Tuesday, May 26, 2009

News Round-up: Lauralee Bell, Marisa Ramirez, YouTube

Lauralee Bell Cooks Up an Online Series
Bell has written and directed FAMILY DINNER, a comedy Web series premiering June 8 at funnyordie.com and familydinneronline.com. Set entirely around a suburban dinner table, the series unfolds in three-minute installments and features Bell as a manic, attention-starved mom who’s desperate to be on Oprah.

Bell says she’s aiming the Web series at younger viewers, though there are double entendres galore. “There are so many kids out there who never sit down for a family dinner – or, if they do, they think only their family is dysfunctional,” she says. “Maybe they’ll watch this and see that every family is a little nuts.”

INTERVIEW: GH's Martha Byrne (Andrea)
Byrne was a guest on the "Your Mental Health" radio show on Monday night. Former ATWT star Scott Bryce (ex-Craig) is scheduled to appear on the show tonight.

Marisa Ramirez talks MENTAL
Marisa Ramirez (ex-Gia, GH) is starring in the new Fox series, MENTAL, co-starring Annabella Sciorra, Chris Vance and Nicholas Gonzalez. Ramirez plays Dr. Chloe Artis, an out lesbian doctor working on the psychiatric floor of an L.A. hospital. The show debuts tonight.

According to Ramirez, “a lot of times on soaps it’s one take and you’re out and you’re done and you don’t go back. It teaches you to be prepared for that one take and prepared me in a way that I don’t drop a line and I pretty much remember everything.”

INTERVIEW: EASTENDERS's Charlie Clements (Bradley)
"To be honest, at the moment, I'd quite like to see [Bradley] floating around on his own. We've never really seen Bradley not in a relationship. As soon as he arrived, he was thrown into the relationship with Stacey and now that's broken up, he's straight back into another one with Syd. We've never really seen him go 'out there'. I'd quite like to see him go to a dark place to be honest and maybe go a bit off the rails…"

How EASTENDERS is highlighting a common mental health issue
EASTENDERS is helping to bring a common mental health condition into the public eye. Professor Nick Craddock, who is advising the soap’s script writers about the current Stacey Slater storyline, explains what bipolar disorder is and whether it runs in families.

YouTube Gets Flexible to Pull in Network Partners
As YouTube tries to win over television programmers and the brand advertisers that want to sponsor their shows, the site is offering more flexible terms for providers of premium TV content. The new inducements? Functionality that lets programmers run pre-roll ads before shows and a policy that lets networks use their own video players on the site.

E.J. the D.J. to spin records at celeb fundraiser for St. Jude's
E.J. Dougher will D.J. the Angels for Hope Gala on Friday night supporting St. Jude Children's Research Hospital. Kelley Hensley and Martha Byrne helped organize the event. Dougher worked with Byrne as an actor in the independent film, The Marksman, more than a decade ago.

1 comment:

  1. I read the article on Marisa Ramirez. I always thought that she was afro-latina. I'm surprised to learn that she isn't part black.

    That's really odd because I wouldn't think that General Hospital would hire a non-black actor to play a black role. Ramirez looks like a lot of light-skinned/mixed African-American women.

    Hmm...

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