News Brief

Susan Lucci: Not Even Close to Retiring
Susan Lucci is shooting the 10,000th episode of ALL MY CHILDREN today, and the soap opera vixen, 61, who joined the show as Erica Kane in episode 10 in 1970 and is now competing on DANCING WITH THE STARS, tells OK! she’s nowhere close to retiring from her iconic role.

“I don’t see a time. This character is fantastic and the American public seems to embrace her and it makes me so happy.”

The 10,000th show, which will air in November on ABC, is giving Susan the chance to “look back on some of the happy times." Some of her favorite scenes, she says, were the ones that had Erica working as a model in New York City in the 1980s shot at Lincoln Center and the Metropolitan museum.

"All of that comes back to me," she reminisces. "That was so much fun!”

HOLLYOAKS Niall storyline reaches explosive climax
Liverpool actor Barry Sloane, who plays Niall, says, “Niall will stop at nothing to cause pain to Myra’s family. I quite like him but my sister is scared of him. It’s been unbelievable to be part of such a big storyline.”

FOX 411: James E. Reilly
"James E. Reilly, the famed soap opera writer, died unexpectedly at age 60, complications after cardiac surgery. I always thought John Candy was meant to be spoofing him in the 1991 comedy Delirious about a soap writer who wakes up in his own soap. Reilly wrote for many shows but was most famous for reviving DAYS OF OUR LIVES in the early 90s and the creating the preposterous PASSIONS for NBC. That show featured a talking doll-slash-midget and a witch was just completely nuts. Unlike the characters he killed off and often resurrected, Reilly will not be returning from the dead. Too bad. He was total original in a business full of hacks. He will be missed."

Election News! This time on ATWT
Lannon Killea appears on AS THE WORLD TURNS as Mark and serves as Kevin’s campaign manager beginning on Wednesday, October 22, when the Oakdale University election season heats up. The cut-throat contest will eventually involve not just Kevin, Luke and Noah, but Casey and Alison, as well.

FNL Recap: The principal's husband
FRIDAY NIGHT LIGHTS wasted no time getting to the game in this week, the third chapter in the series' 13-episode third season. References to a spread offense were tossed about in the opening moments, but this wasn't an episode about the finite details of a football bout.

Instead, FRIDAY NIGHT LIGHTS deftly showed the ways in football can tear people apart, and bring others together.

Marcus Patrick to emcee HIV event
Former DAYS OF OUR LIVES actor Marcus Patrick will emcee the Wings of Hope Gala on Thurs., Oct. 23, from 6-9 p.m. in the second-level gallery space at One Embarcadero Center in SF. The gala benefits 360: The Positive Care Center at UCSF and its Men of Color, HIV & Aging, and Urban HIV Telemedicine programs.