News Brief

SARA A. BIBEL: Hypocrisy In The Afternoon
"It was the PSA that pushed me over the edge. I knew from ABC’s incessant promos that ONE LIFE TO LIVE’s Todd and Marty were going to have sex. I had steeled myself for the sight of watching an amnesiac unknowingly sleeping with the man who raped her, and undoing daytime’s most graphic, realistic sexual assault storyline. OLTL has chosen to tell an exploitive story in the hopes of titillating its audience. It can’t pretend that it’s socially responsible."

Live +7 ratings are telling
In the Live +7 ratings for the first four weeks of the TV season, almost every soap’s W18-49 ratings increase by double digits in the key Women 18-49 demographic.

90210 preview: New executive producer Rebecca Kirshner talks up the slumber party
"Trying to find what a show is when it’s not one singular creator saying what it is. It’s difficult because there’s also the original series, the ghost, and the feeling of having to live up to something. Instead of Joss Whedon saying this is who BUFFY is, there’s a lot of input here. I’m trying to be the person that channels it all and finds the commonality between the team and to use my gut instincts.

What we’re finding together is that 90210 is both grounded and a character-driven show. Unlike GOSSIP GIRL, it’s not so arch, not so Evelyn Waugh or Noel Coward. 90210 is an opportunity to talk about teen issues. Real-world stuff told in whatever fun way. I want the real world to inform this show. I want to be an advocate for the characters and finding their reality."

Obama's first speech (and first soap interruption)
Speaking at a press conference after meeting with his economic advisory board, Obama said the United States was facing the biggest economic challenge of a lifetime. 'We woke this morning to some sobering news,' he said. 'We lost 240,000 jobs last month. It was the tenth consecutive month our economy lost jobs. We have now shed 1.2 million jobs this year. 10 million Americans are now unemployed. Tens of millions are battling to pay their bills.'

EDITOR'S NOTE: Why couldn't he have interrupted OLTL and ATWT on Thursday instead and spared us the Todd and Marty sex?

Soap Opera Weekly's MALA BHATTACHARJEE on the Todd and Marty sex scene
"I don't even HAVE a 'quick take' on yesterday's Todd and Marty sex scene on ONE LIFE TO LIVE. I'm too busy being curled in fetal position under my desk going 'Whyyyyyy?' like Nancy Kerrigan. But stay tuned for an 'extended, frothy, ranty take' from me at some point soon."

Former AMC star James Kiberd at Sedona Film Festival with Soldier's Heart
“My father returned from service in the North Atlantic/World War II a different person. We often wondered what happened to him during the war. The man that I knew as Dad, who struggled with his profoundly troubled soul, volatile nature and bouts of depression, was apparently not the same man who had gone to war. Unbeknownst to him and to those around him, he suffered acutely from Soldier’s Heart (PTSD).”

More on the 2009 Daytime Emmys
"Rumors of our demise are premature," Peter Price told Gold Derby. "We're currently in active negotiations with two broadcast networks and two cable channels. I expect to make an announcement of final plans in about a month. The only thing up in the air is where the ceremony will be held. It'll be back in New York next year, but we don't know if we're going to Radio City Music Hall, Madison Square Garden or another venue. But the show will go on!"