INTERVIEW: DAYS Stars Johnson and Renton

1 REVIEW: Del Shores' SORDID LIVES "The comedy is sometimes limited by its own big-haired, twangy outrageousness, but the show is good-hearted, and there is always some delightful bit of business coming along (as when Sissy drops a cigarette ash into the iced tea she has poured for Latrelle and rather than bother pouring a new glass, surreptitiously stirs it in)." SORDID LIVES: Playing small-town Texas excess for campy laughs "Like the movie, the series also follows Latrelle's son, Ty (Jason Dottley), an aspiring actor in Los Angeles who is dealing with both his own emerging gayness and a stalking ex-girlfriend. Ty is kind of clueless and vain, and his therapist, played by guest star Margaret Cho, doesn't seem as awful as she should when she openly expresses her contempt for clients like Ty and their "high-end problems." While the Texas material has a hint of MY NAME IS EARL-style trailer-trash appeal - check out Olivia Newton-John as a singing ex-convict - the Los Angeles scenes are flat." TOM CASIELLO: Llanview Turns 40 - Part Two "If I stop and I think, I'm sure I could find things to nitpick. I agree with the fact that there was a One Life pre-80's (Where are the Grays? The Woleks? Joe Riley and Herb Callison?) that seems to be forgotten. And yeah, we can pick apart the choices made. But honestly, at the end of the day, ONE LIFE TO LIVE took history (something sorely missing from soaps today), a little camp (something else sorely missing from soaps today), a little romance (ALSO missing from soaps today), some flashbacks (too expensive for soaps today... unless you count the soaps showing flashbacks from the SAME EXACT EPISODES they aired in), and tied it all together nicely in a bow." BLOG UPDATE: Cady McClain "I am very pleased to share with you that I have been asked to do a radio interview with Joeseph Montebello for WVOX to discuss my book, 'Conversations with the Invisible.' The show will air August 13th from 1:00 to 2:00 on WVOX 1460 AM. If you are in the area, I hope you get a chance to tune in, or you can check it out on their website, www.wvox.com" Quotes from the late soap legend Larry Haines "Soap opera is a story," he told the Associated Press. "It should be a continuing story, rather than disoriented, meaningless adventures." "Doing a daytime show requires a great deal more concentration than people give us credit for," he told the Los Angeles Times in 1967. "Every episode is like opening night because it's a new script every day." WHERE ARE THEY NOW: GL's Kevin Mambo Lynn Nottag's "Ruined,"h will play Chicago's Goodman Theatre before arriving in New York, will begin previews at City Center — Stage I Jan. 21, 2009, and officially open Feb. 10, 2009. Kevin Mambo (a two-time Emmy winner for his role of Marcus on GUIDING LIGHT) is part of the cast. Elizabeth Berkley Utters 'THE L WORD' Elizabeth Berkley, who flirted with the L word during her Showgirls days, is joining the Showtime hit for a multi-episode arc, sources confirm to me exclusively. She'll play the straight girl that got away from Jennifer Beals' Bette in college. THE L WORD's sixth and final season debuts next January. Charisma to GREEK Charisma Carpenter is rushing back to GREEK, where she'll reprise her role of Zeta Beta Zeta bigwig Tegan Walker. This time around, she faces off with another ZBZ VIP, MY SO-CALLED LIFE alum Senta Moses' Lizzi, at the National Sorority Convention. Is it too early to reserve a ringside seat for the showdown? HOLLYOAKS' Calvin Valentine turns killer HOLLYOAKS’ Ricky Whittle is set to play his toughest scenes yet as his character turns violent. Police officer Calvin Valentine murders drug dealer Nige (played by Sam Townsend), who's been supplying heroin to his addict sister Sasha (Nathalie Emmanuel, 19). "Calvin’s going to go through a bad stage and starts losing his marbles," Ricky, 26, tells The Daily Star.

What's Going On In Oakdale Next Week?

1 GH: NIGHT SHIFT is on the edge Robin tells Jagger that something is wrong with his son Tuesday night on GENERAL HOSPITAL: NIGHT SHIFT (on SOAPnet), which prompts Jagger to storm out of her house - and take the boy with him. "Jagger has been taking care of this little boy by himself," says Antonio Sabato Jr., back as Jagger after a 13-year absence from "GH." "He came back to Port Charles to show Stone where he grew up and to see if they could have a better life there." The boy was named Stone in honor of Jagger's dead brother, who was also the love of Robin's life. "There's going to be a chemistry between Robin and this little boy, starting with the fact that the boy's name is Stone," says Sabato. "All that history between her and Stone comes back, and she gets really attached to this little boy." Which is what will prompt Dr. Robin to figure out what is wrong with Stone. "She finds out that he's got autism, but she doesn't know how to explain it to Jagger," says Sabato. "When she does, Jagger doesn't take it too well. Eventually, Jagger decides that the best thing to do is move forward and see if there's any way they can fix this." DAYS' Shawn Christian has his "hands full" with son Kameron "I got my hands full with [Kameron] and my life and my career and I’m blessed. And I have a stepdaughter, so I don’t feel like I’m missing anything." On the Soap Shrink’s Couch: DAYS OF OUR LIVES’ Marlena Evans and John Black Damon L. Jacobs writes: "Marlena (Deirdre Hall) likes to refer to John as her 'perfect love.' This is, of course, overlooking the 22 years they have spent dealing with mistaken identities, several episodes of amnesia, marriages to other people, comas, kidnappings, and one gnarly devil possession. In Marlena’s eyes, this seems to constitute a storybook romance." 1 Back From The Dead? Soap Opera Weekly reports: Dead is never really dead on daytime. Cases in point: DAYS OUR OUR LIVES' Linden Ashby (Morgan) and THE BOLD AND THE BEAUTIFUL's William deVry (Storm) are set to return to their respective shows. But dead or alive? Universal tries Bebo route to attract talent Universal Music has launched a Bebo-based project, conceived by London design consultancy Social UK, to help it attract unsigned artists to the label. Central to the concept is a character-based fictional soap opera on the social networking site, THE SECRET WORLD OF SAM KING, which Universal hopes will encourage real musicians to share their music. The show, which will be streamed over a website, www.bebo.com/samking, designed by independent film production company Monkey Kingdom, will feature a logo, Web pages and the identity of central character Sam, all designed by Social UK. "We created a whole graphics package," says Social UK director Steven Lucker. It is set to launch on August 6th. AUDIO: Interview with DAYS star Joseph Mascolo Mascolo (Stephano) appears on the latest "Daytime Confidential" podcast. The Top 5 Best Re-Castings: Sarah Michelle Gellar as BUFFY "Fanboyish predilections aside, there's no doubt that the casting of Sarah Michelle Gellar, previously known only to soap opera fans as Susan Lucci's daughter on ALL MY CHILDREN, was an inspired casting that allowed Joss Whedon to give the character a complexity not portrayed in the original movie." SCRIPTS & SCRUPLES: Episode #833 Bobby and Clint make after work plans. Henry is unhappy with Blake.

Today's Soap Star Birthdays

John Aniston (Victor, DAYS OF OUR LIVES; ex-Martin, SEARCH FOR TOMORROW; ex-Eddie, LOVE OF LIFE) - 75 Sam Behrens (ex-Gregory, SUNSET BEACH; ex-Jake, GENERAL HOSPITAL; ex-Adam, RYAN'S HOPE) - 58

Todays' Soap Star Birthdays

Katherine Kelly Lang (Brooke, THE BOLD AND THE BEAUTIFUL) - 47 Bobbie Eakes (Krystal, ALL MY CHILDREN; Daniella, SORIDD LIVES; ex-Macy, THE BOLD AND THE BEAUTIFUL) - 47