News Round-up

INTERVIEW: OLTL's Bree Williamson (Jessica)
"I am such in a good place at ONE LIFE TO LIVE. I mean, look at the people I get to work with!

I do watch it. I think it’s important to have an interest in yourself and your show. So, not only do I watch myself, but I watch most of the shows when I can. It’s a really good show right now! We put on really good TV!"

AMC's Mathison takes on ballet for charity
He's tackled the waltz, the jive, the mambo and even the Pass Doble, but there is one dance "All My Children" actor Cameron Mathison said he has always been just too intimidated to take on: the ballet. But when he was called to host the Fifth Annual Broadway Cares Benefit, Mathison knew what he had to do: team with three young dancers from the Broadway hit "Billy Elliot" for a little tutorial.

Entertainment Weekly Hit List: #5 Soap star films her first porn
Soaps get mentioned from time to time in the 'Hit List' but that often. This week's headline was followed by commentary from Scott Brown: "Please tell me it's Susan Lucci. And please tell me she won't have to wait 21 years to earn her first Porny."

CLASSIC INTERVIEW: THE DOCTORS' Kim Zimmer (Nola)
Soap Opera Digest has reprinted a classic interview with Zimmer from their September 30, 1980 issue.

Y&R's Vail Bloom in new web series
Premiering March 2 on Crackle.com – an online venture of Sony Pictures Entertainment – is ANGEL OF DEATH, an original live-action series written by superstar comics writer Ed Brubaker. The series features Y&R's Vail Bloom, Lucy Lawless and Doug Jones.

Contest winner James DiSalvatore talks about Y&R walk on role
"I won a walk on role on the TV soap THE YOUNG AND THE RESTLESS. A Web site called if.net offers many different contests for actors, musicians, dancers, sportscasters, etc. The premise is you submit a video, and people around the world vote for you. I ended up in the top five and was chosen by THE YOUNG AND THE RESTLESS producers. The show aired on Feb. 19th. I played a cabbie. Just had a couple of lines, but I got paid and flown to L.A. for the gig. If.net just ended a contest for a walk-on role in “Bones.” I was in the top five, but pulled out of the contest two weeks ago because I was unavailable the week of the shoot."

Has TV lost its nerve when it comes to complex dramas?
As is the case with the beleaguered music industry, television networks are responding to rapid and revolutionary changes in how audiences consume their products. In the TV industry, that’s having an effect on what gets made.

"Sometimes early on, being a little more episodic allows more people into the room. And as the show goes on, by its nature, it might find itself becoming a little more serialized," said Matt Cherniss, executive vice president of programming at Fox. "But to abandon the desire to tell stories that are, essentially, the hero’s journey and to watch that journey take place—I think that would be irresponsible. There are a lot of versions of that are successful, whether it's a soap or a medical drama. They're difficult to do, but that's not a reason not to do them."