wyndham, the star of NBC’s ANOTHER WORLD for almost 30 years. The actor doesn’t fall far from the tree, as they say.

EASTENDERS Masood clan to stay
At last, there's good news for fans of EastEnders residents the Masood family. It's been announced they will be staying in Walford for the long haul. The news was revealed by John Yorke, Controller of Drama at the BBC, and former EASTENDERS Executive Producer, at the Media Guardian ethnic media summit.

He said: "The Masood family are developing slowly in Albert Square and I'm proud of the way the audience has warmed to them."

DEADLINE HOLLYWOOD: So What Do SAG Election Results Mean?
"The results of the SAG vote elected an equal number of Membership First candidates and Unite For Strength candidates -- 5 to 5 -- onto the 33-strong National Board from the Hollywood division. For MF, JoBeth Williams, Scott Bakula, Lainie Kazan, Keith Carradine and Joely Fisher won three-year terms. For U4S, Amy Brenneman, Adam Arkin, Ken Howard, Pamela Reed and Kate Walsh also won three-year terms. The 11th elected National Board member was Morgan Fairchild who ran as an Independent and also won a three-year term. It's expected that she will vote with U4S which endorsed her candidacy."

NIGHT SHIFT season finale preview
Michael Logan reports: "SOAPnet's GENERAL HOSPITAL: NIGHT SHIFT had an overload of material for its season finale, so the wrap-up is now being presented as a two-parter that ends Oct 21. The plot: Patrick's actions with a patient culminate in an explosion that rocks Port Charles.

The finale also boasts a class reunion of GH '80s greats, including Robert (Tristan Rogers), Anna (Finola Hughes), Luke (Tony Geary) and — this is so cool! — Sean (John Reilly) and Tiffany (Sharon Wyatt)."

David Stone rocks Buena Vista
Disney's Buena Vista Prods. has named David Stone VP of development, focusing on nonscripted programming. Stone will develop concepts for talkshows, gameshows and reality shows and pitch them to the three main outlets: broadcast networks, cable TV channels and TV stations offering fare in firstrun syndication. Stone reports to Ann Lewis Roberts, senior VP of BV Prods. and senior VP of alternative programming & development for Soap Net.

SCRIPTS & SCRUPLES: Episode #857
Angie reveals her relationship with Mack to a stunned and angry Sam.


INTERVIEW: Graham Shiels
Shiels (Cody, GENERAL HOSPITAL) was the guest on "Stardish Radio" last night to talk about his GH role and his new HBO series, TRUE BLOOD.