November 2007 News Archive (Page 6)

Mykel Shannon Jenkins, who was the first winner of I Wanna be a Soap Star and briefly played Officer Byron Murphy on General Hospital.

Now? As he tells Soap Opera Digest, the actor is enjoying his time as Charlie Baker on The Bold and the Beautiful.

SOAP OPERA DIGEST: Welcome back to daytime. After taking a spin in prime-time, what lured you back to soaps?
JENKINS: It's a superb role. Some people say they wouldn't go back to something unless it was the right thing and this was the right thing. The screen test was wonderfully written. It was 12 pages long and it had all of the things that I like in storytelling. I loved the scene so much that I would to do it as many times as they wanted me to do it.

DIGEST: Was your screen test alone or did you have a scene partner?
JENKINS: I had Dan Martin [Lt. Brad Baker] with me.

DIGEST: What do you think of Dan?
JENKINS: He's not only a great guy, but he's a serious actor. He's a craftsman. He doesn't mind me knocking on his door. I want to make it fun for him. I always wanted to make my own father proud and Dan reminds me a lot of him. Lt. Baker will say, "Good job, Charlie" and I have to stop to bathe in that for a minute because it means everything to me to hear my own father say that.

DIGEST: What's your take on Charlie?
JENKINS: He's a man trying to find a place outside of his father and stand on his own. The most important thing to him is to make his dad proud. Charlie followed in his footsteps as a cop, but it's cost him too because that's why he has no wife or children.

But Charlie is at that age where he wants more now and I think there's conflict coming. I can feel it in the scenes. Charlie is eager to wrap things up but his dad is going, "Hold up. Wait a minute We need to re-examine that."

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As previously reported, Collen Zenk Pinter was diagnosed with oral cancer in 2006. Below, she talks about the ordeal with Soap Opera Digest.

Soap Opera Digest: How did this all begin?
Colleen Zenk Pinter: I first noticed it last summer, so it's been over a year now. [I constantly had] canker sores coming and going last summer into last fall. They finally stopped going away and started getting larger — you know how painful one is, these were multiplying. I said, "This isn't right," and that's when I called my physician to get my yearly, thinking I could get in right away, forgetting that it takes a while to book something like that.

I called the second week of November and he couldn't get me in until the first week of January. I had actually talked to Eldo [Ray Estes, As the Worls Turns' key makeup artist] at work about it. I had shown him and said, 'I'm dealing with this nasty thing that won't go away.' So I went in and saw my doctor, got my physical. All of my numbers, my blood work, my cholesterol, my iron, everything was in great shape.

I was a really healthy 54-year-old who has boundless energy. I overbook myself all the time, as my mother tells me. I said to the doctor, "Take a look at this." And he said, "I don't like it. You're going to go see a maxillofacial specialist tomorrow." ... [The specialist] said, "I think you have a combination of a fungal and bacterial infection, so let's treat you for that." It was an antibiotic, a big bottle of orange medicine. And it started working and it got better. I would go back and see him every single week for five weeks.

And then it stopped working. [What was left was the tumor.] Usually, you don't know what's going on inside of your mouth. By the time I went into surgery, if I stuck my tongue out, you could see the right side was about twice as big as the left, and the tumor went way to the back. You could feel the entire thing. But who goes around feeling their tongue?

Digest: What has the response been like?
Pinter: The outpouring of understanding and love and encouragement that I have felt, from not just the fans but people who have found out about this and have had family members or they themselves have gone through it, the support has been overwhelming. It's all, "Thank you for getting it out there. Thank you for saying something, speaking up."

That's all it's about.

No, there hasn't been a recount.

But fans will get a chance to see this All My Children star on the show once more next week. We'll let Mathison himself explain the hectic schedule:

"My schedule slows down until Saturday, but then on Sunday morning, I have to catch a flight back to L.A. for the finale of Dancing with the Stars," he recently said. "I dance the Paso Doble again on Tuesday night so that's really cool. I just have to refresh my memory of that dance.

It was probably one of our best dances we did, so we want to make sure we nail it.... I wish I was still going. The schedule was tough but it was really energizing. I actually loved every second of it."

Attention, fans of The Young and the Restless from the Midwest:

You can meet and greet Don Diamont on Saturday, December 1. The autograph session takes place between 1-4 p.m. at Giant Eagle: 6700 Hayden Run Rd., Dublin, Ohio.

Welcome fans of daytime TV! The Soap Dispenser has posted its guides to soap operas airing Tuesday, November 20. With this holiday week of soap operas now fully underway, catch up with the following soap opera guides:

• General Hospital
• As the World Turns
• One Life to Live
• Guiding Light
• Days of Our Lives
• The Young and the Restless
• The Bold and the Beautiful
• All My Children

We appreciate you visiting The Soap Dispenser for daily soap opera spoilers and news. From The Bold and the Beautiful to All My Children, Guiding Light and more, thanks for making The Soap Dispenser the #1 soap opera site online.

Here are a couple places where you can find Days of Our Lives stars over the next couple weeks:

Kristian Alfonso will be appearing at the Junior League Holiday Show in McAllen Texas in two weeks to exhibit her Hope Faith Miracles jewelry line. Here are details of the event:
When: Saturday, December 1
Where: McAllen Convention Center: 10 Convention Center Blvd
Time: 9:00 AM - 6:00 p.m. EST

Deidre Hall (Marlena) will be at the NBC Experience store at 30 Rockefeller Plaza in New York, signing autographs on Friday, Nov 23 from 10 a.m.-12 p.m. EST.

Here are a couple quick casting tidbits for All My Children in the next month:

• Eden Riegel reprises her beloved role as icon Bianca November 26 and 27.

• Malachy McCourt reprises his role as Father Clarence for another Christmas miracle or two in December.

Simply put, One Life to Live has become the soap opera to watch under new head writer Ron Carlivati.

Great plots are colliding, laughs are abundant, and the show's many beloved veterans are once again raising hell. Case in point: Thanksgiving week, Dorian (Robin Strasser, pictured) catches her man, Clint, in a lip-lock with Nora and retaliates by hitting the sack with her ex-beau David, who just got married to Alex.

"Dorian assumes Clint and Nora are having a torrid affair when this is actually their first kiss," Carlivati says. "What Dorian doesn't know — because she ran when she saw the kiss — is that Clint and Nora pulled out of it and said, 'What are we doing?' Clint still loves Dorian."

But it may be too late.

The chain reaction continues when Clint (Jerry ver Dorn) finds Dorian in bed with David and threatens to blow the guy's head off with a shotgun. Meanwhile, Nigel the butler has kidnapped Alex to keep Clint from finding out that David is his long-lost brother.

Next month Carlivati will goose up the all-female Cramer clan by springing Dorian's sister Addie from the insane asylum. She'll make a surprise return for Christmas and — to everyone's shock — will seem perfectly normal. Of course, this will throw control-freak Dorian for a loop.

We can't wait.

Let's hear from one of our favorite stars of The Bold and the Beautiful. John McCook recently sat down with Soap Opera Digest...

1. How has it been for you playing this revitalized, resurgent Eric?
Oh, come on! This is really fun for me, because it's a different energy. It's fun to be a romantic leading man, always. I've never been anything other than that. But for a lot of the years that I've put in here, I've been kind of a workhorse. Eric's been Stephanie's patsy and he's been the father to the other characters.

I like it when Eric is front and center. It's revitalizing for me. It's fun to work with Jennifer Gareis. It's always fun to work with a new actress; that's always energizing on a professional level. She and I are having a lot of fun playing this affair. We're having a lot of excitement about the fact that it might continue on and be here for a long time.

2. In past interviews you've expressed concern that Eric might cave or give in to Stephanie. So far, things are going full speed ahead.
So far, yeah. I want my Eric to be a happy guy. I want him to continue on this discovery. I think he's having a wonderful time!

3. Have you and Susan Flannery talked about where this leaves Eric and Stephanie?
No, we haven't talked about it. Susan and I don't talk about story. We open up the script each morning, and we read it. We open up the dialogue everyday and learn it together. We don't speculate as to where Brad's (Bell, executive producer/head writer) is going to go with the story, we just play it every day.

Read the full interview now.

Kassie DePaiva recently turned the tables on Soap Opera Digest.

The One Life to Live star was attending Super Soap Weekend in Disney World when she decided to become the questionnaire and ask the publication a few questions...

Kassie DePaiva: What was your expectation of Super Soap?
Soap Opera Digest: A lot of screaming fans and beautiful stars waving and answering questions.

DePaiva: Now, kicking it off today, has it met those expectations or has it exceeded them?
Digest: I think we're still moving toward that! I've really just started the day and I haven't seen a motorcade yet.

DePaiva: Have you witnessed any autograph sessions?
Digest: Yes, I saw Kathy Brier [Marcie, One Life to Live]; she looked great and was very friendly and waving a lot to screaming fans.

DePaiva: Now, if you had to be a soap fan, whose line would you stand in?
Digest: Oh, my goodness, it would be yours, Kassie!'

DePaiva: (laughing): Oh, stop. For real.
Digest: Michael Easton [John, One Life to Live].

DePaiva: Were you an ABC soap opera watcher?
Digest: Absolutely, all the way. I ran home from kindergarten, no joke, to watch Erika Slezak do Niki/Viki.

To read the full interview, click here.