News Brief

THE COLBYS star Stephanie Beacham to play Ken Barlow’s sexy love interest on CORONATION STREET?
THE COLBYS and DYNASTY star Stephanie Beacham (Sable) looks set to play ageing romeo Ken Barlow’s sexy love interest in CORRIE. The gorgeous Hollywood actress stunned STREET bosses when she emerged as a contender for the role.

A source said: “Nobody could quite believe it that she was going for a part, it would be a great coup to get Stephanie on board. There were plenty of excited people. The word is that the character will be involved in some terrific scenes with Ken Barlow, Weatherfield’s most unlikely romantic.”

Other actresses are auditioning and Stephanie, 61, will be told soon whether she has got the part alongside dowdy Ken.

DVR Usage Making Big Changes in Television Viewing
Figuring out a prime-time schedule is usually one of CW network chief Dawn Ostroff's most important duties. Never, however, has it seemed to matter less. The promise inherent in digital video recorders -- that viewers can be in control of their own TV schedules -- is rapidly being fulfilled this fall, and the business is changing around it. Nearly 30 percent of the nation's TV homes have at least one.

Nowhere is the impact more apparent than at the CW, where recording the shows and watching them later account for nearly 17 percent of the network's viewership over a one-week period. Two years ago, it was less than 5 percent, according to Nielsen Media Research. The time-shifting is more dramatic for individual shows. The CW even had a week where the audience of 18-to-34-year-old women for 90210 increased by a stunning 79 percent over the live broadcast.

AMPTP To Employers: SAG "Completely Out Of Touch With Reality"; Authorization Vote "Will Lead Inexorably To Strike"
The AMPTP today sent a message to its employers. Nikki Finke has the latest in her Deadline Hollywood blog.

MICHAEL FAIRMAN: "Super Soap" Star Interviews Part Two
More pictures and interviews from Super Soap Weekend. Interviews include Jason Thompson, Bradford Anderson, Farah Fath, Ricky Paull Goldin and many more.

Eden Riegel: "The tornado was incredible, and I loved the special effects. It was fun to be a part of it and it was like the show was saying, “Here you are. Welcome back. You’re in the rumble, you are a part of this, and you are nine months pregnant!” And they threw me right in there, in the drama of it all."

Futures of Entertainment Conference at MIT: Franchising, Extensions and Worldbuilding
From the live blog of Session 5, Tom Casiello added: "Soaps for a while tried to franchise by using more moneymaking schemes, like 'shop the soaps' or writing novels and working the novel into the story, like the character would write a novel and it would come out in real life. They were successful in that they made money, but the fans took it as a manipulation, like you said. After the fact they growled about it and weren't happy about it. They want to feel like they're part of the community. It's not about extending the franchise in terms of making money, it's about extending the franchise creatively."

VIDEO: War Veterans Appear on ALL MY CHILDREN
JR Martinez (Brot) is interviewed by Chris Cuomo on GOOD MORNING AMERICA in a segment about the veterans who appeared on the show.