NEWS: Emmys Honor Nixon, Last Day of ATWT, Kay Alden

Daytime Emmys honor Agnes Nixon
Harry Eckhardt, Nixon's father, wanted his daughter to go into the family burial garment business. Hoping to distance Nixon from her interest in writing through intimidation, he set up a meeting between her and Irna Phillips, the Chicago-based creator/head writer of daytime serials, known for her high standards and commanding presence.

Irna Phillips, who ushered radio soaps into the television age, read aloud Nixon's writing sample, a play she'd written in college. "I wanted to climb down the dumbwaiter," Nixon recalls. Instead of dissuading her, Phillips, impressed with Nixon's talent, offered her a job.

"(Irna) became a great teacher and a great friend," Nixon says.

Colleen Zenk: AS THE WORLD TURNS "It's a wrap"
Colleen Zenk tweeted on Monday: "Just read the last script. So beautiful. How can we get through it? A puddle of tears." Wednesday was the final day of taping AS THE WORLD TURNS and Zenk updated via Twitter as the day progressed: "Here I go... One last day of love & angst in Oakdale, Illinois...my last day of Barbara...Barbara's set is only a memory...Almost gone... Two more scenes as Babs... The walls are bare. The drawers are empty. It's a wrap......ATWT.....xoxoxoxoxox"

Stacy Haiduk joins DAYS OF OUR LIVES
"She will play a prison warden and first airs in September."

Kay Alden opts to auction 4,700 square-foot Streeterville penthouse at opening bid of $600,000
Alden, who writes for THE BOLD AND THE BEAUTIFUL, spent much of the past year trying to sell her 4,700 square-foot Chicago home for $1.95 million; in fact, it's still listed by Sudler Sotheby's for $1.55 million. With a move to New York on the horizon, she's opted to have Fine and Company auction the unit on July 27 at a suggested opening bid of $600,000.

James Franco: The Limits of Control
"It is easy to make fun of soaps, with their melodramatic plot lines, constant exposition, unnatural lighting, swelling music, and lack of action. Most of these aspects are due to the extreme speed at which soaps are produced. With five episodes a week, at least sixty pages need to be shot in a day. That’s a feature film’s worth of material shot every two days. This pace allows for very few takes, usually one....

"This isn’t to say that soap opera performers are worse than film actors, or that their performances are inferior. The soap opera performance should always be perceived in context: it involves actors working in a tradition that soap audiences have come to expect and love. Soap actors are delivering exactly what they are supposed to—they are in tune with their audience and they are not attempting to transcend it."

Soap Operas Can Be Good for You
César Chelala writes: "Increasingly, soap operas, or telenovelas, are being used throughout the world to disseminate messages about health issues such as the need for contraception, domestic violence, HIV/AIDS, nutrition, how to achieve peace between countries in conflict, and how to elevate the status of women in developing countries. By identifying themselves with the protagonist's dreams and problems the viewer establishes an immediate connection with them."

Judge tosses Viacom's copyright lawsuit against YouTube
The decision to dismiss Viacom's claims that YouTube knowingly allowed the posting of its shows online amounts to a "big deal" in copyright law.

Jill Biden will make a cameo on ARMY WIVES
The Vice President's wife will play herself in an episode airing August 15.