Monday, August 29, 2011

NEWS ROUNDUP: Genie Francis Sympathizes with Lindsay and Britney, Elect Leslie Nipkow, Eve Myles

Genie Francis: A long way from Laura, Sympathizes with Lindsay and Britney
Francis has a soft spot for such mercilessly scrutinized starlets as Lindsay Lohan and Britney Spears.

"My heart breaks for those young women," Francis says. "Sometimes I wish I could be in touch and be there for them and talk to them because I think I understand what they're gong through."

She says it gets "incredibly lonely" when you're surrounded by people with ulterior motives who want to be close to you.

"You're in a fishbowl. Our youth, for most of us, is a time when we figure out what group of people we belong to, right? In a natural setting those people become like family. But there is no natural setting."

The Guided and the Misguided
The soap opera has obviously been shaped by the times. But by reaching into millions of lives on a daily basis, it has also shaped the times. The power of media to do this should not be overstated. Back in the 1930s, many Americans became convinced that film and radio had unprecedented power to mold public opinion, and both the private and public sectors sought to exert more control. Hence the Production Code adopted by the motion picture industry in 1930, and hence the establishment of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) in 1934. Over the last 50 years these controls have relaxed. The Production Code was replaced by the ratings system in 1968, and today most advertisers care little about content, as long as a given program delivers the requisite number of "eyeballs." FCC guidelines still prohibit nudity, profanity, blasphemy, and graphic mayhem on the broadcast networks, but the networks find plenty of ways to titillate and thrill within those guidelines. As for cable and the Internet, they have never been subject to the "raised eyebrow" of the FCC.

Nelson Aspen: Ten Year Anniversary of 9-11
With a nod to one of TV’s great programs, GUIDING LIGHT, these words may be even more meaningful than when they were written over a half-century ago:

There is a destiny that makes us brothers,
No one goes his way alone.
All that we send into the lives of others,
Comes back into our own.

Courtney Stodden Gets Lingerie for Her 17th Birthday
Teenage bride Courtney Stodden turned 17 on Monday, and how did the mature-looking blonde spend her big day? With 51-year-old hubby Doug Hutchison, of course!

WGA East 2011 Elections: Leslie Nipkow running for Council, Freelance position
"I began as an actor, working professionally in television, film and on stage, then I wrote a one-woman show, "Guarding Erica," about my fish-out-of-water experience playing Erica Kane/Susan Lucci's prison guard on ALL MY CHILDREN. ABC Daytime signed me to a soap deal, and I went from guarding Erica Kane to putting words in her mouth. I spent eleven years in the daytime world, as scriptwriter and editor. During that time, I wrote my own plays and screenplays, personal essays and magazine articles. When my last show, AS THE WORLD TURNS, went off the air, I decided to walk away from the genre I fell into, and return to the personal projects that had long been on the back burner. One thing I have learned via my unlikely career path is that nothing is impossible when hard work and out of the box thinking are catalyzed with a dash of courage. If elected, this is the attitude I would bring to the Council."

TORCHWOOD's Eve Myles Talks Gwen Cooper, 'Miracle Day,' John Barrowman and Seeing The "Bigger Picture"
"They have it written into my contract that if I am to ever work with John Barrowman again, they have to pay me twice as much. It was absolutely the most difficult time of my life. He’s so ungenerous; he’s dreadful to look at and he’s very, very unkind."

Rizzoli & Isles Scoop: GENERAL HOSPITAL's Lisa LoCicero Cast as (Killer?) Dance Mom
For the episode “Don’t Stop Dancing, Girl,” slated to air this December, LoCicero will play Yvonne Smith, a woman whose own daughter is involved in a heated dance competition. When the aforementioned offing occurs just beyond the curtains, Yvonne lands squarely in Rizzoli’s crosshairs.

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