Soaps News

Days of Our Lives Mega-Stars Fired

• Nov 19, 2008 03:33 PM ET
• by Erin Fox

Deidre Hall and Drake Hogestyn

Days of Our Lives' much-beloved romantic duo and longtime stars Deidre Hall and Drake Hogestyn have been cut from NBC's only soap as it deals with budget cuts, the show announced in a statement Wednesday.

The shocking layoffs of the highly-paid veteran soap actors who play Dr. Marlena Evans and John Black come after the show's producers cut spending earlier this month to keep the Days on the air for at least another 18 months.

The good news, if any, for fans... read more

Days of Our Lives Renewed for 18 Months

• Nov 12, 2008 12:56 PM ET
• by Erin Fox

Days of Our Lives

Sorry soap fans, you can't blame Days of Our Lives' short-term contract renewal on the evil Stefano DiMera!

NBC has inked a deal with Sony Pictures TV to extend its run of the long-running daytime favorite Days for just 18 months, Variety reports.

The soap, which is celebrating its 43rd year on the air, had previously signed a renewal pact between Sony and Corday Prods. for a five-year term.

However, it's understood that another year could be tagged on to the 18-month contract if certain parameters on the show are met. That would keep Days on the air through September of 2011.

This is most likely a sign of uncertain times for the daytime scripted dramas, especially at NBC. The network has axed most of its soaps, including... read more

One Life to Live Exit: Tina Won't Be Home for the Holidays

• Nov 6, 2008 10:49 AM ET
• by Matt Mitovich

Andrea Evans, One Life to Live

But Andrea Evans will. Six months after her celebrated return to her old stomping grounds, Andrea Evans is calling an end to her cross-country commute and ending her One Life to Live encore.

"There was always an understanding that it would be short-term," the daytime vet ... read more

Catherine Hickland Offers Other "Heartbreak Kids" a 30-Day Cure

• Nov 5, 2008 12:15 PM ET
• by Michael Logan

Catherine Hickland

Catherine Hickland has been through so many failed marriages and painful relationships that she could write a book. And so she did. The actress, who plays One Life to Live's nutsy heroine Lindsay Rappaport, will hit the market Dec. 30 with her self-empowerment guide, The 30-Day Heartbreak Cure: Getting Over Him and Back Out There One Month From Today .

Read how Hickland's own experiences informed her endeavor, after the jump. read more

Preview: Three's Company for B&B's Eric...?

• Oct 27, 2008 02:17 PM ET
• by Michael Logan

Susan Flannery, John McCook and, Jennifer Gareis, The Bold and the Beautiful

Eric Forrester has a problem. His wife won't give him up. And neither will his other wife. Played on The Bold and the Beautiful by John McCook, the Calvin Klein-like fashion designer recently came out of a coma to find his estranged spouse, Donna (Jennifer Gareis), in a battle royal with Stephanie (Susan Flannery), to whom he's been married three times. Nothing new there — they've been fighting over him for months —but now both gals want to live with Eric ... read more

Guiding Light's Olivia and Natalia: Lez Be Frenemies?

• Oct 23, 2008 11:00 AM ET
• by Michael Logan

Crystal Chappell and Jessica Leccia

Just as All My Children takes Bianca's new relationship to the next level, the Internet is abuzz with reports that Guiding Light is about to launch its own lesbian romance between Olivia and Natalia, the heterosexual — or so we thought — frenemies played by Crystal Chappell and Jessica Leccia.

Get the latest word, after the jump. read more

Tune In Tamara: AMC Plot Twisters Surround Bianca's Return

• Oct 20, 2008 10:45 AM ET
• by Michael Logan

Eden Riegel and Tamara Braun

Tamara Braun didn't plan to be back in the suds so soon, but she couldn't turn down a chance to make some daytime TV history. The acclaimed actress, recently seen as nutjob Ava Vitali on Days of Our Lives, will join All My Children Oct. 30 as lesbian architect Reese Williams. Viewers will learn that Reese has been having a very serious romance in Paris with the soap's sapphic icon, Bianca Montgomery (Eden Riegel). So serious that they're about to become parents. Yep, Binks is pregnant.

Get lots more scoop plus Braun's take on her new daytime gig, after the jump. read more

Logan Rave: Sweet Sounds on the Night Shift

• Oct 17, 2008 01:28 PM ET
• by Michael Logan

Tristan Rogers and Finola Hughes

I nearly bailed on General Hospital: Night Shift because its season premiere back in July was just so awful. But then the show got good. Really good. And now it's indisputably superior to the mob-infested soap that spawned it.

Read and discuss the rest of Logan's rave after the jump. read more

Soaps Scribe James E. Reilly Dies at 60

• Oct 14, 2008 04:03 PM ET
• by Matt Mitovich

James E. Reilly, a sometimes controversial soap scribe who twice served as Days of Our Lives' headwriter and created the supernatural-themed Passions, passed away over the weekend, at age 60, Soap Opera Digest reports. Reilly was recovering in the hospital from cardiac surgery when he died.

Read more about Reilly's passing and his daytime legacy, after the jump. read more

Logan Rave: Lisa LoCicero Brings Sexy Back to GH's Sonny

• Oct 14, 2008 10:53 AM ET
• by Michael Logan

Maurice Benard and Lisa LoCicero

Wasn't Lisa LoCicero's arrival on General Hospital as ballsy Brooklyn babe Olivia Falconeri utterly fantastic? Clearly, the show's top star, Maurice Benard (Sonny), thinks so. In their first scenes together last week, the duo set off some wildly intriguing sex sparks — which makes Benard's lack of chemistry with current leading lady Megan Ward (Kate) all the more obvious and disappointing.

GH is making a huge mistake if it doesn't team Sonny and Olivia now.

Viva LoCicero!