NEWS: B&B Casting New Role; Paul Rauch Was Trying To Bring Back GUIDING LIGHT; Robert Buckley Joins HART OF DIXIE; Apple; Netflix

THE BOLD AND THE BEAUTIFUL casting a new contract role
B&B is seeking an actress to play the role of Alexandra Forrester. She will be a Caucasian female, age 19-21 and is described as "Beautiful. Well Bred. Very Upscale and comes from money."

TAINTED DREAMS star Grant Aleksander reveals Paul Rauch was trying to bring back GUIDING LIGHT
“Oddly enough, Paul was working on getting the show back on the air before he died,” reveals Aleksander. “He had gotten pretty far with that, he was talking to big network executives. P&G was interested. When you look at what’s going on in Stamford right now [where AMC and OLTL have been filming], I don’t think P&G will just sit on a creative property if there’s a profit to be made.”

Apple, closer to its vision for a TV set, wants ESPN, HBO, Viacom, and others to come along
Apple is negotiating with production studios and networks to provide content for a television set that would emphasize apps over cable TV, according to people familiar with those discussions. Among the companies that have talked to Apple are Disney’s ESPN, Time Warner’s HBO, and Viacom, which owns MTV Networks, Nickelodeon, and Comedy Central.

Sources say Apple’s strategy could include forming its own pay TV service, essentially becoming a cable company itself, except with content delivered entirely over the internet. Intel, Sony, and Google are known to be pursuing similar tactics, and could launch their own pay TV services before Apple.

How Binge-Viewing Could Rock Netflix Stock
How's this for irony: Netflix, which fancies itself a revolutionary in the TV business, may be forced to bring itself in line with traditional industry bean-counting precisely because of its boldest practice.

While studios typically pay the bulk of the license fee for a series over its first year on the air, Netflix adheres to “straight-line” accounting for its original programming expenses, prorating dollars over the life of the license fee. That strategy is related to the company’s rationale for why it doesn’t share audience data: Divulging how the series performs in its opening days is pointless, because unlike TV networks that monetize ratings in the premiere window, Netflix monetizes over the entire run of the series.

Lindsey Gort Dishes on Playing Samantha Jones on THE CARRIE DIARIES, Kim Cattrall's Advice and a "Sexier" Season 2
Gort won Cattrall's blessing via Twitter! "So happy u're playing Fearless Sam," Cattrall tweeted. "The key 2 her is her heart. She never judges those she loves. Have a blast! Kimx"

"I had never tweeted before and my friend told me. It was shortly after my name had come out as playing Samantha and she was like, 'Oh my god, Kim is tweeting about you!'" Gort recalls. :So I signed up, I read it and I tweeted to her. I tried to think of something Samantha-y I could say...She didn't have to do that and it was really cool that she passed that torch on."

Robert Buckley joins HART OF DIXIE
Buckley will play Peter, a sweet, ordinary guy who is just passing through Bluebell, and he has a chance encounter with Lemon (Jaime King).

Alexis Denisof Joins GRIMM, Reunites with Former ANGEL Boss David Greenwalt
Denisof will play Viktor Albert Wilhelm George Beckendorf, the cunning first cousin to James Frain’s Renard.

Amelia Rose Blaire upped to series regular on TRUE BLOOD
She joined the HBO vampire drama as recurring for the recent sixth season, playing Governor’s daughter and vampire-rights-activist-turned-vampire Willa Burrell.

TV3 invites UK pitches for soap
Republic of Ireland broadcaster TV3 is looking to commission its first-ever soap opera and wants UK indies to pitch ideas.

“It makes perfect sense to open this up to UK indies,” said Ford. “But we shouldn’t underestimate the Irish producers, who know how to make quality shows on a budget.”

TV3 wants a soap opera to rival RTE's long-running FAIR CITY.