News Round-up

P&G Classic Soaps Channel Off AOL
Effective 2009, ANOTHER WORLD, THE EDGE OF NIGHT, SEARCH FOR TOMORROW and TEXAS will no longer be streamed on AOL.

"PGP appreciates the support of AOL and all of our loyal fans who loved and watched these shows during their most recent run. We are currently exploring other options in making these shows once again available for viewing and hope that that the break is only temporary."

INTERVIEW: GUIDING LIGHT's Gina Tognoni
"We removed all walls, and suddenly there were cameramen 360 around us, and then we were doing four passes of the same scene. That was unheard of. We would do our own pick-ups. To be able to do that in this medium in the interest of time and money, that’s a godsend. The hard part was claustrophobia, because we were working so close together at first. It was a little imbalanced, but we found our balance, and that just goes back to 'When you’re good, you’re good'. Our whole cast is good, and all things have to be running on all cylinders. We had to publicly go through this transition and that was very difficult. GL did the same thing from radio to television. We made it that we were the oldest, we were the first, and we are doing it again. I love being a part of it!"

Michelle Ray Smith: Ready to Return to Work
After Michelle Ray Smith welcomed son Jake earlier this year, she realized that she didn’t want to return to work on the daytime serial GUIDING LIGHT. Now that her little boy is five months old, the actress is reconsidering that decision. Recently, she returned to the show for a brief stint and realized that she "would love to work on the show and be written in more." Jake is "another part of my life," says the new mom, but "now that I’ve got myself on a schedule, I feel like coming back."

Peanut Rademacher gets a mention in an Australian newspaper
"Former Australian soap star Ingo Rademacher, now one of the leads on US soap GENERAL HOSPITAL, may have won title of 'Most Ridiculous Name to Saddle a Baby With.

His son, born in July, was named Peanut."

HOLLYOAKS' Stephen Beard was "star-struck"
He may play cocksure student Archie Carpenter in HOLLYOAKS, but actor Stephen Beard admits he was a bag of nerves when he first started on the Channel 4 show.

"It was quite daunting being the new boy," Stephen said. "I watched the show throughout my teenage years and when I first arrived on set they put me in the green room and I was like 'God, there's Justin [Chris Fountain] and Hannah [Emma Rigby]'. I would say I was a little star-struck by the girls because all teenage blokes appreciate the fact that all the girls on the show are very good looking."

PATRICK ERWIN: Audacious List (10 of 10): Complete loss of identity
"It’s understandable, even sensible, to update the framework or the format. But the basics must be there. Tell us a story, a serialized story like so many stories told since the time of Scherezade. Tell us the story that, as Agnes Nixon says, makes us laugh, makes us cry and makes us wait. Use actors we like to play characters we care about, and keep the story going."