News Round-up: Ashley's Pregnant, Tesreau, Slezak

Ashley's pregnant on Y&R
The Abbott and Newman families are rocked again Friday on "The Young and the Restless" when they find out Ashley Abbott is pregnant - with Victor Newman's child.

"At first I went, 'Huh?'" says Eileen Davidson, who plays Ashley, "but then I decided I like it. It's unexpected."

So is Victor's reaction to the blessed event.

"She tells him at his birthday party," says Davidson. "She says she has a birthday surprise for him, and Victor, being a total control freak, blurts it out in front of everyone."

Ashley is horrified - "She wanted to keep it private" - and so is Victor's ex-wife Nikki.

"She happens to be walking by and she's freaked out," says Davidson. "But Ashley doesn't see that. Shortly after, Nikki hugs Ashley and tells her how happy she is."

Jerry Douglas' Encino home for sale for $3,999,000
Y&R's Jerry Douglas and wife Kym have listed their 4,400-square-foot Cape Cod-style home at $3,999,000. It has five bedrooms and six bathrooms plus a one-bedroom guesthouse near the pool. The main house has a dramatic entryway with vaulted ceilings and hardwood floors. There are four bedrooms upstairs and one on the main living level. Two of the bedrooms have large balconies overlooking the grounds, which include rock gardens and a hillside waterfall. The gourmet kitchen has a Viking stove, a warming oven, double oven and large butler's pantry. An old oak tree frames the house, which sits on half an acre.

INTERVIEW: GUIDING LIGHT's Krista Tesreau (Mindy)
Tesreau spoke with Daytime Confidential's Jamey Giddens about the reunion of The Four Musketeers: "Oh wow, I can't even describe it! It was so wonderful! In some respect, nothing has changed. Michael is still the same sweet, funny guy and I can say the same thing about Grant. I'd like to say Beth Chamberlin was the same, but I actually haven't worked with Beth that many years, but you know, it feels like I have."

Cady McClain on her return to AS THE WORLD TURNS
"I am very excited to be joining ATWT again. They have shared with me some really cool ideas for bring back Rosanna and I am truly looking forward to playing the part! I know last time was rough, everyone at the show knows that, but I realized there was a writers strike going on, and that did play into some of the rough transitions."

Women Who Rock: The late Mary-Ellis Bunim
If you grew up watching soap operas or spent your high school and college years slacking off on homework in favor of a little show called THE REAL WORLD, you have Mary-Ellis Bunim to thank. The TV producer was born in Massachusetts in 1946 and spent a significant chunk of her career working in daytime television, overseeing over 2,500 hours of programming as executive producer of classic soaps like SEARCH FOR TOMORROW, LOVING, SANTA BARBARA and AS THE WORLD TURNS.

“Mary-Ellis was a one-in-a-million partner and friend, and I will always treasure our incredible years of collaboration,” her husband Jonathan Murray said. “Even as the family at Bunim-Murray Productions mourns her loss, we will honor her memory by remaining committed to her ideals of creativity, adventure, and excellence, both on the screen and in our lives.”

INTERVIEW: AMC's Tamara Braun (Reese)
"My approach is to the story line is to tell the truth of the characters. My desire is to really tackle some important issues within the storyline because it was so timely. The writers and producers had a different idea... a different route that they took. Their concern was not to be political. And that's fine, I respect that completely. I think there could have been ways to deal with the issues, without being political, you know? My approach was always just to tell the truth of the characters."

OLTL's Erika Slezak to be axed?
"[T]hey are focusing on other stories right now. And that's all I can really say," Slezak said in an interview on her official website. "I agree that there is not enough of Viki and Charlie right now but hopefully there will be in the future."

In response to the speculation about her future on the series, Slezak urged fans to contact ABC Daytime president Brian Frons if they are interested in seeing more of her on screen.

"It's Brian Frons who approves and disapproves of stories. Any story that is done has to be green lighted by him," she said. "It's [head writer] Ron [Carlivati]'s responsibility to come up with the stories but Brian has to green light them."

GH's Uninspired Formula for Romance: Like Paired With Like
"For a show with an appalling lack of diversity, where the mob dominates, law enforcement seldom wins, and the good guys always finish last, General Hospital (GH) has added insult to injury with the specter of pairing lovable mob-techie Damien Spinelli (Bradford Anderson) and FBI rookie Winifred Leeds (Senta Moses). With a stunning lack of sensitivity, GH seems poised to take their dearth of diversity one step further, by callously demonstrating geeks should only be with other geeks, certainly not romantically paired with the hot, beautiful people."

Will CORONATION STREET survive the ITV crash?
Online gaming and betting site Ladbrokes has given CORRIE 20-1 odds to be off the air in 2010.

Andrew McCarthy in GOSSIP GIRL spinoff
McCarthy joins Brittany Snow and Krysten Ritter, who plays Lily's sister Carol Rodes.

INTERVIEW: DAYS OF OUR LIVES' Lauren Koslow (Kate)
"I think that Kate has a great void in her life. I've been playing this character for 11 years and you get very attached. I feel there is a whole side of her life that is so incomplete. I would like her to have some kind of love interest -she would have a volatile romance -and I would love to get back to exploring the power of this character and her eccentricities."

Deep Soap: Revenge of The Nerds
Sara Bibel writes: "Daytime has missed the boat on geek chic. I think in part it’s a generation gap issue. The majority of soap writers are of the pre-internet generation. They harbor old-fashioned views about techies. In addition, there are plenty of technologically challenged writers. (Remember, this is the medium that employed script typists well into the 1990s. There were still some writers who used typewriters!) So I’ve got a challenge for daytime’s writers: make the next sexy hunk (or vixen) you create a software engineer. It will be fresh, fun and might even get a few of those newly laid off Google millionaires watching."