News Brief

DEEP SOAP: Rest In Peace
Sara A. Bibel writes: "Watching [Eileen] Herlie grow increasingly frail, and her appearances on the show become less frequent, was as painful as watching the decline of a family member. Due to Herlie’s health problems, Myrtle hasn’t appeared on AMC for months. I hope the show will do right by her and give Myrtle the on-screen memorial that she and the audience deserve."

CADY MCCLAIN: The Daily Beast
"All this focus in the debates about our country being so 'good', and us American’s being so 'good', makes me feel like I am being talked to like a child. The morality play that is forced onto the political situation feels so condescending to me."

Carl Ferguson joins cast of EastEnders
Carl Ferguson, who grew up in Ampthill, is playing Lee Thompson, a former school friend of character Ronnie Mitchell, on BBC's EASTENDERS.

New gig for telenovela writer
Hot telenovela scribe Adriana Lorenzon has signed on for TAL COMO SOY, a co-production from Dori Media Group and Argentinean toon-pic producer Illusion Studios.

TAL COMO SOY, which will combine animation and live action, is about an odd couple -- the chaotic Laura and hyper organized Marcos -- and how an animated caricature of the latter takes on a life of its own to try to bring the two together.

Lorenzon wrote Telefe's revenge tale MONTECRISTO, Idea del Sur's comedy ROLDANS and Pol-ka's hit POR AMOR A VOS.

Viacom, CBS slash full-year outlooks
The weak economy continues to take its toll on entertainment companies. CBS Corp. and Viacom Inc. both had to admit to sluggish economic realities Friday and slash their full-year 2008 outlook citing advertising market woes.

"The continued economic slowdown in the United States has adversely affected advertising revenues across the company's businesses, primarily at the local level, and the effects of the current financial crisis are likely to cause further declines in advertising spending," CBS Corp. said in a statement.

It now predicts full-year 2008 adjusted operating income before depreciation and amortization to fall in the mid-teen percentage range. Previously, it had targeted a gain in the low single digits.