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AWARD SHOW CENTRAL
Soap Opera Spirit Awards —Who will win? Who will lose?
On Tuesday, March 9, Michael Fairman presents the On-Air On-Soaps Podcast presentation of TV Guide Canada’s Third Annual Soap Opera Spirit Awards, co-hosted by DAYS/Venice stars Crystal Chappell and Galen Gering at 7 p.m. PT/10 p.m. ET.

Only 20 categories will be announced on air. The rest of the winners will posted on TVGuide.ca March 10. For a refresher course, click here to see which shows and performers have been nominated.

WEEKEND SUDS FLASHES
Marcy Rylan cast on 'Y&R'! 'World Turns’ Reid is a friend of Nuke’s!

  • Yep, Dr. Reid is gay! In an interview with TV Guide Magazine, Eric Sheffer Stevens, the promising World Turns’ newcomer, also reveals that Noah and Luke break up next week. “[Viewers] probably will reassess a lot about his relationship with Luke, and also his attraction to Katie,” he says. “There have been a few red herrings with Reid, so I’m not really sure where this is headed. It’s very strange not to know what’s coming up, but I’m kinda loving that. For Reid, emotions are very messy and silly, but there’s definitely been sexual tension between him and Luke.
  • It appears Y&R is over its fascination with lackluster prime-time actors portraying its legacy characters. On the heels of Eden Riegel’s recast as Heather this past week, TV Guide Magazine announced Saturday that Emmy-nominated Marcy Rylan will assume the role of Victor Newman’s daughter, Abby Carlton sometime in May. At a Guiding Light event this past weekend, Rylan was overheard saying she’s a tad nervous about the Internet complaints regarding SORASing Abby, but was excited to be back working again. That’s my girl!
  • More soap vets are headed to the beach! Crystal Chappell told The Advocate’s Michael Fairman to expect, “three well-known faces that are coming onboard that I have worked with before from somewhere in my career” next season on Venice. Can’t wait! FYI — Venice’s season finale aired this past Friday.
  • Calliope's back! Emmy-nominated character actor, Arleen Sorkin, who appeared as DAYS Calliope from 1984 to 1990, and made brief returns in later years, will be back in May for a short run, reports soapoperadigest.com.

NEW COLUMN OF THE WEEK

Luke Kerr’s This Week In Daytime premières!

PROMO OF THE WEEK

Y&R — Murder mystery alert?

CASTING COACH

AMC’s Bianca dilemma
Now that Emmy and Soap Opera Spirit Award winner Eden Riegel has signed with Y&R as nuHeather, AMC is unsurprisingly recasting the role of Erica’s lesbian daughter, Bianca. Soapgeist would love to see Amanda Setton tackle the role, but her agents reportedly do not want her working on soaps. So who else is out there? I think AMC needs to bring in daytime TV’s best casting director, GH’s Mark Teschner, to help out with this big challenge. ABC may be wise to go the newcomer route, but knowing Brian Frons he’ll probably make sure they steal a CBS star for retribution. I almost wouldn’t mind seeing DAYS/Venice’s Nadia Bjorlin play the role. She already has a huge gay following thanks to her role on Venice, and it’s not like DAYS knows what it’s doing with Chloe, so cut her loose!


REMOTE CONTROL — Rating the good, the ugly, and the criminal

 PAUSE
The Bold and the Beautiful —  Grief Sex? Or Revenge Sex?
Nothing says grief sex like romantic candles and a darkly lit room. Despite this cliché storytelling, Ashley Jones and Brandon Beemer did an admirable job with the unimaginative material. But when you think about it, who could blame Bridget for bedding Owen after that a-hole Nick told his wife she perhaps wasn’t meant to have a baby? Pot, meet kettle. It’s not like the fertility-challenged tycoon is in the running for the man in the shoe, either. B&B has turned the once-romantic hero, Nick, into a world-class jerk.

 FF
Days of our Lives — The Hair Model Strikes Again!
Oh, Molly Burnett! Why do you do this to me? And more importantly, what are we going to do with you? During Melanie’s hospital scenes where her character learned Daniel was her father, and her mother Carly accidentally shot her, Burnett, who was slowly but surely improving her skills as an actor, proved she still needs hourly visits to an acting coach. Poor Crystal Chappell! On top of everything else she has to do, now the Emmy winner has to teach her on-screen spawn how to deliver consistent performances. At this point, there are no more excuses, Molly! Get to work.

 PLAY
One Life To Live — We’re not in Peapack, NJ anymore!
When she first returned to One Life, I wasn’t sure if Gina Tognoni was out of her element because the Emmy winner was walking around Llanview in shock and awe. Was it because she was adjusting to working in a real studio? Was it surreal to play Kelly after all these years? Or maybe it was because she was finally working with pros again? But when Kevin (played by the best Kevin ever, Dan Gauthier) proposed to Kelly, Tognoni essentially said, “Gotcha,” to the audience and delivered one of her infamous tour-de-force performances that won her two Emmys on Guiding Light. Welcome back, Gina! As an aside, however, I’m not sure how much chemistry I see between Trevor St. John and Tognoni.

 REW
Venice —The Lesbian Hour
We're not in Chloe-Land anymore, kids. Crystal Chappell knows how to cast a web soap! Nadia Bjorlin is just the latest sensational addition to Chappell’s Sapphic soap, and the DAYS star didn’t disappoint. Bjorlin proved she can play more than a cardboard character — and created an authentic, mature, confident and entertaining romantic lead adult character. Plus, Jessica Leccia and Bjorlin ooze sexual chemistry as Ani and Lara — which should make Gina very worried.

 PLAY
The Young and the Restless — The Actor’s Studio
While Y&R’s storylines still need major surgery, the soap’s cast delivered one kick-ass performance after another. From Michael Muhney’s hilariously robotic performance in Ashley and Sharon’s nightmare, to Stacy Haiduk’s genius take on Patty struggling to take over Emily’s life, to Tracey Bregman’s realistic, entertaining ecstasy high (I’ll have what she's having), to Eric Braeden’s ferocious tirade against Adam, my fast-forward button took a much needed holiday this past week. You’re on the right track, Y&R. Keep it up!

THE IDIOT RATINGS — FEB 22-26/10

Winner — One Life maintains its small gains
Loser — World Turns drops, along with its quality

(Compared to Last Week/Compared to Last Year)

Total Viewers
1. Y&R 5,198,000 (+55,000/-82,000)
2. B&B 3,333,000 (-71,000/-34,000)
3. DAYS 3,222,000 (-53,000/+317,000)
4. AMC 2,787,000 (-115,000/+153,000)
5. GH 2,768,000 (+15,000/+81,000)
6. OLTL 2,617,000 (-5,000/+23,000)
7. ATWT 2,421,000 (-249,000/-110,000)

Households
1. Y&R 3.7/12 (same/-.1)
2. B&B 2.4/7 (same/-.1)
3. DAYS 2.3/7 (same/+.2)
4. AMC 2.1/7 (-.1/+.1)
5. GH 2.0/6 (same/same)
5. OLTL 2.0/6 (same/same)
7. ATWT 1.8/5 (same/-.1)

Women 18-49 Viewers
1. Y&R 1,195,000 (+45,000/+66,000)
2. GH 963,000 (-33,000/+125,000)
3. DAYS 883,000 (+17,000/+43,000)
4. OLTL 792,000 (-29,000/+16,000)
5. AMC 750,000 (-25,000/-52,000)
6. B&B 698,000 (-54,000/-65,000)
7. ATWT 597,000 (-43,000/-79,000)

*Numbers are based on Live+Same Day ratings, courtesy of Soap Opera Network

SOAP SYLLABUS
One Life —  Between Heaven and Hell
The more things change, the more they stay the same … One Life’s Mitch Laurence has been a pain in Viki’s backside forever. Heck, they even battled in Heaven! As this classic clip proves, not even God could settle this decade-long feud. Also, look how hot Born looks in his anti-Christ gear. No wonder Jessica’s a total wack job!

 

PICTURE OF THE WEEK

     Dancing With The Stars’ Aiden Turner gets his fru fru on!

SUDS POLL

Which couple should The Marriage Ref book on their show?
—Bo and Hope, DAYS
—Sharon and Adam, Y&R
—Janet and Jack, World Turns
—Owen and Jackie, B&B
—Brian Frons and Barbara Bloom
—Phyllis and Nick, Y&R
—Viki and Charlie, One Life
—Annie and Adam, AMC
—Brooke and Ridge, B&B
—Jack and Patty/Emily, Y&R

Vote here!

Editor’s Note — Some readers are having trouble accessing our polls on Firefox, so use Safari instead.

SAVE 'ONE LIFE' CAMPAIGN
Write ABC — let your voices be heard!
Brian Scott Frons, Daytime President
Anne Sweeney, ABC President
President, Daytime Disney-ABC Television Group 
ABC, Inc. 

500 S. Buena Vista Street 
Burbank, CA 91521-4551
Phone numbers: (818) 560-1000 or. (212) 456-7777


THE NELSON RATINGS
Can’t watch all the soaps this week? No worries — here’s a cheat sheet!
 
Top 3 Soaps to Watch:
1. The Third Annual Soap Opera Spirit Awards, Michael Fairman’s On Air, On Soaps (7 p.m. PT/10 p.m. ET)
2. One Life To Live, ABC
3. The Young and the Restless, CBS/Global
 
Top 3 Storylines to Watch:
1. Sharon Dreams a Clue, Y&R
2. Maggie Falls of the Myasthenia Wagon, DAYS
3. A Sugary Wedding, One Life
 
Top 5 Actresses to Watch:
1. Stacy Haiduk (Emily/Patty, Y&R)
2. Crystal Chappell (Carly, DAYS)
3. Suzanne Rogers (Maggie, DAYS)
4. Arianne Zucker (Nicole, DAYS)
5. Sharon Case (Sharon, Y&R)

Top 5 Actors to Watch:
1. Michael Muhney (Adam, Y&R)
2. Stephen Nichols (Tucker, Y&R)
3. Dominic Zamprogna (Dominic/Dante, GH)
4. Trevor St. John (Todd, One Life)
5. Daniel Cosgrove (Chris, World Turns)

Top 4 Most Entertaining Performers:
1. Amanda Setton (Kim, One Life)
2. Tuc Watkins (David, One Life)
3. Louise Sorel (Vivian, DAYS)
4. Eric Sheffer Stevens (Reid, World Turns)

Top 3 Duos to Watch:
1. Lulu and Dante, GH
2. Tad and Dixie, AMC
3. Spinelli and Maxie, GH

Top 3 Dream Couples:
1. Kelly and David, One Life
2. Reid and Luke, World Turns
3. Steffy and a morgue, B&B
 
Top 3 Rivals:
1. Genoa City VS. Adam, Y&R
2. Vivian VS. Carly, DAYS
3. Kelly VS. Blair, One Life

Top 3 Most Annoying Characters:
1. Marty Saybrooke, One Life
2. Madison “Whatever,” AMC
3. Steffy “Forrester,” B&B

Top 3 Triangles to Watch:
1. Lucky/Liz/Nikolas, GH
2. Hope/Bo/Carly, DAYS
3. EJ/Sami/Rafe, DAYS

Top 3 Guilty Pleasures:
1. Michael  Muhney in a dress, Y&R
2. Bridget pulls a Brooke, B&B
3. Jessica’s 17 voice, One Life

Top 3 Families To Watch:
1. The Cramers, One Life
2.  The Newmans, Y&R
3. The Kiriakises, DAYS

     

Top 4 New Duos To Watch:
1. Clint and Kim, One Life
2. Holden and Molly, World Turns
3. John and Natalie, One Life
4. Todd and Kelly, One Life

Top 3 Duos To Avoid Like the Plague:
1. John and Marty, One Life
2. Steffy and anyone, B&B
3. Lisa and Patrick, GH

Top 3 Young Actors:
1. Drew Garrett (Michael, GH)
2. Shenell Edmonds (Destiny, One Life)
3. Carmen LePorto (Jack, One Life)

Top 3 Biggest Wastes of Talent:
1. Renee Jones (Lexie, DAYS)
—tie —James Reynolds (Abe, DAYS)
3.  Scott Reeves (Steven, GH)

Top 3 Hair Models:
1. Jackie MacInnes Wood (Steffy, B&B)
2. Denise Vasi (Randi, AMC)
3. Texas Battle (Marcus, B&B)

Top 3 Soap Magazine Covers (based on art direction):
1.  Soap Opera Weekly— In The News: One Life/World Turns/B&B/DAYS
2.  ABC Soaps In Depth — AMC’s Big Changes
3. Soap Opera Digest — Y&R’s Sharon Case

Top 3 Best Reads/Buys at the Newsstand:  
1. Soap Opera Digest
2. Soap Opera Weekly
3.  ABC Soaps In Depth

Top 3 Soap Moments To Watch:
1. Tuesday: The spirited Michael Fairman, Crystal Chappell and Galen Gering announce the 3rd Annual Soap Opera Spirit Awards. Things get ugly when the three hosts find themselves all nominated in the same category — and Chappell storms out!
2. Tuesday: Y&R’s Sharon comes to a shocking realization! “Oh My God, I’m an idiot — and a whore,” she realizes. 
3. Thursday:  Kim and Clint marry on One Life. “Wow — did I ever get the better end of the deal, huh, Nora?” smirks Clint.


 


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Nelson Branco is a Toronto freelance entertainment journalist, who regularly contributes to Hello! Canada, The National Post, The Los Angeles Times' theenvelope.com, TV Guide USA, tvguide.com, Inside Entertainment, OUT, and fab magazine, along with spearheading the soap coverage for TVGuide.ca's popular daytime TV hub. After graduating from Ryerson University in 1997, he moved from Toronto to New York in 1998 to take on the roles as senior news editor at Soap Opera Update. Branco first freelanced for Soap Opera Weekly as an intern in 1994, and after leaving Soap Update to help create and launch Bauer Publishing's In Touch Weekly in 2003, Branco continued to freelance occasionally for its sister publication, Soaps In Depth. Most recently, he helped create and launch Canada's first celebrity magazine, Weekly Scoop in 2005 as its news and entertainment director. Branco is also a contributor to a new TV show titled Planet Soap to air in Canada and America.