February 2008 News Archive (Page 17)

Welcome! The week of daytime drama is rolling along. The Soap Dispenser has all the action covered. Our guides to Wednesday, February 6 soap operas ...

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

Thank you for visiting The Soap Dispenser for soap opera news and spoilers from The Bold and the Beautiful to As the World Turns, One Life to Live and all the rest. Thanks for making The Soap Dispenser the #1 soap opera site online!

On All My Children, Krystal is stuck between two men: the one she's trying to get over (Adam), and the one she married (Tad).

The character's portrayer, Bobbie Eakes, recently spoke to Soap Opera Weekly about the development:

Soap Opera Weekly: When Adam offered Krystal a deal — return to him in exchange for Kate's location — did she have any desire to accept?
Bobbie Eakes: I wouldn't call it a desire, but maybe a duty or obligation [to Tad]. She wondered if she should take him up on that in order to find information for Tad.

Weekly: So there were no feelings on her part?
Eakes: No. She's pretty set on the game plan right now, which is to protect her daughter, Jenny, and keep the two of them away from Adam. The way to do that, in her opinion, is to devote herself to Tad and their deep friendship and affection.

Even though she definitely still has feelings for Adam, she's fighting them, all the way. The only reason she even considered moving back in was just to find information for Tad.

Weekly: Does Tad have any idea that all this is going on?
Eakes: No, he has no idea. Krystal is not sure that Adam has any information. She doesn't know if he’s making this up as a ploy to get her back. She doesn't want to risk Tad getting his heart broken all over again.

Read the complete interview with Eakes now.

Next week, on Guiding Light:

Jonathan (Tom Pelphrey) doesn't look too pleased with Alan (Ron Raines). Does he go through with the shooting?

Tune in. Find out.

On next week's Guiding Light, Jonathan looks to do away with Alan. Forever.

David Chisum recently spoke with Eye on Soaps. Here's what the One Life to Live star had to say:

What has surprised you (good and bad) about working on soaps?
David Chisum: There have been a few surprises. The first surprise was during the screen test when they gave us one good take. Of course I didn’t get through the first takes and nearly lost out on the opportunity. I put a lot of pressure on myself during auditions, which can really get in my way and not allow me to perform at my best.

The surprise was that they were testing our ability to deal with nerves and perform well in relatively short period of time. The soaps can’t afford to get off schedule with actors that are unprepared or unable to rise to the occasion. The commitment to make these shows daily is a constant battle against time. The solution is to be prepared and relax. The other surprises are the pacing in storylines.

In order to present a good show daily the story is told at a different pace. In a prime time one-hour show there will be a beginning, middle and an end to each story each and every week. The next week we will tell a different story. Soaps will, at times, tell the same story over the course of three months. I was also surprised that during my heavy storyline I was performing thirty to forty pages of dialogue a day, four or five days a week.

At first it was WOW and later I developed the ability to digest all that information rather quickly. That definitely surprised me.

How do you feel about your co-stars?
Chisum: I have had a lot of fun acting with Michael Easton, Christina Chambers and Brandon during our blackmail storyline. We leaned on one another and embraced one another despite seeing each other daily, all day long. It was a blast!

Ilene is a hoot and Trevor can be hilarious unintentionally. He can be an interesting character. I really enjoy playing with Melissa Archer as well.

Read the full interview with Chisum now.

Thanks to a nude spread in Playgirl last year, Marcus Patrick was fired from Days of Our Lives. Recently, for the first time, the (gorgeous!) actor talked about the controversy:

Question: Let’s talk about the Playgirl scandal. What was your decision making? Did you run this by your publicist or your agent? Did they approach you? How did this go down?
Marcus Patrick: Actually, yeah, they approached me. My agent told me about and said, “They’ve offered you a celebrity shoot” and I was like, “I don’t know about that”. Then they started saying, “David Hasselhoff, Burt Reynolds, Tyrese Gibson…”

They started naming those who had done it and I thought - you know, it’s no secret that I dance at both straight and gay bars. I’m very comfortable with sexuality and some nudity. Am I prepared to let it all out for Playgirl? And I thought, “What the heck, I’m only young once. I’m not going to have this body forever”.

Question: Did you expect repercussions from the Playgirl spread?
Patrick: I did. I knew I’d get all kinds of negative tabloid rumors and junk. I kind of thrive off that stuff. Anyone who has ever been popular has 50/50 - you get fifty percent positive stuff and you get fifty percent negative. The negative stuff is actually pretty funny. I mean, most of it’s not true.

You kind of just have to look at it like even bad publicity is good publicity. As long as you’re holding it together, which is what I do. I’m really quite the relaxed, calm business person. I have my house, I don’t really go out and do any wild partying.

Read the full interview now.

Wallace Kurth has made his way from Days of Our Lives to General Hospital to As the World Turns, premiering on the latter in November 2007 as the character of Sam.

Below, CBS speaks with this veteran of the daytime business:

CBS.com: How has it been being back in daytime?
Wally Kurth: I've really enjoyed it. The travel was a little brutal, because I live in Los Angeles, and I commuted back and forth to [Brooklyn, NY]. I learned my way around the Long Beach Airport and racked up some frequent flier points.

CBS.com: What drew you back to daytime?
Wally Kurth: I was contacted by CBS and As the World Turns and they asked me if I'd be interested in playing this role of a ventriloquist. They told me a little bit about the role and what I'd be doing and I thought I've got some time on my hands, let's do this. Playing a ventriloquist and working with a dummy felt like a good challenge. I like trying things that I've never done before.

Also, I had auditioned about a year ago for the show and didn't get the role but as a result started watching the show. So I was excited to come and work with the cast.

Read the full interview with Kurth now.

Tom Casiello (pictured) was recently fired as a writer on Days of Our Lives.

Before that unceremonious decision, however, the writer spoke with Soap Opera Network about his history of working on various shows. Here are a few highlights:

Question: What are some of your favorite episodes you wrote at As the World Turns?
Casiello: There are so many. Oakdale was such a special place for me, because it was a town I wasn't all that familiar with. So it was the first time in my career that I really had to study a show, because I knew so little about it. I had seen it occasionally growing up, and of course, loved how Doug Marland structured his stories. But a fifteen-year old can only watch so many soaps a day.

So I really had to do my homework and because of having to work that much harder, I was prouder of the episodes I turned in. My absolute favorite episode was right after Bryant died. I wrote the day Craig saw his son's body for the first time, and Barbara showed up at the hospital and said she hoped he felt that way for the rest of his life. I still get chills. I also wrote a few key crazy Julia Lindsay episodes early on, and those were a blast. Oh, and I also got to write Jake and Vicky, which was INSANE since "Another World" had just gone off the air.

Even though it was ghost-Vicky, it was wonderful to write for Tommy [Eplin] and Jensen [Buchanan], having gotten to know them at "Another World." I wrote Jake saying goodbye to Vicky at the Lassiter swings, on a completely different show - very surreal.

Question: In late summer/early fall of 2006 you wrote for The Young and The Restless. How was your stay in Genoa City?
Casiello: Brief. [Laughs] It just wasn't a good fit, and I could feel it from the beginning. It wasn't a personal issue. The people there were really wonderful - I didn't know what it would be like breaking into a Bell show, since they usually hire within their ranks. But they were SO welcoming and SO warm.

I really struggled, but that's not a measure of my abilities or theirs. I just couldn't get a handle on the characters or the story, and it showed. I worked really hard to overcome that, but sometimes, you just don't click with a show and the lesson I learned there was that it's okay if that happens. Not every writer can write for every show.

Continue Reading...

Timothy Stickney originated the One Life to Live role of R.J. Gannon in August 1994. His portrayal earned him a Soap Opera Digest Award for Outstanding Villain in 2000.

What else is there to report on this actor? Take a look at the fun facts below:

• Stickney toured Europe with the American Youth Jazz Band as a vocal soloist and performed with both the All Eastern Honors and Delaware All-State Choirs.

• Before concentrating on theater, he performed Caribbean and African dance.

• The daytime star is an avid cyclist, science fiction fan and comic book and toy collector.

• Older sister Phyllis Yvonne Stickney is also an actress. She appeared in Die Hard: With a Vengeance, Malcolm X and How Stella Got Her Groove Back.

Susan Dansby took advantage of the writers' strike the only way he knows how: by writing. But not for As the World Turns, as usual.

The soap opera scribe says she though the strike would end fairly quickly - "I was pretty naïve," she admits - but when the studios stopped talks with the writers in early December, she "had to do something to make money."

The resolution? A book titled "How Did You Get That Job? My Dream Jobs and How They Came True." The tome explains how to enjoy a successful career in the world of sex, intrigue and murder; i.e. soap operas

Dansby (a former director for Guiding Light, Generations, Port Charles, and As the World Turns) has the experience to back up her advice. In addition to her soap opera work, she has held jobs at hospitals, Yellowstone Park, Carnegie Mellon University, and Sesame Street.

Her book details goal-setting strategies, while helping others turn their dream job into a reality.

"People always ask how I got started in television," Dansby says. "The truth is I followed a plan that's fairly simple."

Continue Reading...

As previously reported, music icon Pat Benatar will be heading to Genoa City to perform at Neil Winters' (Kristoff St. John) jazz club later this month. The 55-year-old singer will be joined on The Young and the Restless by husband Neil “Spyder” Giraldo, who also serves as her lead guitarist.

The couple stopped by the soap opera's California studios on January 24 to tape two episodes. Despite not following the series closely, the two told Soap Opera Digest they're excited to guest star on the “number-one rated daytime show.”

“It was great.  Everyone was terrific.  They're so sweet, helpful and kind,” Benatar said of The Young and the Restless cast and crew, while Giraldo added that "it should always be this easy.”

Benatar and Giraldo will appear as themselves on a pair of episodes, airing on February 14 and February 15. In the story line, Neil surprises his girlfriend Karen Taylor (Nia Peeples) with the longtime couple.  They'll be performing “Every Time I Fall Back."

While both musicians enjoyed their experience on the drama, neither is keen on pursuing acting.

“No.  I have to tell you, it's a lot harder than it looks,” Benatar said when asked if she'd like to do more acting projects in the future.