News Brief

ALL MY CHILDREN's lesbians cuter than GREY'S ANATOMY's says Frons
During a lunchtime interview at Madeo in West Hollywood earlier this month, ABC Daytime President Brian Frons extolled the virtues of AMC’s lesbian storyline, which this year features the show’s on again / off again resident lesbian Eden Riegel’s Bianca and her new love, Tamara Braun’s Reese, in a committed, often passionate relationship.

“Our lesbians are cuter,” Frons said when an interviewer mentioned that while AMC’s lesbian storyline is blossoming, GREY'S ANATOMY’s was axed.


End of DAYS for Hall and Hogestyn
In a story on the firing for the New York Post, Don Kaplan adds: "Daytime soap operas in general are dying breed. With far more profitable syndicated judge shows and talks shows dominating the network's daytime schedules, many industry observers believe it will only be a matter of time before soaps are banished entirely to far-flung cable channels, the Internet or oblivion."

John and Marlena were FIRED?!
Melissa Niksic from the Chicago Daily Herald writes: "I am so freakin' angry! Yes, I'm sure Deidre and Drake have the most inflated salaries on the show, but how could they be fired?! John and Marlena are the center of Salem! They are the number one supercouple of all time! Firing John and Marlena would be like firing Bill Cosby from THE COSBY SHOW. You just cannot have the show without them!"

Froth and fun at Super Soap Weekend
Matt Palm of the Orlando Sentinel recaps the event and then makes an interesting observation: "I suppose in the world of soaps it's possible that even Super Soap Weekend could someday return from the dead."

HOLLYOAKS has a scandalous new lesbian storyline
The character of Sarah Barnes, a model, has had her fair share of failed relationships (with men, that is). This week, it was reported that she will share an intimate connection with someone — Zoe Carpenter, aka her dad's girlfriend.

It appears that in the UK, some television writers actually pay attention to what their actors want. Last January, actress Zoe Lister (who plays Zoe on the show) told a reporter she was interested in trying out a Sapphic scene: "I’d definitely do a lesbian love scene in HOLLYOAKS," she said. "That would be a really good story."

90210 scoop: Brenda's medical issue
Sources close the series have revealed that Brenda has fertility issues and won't be able to have kids.

WHERE ARE THEY NOW: Scott Bailey (ex-Sandy, GL)
"I'm still alive and kicking — another day above ground! I'm lucky enough to still make a living at this crazy, playing-pretend game. Sandy got thrown off a cliff, but you know they say if you leap, the net will appear. My net appeared in Los Angeles. It's been a while now. I shot a pilot that started airing last year [on myNetworkTV] called SAINTS & SINNERS, which was great fun. Obviously, the soap training helped! In the end, I didn't get thrown off a cliff. I actually survived that one. I got to shoot a couple of films, too. One called Seducing Spirits, where I played a serial killer who killed bad guys, and I just finished doing a film called Little Wonders with a filmmaker from Portugal ... I go to numerous meetings [laughs] and it's not as busy when you're on a soap."

NBC confirms LIPSTICK JUNGLE isn't dead
Reports of the demise of LIPSTICK JUNGLE may have been premature. A recent uptick in DVR viewing may have saved the Brooke Shields drama. NBC boss Ben Silverman says if LIPSTICK JUNGLE continues to "grows more," he'll order additional episodes.

Alec Baldwin joins ROSIE LIVE
The 30 ROCK star, who played Billy on THE DOCTORS, is the latest name to join Rosie O'Donnell's live variety show, which airs on Thanksgiving Eve. Baldwin will appear along with his 30 ROCK co-star Jane Krakowski (ex-T.R., SEARCH FOR TOMORROW), Kathy Griffin, ALL MY CHILDREN guest star Ne-Yo and Liza Minnelli.