Brittany Underwood

My absence from Daytime Confidential lately has not been due to the usual business of family and work taking up a lot of my time, but rather a certain lack energy to post about practically any of the daytime serials that clog up my DVR from day to day. This is neither a positive nor a negative thing because there are frequent periods throughout the year when shows kind of coast along and do their their thing, usually between sweeps.

At these times, there is little for the viewer — if that viewer is me — to get all worked up about this plot twist, that character's action, some couple or another or even a whole show's direction. Normally, this state of affairs hits one or two shows at a time. Every once in a while like the last couple of weeks, the stars align and all the serials get caught in the same momentum of drift. All that is required of us is to watch and see where it all goes.

In that spirit, my brain plays a little game of soap opera hopscotch, taking in odds and ends big and small. There is no great elaboration on anything here, just a quick rundown of things I like and not like so much. Your mileage may vary... READ MORE

Langston

Lola

Starr

The 2009 Young Artist Awards have been announced and several young soap actors have been nominated.

Eddie Alderson (Matthew, One Life to Live), Mick Hazen (Parker, As the World Turns), Terrell Ransom Jr. (Theo, Days of Our Lives) and Austin Williams (Shane, One Life to Live) have been nominated in the category  "Best Performance in a TV Series, Recurring Young Actor".

Kristen Alderson (Starr, One Life to Live), Erin Sanders (Eden, The Young and the Restless) and Brittany Underwood (Langston, One Life to Live) have been nominated in the same category for actresses.

One Life to Live (Eddie Alderson, Kristen Alderson, Camila Banus, Carmen Lo Porto, Austin Williams) is also nominated in the category "Outstanding Young Performers in a TV Series". READ MORE

Okay you knew it was coming. Now that the Idiots In Charge of The-Soap-Opera-Formerly-Known-as-Days-of-Our-Lives have let the phenomenal Blake Berris go, I decided to start out doing a Wishful Casting about where Berris should end up, but it turned into more of an analysis of which soaps are managing to set things up for their next generation the right way, and which ones are getting it wrong, dead wrong.

Much of the daytime industry is experiencing a serious drought in terms of talented, young stars who can actually, you know, act. Save for The Young and the Restless, One Life to Live and General Hospital, the under 30 set at most soaps is pretty much comprised of rejects from the Pamela Anderson School of Acting and Pantomime.  I'll start with the soaps in most need of help and work my way up. READ MORE

Starr & Cole

Langston & Markko

You know, we knew that Clint had a surprise in store for Dorian and Langston (Brittany Underwood) and even though A Martinez's run may only be a short stint I thought I'd see what everyone thinks of Langston becoming a "Cramer Woman?"

Personally, I love that this storyline brings out the softer side in Dorian (Robin Strasser). Too often we just see her as the larger than life, uber bitch, diva she is and we forget that she does have a softer side (anyone who watched the 40th Anniversary episode scenes between Dorian and Mel knows that).

What do you think of this storyline? I'd love to hear your thoughts.

Actor A Martinez will be leaving his short lived stint at One Life to Live. The buzz around the internet is that Martinez has already taped his last scenes. No word on if the actor will reprise the role of Ray Montez, the long lost uncle of Dorian Cramer's (Robin Strasser) adoptive daughter Langston (Brittany Underwood).

Fans of Langston Wilde Cramer should not fret on her departing family members, she has a cousin that will head to Llanview. Lola Montez, Ray's daughter will be played by Camila Banus and will make her first screen appearance Oct. 3.

A Martinez is a proven talent, they need to keep him around.

I'm good either way, it's always nice to see a vet return.

Nah, five weeks may be to long.

 

If you are a One Life to Live fan and live in the greater New York City area and were looking for something to do today (Thursday June 26th) you may want to make plans to drop by the Time Warner Center branch of Borders at 6pm for a special book reading and signing of "Likely Story", a young adult novel by Chris Van Etten. I've posted the description of the book below but the reason One Life to Live fans will be interested is because Robin Strasser, Jason Tam, and Brittany Underwood will be the voices of the book's three main characters.

"Likely Story" is the first part of a trilogy of books about Mallory Hayden, the daughter of a famous and famously difficult soap star. A conflict with her mother leads Mallory to believe she can out-do anything that Daytime currently has to offer, and through a series of (wacky) events, she's given the chance to write her own network soap opera. What ought to be a cause for celebration quickly becomes a greater-than-normal personal challenge, as Mallory's loyalties to her boyfriend, as well as her best friend, are tested.

A Q&A and signing will follow the reading. 

Bree Williamson

BethAnn Bonner

Brittany Underwood