News Brief

So long to Super Soap at Disney World
In the Super Soap program there was a letter from Brian Frons, ABC Daytime honcho, explaining that they always heard from fans wanting the soap stars to come to their hometowns, thus the end of Super Soap (after 13 years) and the beginning of the Soap Nation Tour.

Kenyan soap opera that examines issues of global concern is helping to challenge UK pupils' preconceptions about Africa
MAKUTANO JUNCTION, the east African soap opera now in its fourth season, was originally funded by the Department for International Development (DfID) to convey serious issues through an entertaining medium. Feedback from the pilot episodes suggests that MAKUTANO JUNCTION has been a hit with both students and teachers. Lynn Cutler, from Somerset's development education centre, says the soap has helped them promote global issues in schools.

"Our challenge is to show teachers that development education is not something extra - it's part and parcel of what they're already doing," says Cutler. "Secondary schoolteachers have a lot of specialist expertise, but sometimes they need a way in. Makutano Junction provides this link between the global dimension and subject areas."

Ruth Newman, an English teacher from Clyst Vale community college in Devon, took part in the pilot and used the soap in work with year 8 and 10 students. Their reactions were very different.

"While year 8 enjoyed it straight away, year 10 was more challenging," she says. "They wanted to watch a British soap like EASTENDERS and found it more difficult to adapt to the different setting and humor."

Former Y&R actor Gigandet cast in Five Day Star
According to The Hollywood Reporter, Cam Gigandet (ex-Daniel) will play the lead in the indie drama from writer-director Danny Buday.

Brooke Shields: LIPSTICK JUNGLE is not canceled
Despite reports, Brooke Shields says her NBC drama Lipstick Jungle hasn't been scrapped.

"They thought that because MY OWN WORST ENEMY has been shut down that the same thing had happened to us, and it's not true," she told reporters at Sunday's Cookie magazine Kidsfest in NYC.

"They're not breaking down the sets," she added. "We’re still working. We still have more to do, so it's erroneously presented that we’ve been canceled, thank God. Our bosses are saying, 'You’re not canceled, don’t worry. We’re just trying to figure out how to make this make sense.'"

Fire on DESPERATE HOUSEWIVES in bad taste
It was according to Roger Catlin of the Hartford Courant: "Maybe it just didn't play well up here. There's still something distasteful about using a club fire for a dramatic turning point (especially in Southern New England, where 100 people died in a club fire). It probably played no better in Southern California, swept up in its own wildfires Sunday."

SARA A. BIBEL: John Gone Again
"Arguably, DOOL has written itself into a corner by failing to develop compelling new characters for the past decade. Many other shows have popular characters were created relatively recently. But DOOL has not had a breakout new character since the “last blast” era. This only enhances the importance of the 'big four.' Without them, the show has nothing. If DOOL had chosen to let John die a year ago, and used his death to generate compelling story for Marlena, Hope, Bo and some of the newer characters the show might be in better shape today. Since it hasn’t, firing Hogestyn isn’t just disrespectful to the actor and his passionate fans. It’s bad business."

TV’s UGLY BETTY has a secret weapon within its sassy supporting cast
“When I read the UGLY BETTY pilot, I thought, Oh, this part’s funny,” says Becki Newton, 30, who plays Amanda. “I said to my husband, ‘I’m going to get it!,’ ” she says. “But based on what? All my exquisite comedic work in a Nike commercial? Yet something about the character made perfect sense in my head, even though she’s so demented. I knew exactly how I wanted to portray her.”

AMC's Martinez participated in FSU program for veterans
JR Martinez, of Dalton, Ga., participated last summer in Florida State University’s Entrepreneurial Bootcamp for Veterans with Disabilities program, which trains veterans in entrepreneurship and small business management. It is geared to post 9/11 soldiers, sailors, airmen and marines who were disabled as a result of their service.

CADY MCCLAIN: Sexy Men
"I like my men a little rough and tumble, clearly. I like a guy that can swear in really creative ways, but also likes a good chocolate shake. For ME, no brilliance or good looks, kindness or fame, can match the genius, handsome-ness, sweetness, or wow-factor of my [fiance] Frankie. He’s just the BEST."

Unhappy People Watch TV, Happy People Read/Socialize
A new study by sociologists at the University of Maryland concludes that unhappy people watch more TV, while people who describe themselves as "very happy" spend more time reading and socializing. The study appears in the December issue of the journal Social Indicators Research.

"TV doesn't really seem to satisfy people over the long haul the way that social involvement or reading a newspaper does," says University of Maryland sociologist John P. Robinson, the study co-author and a pioneer in time use studies. "It's more passive and may provide escape - especially when the news is as depressing as the economy itself. The data suggest to us that the TV habit may offer short-run pleasure at the expense of long-term malaise."