Although a “Days of our Lives” representative was unavailable for comment to Soap Opera Network, Soap Opera Digest is reporting what The Huffington Post originally reported, which is Lisa Rinna is returning to the NBC soap in the role of Billie Reed. The actress originated the role in 1992, nearly twenty years ago.
Author: Errol Lewis
As part of the growing changes at ABC Daytime, the Disney/ABC Television Group has announced Mirian Arias as its new Vice President, Daytime Communications. Arias replaces Jori Peterson, who headed up the division for a number of years in the role of Vice President, Publicity, ABC Daytime and SOAPnet. Although Peterson has left ABC Daytime and SOAPnet, she remains part of the Disney/ABC Television Group as the acting head of the ABC Family Communications team.
“All My Children” ended its television run on Friday, September 23, 2011, but pop-culture artist David O’Keefe has captured the essence of what made the soap opera special to millions of viewers for more than 41-years courtesy of his new painting “A Tribute to ‘All My Children’ – Pine Valley,” which took two months from concept to fruition.
As previously reported, ABC soap opera “General Hospital” will lose its coveted 3:00 PM ET/2:00 PM CT/PT timeslot beginning in September 2012 when the network hands the hour back to its local affiliates. The move will leave ABC’s daytime lineup with just three hours left to program with “The View” already secured in the 11:00 AM ET/10:00 AM CT/PT slot. New talk shows “The Chew” and “The Revolution” will go head-to-head with “General Hospital” when it comes to the almighty dollar (ie. which show brings in enough income relative to cost) in a battle for the remaining two hours (1:00 PM ET/12:00 PM CT/PT; 2:00 PM ET/1:00 PM CT/PT). In place of “GH” beginning in September 2012 will be the new Disney/ABC Domestic Television syndicated series “Katie,” hosted by journalist Katie Couric, which was just cleared in over 60% of the country just six weeks after the sales period began.
Yesterday afternoon, Soap Opera Digest reported that “General Hospital” has named breakdown writer Shelly Altman as its Co-Head Writer working alongside Head Writer Garin Wolf. Per the magazine’s website Altman’s new role is effective immediately.
On Thursday, October 20, it was announced that longtime “General Hospital” writer Michele Val Jean would be joining the Emmy Award winning writing team of CBS’ “The Bold and the Beautiful.” Also on that day Val Jean was given the opportunity of visiting the set of the soap while they were filming so she could get a better feel of the characters and the actors.
As Soap Opera Network first reported yesterday evening, Lisa De Cazotte has been hired to fill the shoes of the departing Noel Maxam as Co-Executive Producer of NBC’s “Days of our Lives.” In a statement issued earlier today to the press, Co-EP Greg Meng confirmed that De Cazotte will be joining him as Co-Executive Producer and that, “[Executive Producer] Ken Corday is excited to have Lisa join the ‘Days of our Lives’ family.”
With the cancellations of “All My Children” and “One Life to Live” back in April it was unclear at the time as to where their replacement shows “The Chew” and “The Revolution” would film their daily episodes. Now with “Chew” filming in New York and soon “The Revolution” set to begin filming in New York as well, Soap Opera Network has learned that ABC Daytime is shifting much of its operations to New York City including talent management and media relations.
Sources have confirmed to Soap Opera Network that actress Erin Chambers is returning to ABC’s “General Hospital” in the near future. However, word has it that she might not be playing Siobhan McKenna, the role in which she originated back in September 2010.
You may be asking yourself why in the world would we be doing a ratings reflection that highlights ABC’s canceled “All My Children” as ranking second in households (amongst all soaps) for the season when the show has already gone off the air with its last episode airing on Friday, September 23 and talk show “The Chew” already replacing the soap in its old timeslot. If I were to tell you that because ABC scheduled the series finale of “AMC” during the first week of the 2011-2012 television season that the soap would remain in the season-to-date rankings until September 2012, would you believe it? You better!
Ratings for the week of October 3-7, 2011 have not come out for soap operas as of this writing, but ratings for “The Chew” are! The talk show that replaced “All My Children” in the ABC Daytime lineup is now down to an average of just 1.78 million viewers tuning in for cooking advice according to Marc Berman of TV Media Insights.
“Days of our Lives” has cast actor and “Queer Eye for the Straight Guy” culture expert Jai Rodriguez in as yet-to-be-named role set to begin airing in January 2012, per a tweet by the actor on Thursday, October 13.
On Thursday, September 29, word around the web had “Days of our Lives” star James Scott (EJ DiMera) out, only to later be clarified by Scott himself that he in fact was still meeting with show producers over a new contract. Now comes word from Soap Opera Digest that Scott has signed a new one-year deal with “DAYS” to continue in the role of EJ DiMera, for which he originated in 2006. Per Digest’s report, Scott’s new deal will keep him in Salem through April 2013.
On Wednesday, September 21, daytime newcomer Nathin Art Butler tweeted to his followers (@nathinbutler) “I was welcomed into the family of ‘GH’ today. 1st day on set felt like 1st day of high school. Feel so blessed.” For those wondering what exactly he was talking about, on that day the actor revealed to the soap world that he had been hired to portray the contract role of Dr. Ewen Keenan, also known as “the mad Aussie therapist” on ABC’s “General Hospital. Soap Opera Network has since learned when you can expect to first see the actor, musician and digital photographer on screen.
Marc Berman of TV Media Insights has been doing an excellent job in reporting the overnight ratings data for ABC’s new daytime talk show “The Chew,” which replaced soap opera “All My Children” in the 1:00 PM ET/12:00 PM PT timeslot on Monday, September 26. Since the talker debuted it has lost ground compared to “AMC’s” performance at the same point last year in television households. Now more than a week since its debut, Berman has revealed that the show is also losing ground in the all important Women 18-49 sales demographic compared to how “All My Children” had performed as well.
On Saturday, October 1, the National Board of Directors of the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (AFTRA) met for the final time in 2011, as previously reported. One of the topics of discussion was Prospect Park and its transitioning of “All My Children” and “One Life to Live” to the web in January 2012. While exact details of the meeting are still unknown in that respect, a representative speaks to Soap Opera Network exclusively on where things stand at this time between the actors union and Prospect Park.
In a statement released via Soap Opera Digest, “One Life to Live” head writer Ron Carlivati says, “I am both excited and honored to remain with ‘One Life to Live’ as Head Writer and Consulting Producer when the show moves online. My heartfelt thanks to Executive Producer Frank Valentini, as well as to Rich Frank and Jeff Kwantinetz of Prospect Park for this incredible opportunity.”
“One Life to Live” isn’t even finished filming its last ABC episodes yet and already the soap has signed deals with “OLTL” head writer Ron Carlivati and several of the soaps cast members. By comparison, Prospect Park has signed far fewer deals with cast members from “All My Children,” which ended its television run on Friday, September 23.
A few weeks ago an insider informed us that a 1.7 is the lowest acceptable point a daytime program can reach in households before television networks begin to worry about the future of the program on their daytime schedules (ten years ago it was a 2.7). After four days on the air, “The Chew” has hit that benchmark.
Ilene Kristen didn’t debut as Roxy Balsom on ABC’s “One Life to Live” until November 2001, but the actress did learn she had the job on September 10 of that year and began filming on September 27. Ten years later the actress reflects on the days after learning she had gotten the job, and what she is looking forward to when the soap transitions to Prospect Park in the coming months.